Upon hearing Xuanwu’s response, Qi Xia realized she had no desire to be saved at all.
Some people are just like that—if they were to escape, an even more terrifying hell would await them.
“If you want to die here… stand up now,” Qi Xia said. “Do you really intend to crawl around here, blackened and broken, just as Qinglong said you would?”
“I… can’t,” Xuanwu murmured, her voice ethereal. “From the moment I set foot on this land, only one of us—Qinglong or I—could survive.”
“If killing you would set you free, I’d do it without hesitation,” Qi Xia replied. “Come with me. Let’s leave this place.”
“Then…” Xuanwu turned her hollow face toward him. “Where… should I go?”
“To uphold the ‘Rules,'” Qi Xia said. “Don’t let regret fester in your heart.”
“The Rules…”
“Do whatever you desire,” Qi Xia continued. “Feel the joys and sorrows of every soul trapped in the ‘Land of Finality.'”
At these words, Xuanwu trembled again, then slowly straightened her body as if pulled by an unseen force. Softly, she repeated:
“Every soul’s joys and sorrows…”
“Yes. Judge them from your own perspective,” Qi Xia said. “They’re trapped in this land, no different from you. All they want is to escape.”
Xuanwu turned slowly, as if truly seeing Qi Xia for the first time.
“They can’t leave. They can’t run,” Qi Xia pressed. “You know it’s the ‘Rules’ that govern them. Yet you, who’ve been oppressed by those same ‘Rules’ all your life—why would you become their enforcer here?”
“If I don’t uphold them, someone else will,” Xuanwu replied. “Qinglong promised me—no hunger, no pain, no exhaustion. That’s why I stood up.”
“But part of your reason was taken from you,” Qi Xia countered. “This may be hard to grasp, but I’ll say it plainly: Qinglong will never let you go. He won’t allow you to die.”
“Is that so…?” Xuanwu seemed to recall something. “Even if I’ve obeyed him completely… he still won’t let me die?”
“The less reason you have, the easier you are to control,” Qi Xia said. “You follow his orders without question—even fueling yourself with an inhuman ‘conviction.’ To him, you’re the perfect weapon.”
“I…”
“He’ll wring every last drop of value from you,” Qi Xia added. “You might serve him until the day everyone in the ‘Land of Finality’ perishes, yet your body will still linger here, unable to rest.”
Xuanwu paused, then walked to the side and bent down to retrieve her severed arm.
It was as blackened as the rest of her.
To Qi Xia, her silhouette seemed unbearably desolate—as though she were finally confronting something she had long avoided.
She tucked the arm under her own, then snapped off a segment of spine from the ground and forcefully drove it into her broken shoulder.
Once done, she turned back and extended the arm toward Qi Xia.
“Can you… help me?”
Understanding, Qi Xia nodded and stepped forward, taking the arm from her.
How could he describe the sensation?
It had no temperature—neither warm nor cold. No texture—neither soft nor hard. No weight—as if holding a handful of water in the depths of the sea. He could sense its presence, yet couldn’t pinpoint where it truly was.
“Forgive me.”
With those words, Qi Xia raised the arm and slammed it onto the protruding spine at the “connection point.”
“Zzzzt—”
A bizarre sound rang out—neither flesh nor plant, but like the tearing of space itself.
After a moment, Xuanwu tested the reattached limb. Though its movement was erratic, at least the arm was whole again.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Does a ‘Participant’ aiding a ‘Beast’ count as a violation?” Qi Xia asked.
Xuanwu hesitated, as if stumped by the question.
“Does a ‘Beast’ thanking a ‘Participant’ count as a violation?” he pressed.
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
“That’s fine,” Qi Xia said. “Your silence already holds the answer. Every person in this world knows the truth of all things—they just choose whether or not to acknowledge it.”
Xuanwu seemed about to speak, but in the end, she only nodded.
“I’ll continue to enforce the Rules,” she said. “This time… I truly hope it kills me.”
“I hope so too,” Qi Xia replied, studying her. “Living like this… you’ve already atoned for every sin.”
“I’m so… tired.”
With that, Xuanwu brushed past him and walked toward the door marked “Rout.”
Qi Xia once again glanced upward at the void overhead, where countless other doors floated.
It seemed the “train” still had plenty of space to exploit.
Or perhaps… these spaces only became part of the “train” once they were used.
But Qi Xia knew he couldn’t fly. The doors high above were beyond his reach—though now wasn’t the time to dwell on that.
After Xuanwu left, he followed her out of the arena.
—
Yan Zhichun led Dr. Zhao swiftly down the road, soon noticing the growing crowds on either side.
The people wore varied attire, each looking battle-hardened. They stood along the path, waiting for something.
None seemed to recognize Yan Zhichun or Dr. Zhao, yet their gazes were heavy with unreadable emotion as they watched the pair.
“Yan Zhichun… just how many of you are there?” Dr. Zhao asked, suspicion creeping into his voice.
“I told you—I don’t even know myself.”
She walked ahead, enduring the scrutiny of these unfamiliar “Extremists.” The crowd parted silently, clearing a path for her.
Before they reached the road’s end, the massive display screen and bronze bell came into view.
Hundreds stood nearby in utter silence.
“Hey, sis…”
A familiar voice called out. Old Sun pushed through the crowd and approached Yan Zhichun.
“You made it?”
“Old Sun,” Yan Zhichun acknowledged. “Take me to Jiang Ruoxue and Zhou Mo.”
“They’ve been waiting for you,” Old Sun said. “Come on.”
As Old Sun led the way, Dr. Zhao found himself dazed.
He’d thought this would be a straightforward task—after all, Yan Zhichun had said they only needed to “destroy something.”
But given the scale of this gathering… how could it possibly be simple?
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