“Zhichun…” Jiang Ruoxue stopped and looked at Yan Zhichun, sensing the wavering in the other’s conviction. “Are you okay? Are you too tired…?”
“I’m fine… it’s just…” Yan Zhichun paused. She clearly remembered Jiang Ruoxue being behind her to the right just moments ago, but now she was in front to the left. “It’s just that a very familiar feeling has surfaced…”
This was a sensation that only appeared when Bai Yang was in chaos.
Chu Tianqiu and Qin Dingdong stood together, both feeling equally disoriented.
They hadn’t followed the mole for long before they sensed its position shifting, as if it had teleported a short distance.
When Chu Tianqiu turned his head again, he noticed that the wounds on Zhang Shan’s body had also moved.
Qin Dingdong wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, so she tentatively asked, “Chu Tianqiu… do you feel something off?”
“I…”
The two of them stared at the scene before them, and sure enough, after a moment, everything began to revert, returning to how it had been a few seconds earlier.
It was as if they had just experienced a bizarre journey in those few seconds—one where everything had been subtly different from the present. Yet now, it was as if nothing had happened at all.
“I don’t know…” Chu Tianqiu said, frowning.
He had experienced this kind of sensation before, but never as intensely as today.
He only felt that he was very close to the eye of the storm—so close that even his memories seemed to be affected by something.
“Bai Yang…” Qi Xia struggled to control his thoughts and spoke. “Stop trying to justify yourself… those people… didn’t you kill them too?”
“Oh?” Bai Yang shrugged noncommittally. “Did I?”
“When I killed too many and couldn’t go on… wasn’t it you who stepped in for me?” Qi Xia pressed. “Without such a dense ‘aura of the End’… how could I have killed thousands?”
Bai Yang stared into Qi Xia’s eyes for a long moment before smiling. “It seems you’ve managed to hold onto your last shred of sanity yet again.”
“I can’t lose my mind… the consequences would be too severe.” Qi Xia frowned. “I still need the three of them…”
“The three who’ve retained their memories the longest… right?” Bai Yang countered.
“Yes…” Qi Xia rubbed his forehead. “You should also know… what everyone boarding the train now carries in their minds…”
“The entire history of the ‘Land of the End.'” Bai Yang glanced toward the door. “Even Qian Wu has boarded now, along with those scattered thousands of ‘participants.’ Their memories encompass the entire history of the ‘Land of the End.'”
“Right.” Qi Xia lifted his head. “With their memories, I can take everyone in the ‘Land of the End’ away with me…”
“Won’t there be any omissions?” Bai Yang asked.
“Omissions…” Qi Xia narrowed his eyes in thought. “No.”
“What about An?” Bai Yang pressed. “Who will take her away?”
“An…”
Qi Xia’s expression shifted abruptly, and in the next instant, a splitting headache seized him. He clutched his hair, groaning as he bent forward.
His mind felt split in two—one part dominated by unyielding rationality, the other by whimsical emotion—and now, the two were violently merging.
“Because you can’t leave,” Bai Yang said. “If you can’t leave… whose memories contain her?”
“Wait…” Qi Xia whispered, still gripping his hair. “We can’t talk about this now…”
Just as Yan Zhichun regained her senses, a heavy weight pressed down on her mind, and she nearly collapsed.
Jiang Ruoxue, sensing something wrong, reached out to steady her—only to blink and see Yan Zhichun vanish from in front of her and reappear by her side.
“Ruoxue, what’s wrong?” the Yan Zhichun beside her asked.
“Huh?”
Jiang Ruoxue turned her head while still reaching out, only to find the Yan Zhichun beside her gone, while the one in front of her nearly fell to the ground—saved only by her outstretched hand.
The eerie disorientation made Jiang Ruoxue question whether she was losing her mind.
“I… I’m fine…” Yan Zhichun shook her head. “I just spaced out… an old habit…”
“What kind of old habit is that?” Jiang Ruoxue asked warily, glancing at the spot where Yan Zhichun had briefly appeared. “You’ve never mentioned it before.”
“I… never mind.” Yan Zhichun shook her head again. “It’s not worth talking about.”
Jiang Ruoxue sensed something chaotic about Yan Zhichun—not in her mind, but rather…
A distortion in time and space.
Meanwhile, Chu Tianqiu leaned against the wall for support as Zhang Shan watched him with concern.
“Damn… Tianqiu, what’s wrong with you?” Zhang Shan asked, bewildered. “You’ve been acting weird since earlier…”
As he spoke, Zhang Shan noticed Chu Tianqiu’s appearance suddenly change—his gaze became gentle, and a faint smile graced his lips.
It was the same demeanor Zhang Shan had seen when they first met in “Paradise.”
But in the blink of an eye, Chu Tianqiu’s eyes reddened again, and a murderous aura radiated from him.
“I’m fine… go check on Qin Dingdong…” Chu Tianqiu shook his head. “I can hold on…”
“Qin…” Zhang Shan turned to look at the woman who had climbed up with him. “Are you okay?”
Qin Dingdong’s face was pale. She hesitated, about to speak, when suddenly her complexion regained its color.
“I’m fine.”
Now it was Zhang Shan’s turn to be confused.
What was going on with these two?
Nearby, the mole noticed their strange behavior and stopped, narrowing his eyes in thought.
There were no enemies in sight… yet these two seemed to be under some kind of mental assault… What was happening?
“Chu Tianqiu…” Qin Dingdong gritted her teeth. “Is this feeling really normal?”
Only then did Chu Tianqiu realize just how absurd the situation was. The people and scenery around him kept shifting—how could he even describe such an abstract sensation?
“It’s as if this has all happened once before…” Chu Tianqiu murmured. “And our memories are getting mixed up with those from that time…”
“Huh…?” Qin Dingdong was stunned.
“It’s like… I’ve been here in a dream…” Chu Tianqiu ran his hand along the wall. “Except the dream version was slightly different from reality… and now my brain is trying to decide which one to believe.”
“Damn… I’m even more confused now…” Zhang Shan muttered. “Are you two sleepwalking or something…?”
“I can’t say for sure…” Qin Dingdong replied. “But Chu Tianqiu’s description just now was spot-on—it perfectly captured what I’m feeling. I also feel like I’ve been here before, but I don’t remember it at all…”
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage