“‘Scapegoat’?” Qi Xia gave Yun Yao a puzzled look.
Wasn’t it “Disaster Magnet”?
Wait a minute…
Qi Xia silently lowered his head.
The first person to “Echo” wasn’t Han Yimo, but that “Tenth Person” with the eerie smile!
He was the one who “Echoed” as the “Scapegoat.”
But what does “Scapegoat” mean?
“The second one was ‘Disaster Magnet,’ as written on the screen,” Yun Yao continued to explain. “It’s rare to see two ‘Echoes’ triggered on the first day. Even among ‘Echoers,’ most choose to activate their abilities in the later days.”
“Then, it was… ‘Frame-Up’?” Yun Yao recalled. “This ‘Echo’ only appeared briefly, so I might have misread it.”
Qi Xia nodded solemnly after hearing this—that was Xiao Xiao’s ability.
“Next was ‘Ignite,’ followed by—”
“Hold on!” Qi Xia quickly stopped Yun Yao.
“Ignite”?
Judging by the sequence, Qi Xia knew this time it was Officer Li who had “Echoed.”
But what does “Ignite” mean? After thinking for a long time, Qi Xia couldn’t figure out the connection between “Ignite” and materializing objects out of thin air.
“Go on, what happened next?” Qi Xia asked.
“The next ‘Echo’ was quite interesting… I vaguely remember it being the first half of an idiom.” Yun Yao looked up, deep in thought. “What was it again…?”
“Ah! I remember now!” Yun Yao said with a smile. “It was ‘Reach Into the Bag’!”
“‘Reach Into the Bag’…?”
“Right,” Yun Yao nodded. “‘Reach Into the Bag’ as in ‘Reach Into the Bag and Take What You Want.'”
Qi Xia silently repeated the phrase a few times, a sense of unease slowly creeping into his heart.
This was Officer Li’s true “Echo.”
But why wasn’t it “Creation”?
Could it be that Officer Li’s ability wasn’t to create objects out of nothing, but to “retrieve existing items”?
That was indeed abstract.
In other words, Officer Li could only “take out” things, not “conjure” them.
When he pulled out a metal lighter from “Terminal Land,” the lighter in the real world would disappear.
Hence, “Reach Into the Bag.”
That’s why it was impossible for him to pull out 3,600 “Dao” before his death… unless he really had that many.
“I need to find a chance to tell him this…” Qi Xia muttered to himself. “Otherwise, that man will keep trying to die.”
Speaking of which… why was there an “Ignite” between Officer Li and Xiao Xiao?
Who else had activated their ability?
Qi Xia felt puzzled. Since he had just arrived in “Terminal Land,” he paid close attention to every chime of the bell.
He remembered Xiao Xiao’s bell was immediately followed by Officer Li’s.
“No…”
Qi Xia frowned cautiously.
After Xiao Xiao killed Qiao Jiajin and Sweetie in succession, Qi Xia had briefly passed out from an intense headache.
If there really was another “Echoer” appearing, it could only have been during that short period.
But who was it?
Qi Xia pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
He seemed to be stuck in a misconception.
Who said the “Echoer” had to be someone he knew?
There were countless people in this city playing their own games—anyone could have heard the “Echo.”
“The last one was someone I knew,” Yun Yao said, touching her cheek. “It was someone from ‘Extremists.’ Their ‘Echo’ was called ‘Cause and Effect.'”
“Cause and Effect…” Qi Xia nodded silently. This was the “logical relationship” Jiang Ruoxue kept mentioning.
Judging by her ability, it seemed she could first determine the “outcome” of something and then create a “cause” that logically fit.
When she altered the password in the metal box, she had said something similar.
Because the letter inside the box was the door password, and the letter read “Long Live Extremists,” “Long Live Extremists” became the password.
In other words, no matter what the original password was, once Jiang Ruoxue activated her ability, whatever was written in the box would unconditionally become the password.
These abilities sounded increasingly bizarre.
Fortunately, Jiang Ruoxue seemed to have a flaw: if she couldn’t establish a logical connection between two things, she couldn’t enforce “Cause and Effect.”
The most obvious example was when she wanted to save Qi Xia but admitted she couldn’t.
Because people die from severe injuries, she couldn’t forcibly alter that logic.
“I’ve never seen ‘Echoes’ start so densely before,” Yun Yao chuckled. “For a moment, I thought ‘Paradise Gate’ and ‘Extremists’ had gone to war ahead of schedule.”
“Have your two organizations ever gone to war before?” Qi Xia asked.
“Probably not,” Yun Yao mused. “I’m not sure. I’ve lost memories too. After all, it’s impossible for everyone to ‘Echo’ in every cycle. So, apart from Chu Tianqiu, most people in ‘Paradise Gate’ have lost memories at some point. Like Zhang Shan… last time, he suddenly died on the second night without ever getting a chance to ‘Echo.’ But it doesn’t matter—as long as one person remembers what happened, ‘Paradise Gate’ won’t fall.”
Though Yun Yao was smiling, Qi Xia sensed a hint of sorrow in her words.
In a way, “Paradise Gate” was probably the saddest place in all of “Terminal Land.”
Because most of its members retained their memories, fully aware that they could never escape.
Who knew how long they had struggled with this realization before finally standing together, ready to face death.
Ordinary people without “Echoes,” however, were different. Every experience was new to them—they always believed they had just arrived and naively thought there must be a way out.
Perhaps that’s why “Paradise Gate” was located in a school: they needed to pass their memories “from generation to generation.”
“So, what is Chu Tianqiu’s ‘Echo’?” Qi Xia asked again.
“I don’t know,” Yun Yao replied.
Qi Xia thought he had misheard. “What did you say?”
“I said I don’t know,” Yun Yao repeated.
“You don’t know…?” Qi Xia found this answer extremely bizarre.
“Not just me—even Chu Tianqiu himself doesn’t know,” Yun Yao said with a smile. “His ‘Echo’ trigger is unique. Unfortunately, he always dies immediately after ‘Echoing,’ so even he doesn’t know what his ability is.”
“Oh?” Qi Xia suddenly thought of something. “Is Chu Tianqiu’s ‘Echo’ also triggered by near-death?”
“Of course not that simple,” Yun Yao said with a bitter laugh. “Qi Xia, Chu Tianqiu’s ‘Echo’ trigger is ‘Witnessing the End.'”
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage