Chapter 232: Junnan

“Oh?” Qi Xia raised an eyebrow. “Kill me… Interesting. That’s a great idea.”

“Yeah?” The pale-faced young man nodded. “Buddy, I think so too.”

Qi Xia stared at the young man for a while, intrigued by him.

His features were delicate and harmless-looking, yet there was a fierce intensity lurking in his eyes.

“What should I call you?” Qi Xia asked.

“Chen Junnan.” The man paused, then added, “And what the hell should I call you?”

“Qi Xia.”

“Yeah… Qi Xia.” Chen Junnan slowly grinned. “How ridiculous…”

“Ridiculous?”

This person felt familiar to Qi Xia, yet he couldn’t recall where he’d met him before.

“Qi Xia… Why, exactly?” Chen Junnan’s manic smile twisted, but within seconds, his eyes welled up with tears. “Why the hell are you here…?”

He seemed torn between emotions—on the verge of breaking down, or perhaps already broken.

The question also irritated Qi Xia, because Zhuque had asked the same thing.

“Why would you ask that?” Qi Xia said, puzzled. “What’s your connection to Zhuque?”

Chen Junnan lowered his head helplessly and muttered, “Absurd… Me and Zhuque? Qi Xia, are you here to save Old Qiao?”

“What?”

“You already escaped… Why the hell did you come back?” Chen Junnan gritted his teeth. “You’re not here to save Old Qiao—you came back just so I could kill you, didn’t you?!”

The words were shocking, but still within Qi Xia’s realm of acceptance.

It seemed his earlier deduction was correct—he really had escaped the “Land of Finality.” But why would he return?

“So I really did escape…?” Qi Xia nodded. “Chen Junnan, how long have you been here?”

He suspected that before Lin Qin arrived—or even earlier—Chen Junnan must have been his teammate.

But he retained too many memories, making it hard for him to stay sane now.

“How long have I been here…?” Chen Junnan chuckled bitterly. “What kind of question is that? Are stupid questions in fashion now?”

“What…?”

“Didn’t we all come here at the same damn time?!” Chen Junnan’s bitter smile faded into anger. “This hellish cycle—are we really splitting hairs over who arrived first?!”

This man remembered far too much.

In his memories… did he recall the original state of the “Land of Finality”?

Qi Xia considered this, then softened his tone. “Tell me… What exactly did we go through?”

Chen Junnan’s mental state was still unstable. He trembled at Qi Xia’s question and said, “Qi Xia… Back then, the three of us agreed—I’d cover for you two to escape. But you abandoned Old Qiao and ran alone.”

“Wh-what?” Qi Xia was stunned.

“With no memory, you can’t even lie your way out of this, huh?” Chen Junnan sneered. “Seven years. A full seven years. Old Qiao was desperate to help you… How could you be so heartless? Disgraceful, Old Qi. Do you know how many times Old Qiao died alone in those seven years?”

“I…”

Vague accusations weighed on Qi Xia, making him deeply uncomfortable.

“Search your damn conscience…” Chen Junnan said. “How many times did Old Qiao die for you? No—let me rephrase that. When did Old Qiao *not* die because of you?”

Qi Xia found this difficult to accept.

“Chen Junnan, I don’t remember what happened before… But knowing myself, I’d never do something so cruel.” Qi Xia sighed and looked up at the sky. “If someone gives me their ‘sincerity,’ I’d never repay them with ‘deceit.’ The only people I want to fight are the liars.”

Chen Junnan fell silent.

After a long pause, he slowly shook his head.

“Yeah… Even after all this, you’re still you.” Chen Junnan grabbed his own hair. “You know what? For seven years, I dreamed of killing you… But when I finally saw you, I hesitated. Old Qi, tell me straight—are you a self-destructive bastard… or a hope worth trusting?”

Qi Xia had no answer to that.

“Before I answer… I need to know what really happened between us.”

Chen Junnan stood up slowly. “Old Qi, seven years ago… you escaped.”

“But… how do you know I escaped?”

“You told me yourself. You said you’d succeed after that day.” Chen Junnan stared at him intently. “Did you *not* escape? Are you backtracking now? I gave you ‘sincerity,’ but you repaid me with ‘deceit’?”

“You’re saying… I told you outright… that I was about to escape?” Qi Xia still found it bizarre. “If we were so close, why didn’t I take you with me?”

“Because I said I didn’t want to go.” Chen Junnan’s gaze turned icy again. “But I never thought you’d leave Old Qiao behind too… After that day, you never showed up in the interview room again…”

“So that’s it…” Qi Xia nodded slowly. “You didn’t *see* me escape… You just noticed I was gone…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Chen Junnan frowned. “So you *did* lie to me?”

“No.” Qi Xia shook his head. “Chen Junnan, what if… I didn’t deceive you? What if *I* was the one deceived?”

“Are you messing with me?” Chen Junnan let out a bitter laugh. “Old Qi, how many people in the ‘Land of Finality’ could fool *you*?”

“Yu Nian’an is one of them,” Qi Xia said.

“Who?” Chen Junnan froze.

Seeing his confusion, Qi Xia felt something was off. “You’ve never heard the name Yu Nian’an?”

“There are so many people in the ‘Land of Finality’—am I supposed to remember all their names?”

A strange thought began to form in Qi Xia’s mind.

“Chen Junnan… Were we really that close before?” Qi Xia pressed.

“Well…” Chen Junnan hesitated. “You weren’t exactly reliable. I’d say I was closer to Old Qiao.”

Qi Xia shook his head. “Fine. Even if you only met me a few times, you’d have heard of ‘Yu Nian’an,’ right?”

Chen Junnan grew more confused. “What? Just because I met you, I should know ‘Yu Nian’an’? Is she that new girl from the last three cycles? Even if she’s drop-dead gorgeous, I don’t know her.”

Qi Xia realized he was referring to Lin Qin.

“No, she’s the girl who’s been with me all day today,” Qi Xia said. “She’s Yu Nian’an. My wife.”

“Your *what*…?” Chen Junnan rubbed his chin. “Wife?”

That simple question sent Qi Xia’s mind into chaos.

In other words, this original comrade—this man named Chen Junnan—had no idea he had a wife.

Which meant… Yu Nian’an must have appeared within the last seven years.