“Chu Tianqiu, didn’t you hear what I said?”
A figure dressed in white stood before Chu Tianqiu, her expression hesitant as she watched him.
“I heard you, Yan Zhichun. Not only did I hear you, but I heard you very clearly.” Chu Tianqiu nodded. “The ‘Pegasus Hour’ is about to descend, and countless lives will be lost.”
After speaking, Chu Tianqiu glanced at Jiang Ruoxue and Xiaoxiao behind Yan Zhichun before chuckling softly. “You all are strange too. Knowing such a calamity is imminent, why aren’t you waiting in an open area?”
Then he walked toward Jiang Ruoxue, his lips curling into a meaningful smile. “Jiang Ruoxue, didn’t you already desert ‘Paradise’ to join the ‘Extremists’? Did you really come back just to inform me about the ‘Pegasus Hour’?”
“There’s something I need to clarify.” Jiang Ruoxue shook her head. “I didn’t desert ‘Paradise.’ I’ve been an ‘Extremist’ from the very beginning.”
“Is that so…” Chu Tianqiu smiled faintly. “That truly saddens me. To possess both a powerful ‘Echo’ and ‘Reason,’ yet to be a full-fledged ‘Extremist’ through and through.”
As he spoke, his brows slowly furrowed. He had noticed that most ‘Extremists’ seemed to retain more ‘Reason’ than ordinary factions.
“The three of us are ‘Echoers.’ Whether we live or die makes no difference—escaping or staying changes nothing,” Yan Zhichun said. “But what about the people under your command?”
“Whether they live or die… what does that have to do with me?”
Yan Zhichun let out a soft laugh, realizing Chu Tianqiu was nothing like she had imagined. “You, the once ‘King of the Kind,’ gathered so many powerful individuals here… yet you can’t even preserve their most basic memories?”
“Is there any need for that?”
Chu Tianqiu turned away, draping his coat over his shoulders before adjusting his glasses with a finger. His expression was inscrutable to Yan Zhichun.
“Interesting.” Yan Zhichun nodded. “I’m curious—how did a leader like you gain such a reputation that even the ‘Extremists’ speak of you? Is it by periodically erasing your members’ memories so they forget all the atrocities you’ve committed?”
“I…” Chu Tianqiu narrowed his eyes, gazing out the window where the sun had begun to shrink.
He swallowed his words and murmured softly, “Go. Save yourselves. Though our deaths mean little, ‘annihilation’ is still preferable to a ‘gruesome end.'”
“And what about you?” Yan Zhichun asked. “Do you plan to die here too?”
“No.” A smirk tugged at Chu Tianqiu’s lips. “I’ll definitely escape. Anyone here can die—except me.”
“What a selfish, capricious leader you are.” Yan Zhichun’s tone was laden with implication.
“Thank you.”
Yan Zhichun glanced back at Jiang Ruoxue, who gave a slight nod. The three of them then rose and left the room, stepping out onto the field.
None within ‘Paradise’ had noticed the changes in the sky. Some remained indoors, oblivious that once those eerie threads descended, escape would be impossible.
“Zhichun.” Jiang Ruoxue called from behind. “We only came to warn you. Why did you insist on informing Chu Tianqiu?”
Yan Zhichun smiled sweetly. “I was just curious about him—wanted to see his decisions for myself. The man’s reputation and his actions are polar opposites. How did such a contradiction come to be?”
Jiang Ruoxue knew Yan Zhichun deeply cared about the weight of the title ‘King of the Kind.’
She had once told many ‘Extremists’ that if they ever grew weary of their path and sought to escape the ‘Land of Finality,’ their best option was to seek refuge under Chu Tianqiu, the ‘King of the Kind.’
Yet now, before any ‘Extremist’ had joined him, Yan Zhichun’s illusions had shattered.
The so-called ‘King of the Kind’ cared nothing for the lives of others.
Not only was he utterly deranged, but he was also deeply scheming.
“So there truly is no ‘way out’ in this place,” Yan Zhichun murmured, gazing at the sky. “Rather than pinning our hopes on others, it’s better to choose our own path.”
“Do you think Chu Tianqiu was lying?” Jiang Ruoxue asked, also looking skyward.
“Lying…?”
“Though they say ‘hearsay is unreliable,’ the praise we’ve heard about Chu Tianqiu is overwhelming.” Jiang Ruoxue sighed. “If his current behavior is the ’cause,’ it couldn’t possibly have borne the ‘effect’ of his past reputation.”
“You’ve gone mad too.” Yan Zhichun shook her head. “Ruoxue, which comes first—the cause or the effect? No one takes the present as the ’cause’ and deduces the past as the ‘effect.'”
“So you understand this logic too.” Jiang Ruoxue nodded. “Doesn’t that mean Chu Tianqiu has changed? We can’t dismiss everything he’s done based on his current state.”
“I hope you’re right.” Yan Zhichun conceded.
The tall and imposing Xiaoxiao had been silently watching them. She had only recently joined the ‘Extremists,’ and this was her first encounter with their so-called ‘Queen of the Extremists,’ Yan Zhichun. There was an inexplicable aura around her that made Xiaoxiao feel distant.
Yan Zhichun looked up at the dark threads spreading behind the sun and sighed.
“If the ‘Pegasus Hour’ descends on the fifth day, the ‘Extremists’ will suffer greatly. The consequences are unpredictable.” Her expression darkened. “We’re already short-handed. I fear we won’t be able to protect this place much longer.”
“Every ’cause’ leads to its own ‘effect.’ You’ve done all you can.” Jiang Ruoxue said calmly. “Let’s go.”
Without another thought for the lives within ‘Paradise,’ the three strode out the gates.
From a distance, Chu Tianqiu watched their retreating figures through the window, his expression growing increasingly desolate.
Just then, a soft knock sounded at the door. He turned to see Dr. Zhao standing outside.
“Chu Tianqiu.”
“What is it?”
Dr. Zhao wiped his bloodstained hands with an old rag. “I’ve made progress on the matter you asked me to investigate…”
“As expected of a professional.” Chu Tianqiu nodded. “You could perform an autopsy on such a decayed corpse?”
“It was disgusting, but I managed.” Dr. Zhao tossed the rag aside. “That corpse—Qi Xia’s—did indeed have a malignant tumor in its brain. Though severely decomposed, I could tell it wouldn’t have had much longer to live. Most would’ve been bedridden, waiting to die.”
Chu Tianqiu nodded silently. Though he had anticipated this, the result still felt unsettling. Qi Xia’s brain had housed a tumor even more malignant than his own.
“However, there’s one thing I still don’t understand.” Dr. Zhao’s expression darkened. “The corpse’s brain showed signs of damage—as if someone had… dug into it.”
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