Chapter 543: From Hell

Qi Xia knew this might be his only chance.

As long as he could meet that person, he would at least get an answer.

With that thought, he quickly moved toward the sound of the engine. Before long, the old taxi sped over and came to a steady stop right in front of him.

“Passenger, where to?” Xu Liunian rolled down the window and asked.

“Escape,” Qi Xia replied.

“I can’t do that.” Xu Liunian smiled faintly. “How about a drive instead?”

Without another word, Qi Xia opened the door and sat in the passenger seat. At that moment, he felt pain all over his body, especially between his ribs and his chest.

Xu Liunian skillfully shifted gears and pressed the accelerator, speeding away with Qi Xia.

Qi Xia gasped for breath, sweat dripping from his chin. The sound of his pounding heartbeat filled the entire car.

“How pathetic,” Xu Liunian chuckled. “The renowned Qi Xia, almost dying in a simple jogging game—something even elementary school kids could handle?”

Qi Xia didn’t respond, just stared blankly out the window. He estimated that the “Pegasus Hour” had been going on for about an hour now, and the other “participants” on the road were clearly exhausted.

For them, this game was utterly hopeless.

Because hardly anyone knew when the endless black threads in the sky would stop chasing them. They would mistakenly believe this was a game that only ended in death. Under such immense psychological pressure, fatigue set in much faster than usual.

If people were told they only had to run for two hours to survive, some might make it. But if they were told the black threads would never stop, many would give up halfway.

Qi Xia had personally witnessed several participants being impaled through the skull by the black threads. The moment their heads were pierced, the threads would curve downward, splitting their lifeless bodies in half.

This method of killing was something Qi Xia had never seen before, yet every corpse he encountered along the way had met the same fate. It made him deeply curious.

Xu Liunian pressed the clutch and lightly tapped the brakes, swerving at an intersection to avoid a black thread before turning to Qi Xia. “You know what? If a sharp object pierces someone’s forehead, they die instantly—no pain.”

Qi Xia remained silent, still gazing out the window.

“That’s why movies and TV shows are wrong when they show people putting guns to their temples or in their mouths to commit suicide,” Xu Liunian continued. “The right way is to press the gun against the forehead. Otherwise, the pain before death would be unimaginable. Maybe directors think that doesn’t look as dramatic?”

She spoke as if Qi Xia weren’t even there, lightly turning the steering wheel while smiling at the road ahead, her tone casual, as if chatting with a friend.

“So the ‘Pegasus Hour’ is actually quite humane. These black threads kill people painlessly first, then slice their bodies apart. Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brow. Xu Liunian’s logic was growing stranger by the second.

“So… passenger, something on your mind?” Xu Liunian asked again.

Qi Xia leaned back in his seat, his voice slightly hoarse. “Xu Liunian, what’s your ultimate goal?”

“Me?” She let out a soft laugh. “You really keep surprising me, cutting straight to my ‘ultimate goal’?”

“I can’t think of any other reason,” Qi Xia replied. “On the surface, you’re Chu Tianqiu’s person, yet you’re helping me ‘echo.’ You’re disrupting both Chu Tianqiu’s plans and mine. So you don’t want anyone to ‘ascend to godhood,’ nor do you want anyone to ‘escape.'”

“Not entirely.”

Xu Liunian drove the car to the center of the road just as a “native” began crossing. She even stopped the car in a mock display of courtesy, waiting patiently for them to pass.

“For me, who ‘ascends’ or ‘escapes’ doesn’t matter. What matters is that I destroy this place.” Seeing the native moving too slowly, Xu Liunian lightly tapped the horn.

“Destroy this place…” Qi Xia felt like he’d heard this “ultimate goal” before.

Someone had once said to him: “Qi Xia, let’s destroy this place together.”

Was it Lin Qin…?

“This place is already out of control,” Xu Liunian said as she started the car again. “Even its creators couldn’t have imagined it would turn out like this. Now, the gods can’t govern, and the people can’t survive. It’s practically a second hell on earth.”

Qi Xia realized this woman knew far more than she let on—even the “origins” of this place.

“What do you mean by ‘a second hell’?” he asked.

“I come from hell,” Xu Liunian replied with a smile.

“Wha—” That brief statement stunned Qi Xia.

“But it’s not what you think. I don’t have any grand powers—after all, even I’m trapped here.” Xu Liunian shook her head, her expression somewhere between madness and sorrow. “I’ve always known no one would come here to save me. We can’t leave, and outsiders can’t enter. The ‘Land of Finality’ is a bloodstained siege. The only way to end this is to destroy it.”

Many people had told Qi Xia, “We can’t leave,” but he had never believed them.

Yet for some reason, hearing it from Xu Liunian’s lips made it strangely convincing.

“So how exactly do you plan to destroy this place?” Qi Xia asked.

“I can’t do it alone,” Xu Liunian admitted. “If necessary, I’ll assist the strongest here however I can. As long as someone kills ‘that person,’ this place will lose its purpose.”

“The strongest?” Qi Xia frowned, considering Xu Liunian’s actions so far. “Like me and Chu Tianqiu?”

“No.” Xu Liunian shook her head. “Chu Tianqiu is clever, but he’s not my first choice.”

Qi Xia sensed something deeper in her words. “Then who is this ‘strongest’ you’re referring to…?”

“You and Wen Qiaoyun.”

The moment the name “Wen Qiaoyun” left her lips, Qi Xia visibly stiffened.

“Me and… Wen Qiaoyun?”

He stared at Xu Liunian, puzzled. Did her long-standing memory suggest that Wen Qiaoyun was stronger than Chu Tianqiu?

Just then, a participant spotted the moving car on the street. His eyes widened, and he rushed into the road, waving his arms.

It was as if he’d seen a floating log in a raging river—if he could just grab hold, he might survive the endless black torrent.

But Xu Liunian acted as though she hadn’t seen him at all, accelerating straight into him.

The man’s legs shattered instantly as he slammed onto the hood, his internal organs crushed. A mouthful of blood sprayed across the windshield.

Xu Liunian still didn’t stop, driving over him and leaving him behind.

“Qi Xia…” she murmured softly. “See? ‘Natives’ can’t die, but ‘participants’ are expendable.”