“Ah, I was before, but this time I haven’t obtained the ‘Echo’ yet,” the young man replied.
“Good. I want to see Chu Tianqiu,” I said bluntly.
“See the leader…?” The young man nodded. “What should I call you?”
“My name is Xu Liunian.”
The young man nodded and ran into the school building. Before long, he returned with the familiar figure I knew.
Chu Tianqiu hadn’t changed at all.
Then again, in a place where one’s body resets every ten days, who would?
Chu Tianqiu was the same as ever—wrapped in an outer coat, rushing anxiously forward, his eyes filled with worry.
“Liunian…” he called from afar. “You’ve finally returned…”
I smiled, took a few steps forward, then pulled out the dagger I had prepared long ago and cleanly slit the throat of the young man beside him.
The young man didn’t even realize why he had met such a fate before blood sprayed from his throat.
As he collapsed with wide eyes, Chu Tianqiu’s expression changed too.
“Liunian… you…”
“Tianqiu, I have something to tell you.”
Chu Tianqiu stared at his fallen companion in the night, his expression twisting into something complicated.
“What are you doing…?” His eyes narrowed slowly. “This man hasn’t obtained an ‘Echo’ yet… His memories will all disappear.”
“That’s perfect,” I said with a nod. “Tianqiu, no one can know I’ve returned this time. I have a new plan.”
Chu Tianqiu seemed utterly unable to comprehend my actions. It took him a long moment before he finally managed to speak. “Liunian, you vanished for two years… and on the very day you return, you kill one of my teammates. How am I supposed to accept your ‘new plan’?”
Distrust was written plainly in his eyes—but did I have any better options?
“Because I have no other choice.” I wiped the blood off the dagger with my sleeve, then tucked it back into my belt. Bending down, I began dragging the corpse away. After a few steps, I lifted my head and looked at Chu Tianqiu. “Care to come with me? I won’t kill you.”
Chu Tianqiu frowned, deep in thought for a moment—then slowly grinned, revealing a smile that struck me as strangely unsettling.
In my memory, he had never smiled like that before.
“Of course I know you won’t kill me. Otherwise, it would’ve been my throat slit just now…” He stared straight at me, then chuckled softly. “But how can you be so sure I’ll accept your new plan?”
Only then did I realize that Chu Tianqiu seemed… different.
As if two personalities were warring inside him—one a “sane man,” the other a “madman.”
“Once you hear it… you’ll definitely be interested.” I snapped out of my thoughts, lowering my head as I continued dragging the corpse. I was grateful I’d arrived here under the cover of night—no one had seen me return.
My plan should proceed smoothly.
Without hesitation, Chu Tianqiu followed me away from the school. We turned into an alley, where I covered the body with a piece of cardboard before finally looking up at him again.
Before I could speak, Chu Tianqiu beat me to it.
“So, Liunian… what does it really feel like to be a ‘Native’?”
I fell silent for a moment before answering. “Unfortunately, I can’t see any ‘divine’ guidance at all. Being a ‘Native’ means losing all rationality, blurring even the most basic awareness of your surroundings. I thought I had returned to the real world, living the same life as before—waiting for fares in my taxi by the roadside.”
That’s right. Even Chu Tianqiu had believed I was just a down-on-his-luck taxi driver waiting for work in Hengdian. How could I ever tell anyone I came from hell?
“Is that so…?” Chu Tianqiu’s gaze turned cold, an inexplicable aura radiating from him for a moment before he smiled again. “There’s one thing I’ve always been curious about.”
His tone made me uneasy. “What is it?”
“Were you really a taxi driver in the real world?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied, frowning slightly.
“How strange.” He smirked. “Recently, I happened to find a notebook—what was written inside was quite interesting.”
“A notebook…?”
Chu Tianqiu reached into his pocket with a smile, then feigned annoyance. “Ah, my apologies—I didn’t bring it with me. But I remember its contents clearly.”
“What did it say?”
“Someone might be trying to sow discord?” Chu Tianqiu took three steps forward, closing the distance between us. He stood so close it felt dangerous. “That notebook recorded the names and ‘Echoes’ of eight people who shared the same interview room as me… But oddly enough… your name wasn’t there.”
Hearing this, I froze momentarily.
Of course not. I was never a “Participant”—how could I have been in the same interview room as Chu Tianqiu?
I had no idea how much Chu Tianqiu had already deduced. But to alter the layout of the initial rooms in this “Land of the End,” only one person could achieve such a thing.
Would he guess this was all “Qinglong’s” doing?
“Liunian, Liunian…” Seeing my expression, he smiled again, plucking a loose strand of hair from my shoulder. “What a predicament, hm? Not only did you suddenly appear in my ‘interview room’ as my teammate, but you also reverted from a ‘Native’ back to a ‘Participant’…”
“I…” I hadn’t expected Chu Tianqiu’s cunning to have deepened over the past two years. At a loss for an excuse, I could only stall. “Two years ago, when we decided to take the ‘Native’ path, you agreed to it too…”
“But two years have passed.” Chu Tianqiu chuckled. “Every single day since then, I’ve searched for a way to turn ‘Natives’ back into ‘Participants’… Sadly, such an absurd thing has no precedent. So… how exactly did you do it?”
His piercing gaze bore into me—I felt as if he could see right through me.
Had it been too long since I last saw Chu Tianqiu?
Or had something changed in these two years?
Why did Chu Tianqiu feel so utterly different from the man I knew before?
“I… don’t know how I did it either.” The moment those words left my mouth, I knew I had lost.
What kind of person was Chu Tianqiu?
A flimsy lie like this would never fool him.
“Interesting.” He nodded. “If you won’t tell me, I’ll just have to guess.”
Seeing that I didn’t react, he continued, “If something all ‘Participants’ can’t achieve is possible for you… then that only proves you aren’t a ‘Participant.'”
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