Hearing Qi Xia’s words, Qinglong slowly grinned and then snapped his fingers in front of him with a flick of his hand.
Qi Xia felt the entire car enveloped in an eerie aura, eerily reminiscent of “Silence.”
“Of course you can, Qi Xia!” Qinglong laughed wildly. “Fight back! Kill him!!”
“What…?” Qi Xia hadn’t expected Qinglong to react this way, leaving him momentarily at a loss for words.
“You absolutely should rise up and resist!!” Qinglong roared. “Only then will it be truly thrilling! Why shouldn’t mortals be able to kill ‘gods’? Why are we the only ones allowed to leave this place? That’s not right!”
Qi Xia tried to understand Qinglong’s personality in the shortest time possible, but he quickly realized it was futile.
This cold-faced man was emotionally unstable, even more deranged than anyone Qi Xia had ever met.
How could someone like this be understood?
“Qinglong, what exactly do you want?” Qi Xia asked. “Aren’t you here to stop Xu Liunian?”
“Stop Xu Liunian…?” Qinglong seemed to suddenly remember something. “Ah, right, right… Though an elephant wouldn’t go out of its way to crush an ant, setting an example is still necessary.”
“Setting an example?” Xu Liunian froze. “What?”
“The ‘pieces’ I recognize must remain ‘pieces,'” Qinglong declared. “No exceptions in this world. Once I’ve set my sights on someone, they become my ‘piece,’ and every piece must act according to my will. This rule cannot be broken.”
As he spoke, he extended his hand toward Xu Liunian, his fingers pulsing with a strange energy.
“Don’t worry, Xu Liunian. I won’t kill you,” Qinglong sneered. “I’m just taking back the ‘sanity’ I granted you, turning you into a true ‘madman.’ From now on, no one will help you, and no one will ever restore your ‘sanity.’ This is the price for defying me, Qinglong.”
Xu Liunian’s eyes widened in horror. Had she never been a ‘madman’ before, she might not have been so terrified.
But the two years of living in a dazed, nightmarish state were seared into her memory—utterly horrifying.
“No… No…” Xu Liunian shook her head, scrambling backward before desperately grabbing for the car door.
But the door seemed to be sealed by some unseen force, immovable as if cast in concrete.
“Kill me… I’d rather die than lose my ‘sanity’…”
Qinglong let out a cold laugh. “That’s not up to you.”
“I said, wait.”
Qi Xia reached out and gripped Qinglong’s wrist.
The touch sent a jolt through Qinglong, an unprecedented sensation of defiance that made his arm instinctively recoil.
“You… dare touch me…?” Qinglong frowned, his voice laced with disgust. In all his decades of existence, no mortal had ever laid hands on him—it was revolting.
“Qinglong, you won’t take her sanity,” Qi Xia said coldly, his lips curling into a smirk. “If you do, I’ll kill Xu Liunian myself. When the next cycle begins, she’ll return as a ‘participant.’ You can’t win against me.”
Xu Liunian stiffened at his words. If earlier, Qi Xia had claimed she was ‘from hell,’ now she truly had no way out.
Yet, ironically, his insistence that she was a ‘participant’—something that seemed to corner her—now played a crucial role in her survival.
“Qi Xia, not only do you command me, but you also dare touch me…” Qinglong muttered, his voice trembling with barely restrained fury. “Even if I’ve been lenient with you, that doesn’t mean you can overstep. Mortals are still mortals—your filthy flesh has no right to sully me.”
“Pathetic,” Qi Xia retorted, tightening his grip on Qinglong’s wrist. “What kind of ‘god’ are you? Even if you treat lives like chess pieces to toy with, right now, you’re just sitting in the backseat of a beat-up taxi, negotiating with me.”
“Insolence…!” Qinglong’s face turned icy, his eyes brimming with murderous intent.
“Qinglong… you can’t even kill me,” Qi Xia taunted, his smile widening. “This cycle, I’ve endured enough. Soon, it’ll be your turn to regret.”
“What?”
“Ever consider this possibility…?” Qi Xia’s lips curled, his gaze just as deadly as Qinglong’s. “I’ve awakened ‘Endless Life’ three times. It’s not because I’m strong—it’s because you’ve given me enough despair.”
“So what?” Qinglong snapped.
“So I’ll make a bold guess,” Qi Xia continued. “Starting from the next cycle, I’ll grow even more accustomed to this feeling, awakening my ‘Echo’ with greater ease. If I stop losing my memories from today onward, how exactly will you and ‘Tianlong’ stop me?”
Qi Xia’s relentless questions made Qinglong’s expression shift unpredictably.
“You claim you won’t lose your memories from now on?” Qinglong scrutinized Qi Xia’s eyes, searching for deception.
After all, ‘Endless Life’ was activated by one’s subconscious—yet Qi Xia had outright declared his intentions.
Was he bluffing… or did he truly believe it?
“Qi Xia… I’m glad you’re so optimistic,” Qinglong finally said after a long pause, shaking his head. “But it seems you still don’t grasp the gap between us.”
With a flick of his wrist, Qinglong broke free from Qi Xia’s grip and said softly, “Killing ‘participants’ doesn’t require such effort. We could do it right in the ‘interview room.’ Tianlong and I are the rules here—no one interferes with what we do.”
Qi Xia’s smirk widened. How laughable.
Even someone like Qinglong could leave holes in his own logic.
“Ridiculous… Qinglong, are you trying to deceive me now?”
“You—”
“You and Tianlong’s rules are absolute?” Qi Xia scoffed, his laughter laced with fury. “How absurd. If Tianlong’s true goal is to kill all ‘participants,’ why bother with such convoluted rules? He could just have you strip everyone of their ‘sanity,’ wait until they all turn into ‘natives,’ and then slaughter them. In a matter of days, the ‘Land of the End’ would be devoid of life. After all, the original me only ever said that ‘participants’ could cycle.”
Qinglong’s brow furrowed.
He should have stopped Xu Liunian from handing Qi Xia his ‘weapon.’
Now, Qi Xia seemed to have cleared the rubble blocking his thoughts, advancing relentlessly down a terrifying path.
Seeing Qinglong’s hesitation, Qi Xia pressed on:
“Qinglong, you don’t actually think I’m bluffing, do you?”
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