Although their faces were unclear, their attire suggested they were Yun Yao and Zhang Chenze. Behind them was a slender girl, presumably Li Xiangling based on deduction.
The three girls immediately spotted Tian Tian standing in the middle of the playground and hurried over to greet her. It seemed that during the time Qi Xia hadn’t met with them, this group had formed a solid bond of friendship.
Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu were too far away to hear their exact words, but they could sense a mix of joy and sorrow in their voices.
After surviving the “Pegasus Moment” the day before, everyone had gradually gathered at “Paradise Gate.” After all, as a landmark, the chances of reuniting with lost companions were higher here.
Watching the girls conversing on the school playground, Qi Xia slowly curled his lips. “Chu Tianqiu, since you don’t want me to revive Wen Qiaoyun, how about a bet?”
“…What bet?”
“We’ll follow their lead.”
“Yun Yao…?”
Qi Xia nodded. “If Yun Yao, Attorney Zhang, or Li Xiangling mention Wen Qiaoyun within three sentences of meeting me, I’ll bring her back.”
Chu Tianqiu paused, then grinned. “You really are insane.”
“Dare to take the bet?”
“Is this even about daring? None of them—Yun Yao, Attorney Zhang, or Li Xiangling—could possibly know Wen Qiaoyun, let alone bring her up unprompted,” Chu Tianqiu said. “Are you sure you want to bet on this?”
“Absolutely,” Qi Xia affirmed. “Only three sentences. If none of them mention her, I lose. If they do, you lose.”
“What happens if you lose?” Chu Tianqiu pressed.
“If I lose, I’ll pluck out one of my eyes for you.”
“Both,” Chu Tianqiu countered.
“Deal.”
With the wager sealed, the two turned to head downstairs under the setting sun to greet their new guests.
But as they turned, they noticed a figure standing silently on the breezy rooftop, just seven or eight steps away. He had appeared without a sound, as if he had been there all along.
Neither Qi Xia nor Chu Tianqiu showed any surprise upon seeing him, as though they had anticipated his arrival.
“How should I put this…?” A voice, neither distinctly male nor female, emerged from the figure’s throat, tinged with hesitation.
Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu simply watched in silence, neither speaking.
“Qi Xia…” The figure continued with a faint smile. “Even if it seems like I’m helping you, you can’t treat me like a subordinate. It’s… inconvenient.”
“What’s the matter?” Qi Xia smiled. “Is there something even you, Qinglong, can’t handle in this place?”
“You two stand here openly chatting, the sun hasn’t set, and the train hasn’t left,” Qinglong shook his head. “Do you really expect me to kill ‘Tiangou’? That kid shares a deep bond with us. It took great effort just to calm him down this time.”
“That’s not my concern,” Qi Xia replied. “Besides, we genuinely needed to talk to you.”
Understanding, Qinglong smirked and snapped his fingers.
Instantly, the three were enveloped in a peculiar aura, cutting off all external sound.
Down below, Zheng Yingxiong abruptly looked up, frozen in place.
Tian Tian noticed his odd behavior and crouched beside him. “What’s wrong, Hero?”
“What is that scent…?”
Zheng Yingxiong stared wide-eyed at the school rooftop, where only Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu’s backs were visible. Yet, he sensed a third presence—someone standing just out of sight.
That person’s scent was utterly bizarre.
“I smell ‘god’ and ‘immortal,’ ‘stench’ and ‘fragrance,’ ‘yin’ and ‘yang’…” Zheng Yingxiong murmured. “What is that thing?”
“What’d you say?” Chen Junnan frowned. “I get most of that, but what the hell is ‘yin and yang’?”
Qin Dingdong pondered. “A ‘Resonance’?”
“No…” Zheng Yingxiong shook his head. “Not a ‘Resonance’… nor an ‘idea’—more like… a ‘state’?”
Even he sounded uncertain. This was the first time he had ever smelled someone’s “state.”
“The scent of ‘yin and yang’ is like ‘death’ and ‘life,’ a persistent condition attached to that person, obscure and hard to grasp,” he added.
“State?” Chen Junnan scratched his head. “Like ‘dead’ and ‘alive’? So there’s some kind of hermaphrodite up there?”
“I don’t know,” Zheng Yingxiong admitted. “Chen Junnan, I want to go up and see.”
Chen Junnan pressed a hand on the boy’s head. “What ‘Chen Junnan’? Call me ‘bro.'”
“Stop joking,” Zheng Yingxiong pushed at his hand, failing to dislodge it. He glared stubbornly. “I think Qi Xia’s in danger. That person has all kinds of scents, but none of them human.”
“Ha.” Chen Junnan glanced up at Qi Xia’s silhouette on the rooftop and grinned. “Does Old Qi even smell human anymore?”
“He…” Zheng Yingxiong hesitated. “Now that you mention it… no, he doesn’t.”
“See?” Chen Junnan said. “Birds of a feather flock together. Why worry?”
“Birds of—?” Zheng Yingxiong stared at him, momentarily stunned by the man’s lack of literacy.
“Just relax,” Chen Junnan insisted. “If Old Qi’s really in trouble, he’ll scream, ‘Aaaaaah! Junnan, big bro, come save me, damn it!’ Then we’ll go help.”
Zheng Yingxiong deadpanned at him before muttering, “Can you take your hand off my head?”
—
On the rooftop, Qinglong stretched his neck after activating “Silence,” his emerald-green eyes locking onto the two before him.
“You two have been through a lot, huh?”
In just a few days, the two had transformed entirely.
Chu Tianqiu’s appearance was unrecognizable, yet his aura remained unchanged.
Qi Xia, though outwardly similar, carried a presence starkly different from before.
“Is that so?” they replied vaguely, eyes guarded.
After all, the man before them was Qinglong—one of the two rulers of this place.
“Funny thing,” Qinglong mused. “Those who retain memories rarely change, while those who lose them grow more unpredictable. So tell me—who’s truly mad? The ones who change, or the ones who stay the same?”
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