Jiang Ruoxue and Lin Qin placed their arms on Yan Zhichun’s shoulders, channeling their “Causality” and “Trigger” into her.
The expressions on all three faces were complex, but at this moment, nothing mattered more than survival.
Just as Tiāngǒu had said, the faint glow of the “sun” beneath their feet had already begun to brighten. Once the “Final Moment” arrived, everyone would perish under Tiānlóng’s “Dissolution.”
Yan Zhichun stared solemnly at the eyeball on the table before asking softly, “Tiāngǒu… has there ever been a ‘Celestial Moment’ where ‘Soul Theft’ was the dominant force?”
Tiāngǒu paused. “No.”
“Never?” Yan Zhichun pressed.
“Never,” Tiāngǒu confirmed with a nod. “Human rationality is a mysterious thing. Even if people lose their minds in the same way, their behaviors don’t align perfectly. Just look at the diverse ‘Natives’ we have.”
Indeed, Yan Zhichun had seen all kinds of “Natives”—some wandered like mindless zombies, some could barely hold a conversation, while others repeated certain actions until death.
Tiāngǒu sighed. “Rationality itself is a difficult variable to control. Losing it doesn’t just turn you into a ‘Native’—it might also amplify your opponent’s ‘Immortal Arts.’ Neither Qīnglóng nor Tiānlóng would dare take that risk.”
“But then…” Yan Zhichun hesitated, feeling that the more she questioned, the more flaws emerged in this bizarre plan. “An action that’s never been attempted before… yet Qí Xià calls it the most crucial plan… Am I the only one who finds that strange?”
Tiāngǒu gritted his teeth. “I told you… I just want to live. The struggles at the top aren’t something a minor figure like me concerns myself with. All I know is that if he tells me to do this, I’ll survive.”
“A minor figure…” Dìgǒu, standing nearby, couldn’t help but laugh dryly. “You, an ‘Celestial’—the rank every ‘Zodiac’ here aspires to—call yourself a minor figure?”
“Isn’t that the truth?” Tiāngǒu turned to him. “This is ‘Peach Spring’… ‘Human-level’ are just ordinary people wearing masks, ‘Earth-level’ are ordinary people with modified bodies, and ‘Celestial-level’ are ordinary people with implanted eyeballs. What’s the real difference between us?”
His expression grew increasingly despondent—he seemed both madder than anyone else, yet more lucid than anyone else.
Tiāngǒu shook his head. “Even though I’m called ‘Celestial,’ even if they loaded me with deadly weapons, I know who to provoke and who not to. After all, they have a hundred ways to kill me.”
Yan Zhichun realized that Tiāngǒu’s predicament wasn’t so different from her own.
After years of trials, she had always believed she had grown stronger—yet at this critical moment, it all felt like an illusion.
She hadn’t grown stronger at all. She had merely followed the path others had set for her.
Now, all she wanted was to escape this life that others controlled. Nothing else mattered.
For the “Ultimate Way”… for “friendship”…
In a world where nothing felt real, she only wanted to live for herself.
If she could unleash the “Chaos Moment” Tiāngǒu had described and end this battle, there were only two possible outcomes—either she would be annihilated, or she would finally escape this false world.
Either way, it would be enough to end this absurd existence.
With that thought, Yan Zhichun reached out and touched the eyeball at the center of the table. Guided by Tiāngǒu, she focused her mind and poured her “Soul Theft” into the “Energy Storage.”
In the next instant, a chilling sensation spread through her fingers—as if they had been locked onto the eyeball, impossible to retract.
The faintly trembling eyeball was like a greedy mouth, sucking something intangible out of her.
Yan Zhichun had never experienced anything like this before. Whatever was being drained wasn’t blood or flesh, but something unseen—perhaps her “conviction.”
Lin Qin and Jiang Ruoxue, still gripping her shoulders, also seemed to be struggling. A torrent of “conviction” mixed with “rationality” surged through their arms into Yan Zhichun’s body, only to vanish within her.
A sinister glow began to spread across the worktable, and soon, even the “sun” beneath their feet trembled slightly—like a massive pupil contracting.
The ground shook, making it hard to stand. Zhèng Yīngxióng steadied himself and moved to pull them apart, but Dìgǒu stopped him.
“Good… perfect…” Tiāngǒu muttered excitedly. “The ‘Chaos Moment’ is here… I’ll live… I’ll live…”
He didn’t care about the fate of Yan Zhichun and the others. Staggering forward, he touched the other eyeballs. “Hair this time… hair infused with ‘Soul Theft’… No need for ‘Pierce’… just a touch is enough. And ‘Concealment’… can’t let them detect the hair…”
He unleashed every conceivable ability from the eyeballs on the table. The central “Energy Storage” eyeball gradually turned crimson.
With the “door” still open, the tremors from the “sun” reverberated into the “train,” sending unsettling vibrations through the carriage.
…
Qí Xià focused on the faint tremors beneath his feet, then looked up at the old man before him. His expression softened slightly.
“Even with a living ‘variable’ standing right in front of me… it doesn’t matter…” he murmured to himself. “What’s meant to happen… has happened.”
“Young man, what did you say?” The old man’s expression flickered uneasily—his subconscious kept associating this youth with death.
Qí Xià ignored the question. Instead, he stared and asked, “Why did you come to me?”
The old man slowly dropped the strand of hair in his hand to the ground. “Ah… I can’t seem to break my bad habit… Ever since I learned I could seek the ‘truth’… I’ve wanted answers to everything.”
Qí Xià knew that if he wanted true peace, he had to eliminate this “variable” before him.
He couldn’t die here. Nor could he stay alive here.
He had to disappear here.
“Fine,” Qí Xià nodded. “Then just ask me directly—what do you want to know?”
“Young man…” The old man stepped inside, hesitating. “Twice now, I’ve sought the ‘truth,’ and both times, I’ve encountered you… Yet the ‘truths’ I sought were entirely different. How could they both lead to the same answer?”
“What truths did you seek?”
“Once, I asked where we came from. Another time, I asked where we were going.” The old man said. “Young man… The answer told me that you were once our origin, and you will be our destination.”
Qí Xià stilled, then lowered his head in silence.
“Variables” were few, but deadly.
A “Resonance” capable of seeking “answers” had fallen into the hands of someone with insatiable curiosity.
Before this loophole widened further, it had to be stopped.
A “variable” like this didn’t even deserve to dream.
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