“Their mission has nothing to do with me,” Earth Ox said. “Qi Xia granted me the highest command authority, so I can only strategize based on my needs.”
Chen Junnan nodded after hearing this. “I’m thinking the same as Old Qi… Whether we win this time or not, those ‘Zodiacs’ won’t be getting out anyway.”
Then he turned to Qin Dingdong. “Sister Dong… Stop overthinking it. The more you dwell on it, the more exhausted you’ll feel. Since we’re here, let’s focus on the task at hand.”
Qin Dingdong lowered her head slowly. “Chen Junnan, the ‘door’ in the ‘work area’ has disappeared, meaning we can’t reach other places. The ‘interview room’ door is gone too, so even if we could respawn there, we wouldn’t be able to get to the ‘corridor’…”
“Sister Dong,” Chen Junnan interrupted her, “you’re worrying too much. Even if someone could respawn outside or in the ‘interview room’… that person wouldn’t be the current ‘you’ anymore.”
“I…”
“Let me say it again,” Chen Junnan continued. “I trust Old Qi. No matter how hard you try to stop me, I’m going to break these doors. Maybe the extent of your distrust in Old Qi is matched only by how much I trust him.”
Qin Dingdong fell silent, contemplating her final stance.
“I’ve known Old Qi for so long…” Chen Junnan sighed deeply. “Not a single thing he’s done has been for himself. If we don’t help him… this guy will have no one left.”
……
“So… do you understand now?” Qi Xia turned to an empty space and asked quietly.
The phantom of White Goat paused but said nothing.
Qi Xia stared at the empty space for a moment before speaking again. “Take them there directly. You have no choice now… Maybe you never did…”
The phantom of White Goat grinned at the sight, as if looking at a complete madman. “How pathetic. You’ve been muttering to empty air this whole time. What, is there a second version of me there?”
“A second you…?” Qi Xia hesitated, then shook his head. “No… impossible… It’s just the two of us here…”
After saying this, Qi Xia realized his mistake and corrected himself, lowering his head. “No… it’s just me.”
“So you really were talking to thin air,” White Goat nodded. “In a room with only yourself, you managed a three-way conversation. I doubt you’ll make it to the end. Your mental state is no different from the ‘natives’ now—just another madman I’ve seen in the Endgame. This is the lowest form of insanity. I thought you’d already moved past this stage.”
“Of course I’m not as composed as you… Too much composure would only lead me to failure…” Qi Xia raised his grayish-white eyes, now tinged with streaks of red. “White Goat, can you touch me?”
“Oh…?” White Goat frowned slightly. “What do you think?”
“I’m guessing you can’t,” Qi Xia stood up slowly. “That’s a problem… I need to get hurt right now.”
White Goat seemed slightly puzzled. “Will pain make you more lucid?”
“Lucidity…? I don’t need that right now,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But I need to be covered in wounds. Every step of the plan must be executed precisely—even these injuries will become part of it.”
He turned, lifted the chair behind him over his head, and smashed it onto the ground with a deafening crash.
The chair shattered into pieces, some fragments passing through White Goat’s body and scattering across the floor.
Qi Xia bent down, picked up a broken chair leg, and murmured, “Now that the ‘Ants’ are free and the ‘Celestials’ are dying, these rabble oppressing the Endgame will be reduced to just one by dawn.”
With that, he raised the chair leg and struck his own forehead with brutal force. Splinters flew as blood began to seep from the wound.
At the same time, White Goat’s phantom winced, a trickle of blood appearing on his brow.
Elsewhere, the ‘Ants’ were frantically hunting down the ‘Celestials.’ After combing through the corridors where the ‘Celestials’ lurked, they left a unit behind to attack the long-haired Celestial Rooster and Celestial Monkey with full force.
The remaining ‘Ants’ turned their attention to the ‘Train’ corridor, where countless ‘eyes’ loomed in the depths—were they ‘Paths’ or ‘Celestials’?
Then, like a tide, the ‘Ants’ surged forward, their gray-white figures flooding the passage.
Wiping the blood from his forehead, Qi Xia picked up a second chair leg.
After a pause, he continued, “All ‘doors’ leading outside the ‘Train’ are destroyed, never to open again. Everyone will be trapped where they stand. Without the original templates for these ‘doors,’ even ‘Crafts’ and ‘Counterfeits’ won’t be able to replicate them perfectly. By dawn, only one door to the outside will remain.”
He raised the chair leg and struck his own arm with enough force to snap the wood, gritting his teeth against the pain.
White Goat clutched his own arm but remained silent, watching Qi Xia intently.
Something felt out of control, yet Qi Xia, the mastermind behind it all, seemed oblivious.
Earth Ox and Chen Junnan split up, destroying every ‘door’ in sight. Behind them, Qin Dingdong, who had initially hesitated, now realized there was no turning back. After a brief pause, she joined the effort, smashing doors alongside Jin Yuanxun.
Perhaps she didn’t fully trust Qi Xia—but she trusted Chen Junnan.
Qi Xia picked up a third chair leg, pondered for a moment, then declared, “The Azure Dragon will be pinned down by the strongest fighters in the Endgame. These two embody the fury of countless souls, driving him into a final dead end. Even if he somehow survives, the ‘Troubled Waters’ will cross mountains and rivers, defying all spatial barriers to reach him and seal his fate.”
He reversed his grip on the chair leg and struck his own chest. The wood splintered, and both Qi Xia and White Goat coughed in unison.
“Wait…” White Goat pressed a hand to his chest, his brow furrowing. “Are you even lucid right now…?”
Qi Xia didn’t answer, only exhaled deeply.
Meanwhile, Zhang Shan and Qiao Jiajin relentlessly pressed their assault on the Azure Dragon in the spacious train cabin. Though the Dragon fought with desperate focus, neither of his opponents was ordinary—their every strike precise and deadly.
Though they didn’t understand why the Azure Dragon still hadn’t activated his ‘Echo,’ they knew their window was narrow. They had to overwhelm him with everything they had before time ran out.
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