Chu Tianqiu has abandoned me. Not only did he not mention anything about the previous incident, but he also never brought up “cooperation” with me again.
Lonely, I walk toward “Paradise Entrance,” with no one by my side.
Yes, I’ve always been like this—alone before joining Chu Tianqiu’s faction, and now I’ve simply returned to that state.
Besides, I was scheming from the start, so this outcome is what I deserve.
When I arrive at “Paradise Entrance,” I witness a sight I will never forget.
On the bloodstained rubber playground, numerous corpses of Li Xiangling are piled into a small mountain of bodies.
At this moment, Li Xiangling is still carrying Li Xiangling while walking toward Li Xiangling.
A single person presents me with the suffocating spectacle of “endless regeneration.”
It seems Qi Xia has not only “echoed” but done so with tremendous power. The field is littered not only with the gathered corpses of Li Xiangling but also the scattered bodies of Qiao Jiajin.
Just as Qinglong said, if Qi Xia wishes for someone to live, they will not die, no matter what.
Even if they die, they will not die.
One can imagine that on the day Qi Xia was tortured to death by Xuanwu, his final thought was, “Qiao Jiajin and Li Xiangling *must* survive.” And because of that thought, the two of them truly began their grotesque “immortality.”
So, in a way, my plan has succeeded. Both my own goal and Qinglong’s have been achieved amidst the chaos at “Paradise Entrance.”
What happens next?
In this game orchestrated by three players, each has more or less accomplished their objectives. Now, who will move faster—them, or “Tianlong”?
Li Xiangling tosses aside her own corpse and raises her head, locking eyes with me. Her expression is indescribably complex.
Yes, in her eyes, I am the mastermind behind this tragedy, the one who killed Qi Xia.
She says nothing, but I know there is no place for me in “Paradise Entrance” anymore.
I grab a few cans from the cafeteria and head to the rooftop, where no one can see me, yet I can overlook the entire “Paradise Entrance.”
Around afternoon, Qi Xia’s team finally emerges from the interview room and joins “Paradise Entrance.”
By then, Li Xiangling has begun moving Qiao Jiajin’s corpses, and Qiao Jiajin steps forward to help.
I crack open a beer and take a sip. The feeling is strange—I don’t know if I’m still useful or if I’ve been discarded.
Qi Xia, Chu Tianqiu, and Qinglong have neither outright declared me out of the game nor extended an olive branch.
So, what exactly is my position?
Until nightfall, I remain a dispensable presence at “Paradise Entrance.” No one asks if I’m still here, no one notices my absence. I become a ghost, standing on the rooftop, waiting for the sunset.
“Qinglong, have you achieved what you wanted?” I murmur to myself.
As soon as the words leave my lips, “Silence” envelops me.
“Still too vague…” A voice, neither wholly male nor female, suddenly speaks behind me. “Chu Tianqiu and Qi Xia are both fascinating. I can’t let go of either.”
I don’t turn around, merely taking another sip of beer while staring ahead. The feeling is unbearable.
Then, the voice continues, “For now… Qi Xia scores higher in my book.”
Qinglong steps beside me and picks up a can. He opens it, sniffs, then grimaces and dumps it on the ground.
“Why?” I ask.
“Why can a person’s mind be so meticulous?” Qinglong tosses the empty can aside and turns to me. “When he built the Great Bell, he already foresaw that one day, there would be an ‘overclocked’ sound—one he himself could never hear.”
“So, what exactly was displayed on the screen that night?”
Curious, I glance at Qinglong, only to notice his expression has changed.
He looks more exhilarated than before.
“I saw the reverberation of ‘endless regeneration’…” Qinglong grins, his smile bordering on madness. “So fascinating. Why didn’t I know this back then…? Did he also use ‘Silence’ at the time?”
“‘Saw’?” I freeze.
For decades, the screen has always displayed “heard”—never “seen.”
“Let me think…” Qinglong touches his forehead. “Qi Xia is inherently a ‘Spirit Listener,’ yet when he heard the three-word ‘frequency,’ he already predicted he wouldn’t be able to detect a four-word ‘frequency’…”
“What…?”
“That’s it!!” Qinglong whirls toward me, eyes wide with excitement. “He built an *insurance* into the Great Bell!!”
He looks ecstatic, almost as frenzied as Chu Tianqiu.
If not for their completely different appearances, I’d think he *was* Chu Tianqiu.
“You mean the ‘insurance’ is…”
“‘Spirit Sight’!!” Qinglong shouts. “That bell doesn’t just house one soul—it contains a ‘Spirit Sight’ as well… Qi Xia… you’re too fascinating…”
Qinglong’s eyes gleam as if recalling a masterpiece he once witnessed.
“You knew three-word frequencies alone could never shake mine or ‘Tianlong’s’ rule. You predicted ‘overclocking’—when you wouldn’t hear, only hope for someone to *see.* So you convinced another… his soul also entered the bell, willing to stand there with you for eternity…”
In just a few words, Qinglong has laid out the entire scheme.
Decades ago, when Qi Xia sealed his soul into the Great Bell, he was already paving the way for today.
I swallow hard and stare at Qinglong. “Then… did ‘Tianlong’ hear it?”
“Of course!!” Qinglong laughs. “‘Tianlong’ is so unsettled he can’t eat or sleep. Right now, he’s gathering ‘Celestials’ to strategize. ‘Taoyuan’ is about to change.”
“But ‘Tianlong’ doesn’t know who this person is, right?”
Suddenly, I realize Qinglong’s strategy was correct. Qi Xia’s bell has truly thrown “Tianlong” into disarray.
“Of course ‘Tianlong’ doesn’t know. This is Qi Xia’s last trump card.” Qinglong smirks. “Now ‘Tianlong’ is deaf. Qi Xia’s existence won’t reach him so easily. Let’s see how things unfold.”
I’m about to speak when something feels off.
“Qinglong… if you’re the only ‘ear’ in the entire ‘Land of the End,’ why did you activate ‘Silence’?”
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