Chapter 542: Loneliness

“Xia, look, I tattooed my name,” Yu Nian’an said.

“Where?”

Yu Nian’an extended her index finger. On the side near her thumb were three elegant cursive letters.

**Y N A.**

“Pretty, right? Come on, say it with me!” She happily pointed at the letters and slowly pronounced, “Yu—Nian—An!”

“Okay, okay,” Qi Xia nodded with a smile. “When you’re old and forget who you are, I’ll point this out to you.”

…

“You’re lying to me?” Qi Xia’s gaze flickered slightly as he stared at Yan Zhichun before him. “How could you have never heard the name ‘Yu Nian’an’?”

“What?” Yan Zhichun was equally stunned. “Why should I know that Yu Nian’an? And why would I lie to you when we just met?”

Qi Xia shook his head violently, his ears buzzing with noise.

Something was definitely wrong here…

He stepped forward abruptly, grabbing Yan Zhichun’s wrist. The sudden movement startled the two men beside her, who immediately moved to restrain Qi Xia.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing?!” Old Sun shouted. “Kid, talk properly. No need for violence!”

“I should’ve realized sooner…” Qi Xia gritted his teeth. “You’re from the ‘Extreme Path’—how much truth could there be in your words?”

“What?! What’s wrong with being from the ‘Extreme Path’?” Old Sun was baffled. “Did we hit you or curse you?”

Ignoring Old Sun, Qi Xia forcibly turned Yan Zhichun’s hand toward him, scrutinizing the three letters.

**Y N A.**

He had seen these letters countless times—their font, their texture. He couldn’t possibly be mistaken.

This was identical to the tattoo on Yu Nian’an’s finger.

If he had fabricated memories using Yan Zhichun’s “shell,” why would the details be so precise?

“You call yourself Yan Zhichun, yet you tattoo ‘Y N A’ on your finger…” Qi Xia’s lips trembled. “Explain that.”

“My name is Yan Zhichun. What does that have to do with the letters on my finger?” Yan Zhichun snapped. “You really are insane, aren’t you? And here I thought you were smart…”

“Yes… I feel like I’m about to lose my mind… What in this place is even real anymore?”

Yan Zhichun frowned slightly, flexing her fingers. Instantly, Qi Xia released her arm and mirrored her exact movement.

“Qi Xia, I treated you with respect because I thought you were intelligent. But do you have a death wish?”

She swept a hand through her hair—and at the same moment, Qi Xia mimicked the motion, though he had no long hair to brush aside.

Normally, when Yan Zhichun used her “Soul Theft,” the sheer eeriness of the ability would leave her targets stunned.

But Qi Xia was unfazed.

He didn’t care about the anomalies in his body or what force controlled him. His eyes remained locked on Yan Zhichun’s fingers.

“What’s wrong with you?” Seeing no hostility in the man, Yan Zhichun withdrew her “Echo.” Yet Qi Xia still didn’t move.

“No… I…” Qi Xia felt his mind clogging up again and quickly corrected himself. “This is genuinely important to me… If I scared you, I apologize… But that tattoo…”

Rubbing her sore wrist, Yan Zhichun studied Qi Xia curiously. Old Sun and Old Deng exchanged confused glances.

The man before them seemed both mad and sane, yet he kept doing inexplicable things.

“You thought my tattoo stood for ‘Yu Nian’an’?” Yan Zhichun frowned. “What kind of absurd logic is that? Who is Yu Nian’an to you?”

“My wife…” Qi Xia’s voice was low. “I’m searching for my wife. She has the exact same tattoo on her finger.”

“Exact same?” Yan Zhichun paused, glancing at her own tattoo. “Are you sure?”

Now she felt uneasy too. She didn’t know Qi Xia, let alone his wife.

Though she’d met many in the “Land of Finality,” she couldn’t recall anyone with an identical finger tattoo.

“My tattoo has nothing to do with ‘Yu Nian’an,'” Yan Zhichun replied. “I think your memory is faulty.”

“Then your ‘Y N A’…”

“It’s English,” she said. “An abbreviation for ‘You’re Not Alone.’ I got it to comfort myself.”

“‘You’re Not Alone’…” The moment those words reached his ears, Qi Xia’s eyes glazed over. Yu Nian’an’s voice echoed relentlessly in his mind.

“Xia, you have me. You’re not alone.”

“Xia, how lonely would you be without me?”

Yu Nian’an.

Longing has never brought peace.

And I have always been alone.

Indeed, Yan Zhichun tattooing an English abbreviation on her finger made far more sense than Yu Nian’an’s reasoning.

Who would tattoo their own initials on their finger…?

“Why is this always the answer…” Qi Xia trembled violently. “Every time I seek the truth, it leads here… Damn it… I have no path left… I can’t even…”

His head throbbed as if splitting apart. He was on the verge of collapsing again.

But this time was different. If he fell here, he wouldn’t survive. The three before him weren’t Qiao Jiajin or Chen Junnan—they had no reason to save him.

“Zhichun,” Old Sun called. “We should go. Time’s almost up.”

Yan Zhichun nodded. The three ignored Qi Xia’s agony and headed for the back door, pushing it open and stepping outside.

Clutching his hair, Qi Xia waited for the excruciating pain to pass.

Behind him, faint rustling sounds grew clearer. It was as if the black threads had already carved cracks into the heavy door and were now slithering inside.

“I can’t die yet…” Qi Xia forced himself to stand, not daring to look back as he sprinted toward the rear exit.

Fortunately, the building’s back door opened into a relatively wide alley, dimly lit but navigable.

Once he roughly confirmed his direction, Qi Xia resumed his desperate run.

Yet a closer look would reveal his face was ashen.

Why was he still here?

Why was he trying to escape?

Why was he running for his life?

What was the point of any of this?

Would being cleanly sliced in half by those black threads now be any different from randomly dying in some game or fading into oblivion days later?

“My ‘Echo Trigger’ is gone…” he muttered despairingly.

The moment those words left his lips, Qi Xia felt his breath hitch. A sharp pain flared between his ribs, slowing his pace.

“Damn it…”

Staggering, he reached the main road—but the threads behind him were closing in.

Lifting his head, he said darkly, “If you don’t show yourself now, I’m really going to die…”

As if in response, the roar of a car engine erupted from the intersection ahead.