Qi Xia held those emerald green small stones in his hands, examining them carefully over and over, always feeling something was off.

Their shape and size were very much like teeth. These emerald green stones varied in size, had edges and corners, yet were transparent throughout, emitting a faint green glow. Looking at their texture, they were clearly pieces of jade.

“‘Jade’?”

Qi Xia paused and asked: “So this thing called ‘Jade’—you need to collect 3,600 of them?”

“3,600…?” When Zheng Yingxiong heard this, the resolute expression on his face diminished somewhat. Instead, he revealed a bitter smile uncharacteristic of a child. “If we truly only needed so few… how could they have all fallen into ruin?”

Qi Xia clearly hadn’t expected that their two cities not only required collecting different items, but even the required quantities were different.

“Then how many of these things called ‘Jade’ do you need to collect?”

“Civilian, the judge in our room told us that if we want to escape, we must collect 57,600 of these things called ‘Jade.'”

“How many…?”

Qi Xia was stunned, feeling like he had misheard.

What was with this bizarre number with both round and specific digits?

It didn’t look like something made up, but why would they need so many?

“We’ve all lost hope.” Zheng Yingxiong said. “I know the city I’m in has lost hope of escape. To find a solution, after waking up this time, I found a bicycle and started moving toward the city’s edge. It took tremendous effort to reach here.”

Zheng Yingxiong looked out through the small window bars of the prison cell, his eyes carrying both melancholy and bewilderment.

“This city is very different from where I stayed before. You actually have display screens here that can show you the powers of awakened ones. And what we previously called ‘Fragrance,’ you call ‘Echo’ here.”

“Wait, wait a moment.” Qi Xia felt his train of thought blocked by something again. “Did I hear correctly? You’re saying the display screen only exists in our place?”

“I don’t know if other cities have them.” Zheng Yingxiong said. “In any case, I’ve never seen one in my city.”

“So that means you never know whether you actually have an ‘Echo’ or not…” Qi Xia slowly narrowed his eyes.

If he wasn’t mistaken, this was the reason that city had fallen into ruin.

“Yes…” Zheng Yingxiong slowly lowered his head. “As I said, as a city’s ‘Hero’… I’m powerless.”

Qi Xia stroked his chin and pondered for a while, feeling like he had figured out some clues.

This “Giant Bell” and “Display Screen” weren’t special products of the “Land of the End” at all. They seemed to have preconceived notions. Because they saw the “Giant Bell” and “Display Screen” immediately upon entering, they easily assumed these things appeared here along with the “Land of the End.”

Since the venue here never changed and only the people changed, was it possible that this “Giant Bell” and “Display Screen” were built by a certain “Participant”?

This person’s purpose in building these things was simple—to show everyone the existence of “Echoes.” As long as they could capture this supernatural ability, the people here would gradually discover the survival rules of the “Land of the End.”

Participants would also discover through repeated deaths that as long as they obtained an “Echo,” they could preserve their memories.

This “Giant Bell” and “Display Screen” would be their best reference points.

Although the speculation was very bold, the direction should be correct.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the person who built the giant bell and display screen—their “Echo” was “Hearing Echoes.” More precisely, this ability might be called “Spirit Hearing.”

The “Giant Bell” and “Display Screen” merely materialized and amplified this “Spirit Hearing” ability user’s power, allowing everyone in the city to see it.

Qi Xia slowly frowned, feeling a sense of respect for this person.

If not for him thinking of this method and maximizing the use of his ability, this city couldn’t possibly have survived until now.

Due to the special nature of the “Land of the End,” people without “Echoes” couldn’t preserve memories, and this crucial “Echo” was an invisible, intangible mystery for Zheng Yingxiong’s city.

Even if someone was lucky enough to retain memories after death, they would have difficulty deducing why they retained memories, much less infer what special ability they possessed through the name “Echo.”

This was probably also the reason why Zheng Yingxiong was called a “Hero.”

Looking at it this way, he indeed held a pivotal position in the neighboring city. He could distinguish whether people had “Echoes” and could judge whether someone could preserve memories. Over time, he developed the habit of always stating others’ abilities.

But if their city was similar to the city Qi Xia was in, with about ten thousand people per city, how could ten thousand people possibly all rely on Zheng Yingxiong alone?

Qi Xia knew this young man probably wasn’t lying. He was very likely the “leader” of another city… or more pessimistically, he might just be that city’s “mascot.”

Everyone revered him as a “Hero,” not because he was so powerful, but simply because he could smell “Echoes.”

Zheng Yingxiong looked at Qi Xia and said: “Although being a hero is hard work, I will protect you, civilian.”

Qi Xia nodded thoughtfully, not continuing to argue with Zheng Yingxiong.

This child’s “Echo” seemed very easy to trigger. He had retained too many memories and now no longer resembled a child at all, but rather a childish madman.

Unfortunately, he experienced all this while mentally immature. Now, to return him to normal, there was no other way besides making him lose his memories.

“It’s still early. Rest for a bit first.”

Qi Xia stood up from the bed, walked to the table, dragged out the chair and sat down.

“You sleep on the bed. I can sit here.”

Qi Xia waved at Zheng Yingxiong. Zheng Yingxiong looked and without any hesitation, plopped down on the bed.

“Okay, civilian. Then I’ll take an afternoon nap first.”

Zheng Yingxiong carefully removed the bedsheet cape from his back, then folded it neatly several times and placed it at his bedside as a pillow.

Then he took off his newspaper crown and newspaper short sword and placed them on the table.

Qi Xia sighed and leaned back in his chair.

It had to be said, the prison structure was more suitable for living than the classroom, though walking out from each room here required a considerable distance.

After dawn tomorrow, he needed to borrow Nineteen’s ability again to have a good talk with Qian Wu.

However, Qi Xia felt he was taking too much risk.

With his current abilities and circumstances, could he really meet Heavenly-Dragon on the tenth day of this cycle?

Qi Xia felt his direction had become confused once again. After all, there were too many things he hadn’t figured out.

But besides Heavenly-Dragon, who else here could answer Yu Nian’an’s questions?