Zhang Chenze, upon hearing this, nodded slightly and asked again, “But what should I do?”

“The plan is very simple…” Xu Liunian said. “The difficult part is ensuring that Qi Xia definitely obtains an ‘Echo.'”

“So what is the ‘plan’?”

“The plan is to have people of various different identities all convey the same message to Qi Xia—’There is an extremely formidable person on this land, and her name is Wen Qiaoyun.'”

“This…” Zhang Chenze swallowed slightly. Although she wasn’t a superstitious person, after witnessing so many ‘Echoes,’ she could only take even the most bizarre situations in stride.

“You’re saying…” She organized her thoughts and asked, “We need to create this person first in Qi Xia’s subconscious?”

“You understand so quickly.” Xu Liunian nodded. “Exactly. When he obtains an ‘Echo’ once again… a Wen Qiaoyun will appear out of thin air on this land because of Qi Xia’s ‘thoughts.'”

Zhang Chenze felt that there was some obvious flaw in this matter. She blinked and spoke, “That’s not right…?! Looking at it this way, Qi Xia doesn’t know what Wen Qiaoyun looks like at all, and he doesn’t know what abilities Wen Qiaoyun has… How is he supposed to ‘create’ this person?”

“Is this contradictory?” Xu Liunian asked.

“Of course it’s contradictory!” Zhang Chenze said with furrowed brows. “Even if I give you a piece of clay and ask you to mold it into a small animal, you’d have to have seen that animal before, right?”

“I originally thought your comprehension ability was strong enough, but now it seems you still can’t escape the constraints of human thinking.” Xu Liunian leaned against the wall, once again revealing a meaningful smile. “Why would Qi Xia need to have seen Wen Qiaoyun?”

“If he hasn’t seen this person… even if his ‘Echo’ is to create people, it would be too difficult, wouldn’t it? Can he create a person out of thin air? If the Wen Qiaoyun he creates is even slightly different from the Wen Qiaoyun we know, wouldn’t this plan fail?”

“That’s not the problem at all.” Xu Liunian shook her head. “Do you think we’re trying to create the real ‘Wen Qiaoyun’? Do you think ‘Wen Qiaoyun’ is truly that important to us?”

“Isn’t she…?”

“As long as Qi Xia can create someone stronger than himself, someone Qi Xia can rely on, then no matter what this person looks like, no matter what her personality is, she will be ‘Wen Qiaoyun.'”

Xu Liunian looked at Zhang Chenze’s expression, sensing that she seemed to understand her meaning, and thus slowly walked forward a few steps. “I’ve already given instructions to the ‘Zodiac’ side. The three words ‘Wen Qiaoyun’ have accurately and unmistakably reached Qi Xia’s ears, so what comes next…?”

Although the girl standing before Zhang Chenze was very thin and frail, she felt extremely afraid.

This feeling was difficult to express in words. She just kept trembling, feeling as if she had been drawn into an extremely terrifying event.

She had only just obtained her ‘Echo,’ but was she already this close to madness?

“You… you can even cooperate with the ‘Zodiac’?”

“More or less.” Xu Liunian nodded. “We each have our own purposes, so sometimes we cooperate with enemies too. But this isn’t something you need to worry about… You just need to remember that ‘Wen Qiaoyun’ is extremely powerful, and this matter must be told to Qi Xia.”

Zhang Chenze lowered her head to look at the ground, slowly taking deep breaths.

This plan did sound quite simple. They were going to use Qi Xia, deceive Qi Xia, and make him subconsciously create a person who originally didn’t exist… Would it really work?

“Do you still remember that new girl who appeared in your room?” Xu Liunian asked. “She is the wife Qi Xia created out of thin air.”

“A wife created out of thin air…?” Zhang Chenze furrowed her brows. “Does that mean Qi Xia originally didn’t have a wife?”

“I can’t be certain about that.” Xu Liunian shook her head. “The only thing I can be certain of is… even if he really did have a wife, that woman is definitely a ‘replica.’ This is what makes Qi Xia so terrifying.”

“No wonder…” Zhang Chenze’s expression dimmed somewhat. “No wonder that elder called ‘Baihu’ said Qi Xia is the person closest to ‘God’… His ability is more powerful than any of ours…”

“No.” Xu Liunian shook her head. “You don’t need to say that. If one’s conviction is strong enough, each of our ‘Echoes’ can give birth to countless possibilities. It’s just that at this critical juncture, I hope you can cooperate with us and have Qi Xia create a ‘Wen Qiaoyun.'”

“But…” Zhang Chenze raised her eyes to look at Xu Liunian, getting straight to the point as she asked, “This matter seems to have nothing to do with you, so why are you proposing this plan?”

“Nothing to do with me?” Xu Liunian smiled slightly. “How could it have nothing to do with me? My objective highly overlaps with yours in some respects. I want to liberate this place, so that everyone no longer suffers the ‘torment of reincarnation.’ But I have one difference from you all… I don’t care whether anyone escapes from here or not.”

“So you need more ‘strong individuals’?” Zhang Chenze asked in return. “You don’t care whether this person is Chu Tianqiu’s lover or not, and you don’t care whether she is Qi Xia’s support. You simply want a strong person?”

“Exactly, Lawyer Zhang.” Xu Liunian nodded. “You now understand all my motivations. Can you help me? You should know, the appearance of an abnormally powerful ‘Wen Qiaoyun’ would be a good thing for you, for me… for Qi Xia, and for Chu Tianqiu.”

Zhang Chenze furrowed her brows in thought for a few more seconds, finding that there really was no reason to refuse.

If there really was anything improper about this, it would be feeling somewhat sorry for the real Wen Qiaoyun—that shop assistant whose entire body was already shriveled and severely malnourished.

When everyone was cheering and celebrating for the new ‘Wen Qiaoyun,’ would the real ‘Wen Qiaoyun’ just die silently like this?

Her death wouldn’t even stir up any ripples, just like an utterly unimportant native on the roadside.

Thinking of this, Zhang Chenze’s eyes slowly widened.

An extremely terrifying thought suddenly rose in her heart.

Did this real ‘Wen Qiaoyun’ exist originally?!

If Qi Xia’s ‘Echo’ had always been ‘creating a person’… could it be that one day, someone bewitched him the way they were bewitching her now, and told him that there was an incomparably clever woman in this world called ‘Wen Qiaoyun,’ and thus ‘Wen Qiaoyun’ appeared?

“This is too terrifying…” Zhang Chenze said with trembling lips. “What kind of ghostly place is this? And what kind of bizarre ability is ‘Echo’?”

“Don’t overthink it.” Xu Liunian seemed to see through what was in Zhang Chenze’s heart, and once again reached out to pat her shoulder. “Lawyer Zhang, I don’t know if you’ll believe my words, but you should know… we’re getting closer and closer to our true objective.”