After hearing this, Qi Xia narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment.

Fish spears flying everywhere, “Inviting Disaster,” the injured Han Yimo, the doctor who needed medical equipment, and the one who spoke those words at that time…

“If you put it that way, there was indeed someone who first suggested going to the nearby convenience store to find something that could save people…” Qi Xia revealed a strange smile. “Ha… Somewhat interesting. So someone started interfering from that time. She… is actually Qinglong’s person?”

“Oh?” Chu Tianqiu turned his head. “Who? That extra ‘Extreme Path’ member in your room?”

“Who else could it be…? This is really very interesting!” Qi Xia turned his head toward Chu Tianqiu with a crazed expression on his face. “We might be standing at the closest point to turning the tables in history. In my scattered and fragmented memories, I’ve never remembered Qinglong interfering before.”

“But would Qinglong be some great saint?” Chu Tianqiu asked again. “In the past, every time he interfered, it led to our deaths. How do you know this time is different?”

“Because he went to considerable trouble. If he wanted us to die, he wouldn’t need to go through so many twists and turns.” After Qi Xia answered, he changed the subject and asked: “But… Chu Tianqiu, when did you know Wen Qiaoyun was at the convenience store?”

“I…” After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu’s expression gradually grew cold. “I’d rather not remember that person was Wen Qiaoyun. I’d rather she was just an ordinary native. After all, I conducted filthy experiments on her. I can’t explain why I would develop such feelings for a native, but when I remembered she was Wen Qiaoyun… I nearly lost all my reason.”

“So what happened to her?” Qi Xia continued asking. “Why haven’t my memories fully restored, only a small portion?”

“Ha…” After hearing this, the cold expression on Chu Tianqiu’s face instantly vanished completely, replaced by crazed eyes again. “What unfortunate timing, Qi Xia. You’re one step too late.”

“Oh?”

“I killed her.”

“Wen Qiaoyun… is dead?”

Chu Tianqiu looked down at his own hands and said in a hoarse voice: “Theoretically, I shouldn’t be able to strangle a native with an ‘Earth-level’ physique… but you know what?”

Then he slowly pulled his hands apart to both sides, his expression cold.

“When I strangled her like this, she didn’t resist at all.”

Chu Tianqiu forcefully tightened his hands in mid-air: “She only kept murmuring ‘don’t cry, don’t cry’ from her mouth. Her hands only gently patted my arm. Even until her death, she was comforting me, with no thought of struggling free at all. The tighter I strangled, the softer her voice became… Until she suffocated to death, she kept patting my arm… Qi Xia… I killed her with my own hands… I’ve thrown away the last bottom line of being human. Not only did I kill someone with my own hands, but I killed the person I loved most.”

Seeing Chu Tianqiu’s hands trembling with force, Qi Xia said expressionlessly: “Killing a ‘Madman,’ you know what that means, right?”

“It means she can never appear again… I know.” Chu Tianqiu nodded. “That’s precisely my goal.”

“So you’ve always been like this?” Qi Xia asked. “I’m sorry, I’ve never taken you seriously before.”

“It’s truly laughable when you think about it.” Chu Tianqiu said with a nod. “In the past, to be able to lead everyone to escape from here, I compiled a large amount of game strategies. To be able to exchange food for my so-called ‘comrades,’ I even personally went to make deals with Earth-Dragon. I proposed trading food with them, so he asked me for eyeballs from corpses. I walked across this land searching everywhere for strong people, and unconditionally accommodated ‘Echo’ users with weak abilities. To give them hope of escaping from here, I personally wrote an escapee’s notes. I exhausted all my efforts. I took desperate risks for others countless times, and what I got in return was the deaths of teammates and repeated memory loss. I was even once suspected of lacking leadership ability. Tell me, what was all this for?”

“This is the path you chose yourself.” Qi Xia said. “The path you chose wasn’t smooth from the beginning. There are spikes on it that you can’t see.”

“The path I chose was left behind by Wen Qiaoyun of the past.” Chu Tianqiu said. “I think I’ve truly gone mad. I not only destroyed the path but also killed the guide.”

“But she was liberated, while we cannot be.”

After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu slowly revealed a bitter smile.

“Yes, Qi Xia.” He slowly lowered his straining hands and said softly: “She was liberated. She doesn’t need to live here in a daze, nor does she need to transform into red powder filling the sky. She just fell into eternal sleep.”

“But this makes things a bit difficult for me.” Qi Xia asked. “Without her as the key, how am I to restore my memories?”

“Oh…? How strange.” Chu Tianqiu looked at Qi Xia. “You want to recover your memories… what does that have to do with Wen Qiaoyun? The way we two lost our memories is clearly different. You shouldn’t need her as this ‘key,’ right?”

“You… how do you know my method of recovering memories?” Qi Xia sneered. “Have we reached the point in our relationship where we need to reveal our cards to each other?”

“Yes, in the past decades, you’ve never taken me seriously.” Chu Tianqiu nodded. “But I’ve been observing you all along. You’re just too fascinating.”

“Is that so?” Qi Xia answered ambiguously.

Chu Tianqiu took out two yellowed pieces of paper from his shirt pocket and slowly handed them to Qi Xia: “Want to take a look?”

Qi Xia extended his hand carelessly to take them, then unfolded them to look.

These two notes—one read “I must let Qi Xia obtain an Echo,” and the other read “I absolutely cannot let Qi Xia obtain an Echo.”

The handwriting on both notes clearly came from the same person, and this person could only be Chu Tianqiu himself.

“Why do you think this is?” Chu Tianqiu asked. “I usually only write down notes when I need to make a memo about certain important matters. But what exactly happened at that time… that made me write down two notes with completely opposite meanings?”

“What?” Qi Xia handed the notes back to Chu Tianqiu. “Haven’t your memories fully recovered either?”

Chu Tianqiu put the notes back in his shirt pocket, then raised his head to look at the sky: “My memories are all floating in the sky. They’re looking for their owner. I’ll remember sooner or later.”

“There’s nothing strange about this.” Qi Xia shook his head. “Because my ‘Echo’ changed, your attitude also changed with it. That’s all.”

“Nonsense.” Chu Tianqiu interrupted Qi Xia. “Are you saying your ‘Echo’ changed from ‘Spiritual Hearing’ to ‘Life After Life’? Would this kind of thing require me to specifically write down a note to remind myself?”

“Isn’t that right?” Qi Xia asked.

“Regardless of which of these two ‘Echoes’ occurred in you, I couldn’t possibly have written ‘I absolutely cannot let Qi Xia obtain an Echo.'” Chu Tianqiu looked at Qi Xia with a pair of cold and crazed eyes. “What exactly are you hiding… that would make me write down these words?”