“Heh.” Chu Tianqiu nodded and simply stopped pursuing the question further.

“Rather than pondering this matter, you’d be better off considering your own notes,” Qi Xia said. “You have your battlefield, I have mine. The two of us are both teammates and opponents.”

“My notes…”

“We share one thing in common,” Qi Xia said. “We’ve both been trying to figure out what ‘we ourselves’ want to do. The more we understand, the closer we get to the finish line.”

“But… this is truly a strange situation I couldn’t have imagined…” Chu Tianqiu lowered his head and pondered for a moment. “If you never reveal anything to me, I can’t even distinguish which of my two notes came first and which came after.”

“Yes, switching the prerequisite conditions will lead to completely different conclusions.” Qi Xia grinned. “But I truly don’t know about this matter. After all, you never consulted with me when you wrote those notes. So… do you want me to ‘Echo,’ or do you want to prevent me from ‘Echoing’?”

Naturally, Chu Tianqiu didn’t know the answer.

Qi Xia shook his head. “But you don’t need to be too anxious. This is only the sixth day. You still have three more days to wait for your memories to return. Perhaps… by then you’ll remember?”

“Six days…” Chu Tianqiu showed a bitter smile, then looked at the sky. “Qi Xia, what incredibly long six days they’ve been.”

“Yes, what incredibly long six days.” Qi Xia sneered. “But the past seventy years have been even longer.”

“You also know our time is very limited,” Chu Tianqiu said. “If we can’t achieve our goals in the next three days, we might very well have to start over again.”

“Is that so?” Qi Xia shrugged. “Perhaps by then we can beg ‘Heavenly Dragon’ and ‘Qinglong’ to give us one more chance.”

“How could they possibly let us continue with our current memories intact? Even if ‘Qinglong’ doesn’t plan to move against us, ‘Heavenly Dragon’ definitely won’t sit by and watch.” Chu Tianqiu said with a tinge of sadness. “Time is so pressing—why don’t the two of us share the memories we’ve already recovered and piece together a complete past?”

“You can tell me all your memories, and I guarantee I can come up with a more perfect plan.” Qi Xia smiled. “But sorry, I won’t be sharing my memories with you.”

“Is that so?” Chu Tianqiu patted the notes in his chest pocket. “You won’t even tell me the reason I wrote these two sentences?”

“I’m going to try both,” Chu Tianqiu said. “Since you’ve already ‘Echoed’ now, I’ve already accomplished what was written on the first note.”

“Oh?” Qi Xia nodded. “Then how are you going to prevent me from obtaining ‘Echo’?”

“Qi Xia… I’m a ‘Madman,'” Chu Tianqiu smiled. “I’m the only ‘Madman’ in the entire ‘Land of the End’ who retains rationality. I can selectively swallow the eyeballs I want and obtain the abilities possessed by their owners.”

“Sounds good, almost like an ‘omnipotent god.'”

“Stop playing dumb, Qi Xia.” Chu Tianqiu touched the coat draped over his shoulders. “If I break your ‘Law,’ what do you plan to do?”

“What, you also think that everyone dying and coming back to life right now is my doing?” Qi Xia said. “How could that be possible? I’m just an ordinary ‘Echoer.’ Even if my conviction is incredibly strong, how could I possibly accomplish such an eerie thing?”

“So you’re saying… this matter has nothing to do with you?”

“Who knows?” Qi Xia smiled. “If this matter truly has something to do with me, the moment you break ‘Endless Rebirth,’ both you and I will die. Would you allow such a thing to happen?”

“Ha, you’re lying again.” Chu Tianqiu was once more amused by Qi Xia. “If I truly break this ‘Endless Rebirth,’ will the two of us die…?”

“Haha.” Qi Xia couldn’t help but laugh aloud. “I don’t know.”

“I forgot you’re now a liar.” Chu Tianqiu cursed softly. “Who exactly did you learn all these skills from… Are you now prepared to not speak a single word of truth?”

“It depends on the situation,” Qi Xia answered. “Chu Tianqiu, what if the situation is different from what you think?”

“What situation?”

“You should know that ‘Heavenly Snake’ is still around. He helped the upper echelon here extract the abilities from various ‘Echoers’ eyeballs and allowed them to permanently obtain our ‘Echoes.'” Qi Xia turned his head and said, “So isn’t it possible that some member of the upper echelon obtained ‘Endless Rebirth’ and thus created all of this?”

“What lie are you spinning for me now…?” Chu Tianqiu frowned slightly. “Over the past several decades, I’ve never heard of the name ‘Endless Rebirth.’ Tell me… who could possibly obtain this ‘Echoer’s’ eyeball before this ‘Echo’ even appeared, and then extract this ability in advance?”

“What if?” Qi Xia said. “Chu Tianqiu, now that you’ve found your own ‘Path’ and are about to reach the finish line, you should be thinking more carefully than I am.”

“But Qi Xia, what is your ‘finish line’?” Chu Tianqiu asked.

“Didn’t I tell you before?” Qi Xia replied. “I want to get out. I want to go find my… wife.”

“You’re still not prepared to change your answer?” Chu Tianqiu asked. “After you finished explaining the so-called ‘fear’ to me, this answer is already full of holes and laughably absurd.”

“Not changing it,” Qi Xia said. “The world I want to return to must have Yu Nian’an in it.”

“So in the end… it’s still me ‘becoming a god’ and you ‘escaping,’ right?” Chu Tianqiu asked again.

“That’s right.” Qi Xia looked at him expressionlessly. “But now I need my memories.”

“But Wen Qiaoyun is dead.”

“Ha.” Qi Xia smiled slightly. “That’s not a difficult matter for me. Especially for me with ‘Echo.'”

Hearing this, Chu Tianqiu, who had been smiling all along, gradually put away his expression and said in a deep voice, “Qi Xia, what are you planning to do? Make Wen Qiaoyun continue to suffer?”

“How would it be suffering?” Qi Xia shook his head. “After she comes back to life, she’ll discover that the thing she’s always been hoping for has now been completed by someone else. Whether it’s ‘becoming a god’ or ‘escaping,’ it would fulfill her long-cherished wish.”

“Qi Xia… have you truly not completely recovered your memories?” Chu Tianqiu asked.

“Yes, several key memory nodes haven’t returned at all.” After saying this, he also turned his head to look at the sky. “Could it be that my ‘memories’ are also floating in the sky?”

“You can remember Wen Qiaoyun’s goal… yet can’t remember other things. Are you toying with me?”

“Toying with you…? How could that be?” Qi Xia said. “You don’t need me to toy with you at all—you’re already about to trap yourself.”

“What?”

While the two were conversing, they noticed several more people walking in from the distant school gate.