“I thought that was ‘god’…” Chu Tianqiu interjected. “I spent nearly ten years trying to prove that a ‘god’ more powerful than Tianlong existed in this place. I made countless notes, but I discovered there was no such thing at all.”
“Ten years,” Qi Xia said. “I didn’t expect it would take that long.”
“At first, I really wanted to give up,” Chu Tianqiu said. “But the ‘Land of the End’ just happened to have someone like Auntie Tong. She firmly believed there was a great ‘Mother Goddess’ here. I wasn’t sure whether this was misleading me or enlightening me, so I spent even more time searching for the ‘Mother Goddess.’ I even later directly recruited Auntie Tong to ‘Heaven’s Mouth,’ thinking this would bring me closer to the ‘Mother Goddess,’ but I never expected…”
“But you never expected the true answer wasn’t the ‘Mother Goddess’…?” Qi Xia asked tentatively.
“Right,” Chu Tianqiu said. “I used every method Auntie Tong mentioned, but couldn’t find any evidence of the ‘Mother Goddess’s’ existence. I believed our constant rebirth here came from a powerful ‘echo’…”
“But the ‘Mother Goddess’ does exist,” Qi Xia said.
“What…?” Chu Tianqiu was stunned, as if he had heard the most unbelievable words of his life.
“I’ve seen traces of her. She truly exists,” Qi Xia said.
“What kind of joke is this…” Chu Tianqiu said with furrowed brows. “Qi Xia, you’ve gone completely mad. I’ve traveled to almost every corner of the ‘Land of the End.’ There are simply no traces of any so-called ‘Mother Goddess’ existing here, yet you claim she really exists… We haven’t even reached the final stage, and you’ve already lost your rationality?”
“I’m not crazy,” Qi Xia said. “I once saw her face.”
“You…”
“I even thought you had seen her too.” Qi Xia pointed at Chu Tianqiu’s outer garment. “Remember that note of yours? You wrote about someone who gambled away all the ‘Zodiacs,’ and a magnificent goddess descended from heaven and took him away.”
“But that was fabricated…” Chu Tianqiu said with an indifferent expression.
“We’re getting off topic,” Qi Xia said. “Right now I don’t want to discuss the ‘Mother Goddess’ with you. I just want you to know that everything about you has been under my watch. I’ve been watching you all along. You’re the first person across this entire land to investigate everything so thoroughly. You boldly speculated that a stronger ‘echo’ existed in this place, though you didn’t know it was called ‘Endless Life,’ but you realized this ‘echo’ might come from me.”
Chu Tianqiu frowned and said nothing. In an instant, he had absorbed too much information beyond his understanding, and scattered memories also began to assault him from all directions.
For some reason, memories seemed to recover faster in this space than in the “Land of the End.”
“Chu Tianqiu, whether you believe it or not, I’ve always needed someone who firmly believes they can become a ‘god’ to board the ‘train’ with me,” Qi Xia said again. “Remember? Why did Earth-Dragon make a deal with you?”
Chu Tianqiu was startled, recalling that when he first joined the predecessor of “Heaven’s Mouth,” Earth-Dragon had proactively appeared and proposed a trade.
After much consideration, he felt that exchanging eyeballs with Earth-Dragon for food wasn’t a bad thing, so he agreed.
Why did Earth-Dragon appear at that time… and why did he seek him out?
“Heaven’s Mouth” had become the most powerful organization at the time due to having a steady stream of stable food supplies.
The reason Earth-Dragon gave back then was merely that he “thought you were suitable,” but he had just joined the early “Heaven’s Mouth”—at that time, the name “Heaven’s Mouth” didn’t even exist yet. How did Earth-Dragon know he was suitable?
“So it seems it wasn’t Earth-Dragon who thought I was suitable, but rather you who thought I was suitable?” Chu Tianqiu asked.
“Correct, so you don’t need to be too modest,” Qi Xia said. “You’ve always been a strong person I recognized, and also the most suitable candidate for this path. After all, you always feel out of place with the people around you. Although you’re not yet like Tianlong and Qinglong in looking down on ‘mortals’… at the root, it’s about the same. In my view, this is the first trait of becoming a ‘god.'”
“But Qi Xia…” Chu Tianqiu said. “Now I’ve ‘collapsed’ in the game and can’t survive. How am I supposed to go to the ‘front of the train’ with you?”
“Not necessarily,” Qi Xia said. “I’ve recalled the ‘rules.’ No one ever said ‘collapse’ meant death—that was just our speculation.”
“Even if that’s true… without a ‘Commander’ for our team, if we lose the game, the entire team will die.”
After hearing this, Qi Xia paused before answering, “If not a single person on your team dies, would you be willing to agree to my request?”
After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu chuckled softly. “Qi Xia, are you planning to use ‘Endless Life’ to revive all my teammates…? Do you think such a simple trick will make me willingly work for you?”
“No, of course not,” Qi Xia said. “Chu Tianqiu, at this point, I’ll make another bet with you. I bet that Qinglong will willingly let your entire team go.”
“What…?” Chu Tianqiu asked incredulously. “‘Willingly’…?”
“What I want to show you isn’t the power of ‘Endless Life,’ but the power of ‘planning.’ Even someone like Qinglong will be defeated by ‘planning,'” Qi Xia said. “You can wait outside the door. Everything will have a result very soon.”
Chu Tianqiu looked at Qi Xia with confusion, unable to guess what would happen next.
And Qinglong on the viewing platform was clearly unable to sit still.
He could only see Qi Xia stick half his body through the door, and then there was no movement. A few seconds later, he turned to Earth-Dragon and said, “Isn’t this against the rules?”
“It’s not actually against the rules,” Earth-Dragon said. “Chu Tianqiu counts as having ‘collapsed,’ and Qi Xia only stuck his head out to check the situation. His body is still inside the door. Maybe he’s just saying goodbye to Chu Tianqiu?”
“This goodbye is taking quite long,” Qinglong said again. “How much time is left in the game?”
“Only one or two minutes left,” Earth-Dragon said. “Now that Chu Tianqiu’s side has lost their ‘Commander,’ barring any surprises, Qi Xia has won.”
As the two were talking, Qi Xia pulled his upper body back in, then stuffed his hand into his pocket, and gently closed the “door.”
Everything was settled. He no longer checked all the “characters” on the ground, but instead came directly to the “door.” Just as he was about to open the “door” to leave, he once again heard a crisp “clatter.”
This time the sound was exceptionally clear, definitely not an auditory hallucination.
Qi Xia crouched down and carefully examined the pile of “characters” he had just thrown down.
He indeed hadn’t heard wrong—this pile of “characters” had moved.
But what could cause the “characters” to move…?
He reached out and rummaged through the pile of “characters” on the ground, but they were now lying there quietly, with no further reaction.
Hearing this sound once might have been a coincidence—perhaps the “characters” were unstably stacked—but hearing it twice in a row was no longer a coincidence.
Qi Xia fixed his gaze on the two “Advisors” quietly leaning against each other.
If there was anything strange among these “characters,” it could only be the “Advisors.”
Qi Xia reached out and picked up the crooked “Advisor” that Tiantian had created, carefully examined it for a few seconds, then shook it with his hand. A strange idea sprouted in Qi Xia’s mind—
Could it be that the “Advisor” Tiantian created wasn’t hollow, but instead had some mechanism inside?