Jiang Ruoxue and Lin Qin placed their arms on Yan Zhichun’s shoulders, pouring all of their ‘Karma’ and ‘Activation’ into her.

The expressions on all three of their faces were complex, but at this moment, nothing was more important than staying alive.

Just as Heavenly-Dog had said, the ‘sun’ beneath their feet had already begun to glow faintly. Once the ‘Moment of the End’ arrived, everyone would die from Heavenly-Dragon’s ‘Dissociation’.

Yan Zhichun looked at the eyeball on the table with a heavy expression, then asked softly: “Heavenly-Dog… has there ever been a moment in ‘Heavenly-Level Moments’ that was led by ‘Soul Stealing’?”

Heavenly-Dog paused: “No.”

“Never before?” Yan Zhichun asked again.

“Right.” Heavenly-Dog nodded, “Human rationality is a very mysterious thing. Even if rationality is taken away equally, the state each person exhibits is not completely uniform, just like those various ‘Natives’.”

Yan Zhichun had indeed seen all kinds of ‘Natives’. Some wandered like walking corpses, some could barely converse, and others would repeat certain actions until death.

Heavenly-Dog sighed and continued: “Rationality itself is a very difficult variable to control. Moreover, losing rationality doesn’t just turn someone into a ‘Native’—it could even enhance their ‘Celestial Techniques’. Neither Qinglong nor Heavenly-Dragon would possibly take this risk.”

“Then…” Yan Zhichun felt there was no way to continue questioning. This bizarre plan seemed to have more and more flaws the more she asked, “A behavior that has never been implemented before… yet Qi Xia calls it the most important plan… Am I really the only one… who finds this strange?”

Heavenly-Dog said through gritted teeth: “I told you… I just want to live. The struggles at the highest level are simply not within the scope of consideration for a small fry like me. I only know that if he tells me to do this, I can survive.”

“Small fry…” Earth-Dog, standing to the side, laughed bitterly after hearing this, “Being a ‘Heavenly-Level’ that every ‘Zodiac’ here wants to become… yet you call yourself a small fry?”

“Isn’t it true…” Heavenly-Dog turned to look at him, “This is ‘Taoyuan’… ‘Human-Level’ are ordinary people wearing masks, ‘Earth-Level’ are ordinary people with modified bodies, and ‘Heavenly-Level’ are ordinary people with installed eyeballs. What difference is there really between us?”

Heavenly-Dog’s expression gradually showed dejection. He looked crazier than anyone, yet seemed to understand things more thoroughly than anyone else.

Heavenly-Dog shook his head: “Although I’m called ‘Heavenly-Level’, even if my body were filled with deadly weapons, I still know who to provoke and who not to provoke. After all, they have a hundred ways to make me die.”

Through so many years of tempering, she had always felt that she had grown and become stronger, but all of this dissipated like an illusion at this final moment.

She seemed to have neither grown nor become stronger—she had merely walked through a path set by others.

Right now she only wanted to escape from this life that could be manipulated by others. Other matters were equally beyond her scope of consideration.

What about ‘Extreme Path’… what about ‘friendship’…

When uncertain what was real, she only wanted to act for herself.

As long as she could release the ‘Moment of Chaos’ that Heavenly-Dog spoke of to end this battle, then only two outcomes remained: either she would be reduced to ashes, or she would completely escape this false place.

Either way would be enough to terminate this absurd life.

Thinking of this, Yan Zhichun reached out to touch the eyeball in the center of the table. Under Heavenly-Dog’s guidance, her thoughts surged as she poured her ‘Soul Stealing’ into the ‘Energy Storage’.

The next second, she felt a cold sensation transmit from her fingertips, as if they had been firmly stuck to the eyeball, unable to withdraw at all.

That slightly trembling eyeball was like a greedy little mouth, absorbing something from her body.

Yan Zhichun had never experienced such a feeling before. She only knew that what was being sucked away from her was neither blood nor flesh, but rather something invisible… such as ‘conviction’.

Lin Qin and Jiang Ruoxue, with their hands resting on her shoulders, also looked quite uncomfortable. A large amount of ‘conviction’ mixed with ‘rationality’ began to flow through their arms into Yan Zhichun’s body, then disappear from Yan Zhichun.

Strange light began to shine across the entire workbench, and then even the sun beneath everyone’s feet began to tremble slightly, like a massive pupil beginning to contract.

Everyone became unsteady on their feet. After Zheng Yingxiong stabilized himself, he wanted to step forward to pull the others apart, but was blocked by Earth-Dog beside him.

“Good… excellent…” Heavenly-Dog said happily, “The ‘Moment of Chaos’ has arrived… I’m saved… I’m saved…”

He didn’t need to care about the life or death of Yan Zhichun and the others. He staggered forward and began touching other eyeballs: “Let’s use hair this time, shall we? Hair with ‘Soul Stealing’… This time we don’t need ‘Penetration’… we just need a touch, that’s right… we also need ‘Concealment’… can’t let those people discover the existence of the hair…”

He released all the abilities he could think of from various eyeballs on the table all at once. The ‘Energy Storage’ eyeball in the very center began to gradually turn bright red.

Because the ‘door’ was not closed, the space of the ‘sun’ was connected to the ‘train’. A massive airflow began to spread into the carriages, making everyone feel something unusual beneath their feet.

…

Qi Xia carefully sensed the vibration coming from beneath his feet, then raised his head to look at the old man before him, his expression finally showing a trace of relief.

“Even if a living ‘Variable’ stands before me… it doesn’t matter…” Qi Xia muttered to himself, “What needed to happen has already happened…”

“Young man, what are you saying?” A trace of unnaturalness flashed across the old man’s face, because in his subconscious, he would always associate the young man before him with death.

Qi Xia didn’t answer, only stared at him and asked: “Why would you come looking for me?”

The old man slowly threw the hair in his hand to the ground, saying: “Ah… I can never break my bad habits… Ever since I learned I could seek ‘truth’… I’ve always wanted to get to the bottom of things.”

Qi Xia knew that if he wanted to truly put his mind at ease, he needed to find a way to actively eliminate this variable before him.

He couldn’t die here, nor could he remain alive here.

He could only disappear from here.

“Fine.” Qi Xia nodded, “How about you just ask me directly—what do you want to know?”

“Young man…” The old man walked through the door, saying with a hesitant expression, “Twice I’ve sought ‘truth’, and both times I encountered you… But the ‘truth’ I sought these two times was completely different… So how could they point to the same answer?”

“What did you seek then?”

“I once asked where we came from, and I once asked where we are going.” The old man said, “Young man… the answer told me that you were once where we came from, and will be where we return to.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia paused slightly, then lowered his head in silence.

‘Variables’, though few, were deadly.

An ‘Echo’ that could seek ‘answers’ had been obtained by someone with extreme curiosity.

Before he could tear the loophole even wider, this needed to be stopped immediately.

This kind of ‘Variable’ didn’t even qualify to become a dream.