On that morning without any warning, Qi Xia once again created himself in this empty room.

He felt he had reached his optimal state. Now his heart was connected to everything in the “Land of the End.”

He missed everyone here. He wanted to lead everyone to escape.

He began to fully mobilize the “Endless Life and Death” within him.

This moment would be his last day.

But he was only one step away from completing the greatest rebirth—to shed his “divinity” and reclaim all of his “humanity.”

He raised his head and looked at the other Qi Xia before him. That Qi Xia also looked at him, their expressions equally profound.

“The ‘Participants’ here return every ten days, including you,” Qi Xia stared at the Qi Xia before him and said. “I have already experienced eternity. What comes next is up to you.”

“Then… what about you?” Qi Xia asked.

“After I use up all my ‘faith,’ I will fall into slumber. You need to kill me, otherwise the next ‘cycle’ will have problems,” Qi Xia answered. “My memories will also scatter into the air, waiting for you to slowly retrieve them someday.”

“This really… must have been hard on you,” Qi Xia murmured. “All this time… you’ve worked hard.”

“It’s been hard on us, not on me,” Qi Xia shook his head expressionlessly. “After you are reborn, I will delete large portions of your memory. To ensure we don’t fail, everything I’m about to say will become your subconscious, helping you move forward steadily before you recover all your memories.”

“Thank you for your efforts,” Qi Xia responded and walked over to sit down slowly in front of Qi Xia.

The two sat across from each other at the round table, their eyes meeting.

It was like a long-awaited reunion, yet also like brewing a desperate farewell.

“Alright,” Qi Xia paused, then asked back, “Then what about us… ourselves…?”

“Us…” Qi Xia fell silent, then spoke. “We are just… a swindler who defrauded two million.”

Qi Xia’s expression grew heavy, then he nodded. “Alright… we are just swindlers.”

“I will slightly adjust the memories of everyone in the room, chaotically adding the concept of ‘two million,'” Qi Xia continued. “Others probably won’t notice anything strange, but you will definitely discover ‘my’ existence through this clue. At that time, you, I, and Baiyang will join forces to break through this place. Heavenly-Dragon will have nowhere to hide.”

Qi Xia nodded and slowly closed his eyes, engraving all the content into his subconscious.

“Due to the influence of your subconscious, you will see a different ‘reality,'” Qi Xia said again. “After all, all ‘reality’ is entering dreams. At first you will be deceived by yourself, seeing the true ‘home’ within the falsehood. But as you return to ‘reality’ more times, as your memories increase, you will gradually see ‘reality’ collapse in your dreams. A city of flesh and blood will appear in your dreams—that is the true appearance of your dreamscape. A complete city of flesh and blood will grant you the deepest despair and the strongest ‘Echo.'”

As Qi Xia spoke, his eyes actually began to turn red.

After hearing this, the other Qi Xia closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “I understand.”

“If time is tight… then find a way to attract Heavenly-Dragon to act. He will help you see the true city of flesh and blood,” Qi Xia instructed again. “But you must be careful. The city of flesh and blood in our hearts is the most fragile dream. Everything from its buildings to its pedestrians is false, so it’s extremely prone to collapse. If possible, try to establish a ‘guardian’ in the dreamscape to prevent invasion from Heavenly-Dragon and other ‘dream enterers.'”

His voice was very soft, as if speaking to the only family member in the world.

“Alright,” Qi Xia nodded once more.

“I will copy Chu Tianqiu’s terminal illness to you,” Qi Xia changed the subject. “This terminal illness will suppress your grief, making it easier for you to awaken ‘Endless Life and Death’ rather than ‘Ling Wen.’ However…”

“However, we ourselves won’t be able to leave.”

“Yes,” Qi Xia said in a low voice. “What do you… think?”

“I think it’s not appropriate,” Qi Xia answered.

“Not appropriate?”

“Yes, don’t ‘copy’ it,” Qi Xia said. “‘Transfer’ it to me. Chu Tianqiu has no reason to die here or outside. Let him live.”

“Reasonable,” Qi Xia nodded with a heavy expression after hearing this. “Although in Chu Tianqiu’s memory he has a terminal illness, that illness will be in you after you wake up.”

“Alright.”

Qi Xia’s expression gradually became dejected. “You must remember, ‘As long as you miss them, you will meet them.'”

Qi Xia stared at him and asked with emotion, “Are you… alright…?”

Qi Xia didn’t answer, only shaking his head and saying, “On this path, I, Baiyang, and yourself have already planted countless helpers. Countless people will join this operation. Even ‘karma’ and ’cause and effect’ are helping you…”

“I will,” Qi Xia nodded. “I will lead everyone to attack the peak of this entire ‘Land of終焉.'”

“Our original intention… has never changed, right?”

“Right.”

“Promise me… you must take everyone away from here, okay…?”

His form of address changed from “we” to “you” at some unknown point.

His voice also became slightly choked with very faint sobs.

If this room wasn’t so quiet, even Heavenly-Dragon would have thought he heard wrong.

Someone as strong as Qi Xia was actually choking up at this moment.

He had crossed eternity. He had experienced infinity.

He was all alone, without even finding anyone to talk to.

And now, he was about to leave without anyone knowing.

When tomorrow came, everyone in the room would forget this happened. Whether it was the brand new Qi Xia or the already insane Man-Goat, they would only have a trace of remaining subconscious, proving that something had happened here.

“This whole journey… thank you so much,” the other Qi Xia also said with slight trembling. “I will make everyone escape from here. I promise you.”

“I’m very tired. I want to sleep for a while,” Qi Xia smiled bitterly, his choking becoming even more obvious. “Before leaving… can you… say goodbye to me…?”

A trace of sadness also flashed across Qi Xia’s expression. He walked over, slowly raised his hand, placed it on Qi Xia’s shoulder, and said softly:

“Qi Xia, good night.”

Hearing these words, a tear finally slid from Qi Xia’s eyes.

He lowered his head, clutching his hair and crying loudly, but he had no idea what he was feeling.

Bone-deep loneliness and endless pain all erupted at this moment, drenching his heart of iron and stone that had turned into lead.

What an incredibly long road…?

What an incredibly distant destination…?

“You must take them home…” Qi Xia sobbed with his head lowered. “I’ve already walked the hardest paths… you… you must…”

Watching Qi Xia bend over and wail, Heavenly-Dragon finally remembered that Qi Xia was just an ordinary person.

From beginning to end, none of his paths were about wanting to become a “god.”

But he had achieved it in this eternal solitude.

He had so many things he wanted to say, so many things he wanted to do.

But he was tired.

Several calls flashed through his mind—

“Pian Ren Zai!”

“Old Qi!”

“Yang Ge!”

“Baiyang Gege!”

He wanted so badly to respond, to say “Don’t worry, I’m here,” but he was really so tired.

He had walked the longest road of his life and seen the most distant scenery.

At this final moment of solitude, he could only say goodbye to himself in the empty room.

He said “you’ve worked hard” to himself, and also said “thank you” to himself.

This… was enough, wasn’t it?

A thousand words pressed against his chest. His humanity broke through endless divinity at this moment, bursting forth from Qi Xia’s body with a dazzling brilliance that Heavenly-Dragon had never seen before.

But in the end, Qi Xia only raised his head with reddened eyes, and in that tremendous brilliance, said softly to himself with a smile—

“Good night… Qi Xia…”

That day, the “Land of終焉” underwent a dramatic transformation.

The powerful “Endless Life and Death” carrying the purest brilliance of humanity erupted from the “Train.”

A god has joys and sorrows. A god also sighs at the suffering of all living beings.

All beings returned here with their appearance from seven years ago.

The “Native Residents” began wandering the streets. The “Zodiac” awakened on the “Train.” The “Ants” and “Divine Beasts” all took their positions.

Even the Twin Dragons appeared at the “train head.”

And all the “Participants” gathered in the interview room. Everything began again from the empty room.

The old man beside the great bell went completely insane from that moment. He had not experienced “eternity,” but merely experienced a hundred years alone in the “Land of終焉.”

In everyone’s eyes, he had just aged overnight.

In a place like “Taoyuan,” there are many ways to make a person age overnight. In the end, no one could investigate.

But he had personally witnessed everyone being “separated” by Heavenly-Dragon, and also personally witnessed this place regaining its prosperity. He wandered alone for a hundred years.

He saw faceless people running in the streets. He also saw people slaughtering those monsters.

But he couldn’t understand.

The only possibility for all this could only be explained if Heavenly-Dragon had become a “god,” right?

If everyone could return even after dying for a hundred years, wouldn’t this place make people forever lost?

So he began wandering near the great bell, muttering a phrase to everyone he met—

“We can’t fight him… we’re forever lost here… no wonder the ‘Zodiac’ came back again… no wonder even the ‘Zodiac’ came back…”

He felt Heavenly-Dragon had told a tremendous lie. Since he had already become a “god,” why not let these people leave…?

What was he still pursuing?

He still had seven years to gradually recover his sanity. People only treated him as a commonly seen insane old man in the “Land of終焉,” and no one cared.

It was also that day.

A lonely Man-Goat stood before a building with desperate and cold eyes. Walking toward him was a girl dressed in white.

“Yang Ge?” she called softly.

Hearing the call, Man-Goat stared at her, sizing her up from head to toe. A few seconds later, he lowered his head again as if he hadn’t seen anything.

Who was that…?

He seemed to have seen her before, yet also seemed not to have.

After meeting again following “eternity,” even the most familiar people would become strangers at this moment.

There were simply too many memories. There was no way to extract her name from that long stretch of time.

She might just be an illusion from some fleeting moment, or perhaps a substitute among the million faceless people.

“Baiyang…?” The girl walked forward a few steps and called again.

At this moment, Man-Goat finally reacted, seeming to confirm that someone was calling him.

So he raised his head once more to look at the girl, then coldly asked—

“What do you want?”

From this moment on, the predetermined gears began to turn ruthlessly.

Like a train that couldn’t stop, it carried everyone’s faith forward.

It was also that day when Xuanwu looked up—

She uncontrollably put her palms together, bowed her head humbly in worship, and silently recited the word “compassion.”

A god sighs at the suffering of all living beings. A god also suffers.

And then, the wails of countless people, mixed with traces of hidden hope, echoed once more throughout the “Land of終焉.”