Whether this reason was fabricated or not, it seemed fairly adequate.

Even if Chu Tianqiu wanted to arrange a confrontational game, for safety’s sake he should have let his own people “Echo” first.

Moreover, if he and Yun Yao formed a team and encountered danger, she definitely wouldn’t be able to escape. How could Chu Tianqiu easily throw away the organization’s second-in-command?

If he always operated with this kind of strategy, Zhang Shan and Yun Yao would never have continued following him.

Unfortunately, Officer Li’s team had been completely wiped out, making this seemingly conspiratorial action impossible to prove either way.

And that made… everything very interesting.

“I understand how you feel, Qi Xia.” Chu Tianqiu said with a sad expression. “Losing teammates in a game is an extremely heartbreaking thing. Sometimes we’d rather the one who died was ourselves.”

“But you don’t even participate in games—how would you know this feeling?” Qi Xia replied indifferently.

“Who says I don’t participate in games?” Chu Tianqiu shook his head. “Once a game has a detailed strategy, I lead teams to participate too. It’s just that accidents occasionally happen, and my teammates, in order to preserve my ‘memory,’ will die in my place. That feeling is even more painful than if they’d killed me.”

Qi Xia stared coldly at Chu Tianqiu without speaking.

This person was truly interesting.

He had been telling the truth from beginning to end.

Just how could one perform so flawlessly without leaving a trace?

“There’s a wasteland behind the school where you can take your teammates to bury them.” Chu Tianqiu pointed toward the back of the teaching building. “Over these past few months, all the members of ‘Heaven’s Gate’ who have passed away are there. Also… tell me where Little Glasses and Jin Yuanxun are, and I’ll send people to bring them back…”

Qi Xia stared into Chu Tianqiu’s eyes for a long time, and the corners of his mouth actually turned up almost imperceptibly.

Too interesting.

This was exactly the scene he had hoped to see when coming to “Heaven’s Gate.”

Only by competing with truly formidable people could he continue to tap into his own potential.

So what if his teammates died?

So what about “Man-Dragon”?

When he realized that Chu Tianqiu was not a fool, he felt inexplicably somewhat happy.

“Let me see your methods, Chu Tianqiu.” Qi Xia thought to himself. “This alone is still far from enough.”

……

Under Yun Yao’s guidance, Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin came to the wasteland.

But what met their eyes was a large expanse of graves built with shabby, broken wood.

Dense and numerous.

Even Yun Yao’s own grave stood in a corner.

That grave was bulging—something was buried inside.

Seeing this mound of earth, Qi Xia suddenly felt something was off.

“Yun Yao…” After thinking for a moment, Qi Xia pointed at Yun Yao’s grave and asked, “If you’re standing here… then who’s in the grave?”

“So you didn’t know yet…” Yun Yao lowered her head sadly. “Qi Xia, dead is dead. And when we come back again, we become a new version of ourselves.”

“What…” Qi Xia was stunned, feeling that this statement exceeded his comprehension.

Qiao Jiajin beside him had completely frozen up.

Yun Yao pointed to several different locations.

“Here, here, here, and over there—they’re all me.” Yun Yao said with a bitter smile. “I’m clearly buried inside, yet I’m still standing here, so… am I still the original me?”

Qi Xia’s eyes slowly widened.

Wait… this situation was far too bizarre.

This meant that the corpses of Qiao Jiajin, Tiantian, and Officer Li from when they died in the first round were still lying somewhere in “The End.” Yet they could proceed with the second round completely unaffected.

If they could go to the edge of the city now, there would definitely be a corpse of Qi Xia there as well.

“A brand new self…?”

Qi Xia thought of a new perspective.

Looking at these two experiences together, each so-called “cycle” wasn’t actually accurate.

Because “time” hadn’t reset, and “people” hadn’t reset either.

Time here was indeed advancing day by day. There were two most compelling pieces of evidence.

First, the female shop clerk at the convenience store had given birth to a child and eaten “Little Piglet.”

If time was constantly cycling within ten days, how could she give birth?

If everything restarted every ten days, why would she become so emaciated?

Second, the Man-Mouse’s death had exceeded ten days.

Her corpse displayed a state of decay exceeding ten days—this was the best evidence.

But if that was the case, why did people entering “The End” think this was a “cycle”?

After all, every time ten days passed, a batch of brand new people would be thrown in.

New time and new people—why would this be called a “cycle”?

But due to certain bizarre reasons, some of the brand new people would inherit the corpses’ memories.

They believed they were constantly cycling.

But was this really a “cycle”?

Something capable of such bizarre feats truly seemed like a “god.”

But why would this “god” make everyone die again and again?

No matter how capable the humans in “The End” were, none could release magic.

Those abilities called “Echo,” while seeming surprising, were clearly one useless skill after another upon careful thought. Did everyone plan to use these abilities to kill a god?

“No wonder this place has such an incredibly powerful rotting smell…” Qi Xia murmured. “The number of corpses only increases and never decreases. Once again, everything has exceeded my expectations…”

“Is there anything else you can’t understand?” Yun Yao sighed and revealed a smile. “One day, this world will be filled with our corpses.”

Qiao Jiajin slowly laid Tiantian on the flat ground, picked up a rusty shovel from the side, and began silently digging soil.

The content that Qi Xia and Yun Yao were discussing was too profound—it couldn’t enter his mind.

He only knew that Tiantian was very pitiful and very cold.

She shouldn’t be allowed to remain this cold.

Before long, a pit was dug. Just as Qiao Jiajin was about to hold Tiantian and place her inside, Yun Yao stopped him.

“Wait a moment.”

She took a tube of lip gloss from her pocket, bent down, and carefully applied it to Tiantian.

The deathly pale Tiantian instantly looked like she had more color.

After thinking for a moment, she took out blush and gently dabbed it on Tiantian’s face.

“She said she wanted to leave looking beautiful.” Yun Yao smiled with relief. “She looks much better now. No one will laugh at her, and no one will look down on her.”

Qiao Jiajin nodded, held Tiantian and placed her in the earthen pit, then picked up the shovel and tossed soil over her.

Yun Yao watched as Tiantian was gradually buried by the soil, her face solemn as she said, “I like her. Starting from next time, Tiantian will become my ‘official girlfriend.’ I will use my greatest effort to protect her. Anyone who opposes her is my enemy.”

Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin exchanged glances, not knowing how to respond.

Yun Yao was clearly a girl, yet she wanted to find a girlfriend.

“Actually, you don’t need to do this.” Qi Xia said. “You pretend to like many people and many things, but it’s actually to find opportunities for ‘seeking but not obtaining,’ right?”

Yun Yao was startled. She hadn’t expected Qi Xia to see through her at a glance.

“But genuinely liking something and saying you like something are different.” Qi Xia shook his head. “You seem to have fallen into a very strange state. When a person says she likes everything in front of her, it means she doesn’t want any of the things in front of her.”

“Perhaps you’re right, but this time is different.” Yun Yao shook her head and placed her hand on her chest. “This girl called Tiantian makes my heart ache. She was already living so miserably herself, yet she was still thinking of others. I couldn’t protect her in the real world, but here, I’ll do everything I can.”

“But she won’t remember you.” Qi Xia said. “She’ll wake up confused again, go through a painful internal struggle, and seek death once more. How will you protect her then?”

“I’ll have many chances. She’ll remember me eventually.” Yun Yao smiled bitterly. “Don’t interfere with an idol’s romance, and don’t try to guess an idol’s thoughts either.”

Qiao Jiajin silently picked a dark red wildflower from the side and placed it on Tiantian’s grave.

His heart ached too.

Failing to protect someone he wanted to protect—how heartbreaking was that?

He felt like he kept hearing strange sounds in his ears, like a bell.

But the bell sound was fleeting—he could never hear it completely.