Only “Participants” will vanish.

Qi Xia understood that this statement meant “Natives” and “Zodiacs” would not disappear along with the End.

“But how do you know the ‘Natives’ haven’t vanished?” Qi Xia asked. “The ones we see… are they still their original selves?”

“I’ve conducted experiments.” Chu Tianqiu said with a smile. “To figure out whether those lunatics would be reborn, I spent ten months conducting experiments.”

“Ten months…?” Qi Xia’s brow furrowed as if he understood something.

“This is a filthy story. You probably won’t want to hear it.” Chu Tianqiu said with a smile. “We’re getting off topic.”

“Continue…”

Qi Xia showed a contemptuous look. It seemed Chu Tianqiu was even crazier than he had imagined.

“You know, every time we ‘Participants’ die, a completely new version of ourselves appears again…” Chu Tianqiu continued with a completely serious expression. “Then there must be this kind of situation… One day, a person called Old A obtained an ‘Echo,’ but he didn’t witness the End and died before the tenth day.”

“Yes.” Qi Xia nodded. “That’s a very normal situation.”

“Good, since that’s the case…” Chu Tianqiu extended his left hand into a fist and said, “Let’s assume this is Old A’s corpse.”

After saying this, he slowly extended his left thumb and said, “This is the ‘Echo’ that Old A once obtained.”

Then he extended his other hand, also forming it into a fist. “This is a new Old A.”

Once again, he extended his thumb. “This is the new ‘Echo.’ Look at this scene. Don’t you find it strange?”

Qi Xia looked at the two fists with raised thumbs that Chu Tianqiu held before his eyes, constantly pondering the meaning he was trying to express.

Before he could figure it out, Chu Tianqiu spoke up and asked, “Qi Xia, since ‘people’ can be copied, can ‘Echoes’ also be copied?”

“You… wait a moment…” Qi Xia felt like he was being brainwashed by a madman. Fortunately, he quickly interrupted the train of thought and refuted, “There seems to be a misconception in your description.”

After saying this, he pointed at Chu Tianqiu’s left hand and said, “Since this is Old A’s corpse, when he died, the ‘Echo’ should have disappeared along with him. Your assumption can’t be established.”

“No, no, no…” Chu Tianqiu shook his head. “Qi Xia, your statement is the misconception. The ‘Echo’ of Old A’s corpse is just ‘can no longer be heard,’ not ‘disappeared.’ Understand?”

“Can no longer be heard…?” Qi Xia paused, then said, “What are you trying to illustrate by giving me this example?”

“Let me put it this way…” Chu Tianqiu lowered his hands and said, “I’ve collected many corpses and am trying to figure out a way to extract the ‘Echoes’ from them. It’s just a pity that this place doesn’t have a morgue. The corpses rot within a few days, so I haven’t succeeded yet.”

This statement stunned Qi Xia.

“Remember?” Chu Tianqiu continued. “No matter which ‘Zodiac’ we ask, the answer we get is that they want to create a ‘god,’ a ‘god’ as great as Nuwa. So when I can gather all people’s ‘Echoes’ onto myself, then I’ll become an omnipotent ‘god.’ This place will have no need to exist anymore because the organizer will have achieved their purpose.”

Qi Xia’s expression was extremely grave.

He had tried multiple times to figure out Chu Tianqiu’s plan, but he didn’t expect the other party to be so thoroughly insane that it was impossible to deduce using ordinary logic.

He neither collected three thousand six hundred “Dao” nor conquered all the games.

Instead, he wanted to continuously create corpses so he could research the method to become a “god.”

That’s why he would harm anyone in his team without hesitation.

But this time… could what Chu Tianqiu said be the truth?

“When I become that omnipotent ‘god,’ I’ll be able to send you all out.” Chu Tianqiu said with a smile. “This is my entire plan. Deal?”

“So you don’t want to leave, you just want to become a ‘god’?” Qi Xia asked.

“Of course.” Chu Tianqiu nodded happily. “What’s the point of being human? I have a chance to become an ‘omnipotent being,’ yet I should return to the real world to experience birth, aging, sickness, and death? Don’t be foolish.”

Qi Xia slowly sat up straight, subconsciously distancing himself from Chu Tianqiu, then said, “But due to the ‘Omnipotence Paradox,’ an ‘omnipotent being’ cannot exist in this world.”

“The ‘Omnipotence Paradox’ was proposed by humans.” Chu Tianqiu said, “After all, humans fundamentally cannot comprehend an ‘omnipotent being.’ They stand at a narrow angle mocking the ‘omnipotent being’s’ self-contradiction, but why would an ‘omnipotent being’ need to prove themselves to humans? And why would an ‘omnipotent being’ need to answer human questions?”

Qi Xia took a deep breath. Now there was only one thought in his mind—he needed to race against time.

Otherwise, sooner or later, he would become a madman like Chu Tianqiu.

Chu Tianqiu was like Lin Qin. On the surface, they appeared normal, but their hearts harbored extremely insane thoughts.

Lin Qin seven years, Chu Tianqiu two years.

Day after day, they woke up in the “Land of the End,” gradually abandoning the humanity, morality, and laws that belonged to human beings.

So was retaining memories for a long time ultimately a good thing or a bad thing?

After a long silence, Qi Xia slowly opened his mouth and asked, “Chu Tianqiu, what does ‘I have never left’ mean?”

After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu once again revealed a smile.

“Qi Xia, I believe I’m someone who has existed since the founding of the ‘Land of the End.'”

“Oh…?”

“I’m not certain how many times I’ve lost my memories, but I must have been here for a very long time…” Chu Tianqiu said with a bitter smile. “My handwriting can be found everywhere here. The oldest handwriting looks like it’s been many years. It seems I once investigated something. Now I can only find some results of that investigation from the traces I left in the ‘Land of the End,’ but I can’t figure out the reason for the investigation anymore.”

“Investigation?” Qi Xia knew that if Chu Tianqiu’s “Echo” trigger truly was “witnessing the End,” then investigating alone would be extremely dangerous for him. “So what was the result of your investigation?”

“I once wrote down a sentence with my own hand: ‘I must make Qi Xia obtain an Echo.'” Chu Tianqiu said with a smile. “I wonder if you’re a stepping stone on my path to godhood?”

“A stepping stone, is it?” Qi Xia also revealed a smile and asked, “Chu Tianqiu, is creating corpses your purpose for cooperating with me?”

“No…” Chu Tianqiu shook his head. “It’s not that simple. We can pursue two approaches simultaneously. By now, through ‘selling food,’ ‘Heaven’s Mouth’ has already collected two thousand nine hundred ‘Dao.’ I’ll ‘become a god,’ you’ll ‘collect Dao.’ No matter how the two of us act from here on, we’ll be increasing the probability of getting out. I said before, in this place, only you and I are qualified to survive and qualified to leave.”