Chu Tianqiu and Yun Yao were currently driving in the sedan, accelerating along the road.
“Chu Tianqiu… what are you doing?” Yun Yao asked in confusion. “Didn’t you see that ‘Heaven’s Mouth’ is being attacked?!”
“I saw it, but we can’t solve it,” Chu Tianqiu said, gripping the steering wheel and looking straight ahead. “These people’s purpose is to ‘bloodily wash Heaven’s Mouth.’ If you and I stay there, we’ll just be throwing our lives away for nothing.”
“You…” Yun Yao was stunned. “Do you know something?”
“Haha, of course.” Chu said. “Tonight, the three of us—me, Xu Liunian, and Qi Xia—each have our own purposes, and we’ve all arranged our own plans. What I didn’t expect was that all three of us pretended to fall into each other’s traps, staging schemes within schemes within the other’s plots. Now the three schemes shine brilliantly together—truly spectacular…”
After hearing this, Yun Yao was still completely confused. Had Xu Liunian really returned?
Not only did she appear here, but she even plotted some kind of action?
“What exactly do you mean?” Yun Yao asked. “What are the purposes of you three?”
Chu Tianqiu thought for a moment and answered, “My purpose naturally doesn’t need to be said—it’s to hope Qi Xia obtains an ‘Echo.’ As for Xu Liunian’s purpose…”
He fell silent for a while, then said, “I don’t know if my guess is correct, but she seems to be proving herself to someone, or possibly wanting to destroy me… When she asked me to personally kill Li Xiangling tonight, I felt something was off.”
“What?” Yun Yao’s eyes widened once again. “She asked you to personally kill Li Xiangling?”
“I thought it over again and again, and felt there was something fishy about this matter, so I switched the cyanide for antibiotics,” Chu Tianqiu laughed heartily. “It seems that ‘caution ensures smooth sailing’ was indeed correct—that bitch Xu Liunian actually dared to scheme against me.”
Yun Yao paused, then asked, “Then what about Qi Xia’s purpose?”
“That’s even harder to figure out…” Chu Tianqiu steered with one hand, stroking his chin. “Is it possible that Qi Xia is looking for another partner… If tonight’s ‘scheme’ was a challenge Qi Xia posed to Xu Liunian, then everything makes sense…”
Although Yun Yao sat in the enclosed car, she felt waves of cold.
Under circumstances where these three people didn’t know what decisions the others would make, they each actually laid their own traps.
“You said you want Qi Xia to obtain an ‘Echo’… then what scheme did you set up?” Yun Yao asked.
“It’s the ‘bloody washing of Heaven’s Mouth,'” Chu Tianqiu answered.
“What…?” Yun Yao’s eyes slowly widened. “Those attackers… you arranged them?”
“Yes, it cost quite a bit of money,” Chu Tianqiu nodded. “Tonight the Cat moves out—Heaven’s Mouth leaves none alive.”
“Chu Tianqiu, have you gone mad?!” Yun Yao stared wide-eyed. “More than half the people at ‘Heaven’s Mouth’ haven’t obtained ‘Echoes’!”
“Yun Yao, I haven’t gone mad—I’ve become enlightened.” A strange smile appeared on Chu Tianqiu’s face. “Those people have already died many times—dying once more doesn’t matter. But Qi Xia is different. Qi Xia’s ability is formidable, but unfortunately his mental state is unstable. I predict that after three to five cycles, he’ll completely go mad and will never be able to obtain an ‘Echo’ again.”
Yun Yao furrowed her brows and didn’t speak.
“So I need to race against time. Within three cycles at most, I need to test out the trigger for Qi Xia’s ‘Echo.'” Chu Tianqiu said with a smile. “Before, I was completely wrong… I always thought the trigger for Qi Xia’s ‘Echo’ was ‘sorrow,’ but I looked at all the records and discovered there’s one state Qi Xia has never experienced!”
“What is it…?” Yun Yao asked cautiously.
“It’s ‘peace of mind’! It’s ‘satisfaction’! It’s ‘feeling happiness’! Hahahaha!”
Chu Tianqiu laughed heartily as he crashed through the ants on the road, causing the windshield to instantly become covered in blood.
After hearing this, Yun Yao’s eyes slowly widened. “I understand… so you left Li Xiangling there… you’re gambling with the lives of everyone at ‘Heaven’s Mouth’…”
“Hahahaha!” Chu Tianqiu laughed loudly. “Li Xiangling’s ‘Echo’ is so weak… yet it can play a huge role at this moment! Her trigger of ‘encountering warfare’ has been achieved—next is the moment to witness Qi Xia’s ‘Echo’!”
“Then… where are you taking me?”
“To the screen, of course.” Chu Tianqiu turned on the windshield wipers, smearing the blood on the glass even more evenly.
“To be able to smoothly leave ‘Heaven’s Mouth’… you specifically named me to come with you,” Yun Yao said. “But to erase what you did today… you’ll kill me to silence me, right?”
“You underestimate me, Yun Yao.” Chu Tianqiu shook his head. “Killing you would be meaningless. I’m just afraid I’ve already gone mad and might see strange things on the screen, so I need to bring the most normal person in all of ‘Heaven’s Mouth’—you—with me.”
The two arrived at the square. Chu Tianqiu turned on the car’s high beams, illuminating a large area nearby.
That screen was already filled with densely packed words.
Chu Tianqiu squinted and looked for a long time before finally breaking into a smile.
“Look, Yun Yao, I did it. Li Xiangling didn’t disappoint me.”
The last small line on the screen read: “I heard the Echo of ‘Manifestation.'”
“Excellent… excellent!!” Chu Tianqiu looked up to the sky and shouted.
But the next second, sadness suddenly surged on his face. Then he bent over and began vomiting.
“Cough, cough, cough…” After vomiting for a while, Chu Tianqiu finally took a long breath and wiped his mouth. “As expected… was tonight’s dinner not refined enough?”
Yun Yao shivered slightly. She clearly saw a piece of human fingernail in Chu Tianqiu’s vomit.
…
Li Xiangling sat in the classroom, listening to the sounds of shouting and killing outside the door, slowly breaking into a cold sweat.
Some unpleasant memories began to emerge.
“Qi… Qi Ge…” Li Xiangling called out. “Find a chance to run… don’t worry about me anymore.”
Qi Xia still quietly stared at the door crack, then replied softly, “Don’t misunderstand—I didn’t stay to take care of you. Running out now would be tantamount to suicide.”
He revealed an expression full of worry.
Shortly after Qiao Jiajin went out, violent explosions came from the first floor. Now Qi Xia didn’t know what to do.
The person who drove out earlier was most likely Chu Tianqiu, which meant there was a high probability that Chu Tianqiu himself had orchestrated this attack.
He was prepared to abandon all the teammates of “Heaven’s Mouth,” but what was his purpose?
Qi Xia couldn’t guess.
If that was the case, he could only completely go against Chu Tianqiu’s wishes to prevent the other party’s purpose from being achieved as much as possible.
He told Qi Xia to stay in the room, so Qi Xia changed positions.
But he also said to “take care of the wounded.”
Should he then separate from Li Xiangling?
Right—when you can’t know what your opponent wants, you can only first think about what your opponent doesn’t want.
After thinking for a moment, Qi Xia was about to turn back to speak but suddenly froze.
Standing behind Li Xiangling was a girl dressed in white. She had a sweet face and long hair past her shoulders, and at this moment she was smiling at Qi Xia.