“An…?”

Qi Xia’s lips moved slightly: “Yu Nian’an?”

Li Xiangling was startled when she heard this and quickly looked back.

But there was nothing behind her—completely empty.

“What ‘An’?” she asked in confusion.

“An… are you really here?”

Qi Xia walked forward step by step, his pupils trembling continuously.

He felt his thoughts were extremely strange.

He seemed utterly confused, yet also appeared to understand everything.

This feeling drifted between lucidity and madness, with only the last string yet to snap.

“Xia, why haven’t you come home yet?” Yu Nian’an spoke.

“Home…?” Qi Xia blinked slowly, gradually revealing a guilty smile. “I did return home… but you’re no longer there…”

Li Xiangling was so frightened by Qi Xia’s appearance that she retreated repeatedly.

“Qi… Brother Qi… what’s wrong with you? Don’t scare me…”

She kept looking back. There was clearly nothing behind her, yet Qi Xia was not only talking to thin air, he was even smiling at it.

This was also the first time she had seen Qi Xia smile.

“How could I not be at home?” Yu Nian’an continued to ask. “Xia, tell me, if I’m not at home… where should I be?”

Qi Xia’s eyes slowly widened, as if understanding something.

“You’re saying… you’re here… so this place is home…”

“Yes, Xia…”

“So I… have arrived home…”

Watching Qi Xia’s eyes gradually lose their light, Li Xiangling couldn’t hold back anymore.

Enduring the pain from her injuries, she leapt up and kicked Qi Xia, knocking him to the ground.

“Brother Qi! Don’t let this place influence you!” After Li Xiangling shouted, she felt the pain from her broken ribs become even clearer. “Ow ow ow it hurts…”

Having been kicked for no apparent reason, Qi Xia wasn’t angry. Instead, he quickly stood up to search for Yu Nian’an’s figure.

He needed Yu Nian’an too much.

Yu Nian’an was his belief.

But after a few seconds, Qi Xia noticed something amiss.

That kick had been perfectly timed, actually snapping him out of his trance.

How could Yu Nian’an suddenly appear in this room?

Her appearance looked nothing like a person—more like a ghost.

Qi Xia harshly slapped himself. He felt like he had gone mad.

“Brother Qi… are you alright?” Li Xiangling asked.

“I’m much better.” Qi Xia stood up, shook his head, then asked with a serious expression: “Li Xiangling, what is your ‘Echo’?”

“Uh…” Li Xiangling smiled awkwardly. “I don’t know, it’s just that everyone says my ‘Echo’ is useless…”

“Is that so…?”

Qi Xia knew that if Li Xiangling’s ‘Echo’ was seeing the phantom of someone one missed, then it indeed wouldn’t be very useful to others, but for him it was lethal.

After learning that it was just a fleeting illusion, Qi Xia felt like his brain was about to explode.

An extremely sorrowful feeling began to make him dizzy with pain, but soon he stopped his thoughts of Yu Nian’an and instead focused on dealing with the situation at hand.

“Li Xiangling, I need to go outside and take a look. Hide yourself well and lock the door,” Qi Xia said.

“Ah? You’re leaving too?” Li Xiangling said with a worried expression. “Brother Qi, it’s really dangerous outside…”

“It’s fine…” Qi Xia sorted through his thoughts and slowly opened the door.

If Chu Tianqiu’s goal was to kill him, staying with Li Xiangling would only harm her.

Before Qi Xia could step out the door, he suddenly saw a figure rushing toward him, pushing him back inside.

It was Qiao Jiajin, covered in blood.

“Qi Xia! Damn…” Qiao Jiajin said. “It’s too dangerous outside… be careful!”

He turned around, startling Qi Xia.

Qiao Jiajin had even more wounds on his body. He looked like he had truly experienced an explosion—his entire left arm bore burn marks, and there was a bullet hole in his right shoulder. He must have gone through quite a few fierce battles.

“What’s the situation exactly?” Qi Xia asked. “Who’s attacking?”

“They don’t seem to be from the ‘Extreme Path’…” Qiao Jiajin stared cautiously outside the door. “Those people are all wearing black clothes, like they’re searching for something…”

Qi Xia had a vague feeling that he might be their target.

“Also, Lin Qin and Han Yimo are dead,” Qiao Jiajin said in frustration. “I didn’t find Yun Yao and Zhang Shan and the others, don’t know if they’re dead or not.”

“Is that so…? In that case… this is troublesome…” Qi Xia narrowed his eyes, his expression particularly heavy.

“There’s nothing troublesome about it…” Qiao Jiajin looked outside with a serious expression. “Don’t worry, as long as I’m here, everything will be fine.”

“Oh?” Qi Xia looked at him. “What are you planning to do?”

“I’ll take you all out.” Qiao Jiajin carefully pushed open the door. “Right now, the passage from the second floor to the first floor exit has been cleared by me. As long as we slip out of the teaching building before reinforcements arrive, we’ll be fine.”

Qi Xia stroked his chin and pondered for a moment, then said: “But we have wounded.”

“I’ll take care of Li Xiangling,” Qiao Jiajin said in a low voice. “If we don’t leave now, we really won’t have another chance.”

“Alright.” Qi Xia nodded, helped Li Xiangling up, and said to Qiao Jiajin: “Lead the way.”

“Mm.” Qiao Jiajin carefully looked outside the door and said quietly: “Follow my hand signals in a moment. There are too many enemies, we need to be cautious.”

“I know, I’ll follow your arrangements completely.”

Though Qi Xia said this, he quietly walked toward a chair.

“No one’s around now, let’s move!”

Just as Qiao Jiajin turned back to speak, Qi Xia swung the chair and viciously struck him down.

To Li Xiangling’s utter shock, Qi Xia reached out to lock the door, then mounted Qiao Jiajin and grabbed his throat.

That blow had truly been heavy—Qiao Jiajin looked completely dazed.

“Are you looking to die?” Qi Xia asked through gritted teeth. “You dare to impersonate even Qiao Jiajin—what have you done to him?!”

“Cough cough…” The person beneath him coughed a few times and instantly transformed into Xu Liunian. “You… how did you know…”

Li Xiangling’s eyes widened in shock. She hadn’t noticed at all that the Qiao Jiajin from earlier was someone else in disguise.

“Did you think learning to say ‘damn’ would turn you into him?” Qi Xia said with slight anger. “What’s this about ‘Lin Qin, Han Yimo, Li Xiangling, Zhang Shan, Yun Yao’? Qiao Jiajin has never called any of these people by their names, and he’s never once called me ‘Qi Xia’.”

“Heh… heheheh…” Xu Liunian grinned malevolently. “It doesn’t matter if you saw through it… Qi Xia, I’ve found a way to prove my abilities…”

“Is that so?” Qi Xia still gripped Xu Liunian’s throat and asked viciously: “How do you plan to prove yourself to me?”

“I’ve decided to kill you tonight and send you into the next cycle.”