“Chu Tianqiu has gone severely mad…?” Yun Yao asked in response, “As expected, no matter how many years a good reputation lasts, it only takes one moment of madness to completely collapse. I suppose he brought this upon himself.”

“Isn’t that the case?” Zhang Chenze glanced at Lin Qin.

“What you all understand is only the current Chu Tianqiu…” Yun Yao said with a melancholic tone, “Whether you believe it or not, in all these years before Qi Xia appeared, Chu Tianqiu had always been the king of the ‘Good People.’ The things he has done for all the ‘Participants’ are far more than you can imagine.”

Lin Qin had also heard of Chu Tianqiu’s reputation before, but after meeting him, she discovered that Chu Tianqiu was completely different from what she had imagined.

Come to think of it, if Chu Tianqiu had been so deranged from the very beginning, how could he have become the ‘King of Good People’?

Why would so many people in the entire “Heaven’s Mouth” support him?

Zhang Chenze paused after hearing this: “Are you saying that Chu Tianqiu had a child in the ‘Land of the End’… but this child was eaten by her own mother… and this incident caused him to become so mad?”

“I can only say it’s my speculation…” Yun Yao sighed, “Although I don’t want to speculate like this either, if you think about it carefully, once this reason is established, all of Chu Tianqiu’s motives become reasonable.”

After hearing this, everyone fell silent.

When one’s only hope in the ‘Land of the End’ collapses, who wouldn’t go mad?

But was that child… truly Chu Tianqiu’s hope?

“When I saw Qi Xia having a headache before… I really wanted to bring up this issue.” Yun Yao said to everyone, “Chu Tianqiu also suffers from headaches. This condition means he has no reason to go out.”

“What?” Lin Qin raised her eyebrows, “He also had headaches?”

“Yes, Chen Junnan probably knows about this too.” Yun Yao nodded and said word by word, “Chu Tianqiu has brain cancer.”

“What…?”

Only then did several people recall that when Chen Junnan had put a knife to Chu Tianqiu’s neck before, he had tapped his own temple and asked him “Does it still hurt here?”

“Chu Tianqiu had no reason to go out in the first place.” Yun Yao said, “His life in the real world only has two months left. The ‘Land of the End’ is his only home. That he was willing to do so much for the good people is already selfless. Logically speaking… no one has any right to condemn him. For a very long time, he collected food himself and distributed it to everyone, and selflessly shared game strategies, all just to improve everyone’s chances of survival here.”

“But according to what you’re saying…” Lin Qin said, “You had absolutely no reason to leave that place. Is there anyone in the ‘Land of the End’ who looks more reliable than him?”

Yun Yao paused, then continued: “I’m dissatisfied with him because he’s toying with the lives of everyone at ‘Heaven’s Mouth.’ We trusted him so much, yet he manipulated us like pawns. This is betrayal. He could have told us the truth, and we would have chosen our own ending, rather than letting us go to our deaths carrying such trust.”

Everyone could understand the bitterness in Yun Yao’s heart right now. Being betrayed isn’t frightening—what’s frightening is being betrayed by the person you trust most.

Yun Yao now increasingly believed that after Chu Tianqiu learned that this woman called Qiaoyun had eaten the child, he began to go mad.

When activating that bizarre replication ability, he had also pulled out a piece of flesh and stuffed it into his mouth. Could he be imitating Qiaoyun’s manner of eating people?

“Just who is this Chu Tianqiu you’re all talking about?” The shopkeeper’s voice trembled more and more. She seemed to have thought of something, but no matter what, she couldn’t summon back her rationality.

“Do you remember Chu Tianqiu?” Yun Yao asked, “He’s the person who made ‘deliveries’ to you. His smile was very pleasant, and his voice was very nice to hear.”

The shopkeeper blinked her eyes. She felt some ethereal memories awakening in her mind, but how long ago were those memories?

Decades, perhaps.

“Xiao Wen, we need to lead everyone out. We need to destroy this place.”

“Xiao Wen, you are our entire hope, but if you don’t find me after going out… it may be that I don’t want to see you.”

“Xiao Wen, the path you’re walking now is very dangerous…”

“Xiao Wen, where have you been all these years? Don’t you even remember me?”

“I’m Xiao Wen…?” The shopkeeper’s eyes kept flickering, as if tears were about to fall. She muttered blankly, “I’m Wen Qiaoyun…?”

Seeing her like this, everyone couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. She seemed to be recovering her rationality?

But after a few seconds, Wen Qiaoyun’s expression dimmed, and her eyes returned to their vacant state, as if the memories from just now were like a stone thrown into a lake—the ripples would eventually dissipate.

“Please feel free to choose…” She slowly lowered her head, “Please select the goods yourself… Please…”

Just like all the ‘Residents’ they had encountered before, at first they would have some past memories, but once questioned in detail, those ancient memories would slowly be forgotten.

“So…” Zhang Chenze looked at Yun Yao and Lin Qin and asked, “If someone becomes a ‘Resident,’ can they never return to normal?”

Lin Qin nodded: “Yes, I’ve never seen a case where a ‘Resident’ could regain consciousness.”

Yun Yao was about to nod in agreement as well, but the words caught in her throat.

“No…” Yun Yao said with a heavy expression, “I’m now reserving judgment on this matter… Residents might actually be able to regain consciousness…”

“What?” Lin Qin looked at her with furrowed brows. She had never heard of such a thing.

“Xiao Nian…” Yun Yao said to Lin Qin, “Do you remember that person…? Her name is Xu Liunian. Qi Xia said she once became a Resident, but she has now returned to ‘Heaven’s Mouth.’ Not only has she completely recovered her rationality, she can even activate ‘Echo.'”

“Recovered her rationality…?”

“But it’s still very strange…” Yun Yao said, “Xu Liunian didn’t return to the ‘Interview Room’… She seems to have escaped ‘Annihilation,’ and just wanders around this place all day.”

After hearing this sentence, Lin Qin was completely stunned.

“That can’t be right… Does such a person really exist?” She said with furrowed brows, “If she can escape ‘Annihilation,’ that means she no longer has any possibility of returning to the real world. Even we can go back once every ten days, but she cannot… What is she now? A ‘Participant’ or a ‘Resident’?”

“I don’t know…” Yun Yao said, “I once asked her privately. She only said that she woke up one day and had regained consciousness, then returned to ‘Heaven’s Mouth.’ Chu Tianqiu gave her a temporary order to impersonate him… You know what happened after that.”

“Since there’s a precedent… that means this matter is feasible…” Lin Qin’s eyes slowly widened, “If she won’t face annihilation, that means her memory will never be lost… If we can find the correct method, we could completely allow everyone in the entire ‘Land of the End’ to escape this curse. At that time, we would welcome a new peak…”

“But there’s still one problem I can’t figure out…” Yun Yao changed her tone and said, “If she won’t return to the ‘Interview Room,’ that means if she dies, she won’t be reborn… But this time she clearly was reborn… Where was she reborn? And why was she reborn?”