“Heh heh…” Heavenly-Snake grinned. “Today I understood a principle… As long as I know more than you, that proves I’m stronger than you.”

“This is truly a question of the utmost boredom.” Qi Xia looked coldly at Heavenly-Snake. “Are you certain you want to make this question our ‘decisive battle’?”

“You don’t know… do you?” Heavenly-Snake looked exceptionally happy. “You’re completely not as learned as me… right?”

“Heavenly-Snake…” Qi Xia looked at him as if looking at a fool, and finally sighed and slowly began to speak. “Based on your accent, you don’t seem like a southerner, which means your eating habits are similar to mine… As for ‘breakfast stalls,’ they sell nothing more than three to five items. As an adult male, pickled vegetables and fried cake won’t fill you up. If the answer is ‘one item,’ it’s clearly unreasonable. And eggs would dirty your hands, which wouldn’t be ‘convenient’ for you. So the things you could eat are nothing more than fried dough sticks, tofu pudding, congee—things like that.”

After hearing this, Heavenly-Snake swallowed slightly and said, “You… are deducing the answer?”

“That’s right.” Qi Xia nodded. “Since you asked such a foolish question, I can only answer you with the most foolish method.”

“Even so… you still need to pick out the accurate answer.” Heavenly-Snake raised the corner of his mouth in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “If you can’t say it, I will still let you die.”

The atmosphere was silent for a few seconds. Both Qian Wu and Qiao Jiajin looked at Qi Xia somewhat nervously.

“It’s ‘fried dough sticks.'” Qi Xia said. “What you love eating most at the breakfast stall downstairs is ‘fried dough sticks.'”

“You…” Heavenly-Snake slowly pressed his lips together, unable to say a single word.

“Because you go every day. Considering that drinking ‘congee’ and ‘tofu pudding’ in summer would be too hot, it wouldn’t be convenient.” Qi Xia paused and continued, “Moreover, your hair is disheveled, and your shirt is full of wrinkles, indicating that you’re normally an unkempt person. You don’t even have time to tidy yourself up, much less have the patience to wait for a bowl of hot congee to cool down. I can make another bold speculation—because you’re so flustered every day when you go out, sometimes you even just grab this item from the breakfast stall and eat it while walking on the road.”

“Furthermore, your glasses are very thick. In winter, eating these two items would create fog on your glasses, which would still be a ‘troublesome matter’ for you.” Qi Xia smiled slightly. “How would someone who doesn’t even comb their hair be willing to wipe their glasses? So I guess… the answer is ‘fried dough sticks.'”

Heavenly-Snake kept staring at Qi Xia’s eyes. Although he couldn’t see anything from those pupils, he always felt this man was somewhat familiar.

He had once been seen through by such a pair of eyes before.

“You… answered correctly.” Heavenly-Snake looked at Qi Xia with a complex expression. “I lost.”

“Then what about the thing you promised to give us?” Qi Xia asked.

Heavenly-Snake’s expression was uncertain. After thinking for a long time, he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper.

He slowly extended the note toward Qi Xia, but Qi Xia didn’t reach out to take it.

“This is that ‘formula’…” Heavenly-Snake said. “It records how to make ‘native residents’ activate ‘Echoes.'”

Seeing that Qi Xia still didn’t take it, Heavenly-Snake felt somewhat embarrassed.

“Why are you so rude? Do you want it or not?”

“I’m somewhat curious…” Qi Xia said. “I unfold this dirty little piece of paper of yours, and the thing recorded inside is your confidential, most valued, so-called ‘most cutting-edge technology of the End’?”

“That’s correct.”

“Then why do you carry it on your person so casually…?” Qi Xia said coldly. “If it can be recorded on such a small piece of paper, why don’t you just tell me directly?”

Watching Qi Xia being so aggressive, both Qiao Jiajin and Qian Wu beside him broke into a cold sweat for him. No matter how many flaws the person before them showed, he was after all a “Heavenly.”

“First of all, I don’t deceive people.” Heavenly-Snake said. “I hate liars the most, so I only tell the truth. The reason I’ve been carrying this note on me is because about a year ago, a ‘Participant’ also made a deal with me, but he only looked at the words on the note once before returning it to me. I don’t want to casually throw it away, and I can’t bear to tear it up, so I’ve kept it with me.”

“Oh…?” Qi Xia slowly narrowed his eyes.

“Secondly, the person who won against me is only you, so this information can only be shared with you. Precisely for this reason, I won’t say it aloud.” Heavenly-Snake kept holding up the note in his hand, and his expression showed he wasn’t lying.

Qi Xia nodded, reached out to take the note, and turned to hand it to Qian Wu. This small action made Heavenly-Snake’s expression particularly cold.

Qian Wu hadn’t expected Qi Xia to do this. He was slightly stunned but still took the note and placed it in his pocket.

“Can I ask that person’s name?” Qi Xia asked again.

“Who?”

“That ‘Participant’ who made a deal with you a year ago.”

Heavenly-Snake shook his head. “Although I don’t lie, I can choose not to speak. Since I had a transaction with him, it means both parties have leverage over each other. I have no reason to tell you his name here.”

“Fine.” Qi Xia nodded. “Then I have no further questions.”

After hearing this, Heavenly-Snake sighed and looked at Qian Wu again. “‘Twin Flowers,’ I’ll also give you one day. Tomorrow, regardless of whether you die in ‘Heavenly-Horse Moment’ or not, I will come find you.”

“We won’t see you out.” Qian Wu said.

Heavenly-Snake looked at him with a gloomy expression. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he suddenly heard continuous “inner voices.”

“Really want to throw a punch and try.”

Heavenly-Snake thought he had heard wrong. He slowly stopped in his tracks and listened carefully, only to discover this voice was exceptionally clear. This “inner voice” was very pure.

“Really want to land a punch on his chin.”

He turned around and looked at the three people before him. An incomparably clear voice came to his ears again.

“Really want to try if he can withstand my punch.”

“Should I use a hook or a straight punch?”

“Should I step in or commit my body?”

Heavenly-Snake turned to look in the direction of the “inner voice.” Standing there was a dazed, distracted man with flower-arm tattoos.

“What did you say?” Heavenly-Snake asked.

“Huh?” Qiao Jiajin was startled and looked around bewildered. “Me…?”

“You want to hit me…?” Heavenly-Snake slowly furrowed his brow. “You have quite the nerve…”

After hearing this, Qi Xia immediately stood between the two and said, “Hey, what’s the meaning of this?”

“I heard it…” Heavenly-Snake pointed at Qiao Jiajin through Qi Xia. “I heard the voice in that person’s heart… He wants to hit me!”

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin hurriedly moved his gaze away. “Ah? You, you even know this?”

“The voice in his heart…?” Qi Xia felt something was quite wrong. If “Heavenly-Snake” could truly hear everyone’s inner voice, he would be the strongest opponent they had ever encountered.

Heavenly-Snake pushed Qi Xia aside and came before Qiao Jiajin. Qiao Jiajin could only stare blankly at his nose.

“Hey… I’ve treated you all courteously, yet you want to hit me?”