“Yeah.” Qiao Jiajin stared at Heavenly-Snake’s nose and nodded. “I really do want to punch you and see what happens.”
“I have to say you’re very honest…” Heavenly-Snake’s expression grew increasingly gloomy. “But why do you want to hit me?”
“Come on…” Qiao Jiajin shrugged. “You’re a ‘Zodiac,’ and I’m a ‘Participant.’ We’re not on the same team, so shouldn’t I hit you?”
Heavenly-Snake blinked, feeling his thoughts were a bit muddled.
“Wait a minute… I’m a ‘Heavenly’ one.”
“So I didn’t hit you either.”
“You…” Heavenly-Snake froze, feeling that what the other person said made some sense, yet something felt off. “No, that’s not right… Then you just think about it so openly?”
“Think about it openly?” Qiao Jiajin shook his head with an innocent expression. “It doesn’t matter if I say it out loud. It’s not embarrassing. I really want to beat you up, but I probably can’t win against you, so I’m just thinking about it.”
These few short exchanges left Heavenly-Snake completely speechless.
Qi Xia felt his worries had been somewhat excessive. Just like how he would inexplicably get stuck when chatting with Qiao Jiajin, Qiao Jiajin’s unique train of thought should be very effective at restraining Heavenly-Snake.
“You… you…” Heavenly-Snake pointed at Qiao Jiajin and said, “You’re not allowed to think about it.”
“Why not?”
“Because your ‘inner voice’ will let me hear it.”
“Damn, then don’t listen.” Qiao Jiajin also pointed at Heavenly-Snake. “Control yourself. Why are you managing me?”
“I, I shouldn’t listen?” Heavenly-Snake scratched his head. “But, but I’m a ‘Heavenly’ one!”
“That’s why I want to hit you!” Qiao Jiajin emphasized. “Isn’t that the logical relationship? Why are you asking again?”
“I…”
The atmosphere suddenly became silent.
Heavenly-Snake’s face had become extremely ugly, clearly very angry.
“Fine… fine…” He nodded forcefully. “I’ll remember you… Tomorrow you’d better not let me see you.”
“Then you can choose not to come tomorrow.” Qiao Jiajin smiled.
Heavenly-Snake opened his mouth, seemingly still having something to say, but in the end he just waved his hand dismissively and turned to walk away.
Watching him slowly walk away, Qian Wu laughed heartily, “Hahaha!”
“Er Wa, you’re really something…” Qian Wu turned back and said, “In this place, you’re probably the only one who can choke that person into speechlessness with just words.”
Qi Xia sighed at this moment and said, “Qian Wu, are you that optimistic?”
“What do you mean?”
“What is the ‘Heavenly-Horse Moment’?” Qi Xia said. “Now there’s only one day left. What should we do tomorrow?”
“Let’s go inside to talk.” Qian Wu gestured to the two of them, then after confirming there was no one around, turned back and closed the prison door.
The group came once again to Chen Junnan and Officer Li’s room.
Nineteen had been waiting for quite some time. He looked somewhat pale, his entire being already in a dazed state.
“Nineteen, give me three more minutes.” Qian Wu said.
Nineteen nodded, then slowly closed his eyes.
Chen Junnan was about to speak when Qian Wu raised his hand to stop him. “Da Wa, time is limited, let me speak first.”
“Mm.”
“The so-called ‘Heavenly-Horse Moment’ is actually the ‘Heavenly-Horse Game,’ with a scope covering the entire ‘Land of the End.'” Qian Wu said with a serious expression. “Da Wa and I have experienced it once before. Tomorrow is only the fifth day, but if the ‘Heavenly-Horse Moment’ descends, probably half the people in the ‘Land of the End’ will be shuffled.”
“What kind of game is it?” Qi Xia asked.
“A race for survival.” Qian Wu stared into Qi Xia’s eyes and said, “Something will be chasing us. If you get caught, you die.”
Qi Xia had never imagined that the so-called ‘Heavenly-Horse Game’ would be so simple and brutal.
“You said the game’s scope is the entire ‘Land of the End’…” Qi Xia felt this game was somewhat unbelievable. “Will there be that many things chasing us? Even though it’s only the fourth day, there are already many ‘Echoers.’ Can’t we unite and resist?”
Chen Junnan shook his head after hearing this. “Resistance is impossible, Old Qi. The things chasing us are thin lines like strands of hair. We have no idea how to deal with these lines. We can’t hit them, can’t tear them apart, so we can only run.”
Qi Xia turned to look at Chen Junnan. “Every person… one line?”
“Yes.” Chen Junnan nodded. “If that old woman is ruthless enough, we might have to run for a whole day.”
“A whole day…?”
After hearing this, Qi Xia felt the problem was somewhat tricky. Never mind a whole day—ordinary people without systematic training would be exhausted after running continuously for an hour.
If everyone was being chased by a line, that meant people might be running in different directions, making it difficult to help each other.
“It probably won’t be that long…” Qian Wu said. “Da Wa, the last ‘Heavenly-Horse Moment’ was only a bit over an hour.”
Chen Junnan nodded. “Yeah, but we’ve only experienced the ‘Heavenly-Horse Moment’ once in total. How would you know she does it for an hour every time? What if it suddenly gets extended next time?”
“I’ve experienced it twice.” Qian Wu sighed. “Both times were a bit over an hour.”
“Twice…?” Chen Junnan frowned, suddenly remembering something—their memories were no longer equal.
“We only have twenty-four hours left.” Qi Xia looked coldly at Qian Wu. “You confidently told Heavenly-Horse you’d hand over the person tomorrow… Do you have some kind of countermeasure?”
“Yeah…” Qiao Jiajin also looked at Qian Wu with confusion. “What can we do in one day?”
“Qi Xia, your look suggests you think I’ll betray you.” Qian Wu smiled slightly. “If I wanted to betray you, I would have done it today.”
“Because I can’t think of a reasonable countermeasure…” Qi Xia said. “What’s the significance of the twenty-four hours you’ve secured? Isn’t the best method right now to hand me over to her? Exchange my life for everyone else’s lives, and we’ll start planning again in the next cycle.”
“No.” Qian Wu and Chen Junnan spoke simultaneously.
“Hm?”
“Qi Xia.” Qian Wu called out. “If you go with them, there probably won’t be a next cycle.”
“Is that so?” Qi Xia narrowed his eyes slightly. “They can actively remove a person from the cycle?”
Qian Wu nodded. “Zhu Que can do this, and Heavenly-Snake can too. They can make you neither human nor ghost, and can turn you into a native at any time.”
After hearing this, Qi Xia also nodded. “I understand… In that case… although one day isn’t long, it’s barely enough.”
“What do you understand?” Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin looked at each other.
“If I’m not mistaken…” Qi Xia stared at Qian Wu and said, “You want to make all of ‘Cat’s’ people achieve ‘Echo’ today, and assassinate ‘Heavenly-Horse’ first thing tomorrow morning.”
“That’s exactly what I mean.” Qian Wu said. “Today there’s a whole day to activate their ‘Echoes.’ Even if tomorrow’s assassination ‘fails,’ Cat won’t suffer devastating losses.”
“No… that’s not right, is it?” Qiao Jiajin froze. “You guys can achieve ‘Echo,’ but what about the Liar?”
“Right…” Chen Junnan also discovered the problem. “Little Qian Dou, although this protects ‘Cat,’ it still doesn’t protect Old Qi.”
Qian Wu lowered his head with a grave expression.
“Qian Wu did nothing wrong.” Qi Xia said. “My ‘Echo’ is difficult to trigger. This is already the optimal plan.”