“Did I hear that wrong?” Qi Xia asked with furrowed brows. “You want to help me ‘Echo’?”

“Yes.” Qian Wu nodded. “The ‘Pegasus Moment’ is no joke. I have no way to guarantee you’ll survive with one hundred percent certainty.”

“So you want to help me ‘Echo’?” Qi Xia found this somewhat interesting. “To be honest, if I could know my own ‘Echo Trigger,’ I would definitely make myself ‘Echo’ at the first opportunity.”

“That’s true…” Qian Wu nodded. “You were able to simultaneously trigger the ‘Echoes’ of four people in a single game, which is enough to prove you’re still the same as in my memory… No, even stronger than in my memory.”

“Qian Wu, you may not know.” Qi Xia stepped forward. “Precisely because I have no way to ensure my own ‘Echo,’ every step I take in the ‘Land of the End,’ every sentence I speak, has been repeatedly deliberated over by me. It’s as if I’m constantly treading on thin ice, always about to fall into an endless abyss.”

“I understand.” Qian Wu nodded seriously.

“That’s why I’ve always been so cautious.” Qi Xia said. “If I had any way out… I might make mistakes due to carelessness.”

Qian Wu truly understood Qi Xia’s feelings.

This man carried many burdens in the “Land of the End.” He had always walked ahead of everyone else, yet he didn’t have “Echo” as a trump card. What he could rely on from the very beginning was only his own brain. Just as he said, he was constantly treading on thin ice, with an endless abyss beneath his feet.

“Then how about this…” Qian Wu said. “Tell me about what happened before each time you activated ‘Echo,’ and Zhou Liu and I can help you deduce the possible ‘Trigger.'”

Qi Xia lowered his head in thought for a while, then slowly said, “Qian Wu, I want to ask a question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Does everyone’s ‘Echo’ definitely have a ‘Trigger’?”

Upon hearing this question, even the usually calm Qian Wu slowly furrowed his brows. He had also considered this question before but had never found an answer.

“If we’re speaking from a rigorous perspective… whether it’s the ‘Zodiac’ or the ‘Divine Beasts,’ none of them have ever acknowledged the existence of ‘Echo Triggers.’ The only thing they’ve acknowledged is that people in ‘extreme emotional states’ will obtain extraordinary abilities.” Qian Wu said to Qi Xia with a grave expression. “And what we call ‘Echo Triggers’ are merely speculations by us ‘Participants,’ but it must be said… as long as we can find an appropriate ‘Trigger,’ it can indeed greatly increase a person’s probability of Echoing.”

“Yes.”

“I have a bold speculation.” Qi Xia said.

Upon hearing Qi Xia say this, the several people around all looked at him. After all, Qi Xia’s speculations in the past had already been quite bold. If even he admitted this speculation was bold, then the content he was about to speak would likely be quite mind-boggling.

“You say…”

Qi Xia took a breath and said clearly, “Could the so-called ‘Echo Trigger’ possibly be the most serious obsession in a person’s heart?”

After hearing this, Qian Wu furrowed his brows and in an instant thought through several typical cases within the “Cat” team, feeling that what Qi Xia said made considerable sense.

People who had experienced confinement needed to fall into darkness, people who had long suffered hunger needed to begin starving, people who feared verbal abuse needed to be repeatedly cursed at, and people who had suffered defeat also had to experience defeat once more.

“And you people who can ‘Echo’ upon waking…” Qi Xia raised his eyes to look at Qian Wu. “This shows that the ‘obsessions’ in your hearts are deeper than anyone else’s. Those painful experiences constantly linger in your hearts, tormenting you… causing your ‘Echoes’ to come more easily than anyone else’s. You’re like this, and so is Chen Junnan.”

“I must say…” Qian Wu nodded. “What you’re saying might have some merit.”

“But there’s also another situation…” Qi Xia changed his tone. “Some people clearly can easily trigger their own ‘Echo,’ but because of various psychological traumas, they avoid the trigger, or numb themselves. Even worse, some degenerate into ‘Unfortunates.’ This way, everything becomes very easy to understand…”

Zhou Liu’s face beside them also didn’t look too good. She interjected at this moment, “Tsk, so what are you trying to say?”

“I just find it very interesting.” Qi Xia answered expressionlessly. “Don’t you all think so? To obtain so-called ‘extraordinary abilities’ in this place, we need to find the trauma in each person’s heart, tear it to pieces, repeatedly trample on it, and then throw it in their faces. This is the ‘Trigger.’ I’m very curious—does this method make us more powerful… or more insane?”

The people beside him all fell silent upon hearing this. Even Qiao Jiajin himself knew the feeling when “Echoing.”

He had once failed to protect someone extremely important in his life, causing his life trajectory to deviate enormously. If he could do it over again, he would definitely find a way to arrive at the scene, break through all the conspiracies and schemes, and have an upright and proper confrontation.

Unfortunately, life had no “what ifs.”

He could only return again and again to that real world where he had no power to fight back. From the moment he walked out of prison, his bleak life was destined.

So “protecting the people around him” became the greatest obsession at the bottom of his heart.

Every time “Echo” activated, Qiao Jiajin thought he would lose the comrades beside him once more. At that moment, the lost sense of security would instantly fill his heart, his ears would buzz with a roaring sound, and a wondrous power would churn endlessly within his body. This was “Echo.”

“What about you…?” Qian Wu looked at Qi Xia. “Since you think ‘Echo Triggers’ are related to ‘obsessions,’ what would your ‘obsession’ be?”

“I might be a special case.” Qi Xia said. “I feel like I don’t have just one ‘obsession.’ The bottom of my heart is like a city with roads leading in all directions. Perhaps different roads can lead to different ‘obsessions,’ ultimately triggering different effects.”

Qian Wu sighed and said, “Even if the roads at the bottom of your heart lead in all directions, there must be one road that’s the widest. It can lead to your deepest, most painful ‘obsession.'”

“My… most painful obsession…” Qi Xia’s lips trembled slightly. The thing he wanted to avoid had been pushed before his eyes once more.

“You should be able to think of it, right? The most painful ‘obsession’ can stimulate your most powerful potential.”

“Which means… you want to extract this ‘obsession’ from the bottom of my heart, then tear it apart and place it before my eyes.” Qi Xia asked with a face full of despair.

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

“Then I’m afraid you can’t do it.” Just thinking about this matter, even Qi Xia’s voice became lower.

“What do you mean ‘can’t do it’? Is your ‘obsession’ very difficult to discover?” Qian Wu asked again.

“No…” Qi Xia closed his eyes and shook his head. “I suspect my obsession has already taken concrete form. It’s become a living, breathing person.”