Officer Li felt like he was playing house with a child. With his eyes closed, he nodded, put the air in his hand into his mouth, then reached out to pretend to light it.

He made a fist with his right hand and placed it in front of his eyes, his thumb moving slightly.

Yes, he really wanted to smoke a cigarette.

It had already been four days. For an old smoker, days without cigarettes were getting harder and harder. If he didn’t smoke one right away, even his addiction would be gone.

Officer Li closed his eyes and quietly waited for a moment, as if waiting for the cigarette to light. A few seconds later, he skillfully put the “lighter” back into his pocket, then took a deep breath.

When he inhaled this breath, Officer Li felt something wasn’t right.

A rich, slightly bitter, spicy smoke was pouring into his mouth. His eyes instantly opened wide, then he incredulously exhaled a puff of pure white smoke.

Only then did he discover that a cigarette was already in his mouth.

“Ah?!”

Officer Li shouted in surprise, and the cigarette in his mouth nearly fell to the ground.

He hurriedly caught it with his hand, then brought it to his eyes to look at it carefully. It really was a brand new cigarette—the White General he smoked most often.

“This is too miraculous…” Officer Li murmured, then turned to look at Zhou Mo. “Miss, when did this cigarette appear in my mouth?”

Zhou Mo shook her head helplessly. “Tch, it seems you really know nothing about ‘Echo.’ Let me put it this way—from my perspective, this cigarette has always been in your mouth. It never disappeared in the first place.”

Although she said this, Officer Li knew the actual situation wasn’t like that.

He had neither a cigarette pack nor a lighter on him, yet now there was a lit cigarette in his mouth. No matter what, it was too incredible. This was the power of “Echo”?

The people standing in the distance heard the commotion behind them and turned around to look in Officer Li’s direction, only to discover he was actually standing in the middle of the road openly smoking.

“Big Old Li.” Chen Junnan smiled. “Our Zhou Mo Jie is so hot-tempered. She shouldn’t be your type, right?”

“No, no.” Officer Li hurriedly waved his hand, holding his cigarette. “This young lady is teaching me to smoke. Ah no… teaching me to take cigarettes… that’s not right either…”

“Tch, I’m teaching him ‘Echo.'” Zhou Mo looked at Chen Junnan with an unfriendly expression, as if very angry. “Who the hell is ‘hot-tempered’?”

“Wrong, wrong.” Chen Junnan waved his hand, and everyone turned back around to continue moving forward.

Seeing Zhou Mo so fired up, Officer Li also tried to smooth things over. “Miss, don’t be angry. You also know Little Chen—his heart isn’t bad, but his mouth is talkative.”

“Tch, am I angry at him?” Zhou Mo frowned, looking at Officer Li with cold eyes.

“Then it’s…?”

“This is my fault.” Zhou Mo sneered. “If I had known the only use of your ‘Echo’ was to get cigarettes for yourself, tch, I would never have helped you no matter what.”

“Ah?” Officer Li didn’t expect Zhou Mo’s spearhead to suddenly point at him and was momentarily at a loss. “Miss… you’re talking about me? Ac-actually, I didn’t…”

“Tch, don’t explain.” Zhou Mo coldly interrupted. “I originally thought that since Fifth Brother gave you the fourth position, you would at least be a reliable person. But I was probably wrong. If I had this ‘Reaching into the Bag’ ability, either I would take out large amounts of ‘Dao,’ or I would find a way to get some food out. In any case, I would try anything that could contribute to my teammates. Under no circumstances would I only think about smoking like you.”

Hearing these words, Officer Li smiled bitterly and shook his head without saying a word.

There was nothing worth getting angry about when someone who didn’t understand him misunderstood him.

He recalled his two death experiences and now felt somewhat regretful. If he had known the specific method of activating “Echo” earlier, he might have been able to start practicing long ago.

Whether food or “Dao,” as long as he could believe in all this, they would appear in his hands.

Thinking of this, Officer Li extended his palm to look at it again.

“If possible… could I even take out an enemy’s heart?” He slowly clenched his palm. Even though he had been a police officer for so many years, he had never held a heart in his hand.

How much does a human heart weigh?

When held in hand, is it hard or soft? Cold or hot?

“Do I have to personally grip one to know…?” Officer Li’s expression slowly darkened, and he looked somewhat sorrowful. But he still muttered to himself, “Don’t worry… I promised… no one will have an accident. I’ll make sure everyone escapes safely… Only I need to stay here.”

He knew he wasn’t stronger than anyone else in this place. Only his tenacity was higher than others. To achieve his goal, he could only make efforts that ordinary people simply couldn’t make.

Officer Li reorganized his feelings and continued to follow behind everyone.

Jiang Ruoxue was currently standing in front of an abandoned warehouse in a daze.

In front of the door, a short, blackened body had completely shriveled up. In her arms was a withered, dead, dark red flower. Someone unknown had come to mourn.

Jiang Ruoxue crouched down, extended her slender fingers to slightly arrange the hair on the shriveled corpse, and her eyes couldn’t help but moisten.

Although she had long expected this day would come, she still felt very sad.

The Man-Mouse’s small corpse lay quietly here just like the withered dead flower in her embrace. Things that are too beautiful will ultimately die in this purgatory.

That flower was like this, and the Man-Mouse was like this too.

They were too beautiful. The polluted air and the rotten flesh and blood around them would corrode them completely. Death was their only ending—even “Karma” couldn’t reverse it.

The muscular Xiao Xiao stretched behind her and stepped closer one step at a time. “Ruoxue, who is this? Do you know her?”

“This is the last innocence I stored in the ‘Land of the End.'” Jiang Ruoxue curled her fingers to slightly dab at the corners of her eyes and stood up with a smile on her face.

“You seem a bit strange…” Xiao Xiao asked softly with a worried expression. “Here, can we still have ‘innocence’?”

“That’s right.” Jiang Ruoxue nodded. “At eighteen years old, I shouldn’t have run out of the college entrance examination room, because the road of life after that was really too difficult to walk.”

After hearing this, Xiao Xiao also couldn’t help but furrow her brows and sigh deeply.

“Let’s go.” Jiang Ruoxue said. “The ‘Pegasus Moment’ is coming.”

“Where to?”

“To notify our King.” Jiang Ruoxue smiled. “Yan Zhichun should be at ‘Heaven’s Mouth’ now.”