“Ah, I used to be, but this time I haven’t obtained an ‘Echo’ yet,” the young man replied.

“Good. I want to see Chu Tianqiu,” I said straight to the point.

“See the leader…?” The young man nodded. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Xu Liunian.”

The young man nodded and ran into the teaching building. Before long, he came out with a familiar figure.

Chu Tianqiu hadn’t changed at all.

That made sense—in this kind of place where one’s physical body refreshes every ten days, who would change?

Chu Tianqiu was the same as before. Wearing a coat, he ran out urgently, his eyes full of worry.

“Xiao Nian…” he called from afar. “You’ve finally come back…”

I smiled as well, walked forward a few steps, then pulled out the dagger I had prepared long ago and cleanly and efficiently slashed open the throat of the young man beside him.

That young man didn’t understand why he would meet such an end even as blood spurted from his throat.

When he fell with wide-open eyes, Chu Tianqiu’s expression also changed.

“Xiao Nian… you…”

“Tianqiu, I have something to tell you.”

Chu Tianqiu looked at the companion who had fallen in the night, his entire expression extremely complex.

“That’s perfect,” I said with a nod. “Tianqiu, this time when I came back, I can’t be discovered by anyone. I have a new plan.”

Chu Tianqiu looked completely unable to understand what I was doing. After organizing his words for a long time, he slowly said, “Xiao Nian, you disappeared for two years… and on your first day back, you kill my teammate. How do you expect me to accept your ‘new plan’?”

His eyes were filled with distrust toward me, but did I have a better method?

“Because I have no other path to choose,” I said, wiping the blood from the dagger with my sleeve before returning it to my waist. I began to drag the man’s corpse. After a few steps, I raised my head to look at Chu Tianqiu again. “Will you come with me? I won’t kill you.”

Chu Tianqiu frowned in thought for a while, then slowly broke into a grin, revealing a smile that made me feel somewhat strange.

In my memory, he had never smiled like this before.

“Of course I know you won’t kill me—otherwise the one who just had his throat slit would have been me…”

He stared straight at me, then chuckled softly. “But how dare you be certain that I’ll adopt your new plan?”

Only then did I realize that Chu Tianqiu seemed to have changed.

It was as if two personalities were fighting inside his body—one a “good man,” the other a “madman.”

“As long as you hear it… you’ll definitely be interested,” I said, coming back to my senses and lowering my head to continue dragging the corpse. I was grateful that it was already nighttime when I arrived here, and no one had seen me return at this moment.

My plan should proceed smoothly.

Chu Tianqiu followed without hesitation as we moved away from the school. Then we turned into a small alley. I found a piece of cardboard to cover the corpse, and only then did I raise my head to look at him.

Before I could speak, Chu Tianqiu spoke first.

“So Xiao Nian… what does it feel like to become an ‘Original Resident’?”

I was silent for a while before saying, “Unfortunately, I couldn’t see any ‘divine’ instructions at all. So-called ‘Original Residents’ lose all reason and their basic perception of their surroundings becomes blurred. I thought I had returned to the real world and was living the same life as in the real world. At that time, I was constantly waiting in a taxi by the roadside for passengers.”

That’s right. Even Chu Tianqiu thought I was just a down-and-out taxi driver waiting for work in Hengdian. How could I possibly tell anyone I came from hell?

“Is that so…?” Chu Tianqiu’s gaze turned cold. His entire being actually emanated a unique aura at this moment. Then he broke into a smile again and said, “There’s something I’ve always been very curious about.”

His tone made me feel somewhat uneasy. “What is it?”

“In the real world, were you really a taxi driver?” he asked.

“That’s right.” I frowned slightly before answering.

“How very strange then.” He smiled and said, “A few days ago, I suddenly found a notebook. What was recorded in it was quite interesting.”

“Notebook…?”

Chu Tianqiu reached with a smile to feel his pocket, then showed an annoyed expression. “Sorry, I didn’t bring it with me… but I still remember all the content in the notebook.”

“What did it say?”

“Perhaps someone is sowing discord?” Chu Tianqiu walked three steps forward, coming before me. He was very close to me, making me feel somewhat dangerous. “That notebook recorded the names and ‘Echoes’ of eight people from the same room as me… but strangely… you weren’t in it.”

Hearing this, I froze slightly.

That’s right. I wasn’t a “Participant” to begin with, so how could I possibly have come from the same interview room as Chu Tianqiu?

I didn’t know what step Chu Tianqiu had guessed up to. To change the initial room layout, in the current “Land of the End,” only one person could accomplish that.

Would he guess this was all “Qinglong’s” doing?

“Xiao Nian, oh Xiao Nian…” Seeing my expression, he smiled again, then reached out to take a strand of fallen hair from my shoulder. “Tell me, what are we to do about this? Not only did you suddenly appear in my ‘interview room’ and become my teammate, but you also changed from an ‘Original Resident’ back to a ‘Participant’…”

“I…” I hadn’t expected Chu Tianqiu’s scheming to be deeper than two years ago, so for a moment I didn’t know what excuse to use to answer his question. I could only think for a while before saying, “Two years ago when we decided to take the ‘Original Resident’ path, you also agreed…”

“But two years have already passed.” Chu Tianqiu smiled. “These past two years, every single day I’ve been exploring ways to change from an ‘Original Resident’ back to a ‘Participant’… it’s just a pity that this absurd matter has no precedent… so how exactly did you do it?”

His profound eyes stared straight at me. I felt like I was about to be seen through by him.

Had it been too long since I’d seen Chu Tianqiu?

Or had some change occurred in these two years?

Why did Chu Tianqiu give a completely different feeling from two years ago?

“I… also don’t know how I did it.” The moment these words left my mouth, I knew I had already lost.

What caliber of person was Chu Tianqiu?

This kind of inferior lie completely couldn’t deceive him.

“Quite interesting.” Chu Tianqiu nodded. “Since you’re unwilling to say, I’ll guess myself.”

Seeing I had no reaction, he said, “Something that all ‘Participants’ cannot do, yet you can—this can only prove you’re not a ‘Participant.'”