But as I said, in this enormous whirlpool where I paddled with a small oar, my only advantage was that I had more intelligence than others.

So I chose to conceal it.

“How exactly are you going to answer Qi Xia’s question?”

Chu Tianqiu smiled slightly and said to me, “It’s not difficult. Tell him ‘I have never left.'”

This answer was no different from what I had expected. I simply didn’t understand what the two of them were discussing.

After saying goodbye to Chu Tianqiu, I came to the rooftop of “Heaven’s Mouth” late at night and closed my eyes in the pitch darkness.

The current situation was somewhat tricky. I needed to see Qinglong immediately.

“Qinglong… can you hear me?” I opened my mouth and murmured softly.

A gust of wind blew from the sky, but no one appeared.

“Bastard… you wouldn’t be abandoning me, would you?” I said, somewhat distraught. “You can clearly hear all the sounds in the ‘Land of End’… now you’re playing dead?”

I cursed at the sky in a low voice for a while. In the blink of an eye, he was standing in front of me.

Qinglong’s gaze had always been very cold, making me feel somewhat uncomfortable just looking at him once.

“The night is already very deep.” Qinglong’s half-male, half-female voice sounded in my ear. “Instead of going to sleep, you’re here insulting me?”

“Qinglong, don’t say more… first turn me into a participant,” I said.

After hearing this, Qinglong nodded. “You already are.”

“What…?”

I felt extremely bewildered. I clearly remembered that according to the agreement I had made with Qinglong, I would only become a “participant” after completing a certain task. But now…

“There’s no need to be so surprised. I’ve advanced your identity,” Qinglong said. “After all, you can no longer stay idle as a ‘manager.’ You need to join games to obtain ‘Dao.'”

“But I still have many things I don’t understand…” I said. “Can I ask you two things?”

“Ask me?”

“One thing about Lin Qin, one thing about Qi Xia.”

After hearing this, Qinglong revealed a strange smile, identical to the smile on Chu Tianqiu’s face.

Then he extended his hand and lightly snapped his fingers.

Even I hadn’t expected that merely mentioning these two names would cause Qinglong to use “Silence.”

What kind of enormous secrets did these two people carry?

“Xu Liunian.” Qinglong called out. “I feel I’ve given you enough… Your plan isn’t complete yet, but you’ve already called me over to ask questions. You should know what kind of person I am.”

Yes, from any angle, Qinglong couldn’t be considered a good person.

He could reshuffle the entire pattern of the “Land of End” according to his own preferences. Even if he was more rational than Tianlong, he was still an absolute madman.

Even though my identity was different from all the “participants,” I completely didn’t dare provoke this man here, because he could kill me at any time without bearing any responsibility.

After thinking for a moment, I said, “Qinglong, calling you here was truly unavoidable. I haven’t been active in the ‘Land of End’ for two years, and now I understand too little about this place.”

“So the questions you most want to ask are about Lin Qin and Qi Xia?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “You possess ‘Divine Hearing,’ so naturally you should know everything about this place inside and out. If we’re going to cooperate, I need sufficient intelligence, because intelligence is my only bargaining chip.”

Qinglong stared into my eyes for a few seconds, then revealed an inscrutable smile.

“Lin Qin was arranged by me,” Qinglong said. “That girl is very interesting. She’s also a gear.”

“What…?”

I felt a bit astonished. I had made a deal with Qinglong to enter Chu Tianqiu’s room, but Lin Qin was directly arranged by Qinglong?

“She’s not much different from you,” Qinglong said. “From certain angles, she’s neither a participant nor a manager.”

Hearing this, I slowly widened my eyes. “What kind of joke are you making?! Lin Qin is also someone sent from above?! Are you lying to me?”

“Hahahaha!” After hearing this, Qinglong threw his head back and laughed loudly several times. “Then you’re really overthinking it. Lin Qin has no way of shaking your insignificant, ridiculous status.”

“You…”

Qinglong walked up to me, his entire body emanating an ice-cold aura, then said to me very clearly, “Lin Qin doesn’t belong to anyone. She’s my person and only takes orders from me.”

Although Qinglong had already made it so clear, I still didn’t understand.

“So she’s a needle you’ve planted beside Qi Xia?”

“Yes, and no.” Qinglong nodded then shook his head. “How should I describe this wonderful feeling? Even Lin Qin herself doesn’t know she’s a ‘needle.’ She has complete memories and a real life. In her eyes, I’m just a strange ruler here, nothing more.”

I recalled that earlier in Qi Xia’s room, I had accidentally smelled that one girl had no scent at all.

Could she be Lin Qin?

A woman in her twenties who looked bright and beautiful yet had not a trace of scent—no matter how I thought about it, this was too abnormal.

“What about Qi Xia…?” I asked again.

“Qi Xia…” Qinglong stood with his hands behind his back, his tone indifferent as he said, “The matter of Qi Xia is truly a long story. I don’t know what exactly you want to ask?”

Yes, I had many questions I wanted to ask, but Qinglong might not answer them all.

To him, I was just a chess piece he held in his hand on a whim. If he suddenly abandoned me, I would be utterly destroyed.

To survive here, I could only act as a fence-sitter between these monsters. I constantly attached myself to them, letting them extract what little value remained in me, until I had no use at all, until I was casually discarded.

“I want to know what Qi Xia’s ‘Echo’ is.”

“Oh…?” After hearing this, Qinglong smiled slightly, then said, “Is this matter very important to you?”

“That’s right,” I said. “Even if the display screen has no hints, you should be able to hear the name of his ‘Echo,’ right? Whose legacy did he inherit?”

“This…”

I saw Qinglong’s expression clearly change for a moment, but he quickly pretended nothing had happened and showed me that smile that had always hung on his face.

“To tell the truth… this is the second time I’ve heard this name.” Qinglong chuckled softly. “I even suspect I heard it wrong… but if these four characters are real, then I’ve already found the ultimate answer to the ‘Land of End.'”

“Ultimate…?”

“It’s ‘Endless Life.'” Qinglong slowly revealed a bitter smile. “These four characters have trapped everyone here.”

“Endless Life…?” I had never heard of this kind of “Echo.” “You—you know what kind of power this is?”

“Yes. I may be, up to now, the only person in all of ‘Taoyuan’ who knows the terrifying nature of ‘Endless Life.'” Qinglong said with a bitter smile. “I heard this frequency once seventy years ago… at that time, even ‘Tianlong’ didn’t notice.”

“Seventy years ago…?”

Wasn’t that exactly when we had just arrived here?

“From that day on, all of us have been born here and died here. We reincarnate endlessly, and our lives are endless.”

“You mean…”

“Yes. He can use ‘conviction’ or ‘subconsciousness’ to resurrect a certain person. In other words… as long as he doesn’t want you to die, you will keep living.”

I was stunned once again.

This was Endless Life!

What terrifying four characters!

Where was this any kind of “divine power”? It was clearly a curse we could never escape!