Upon hearing this question, Qinglong slowly turned his head to look at me.

The excitement and mania in his eyes had completely vanished, replaced by an icy coldness filled with killing intent.

“Xu Liunian… you seem quite a bit smarter than before?”

“It’s possibly because I don’t need to ‘lose my memory.'” I steadied my mind and said, “Qinglong, the ‘Land of the End’ doesn’t only have your pair of ears, right?”

Qinglong faced me, standing with his hands behind his back.

Before long, he pulled out a “Tao” and casually tossed it on the ground.

Neither of us spoke, merely looking at each other.

Within a few minutes, rustling sounds came from nearby. An “Ant” climbed up from the wall and pounced on the “Tao” at Qinglong’s feet like a hungry tiger pouncing on food.

After grasping it in hand, the “Ant” turned and crawled away.

“Xu Liunian, you know this too—’Heavenly Dragon’ views everyone as ‘Ants,'” he said.

I didn’t understand exactly what Qinglong meant and could only nod. “To him, even I am an ant.”

“Good. Since you understand this principle, let me ask you again… to me, what are you all?”

As soon as the words fell, Qinglong reached into his chest again, then pulled out a large handful of “Tao,” extended his hand and scattered them across the school rooftop.

I felt my back turn somewhat cold. Although those humanoid insect-like creatures generally wouldn’t bite people, they couldn’t resist the temptation of “Tao” at all.

Soon, countless “Ants” climbed up from all directions, scrambling madly for those “Tao” on the ground.

I thought I roughly understood Qinglong’s meaning.

Though human lives weren’t “Ants” to him, they absolutely weren’t important either.

“Xu Liunian, human lives are chess pieces to me.” Before I could guess the answer, Qinglong spoke up on his own. “This is the greatest difference between me and ‘Heavenly Dragon.’ He thinks that everything he does doesn’t need ‘human’ help, but I’m different.”

He gazed at the ants rapidly crawling away in the dark distance, then said to me in a low voice: “I hope human lives can be used by me. Whatever I want them to do, they do. Even if they’ve all become ‘Ants,’ they must appear where I want them to appear and do what I want them to do.”

Hearing this, I took a deep breath and then said: “So you never truly planned to cooperate with anyone? How is that any different from ‘Heavenly Dragon’?”

“Xu Liunian, if you want to cooperate with me, you must position yourself properly. I have my own plans and my own strategies. No chess player likes their pieces to have subjective consciousness. This subjective consciousness will not only disrupt my plans but will also harm you.”

Although Qinglong’s tone was exceptionally bland, I could tell this was a threat.

If I dared to guess at Qinglong’s plans again, he could eliminate me as a chess piece at any time.

He didn’t even need to act personally—with just a word, I would die in the annihilation on the tenth day.

“I understand…” I nodded blankly, but I didn’t know what use I still had now.

After a few seconds of silence between Qinglong and me, he spoke again.

“It seems ‘Jade City’ is destined not to perish.” He smiled. “This cycle originally should have completely slaughtered ‘Jade City,’ but because of Qi Xia’s appearance, it just happened to save their lives. I have a premonition that this coincidence will have a crucial impact on the future.”

“So what should we do now…?” After I asked, I felt something was off and changed my words. “I mean, what should I do?”

“We need to make good use of Qi Xia.” Qinglong said. “I want to know where the upper limit of his ability lies… merely making someone live forever and never die… that’s not a powerful ability to me.”

“But doesn’t ‘Endless Rebirth’ mean exactly that?”

“What we’ve seen is all ‘Endlessness,’ not ‘Rebirth.'” Qinglong’s expression returned to madness, once again revealing the eyes that frightened me. “I want Qi Xia to create a completely non-existent person. Let this bizarre place gain fresh blood.”

“‘Create’ a person?” His words stunned me.

“Yes, if in his subconscious he believes a person is alive, then that person will be alive…” Qinglong stood with his hands behind his back, saying quietly, “If that’s the case, then if in his subconscious he believes a person exists… will that person exist?”

“Who do you want to create…?” I asked.

“Anyone, as long as they’re a ‘chess piece.'” Qinglong answered. “Even Wen Qiaoyun would do.”

I felt Qinglong’s idea was somewhat strange. “Wen Qiaoyun should still be living in the ‘Land of the End’ as a ‘Madman,’ right? You could clearly restore her to normal with just a move of your finger. Why would you want to create another her?”

“You’re mistaken.” Qinglong shook his head. “The reason Wen Qiaoyun continues to live as a ‘Madman’ is precisely because she’s not powerful enough. I need a more powerful Wen Qiaoyun. No one can accomplish this—only Qi Xia can.”

I had to say Qinglong’s words had a certain logic, but thinking carefully, it would be extremely difficult.

This cycle not only required Qi Xia to achieve “Echo,” but also to make him believe there was a very powerful person in the “Land of the End” called Wen Qiaoyun, then have Qi Xia successfully activate “Echo” and create Wen Qiaoyun…

Every next step would be hellishly difficult.

“Qinglong… are you playing with me…” My lips trembled slightly as I spoke my thoughts. “The tasks you give me are more difficult each time… At this rate, sooner or later I’ll be abandoned by you.”

“No, Xu Liunian, you won’t receive another task.” Qinglong turned his head and said to me with a smile. “This time you will frequently contact Qi Xia, and to him, he’ll only think you’re an ordinary ‘Participant’ in the ‘Land of the End.'”

“What…”

“As long as this thought circles once in his brain, you’ll permanently become a ‘Participant.'” Qinglong burst into laughter. “How interesting… I’ll never need to give you a ‘promise’ again. As long as Qi Xia has a single thought, you’ll completely change, and this place will one day become orderly because of his subconscious. The ‘Ruler’ he believes in will be the ‘Ruler,’ and the ‘Participant’ he believes in will be the ‘Participant.'”

“You fucking…” I couldn’t help but curse. “Would that ‘me’ still be ‘me’? The real me would disappear here forever!!”

Qinglong extended one hand and slowly placed it on top of my head, then revealed a disgusting expression of slight indulgence and said to me in a low voice: “Xu Liunian, what beautiful dream are you having? The real you disappeared long ago.”