Qi Xia and this strange woman named Xu Liunian beside him had been driving on the road for some time now.

It had to be said that Xu Liunian’s driving skills weren’t particularly good. Although she was already doing her best to avoid the black lines lying across the road, there were still some barely visible black lines that had cut through the car body, making this already somewhat dilapidated vehicle appear even more battered and scarred.

During this time, Qi Xia had looked at her multiple times, discovering that her eyes no longer held the slightest desire to survive, but were instead filled with profound sadness.

“Xu Liunian, you said you want to destroy this place…” Qi Xia asked in a low voice. “I can’t figure out the logical relationship here. Is there any inevitable connection between ‘destroying this place’ and ‘saving me’?”

“Perhaps I need to save you before I can destroy this place?” Xu Liunian said with a smile.

“I destroy this place…?” Qi Xia furrowed his brow slightly. “Destroying this place has no meaning for me. The things I want to do aren’t finished, and the person I want to find hasn’t been found either. If I had to choose, I’d be more inclined to protect this place.”

“You don’t need to search anymore,” Xu Liunian interrupted. “Yu Nian’an doesn’t exist at all.”

The moment the three words “Yu Nian’an” left her mouth, Qi Xia instantly furrowed his brow.

If Qi Xia remembered correctly, this was the first time since becoming active in the “Land of Finality” for so long that someone had taken the initiative to mention “Yu Nian’an” without him saying anything.

But what the other party said was still saddening.

Yu Nian’an doesn’t exist at all.

“Wait.” Qi Xia’s eyes instantly became ice-cold. This wasn’t the first time he had exposed Xu Liunian’s lies.

“What?”

“Regardless of whether Yu Nian’an exists or not… why would you come specifically to tell me?” Qi Xia turned his head to look at Xu Liunian. “You drove through all the dangers during the chaotic ‘Pegasus Moment,’ came before me, then told me that ‘Yu Nian’an’ doesn’t exist. Aren’t your motives and methods a bit too deliberate?”

After hearing this, Xu Liunian’s lips pressed together slightly. She knew that telling many lies to Qi Xia was an extremely difficult task, but it had only just begun… yet was already about to fail.

“I admit it.” Xu Liunian nodded and said directly, “I’ve been lying to you from the very beginning.”

Hearing this, Qi Xia’s pupils constricted slightly, and noise began to sound in his ears. “Xu Liunian… you’re scheming against me?”

“Yes, I’m scheming against you.” Xu Liunian nodded in agreement. “Whether it was your first ‘Echo’ or your second ‘Echo,’ I pushed things along in both.”

Qi Xia slowly sat up straight, leaning back against the soft passenger seat. His gaze looked extremely terrifying.

“Xu Liunian…” Qi Xia slowly uttered three words, his voice even somewhat changed.

Xu Liunian swallowed slightly. She could feel that the dangerous aura emanating from Qi Xia’s body had already filled the entire car.

“You’re saying you’ve been toying with me over and over using my most important thing?” Qi Xia asked again.

Whether it was because Xu Liunian’s hands were trembling, or because some unknown change had occurred, this taxi’s forward trajectory actually began to sway left and right on the road like a water snake. Xu Liunian tried several times before she could stabilize the vehicle.

“So…?” Fine beads of sweat covered Xu Liunian’s forehead, the corners of her mouth sinking slightly as she pressed her lips tightly together.

The air inside the car seemed to be growing thin, making people feel somewhat suffocated.

The thin air mixed with the stuffy smell inside the car, reflecting an atmosphere of unease.

Xu Liunian felt as if she was awakening a true monster.

But since ancient times, people who could be called “monsters” never had much rationality. What about Qi Xia?

Qi Xia’s performance indeed exceeded Xu Liunian’s expectations somewhat—he remained terrifyingly calm.

He didn’t go mad on the spot, only hiding his murderous gaze slightly, then spoke: “Even though you’ve laid your cards on the table with me, I still don’t quite believe it. I don’t believe you could toy with me using ‘Yu Nian’an.’ You’re not that kind of smart person, and I’m not that kind of stupid person.”

“Yes…” Xu Liunian smiled bitterly, then slowly closed her eyes. “Then, Qi Xia, what about this?”

Under Qi Xia’s gaze, in the blink of an eye, Xu Liunian completely transformed into Yu Nian’an.

She wore all white, her long hair at her temples dancing continuously with the wind blowing in through the open car window.

A scent of pine wood laundry detergent mixed with lily of the valley shampoo shattered all the pungent, fishy stench of the “Land of Finality,” pouring into Qi Xia’s nasal cavity like stones smashing through glass.

Yu Nian’an was gripping the car’s steering wheel with both hands, looking sorrowfully toward the horizon ahead.

Even someone as strong as Qi Xia found his mind going completely blank at this moment.

“Xia, do you know?” Xu Liunian spoke. “There are many paths in this world…”

“Enough…” Qi Xia hastily interrupted, but his expression no longer looked composed. Instead, it was replaced by a face full of pain.

“Xia, I bought your favorite peanuts,” Yu Nian’an said with a face full of sorrow. “Will you come home with me?”

She had complete memories of “Yu Nian’an” in her mind. Even if she showed considerable flaws in front of Qi Xia, it was already deadly enough.

“Stop talking…”

Qi Xia felt all his beliefs collapsing. The person he thought about constantly, longed for day and night, the deepest and most painful obsession in the bottom of his heart—she neither existed nor didn’t exist. She was actually just a character someone else was playing.

She was just a character.

“Xu… no…” Qi Xia wanted to kill Xu Liunian before him on the spot, but whenever he saw her face, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “An…”

Even if she was fake, she had at least been real.

“Do you believe me now?” the driver said. “I am Yu Nian’an. I always have been. Whether in your dreams or in your memories, it’s always been me.”

Hearing these words, Qi Xia, as if possessed by a ghost, reached out his hand, wanting to touch the cheek of Yu Nian’an before him. This was probably the only time not in a dream, but in the real world, that he could touch a real “Yu Nian’an.”

But just as Qi Xia’s fingers were about to make contact with “Yu Nian’an’s” face, a ghostly voice suddenly rang out in his ears.

“The person outside the door isn’t me.”

These brief five words made Qi Xia freeze in place as if electrocuted, his moving fingers also stopping.

“What…?” He carefully looked around, discovering that Xu Liunian before him hadn’t opened her mouth to speak, but Yu Nian’an’s voice kept ringing in his ears.

“Xia, the person outside the door isn’t me.”