“It seems… you’re thinking the same thing as me.” Sister Siwei said.

“Really? You think so too?” Brother Guyu asked.

“To be honest, last night Brother Wan laid out the future path for our city, but I think it’s wrong.” Sister Siwei’s gaze moved to me as she said softly, “He said that next, ‘Jade City’ will enter the ‘Era of Chaos.'”

“With the three of us here, it will indeed be difficult to enter the ‘Era of Chaos.’ Brother Wan underestimated little brother Hero, and even more so underestimated you.” Brother Guyu said. “What we’re about to face next isn’t the ‘Era of Chaos,’ but rather…”

Sister Siwei nodded after hearing this: “The ‘Era of Heroes.'”

“Siwei, this will be a very dangerous path. We’re going to elevate little brother Hero’s ‘divinity’ infinitely and make everyone worship him blindly.” Brother Guyu said with a grave expression. “I was born here, and if I want to escape, I can only do so from here. Although the other cities seem to have better situations, I have no way to rush over there every time I revive—it would waste too much time.”

“So you’re preparing to come back… and tame this ‘beast.'”

“That metaphor is too apt.” Brother Guyu smiled bitterly. “Everyone in ‘Jade City’ right now has indeed formed a ‘beast.’ This might be our only advantage compared to other cities. Although this beast is incredibly powerful, none of us has any way to escape from its side. It will continuously absorb us into its body, making itself even stronger. Although it’s extremely dangerous, the three of us can try to tame it. As for whether it ultimately devours us or destroys this world… we can only depend on our own fate.”

“But…” Sister Siwei’s expression changed. She had discovered the most crucial problem. “Where should we guide this ‘beast’? If we can’t collect enough ‘jade,’ no matter where we go, there’s no path to survival… How can we escape?”

After hearing this, Brother Guyu sighed: “To be honest… Siwei, I don’t know.”

“Don’t know…?”

“Yes.” Brother Guyu opened his slightly despairing eyes and looked at me, then at Sister Siwei. “I don’t want to hide anything from you. Although I’ve traveled back and forth between the three cities many times over these four years, I’m not certain what the real method to escape is. From what it looks like now, whether it’s ‘Vortex City’ or ‘Dao City,’ the method they’re using is ‘killing Zodiacs.’ But this method requires ‘gambling with lives’ against the ‘Zodiacs,’ which obviously isn’t suitable for our ‘Jade City.'”

“Yes…” Sister Siwei also looked hesitant. “If we propose gambling lives with the ‘Zodiacs,’ they’ll consider it a ‘death sentence.’ If we can’t overcome this psychological barrier, we’ll never be able to take that step.”

“That’s why I said our situation is very dangerous. We’re taming this ‘beast,’ but we have no target.” Brother Guyu said. “Right now my only thought is to first pacify this ‘beast.’ Otherwise, once the situation starts to collapse… ‘Jade City’ won’t have many living people left.”

“Pacify it…” Sister Siwei paused. “You mean… change the mindset of ‘Jade City’s’ people back to what it was before?”

“Yes, I want to make them give up on the idea of ‘getting rich without working,’ and instead focus on surviving and finding a way to escape.” Brother Guyu said. “After all, being able to walk out of here alive is the most important thing. Those who can’t even walk out but only hope to pull a few people in so they can sit back and enjoy wealth… whether in the real world or here, it’s all the same. How could there be such an easy thing in this world? Is money really that easy to earn?”

“Sigh…” Sister Siwei sighed. “If that’s the case… can we really do it?”

“We can only try. This is my only motivation for choosing to return here. Once the ‘Participants’ here disappear in large numbers, it will be like a total defeat—many people will be unable to walk out of the interview rooms. Once it affects me, then I’ll never have hope of escaping.”

“I see… So that’s why you said everything worked out.”

“Yes, I’m not just protecting you two, I’m also protecting myself.” Brother Guyu continued. “Anyway, ‘Jade City’ is bound to collapse sooner or later. We can only take a desperate gamble.”

Watching Sister Siwei and Brother Guyu discussing tactics, I also took a step forward and said: “I want to contribute too.”

“Little brother Hero…” Sister Siwei looked at me somewhat sadly. “You’ve already contributed so much. Your nose has been bleeding every day recently. You don’t need to put such a heavy psychological burden on yourself.”

That day I smelled a scent on Sister Siwei that I had never smelled before—it was called “guilt.”

“But I’m a ‘Hero.'” I said. “Sister, can you tell me what I should do?”

“You…” Sister Siwei looked very hesitant. “Hero, do what you want to do.”

“Do what I want to do?” I was stunned. I had never heard such a request before.

“Hero, what do you want to do?” Sister asked.

Me…?

I wanted to run in the corridors, I wanted to shout loudly, I wanted to keep jumping on the bed.

I wanted to collect pretty cards, I wanted to have toy cars, and I wanted to play soccer.

I wanted to eat lots of candy beans, wanted to drink cola I’d never had before, wanted to talk with Mom and Dad.

After thinking for a long time, I asked quietly: “Can I really do anything I want?”

“Of course you can.” Sister Siwei knelt down in front of me and said softly, “Little brother Hero, we’ve escaped Wan Cai’s control. You can do anything you want. You’re an independent person, not anyone’s tool, understand?”

“Then…” I said through gritted teeth, “I want to become a true ‘Hero.'”

“Hm…?” She and Brother Guyu were both stunned at the same time.

Brother Guyu pondered for a while, then spoke: “Little brother Hero, although Wan Cai is already dead, I don’t want to deceive you either. We will indeed continue to use your ability, because only this way can we stabilize people’s hearts. But Siwei and I can guarantee to make you happier than before, so I also support what she said—you can do what you want to do. You don’t have to be a ‘Hero’…”

“Brother and Sister, I don’t know if this feeling counts as ‘growing up,’ but my thoughts are different from before.” I raised my head and smiled at them. “I used to think that adults wouldn’t agree with what I wanted to do, so I could only do what adults wanted me to do. But now I don’t want to do what ‘I want’ to do anymore. I want to do the ‘right’ thing.”