“Originally I thought you weren’t crazy, but now it’s really hard to say.” Chen Junnan helplessly shook his head. “Haven’t you seen Wei Yang’s farm?”

“I’ve seen it, but that’s just camouflage.” Qin Dingdong answered.

“Camouflage?”

“In a place where being crazy makes you safer, why not disguise yourself as a madman?” Qin Dingdong said. “Those who encounter danger here are usually the normal people, right?”

Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin looked at each other, feeling that this viewpoint could stand, but the logic was too strange.

“So after learning con artistry from him for so long, did you find an answer?” Chen Junnan asked again.

“I can only say…” After hearing this, Qin Dingdong shook her head. “I’m very suited to being a con artist, and I really enjoy the process of deceiving people. The longer I spent with Wei Yang, the more I discovered that the life in my memories seems fake.”

“No wonder…” Chen Junnan nodded. “No wonder he called you his ‘most beloved disciple.'”

“Wei Yang discovered I’m simply a natural-born con artist. I could often draw inferences and apply concepts by analogy when it came to con artistry.” Qin Dingdong smiled helplessly. “He probably didn’t know I was originally an expert at swindling and deceiving. Although I couldn’t swindle hundreds of thousands at once like him, swindling tens of thousands to maintain food and clothing was no problem.”

“Is being a con artist… really that easy?” Chen Junnan asked with a frown.

“I can’t say.” Qin Dingdong smiled bitterly. “If being a con artist was really that easy, why would I have come here? This is obviously my karmic retribution. But then again, when you discover you can earn tens of thousands just by moving your lips, any job or business venture can’t possibly satisfy you anymore.”

“I think I understand what you mean, Sister Dong…” Chen Junnan said gloomily.

“Right.” Qin Dingdong nodded. “This is Wei Yang’s importance to me. What I went to him to find was a lost version of myself. So should I follow Wei Yang’s instructions or follow Qi Xia’s instructions?”

At this moment, Qiao Jiajin cleared his throat from the side and asked: “Pretty lady, so it was that farmer bro who had you causing trouble?”

“Right.” Qin Dingdong nodded. “I don’t know what he’s insisting on. I only know he won’t allow anyone to escape from here. Thinking carefully, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because I’m not sure if the real world I’d return to actually belongs to me. Before I figure out my own past, I really can’t let anyone leave here. Otherwise, I might stay forever and never figure out the mystery of my origins.”

But a question awaiting resolution appeared before them—can a person’s memories be modified?

If there really was an “Echo” here that could act on “the past,” or act on the outside world beyond the “Land of the End,” how could everyone guarantee their memories were correct?

He couldn’t help but think of the wife Qi Xia mentioned.

A person who never had a wife before now constantly mentioned his wife. Had his memories also been modified?

“This situation is really troublesome now…” Chen Junnan said. “Old Qiao… are we really still ourselves…?”

“What…?” Qiao Jiajin was stunned.

“I mean… if our memories have been modified and our bodies copied, are we still the same us as before?” Chen Junnan asked somewhat bewilderedly. “If we’re not us anymore, then what are we?”

“Junnan boy, pull yourself together… aren’t you overthinking?” Qiao Jiajin reached out and patted Chen Junnan. “Maybe it’s really like you said—this pretty lady has memory discrepancies because she’s too tired. How can you just conclude her memories were really modified?”

After hearing this, Chen Junnan placed his hand on Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder, then said with a serious expression: “Old Qiao, tell me honestly. In this hellish place, do you think the possibility of ‘confused memories’ is greater, or the possibility of ‘modified memories’ is greater?”

“Uh…” Qiao Jiajin was momentarily speechless. “Although you say that… so far we haven’t seen anyone whose ability affects ‘memories,’ right…? It feels very difficult to operate…”

“Exactly, so we still need to ask Old Qi about this.” Chen Junnan said. “We should hurry back. It’s ‘Heavenly-Snake Moment’ now. The people here are probably about to start dying on a large scale again. Not everyone can turn danger into safety like us. Let’s find Old Qi while saving people along the way. We can’t let those Heavenly-level kill people unscrupulously anymore. Our lives still have use.”

“Okay.” Qiao Jiajin nodded.

Chen Junnan turned to Qin Dingdong and said: “Sister Dong, I can’t say right now whether Wei Yang’s or Old Qi’s plan is more suitable for you, but I’ll try my best to help you find this answer. I also hope you’ll try not to do anything during this time.”

After hearing this, Qin Dingdong thought briefly, then still chose to agree with Chen Junnan.

“Bastard, if you’d talked to me like this earlier, would we have argued until today?” Qin Dingdong said. “Let’s fucking go already.”

The three people walked toward the direction they came from, facing the rainstorm that had already stopped. Distant screams occasionally came from the quiet city.

……

Qi Xia had been walking for a while with the black bead above his head, but there was still some distance from the “Earth-Ox” on the map.

He knew the so-called “Heavenly-Snake Moment” would last at most two hours. If he couldn’t reach Earth-Ox’s venue to confirm the other party’s identity, this opportunity would be wasted again.

Along the way, many “Participants” were in chaos with black beads above their heads. Many people were pierced through the brow by those beads before they even figured out what was happening.

But a few seconds later, they would walk over from another direction with confused expressions, looking at their own corpses on the ground with even more puzzled expressions.

Qi Xia tried to stay away from these chaotic “Participants” to avoid being hindered by inexplicable questions, so he constantly traveled through side streets.

These alleys that hadn’t seen sunlight for a long time seemed to have a thicker odor than the streets. Even dark red dust floated in the air.

He felt he shouldn’t encounter other “Participants” here, so he subconsciously quickened his pace.

After turning an alley corner, Qi Xia looked down at the map, then walked to the right.

As soon as he stepped into this alley, he felt something was strange. There seemed to be another person’s presence in the alley. He could even faintly hear some strange sounds.

“Is… is someone outside?”

An aged voice rang out from deep in the alley. Qi Xia immediately stopped in his tracks.

But he still felt he had encountered trouble. A small black sphere slowly flew out from the darkness, until it hovered at Qi Xia’s brow.