After hearing this, Wen Qiaoyun nodded in a daze.

And the man before her, at this moment, once again shed tears while wearing a smile.

His expression seemed to have been twisted many years ago, only now manifesting itself.

Wen Qiaoyun only felt their meeting was very strange—like a reunion, yet also like a final farewell.

Countless thoughts entangled in her heart, and the fragmented images flashing through her mind from time to time left her dizzy and confused, not knowing what to do.

Perhaps, as the man before her said, her return itself was a mistake.

“If I propose ‘betting my life’ with the ‘referee’ in the game, will I die?” Wen Qiaoyun asked again.

“Yes.” Chu Tianqiu nodded. “Because you’ll have great difficulty winning.”

“But what about you?” Wen Qiaoyun asked again. “Although I’ll have difficulty winning, tomorrow’s game won’t only have me participating, right?”

“Yes, I’ll go too. But I’ve almost never participated in any games.” Chu Tianqiu said candidly. “So what will happen tomorrow is uncertain, but the probability of death for a ‘life-better’ is extremely high.”

“All right…” Wen Qiaoyun nodded.

“Qiaoyun…” Chu Tianqiu said. “You don’t truly want to die, do you?”

After hearing this, Wen Qiaoyun paused for an instant, then asked, “How could that be… You might not understand me, I…”

“I understand you too well.” Chu Tianqiu said. “Once you have strong emotions of ‘self-sacrifice’…”

He slowly pointed his hand toward the window. “The four giant bells will ring because of you.”

“Qiaoyun, if your subconscious tells you that you can’t die yet, then don’t be stubborn and leave this place immediately.” Chu Tianqiu said. “A storm is about to descend. If your sacrifice isn’t voluntary, what follows will become meaningless.”

“Storm…?” After hearing this, Wen Qiaoyun quickly pondered. “But aren’t you leaving… Knowing full well a storm is coming, yet you still insist on staying?”

“I am an epiphyllum in the storm.” Chu Tianqiu said. “I’m participating in this storm. This might be the best opportunity in seventy years, so I can’t leave.”

“Seventy years…”

After Chu Tianqiu finished speaking, he slowly turned around and came to the room’s entrance. With his back turned, he said in a low voice, “Qiaoyun, the things that have happened in these seventy years—I wouldn’t be able to explain them clearly to you even with an entire night. But once you die… everything will begin.”

“But you’ve been crying all along.” Wen Qiaoyun said. “Are those also your true feelings?”

Chu Tianqiu’s silhouette froze for a long while before slowly saying, “Yes.”

As the sound of the door closing gently rang out, Chu Tianqiu’s figure disappeared from the room, leaving only the silent Wen Qiaoyun.

Night officially began to fall, and the entire city had become utterly quiet.

Within the massive “Land of Ending,” four silent ghost cities surrounded the “Dao City” with its threads of campfire light, devouring the last starlight like a whirlpool.

Countless people fell silent, with only thousands of strands of thoughts drifting through the air.

On this silent night, the “train” seemed somewhat noisy.

Qinglong moved a chair to sit at the entrance of a certain train car. He lightly crossed his legs, hand supporting his chin, blocking the path of all the “Heavenly-level” members inside.

“Qing… Qinglong, what are you doing?” A dried-up looking old man slowly stood up, seemingly not understanding his purpose.

“Sit down, Heavenly-Mouse.” Qinglong said expressionlessly while supporting his chin. “Today you’re all resting. No one should think about leaving from here.”

A pair of teenagers who looked about seventeen or eighteen on the side both showed troubled expressions after hearing this. The two looked at each other, then asked in unison, “Why?”

“No particular reason. I missed you all.” Qinglong smiled lightly. “Everyone take this opportunity to sit and chat, strengthen our bonds. Isn’t that just right?”

The boy and girl were silent for a few seconds before saying in unison again, “We’ve always been sitting in this room. We don’t need to strengthen bonds.”

The clock at the center of the round table ticked away, and the atmosphere began to grow slightly tense.

Among the ten “Heavenly-level” members in the room, eight looked at Qinglong with puzzled expressions. The remaining two were currently leaning back in their chairs, fast asleep.

“Does this mean my words no longer carry weight?” Qinglong said. “How is it that when I want to strengthen bonds with you all… it’s this difficult?”

After hearing this, the boy fell silent for a while, then raised his wrist to look at it. There was a children’s watch with a comical design on it.

It was almost seven o’clock.

“Qinglong.” The boy said. “Just let me go out for a while. I’ll return in ten minutes. How about it?”

After hearing this, Qinglong slowly lowered his crossed leg, then switched to crossing the other leg, but his body still didn’t move, blocking the door. “What do you think?”

“What’s the meaning of you doing this?” the boy asked. “You clearly know ‘Heavenly-Dragon’ gave us assignments, yet you insist on trapping us here… Isn’t this putting us in a difficult position?”

“Heavenly-Rooster…” Qinglong called out. “That’s not how you should put it. Heavenly-Dragon assigned you all tasks but didn’t tell me, so I don’t know anything. I just happened to delay you all.”

The boy called Heavenly-Rooster bit his teeth, then simultaneously extended his hand with the girl beside him, pointing at Qinglong and saying in unison, “Don’t go too far!”

“Interesting.” Qinglong smiled. “Heavenly-Monkey, Heavenly-Rooster, you two seem to have grown closer. Have you achieved Yin-Yang fusion now? Are you really preparing to walk the path Heavenly-Dragon set out?”

Qinglong’s tone sounded like he was chatting with juniors, but the girl called Heavenly-Monkey clearly didn’t have that intention.

“Stop stalling for time.” The girl said. “Heavenly-Rooster’s moment is about to pass. If we can’t initiate full confrontation, are you prepared to let Heavenly-Rooster be punished?”

After hearing this, Qinglong pondered slightly, then said, “If you put it that way, it’s difficult for me too. After all, I have reasons why I can’t let you go out. From now on, I declare that all ‘Heavenly-level moments’ tonight are cancelled. Just sit quietly.”

That one sentence made all the still-conscious “Heavenly-level” members in the room change their expressions.

In their memory, they had always been receiving Heavenly-Dragon’s orders, but had never imagined there would be a day when Qinglong would issue instructions completely opposite to Heavenly-Dragon’s.

As the two highest leaders of the “Land of Ending,” there was no possibility of them killing each other. When that time came, only the “Heavenly-level” members caught in between would be implicated.

Heavenly-Horse on the side quietly stroked Heavenly-Tiger’s head without speaking. After all, “Heavenly-Horse moment” had already ended, and Heavenly-Tiger’s moment was from three to five in the morning. The two were safe.

Now they could only see how the “Heavenly-Rooster moment,” which was about to expire, would respond.

“That, that, that…” Heavenly-Snake in the corner suddenly spoke with a stutter. “Excuse me… I mean… Can you tell us the reason?”