Chapter 52: Jidao
Xiaoxiao casually smashed a table, picked up a wooden plank with a nail sticking out of it from the ground, and slowly walked over to Qiao Jiajin.
"Hey!" Qi Xia sensed something was wrong. "What are you doing?! Wait a minute—"
"These people are dead anyway," Xiaoxiao said. "Their deaths don't matter. I'll prove it to you."
"Stop!" Qi Xia shouted frantically. "I get it! I'll do whatever you say! Just put that thing down!"
Xiaoxiao acted as if she hadn't heard a thing, slowly raising the plank in her hand.
"Hey! I agree to whatever conditions you name! You don't need to prove anything to me!"
Seeing Xiaoxiao acting like she'd gone mad, Qi Xia quickly called out to Qiao Jiajin: "Hey! Qiao Jiajin! Don't play dead! Get up! Get up!!"
The moment he finished speaking, Xiaoxiao's plank came down. The side with the nail drove directly into Qiao Jiajin's skull.
"Long live Jidao," she said with a smile.
Qiao Jiajin's entire body shuddered, his limbs convulsing violently several times before falling still.
"Hey... Qiao Jiajin..."
Qi Xia's eyes widened, his lips trembling slightly.
"Say something, Qiao Jiajin... What the hell are you playing dead for... That bear couldn't kill you... How could a nail kill you...?"
Qi Xia didn't get a reply from Qiao Jiajin. Instead, he saw the blood spreading outward.
He knew—drive a nail into someone's brain, and no one could survive.
Qiao Jiajin was dead.
"Qiao..." Qi Xia stared at the scene before him in disbelief, a single sentence echoing over and over in his mind...
*「You have the brains, I have the strength. Let's work together?」*
"Qi Xia, see?" Xiaoxiao said with a smile. "They're not worth regretting."
"AHHHHHH—"
Suddenly, Qi Xia let out a agonized scream. An intense pain tore through the depths of his skull. His hands and feet instantly regained feeling, but now he could only roll on the ground, clutching his head.
Seeing that Qi Xia could suddenly move freely, Xiaoxiao paused for a moment.
This time, the headache lasted an exceptionally long time. Qi Xia felt as if the nail hadn't stabbed Qiao Jiajin, but had instead been driven into his own brain. The nail kept churning through his gray matter, making him wish he were dead.
Two minutes later, Qi Xia's headache abruptly vanished. He stood up expressionlessly.
"Impressive, Qi Xia," Xiaoxiao chuckled. "Can you ignore my 'Echo'?"
"I suggest you stop while you're ahead," Qi Xia said coldly. "If you've got something to do, take it out on me."
"No," Xiaoxiao said. "I need you to understand that these people can be killed freely. You can kill them too."
"Why would I kill them..." Qi Xia's eyes were ice-cold, his entire demeanor devoid of any emotion. "I'm not like you lunatics. Don't lump me in with you."
"It seems you still don't get it." Xiaoxiao shook her head helplessly, then flicked her wrist and yanked the nail-studded plank out of Qiao Jiajin's head. She shook off the blood and said to Qi Xia, "Once I kill them all, you'll understand naturally."
Having said that, she walked straight toward Tiantian.
"Lunatic, that's enough..." Qi Xia's lips quivered. "The few of us barely managed to scrape by and survive until now. What gives you the right to decide our life and death?"
"That's exactly why I say it's meaningless," Xiaoxiao said, raising the plank again.
This time, Qi Xia didn't give her the chance. He charged forward immediately, intending to tackle the woman. But despite the tremendous impact, she didn't budge an inch.
Qi Xia had no choice but to change his strategy on the fly. He wrapped his arms around her waist—thick as a load-bearing wall—and shoved her backward.
Xiaoxiao took two steps back, her expression turning cold.
"Qi Xia, I'm clearly trying to help you, yet you're stubbornly refusing to see reason. I'm deeply disappointed." Xiaoxiao shook her head, grabbed Qi Xia by the neck, and threw him aside like a dog.
Qi Xia slammed into the wall and let out a pained groan. He could feel that the woman before him possessed extraordinary strength, likely the result of extremely rigorous training.
"Long live Jidao," Xiaoxiao said with a grin. The plank in her hand fell once more, piercing Tiantian's skull.
Tiantian's voice echoed in Qi Xia's mind—
*「I came here because there was no place for me out there either.」*
That excruciating, tearing pain washed over him again. Qi Xia writhed on the ground, clutching his head in agony.
Tiantian was dead too.
Qi Xia felt like his skull was splitting open.
Everything went black before his eyes, his consciousness gradually fading.
Just before he passed out, he heard a huge bell tolling in the distance.
...
"Xia, look," Yu Nian'an said, holding up a worn-out shirt as if showing it off to Qi Xia. "See here."
She pointed her fair finger at the pocket on the shirt's chest, where a cartoon sheep was sewn on.
"I mended the torn spot for you! Not bad, huh?"
"Not bad at all," Qi Xia said, nodding while wolfing down a bowl of instant noodles. "But why didn't you buy a new one?"
"To save a little money!" Yu Nian'an smiled. "Once we have money later, you can buy as many as you want. For now, just make do."
Qi Xia paused for a moment, set down the noodles, and said, "Xiao An, we'll have money soon. If that deal of mine goes through, we'll have two million..."
"I believe you." Yu Nian'an nodded with a smile. "Xia, there are many paths in this world, and everyone has their own. I'm sure you'll succeed."
"Mm." Qi Xia nodded, feeling an unusual sense of peace. He wanted to say more to Yu Nian'an, but then he noticed the sky outside the window.
A pale yellow sun hung in the dark red sky.
Qi Xia blinked, feeling that something was off.
"What's going on..." He turned to look at Yu Nian'an, but her face had turned into Xiaoxiao's.
Xiaoxiao grinned at Qi Xia, moving her lips to say, "Long live Jidao."
The next second, two figures emerged behind Xiaoxiao—unmistakably Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian.
Brain matter and blood were leaking from their foreheads. They stared at Qi Xia with ferocious expressions, their eyes filled with a trace of resentment, a hint of unwillingness.
"You... you two... I..."
A sudden wave of terror washed over Qi Xia. He rolled off the chair and ran out the door.
He had to escape this damn place.
This was all a nightmare.
When he opened the door to his own room, an even deeper despair hit him.
Outside the door stretched an endless corridor, with thousands of doors on either side. From each one, people wearing animal masks were constantly emerging.
...
"Qi Xia! Qi Xia!!" An anxious voice rang out, pulling Qi Xia back.
He slowly opened his eyes and saw Lin Qin's clean face before him.
"Lin..." Qi Xia furrowed his brow, feeling a splitting headache. "What happened?"
Lin Qin's eyes were brimming with tears. She sobbed, "You scared me to death... I thought you'd died like Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian..."
Qi Xia recalled the horrifying experience. Dazed, he stood up and looked at the corpses of Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian not far away, momentarily lost in a daze.
Although this wasn't a dream, it was a reality even more terrifying than a dream.
"Qi Xia... what exactly happened..." Lin Qin choked out. "Who killed them?"
Qi Xia didn't answer. Instead, he looked at Lin Qin expressionlessly, a hint of confusion in his voice as he asked, "Why are you still alive?"