Chapter 949: Half and Half
Qi Xia arrived at the fourth floor.
The door in front of him had once been an old, worn wooden door, but now it was stained with half a layer of flesh and blood.
Following his remaining memories, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the key.
Unfortunately, the "key" in his hand had transformed into a long, thin, sharp fragment of bone.
He looked at the bone fragment, then at the "keyhole" on the door, which had become a piece of pulsating flesh.
Qi Xia let out a bitter laugh, inserted the bone fragment into the throbbing flesh, and twisted it fiercely. The sensation was eerie, and then blood splattered everywhere as the door swung open with a creak.
Inside was the home Qi Xia knew all too well.
Warm and empty.
But now, half of the room had turned into flesh and blood.
A red dividing line stretched across the floor, neatly splitting an ordinary room right down the middle—one half crimson red, the other half dim yellow.
Even though the entire city had become a mass of bloody flesh, there was still a place here where one could catch a breath.
Qi Xia stepped over the fleshy area in front of the door and walked to the dining table at the center of the room. The table, too, was split down the middle—one half old wood, the other half gory flesh.
Qi Xia sat down in the only bright spot in the entire dream, picked up the kettle and cup from the table, quietly poured a glass of water, and placed it on the table.
Within seconds, a bright red figure appeared at the doorway. But he didn’t rush in; instead, he looked around the room.
“No one else here, just me,” Qi Xia said. “Come in and sit.”
After hearing this, Tianlong paused for a moment but still didn’t step inside.
“Bai Yang…” a voice, half male, half female, emerged from his smooth face. “This is your last line of defense, and you’re just letting me in?”
“Just a friend coming to visit,” Qi Xia said, lifting his head. “It would be too rude to leave you waiting outside. Every time before, you tried to force your way in. This time, I’m opening the door myself.”
Tianlong’s flat face stared at Qi Xia in thought for a long while, as if sensing a change in the situation.
“Those eyes of yours…” Tianlong said slowly. “Have they always had that pupil?”
“Thanks to you,” Qi Xia replied. “You helped me shed the last shackle of being human.”
“Me?” Tianlong paused slightly, then stepped into the room. A powerful pressure immediately spread out. “Bai Yang, sounds to me like you’ve schemed against me.”
“Scheme? That’s a bit strong. We’re just helping each other.”
Qi Xia slid the glass of water across the table, past the dividing line between wood and flesh, until it reached Tianlong’s side.
The two of them were in the same room, but one side was a normal, aged house, while the other was a mass of bloody flesh. Their figures sat on opposite sides, creating a stark sense of division.
Qi Xia, as if entertaining a guest, gestured toward the glass on the table. “Tianlong, you’ve been asleep for far too long. You don’t even know what I’m really up to. Today, we can finally have a good talk.”
Seeing that Tianlong didn’t speak, Qi Xia waved his hand again.
Instantly, the floor in front of Tianlong began to crack. Bones and chunks of meat erupted from the ground, quickly growing into the shape of a chair. This chair seemed to have a pulse, slowly throbbing.
“Sit,” Qi Xia said. “Didn’t you want to see me?”
Tianlong lowered his head, his flat face staring at the chair. Though his face was completely expressionless, Qi Xia felt he was smiling.
“‘Finally have a good talk’?” Tianlong seemed to find the phrase amusing. He shifted his body and sat down on the seat of flesh. “Bai Yang, last time I wanted to talk to you, but you rejected me.”
“Last time, your effect on me wasn’t over yet,” Qi Xia answered. “So I had to resist you. But now it’s fine—all my goals have been achieved. I’m willing to chat with you about anything.”
“How absurd…” Tianlong murmured. “Though I entered your dream, from these past few encounters, you should easily see… what is the most fatal thing in your dream? Is it me?”
“Of course not,” Qi Xia replied. “You’re not only the safest person in my dream, but you’ve also given me the greatest help.”
“Yes,” Tianlong said softly. “But Bai Yang… you’ve been using me all along. For so long, I might have been the one who trusted you the most, yet you’ve been scheming against me from the very start.”
“I don’t understand,” Qi Xia shook his head. “I’m just an ordinary ‘Participant.’ You are the ‘Lord of Utopia.’ How many people here can fool you?”
“Many of the rules here were established by you and me together,” Tianlong said gravely. “But why does everyone only resent me?”
Qi Xia was silent for a moment, then replied, “Like I said… because I’m a ‘Participant,’ and you’re the ‘Lord of Utopia.’ Why would they resent a ‘Participant’?”
“But you chose to become a ‘Participant’ voluntarily,” Tianlong continued. “That means you actively avoided all the danger. Bai Yang, even though you’ve schemed against me time and again, I still don’t want to give up on you. So today’s conversation is no different from the last one.”
“Oh…?”
“Are you willing to come with me?” Tianlong said. “The ‘Train’ is ready. Let us depart for a new land. You are the one I have been searching for all along.”
“But it’s only been a day since our last meeting,” Qi Xia said. “Why are you in such a hurry?”
“Because I randomly infiltrated several dreams and found that some people’s dreams have begun to contain ‘hope,’” Tianlong replied. “Although I don’t know where this sense of anticipation comes from, I feel it must have something to do with you.”
“Is that why you insisted on seeing me?” Qi Xia said. “It looks like you went to quite some trouble just to meet me. Did someone die in the process?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Tianlong said. “In my eyes, anyone who can die isn’t a person anyway.”
“Since you know something is about to happen, I won’t hide it from you,” Qi Xia said. “Things are going to change here soon, because Qinglong has been trying to take your life all along.”
“Qinglong… take my life?” The expression on Tianlong’s face twitched, as if he were smiling. “He’s always wanted my life. But now, are you saying you intend to fulfill that wish for him?”
“It seems you’re the one who’s been kept in the dark,” Qi Xia replied. “You want Qinglong’s life, and Qinglong wants yours. You two have similar thought patterns, so you should know he wouldn’t choose to live peacefully for such a long time. And he can directly boss around everyone in the entire ‘Land of the End.’ How many people do you think can resist him?”
“Ha…” Tianlong laughed. “You’re wrong. I am merciful after all. I don’t want Qinglong’s life. I only want to keep him here and take you to a new land. And… Bai Yang, the one who’s been kept in the dark is not me.”
Qi Xia’s brow slowly furrowed upon hearing this.
Tianlong was silent for a long moment, then said, “Bai Yang, believe it or not, I’ve known your thoughts for a long time. Even the crack in the glass was deliberately left by me.”