Chapter 1088: Dream of the God
"My potential...?"
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia furrowed his brow and leaned forward, his entire upper body now inside the "Door." Then he spoke quietly, "If you use 'Tianxingjian' to kill me here, the only one who benefits is Qinglong. To be honest, in this game, it doesn't matter whether you or I win—but Qinglong cannot win."
Only then did Chu Tianqiu realize why Qi Xia had "transported" him out here. But could their conversation here truly evade the ears of "Qinglong" and "Sky Dog"?
Without changing his expression, he glanced back through the "Door" and saw that Qinglong, high in the sky, indeed remained motionless.
Then Chu Tianqiu took a step forward and said, "Qi Xia, are you sure? My ultimate goal is different from yours. If I board this ship... it could very well deal you a devastating blow."
"A 'devastating blow'?" Qi Xia found the phrase amusing. "Right now, even I can't guarantee stopping this advancing ship. If you want to strike it, it'll be even harder. Instead of striking me, why not turn that strike against Tianlong?"
Chu Tianqiu had no idea what Qi Xia was thinking. Was there even a place for him in this plan?
"Qi Xia... suddenly I have a very untimely thought," Chu Tianqiu said.
"What?"
"Is the path I'm walking now... also influenced by you?"
Qi Xia didn't speak. He just looked coldly at Chu Tianqiu, and that look seemed to give him the answer he wanted.
"To be honest," Qi Xia said, "Chu Tianqiu, I need you to board the 'Train' with me."
"You—" Chu Tianqiu quickly sensed the issue. "But we're already on the 'Train' right now. You should know that, shouldn't you?"
"We are on the 'Train' now, but not in the core position," Qi Xia said. "Let me put it another way, Chu Tianqiu. I need you to go with me to the 'front of the train.'"
"What...?" Chu Tianqiu lowered his voice as much as possible. "Qi Xia... you..."
"Don't you want to become a 'God'?" Qi Xia continued. "I'm giving you a chance to become a 'God.'"
"A chance...?" Chu Tianqiu asked.
Qi Xia didn't answer immediately. Instead, he said, "Did that 'Dream Walker' go to 'Heaven's Gate'?"
Chu Tianqiu still struggled to understand. "A 'Dream Walker' did come to 'Heaven's Gate.' What does that have to do with me becoming a 'God'?"
"Did you get his eyeball?" Qi Xia said. "Once you have his eyeball, we can meet at the 'front of the train.' I'll take you to see the world through a 'God's' eyes."
"You... wait." Chu Tianqiu immediately understood Qi Xia's meaning. "Right now, the only one at the 'front of the train' is the sleeping Tianlong... Have you lost your mind...?"
"So what?" Qi Xia asked. "Aren't you curious about what kind of dreams Tianlong has every day?"
"This isn't just about 'what kind of dreams,'" Chu Tianqiu said with a frown. "You should know that everyone's dreams depend on the strength of their psychological defenses. Ordinary people's dreams are unshakeable."
"So what?"
"If I enter Tianlong's dream with my current body, wouldn't even a gust of wind in the dream blow me into sand?" Chu Tianqiu said. "If you really want to do this, I suggest you take the 'Dream Walker' himself. I didn't kill him—I just had someone take the eyeballs from his corpse. As the saying goes, a newborn calf is not afraid of the tiger. He doesn't know how terrifying Tianlong's dream is. Sending him is the most suitable."
"No," Qi Xia shook his head. "Precisely because he's too inexperienced, this task can't be carried out by him."
"You—"
Chu Tianqiu stared intently at Qi Xia's eyes. He felt that this task was no different from going straight to death.
"You carry multiple 'Echoes' and have exceptional mental fortitude. You're more suited for this task than anyone," Qi Xia said. "Don't you want to see the 'God's' dream?"
"The 'God's' dream..."
"Perhaps you're only one step away," Qi Xia said. "You want to become someone like him, yet you don't want to know what he dreams of every day. His dreams might be able to shatter the last shackles of you as a 'human.'"
Chu Tianqiu knew that in the past, Tianlong freely entered and exited other people's dreams. But now, someone had to enter Tianlong's dream. What kind of madman could come up with such a plan?
"What do I need to do in his dream?" Chu Tianqiu asked again. "Is it really just to see what the 'God' thinks, as you said?"
"Of course not. I need you to find a way to create a crack in his dream," Qi Xia said. "This is a trade between you and me. If you agree, I'll help clear the path to the 'front of the train.'"
"What kind of 'trade' is this..." Chu Tianqiu took another step forward and said, "I'll be killed by Tianlong in the dream... Why would I risk death to go see his dream? And why would you risk death to pave the way for me? This doesn't make any sense at all..."
"This is your only chance, Chu Tianqiu," Qi Xia said again. "You'll never get to see a 'God's' dream again. If you agree, I can enter Tianlong's dream with you."
"What—" Chu Tianqiu seemed unable to grasp Qi Xia's logic. "You and I enter Tianlong's dream together...? How are you going to enter his dream?"
"I'll find a way," Qi Xia said. "Chu Tianqiu, I don't want to hide it from you anymore. The path you're walking now has indeed been subtly influenced by me all along."
"You—"
"In the earliest days, you saw my 'Echo' called 'Spiritual Hearing.' You believed my existence was the key to everyone escaping this place, so you wrote down, 'I absolutely must let Qi Xia obtain an Echo,'" Qi Xia said. "But later, you investigated for many years and discovered the secret of 'Endless Life,' so you wrote a second note. You thought that as long as I stopped 'Echoing,' everyone could be liberated."
Hearing this, Chu Tianqiu's eyes slowly widened. "What... you..."
"That was the moment I looked at you with the most respect," Qi Xia said. "You found the whole truth. You spent many years learning why people here turn to ash on the tenth day, and what the 'reality' we return to is... You investigated everyone's place of birth and their general abilities, and wrote down their numbers one by one. But you couldn't explain why we always come back here."
Chu Tianqiu's eyes flickered, as if something insane began to pour into his mind. "...I... seem to... remember..."
"You discovered that every unreasonable thing could ultimately receive a perfect explanation, but only this one thing was inexplicable," Qi Xia said. "You believed some powerful force was interfering with 'The Land of Endings.'"