Chapter 1110: Everyone's Joys and Sorrows
After hearing Xuanwu’s answer, Qi Xia knew that she no longer even had the desire to be saved.
Some people were like this—if they were to go out, what awaited them would only be an even more terrifying hell.
“If you want to die here… stand up now,” Qi Xia said. “Are you really going to crawl around in pitch-blackness here forever, just like Qinglong said?”
“I… can’t.” Xuanwu’s voice drifted faintly. “From the moment I set foot on this land, only one of me and Qinglong can survive.”
“If killing you would set you free, I’m willing to do it,” Qi Xia said. “Come out with me.”
“Then…” Xuanwu turned her face, looking at Qi Xia with that featureless countenance. “Where should I go…?”
“To continue enforcing the ‘Rules’,” Qi Xia said. “Don’t leave regrets in your own heart.”
“Rules…”
“Do everything you want to do,” Qi Xia said. “Go and feel the joys and sorrows of every single person in the ‘Land of the End’.”
Upon hearing this, Xuanwu’s body trembled once more, then slowly straightened as if pulled by something. She muttered repeatedly under her breath:
“Everyone’s joys and sorrows—”
“Yes. Judge everyone’s joys and sorrows from your own perspective,” Qi Xia said. “They’re trapped in this land just like you—there’s no essential difference. They only want to escape.”
Xuanwu slowly turned around, as if using her own eyes to look at Qi Xia.
“They can’t get out, and they can’t leave,” Qi Xia said. “You know it’s the ‘Rules’ that govern them, yet you’ve been oppressed by the ‘Rules’ your entire life. So why have you become a supporter of the ‘Rules’ here?”
“If I don’t uphold the Rules, someone else will step up,” Xuanwu said. “Qinglong promised that I wouldn’t be hungry, in pain, or tired. So I stepped up.”
“But part of your reason has been taken away too,” Qi Xia said. “Even though it’s hard for you to understand, I’ll tell you the truth. Qinglong can’t possibly just let you off. I mean… he won’t let you die.”
“Is that so…” Xuanwu seemed to realize something. “Even if I’ve completely followed his orders… he still won’t let me die?”
“The less reason a person has, the easier they are to control,” Qi Xia said. “Not only can you fully obey Qinglong’s commands, you even have an extraordinary ‘conviction’—to him, that’s the best weapon.”
“I…”
“So he will drain every bit of value from you,” Qi Xia continued. “Maybe you’ll keep helping him until one day everyone in the ‘Land of the End’ is dead, yet your physical body will still be lingering here.”
Xuanwu paused for a moment after hearing this. Then she slowly walked to the side, bent down, and picked up her arm.
That arm was as pitch-black as the rest of her body.
Qi Xia could only feel that Xuanwu’s back looked especially lonely, as if she was accepting something she had never encountered before.
She tucked her arm under her armpit, then snapped off a section of her spine from the ground. Abruptly, she pushed it into the broken joint of her shoulder.
After doing all this, she turned back and extended her arm toward Qi Xia. “Can you help me?”
Qi Xia understood. He nodded, stepped forward, and took hold of Xuanwu’s arm.
How could he describe the feeling of this arm?
It had no temperature—neither warm nor cold; it had no tactile sensation—neither soft nor hard; it even had no weight. Holding it felt like grasping a handful of water at the bottom of the sea—you could sense its presence, yet you didn’t know exactly where it was.
“Forgive the intrusion.”
With that, Qi Xia raised Xuanwu’s arm, aligned it with the “socket,” and thrust it fiercely onto the protruding vertebra.
“Zzz—”
A very strange sound rang out. It didn’t sound like flesh, nor like plant matter—instead, it was as though some kind of space was being torn apart.
After a moment, Xuanwu moved her hastily reattached arm. Though its range of motion was oddly distorted, at least she had gotten her arm back.
“Thank you—” Xuanwu said.
“A ‘Participant’ helping a ‘Divine Beast’—does that count as a violation?” Qi Xia asked.
Xuanwu paused, seemingly caught off guard by the question.
“A ‘Divine Beast’ saying ‘thank you’ to a ‘Participant’—does that count as a violation?” Qi Xia asked again.
“I don’t know,” Xuanwu replied.
“It doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia said. “When you remained silent, you already had the answer in your heart. Every person in this world has answers to everything—it’s just the difference between being willing to admit it and unwilling to admit it.”
Xuanwu seemed to want to say something more after hearing this, but in the end, she only nodded.
“I will continue to uphold the Rules,” Xuanwu said. “I hope this time I can really die.”
“I hope you can really die too,” Qi Xia said, looking Xuanwu up and down. “The way you’re living now… it’s already enough to atone for all your sins.”
“I’m so tired.”
After saying this, Xuanwu brushed past Qi Xia and walked toward the door of “Rout.”
Qi Xia again looked up at the void above—at the countless “doors” in that pitch-black space.
It seemed that the space available on the “Train” was still vast.
Or rather… it was only when these spaces were utilized that they became part of the “Train.”
Unfortunately, Qi Xia knew he couldn’t fly. The high doors were unreachable, but this wasn’t the time to consider that.
After Xuanwu left, Qi Xia followed her out of the arena.
…
Yan Zhichun led Doctor Zhao quickly along the road. Soon, they saw more and more people lining both sides.
Those people were dressed in all sorts of styles, each one looking battle-hardened. They stood by the roadside waiting for something.
None of them seemed to recognize Yan Zhichun or Doctor Zhao—they simply stared at the two with complex expressions.
“Yan Zhichun… how many people do you actually have…?” Doctor Zhao asked with some suspicion.
“I told you, I don’t even know myself.”
Walking at the front, she endured the gaze of all these unfamiliar “Extremists.” The crowd parted on both sides, clearing a path for Yan Zhichun.
Before they even reached the end of the road, the massive display screen and the bronze bell came into view.
Countless people stood nearby in silence—looking out, there were nearly a hundred.
“Ah, little sister…”
A familiar voice sounded not far away. Old Sun pushed through the crowd and slowly walked up to Yan Zhichun.
“You came too?”
“Old Sun,” Yan Zhichun nodded. “Take me to Jiang Ruoxue and Zhou Mo.”
“They’ve been waiting for you for a long time,” Old Sun said. “Come with me.”
Old Sun led the way, guiding Yan Zhichun forward. Doctor Zhao felt dazed.
He had originally thought this would be a task that could be completed with just a bit of effort—after all, Yan Zhichun had said it only required “destroying something.”
But looking at the current situation… how could this task possibly be simple?