Chapter 1169: What He Left for Me
By the time Qi Xia and the others arrived at the "Jile Money House," it was already close to afternoon.
They all looked up at the sun in the sky; dusk was also approaching.
They came to the entrance of a dilapidated building. The structure was so run-down that its original appearance was almost unrecognizable. Qi Xia told the others that this place used to be a bank.
Chen Junnan stepped forward and pushed open the completely shattered revolving door, then slowly covered his nose and mouth.
The stench inside the building was unimaginable, suggesting that many people had died here.
Sure enough, after stepping inside and taking a look, they saw numerous skeletons scattered haphazardly on the floor.
"Old Qi... you were pretty ruthless back in the day, huh..."
"They were all just gamblers." Qi Xia waved his hand, brushing away the dust and mist before him, then surveyed the entire hall.
This place felt both familiar and unfamiliar.
After all, Bai Yang had lived here for many years, but Bai Yang was merely one part of him, not the complete version of himself.
In the center of the hall stood twelve bases, as if there had once been statues placed on them. Now, the statues had all crumbled into fragments, with only a single goat-headed, human-bodied statue still standing in place.
"Pretty impressive." Qiao Jiajin also looked around and said, "Conman, what kind of game did you run here before?"
"Playing with people's hearts," Qi Xia replied.
"Oh..." Qiao Jiajin nodded as if he understood, though he didn’t fully grasp it. He had seen plenty of game venues before, but none of them struck him as being as strange as Qi Xia's.
Tiantian and Zhang Chenze also walked in and ran their hands over the table in front of the bases. This place looked like a casino, yet it didn't feel like one.
Qi Xia glanced at Tiantian and Zhang Chenze, then said, "I need to trouble you with something."
"Why so polite..." Zhang Chenze chuckled lightly. "We've come this far... just say whatever you need."
Qi Xia pointed to a room and said, "There’s some cloth in the small storage room at the back. Find a way to bandage Fist and Chen Junnan—they need their wounds treated."
"Alright, no problem." Zhang Chenze nodded. "Anything else?"
"Not for now. I need some time alone."
Qi Xia gave the others a signal, then turned and walked toward a room on one side of the bank, which looked like a small office.
He pushed open the door. Inside, there were still skeletons.
"Conman, are you sure you don't need me to come with you?" Qiao Jiajin called from a distance.
"No need." Qi Xia shook his head. "I'll be done soon."
Qi Xia stepped into the office and looked around. The only things that caught his eye were a desk and a few cabinets that looked like they were about to collapse.
Among the many cabinets, one remained intact: a black metal safe that stood taller than a person, still firm and upright.
Qi Xia walked over and examined it. The black metal safe was clearly a strongbox, requiring a six-digit code to open.
Strangely, there was no trace of this black safe or its code in his memories.
He didn't dwell on it. Instead, he walked to the desk and slowly sat down.
With a creak, the chair shifted slightly, and Qi Xia closed his eyes.
"Jidao has completed its mission."
Leaning back in his chair, Qi Xia tried to review in his mind everything that was happening in the "Land of Endings" at this very moment.
"But what about 'Cat'..."
He pondered Xuanwu's situation, feeling that there probably wasn't much difference between "Cat" and "Jidao"—both would be locked in a brutal struggle.
He hadn't told Yan Zhichun in advance that they would encounter Baihu in front of the giant bell, nor had he warned her that many "participants" would obstruct them.
After all, merely "destroying the giant bell" was already difficult enough. If he had described the full scope of the mission, it would have dealt a devastating blow to everyone's morale.
"So this lie had to be told by me." Qi Xia murmured. "'Cat' also encountered 'Xuanwu' within the lie..."
In Qi Xia's calculations, "Cat" would succeed in killing Xuanwu with absolute certainty.
After all, during their battle with Xuanwu, they would sniff out the ultimate secret of the entire "Land of Endings"—
"Space."
The principle of "Indestructibility" was that when faced with a massive "wound" that couldn't be handled, it forcibly turned the owner's skin into a temporary "Space Gate." As long as "Cat" could sniff out this layer, killing Xuanwu would simply be a matter of which strategy to use.
So they would definitely achieve their goal—it was just hard to predict the casualties.
"The closer one is to 'Space,' the easier it is to conceive of a way to kill Xuanwu..." Qi Xia said.
At that moment, the phantom of Bai Yang began to appear across from Qi Xia's desk, also sitting in a chair, smiling lightly at him.
Qi Xia opened his eyes slightly and met Bai Yang's gaze.
"But what about Qinglong's side?" Bai Yang asked.
Qi Xia thought for a few seconds, then touched his chin and said, "Qinglong is moving from the space of 'Cangjie Chess' toward the 'Train.' In theory, he has been cut off from all sound and cannot rush to the scene of the 'Giant Bell' being destroyed in time. So a game set in another space is also part of the plan."
"He still has 'Heaven,'" Bai Yang added.
"'Heaven' is just a rabble." Qi Xia said. "By then, many allies will help me attack 'Heaven' together. Our biggest problem will be killing 'Qinglong.'"
Bai Yang's phantom chuckled upon hearing this. He slowly stood up, walked over to Qi Xia, and extended a nonexistent hand to pat him on the shoulder.
"Qinglong has 'Tianxingjian,'" Bai Yang said. "His self-healing ability and attack power far surpass yours. With your current body, how are you going to kill him?"
"Of course, it won't be me who kills him." Qi Xia said. "My target is only Tianlong."
"This massive rebellion involving so many people..." Bai Yang laughed again. "Have you noticed that one person is missing?"
"You're the one missing." Qi Xia lifted his head and stared directly at Bai Yang's phantom. "What did you leave for me?"
"Ha..." Bai Yang let out a contemptuous laugh, and his figure vanished.
A few seconds later, Qi Xia reached out and lightly tapped the desk—
"Thump, thump, thump."
Fragmented memories surged into his mind once more. Most of them were snippets of Yan Zhichun, along with Bai Yang scratching something into the table with his fingernails.
Qi Xia looked down and saw the words Bai Yang had left behind—"Where do you dwell, and where were you born?"
"What a boring trick..."
He stood up, walked to the black safe, and immediately entered the code "011820."
The safe clicked open. Inside was a slowly rotating "door" whose interior was impossible to see.
"Now it's right. Everything is on track."