Chapter 1290: Madhouse
"Their mission has nothing to do with me," Dìniú said. "Qí Xià gave me supreme command, so I can only execute strategies based on my own needs."
Chén Jùnnán nodded after hearing this. "I'm not thinking any differently than Old Qi... Whether we win this time or not, those 'Zodiacs' can't get out anyway."
After speaking, he turned to look at Qín Dīngdōng. "Dōng Jiě... don't keep overthinking either. The more you think, the more exhausting it gets. Since we're here, let's focus on the task at hand first."
Qín Dīngdōng slowly lowered her head. "Chén Jùnnán, the 'doors' in the 'work area' are gone, which means we can't reach other places. The 'doors' in the 'interview area' are gone, meaning even if we could revive there, we wouldn't be able to get to the 'corridor'..."
"Dōng Jiě..." Chén Jùnnán interrupted her. "You're worrying too much. Even if someone really could revive outside or in the 'interview room'... that person wouldn't be the current you anymore."
"I..."
"I'll say it again." Chén Jùnnán said. "I trust Old Qi. Even if you try everything from now on to stop me, I'll still break all these doors. Maybe however much you distrust Old Qi, that's how much I trust him."
Qín Dīngdōng lowered her head again, pondering what her final stance should be.
"I've known Old Qi for so long..." Chén Jùnnán let out a deep sigh. "Everything he does is for nothing himself. If we don't help him... this kid will have no one to rely on."
...
"So... do you understand?" Qí Xià turned to look at an empty space, asking softly.
The phantom of White Sheep paused, saying nothing.
Qí Xià stared blankly at that empty space for a moment, then said, "Take them there directly. You have no choice now... Perhaps you also used to..."
Seeing this, the phantom of White Sheep couldn't help but grin, as if watching a complete madman. "So pathetic. You've been muttering to that empty space since just now. What, is there another me there too?"
"Another you...?" Qí Xià paused, then looked at White Sheep and shook his head. "No... how could that be... It's just the two of us here..."
After saying this, Qí Xià felt that expression was wrong, so he lowered his head again and corrected himself: "It's only me here."
"So you really were talking to empty space." White Sheep nodded. "In a room with only you, you managed to have a conversation between three people. I doubt you'll make it to the end. Your current mental state is no different from the 'natives', no different from all the madmen I've seen in Endgame Land. This is the lowest level of lunacy. I thought you'd already passed this stage."
"Of course I'm not as calm as you... Being too calm is what will make me fail..." Qí Xià raised his gray-white eyes to look at White Sheep, the eyes already tinged with bloodshot red. "White Sheep, can you touch me?"
"Oh...?" White Sheep frowned slightly. "What do you think?"
"I guess you can't." Qí Xià slowly stood up. "That's really troublesome... I need to get hurt now."
White Sheep looked a bit puzzled by Qí Xià's statement. "Getting hurt... will it make you clearer-headed?"
"Clear-headed...? I don't need to be clear-headed right now." Qí Xià shook his head. "But I need to cover myself in wounds. Every part of the plan must be executed step by step, and even these wounds will become part of the plan."
He turned around, lifted the chair behind him with both hands over his head, then slammed it hard onto the ground.
The chair let out a loud crash and shattered into pieces. A few fragments passed through White Sheep's body and scattered on the floor.
Qí Xià bent down and picked up a broken chair leg, saying softly, "Now that the 'Ants' are liberated and the 'Heavenly Levels' are dying, these rabble that oppress 'Endgame Land' will be reduced to just one person before dawn."
With that, he brought the chair leg up to his eyes and struck his own forehead violently. Splinters flew, and blood began seeping from his forehead.
Before him, White Sheep also frowned as blood flowed down his own forehead simultaneously.
Not far away, the 'Ants' were frantically searching for traces of the 'Heavenly Levels'. After scouring the corridor where the 'Heavenly Levels' were located, they left one unit to focus their full attacks on the long-haired Heavenly Rooster and Heavenly Monkey.
The remaining 'Ants' turned their gaze toward the corridor of the 'Train', deep within which there were still a large number of 'Eyeballs'—were they 'Paths' or 'Heavenly Levels'?
Then the 'Ants' surged forward like a tide, gray-white figures flooding the corridor.
Qí Xià wiped the blood from his forehead and bent down to pick up a second chair leg.
He paused, then said, "All the 'doors' of the 'Train' to the outside are destroyed, permanently impassable. Everyone will be trapped in place. Without the template of all 'doors', even 'Clever Objects' and 'Fakes' cannot perfectly replicate them. Before dawn, only one door leading to the outside will remain."
He extended his arm and used the chair leg to strike his own arm hard, breaking it. The intense pain made him frown slightly.
White Sheep slowly reached out to cover his own arm, but remained silent, just staring at Qí Xià.
He felt like things were starting to spiral out of control. But Qí Xià, the mastermind behind this operation, didn't seem to notice the problem.
Dìniú and Chén Jùnnán were on opposite sides, heavily destroying all the 'doors'. Behind them, Qín Dīngdōng had been hesitant earlier, but now there was no turning back. After a moment of hesitation, she too joined the team, working with Jīn Yuánxūn to destroy the 'doors'.
Perhaps she didn't believe in Qí Xià from the bottom of her heart, but she believed in Chén Jùnnán.
Qí Xià bent down again and picked up a third chair leg. After a moment of thought, he said, "Azure Dragon will be entangled by the two strongest combatants of 'Endgame Land'. These two represent the hatred of countless people, and they will push Azure Dragon into a final dead end. Even if Azure Dragon somehow manages not to die, 'Calamity' will cross thousands of mountains and rivers, overcome all spatial obstacles to reach his side, and put an end to the battle."
After speaking, he reversed his grip on the chair leg and thrust it into his own chest. The leg snapped again, and both Qí Xià and White Sheep coughed.
"Wait..." White Sheep covered his own chest, frowning deeply. "Are you really clear-headed right now...?"
Qí Xià didn't answer, only let out a deep sigh.
Zhāng Shān and Qiáo Jiājìn, in the vast locomotive space, were attacking Azure Dragon from both sides. Although Azure Dragon had pulled himself together with full focus, neither of these two was ordinary. Every one of their strikes was extremely cunning.
Although they weren't sure why Azure Dragon still hadn't unleashed his 'Echo', both knew they had limited opportunities. They could only unleash killing moves in this brief window, striving to subdue Azure Dragon in the shortest time possible.