Chapter 1309: Fraud
"I am the origin, and I am also the destination," Qi Xia said. "What does that signify?"
"Doesn't that mean... you are like 'God'?" the old man shifted his tone and spoke. "God created humans, making Him our origin. God guided humans, making Him our path. God accepted humans, making Him our destination."
The old man rambled on to himself, yet his words failed to stir any ripple in Qi Xia. After a few seconds, Qi Xia revealed a smile that the old man couldn't decipher.
"But 'God' can also practice deception." Qi Xia said with a sinister smile, his voice low. "Perhaps there is this possibility... that this 'God' created humans just to lead them to their deaths."
The old man trembled all over upon hearing this: "God leads people to die...?"
"This 'God' is not the 'origin,' not the 'path,' and not the 'destination,'" Qi Xia said. "It could also be 'deception,' 'the dead end,' 'banishment.'"
"What..." the old man was taken aback, as if he didn't quite understand Qi Xia's meaning. "Wait a minute..."
"Since you've come to me, I'll take you to see the end of the world and tell you the true answer."
Qi Xia stood up, walked to the wall side of the room, then grabbed a chair and smashed it violently against the wall.
The old man followed, puzzled. Though the young man's words were shocking, he truly wanted to know the answer he had been seeking.
Why did everyone exist in this bizarre world?
Where did they come from, and where were they fleeing to?
Why were faceless people buried beneath the ground?
Once, twice—after smashing it five times, Qi Xia created a huge hole in the wall, revealing the pitch-black, vast starry sky beyond.
He threw the chair to the ground and then reached out to clear the broken planks around the hole.
The old man was stunned speechless by the eerie sight before him. He couldn't move, just stared blankly at the starry sky.
"How can... there be something like this outside the wall?" the old man murmured. "Where exactly are we... What is outside..."
"It's the end of the world," Qi Xia said. "You will have 'eternity,' and you will see 'everything.'"
The old man paused, then asked, "And what is the 'true answer' you mentioned... what... will happen today?"
Hearing this question, Qi Xia remained silent for a long time.
The ground began to tremble slightly, and strange rustling sounds came from the distance.
"Within ten minutes, everyone here will die," Qi Xia said while clearing the debris. "The 'End Time' will arrive as scheduled. At that moment, I will betray everyone's trust, and the lies I told will come true. That is the answer you seek."
As he listened to Qi Xia, the old man stared with aged eyes at the opening outside. In disbelief, he plucked a strand of his own hair and slowly twisted it between his fingers.
The hair no longer pointed at Qi Xia; instead, it truly pointed toward the distant starry sky.
There lay the answer to everything, and also the end of the world.
The strand of hair drifted between the old man's fingers, constantly pointing through the crack toward the distant stars, like the tiniest compass in the universe.
"Why...?" the old man said incredulously. "Why would 'God' deceive humans?"
"For a single thought," Qi Xia said. "I needed everyone to believe my task would succeed, so that it could succeed. Then I made my subconscious believe the task would fail, so that it would fail."
"I don't understand..." the old man said. "For a single thought... why go to such lengths?"
"You can seek that answer yourself," Qi Xia said, pointing to the distant starry sky. "Let the restless thoughts in your own heart settle."
Holding the strand of hair, the old man looked into the distance. If he could traverse that vast space... combined with his own 'tracking' ability, perhaps he could indeed find all the answers.
"So God... lied... God deceived humans..." the old man muttered. "The 'End' will still come... all those working hard now... no one will survive this event..."
He seemed to have been thrown into mental chaos by the sudden truth.
"Yes, I call this rebellion 'Yu Nian'an,'" Qi Xia said. "Let all the stray thoughts in your heart settle. That is the answer your 'God' can tell you."
The old man felt as if he had seen the answer to the world, yet also as if he had grasped a void.
"God deceives mortals... the 'End' will come... no one will survive..."
Hearing this, the old man trembled slightly, feeling as insignificant as a speck of dust before this magnificent and eerie world.
He kept repeating Qi Xia's last few sentences.
"God's deception..." the old man began to shiver all over. "The End is coming... no one survives... 'Yu Nian'an.'"
"If you stay here, you will die too," Qi Xia said. "Go pursue the ultimate of the world, witness eternity, and seek your own origin and destination."
After hearing this, the old man seemed bewitched. He walked forward step by step.
Just as the old man was about to reach the doorway, Qi Xia said softly, "If the final outcome is not as we wish, then take this story into eternity. Remember our existence in your heart, or no one in this vast universe will remember us."
The old man turned his head and gave Qi Xia a complicated look.
A few seconds later, he revealed a relieved smile, then stepped into the void.
The next moment, he plummeted like falling off a cliff, but he did not scream. Instead, he kept repeating several words.
Dimly, Qi Xia heard the old man constantly muttering "God's deception," "the End is coming," "no one survives."
He felt as if he had heard these words somewhere before.
But where exactly?
His 'memories' were too numerous; it was impossible to find a single needle in a vast pine forest of memories.
Fortunately, the 'variable' had disappeared. He had not lived or died here; he had simply vanished from here.
He would spend 'eternity' in a realm where time and space were completely still, and then go completely insane.
No one would ever see him again.
Qi Xia sighed and turned around, hearing new sounds at the door.
Chu Tianqiu, pulling Tiantian, appeared in the doorway with a tense expression. The two rushed into the room and quickly closed the door behind them.
"Qi Xia..." Chu Tianqiu swallowed dryly and said, "I don't know what's happening... everything outside has gone completely haywire."