Chapter 90: Unwilling to Close One's Eyes
"Xu... Liunian." Qi Xia nodded slightly. "Very poetic."
"Nice, isn't it?" Xu Liunian gave a slight smile, still looking straight ahead as she drove. "I thought this name would make me a superstar, but in the end, I ended up driving a taxi, haha."
Qi Xia followed her with a weak, mocking laugh. But the next second, his expression turned cold.
"Xu Liunian, what joke are you playing on me?"
"What's wrong?"
Qi Xia extended his bloodless hand, pointing at the taxi driver's qualification permit in front of him.
"The photo here... is indeed you."
"Yes, this is my car, so my permit is displayed. Any problem?" Xu Liunian showed a puzzled expression.
"Don't play dumb with me..." Qi Xia suddenly coughed a few times, then took a deep breath and said, "Your permit is here, meaning this car really belongs to you... So who are you? Why does a car belong to you in this city?"
"I don't understand." Xu Liunian shook her head. "Customer, do you always talk to people like this?"
"How could a 'Participant' be brought here with a car?!" Qi Xia felt his worldview was about to shatter.
Although it was ridiculous to talk about a "worldview" in this bizarre place, the existence of the woman in front of him truly exceeded his understanding.
He had thought those "Natives" who seemed like walking corpses were former "Participants" who had been here too long, gone mad, lost.
But here was someone like Xu Liunian...
Her behavior was strange, but her mind was clear.
She had her own property in this city.
"I really don't understand." Xu Liunian shook her head. "Customer, if you're deliberately looking for trouble, you'd better get out of the car now."
Qi Xia shook his head forcefully to stay as alert as possible, hoping this method would ensure what he saw wasn't an illusion.
"Xu Liunian..." he called.
"What now?" The woman in front had lost her earlier politeness, her tone filled with impatience.
"You drive a taxi. How many customers can you pick up in a day?" Qi Xia changed the subject, chatting casually.
"I..." Upon hearing this, Xu Liunian was clearly startled, as if she had never thought about it before. She pondered for a long time before speaking, "You seem to be my first customer today..."
"Then how many customers can you pick up in a week?" Qi Xia asked again.
Xu Liunian felt a dark area in her mind that had been hidden for a long time was gradually being torn open by this man's questions.
Before meeting this man, she felt everything was fine.
But after meeting him, just hearing a few questions, the painful memories in her mind poured out like a storm.
"I seem... I haven't picked up a customer all week..." Her expression became dazed, her eyes constantly shifting, as if she were thinking about something.
Qi Xia realized his questions were shaking her, so he continued pressing:
"What have you been eating and drinking this week? After you finish your shift, where do you go?"
"I... I..." Xu Liunian's expression gradually grew panicked, on the verge of collapse. "I haven't eaten anything in a long time... When there are no customers, I just park by the roadside..."
"How long have you been parked by the roadside?" Although Qi Xia's tone was calm, his hair stood on end, afraid of hearing some bizarre answer.
A loud screech sounded as Xu Liunian slammed the brakes hard in the middle of the road.
Her lips trembling, she stared ahead, her eyes becoming somewhat different.
There was emotion in those eyes, completely unlike the walking corpses on the street.
"I've been parked by the roadside for two years!!!" She screamed out, then burst into loud sobs. "Oh my god... What's wrong with me?!"
"Two..." Qi Xia's throat moved slightly as he swallowed. "You haven't eaten, drunk, or slept, and you've been parked by the roadside for two years?"
She stretched out her own hands to look at them, finally understanding.
"It's this car... When I saw this car in the city, I was completely enchanted..."
"What's strange about this car?" Qi Xia asked.
"This is the tool I relied on to make a living in the real world! How could I see this car here..." Xu Liunian suddenly turned her head and noticed Qi Xia's blood-stained clothes. "You're injured?"
"It's nothing..." Qi Xia shook his head. "This injury is not serious... Are you clear-headed now?"
Xu Liunian's hands trembled as she examined Qi Xia's wounds, only to find the surface had been roughly treated—the entire bloody flesh burned by high heat. Although the bleeding had stopped, the burn marks were very severe.
"You're so badly injured... If we don't find medicine soon..." She choked up. "I almost forgot, there's no way there's medicine here..."
"Yes, this place doesn't have the conditions for us to survive at all." Qi Xia looked into the distance with despair. "Xu Liunian, I don't have much time left. Can you do me one last favor?"
"Y-you say."
"Keep driving forward," Qi Xia said. "I want to escape this place, to see the edge of this city."
Xu Liunian looked at Qi Xia with some sadness, knowing it was almost a miracle that he could stay conscious.
"Alright, I'll take you to the edge of the city. You have to hold on."
She put the car back in gear and shakily restarted the engine.
Qi Xia leaned his head against the car window, watching the scenery receding outside.
He coughed lightly, feeling something in his throat pressing down on his windpipe, making breathing extremely difficult.
As his life entered its final countdown, Qi Xia didn't see his life flash before his eyes, but rather those dilapidated, rapidly receding high-rises.
He remembered that day, he had also gotten into a taxi, rushing without looking back towards another city.
He thought that when he returned to his hometown, he and Yu Nian'an could finally live a good life.
But he never expected...
On the empty streets, Xu Liunian drove very fast. Qi Xia bit his tongue forcefully to keep his consciousness awake.
Before long, his mouth was full of blood. He opened the window and spit out a large mouthful of bloody saliva.
"Are you okay?" Xu Liunian asked anxiously.
"I'm fine." Qi Xia wiped his mouth and said softly, "I feel very good right now. I don't need to worry about 'surviving.' I haven't felt this relaxed in days."
The two sped forward in silence. The car drove for nearly another half hour.
"Hey... Are you still alive?" Xu Liunian slowed down and reached out her right hand to shake Qi Xia. "We've reached the edge of the city. How are you going to escape?"
Qi Xia used all his remaining strength to turn his head and open his eyes, straining to look ahead. A few seconds later, his pupils gradually dilated.
In front of him was a highway toll booth. The sign above was rusted beyond recognition.
Looking down the highway, wide roads stretched out before them.
The roads branched in all directions, endless.
In the very, very far distance, other tall buildings loomed faintly.
"So there is no edge here..." Qi Xia's lips moved slightly, crushed once again by the sight before him.
The words of "Human Sheep" echoed slowly in Qi Xia's ears: "We are grander than 'religions.' We have a world!"
Yes, if this wasn't just a city but a world, how could one escape?
"Where are we going next?"
Xu Liunian turned back to look at Qi Xia, only to find him lying lifelessly in the seat.
His eyes held a trace of confusion, a trace of resentment, a trace of unwillingness. Even in death, he refused to close his eyes.