Chapter 154: The Irritable Man
"What did you say...?" Qi Xia slowly stood up, looking extremely agitated. "Don't talk nonsense to me... Other people's lingering thoughts are just distractions, but my Yu Nian is my everything...!"
"Hey... Liarman, calm down..." Qiao Jiajin reached out and tugged at Qi Xia. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"
Lin Qin also noticed this. Qi Xia was acting strange.
He wasn't emotionally stable.
His mental state was perpetually painful, oppressed, and anxious.
"My wife's name is Yu Nian'an," Qi Xia said to Aunt Tong. "When I went home this time, she had disappeared."
Aunt Tong thought for a moment after hearing this, then asked, "Child, what do you mean by 'disappeared'?"
"All traces of her existence have been erased," Qi Xia said. "This method really resembles that perverted 'Mother God' you mentioned. If you can sense her, can you let me speak with her directly? There are many things I want to ask her."
Aunt Tong gently shook her head. "Child, as pitiful as your situation is, even I cannot converse with the 'Mother God', so how could I help you establish a connection? Besides... this is the first time I've heard of 'traces of existence being erased'."
"What...?" Qi Xia frowned.
"Generally speaking, when an 'Echo user' returns to the day before their death, it is a very clear 'divine gift'. They can enjoy a day of divine experience with the power of the 'Mother God', but I didn't expect you to feel pain." Aunt Tong gave Qi Xia a meaningful look. "Child, you also have memories, which means you also received the 'divine gift'. So then, could it be that you yourself erased your wife's traces of existence...?"
Qi Xia was about to say something, but slowly widened his eyes.
The amount of information in these words was too great, leaving Qi Xia momentarily unable to react.
So the 'Echo' wasn't just a unique ability of the 'Land of the End'?
They could even bring the 'Echo' back to the real world and spend a day there?
But that still couldn't explain why Yu Nian'an had disappeared.
"Even if my 'Echo' really is 'erasing a person', how could I possibly erase my wife? I still can't believe my wife is gone!" Qi Xia said through gritted teeth. "I would never, ever eliminate my 'Yu Nian'."
"Then could there be another possibility..." Aunt Tong looked up and stared at Qi Xia, her eyes especially deep. "Child, is it possible that you never had a wife at all?"
"You!" Qi Xia instantly became furious. "What nonsense are you talking? Whether or not I have a wife, can't I even tell that myself? What gives you the right to say she doesn't exist?!"
Lin Qin and Qiao Jiajin quickly stood up and pulled Qi Xia back.
"Qi Xia... you..." Lin Qin had something to say but couldn't get it out.
He was really strange.
When normal people mention their wives, they are mostly proud, nostalgic, and longing.
But very few people are like Qi Xia.
Whenever the name 'Yu Nian'an' was mentioned, it almost instantly made him sensitive, fragile, and irritable.
The two of them pulled Qi Xia to sit down and noticed that he was trembling slightly.
Aunt Tong stared at Qi Xia and thought for a moment, then said, "Child, what about asking other people?"
"Ask others?" Qi Xia was taken aback.
"When you return to the real world, ask the mutual friends of you and your wife." Aunt Tong picked up her teacup and took a gentle sip. "If they also remember your wife, it means her disappearance was indeed tampered with by someone, either the 'Mother God' or the 'Echo'. But if they don't remember your wife, then it can only mean..."
"Stop it!" Qi Xia interrupted. "I'll naturally go back and find out."
Even as he said this, he couldn't recall having any 'mutual friends' with Yu Nian'an.
Did Yu Nian'an... have friends?
"No..." Qi Xia's lips twitched slightly, and an even more eerie thought began to circle in his mind. "Do I... have friends?"
Aunt Tong ignored this small incident, said a few more words about the greatness of the 'Mother God', and then announced the end of the class.
As everyone slowly left the classroom, Qi Xia still sat in place without moving.
"Qi Xia... are you okay?" Lin Qin gently patted him.
Qi Xia turned his head back. "I'm... fine, just many things I can't figure out."
"What's there to be afraid of?" Han Yimo suddenly interjected. "Isn't there an omniscient aunt here?"
Qi Xia sighed and asked, "Han Yimo, do you really believe what that aunt said?"
"How should I put it..." Han Yimo stroked his chin and thought for a moment. "Qi Xia, generally, in a situation like ours... I mean suddenly arriving in a place like another world, there's always a 'senior' to guide and lead. As long as we follow what the senior says, we should get a good ending in the end. I think that aunt is playing that role."
If Qi Xia guessed correctly, Han Yimo was trying to explain the current phenomenon using tropes from novels.
"You died early last time, so you might not know..." Qi Xia shook his head. "We wandered in the 'Land of the End' for four days without any guides or leaders. Not just us, even the 'Zodiacs' here were the same. They were always groping their way forward. Everyone was risking their lives in complete confusion. That's what I think is the most terrifying part."
"Ah...?" Han Yimo paused for a moment, then started thinking again. He muttered to himself, "Then could it be because I am the 'protagonist'...?"
"What?"
"Last time, because 'I' didn't appear, you didn't get any guidance..." Han Yimo organized his words, trying to make his point easier to understand. "I mean, this time the 'protagonist' has appeared, so the 'guidance' has come along with them."
Qi Xia shook his head and stood up without a word.
He had never known that a writer's thoughts could be so bizarre.
"Han Yimo, although I don't know much about this place, I do know that most of what that aunt said is fake. I suggest you don't follow in her footsteps, or you'll go crazy."
After saying that, he slowly walked out of the classroom.
The three of them exchanged glances and followed him out.
Now it was almost evening, and the first day was about to end.
The good news was that Qi Xia had learned a lot of information that he hadn't gotten last time, bringing him one step closer to the elusive 'escape'.
The bad news was that he had lost three teammates in one day: Tian Tian, Officer Li, and Lawyer Zhang.
When the four of them returned to the classroom, Doctor Zhao was sitting inside eating a canned meal. Xiao Ran was nowhere to be seen.
When he saw Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin, a hint of embarrassment appeared on his face, but he didn't greet them.
Han Yimo and Lin Qin didn't understand what was going on, so they could only find a place to sit down.
Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin fetched food for the two of them, and the four of them sat together in a circle.
After a short while, Yun Yao entered from outside. She looked around the room and said, "Qi Xia... although it's a bit presumptuous to say this... but there's a 'welcome party' tonight. Do you want to attend?"