Chapter 187: Two Paths
Only "Participants" can be annihilated.
Qi Xia understood this meant that "Natives" and "Zodiacs" would not vanish with the Finality.
"But how do you know the 'Natives' haven't been annihilated?" Qi Xia asked. "Are the ones we see... the original ones?"
"I ran an experiment." Chu Tianqiu smiled. "To figure out whether those lunatics would be reborn, I spent ten months running that experiment."
"Ten months...?" Qi Xia frowned, as if realizing something.
"It's a dirty story. You probably don't want to hear it." Chu Tianqiu laughed. "We've gone off track."
"Go on..."
Qi Xia showed a look of disdain. It seemed Chu Tianqiu was even crazier than he had imagined.
"You also know that every time we 'Participants' die, a brand-new version of ourselves appears..." Chu Tianqiu continued, his expression earnest. "So there must be a situation like this... One day, a person named Old A obtained an 'Echo,' but he didn't witness the Finality and died before the tenth day."
"Yes." Qi Xia nodded. "That's a normal scenario."
"Alright, then." Chu Tianqiu extended his left hand into a fist and said, "Suppose this is Old A's corpse."
He then slowly raised his left thumb and said, "This is the 'Echo' Old A once obtained."
Then he raised his other hand, also clenched into a fist. "This is a new Old A."
He raised that thumb as well. "This is the new 'Echo.' Look at this scene—don't you find it strange?"
Qi Xia stared at the two fists with thumbs up in front of him, pondering what Chu Tianqiu was trying to convey.
Before he could figure it out, Chu Tianqiu asked, "Qi Xia, since 'people' can be copied, can 'Echoes' also be copied?"
"You... wait a second..." Qi Xia felt he was being brainwashed by a madman, but fortunately, he cut off the thought quickly and retorted, "There seems to be a flaw in your description."
He pointed at Chu Tianqiu's left hand and said, "If this is Old A's corpse, then when he died, his 'Echo' should have vanished too. This hypothesis of yours doesn't hold up."
"No, no, no..." Chu Tianqiu shook his head. "Qi Xia, your statement is the flaw. The 'Echo' on Old A's corpse simply became 'inaudible,' not 'gone,' understand?"
"Inaudible...?" Qi Xia paused, then said, "What are you trying to illustrate with this example?"
"Let me put it this way..." Chu Tianqiu lowered his hands and said, "I've collected many corpses and am trying to figure out how to extract the 'Echoes' from them. Unfortunately, there's no morgue here, and the bodies rot within a few days, so I haven't succeeded yet."
Qi Xia was stunned by this statement.
"Remember, Qi Xia?" Chu Tianqiu continued. "No matter which 'Zodiac' we ask, the answer is always that they want to create a 'God'—a God as great as Nüwa. So if I could gather everyone's 'Echoes' onto myself, I would become an omnipotent 'God,' and this place would no longer be necessary, because the host would have achieved his goal."
Qi Xia's expression was extremely serious.
He had speculated about Chu Tianqiu's plan many times, but he never expected the other person to be so thoroughly insane that he couldn't be deduced by normal logic.
He was neither collecting three thousand six hundred "Dao" nor breaking all the games.
Instead, he wanted to continuously create corpses so he could research the method of becoming a "God."
That was why he would unhesitatingly sacrifice anyone in his team.
But this time... was Chu Tianqiu telling the truth?
"Once I become that omnipotent 'God,' I can send you all out." Chu Tianqiu smiled. "That's my entire plan. Deal?"
"So you don't want to leave; you just want to become a 'God'?" Qi Xia asked.
"Of course." Chu Tianqiu nodded happily. "What's the point of being human? I have a chance to become an 'Omnipotent Being,' but instead I should return to the real world and grow old and die? Don't be foolish."
Qi Xia slowly straightened up, instinctively distancing himself from Chu Tianqiu, and said, "But given the 'God Paradox,' an 'Omnipotent Being' cannot exist in this world."
"The 'God Paradox' was proposed by humans." Chu Tianqiu said. "After all, humans can't comprehend an 'Omnipotent Being.' They stand from their narrow perspective and scoff at the self-contradictions of an 'Omnipotent Being,' but why should an 'Omnipotent Being' prove itself to humans? And why would it answer their questions?"
Qi Xia took a deep breath. At that moment, only one thought occupied his mind—he had to race against time.
Otherwise, he would eventually become a madman like Chu Tianqiu.
Both Chu Tianqiu and Lin Qin appeared normal on the surface, but deep down, they harbored extremely insane thoughts.
Lin Qin for seven years, Chu Tianqiu for two.
Day after day, they woke up in the "Land of Finality," gradually shedding their humanity, morality, and laws as human beings.
So, was it ultimately good or bad to retain memories for so long?
After a long silence, Qi Xia slowly asked, "Chu Tianqiu, what does 'I Never Left' mean?"
Chu Tianqiu smiled again.
"Qi Xia, I believe I am someone who has existed since the inception of the 'Land of Finality.'"
"Oh...?"
"I'm not sure how many times I've lost my memories, but I've definitely been here for a long time..." Chu Tianqiu laughed bitterly. "My handwriting can be found everywhere here. The oldest ones look years old. I seem to have investigated something back then, and now I can only find traces of the investigation results left in the 'Land of Finality,' but I can no longer recall why I investigated."
"Investigated?" Qi Xia knew that if Chu Tianqiu's trigger for "Echo" truly was "witnessing the Finality," then investigating alone would be extremely dangerous for him. "So what were the results of your investigation?"
"I once wrote a sentence with my own hand: 'I must make Qi Xia obtain an Echo.'" Chu Tianqiu smiled. "I wonder if you are the stepping stone on my path to becoming a God?"
"A stepping stone, huh?" Qi Xia also smiled and asked, "Chu Tianqiu, is your cooperation with me just to create corpses?"
"No..." Chu Tianqiu shook his head. "It's not that simple. We can work on both fronts. Right now, through 'selling food,' 'Heaven's Gate' has already collected two thousand nine hundred 'Dao.' You 'gather Dao,' and I 'become God.' No matter what we do next, we increase the chances of getting out. I've said it before—in this place, only you and I are qualified to survive and to walk out."