Chapter 223: Who’s at the Door?
Qi Xia frowned and slowly sat up, reaching out to gently touch Yu Nian’an’s face. “An, are you feeling unwell?”
Yu Nian’an still didn’t answer. After a moment of thought, she spoke again: “Knock, knock, knock.”
Though a thousand questions raced through his mind, Qi Xia tentatively asked, “Who’s at the door?”
But this time, Yu Nian’an didn’t say, “So Qi Xia is home.” Instead, she stared straight into his eyes and enunciated slowly, word by word: “The one at the door is not me.”
“What…?” Qi Xia felt utterly bewildered. “An, are you… sleepwalking?”
Yu Nian’an no longer looked at him. She slowly lay back down, closed her eyes, as if nothing had happened.
After a moment, her breathing steadied, as though she had fallen asleep again.
Qi Xia, somewhat worried, gently patted Yu Nian’an’s back, trying to make her feel more secure.
Maybe he had been away from home too much lately, and Yu Nian’an was just too tired.
“Don’t worry, An. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay right here with you.” Qi Xia slowly wrapped his arms around her.
…
“Knock, knock, knock.”
Qi Xia jolted awake, realizing Yu Nian’an was sitting up beside him again.
Outside the window, it was still pitch black. In the dim light, all he could see were her glistening eyes.
“An… you…”
Qi Xia slowly sat up, a sense of unease creeping over him.
“Knock, knock, knock,” Yu Nian’an said.
Qi Xia stared into her eyes and noticed what seemed to be tears in them.
“What’s going on?”
He wanted to understand what was driving her to do this.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
But Yu Nian’an seemed only capable of uttering that one sentence.
Qi Xia fell silent for a long time before finally asking, “Who’s… who’s at the door?”
“Xia, the one at the door is not me.”
Qi Xia clearly saw a tear form in the corner of Yu Nian’an’s eye.
It glimmered faintly in the darkness, tracing a path down her cheek before falling.
After saying this, Yu Nian’an closed her eyes and slowly lay back down.
She fell asleep again.
But Qi Xia found it impossible to sleep.
In the seven years they had been together, Yu Nian’an had never once cried.
He had sworn that never in his life would he let Yu Nian’an’s tears fall to the ground.
But this time, he had broken his promise.
Yu Nian’an looked truly heartbroken. Her eyes were like knives, carving despair deep into her heart.
A stench of decay began to spread through the room, making Qi Xia feel as though none of this was real.
This was a smell he only encountered in the “Land of the End.” Why would it appear in reality?
The darkness around him was too thick.
Qi Xia couldn’t tell whether this was reality or the “Land of the End.” He could only slowly hold Yu Nian’an close, trying to calm his own racing heart.
Time ticked by, minute after minute. About an hour later, Qi Xia felt Yu Nian’an stir.
He gently loosened his embrace and watched as she sat up.
Her eyes were open. She turned her head to look in Qi Xia’s direction.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
Qi Xia slowly sat up as well. A terrible suspicion began to take root in his mind.
If everything was as he feared, this would be the most horrifying thing he had ever encountered in his life.
“Who’s at the door?” Qi Xia asked, his voice trembling.
Yu Nian’an paused, then said in a low voice, “The, one, at, the, door, is, not, me.”
After saying this, Yu Nian’an wept in silent agony.
And at that moment, Qi Xia’s composure completely crumbled.
Watching Yu Nian’an lie down and fall asleep again, tears streamed uncontrollably from Qi Xia’s eyes.
So that’s how it is…?
She was in pain, but she couldn’t resist.
She knew that the one saying “knock, knock, knock” was not Yu Nian’an. She knew she was not herself.
Yu Nian’an shouldn’t exist, yet here she was, lying beside him.
Why was she here?
What had caused her to appear?
“What exactly is my ‘Echo’…?”
Qi Xia curled up, clutching his own hair tightly in the darkness.
His entire faith and resolve felt like a collapsing building, cracking and crumbling from its foundation.
How had Yu Nian’an known exactly what dish he would guess today?
How had she managed to make it taste exactly as he had imagined?
How were her memories of those seven years completely identical to his own?
Why did she carry the distinctive smell of the “Land of the End”?
Wasn’t it obvious now…?
Qi Xia was trembling all over.
The Yu Nian’an before him was neither real nor fake.
She was a creation of his own.
Born from his “Echo” and his “conviction,” it was only natural that her thoughts would perfectly align with his.
Qi Xia’s trembling grew more intense. He began to doubt everything.
If the Yu Nian’an before him was created…
Then where was the real Yu Nian’an?
“No… that’s not right…”
The question seemed to circle back to the beginning… Did Yu Nian’an even exist?
If she didn’t exist, where had those seven years of memories come from?
Qi Xia had even risked his life to scam a despicable man for Yu Nian’an’s sake. Was all of that just a figment of his imagination?!
“Don’t be ridiculous…” Qi Xia shook his head.
He knew he had definitely lived with Yu Nian’an. Those memories were too real—real enough to be etched into his bones.
No one in this world lives for someone else.
But Qi Xia was different. He had always felt like he was living for Yu Nian’an.
If Yu Nian’an didn’t exist in this world, where would his conviction come from?
Those seven years of life…
At that moment, Lin Qin’s voice echoed once more in Qi Xia’s ears: “Qi Xia, I haven’t heard of anyone by your name in the ‘Land of the End’ for at least seven years.”
Qi Xia furrowed his brow. His thoughts were beginning to clear.
For seven years, he had never once stepped out of that interview room.
Could it be… that he hadn’t even been in that room at the time?
That would explain why he hadn’t led anyone to escape. That’s why no one in the “Land of the End” had ever seen him, nor had they seen Qiao Jiayin or Officer Li.
“I… was with Yu Nian’an back then…?”
This bold thought surfaced in Qi Xia’s mind.
He knew there was no way he had only entered the “Land of the End” for three cycles. He must have been there much earlier.
From his previous conversations with Suzaku and Baihu, he understood that the person he used to be had turned the “Land of the End” upside down. He might even have escaped.
He had escaped back to the real world, but the others in his room had not.
Then he met Yu Nian’an, and they spent seven years together in reality.
But after those seven years, something had happened to drag him back to this cursed place, forcing everything to start over.
“It all makes too much sense…” Qi Xia murmured.
Unless someone had preserved memories for more than seven years, there was no way they could know what Qi Xia had done before.
Qi Xia felt as though he had found a strange tipping point between madness and reason…
It was as if he needed only one more straw to plunge into utter insanity.