Chapter 343: Jade
Qian Wu stared at Officer Li and gave a faint smile. "It's getting late. Time to rest."
"And you..." Qi Xia stopped her. "Have you already determined my 'attitude'?"
"Is there even a need to determine it?" Qian Wu shook her head. "Haven't you always been like this?"
She turned decisively, pushed open the door, and left, with Zhou Liu following closely behind. The remaining few stood there dumbfounded.
"Everyone, please follow me..." Song Qi said to the group. "I'll take you to your rooms. I should mention beforehand that all of our 'Cat' rooms are single-person cells. I hope you don't mind."
Officer Li smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I never thought I'd be sleeping in a prison cell one day."
...
The group followed Song Qi to their respective cells. Zheng Yingxiong insisted on staying with Qi Xia.
As Song Qi was about to leave, Qi Xia stopped him. He was a bit worried about Chen Junnan.
Earlier that morning, Chen Junnan had confidently set off alone to participate in Earth Snake's game. By now, it should be over.
"Song Qi, can you go back to 'Heaven's Mouth' and gather some information for me?" Qi Xia asked. "I want to know if Chen Junnan has returned."
"Chen Junnan...?" Song Qi nodded. "Got it. I'll go and be right back."
After everyone else had left, Qi Xia turned to look at Zheng Yingxiong.
This strange kid always gave him a strong sense of incongruity.
"Yingxiong," Qi Xia called.
"What is it, Commoner?" Yingxiong replied.
Qi Xia sighed helplessly upon hearing this. "What is your 'Echo'?"
"'Echo'...?" Zheng Yingxiong seemed to process the meaning of the word, then twitched his nose, took a few sniffs, and answered, "I'm 'Spiritual Scent.'"
"'Spiritual Scent'...?" Qi Xia had never heard of such a strange 'Echo.' "So when you said before that you could smell the stench of the 'Zodiacs' and the scent of 'Echoes,' it's because of this 'Spiritual Scent'?"
"That's right." Yingxiong nodded emphatically. "That's why I'm different from all of you. I'm destined to be a lonely 'hero.'"
Qi Xia felt like something was off. "Then aren't you just like the 'Display' and the 'Great Bell'? Except you 'smell'..."
"Not the same!!" Zheng Yingxiong said with a resolute expression. "I'm way more powerful than that 'Display'!"
"Oh?" Qi Xia raised an eyebrow, slowly sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Then tell me, how are you stronger than it?"
"I can capture scents that are barely perceptible, but the Display can't!" Zheng Yingxiong said, almost bragging. "That dull Display only lights up based on the 'Bell's sound' to show 'Echoes.' If someone's 'Echo' is activated very subtly, it won't trigger the bell at all, and the Display won't light up."
"Oh...?" Qi Xia felt like he had stumbled onto a clue. "So you're saying that if a person's 'Echo' is activated gently, the 'Bell' won't 'ring'?"
"There's another situation too!" Zheng Yingxiong's childish voice echoed in the small cell. "It's when a person can use their 'Echo' with great skill. They can activate it quickly and end the 'Echo' before the 'Bell' has a chance to ring."
Qi Xia slowly raised his eyebrows, feeling that this trip to the 'Cat' had really taught him a lot.
So it was true, just as Lin Qin had said—the 'Bell's sound' could be controlled?
"You know how the bell is constructed, right?"
"Of course I do," Qi Xia said.
"As long as you've looked up at the Great Bell from underneath, you'd know why some people can avoid triggering its sound."
Qi Xia thought for a moment, then looked up and asked, "You mean that if the 'Echo' is activated fast enough, the pendulum inside the Great Bell won't have time to strike the bell wall, so the Great Bell won't ring?"
"That's exactly it." Zheng Yingxiong nodded vigorously.
Although Qi Xia understood what Zheng Yingxiong meant, another question arose in his mind.
If that were the case, the Great Bell had an obvious flaw. So why did the 'Land of Endings' build this bell in the first place?
Since they could construct the Great Bell, why didn't they make it more perfect?
"Commoner, the smell on you is strange," Zheng Yingxiong asked. "Aren't you a 'Fragrant One'?"
"'Fragrant One'...?"
"I-I mean an 'Echo user'..."
Qi Xia frowned. "What, is there something different about my smell compared to others?"
"Normally, ability users have a fresh fragrance, but the smell on you is strange... it seems to be somewhere between a 'Zodiac' and an 'Echo user.'"
"Is that so?"
Qi Xia lifted his arm, brought it close to his nose, and sniffed gently. He found that he didn't seem to have any particular smell.
After all, only Yingxiong could sense this scent.
"Yingxiong, how did you join 'Heaven's Mouth'?" Qi Xia changed the subject.
"Me?" Zheng Yingxiong pulled the newspaper short sword from his waist, held it up to his eyes, and carefully wiped it. Then he turned back to Qi Xia and said, "A very strong commoner invited me in."
"So this is your first time joining 'Heaven's Mouth'?"
"Yes. I didn't even know this place was called 'Heaven's Mouth.'"
"I'm curious," Qi Xia asked. "Where were you before this? Did you retain your memories?"
Upon hearing this, Zheng Yingxiong tucked the newspaper short sword back into his waistband and then spoke, "To be honest, Commoner. I come from another city."
"Another city?"
"That's right. Our city has fallen ill—it's sunk into decay." Zheng Yingxiong looked up at Qi Xia with a blank expression. "I didn't expect that there were still so many active people here."
Qi Xia recalled earlier when he had taken Xu Liunian's taxi and traveled to the edge of the city. There, he had seen towering buildings and roads stretching in all directions.
But even this small city in front of him was already driving him to frustration.
How vast was this place? What lay outside the city? Where was the edge?
Where were the Zodiacs distributed? And how many participants were there?
"Sunk into decay...?" Qi Xia looked at the child with some suspicion, feeling that his identity was not simple.
"Even though I'm a 'hero,' I couldn't rally the entire city's people. Everyone can only keep reincarnating between life and death."
Zheng Yingxiong kept showing a look of disappointment, which made Qi Xia feel as if he were the leader of an entire city.
"But it's strange..." Zheng Yingxiong blinked and said, "You mentioned earlier that you need to collect 'Dao.' What is 'Dao'?"
This question stumped Qi Xia. He felt that someone had asked him this before, but that person clearly had no connection to Zheng Yingxiong.
After all, that person was White Tiger, the strange, withered old man who had also looked at Qi Xia with a puzzled expression and asked, "What is 'Dao'?"
"Yingxiong, in your city, don't people need to collect 'Dao'?"
"I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing. What is this 'Dao' used for?"
Qi Xia thought for a moment and said, "It's the currency for participating in the games."
Zheng Yingxiong listened, thought for a moment, and then pulled a small handful of emerald-green stones from his pocket.
He laid the small stones flat on his palm and extended them toward Qi Xia.
"We use these for the games." Zheng Yingxiong asked with a puzzled expression. "Don't you use 'Jade'?"