Chapter 344: The Lonely Hero
Qi Xia held those emerald green little stones in his palm, examining them closely over and over again. He always felt something was off.
Their shapes and sizes were very much like teeth. These emerald green stones varied in size, with edges and corners, yet they were completely translucent, emitting a faint green glow. By the texture, they were clearly pieces of jade.
"Jade?"
Qi Xia paused and asked, "So you're saying you need to collect three thousand six hundred of these things called 'Jade'?"
"Three thousand six hundred...?" Upon hearing this number, the resolute expression on Zheng Yingxiong's face faded a little, replaced instead by a bitter smile that didn't suit a child. "If it were really that few... how could all of them have fallen into depravity?"
Qi Xia clearly hadn't expected that not only did the two cities require different items to collect, but the required quantities were also different.
"Then how many of these things you call 'Jade'... do you need to collect?"
"For the commoners, the judge in our room told us that if we want to escape, we need to collect fifty-seven thousand six hundred of these things called 'Jade.'"
"How many...?"
Qi Xia was stunned, feeling like he must have misheard.
What was with this bizarre, oddly specific number?
It didn't seem made up, but why did they need so many?
"We've already lost hope," Zheng Yingxiong said. "I know that my city has lost any chance of escape. To find a way to break the curse, after waking up this time, I found a bicycle and started moving toward the edge of the city. It took a great deal of effort to reach this place."
Zheng Yingxiong looked out through the small barred window of the prison cell, his eyes filled with a mix of melancholy and absent-mindedness.
"This city is very different from where I was before. You have a display screen here that can show you the power of the Awakened. The ability we used to call 'Fragrance' is called 'Echo' here."
"Wait, wait a minute." Qi Xia felt like his train of thought was blocked again. "Did I hear you correctly? You're saying that the display screen only exists here in our city?"
"I don't know about other cities," Zheng Yingxiong said. "Anyway, I never saw it in my city."
"So you never know whether or not you actually have an 'Echo'..." Qi Xia slowly narrowed his eyes.
If he wasn't mistaken, this was the reason his city had fallen into depravity.
"Yes..." Zheng Yingxiong slowly lowered his head. "As I said, as the 'Hero' of a city... I am powerless."
Qi Xia stroked his chin and thought for a moment, feeling like he had pieced together a few clues.
This 'Giant Bell' and 'Display Screen' were not special products of the 'Land of the End' at all. They had been a bit presumptuous. Since they saw the 'Giant Bell' and 'Display Screen' the moment they entered, they easily assumed that these things appeared together with the 'Land of the End.'
Since the venue here didn't change, only the people did, was it possible that this 'Giant Bell' and 'Display Screen' were built by some 'Participant'?
This person's purpose in building these things was simple: to show everyone the existence of 'Echo.' As long as this supernatural ability could be captured, then the people here would gradually discover the rules of survival in the 'Land of the End.'
The participants would also discover through countless deaths that as long as they obtained an 'Echo,' they could retain their memories.
This 'Giant Bell' and 'Display Screen' would be their best reference points.
Though the conjecture was very bold, the direction should be correct.
If he wasn't mistaken, the person who built the Giant Bell and Display Screen had the 'Echo' of 'Hearing Echoes.' More precisely, the name of this ability might be 'Ling Wen.'
The 'Giant Bell' and 'Display Screen' were simply a concrete and amplified manifestation of this 'Ling Wen' ability user's power, allowing everyone in the city to see it.
Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brows, feeling a sense of deep respect for this person.
If he hadn't thought of this method and maximized the use of his ability, this city wouldn't have survived to this day.
Due to the peculiarities of the 'Land of the End,' those who couldn't 'Echo' couldn't retain their memories. And this crucial 'Echo' was an invisible, intangible mystery to the people in Zheng Yingxiong's city.
Even if someone was lucky enough to retain their memory after death, it would be difficult for them to deduce the reason for their memory retention, let alone infer what special ability they possessed from the name of the 'Echo.'
This was probably why Zheng Yingxiong was called the 'Hero.'
From this perspective, he indeed held a pivotal position in the neighboring city. He could discern whether someone had 'Echoed' and judge whether that person could retain their memories. Over time, he developed the habit of blurting out others' abilities.
But if their city was similar to Qi Xia's, with about ten thousand people each, how could all ten thousand rely solely on Zheng Yingxiong?
Qi Xia knew this boy might not be lying. He was most likely the 'Leader' of another city... or, to be more pessimistic, he might just be that city's 'Mascot.'
Everyone revered him as a 'Hero,' not because he was powerful, but simply because he could smell 'Echoes.'
Zheng Yingxiong looked at Qi Xia and said, "Though being a hero is hard, I will protect you, commoner."
Qi Xia nodded thoughtfully and didn't continue to argue with Zheng Yingxiong.
This child's 'Echo' seemed very easy to trigger. He had retained too many memories and now didn't act like a child at all, but rather like an immature madman.
Unfortunately, he had experienced all this when his mind wasn't fully developed. To return him to normal now, besides making him lose his memory, there was no other way.
"It's still early. Let's rest for a while."
Qi Xia stood up from the bed, walked to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
"You can have the bed. I'll just sit here."
Qi Xia waved at Zheng Yingxiong. Zheng Yingxiong looked at him, didn't stand on ceremony, and plopped down on the bed.
"Alright, commoner. I'll take a nap then."
Zheng Yingxiong carefully took off the bedsheet cape from his back, folded it neatly a few times, and placed it at the head of the bed as a pillow.
Then he took off his newspaper crown and newspaper dagger and set them on the table.
Qi Xia sighed and leaned back in his chair.
It had to be said, the prison cell was more suitable for living than the classroom. However, getting out of each room here required walking a considerable distance.
After daybreak tomorrow, he would need to use Nineteenth's ability again to have a good talk with Qian Wu.
But Qi Xia felt he was taking too big a risk.
With his current ability and situation, could he really meet Tianlong on the tenth day of this cycle?
Qi Xia felt like his direction was once again lost. After all, there were too many things he hadn't figured out.
But here, besides Tianlong, who else could answer the question about Yu Nian'an?