Chapter 474: Where is Reality
After hearing this, Zhang Chenze slowly furrowed her brow. Chu Tianqiu's answer was more or less the same as Yun Yao's earlier speculation, but she simply couldn't determine its truth or falsehood.
"It's hard for me to believe..." Zhang Chenze sighed. "I'm sorry, although I don't want to say this, given your performance... it's hard for me to believe what you're saying."
"Yes." Chu Tianqiu nodded. "Even I can't believe it myself."
His face gradually lost all expression, making everything even more unfathomable.
"I can't believe it myself—that after learning so many memories, I would go insane in such a short time." Chu Tianqiu extended a pale finger, pointing outside the door. "The very meaning of 'Heaven's Mouth' is to give these 'Echoers' a home where they can belong. Yet overnight, I came to regard their lives as worthless... To me now, none of these people would be a pity to lose."
Zhang Chenze listened and tried to put herself in Chu Tianqiu's shoes. It didn't seem like such an incomprehensible thing.
"Then... what about Xu Liunian?" Zhang Chenze asked again. "I heard that this girl once became an aborigine... but then turned back into a participant... Do you have any clue about this matter?"
When Chu Tianqiu heard the name "Xu Liunian," he slowly raised his eyes, gave Zhang Chenze a very cold, sharp look, and then revealed a slightly manic smile.
"Xu Liunian's matter is far too complicated..." Chu Tianqiu laughed. "I can reveal everything about myself to you, but if I dared to disclose Xu Liunian's identity... I would be erased from this world."
"Oh...?" Zhang Chenze felt she had caught onto something important from Chu Tianqiu's words. "So you're saying... Xu Liunian's identity is very special, and even you dare not judge it?"
"That's right." Chu Tianqiu nodded. "There's very little I can share with you. All I can say is... Xu Liunian and I are in a cooperative relationship."
"Cooperation...?"
"Indeed. Xu Liunian's identity gives her a special nature... She belongs neither to the 'Participants' here nor to the 'Managers' here... She is a 'Third Party Force.'"
Zhang Chenze felt that what Chu Tianqiu was saying was becoming increasingly incomprehensible. She could only shake her head and pick a question she could actually understand to ask.
"Then how did she turn back into a 'Participant'?"
"This..." Chu Tianqiu said. "To be precise, Xu Liunian did not turn back into a 'Participant.' She is now a complete 'Free Person.' But you must also understand... in the entire 'End Land,' perhaps only Xu Liunian can receive this honor. No one else can."
"Because she is a 'Third Party Force'...?"
"Yes."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chenze's eyes slowly widened. "So... does that mean no one here can ever turn back from being an 'Aborigine' to a 'Participant'?"
"Yes." Chu Tianqiu nodded. "I can't think of any way to reclaim those people's sanity from Zhuque... and Zhuque would never agree to such an absurd thing."
"I see... is that so?"
"Let me tell you one more thing." Chu Tianqiu continued. "Xu Liunian becoming an 'Aborigine' was also one of the strategies we discussed."
Zhang Chenze's eyes, which had just dimmed with disappointment, suddenly lit up again at these words. "What...?"
"It was only recently that I recalled the full story of this matter." Chu Tianqiu said. "It's precisely because all the other 'paths' had been tried, but the path of becoming an 'Aborigine' had never been tested... After much deliberation, only Xu Liunian was suited for this task."
"Ah...?"
"Back then, during the Dema Racing Car game, I deliberately gave the wrong answer, causing Xu Liunian to die tragically in that car. From that moment on, she lived in the 'End Land' as an aborigine, waiting only for the day we might meet again."
"This is too crazy..." Zhang Chenze said. "You didn't even know if the two of you would ever meet again..."
"No, it's not crazy." Chu Tianqiu shook his head. "Everyone overlooks one thing... Escaping from here is not a plan that can be completed within ten days. We need to set our sights farther—one year, three years, ten years. I also knew clearly that there would come a year when I could meet Xu Liunian, and then she could tell me the full experience of becoming an 'Aborigine.'"
Zhang Chenze fell completely silent after hearing this. She clearly understood that there was still a considerable gap between herself and people like Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu.
"Since becoming a 'Heaven' can't get you out... then becoming an 'Aborigine'... wouldn't that allow you to feel the will of the End even more deeply?" The more Chu Tianqiu spoke, the more manic he became, and even his expression twisted. "Everything turned out exactly as I thought! How utterly despairing! Xu Liunian believed that during her two years as an 'Aborigine,' she had returned to a normal life... everything she saw with her own eyes appeared normal!"
Hearing Chu Tianqiu's words, Zhang Chenze slowly stood up. She felt that the person before her was somewhat dangerous.
"How utterly despairing!" Before Zhang Chenze could step back, Chu Tianqiu immediately stepped forward and grabbed her arm. "We can return to the real world every ten days... but how can we be sure that is the real world?!"
"Calm down, calm down..." Zhang Chenze tried to break free from Chu Tianqiu's grip, but found his strength far greater than hers. "I understand what you mean, but don't get agitated."
"How could any 'real world' remain frozen on a single day, waiting for us to return?! What if we have never actually left?!" Chu Tianqiu continued shouting. "What if it's all a deception?! What if, on the tenth day, we all become mindless aborigines together, all become madmen, and then we believe we have escaped?!"
"Chu, Chu Tianqiu... you..."
"How utterly despairing!" Chu Tianqiu's hands trembled as he gripped Zhang Chenze's arm, looking utterly hopeless. "How utterly absurd!"
"Don't lose your reason..." Zhang Chenze said in a low voice. "Don't you still have your own path to walk?"
Chu Tianqiu paused, then abruptly released Zhang Chenze's hand. He took two steps back, his entire expression gradually vanishing.
Zhang Chenze also collided with the wall behind her as the tension released.
Chu Tianqiu let out a cold laugh with a look of utter despair on his face, then said in a low voice, "None of you should bother with me anymore... Let me walk my own path. I won't get in the way of any of you."
Zhang Chenze rubbed her wrist and swallowed. "But your current state is really not right..."
"I have to erase the memories of everyone in 'Heaven's Mouth.'" Chu Tianqiu said in a low voice. "This place no longer needs to exist. They don't need to hold on to hope either. If everyone knew the true face of this place... they would all go mad, they would all become 'Aborigines.' If there must be resentment... let them resent me alone. That is enough."
Zhang Chenze could clearly feel an overwhelming sorrow emanating from Chu Tianqiu, yet she had no idea how to console him. The things the two of them were pursuing were far too different.
"Yun Yao is gone too... I have no more attachments." Chu Tianqiu walked over to Zhang Chenze, reached out, and pulled open the door. "Take good care of Qiao Yun for me."