Chapter 527: Why Does It Exist
"Ah...?" Chen Junnan was momentarily stunned, but quickly came back to himself. "Old Qi, what are you talking about? That's not what you used to say."
"Used to...?" Qi Xia turned his head back and looked coldly at Chen Junnan. "Then what was my reason for wanting to escape before?"
"You..." Chen Junnan thought carefully for a moment. "If I remember correctly... you said you wanted to lead the people who followed you out. You said that since others had given you their true hearts, you couldn't let them be deceived."
"Ha..." Qi Xia grinned, his eyelids slightly drooping. "But now I feel so empty... Everyone places their hopes on me, but where are my hopes?"
"What's suddenly gotten into you?" Chen Junnan felt that Qi Xia had been influenced by Wei Yang—ever since meeting that middle-aged man, he had suddenly become somewhat abnormal. "Old Qi, listen to me first... That liar doesn't speak a single truthful word. If you only listen to him, you'll fall into his trap sooner or later."
Chen Junnan did his best to comfort Qi Xia, but he never expected Qi Xia's thoughts to be deeper than his own. Qi Xia had long considered countless possibilities, and besides, Wei Yang's tricks could never shake his composure.
"Wei Yang didn't lie about at least one thing..." Qi Xia turned back to the two of them and said, "Even if I were a master's graduate in psychology, I couldn't possibly have memorized the 'Leiden Forest Effect,' because that's not my field of study. That means it's not knowledge I learned in the real world, but somewhere else..."
"Ah?" Chen Junnan was also slightly taken aback. "You mean..."
"Have you two ever felt that way?" Qi Xia felt another sharp pain in his head. He reached up and grabbed his hair, his expression growing pained. "Some strange memories, strange dreams, just drift into your mind—memories and dreams that seem to have happened before, but you have no idea where."
Chen Junnan frowned slowly as he listened. He didn't have a deep sense of this feeling; only someone who had lost their memory many times could truly understand it.
"Besides those memories and dreams..." Qi Xia closed his eyes, patiently waiting for the headache to pass, "there's also our brains and bodies... We are stronger than we think we are... Have you ever felt that?"
"I have..." Qiao Jiajin said. "Liar boy, to be honest, I feel like in the real world... I wasn't as strong as I am now."
Qi Xia turned his head to look at Qiao Jiajin, knowing that his guess was probably not far off.
"My body seems stronger than I remember..." Qiao Jiajin stretched out a hand and made a fist, but quickly laughed again. "But this time is an exception... I changed bodies this time."
Chen Junnan frowned deeper as he listened to their exchange, feeling like he was starting to understand.
"You mean... the 'experience' we gain... is real 'experience'?" he asked tentatively. "Some things can be retained through each cycle?"
"Rather than 'experience,' it's more like 'subconscious,'" Qi Xia explained. "Everything I mentioned... is determined by our subconscious... If we can engrave something deeply into our bones and minds, it might very well be preserved in the days to come, becoming our true 'flesh and blood.'"
The two of them widened their eyes. What Qi Xia was saying sounded fantastical, but upon careful thought, there didn't seem to be any flaws.
"I probably discovered this problem a long time ago..." Qi Xia felt the pain in his head easing slightly, and his expression relaxed a bit. "So I used my professional knowledge... to keep brainwashing and hypnotizing myself. I was fabricating memories for myself... such as... for example, 'swindler' and whatnot..."
When Chen Junnan heard Qi Xia finally utter the word "swindler," he shook his head helplessly and held his tongue for a long time before saying one sentence: "Old Qi... you should admit it now, shouldn't you?"
"Admit what...?" Qi Xia asked coldly.
"Seven years ago... you never mentioned having a 'wife,'" Chen Junnan said with a somewhat sorrowful expression. "If 'swindler' was something you made up yourself... then what about her?"
"She... she is..." The headache that had just subsided suddenly erupted again, nearly sending Qi Xia to his knees. "She... she is real..."
When Qi Xia said the words "she is real," not only did a sharp pain shoot through his brain, but it also felt as if his innermost heart had been brutally torn apart.
She is real?
Where is the proof?
This whole thing is just too ridiculous.
If there was no one outside waiting for him, if the real world was as lonely as this place, then why had he been laying a "road" spanning decades?
For the sake of all the unfamiliar participants in the "End of Eternity," he had repeatedly taken desperate risks, staking his life hundreds or even thousands of times over?
Where exactly was the driving force behind his progress?
Yu Nian'an...
Qi Xia felt his brain and heart being torn apart simultaneously. His vision went black, and he collapsed straight to the ground.
"Hey!!"
Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin had never expected that Qi Xia's headache could be severe enough to knock him unconscious. They quickly rushed over to check on him.
They turned him over and saw that Qi Xia was still frowning tightly, veins faintly throbbing on his forehead, his face drenched in cold sweat.
"Ah, shit... what's going on?" Qiao Jiajin panicked and felt Qi Xia's head. "Is the liar boy sick?"
"What do we do now?" Chen Junnan said anxiously. "Is this my fault? Should I not have said that woman doesn't exist?"
"Junnan boy..." Qiao Jiajin said, "Does Qi Xia actually have a wife or not?"
"How should I know?" Chen Junnan felt a bit wronged. "He always said he was single before."
Hearing this, Qiao Jiajin suddenly had a thought. "Liar boy, you said that before this, he always said he was single. Then seven years later, when we meet again, he has a wife. Is it possible... he got married in the 'End of Eternity'?"
"Oh, come off it!" Chen Junnan was startled by Qiao Jiajin's idea. "Even though this place is all red and festive, it's not a happy occasion! Show me how you'd get married here!"
Qiao Jiajin shrugged helplessly.
"He looks like he's exhausted?" Chen Junnan patted Qi Xia's cheek. "Old Qi, dinner's ready!"
Qi Xia still lay on the ground with his eyes tightly shut, looking as if he had just gone through an exhausting ordeal and had now fallen asleep.