Chapter 543: From Hell
Qi Xia knew this might be his only chance.
If he could see that person, he would at least get one answer.
With that thought, he quickly moved his feet and ran toward the source of the engine sound. Before long, the old taxi sped over and stopped steadily right in front of him.
"Passenger, where to?" Xu Liunian rolled down the window and asked.
"Escape," Qi Xia replied.
"I can't do that." Xu Liunian smiled slightly. "How about I take you for a ride?"
Qi Xia didn't say another word. He opened the door and sat down in the passenger seat. At that moment, he felt pain all over his body, especially in his ribs and chest.
Xu Liunian skillfully shifted gears, stepped on the gas, and drove off with Qi Xia.
Qi Xia was panting heavily, sweat dripping continuously from his chin. His heartbeat could be heard throughout the car.
"How pathetic," Xu Liunian laughed. "The famous Qi Xia, almost dying in a jogging game. Isn't that a project even elementary school students can do?"
Qi Xia didn't respond. He just stared blankly out the window. He estimated that the "Heavenly Steed's Instant" had been going on for about an hour. By now, the various "Participants" on the road were clearly exhausted.
For them, this game was utterly hopeless.
Because very few people would know when this endless rain of black lines would stop chasing them. They would mistakenly believe this was a "fight to the death" game. Under such immense psychological pressure, people would tire much faster than usual.
If you told someone they could survive by running for two hours, some would surely make it. But if you told them these black lines would never stop until they died, many would give up halfway.
Qi Xia witnessed several Participants having their heads pierced by black lines. The moment the head was pierced, the black line would curve downward, splitting the already doomed corpse in two.
Qi Xia had never seen such a killing method before, but all the corpses he'd encountered along the way had the same death marks, which piqued his curiosity.
Xu Liunian pressed the clutch and lightly tapped the brake. After turning at an intersection ahead to dodge a black line, she turned to Qi Xia and said, "You know? If a sharp weapon pierces through the center of the brow, a person dies instantly without feeling any pain."
Qi Xia continued looking out the window without speaking.
"So in movies and TV shows, when people point guns at their temples or put them in their mouths to commit suicide—that's all wrong," Xu Liunian said. "The correct method is to press the gun against the center of your brow. Otherwise, you'll experience unimaginable pain at the moment of death. But maybe directors think that's not aesthetic enough?"
Xu Liunian acted as if Qi Xia didn't exist. She lightly turned the steering wheel, kept her eyes on the road ahead, and smiled as she spoke, as if chatting with a friend.
"So the 'Heavenly Steed's Instant' is somewhat humane. These black lines prioritize killing people painlessly, then slicing open their corpses. Pretty reasonable, right?"
Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brow. He felt Xu Liunian's logic was getting stranger and stranger.
"So... this passenger, do you have something on your mind?" Xu Liunian asked again.
Qi Xia slowly leaned back into the seat and asked in a slightly hoarse voice, "Xu Liunian, what is your ultimate goal?"
"Me?" Xu Liunian chuckled lightly. "You really surprise me. Starting from my 'ultimate goal'?"
"I can't think of any other reason," Qi Xia replied. "On the surface, you're Chu Tianqiu's people, yet you're helping me achieve 'Echo.' You're not only disrupting Chu Tianqiu's plans, but also mine. So you don't want anyone to 'become a god,' nor do you want anyone to 'escape.'"
"Not entirely."
Xu Liunian drove the car to the middle of the road. Just then, a "Native" crossed the street. She actually pretended to stop the car properly and waited quietly for the person to pass.
"To me, it doesn't matter who 'becomes a god' or who 'escapes.' But I must destroy this place." Seeing that the Native was walking too slowly, Xu Liunian reached out and lightly honked the horn.
"Destroy this place..." Qi Xia felt like he had heard this "ultimate goal" before.
Someone had once said to him: "Qi Xia, let's destroy this place together."
Was it Lin Qin...?
"This place has lost control," Xu Liunian restarted the car. "Even its builders couldn't imagine it would turn out like this. Now gods are hard to manage, people are hard to survive. It's basically the second hell on earth."
Qi Xia felt that the woman before him knew a lot. She even knew the "origin" of this place.
"What do you mean by 'second hell'?" Qi Xia asked.
"I come from hell," Xu Liunian smiled.
"Wha..." That brief sentence stunned Qi Xia.
"But it's not what you imagine. I don't have any great abilities. After all, even I'm trapped here." Xu Liunian shook her head, her expression either manic or sorrowful. "I've always known that no one could ever come here to save me. We can't get out, and people from outside can't get in. 'Zhongyan Land' is a besieged city stained with blood. To end all this, we can only destroy this place."
Many people had told Qi Xia before, "We can't get out," but he had never believed them.
Yet somehow, when these words came from Xu Liunian's mouth, they inexplicably carried conviction.
"So how exactly are you going to destroy this place?" Qi Xia asked.
"By myself, I can't do it at all," Xu Liunian said. "If necessary, I'll do my best to help the strong ones here. As long as someone can kill 'that person,' the existence of this place will lose its meaning."
"Strong ones?" Qi Xia frowned, thinking about Xu Liunian's behavior all along, then asked back, "Like me and Chu Tianqiu?"
"No." Xu Liunian shook her head. "Although Chu Tianqiu is smart enough, he's not my top choice."
Qi Xia felt Xu Liunian was implying something, so he asked, "Then who are these 'strong ones' you're talking about..."
"You and Wen Qiaoyun."
The moment the name "Wen Qiaoyun" was spoken, Qi Xia was visibly taken aback.
"Me and... Wen Qiaoyun?"
Qi Xia frowned at Xu Liunian, feeling it was a bit odd. In Xu Liunian's long memory, did she really think that woman named Wen Qiaoyun was more powerful than Chu Tianqiu?
At that moment, a Participant spotted the car driving down the street. His eyes widened instantly, and he ran to the middle of the road, waving his arms.
He seemed to see a floating log in a raging torrent. If he could grab that log, he would survive the pitch-black currents.
But Xu Liunian acted as if she saw nothing. She stepped on the accelerator and rammed straight into him.
The man's legs shattered instantly. His whole body fell onto the hood, hitting the engine block, then he vomited a mouthful of blood, splattering the entire windshield.
Xu Liunian still didn't stop. She dragged the man along the ground and ran him over.
"Qi Xia..." Xu Liunian called softly. "Did you see that? 'Natives' can't die, but 'Participants' are expendable."
(Brothers, can I take a day off tomorrow? I really have something to do. A thousand apologies!)