# Chapter 547: Things Are the Same, People Are Different
"Ah, I was before, but this time I haven't obtained an 'Echo' yet," the young man replied.
"Good, I want to see Chu Tianqiu," I said directly.
"See the chief...?" The young man nodded. "What's your name?"
"My name is Xu Liunian."
The young man nodded, ran into the teaching building, and after a short while brought back the familiar figure walking toward me.
Chu Tianqiu hadn't changed at all.
That made sense. In a place where your body refreshed every ten days, who would change?
Chu Tianqiu was still the same as always. He was wearing an outer coat draped over his shoulders, rushing out anxiously, his eyes full of concern.
"Xiao Nian..." he called from afar. "You finally came back..."
I smiled too, walked a few steps forward, then pulled out the dagger I had prepared earlier and cleanly slashed the throat of the young man beside him.
That young man, even as blood sprayed from his throat, didn't understand why he had met such an end.
When he fell to the ground with his eyes wide open, Chu Tianqiu's expression shifted.
"Xiao Nian... you..."
"Tianqiu, I have something to tell you."
Chu Tianqiu looked at the companion lying dead in the night, his expression incredibly complex.
"What are you doing...?" His eyes slowly narrowed. "This person hasn't obtained an 'Echo'... all his memories will disappear."
"That's exactly what I want," I nodded. "Tianqiu, no one can know that I've returned this time. I have a new plan."
Chu Tianqiu seemed completely unable to understand what I was doing. It took him a long time to organize his words before he spoke slowly: "Xiao Nian, you disappeared for two years... and on the very first day you return, you kill my teammate. How do you expect me to accept your 'new plan'?"
His eyes were full of distrust toward me, but did I have a better option?
"Because I have no other path left to choose." I reached out and wiped the bloodstains off the dagger with my sleeve, then tucked it back at my waist. I began to drag the corpse, lowering my head. After a few steps, I looked up again at Chu Tianqiu. "Are you willing to come with me? I won't kill you."
Chu Tianqiu frowned and thought for a moment, then slowly grinned, revealing a smile that felt somewhat strange to me.
In my memory, he had never smiled like that.
"Of course, I know you won't kill me. Otherwise, the one whose throat got slit just now would have been me..." He stared straight at me, then let out a soft laugh. "But how can you be so sure that your new plan will be accepted by me?"
Only then did I realize that Chu Tianqiu seemed to have changed.
It was as if two personalities were fighting inside him—one a "Virtuous Person," the other a "Madman."
"As long as you listen... you'll definitely be interested." I came back to my senses, lowered my head, and continued dragging the corpse. I was grateful that it was already night when I arrived here; no one had seen me return.
My plan should proceed smoothly.
Chu Tianqiu followed me without hesitation away from the school. We turned into a small alley, and I found a piece of cardboard to cover the corpse before finally looking up at him.
Before I could speak, Chu Tianqiu opened his mouth first.
"So, Xiao Nian... what does it feel like to become a 'Native'?"
I was silent for a moment, then said: "Unfortunately, I can't see the 'God's' instructions at all. So-called 'Natives' means losing all rationality and blurring the basic awareness of the surrounding environment. I thought I had returned to the real world, living a life just like in reality. At that time, I was always waiting by the roadside in a taxi for fares."
That was right. Even Chu Tianqiu only thought I was just a down-and-out taxi driver waiting for work in Hengdian. How could I tell anyone that I came from hell?
"Is that so...?" Chu Tianqiu's gaze turned cold. At that moment, he exuded a unique aura, then he put on a smiling face and said, "There's one thing I've always been curious about."
His tone made me feel uneasy: "What is it?"
"In the real world, were you really a taxi driver?" he asked.
"That's right." I frowned, then answered.
"How strange." He smiled. "A few days ago, I suddenly found a notebook. The things recorded in it were quite interesting."
"A notebook...?"
Chu Tianqiu reached into his pocket with a smile, then wore an expression of regret. "Sorry, I didn't bring it with me... but I still remember the contents of the notebook."
"What did it say?"
"Maybe someone was trying to sow discord?" Chu Tianqiu walked three steps forward until he was right in front of me. He was very close, which made me feel a bit dangerous. "That notebook recorded the names and 'Echoes' of eight people from the same room as me... but strangely enough... you weren't on it."
Upon hearing this, I was slightly stunned.
That's right. I wasn't originally a "Participant," so how could I have come from the same Interview Room as Chu Tianqiu?
I didn't know how far Chu Tianqiu had guessed. In today's Zhongyan Land, only one person could change the layout of the initial rooms.
Would he guess that all of this was Azure Dragon's doing?
"Xiao Nian, Xiao Nian..." Seeing my expression, he smiled again, then reached out and took a fallen strand of hair from my shoulder. "Tell me, what are we going to do about this? Not only did you suddenly appear in my 'Interview Room' and become my teammate, but you also changed from a 'Native' back into a 'Participant'..."
"I..." I hadn't expected Chu Tianqiu's cunning to be deeper than two years ago, so for a moment I didn't know what excuse to use to answer his question. I could only think for a while and say, "Two years ago, when we decided to take the 'Native' path, you agreed as well..."
"But two years have passed," Chu Tianqiu laughed. "These two years, I've been searching every day for a way to change from a 'Native' back into a 'Participant'... Unfortunately, this absurd matter has no precedent... So how exactly did you do it?"
His deep eyes stared straight at me. I felt like I was about to be seen through completely.
Had it been too long since I last saw Chu Tianqiu?
Or had something happened in these two years?
Why did the feeling Chu Tianqiu gave off now differ completely from two years ago?
"I... don't know how I did it either." When these words left my mouth, I knew I had already lost.
What level of person was Chu Tianqiu?
Such a low-grade lie could never fool him.
"Interesting." Chu Tianqiu nodded. "Since you're not willing to say, I'll guess for myself."
Seeing that I had no reaction, he spoke: "Something that all 'Participants' cannot do, but you can—that can only prove that you are not a 'Participant.'"