Chapter 555: Truth and Lies
I agreed to Green Dragon's request.
It wasn't because I was particularly interested in the matter, but because the disparity in our positions was too great—I simply couldn't refuse.
In the days that followed, I spent all my time thinking of a way to trigger Qi Xia's "Echo."
Chu Tianqiu would give me some pre-written plans in the evenings, ensuring that all members of "Heaven's Mouth" could activate their "Echoes" the next day according to the plan.
Since he understood the "Echo" triggers of Heaven's Mouth's members better than I did, I trusted his arrangements completely.
But he framed me.
On the very first day, he gave me the game map for "Human Dragon," directly causing the deaths of Qi Xia's teammate and Heaven's Mouth's veterans, Jin Yuanxun and Little Glasses.
Qi Xia directed all his anger at me.
Fortunately, I genuinely didn't know. No matter what, I wasn't lying. Even as formidable as Qi Xia was, there was no way he could see through me from my tone or expression.
From that day on, I stopped following Chu Tianqiu's arrangements and decided to handle everything myself.
But when I personally selected Zhang Shan, Qiao Jiajing, and Li Xiangling to participate in the "Earth Tiger" game, I was suspected by Yun Yao.
I'm nowhere near as clever as Chu Tianqiu, so no matter what I did, I would eventually reveal flaws.
It was only a matter of time. I could foresee that.
But do you all truly understand how dire the situation is right now?
"Heavenly Dragon" is about to win!
We're running out of time... We're racing against the "Gods." Every step we take is extremely dangerous. Even if I'm a fake... we don't have the luxury to dwell on this issue.
That day, after Qi Xia resolved the incident of Xiao Ran turning into a Human Rabbit, he returned to Heaven's Mouth and told me with unwavering conviction: "Xu Liunian, the person I'm cooperating with is Chu Tianqiu, and you are you. We are three independent individuals. I can cooperate with 'Chu Tianqiu,' and naturally, I can cooperate with 'Xu Liunian' too."
It was then that I vaguely realized Qi Xia's "door" had opened to me.
But what he extended to me wasn't an olive branch—it was a bloodstained thorny vine.
I could no longer keep up with their pace. No matter how many wounds that thorny vine left on my arm, I had to grab it and climb up.
But I couldn't agree outright—after all, this was Qi Xia.
"Qi Xia, you're a person who's very hard to trust. I'm far less clever than you, so I trust you even less. I'm afraid you'll drag me into hell."
"You're right not to trust me. I'm a liar. You can only believe half of what I say."
"Then how am I supposed to cooperate with you?"
Qi Xia told me his goal—he wanted to "Collect the Ways"—and I could help him protect his teammates. In his view, our objectives aligned.
But Qi Xia... you still don't understand me. Our goals have never been aligned.
Even Chu Tianqiu doesn't know that my ultimate goal is to destroy this place, not to escape from it.
Qi Xia showed me a weakness, and that weakness was enough for me to achieve my goal.
"So, Xu Liunian, show me what you're capable of."
That was exactly my intention. I will definitely show you what I'm capable of.
After all, I hold a trump card that's absolutely fatal to you—Yu Nian'an.
But there was still one pressing problem to solve: Qi Xia's specific "Echo trigger."
Based on the last occurrence, there were two most intuitive triggers.
He was both on the "brink of death" and had seen "Yu Nian'an."
Since Qi Xia had already died many times, "the brink of death" probably wasn't a necessary condition. "Yu Nian'an" was.
But could such a powerful "Echo" really be triggered just by seeing Yu Nian'an?
To be safe, I decided to wait for an opportunity.
That was to make Qi Xia completely replicate the previous situation—to make him see "Yu Nian'an" while he was on the "brink of death." This way, he would have a high probability of obtaining the "Echo."
Even though Qi Xia would die immediately, Green Dragon's deal with me didn't include keeping him alive.
My task could be accomplished.
Now I just needed to wait for an opportunity—when Chu Tianqiu also extended a "thorny vine" to me.
As long as these two men opened doors for me simultaneously, I could stand on tiptoe and navigate between them.
That evening, I went to the basement again to see Chu Tianqiu. But what caught my curiosity was... the cellar door wasn't locked.
For a moment, I felt dazed. Had I forgotten to lock the door... or had Chu Tianqiu opened it himself?
"Xiao Nian, you're here." Chu Tianqiu smiled from inside the door.
He had been sitting by his dining table the whole time, as if he had never left.
"You seem very happy today," I said.
"Yes." Chu Tianqiu nodded. "And you? Did anything happen today?"
"Today..." I thought for a moment, hiding my conversation with Qi Xia, and briefly described what had happened at Heaven's Mouth. "There were quite a few injured. Li Xiangling was hurt the worst."
"Li Xiangling?" Chu Tianqiu raised an eyebrow. "Can she... still participate in the games from now on?"
"She shouldn't be able to," I said. "She needs to rest."
"Alright..." Chu Tianqiu nodded, then stood up and walked to the wall, pulling open a cabinet drawer and taking out a syringe.
"What are you going to do...?" I asked softly.
"Heaven's Mouth has been running for so many years, and our medical supplies are dwindling." Chu Tianqiu held the syringe up to his eyes, then flicked the needle tip with his finger. "Sometimes we have to make difficult choices. You understand that, don't you?"
Seeing the cold expression on his face, I realized something was wrong.
Had he even started taking the initiative to kill people now?
"Are you going to kill Li Xiangling?"
"Me...? Oh, no. Of course not." Chu Tianqiu shook his head, put the protective cap back on the needle tip, and tucked it into his pocket. "I just want to give Li Xiangling some antibiotics. So don't lock me in tonight. I need to go out."
But how could I believe what he said?
The first question he asked was, "Can Li Xiangling still participate in the games?" After learning the answer, he insisted on going out at night, taking a syringe, and risking going to inject her himself... How could that not be for murder?
"Xiao Nian." Chu Tianqiu stopped me as he passed by, speaking in a calm tone. "Tonight, I'm going to rain blood on Heaven's Mouth."
"Huh?"
I thought I had misheard. It felt like a word that shouldn't have come out of Chu Tianqiu's mouth had just been forced into my ears.
"I hired the 'Cats' to kill everyone in Heaven's Mouth." He explained with a smile. "Once midnight comes, no one here will be able to escape. I suggest you flee early."
Looking at his sincere eyes, I knew he wasn't exaggerating. He might really want to kill all the members of Heaven's Mouth. But what was the point of doing something like this?
In just a few seconds, my thoughts suddenly became clear.
If what Chu Tianqiu said was true, then this wasn't a disaster—it was a "thorny vine" he had thrown to me.