Chapter 557: Success or Failure
I reached out to knock on the door, but faint voices from inside drifted out.
"An...?" It sounded like Qi Xia's voice. "Yu Nian'an?"
"What 'An'?" Another woman's voice came from inside the door.
"An... Are you really here?"
The conversation inside caught me off guard. Qi Xia was seeing Yu Nian'an in there?!
But I had just stood across the way and looked—there were only two people in that room!
Wait a minute...
It suddenly dawned on me. There were two people in the room. Who was the other one?
Li Xiangling...?
From a certain perspective, Li Xiangling's "Manifestation" held the same lethal power for Qi Xia as my "Transformation" did.
She could make Qi Xia see the illusion of the person he longed for. And now, the trigger condition for Li Xiangling's "Echo"—"Caught in the Flames of War"—had been met. She was Echoing.
"If that's the case..." I held my forehead and began to think. Li Xiangling had unknowingly become an invisible ally for me at this critical moment.
As long as her emotional turmoil was powerful enough, she could keep using "Manifestation."
Since that's the case... how could I maximize her emotional turmoil?
After a few seconds of deliberation, my thoughts cleared.
Yes. There was now an excellent way to completely break Li Xiangling.
I could finally gain a point in this "game."
But getting that point wouldn't be easy. Qi Xia had to die, and so did I.
Just then, the door opened, and Qi Xia poked half his body out.
I knew my moment had come. I immediately reached out, shoved him back inside, and closed the door behind me.
From this moment on, no one was getting away.
"Qi Xia! Damn... it's too dangerous out there—be careful!" I turned around and said.
When Qi Xia saw my injuries, he couldn't help but be startled. And honestly, it wasn't just him—even I hadn't expected myself to be disguised as someone heavily wounded.
It seemed that deep down, I was still wary of that "Cat's" strength.
With a few brief words, I steadied Qi Xia and tried to convince him that I was going to take him out of the room.
The whole time, I kept glancing at Li Xiangling out of the corner of my eye. There wasn't a shred of suspicion in her gaze. As long as I could draw my knife first, I would have absolute control.
I wanted Qi Xia to fully understand my capability. I could not only kill him—I could make him "Echo."
Next time, he wouldn't throw "thorns" at me. He would throw a true "olive branch."
But I never expected that after just three steps, the moment I touched the dagger, an unimaginably heavy blow landed on my back.
A chair slammed into my spine, shattering on impact.
I had considered the possibility that Qi Xia would suspect me, but I didn't think he'd strike so ruthlessly. For a normal person, even if there was an eighty percent chance the person in front of them was fake, they wouldn't instantly try to kill them.
Qi Xia mounted me and grabbed my throat—just like the first time he saw me disguised as Chu Tianqiu.
"Are you asking for death? How dare you impersonate Qiao Jiajin! What did you do to him?"
Yes, he saw through me. My flaws in front of him were always this obvious.
Even when I played a stranger like Chu Tianqiu, he saw through me. So of course, playing Qiao Jiajin was no different.
"Heh... heh heh..." I forced a smile. Since I already had the dagger in my pocket, this point still belonged to me. "Doesn't matter if you see through me, Qi Xia. I've found a way to prove my ability..."
I pulled out the dagger. "My mind is made up. Only by killing you here will you understand how capable I really am."
"Hey! I said enough! Can't you hear me?"
"I don't want to pretend anymore. I don't want to be anyone's pawn. I just want to be myself."
After all these years of playing other people, I had never wanted so badly to just be myself.
Let me disappear, or let me go back to my old life—whatever it takes. I don't want to keep going like this anymore.
I turned the blade around and aimed it at my own heart. This time, the task had become simple.
Qi Xia, if you saw a "Xuan Wu" who suddenly wanted to kill you for no reason, how could you just let it happen?
Wouldn't you resist?
But that's exactly what "Xuan Wu" wants. She expects you to resist, so she can slowly torture you to death.
And you wouldn't let Li Xiangling help, right?
You'd make her stand by and watch you die.
When you die, her emotional turmoil would peak. Then she would conjure the "Yu Nian'an" you yearn for day and night.
That Yu Nian'an would be even more lethal than my impersonation. She would have no flaws—because she exists exactly as you imagine her.
Even heaven is helping me.
"Near Death" and "Yu Nian'an"—the two triggering conditions I had deduced were both present.
Now, all I had to do was plunge the knife into my own heart, and everything would end.
Qi Xia never expected this scheme from me. For a moment, he couldn't stop it.
Yes. For you, there have already been so many surprises today. How could you possibly predict everything?
Before you could even figure out who the intruder was, I came to you and drove the blade into my own heart.
After feeling a searing pain, I saw confusion in Qi Xia's eyes. Taking that chance, I slipped a "Dao" into his pocket.
Heart injuries are truly agonizing. I felt my consciousness rapidly slipping away from me.
...
When I opened my eyes again, I was already sitting beside Chu Tianqiu.
I had been in this interview room countless times, but no one had ever realized I didn't belong here.
Chu Tianqiu acted as if nothing had happened, greeting me warmly. But his eyes were even crazier than before.
He seemed to have seen something extremely interesting and couldn't wait to leave the interview room immediately.
I turned to look at Yun Yao on the other side. Her eyes were also very complicated.
Right. This was the first time she had seen me in two years—even though I had seen her many times, always in Chu Tianqiu's guise.
"Yun Yao!" I called out cheerfully. "Long time no see!"
Yun Yao glanced at me without any reaction and gave a very perfunctory nod.
By now, I had basically understood everything. Chu Tianqiu had really betrayed me.
And Yun Yao, because of that, was giving me the cold shoulder. In the "Land of Finality," what real friendship was there?
We were all just running around for our own interests.
It was like reading a book I had flipped through countless times. Chu Tianqiu skillfully led everyone through the games of Man-Pig, Man-Horse, and Man-Cow, then we arrived at the alley.
After landing, he told us to go ahead to "Heaven's Gate" while he waited for Jin Yuanxun and then rushed to the area where Qi Xia was about to appear.
It seemed Qi Xia had truly "Echoed."