Chapter 563: Monster
Qi Xia withdrew his hands and covered his ears, feeling as if he had completely gone mad.
"An... the one outside the door isn't you... So where is the real you?"
But the voice at his ear gave him no answer, as if it couldn't hear him at all. It only kept repeating the same phrase over and over.
"The one outside the door isn't me... Xia, outside the door... isn't me..."
"I know, I know..." Qi Xia covered his ears, trying desperately to catch the eerie voice. He felt his hands turn ice-cold and couldn't stop trembling. "An... where are you trapped? Where is the 'door'?"
"Thump, thump, thump..."
The voice at his ear grew clearer and clearer. Qi Xia could sense that Yu Nian'an was trying to convey something to him, but she couldn't hear him.
"An, I'm here. Tell me where you are," Qi Xia asked.
"Outside the door, it's not me." Yu Nian'an's ethereal voice came through, followed by a continuous series of *thump, thump, thump*.
Anyone in this situation would surely think they had completely lost their mind. Qi Xia felt like his brain was about to split apart.
Yet he vaguely sensed that he had grasped some faint clue. There was a real "Yu Nian'an" somewhere in the world—not a product of the "Echo," not the Xu Liunian pretending in front of him, but a real person.
Qi Xia recalled the first time Yu Nian'an had told him, "The one outside the door isn't me."
According to Xu Liunian, she had been playing the role of Yu Nian'an at that time. It must have been the first time he had gotten into her taxi.
Had he not died back then? Was he merely in a state of dying delirium, having a dream?
In the dream, he and Yu Nian'an had returned to the real world and lived their normal lives.
But back then, Xu Liunian was pretending to be Yu Nian'an, which caused the Yu Nian'an in his dream to experience a "rejection reaction," prompting her to repeatedly warn him, "The one outside the door isn't me." She said it over and over, but at that time, he didn't understand.
That Yu Nian'an was frantic—so frantic that her face was streaked with tears under the midnight moonlight.
"You're trapped... aren't you?" Qi Xia lowered his hands that had been covering his ears and lifted his head. "You need me to save you, don't you?"
"Xia, if you miss someone, you'll want to see them."
Hearing these words, Qi Xia slowly narrowed his eyes. He felt as if his brain were a tunnel littered with rubble, and now a faint glimmer of light was seeping through the cracks in the stones.
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.
Xu Liunian sensed something was wrong. The frozen air suddenly began to tremble. She immediately reached out and rolled up the car windows.
**Clang!!!**
The moment the windows on both sides closed, a terrifying explosion of sound erupted.
Xu Liunian had never heard such a deafening noise. It felt as if her very soul had been shaken loose. The car itself trembled along with the ground.
Many "participants" running in the street were knocked flat by the tremendous sound. Having already been sprinting on exhausted legs, almost none of them could get up after falling. They were instantly caught by the black lines and cleanly sliced in half.
**Shengsheng Buxi** descended abruptly, carried by the deathly aura of the numerous participants.
Qi Xia looked down at his own body. Externally, there was no change, but he felt something different in his mind.
Xu Liunian knew her first lie had succeeded. Now was the time for the second lie to make its entrance.
Every step now was a high-stakes gamble. If she chose to quit while she was ahead, she wouldn't suffer heavy losses. But if she decided to raise the stakes, high returns would naturally come with enormous risks.
Yet at this moment, Xu Liunian was betting everything. She had no retreat.
"I'm sorry, Qi Xia. I lied to you," she said.
"Lied to me...?" Qi Xia's eyes had already regained their calm. He sat quietly in the passenger seat, his icy aura like that of a newly descended god.
"Yu Nian'an does exist," Xu Liunian said with a bitter smile. "The reason I lied was precisely to trigger your 'Echo.' Every time I brought up something about Yu Nian'an, your emotions fluctuated the most."
"Oh?" Qi Xia nodded, turning to look at Xu Liunian with eyes that gleamed with sharp intelligence. If his usual gaze was already unfathomably deep, now it was like the vast cosmos—impossible to see through even a fraction.
"So... where is the real Yu Nian'an?"
"In 'Jade City,'" Xu Liunian said, suppressing the fear in her heart and answering decisively. "Yu Nian'an was never from this city. That's why you've never been able to see her."
"'Jade City'...?" Qi Xia frowned slowly.
"That's right. Everyone in that city needs to collect 'jade' to escape this place." Xu Liunian blinked, shed her appearance as Yu Nian'an, and reverted to her original form. "If you manage to survive and come back next time, you must remember to go to Jade City and take a look. The real Yu Nian'an is there."
"Is that so..." Qi Xia nodded ambiguously. "A city that needs to collect 'jade,' huh..."
"So, Qi Xia, I'm really happy." Xu Liunian continued. "Being able to help powerful people like you attain the 'Echo' brings us one step closer to everyone's escape. Whether it's you or Wen Qiaoyun from Jade City..."
Qi Xia found this a bit strange, so he asked, "Where exactly is 'Jade City'?"
"It's right where we first met. Follow the road straight for about ten kilometers, and you'll reach another city." Xu Liunian struggled to control her emotions as she spoke to Qi Xia in a steady voice. "There, everyone is a strong person no worse than you. They're about to break all the rules of this place."
"Everyone is a strong person...?" Qi Xia looked at Xu Liunian with a gaze full of pity. "Is that really so?"
"Yes," Xu Liunian nodded. "And 'Wen Qiaoyun' is the greatest leader of the entire Jade City. Her power is beyond anyone's imagination."
Qi Xia reached out and touched his chin, then curled the corner of his mouth.
"'Information gap' tactics, right?" he asked softly.
"What...?"
"Xu Liunian, the only weapon you can use to maneuver between me and Chu Tianqiu is the 'information gap.'" Qi Xia said. "But unfortunately, the 'information gap' is a double-edged sword. You think you've mastered enough information to control everything here, but you don't realize that everyone has information. I already understand the 'Jade City' you mentioned. That place is completely insane."
"You..."
"And in this cycle, within just two days, I've suddenly heard many people mention the name 'Wen Qiaoyun.' I now have a bold hypothesis..." Qi Xia reached out and opened the car window, letting the foul-smelling breeze blow into the car.
"Could it be that you are systematically and deliberately using me to create a woman named 'Wen Qiaoyun'?"
Qi Xia's words tore down all of Xu Liunian's disguises—both visible and invisible—with piercing accuracy.
"What kind of monster are you?" Xu Liunian said, somewhat dazed. "You're saying you figured it out just by 'guessing'?! You simply relied on 'guessing' to get this far?!"