Chapter 565: Escape
"What else could I do?!"
Xu Liunian's emotions were spiraling out of control. She didn't remember ever crying during her decades in the "End Land," but this time was truly different.
She was preparing to bid farewell to this world.
But she knew she wasn't returning home in triumph. She had been utterly defeated by the "End Land," fleeing with her tail between her legs.
"Tell me everything you know," Qi Xia said softly. "Give me your 'weapon.' Let it become mine."
Xu Liunian looked at Qi Xia with red, tear-filled eyes. She understood better than anyone that her only weapon was information.
Qi Xia had already come this far on mere speculation. If he knew more, could he carve out an entirely new path?
"Qi Xia... do you really think we still have hope?" Xu Liunian's voice trembled as she asked. "Can we break this bizarre cycle and stand beneath the sunlight?"
Qi Xia didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "Xu Liunian, after all these years walking through the 'End Land,' if you had to name one truth you've come to understand, what would it be?"
"I..." Xu Liunian wiped away a tear with her fingertip, thought for a few seconds, then said, "Maybe... 'No one's death is a loss.'"
Qi Xia nodded after hearing this. "That's also a law of the 'End Land,' but it's not the ultimate truth I've come to understand."
Xu Liunian frowned slightly, hesitating as she looked at Qi Xia. "Then according to you... what truth should we understand?"
"It's 'As long as you miss someone, you will see them,'" Qi Xia said.
"What...?" Xu Liunian had never heard those words before. Was this really Qi Xia's ultimate truth about the "End Land"?
"This place is built on 'belief.' Everyone's 'Echo' is their own personal conviction," Qi Xia said seriously to Xu Liunian. "Under this rule, we absolutely cannot admit that we're dead."
"You mean... I think... therefore I am?"
"The literal meaning is correct," Qi Xia nodded. "You asked me 'if we still have hope,' so I can only tell you this: as long as your belief is strong, we are immortal here. But the moment you believe you're dead, you truly will be. So what dies is never our bodies, but our belief."
Qi Xia's words made Xu Liunian feel as though she had risen to an unprecedented level of thought.
"Qi Xia... when exactly did you figure this out?"
"Just now." Qi Xia sighed, looking at Xu Liunian again. "Most people only see the suffering of reincarnation here, but they don't see the hope this place grants us."
"So you think... our 'belief' is our hope?"
"Isn't it?" Qi Xia said. "Even you are the same, aren't you...? You think, so you can become someone else. When we leave the 'End Land' and return to the real world, who can still draw power from 'belief'?"
Xu Liunian lowered her head in silence, seemingly understanding the meaning behind Qi Xia's words.
"So don't give up," Qi Xia said. "Our road is still long. We can be defeated by this place, but we can't flee."
Hearing the slight encouragement in Qi Xia's words, Xu Liunian nodded heavily.
"So give me your power," Qi Xia said. "I will fight with your strength until the very last moment, and together we will be covered in wounds, our livers and gallbladders shattered, our souls scattered. Can you accept that ending?"
Tears streaming, Xu Liunian forced a faint smile.
"I was already planning to be annihilated in this cycle..." She kept forcing a smile, but her eyes were like dead water. "I have no retreat and no way forward..."
"But I don't believe you came from hell," Qi Xia said solemnly.
"What... you..."
Xu Liunian knew that Qi Xia's words had crushed all her hopes.
Now even "complete death" was a pipe dream.
"I absolutely do not believe you came from hell," Qi Xia reiterated. "In my eyes, you've always been an ordinary 'participant.'"
"Qi Xia... in the end, you still threw me a thorn covered in blood." Xu Liunian lowered her head, making it impossible for Qi Xia to see her expression.
"I've been covered in thorns all along," Qi Xia replied. "So can you give it to me now? Your 'weapon.'"
The air around them fell silent.
Xu Liunian thought for a long time before finally nodding and speaking slowly: "Qi Xia... what I'm about to say might anger 'the higher-ups.' Before I tell you, I need you to understand the consequences."
"Aren't they angry enough already?" Qi Xia raised the corner of his mouth. "Go ahead."
Xu Liunian restarted the car and reached for the gear stick. "In that case, I'll join this desperate escape."
She floored the accelerator, shifting into fourth gear within just a few dozen meters. The car sped down the broken road.
As if fleeing from something invisible.
"Qi Xia, I'm not human. I come from the 'Bureau of Spirit Management,' responsible for escorting souls!"
The moment she finished speaking, a man suddenly appeared several dozen meters ahead of the car.
The man had long hair reaching his waist, a smile on his face, and a faint green mark between his eyebrows. He was looking at Xu Liunian with a meaningful gaze.
And Qi Xia's eyes widened instantly upon seeing him. Though he had no memory of the man, that gaze sent chills down his spine.
"Xu Liunian!" Qi Xia shouted.
Xu Liunian didn't stop. She yanked the steering wheel, veering onto a side path to the left, the tires screeching loudly against the ground.
She steadied her breath and continued:
"Seventy years ago, I escorted fifty thousand souls to this place. This place is called 'Peach Spring,' built by a 'god' that ordinary people cannot reach. Its purpose was to 'create Nuwa'!"
The car was speeding along, kicking up stones along the way. Suddenly, the Azure Dragon appeared again at the end of the side path.
"But the 'Heavenly Dragon' betrayed the 'god'!!!" Xu Liunian slammed on the brakes and swerved right again, her entire body trembling as if she were fighting for her life against the entire world.
Qi Xia's mind was racing as the car sped along. Every word Xu Liunian spoke exceeded his imagination. He could hardly believe that gods truly existed in this world.
"The 'Heavenly Dragon' never wanted to create a 'Nuwa' because in his mind... he was the only candidate fit to become 'Nuwa'!!"
Xu Liunian crashed through every obstacle in her path. The front of the car was severely damaged, but she couldn't stop for a single moment.
As the Azure Dragon appeared in the distance, Xu Liunian veered away again.
"If the 'Heavenly Dragon' could kill everyone here, his deeds would never be exposed! But your appearance ruined his plan—you made us immortal!! So even the 'Heavenly Dragon' is trapped here!!"
As she finished speaking, the Azure Dragon appeared once more, this time standing directly in front of the taxi.
Without a second thought, Xu Liunian slammed the brakes, shifted gears, and looked backward as the car reversed at high speed.