Chapter 568: The Initiative
Qi Xia turned around and looked ahead through the car window. He noticed that the "Pegasus Moment" seemed to be coming to an end, as many of the black lines in the street had already begun to stagnate.
"Whatever schemes you plan to use on me, I will make you lose completely." A hint of manic smile appeared on Qi Xia's face. "In the entire 'Land of the End,' there is only one thing I can believe in—that 'I am the strongest.' In the next cycle, there won't be a 'Wen Qiaoyun' stronger than me; there will only be a me who is stronger than myself. Is that enough?!"
This brief statement left both Qinglong and Xu Liunian frozen in place.
Qi Xia reached out, opened the car door, and stepped out onto the empty street.
He looked up at the sky, as if speaking to Qinglong, but his words were also meant for Tianlong.
"Even if human lives are pawns, you can't play this chess game recklessly."
"This chess game can only be played by me, Qi Xia."
The sky was eerily silent, with only the sun sitting quietly in its place.
"An, I will break everything here and then rescue you," Qi Xia added.
The ochre-yellow sun seemed to hear Qi Xia's words and suddenly contracted slightly.
Qinglong blinked, and his body had already left the car, standing before Qi Xia.
He looked at Qi Xia's manic expression and couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
He was glad he had activated "Silence" in advance; otherwise, the situation would have gotten out of control.
"Qi Xia... are you sure you can defeat 'Tianlong'?" Qinglong's tone returned to calm as he asked softly.
"I will give it everything I have."
Qinglong nodded slightly at that, then turned to glance at Xu Liunian. After a few seconds of thought, his expression turned manic again.
"Ha..." It seemed he had thought of something extremely interesting, and he covered his face, laughing maniacally.
Xu Liunian, sitting in the car, saw Qinglong and Qi Xia standing back to back, each exuding a completely different aura.
"Qi Xia, I want to play a game with you," Qinglong said softly, staring at Xu Liunian.
Hearing this, Qi Xia paused briefly and asked, "Why does even 'Qinglong' have a game?"
"It's not that formal," Qinglong said. "It's just a game between you and me. Though it's neither a 'Zodiac' nor a 'Moment,' it's more deadly than either. Do you dare?"
"Deadly...?" Qi Xia narrowed his eyes slowly. "You should know that in your 'Utopia,' 'deadly' is hardly enough to threaten me."
"Of course," Qinglong nodded. "That's why the 'deadly' I speak of is the kind that can truly threaten you."
"You..."
"Qi Xia, look at this map." Qinglong flicked his wrist, and a sheet of paper flew in front of Qi Xia, floating slowly before his eyes.
It was an extraordinarily detailed city map, with many intersections and buildings marked with the twelve Earthly Branches—Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, and so on. Some of the characters were in red.
"Is it a 'Zodiac' map?" Qi Xia frowned. "Are the red characters 'Earth Level'?"
"No, all the characters are 'Earth Level,'" Qinglong said. "The red ones are 'Targets.'"
"'Targets'...?" Qi Xia felt something was off.
"Four days. I want you to kill all eight of the 'Earth Levels' I've marked," Qinglong laughed. "These eight 'Zodiacs' are arranged in the order of the twelve Earthly Branches, corresponding to the eight teammates in your interview room."
"What...?"
"Counting from your left..." Qinglong continued meaningfully, "For every 'Zodiac' I mark that you let go, I will 'eliminate' one of your teammates in the order of the Earthly Branches."
"'Eliminate'...?" Qi Xia felt the word was worth pondering.
"Qi Xia, do you dare to bet with me?" Qinglong smiled. "If I take away their sanity and then kill them... do you have a 100% chance of saving them? Even if you are 'Endless Life,' do you dare to bet?"
"You..." Qi Xia's eyes narrowed further as he constantly weighed the feasibility of this gamble.
To kill eight 'Earth Levels' in a row within four days—no one in the entire 'Land of the End' had ever done such a thing.
"But this 'game' offers me no benefit," Qi Xia said. "What's the difference between this and threatening me? Since you can't shake me, you go after my teammates instead. You sound like a mad, shameless thug."
"Ha..." Qinglong laughed in anger. "So if I 'eliminate' your teammates, you wouldn't care?"
Qi Xia frowned, slowly turned around, and stared at Qinglong's back. "Do you think I would risk my life for those strangers?"
"You will," Qinglong laughed. "Qi Xia, you absolutely will."
Watching the two converse so calmly, Xu Liunian's heart was in her throat.
She couldn't get a word in and could only listen quietly from the side.
"You don't know me..." Qi Xia said.
"I know you very well." Qinglong turned around to face Qi Xia directly. "Qi Xia, let me put it another way. Don't think of this as a threat—it's a cooperation."
"Cooperation...?"
"Exactly." Qinglong flicked his sleeve and clasped his hands behind his back. "The eight 'Zodiacs' marked on my map are all the ones 'Tianlong' trusts most. If you gamble them all to death, then 'Tianlong' will have no one to rely on, and your chances of winning will increase by one more point."
"Nonsense," Qi Xia interrupted. "Even if I gamble to death all the 'Earth Levels' in the 'Land of the End,' 'Tianlong' still has eleven 'Heavens' by his side. Why are you deceiving me with such a shabby lie?"
"If I want to turn you into a 'pawn,' I need an excuse, don't I?" Qinglong waved his hand again, summoning the map before Qi Xia. "Why don't you go meet them?"
Qi Xia thought carefully about Qinglong's words, sensing that Qinglong's intentions were not simple.
"Silence" was still in effect. What exactly was he hiding?
"Go meet them...?" Qi Xia rubbed his chin, pondering Qinglong's motives.
At this moment, the "Pegasus Moment" was nearing its end, and most people in the "Land of the End" were already dead. Even if he really wanted to gamble eight "Earth Levels" to death in a row, it would be impossible without others' help.
Would Qiao Jiajin and Chen Junnan survive?
Just as his thoughts were about to drift away, Qi Xia immediately cut them off. He closed his eyes, made his mind blank, and slowly exhaled a sentence: "They are all stronger than me. They'll be fine."
"Ha... interesting..." Qinglong said. "A very nice frequency. So you agree?"
Qi Xia reached out, grabbed the map, rolled it into a tube, and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Qinglong, I'll go meet them, but don't get any ideas," Qi Xia replied. "You might not know who holds the initiative."
"Oh?" Qinglong smiled, and the surrounding aura trembled for a moment. "Qi Xia, you wouldn't be saying... that the initiative is in your hands now, would you?"