Chapter 574: Breaking the Lock
"Does that mean our hands won't be stained with blood...?" Dr. Zhao frowned and asked. "Once we start killing, even if we do escape, what's the point?"
"Oh?" Chu Tianqiu looked at the two with a despondent expression. "You two have clearly killed people before... and now you're saying such sanctimonious things?"
"But...!" Dr. Zhao's brow tightened. He thought for a long time before managing to say, "But we killed people indirectly... To be blunt, we didn't actively kill anyone... The nature of it is different..."
"If you insist on splitting hairs, you don't need to 'actively' kill anyone now either." Chu Tianqiu sighed. "Those people won't die by your hands, but rather under the 'Echo.' So it's not you who are killing them, but the 'Echo.' Moreover, these powers were given to you by the 'Land of the End.' In other words, they all die under the rules of the 'Land of the End.' No matter how gruesomely they die, they will all be resurrected in the next round. So you don't need to bear any psychological burden."
The two stood rooted to the spot, stunned to find that Chu Tianqiu's words actually held some logic.
"Just treat this like a game," Chu Tianqiu said. "The people who die in this round will come back exactly as they were in the next round. You're not killing them—you're just eliminating them in this round. That's all."
Dr. Zhao still felt something was off, but when he turned to look, he saw that Han Yimo's eyes had already gained a bit more resolve.
He had accepted this bizarre game.
"This is exactly the kind of setup that often appears in novels... Since the 'Savior' no longer helps the protagonist, the protagonist has a high chance of turning dark..." Han Yimo slowly squeezed out a smile and muttered to himself, "I've seen this kind of plot before. It really can happen. So let's go all out, Dr. Zhao..."
"Go all out... Ridiculous...!"
Dr. Zhao's eyes were wide open. When a normal person faces a madman, they can still resist, but once they face two madmen at once, they themselves seem like the abnormal one.
"Then let me ask one last question..." Dr. Zhao swallowed and looked at Chu Tianqiu. "You're asking us to go kill people for you. What will you be doing yourself?"
"Me...?" Chu Tianqiu thought for a moment and shook his head. "My hands have never been stained with blood... Never before, and never in the future."
"You won't even pretend in front of us..."
Dr. Zhao was deeply conflicted. If the other party had given him even a flimsy excuse to save face, he might have agreed to the request. But Chu Tianqiu had been using him and Han Yimo as pawns from start to finish, without any attempt at concealment.
"I don't need to pretend," Chu Tianqiu said. "When a lion cooperates with a rabbit, it never retracts its claws to pretend it's harmless. That would be utterly meaningless."
Dr. Zhao was completely speechless, but at that moment Han Yimo asked, "Where should we go to kill...? And who should we start with?"
Chu Tianqiu didn't answer. He just gave a faint smile and said, "I have some business to attend to. Make yourselves at home."
He pushed past the two, walked straight out of the classroom, and under their gazes, crossed the playground and left "Heaven's Gate."
"What does he mean?" Han Yimo looked at Dr. Zhao in confusion. "I asked him where we should go to kill, and he just left."
"The meaning is pretty clear..." Dr. Zhao lowered his head. "The 'Pegasus Hour' is over. The nearby 'Participants' will gradually return to 'Heaven's Gate.' He wants us to make our move right here."
"Directly kill the people in 'Heaven's Gate'...?"
"What a brilliant scheme..." Dr. Zhao said. "Whether we succeed or fail, as the leader, Chu Tianqiu won't be here. He can pretend to know nothing, or he can tell others that the two of us have turned against him... After all, we're Qi Xia's people. No matter what we do, Chu Tianqiu will always have an escape route."
"Are you saying he had this plan from the very beginning?" Han Yimo asked.
"Yes. He's been using us the whole time," Dr. Zhao sighed. "What he values is the destructive power of your and my 'Echo.' Mine is precise and hidden, yours is dramatic and carries indiscriminate devastation—that's exactly why he recruited us."
"Isn't that perfect...?"
"What?"
"Being used... doesn't that mean we still have value in being used?" Han Yimo turned his head, his slightly dull eyes fixed on Dr. Zhao. "In the real world, no one ever used me because of my abilities. Isn't that a good thing?"
Dr. Zhao felt as if he was trapped in a madman's logic, unable to extricate himself. Chu Tianqiu was like that, and so was Han Yimo.
Maybe one day he would become just as insane as they were.
When that day came... would he be able to "disintegrate" humans?
"So, are you going to do it?" Dr. Zhao said with a hint of sadness. "Even knowing that Chu Tianqiu is using you as a pawn, you'll still use your ability to kill others without hesitation?"
"Using me as a pawn..." Han Yimo muttered the words, then slowly broke into a smile. "You're too naive, Dr. Zhao."
"What...?"
"In every book, what kind of ending awaits someone who uses the 'protagonist' as a pawn...?" Han Yimo's smile grew more and more unsettling. "He's just a 'Destroyer.' He thinks he's manipulating the 'protagonist.' But one day, the 'protagonist' will grow stronger and make him regret it."
Dr. Zhao felt like he was trying to reason with someone who was completely unreachable. Han Yimo had displayed his madness in front of him more than once.
"Dr. Zhao, don't you want to train yourself?" Han Yimo looked up at the sky and smiled. "This is a perfect path to level up! We can master the use of the 'Echo' through countless battles. If we encounter some luck, our strength will soar even higher. Then we can kill Chu Tianqiu ourselves and take control of this place!"
"My god..." Dr. Zhao slowly sat down on a chair and covered his eyes with his hands. He felt his situation was extremely dire.
Han Yimo had long gone crazy. He could skillfully summon a non-existent "sword" to kill people. But Dr. Zhao still retained a shred of sanity.
That shred of sanity tormented him.
He knew that Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu were both madmen. Following either of them would almost certainly lead to a bad end.
But besides those two, who else was there with hope of escaping this place?
"We're a perfect match..." Han Yimo continued. "With you around, my 'Seven Black Swords' can kill anyone in absolute safety."