Chapter 749: All Are Ants
"At least I'm not crazy," Qi Xia said.
"Oh?"
"After going through countless things that no normal person could endure, I can still remain this rational. That's enough to prove I'm not crazy," Qi Xia said expressionlessly.
"Quite the opposite," Qinglong said. "It only proves that you went crazy long ago—so crazy that you're beyond saving."
Upon hearing this, a smile gradually spread across Qi Xia's face. "So I've got a mental illness that can't even be cured?"
"Exactly. Only when you're mad enough... can you reach the best state. This is good." Qinglong also smiled with a manic look in his eyes. "Crazy enough, ruthless enough, cold-blooded enough. No need to empathize with any 'mortals.' These are the prerequisites for becoming a 'god.'"
"But I don't want to become a 'god,'" Qi Xia said. "The reason I've done all this isn't to go on a killing spree for my own amusement."
"Going on a killing spree for your own amusement?" Qinglong raised an eyebrow, as if he had heard an extremely ridiculous idea. "What kind of talk is that? Do I look like that kind of person?"
"Isn't it?" Chu Tianqiu interjected at this moment. "When someone has gathered enough 'chips,' you kill everyone. Logically, shouldn't you only kill the person who gathered the chips?"
"How interesting. As a 'god,' I can't empathize with 'mortals,' and as 'mortals,' you can't empathize with 'gods.'" Qinglong nodded. "Chu Tianqiu, let me ask you. If a nest of ants got into your house, what would you do?"
"A nest of ants...?"
"You find that this nest of ants wants to bite you every day, but they can't even hurt you. You just watch them with interest every day. They carry food here, build their base here, fight each other, live and die. To you, bored out of your mind, this is the best entertainment." Qinglong continued. "But after a while, one or two ants think they're clever, figure out all the rules, and try every day to crawl into your eyes."
Chu Tianqiu seemed to think of something upon hearing this and pursed his lips in silence.
"Would you pick out those one or two ants and kill them separately?" Qinglong reached out and slowly clenched his hand into a fist. "No one would bother doing something so troublesome. The best way is, of course, to pour boiling water into the entire anthill, destroy it all, and be done with it. Because I am a 'human,' and you are as worthless as 'ants.' It's the same as me being a 'god,' and you being as worthless as 'mortals.' If I want to kill, I kill. I don't care what the ants think."
Chu Tianqiu and Qi Xia looked at Qinglong in silence. His position had always been too high, making every word difficult to understand.
But today, for some reason, both of them found his words quite reasonable.
"Qi Xia, you don't want to become a 'god'? You want to get out?" Qinglong asked.
"Yes."
"A pipe dream," Qinglong said. "Why are you even more naive than Chu Tianqiu?"
Qinglong's words made both men frown slightly.
Qi Xia thought for a moment and said, "So... you're not even bothering to pretend anymore? The two of us fought our way up from the 'participants.' We still represent the 'participants' now. Are you sure you want to tell us directly that there's no way out?"
"Of course," Qinglong nodded. "'Lies' are for the common masses, not for the elite. The fact that you two could wait here for me to descend proves that this kind of small lie no longer works on you. Why would I still try to fool you with that old spiel? Being able to hear the truth from my own mouth is an honor you've earned yourselves. The common masses can only envy you. After all, in my eyes, you two are the best ants."
Qi Xia stared coldly at Qinglong. Although he had long known that this place was inescapable, hearing it said so lightly from Qinglong's mouth still made his heart feel unsettled.
It was as if he had spent decades tracking down a murderer, only for the murderer to confess all his crimes at their first meeting and tell him, "I never intended to hide it from you."
Seeing the particularly vivid expressions on their faces, Qinglong laughed again. "What about one thousand eight hundred 'cords,' one thousand eight hundred 'hooks,' three thousand six hundred 'paths,' three thousand six hundred 'whorls,' and fifty-seven thousand six hundred 'jades'? Isn't each one more interesting than the last? As long as Tianlong sets a rule, countless people will die for that ridiculous 'rule.' It's like holding sugar in your hand, directing ants to fight each other for it... But 'humans' are, after all, far more interesting than 'ants.'"
After saying this, Qinglong slowly walked up to Qi Xia and asked, "Do you know what Tianlong said to me when this outrageous rule was set several times, until we reached 'Jade City'?"
"What did he say?" Qi Xia asked coldly.
"He said, 'Let's set an exaggerated number, and directly turn the teeth green—no need to even change the shape. Let's see if these ridiculous mortals will die for it.'"
"You..." Chu Tianqiu seemed to want to say something, but his throat felt blocked, and no sound came out.
"He also said, 'We can arrange a batch of staff to help us legitimately massacre the other participants, drastically slowing down everyone's collection speed. Just give them any title, and they'll forget everything else and only focus on the promotion in front of them. Call them "Heavenly Stems," "Earthly Branches," or even "Stars," "Zodiacs"—it doesn't matter. As long as we tell them that they can escape by killing their own kind, they'll willingly become our lapdogs.'"
"Oh, right... As the saying goes, 'Being close to the king is like being close to a tiger.'" Qinglong said. "Being close to a 'god' is far more terrifying than being close to a tiger. These people were originally 'ants.' We gave them face, let them stand with us reluctantly. But if they didn't cherish it—if they broke the rules or did something wrong while being lapdogs—that would be such a pity."
Qi Xia nodded upon hearing this. "So you turn them into real 'ants.'"
"Hahahahaha!" Qinglong turned back with a maniacal look. "How did you guess that?!"
"Hard not to," Qi Xia said. "Those bugs that crawl out late at night—they're all your handiwork."
"Yes... of course!" Qinglong laughed. "We gouged out their eyes, cut off their noses, pulled out their teeth, shaved off their eyebrows, and destroyed their ears. Then we implanted a thought in their minds—'If you can find your own facial features, they'll come back, and then you can become human again.' Interesting, right?"
Qi Xia nodded after hearing this. "Interesting."
"That way, they get released every night by the 'longhorns,' collecting the 'paths,' 'hooks,' 'jades,' 'cords,' and 'whorls' scattered around the city and on various bodies. This way, we don't make things easy for the 'participants' here, and we save ourselves some effort in making chips... It's absolutely perfect!"