Chapter 790: Self
"Originally I thought you weren't crazy, but now I'm not so sure." Chen Junnan shook his head helplessly. "Have you not seen Wei Yang's farm?"
"I have seen it, but that's just a disguise." Qin Dingdong replied.
"A disguise?"
"In a place where going crazy is safer, why wouldn't you disguise yourself as a madman?" Qin Dingdong said. "Normally, it's the sane people who run into trouble here, isn't it?"
Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin exchanged glances. The argument seemed valid, but the logic was too strange.
"Then you've been learning his tricks for so long. Have you found the answer?" Chen Junnan pressed.
"All I can say is..." Qin Dingdong shook her head. "I'm very suited to being a con artist. I also enjoy the process of deceiving people. The longer I stay with Wei Yang, the more I feel like the life in my memories is fake."
"No wonder..." Chen Junnan nodded. "No wonder he calls you his 'most beloved disciple.'"
"Wei Yang discovered that I'm a natural-born liar. I can often grasp the essence of deception by analogy and draw inferences from one case." Qin Dingdong smiled bitterly. "He might not know that I was already an expert at swindling. Although I couldn't cheat millions like he can, I had no problem cheating a few thousand to keep myself alive."
"Being a con artist... is it really that easy?" Chen Junnan frowned.
"I can't say." Qin Dingdong gave a wry laugh. "If being a con artist were that easy, why would I be here? This is clearly my retribution. But on the other hand, once you realize you can earn tens of thousands just by moving your lips, no amount of working or starting a business can ever satisfy you again."
"I think I understand what you mean, Sister Dong..." Chen Junnan said somberly.
"Right." Qin Dingdong nodded. "That's how important Wei Yang is to me. What I'm looking for with him is a lost version of myself. So tell me, should I follow Wei Yang's instructions or Qi Xia's instructions?"
At this point, Qiao Jiajin cleared his throat and asked, "Pretty lady, so it was that Farmer dude who told you to cause trouble?"
"Yes." Qin Dingdong nodded. "I don't know what he's insisting on. I only know he won't let anyone escape from here. On second thought, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Because I'm not sure if the real world I'd return to is truly my world. Before I figure out my past, I really can't let anyone leave this place. Otherwise, I might be trapped here forever, never knowing the truth about my origins."
Chen Junnan could only nod helplessly, indicating that he understood Qin Dingdong's reasoning.
But a question remained unanswered—can human memories be altered?
If there really existed a "Resonance" that could affect the "past," or even the world beyond the "Land of the End," how could anyone be sure their memories were correct?
He couldn't help but think of the wife Qi Xia kept mentioning.
A man who never had a wife before, yet now constantly spoke of her—had his memories been tampered with too?
"This is getting really troublesome..." Chen Junnan said. "Lao Qiao... are we still really us...?"
"What...?" Qiao Jiajin was taken aback.
"I mean... if our memories are altered and our bodies are copied, are we still who we used to be?" Chen Junnan asked, somewhat confused. "If we're not us anymore, then what are we?"
"Junnan, snap out of it... are you overthinking this?" Qiao Jiajin patted Chen Junnan on the shoulder. "Maybe this pretty lady is just too tired and has memory lapses, like you said. How can you be so sure her memories were really changed?"
Hearing this, Chen Junnan put his hand on Qiao Jiajin's shoulder and said seriously, "Lao Qiao, tell me honestly. In this godforsaken place, which is more likely—'memory confusion' or 'memory alteration'?"
"Uh..." Qiao Jiajin was momentarily at a loss for words. "That's true... but so far, we haven't seen anyone whose ability affects 'memory,' have we? It seems really hard to pull off..."
"Exactly. So we need to go ask Lao Qi about this." Chen Junnan said. "We'd better head back now. It's the 'Heavenly Serpent Hour,' and people here are probably about to start dying en masse. Not everyone can get out of danger like we can. Let's find Lao Qi and save people along the way. We can't let those Heavenly-rank bastards keep slaughtering unchecked. Our lives still have value."
"Alright." Qiao Jiajin nodded.
Chen Junnan turned to Qin Dingdong and said, "Sister Dong, I can't tell you right now whether Wei Yang's plan or Lao Qi's plan suits you better. But I'll try my best to help you find the answer. In the meantime, I hope you won't do anything."
Qin Dingdong thought it over for a moment, then agreed to Chen Junnan's request.
"Bastard. If you'd talked to me like this from the start, would we have had to argue all this time?" Qin Dingdong said. "Now get the hell out of here."
The three of them walked back in the direction they came from as the heavy rain had finally stopped. In the quiet city, distant screams occasionally echoed from afar.
...
Qi Xia had been walking under the black orb above his head for a while, but the "Earth Ox" indicated on the map was still some distance away.
He knew the so-called "Heavenly Serpent Hour" would last at most two hours. If he couldn't reach the Earth Ox's venue and confirm the other party's identity, this opportunity would be wasted.
Along the way, many "participants" were in chaos under their own black orbs. Many hadn't even figured out what was happening before the orbs pierced through their foreheads.
But a few seconds later, they would emerge from another direction with bewildered expressions, staring at their own corpses on the ground, looking even more confused.
Qi Xia tried to stay away from these chaotic "participants" to avoid getting bogged down by pointless questions. He kept cutting through alleyways.
These alleyways, deprived of sunlight for so long, seemed to have a thicker stench than the main streets. Even the air was filled with dark red dust.
He felt he probably wouldn't run into other "participants" here, so he quickened his pace without thinking.
After turning a corner, Qi Xia glanced at the map and headed right.
As soon as he stepped into this alley, he sensed something strange. There seemed to be another presence here, and he could even faintly hear odd noises.
"Is... is someone out there?"
An aged voice came from deep within the alley. Qi Xia immediately stopped.
But he still sensed trouble. A small black orb slowly floated out of the darkness until it hovered right in front of Qi Xia's brow.