Chapter 793: Buried Alive
"Oh?" Qi Xia replied indifferently.
The old man before him was clearly displeased with this reaction.
"What do you mean by that attitude, young man?!" the old man said. "Do you think I'm crazy?!"
"I just wanted to ask you..." Qi Xia said, "A person who can neither see nor hear, can't smell anything, and can't eat anything... can such a thing still be called a 'person'?"
"Why not?!" the old man finished speaking, then blinked suddenly. "No wonder... this is exactly what those 'archaeologists' on TV have been researching all along! Studying how people in ancient times survived! That's right! I am now an archaeologist of the 'Land of the End'... I must uphold my research findings!"
Qi Xia didn't reply, merely staring coldly at the old man.
He was actually referring to bones from ten years ago as "ancient times."
The old man shook his head and continued, "What a pity... Originally, I could 'Echo' just by digging in the ground, but this time it's like I'm cursed—the deeper I dig, the less I 'Echo'... Strange. I probably need to dig even deeper..."
"Stop digging," Qi Xia said coldly. "If you keep digging, something will happen to you."
"Something happen...?" The old man paused briefly, then revealed a slightly nervous smile. "Young man, do you know something?!"
"No, I don't," Qi Xia shook his head.
"Tell me!" the old man said excitedly. "I'm really too curious! This question has been bothering me. The 'Participants' who were active here ten years ago—were they all people without faces?! What a great discovery that would be! Just like you said... Could it be that they couldn't even walk? Did they have their own ways of obtaining information from the outside world? How did they communicate?"
Qi Xia continued to stare coldly at the old man, then slowly took a step back.
Standing beside the pit, the old man's eyes kept flickering: "Is it like this for all of them... or did only a few mutate? There are many skulls without faces in this pit... It's safe to say they formed a tribe!"
"I said, stop digging," Qi Xia said softly behind the old man. "If you could give up studying this question, you would come to a good end."
"How can I resist studying?!" the old man said. "The origin of all progress in this world is 'curiosity'! Since I already know about this, I will definitely find the answer... They're just some bones. Would the one who rules this place kill me over a few bones?"
"They wouldn't, but someone else might," Qi Xia said.
"Even if I die, it doesn't matter..." the old man continued. "Even if I die, I will still study."
Qi Xia stared at the old man's back in silence, feeling that 'curiosity' was like a plague growing on him—incurable, inescapable, and ultimately fatal.
The old man kept muttering under his breath. Perhaps he truly hadn't been crazy when Qi Xia first met him, but the joy of unearthing this skull was gradually driving him insane.
He thought he had found the ultimate answer, not realizing that this skull was a ticket out of the cycle.
After muttering for a while, the old man noticed that the young man behind him had been silent for a long time. He turned around, about to say something, when he suddenly saw a hand push against his chest.
The force of the hand was neither too strong nor too weak—just enough to push him into the pit behind him.
The old man hadn't expected the young man behind him to suddenly reach out. Unable to grab onto anything, he fell straight down.
*Thud!*
With a dull thud, the old man let out a moan. But the pit wasn't deep, and the soil at the bottom was soft enough. He quickly stood up and shouted upward, "What's the meaning of this?! Young man?! What are you trying to do?!"
He waited for a moment and saw Qi Xia appear at the edge of the pit, holding a kerosene lamp. The dim light shone on his pale gray eyes, making him look like a demon.
"I warned you," Qi Xia said. "But you refused to listen."
"Warned me...?" The old man suddenly understood. "You don't want me to keep investigating?! Why?!"
Qi Xia didn't answer, just staring coldly down at the old man from above.
The old man felt a chill run through his body from that gaze. He hurriedly lowered his head and pulled another skull out of the pit with both hands.
"Young man, don't you believe me?!" The old man raised the skull, showing it to Qi Xia. "Look! There are more down here! The whole place is full of them! The ground is filled with the bones of faceless people! Aren't you curious about what happened?"
"I'm not curious," Qi Xia said. "Because I already know the answer."
"What...?!" The old man blinked.
"I can't let this answer be known by others, so you have to die," Qi Xia said.
Hearing this, the old man slowly looked up. It was clear that he wasn't afraid of death, but he regretted not being able to learn the truth. The look of reluctance on his face far outweighed his fear.
"What kind of logic is that...?" he said. "You know the answer and you're fine... but I have to die for knowing it?"
"That's right," Qi Xia said. "At this point, there can't be any more trouble. So I'm sorry, but you'll have to bear with it."
"You..." The old man slowly lowered his head. "It's useless... Even if you kill me, even if I don't retain my memories, I will still be curious about what's underground. I will eventually dig up all the secrets... I will find the answer here someday. How will you stop me then?"
This was what Qi Xia least wanted to hear.
With a gloomy look, he said, "I didn't expect there to be someone like you here. Everyone is thinking about how to conquer the games, how to get away from the city, and ultimately how to escape from here. But you're curious about what's underground."
"Is that wrong?!" the old man looked up and said, "Maybe if I keep digging through the ground, I'll find a way out that no one has ever discovered! Young man... wouldn't you really consider joining me?!"
"No," Qi Xia replied. "When you truly dig through the ground, you'll find an endless abyss waiting for you."
"What...?" The old man was stunned. "Then where exactly are we? And why are these bodies buried underground? You don't have to tell me... I'll definitely find the answer... someday!!"
"Don't worry," Qi Xia said. "You won't have a next cycle."
"What?!"
Qi Xia slowly took a step back and disappeared into the darkness.
"Hey! Don't go!" the old man shouted. "What nonsense are you talking about?! I won't have a next cycle?! Who do you think you are—'God'?!"
There was a rustling sound from outside the pit, but no one spoke.
Before the old man could shout a second time, the skull was thrown back in, followed by a large amount of dirt falling from above.