Chapter 794: Verification of Identity
"Hey!!" The old man tried to shield his eyes from the sand and dust falling into them, shouting frantically, "Who are you? Why are you doing this?"
Qixia pushed the dirt around the pit down again and again. He could only say that everything was destined by fate. When he tried to cross the alley to look for the earth ox, he had accidentally discovered the old man digging.
What this old man had found must never be allowed to spread. No... to be precise, anyone could know, but 'The Heavenly Dragon' absolutely could not.
"You're just unlucky," Qixia said. "I don't remember many things, but this happens to be one of them."
Seeing that the other party was determined to kill him, the old man quickly tried to find a way out of the pit, which was only a few square meters. He pushed the sand and dirt against the wall, then stepped on the wall and struggled to climb up.
A few minutes later, as soon as his head popped out, a shovel hit him right in the face. He let out a miserable scream and fell back into the pit.
That blow was heavy. It not only stunned the old man but also made him lose his sense of direction. He only felt a burning pain on his face, pitch black all around, and couldn't even tell whether he was lying face up or face down.
But the scream helped Qixia locate him. He kept dumping dirt onto the old man until he was completely motionless.
In less than ten minutes, all the excavated dirt around had been filled back into the pit, and the ground became flat again.
Before the kerosene lamp went out, Qixia stepped on it, tamping the ground even flatter with his feet.
His mind was slightly unsettled.
"My apologies," Qixia said with a complex expression. "Dying here means no loss. Besides, none of us should continue living... I forgot—I don't even have 'sorrow' anymore."
Using the last flicker of the kerosene lamp, he looked at the shovel in his hand and said gloomily, "But you won't be too lonely. After all, someone will lie here with you. That person won't be treated as well as you, though—he doesn't even have a grave."
With that, he turned the shovel around, aimed the metal part at his own neck, and then suddenly exerted force.
At that moment, the kerosene lamp went out with a snap, plunging the alley back into deathly silence.
A few minutes later, Qixia emerged from the alley. A pitch-black bead hovered above his head. As if nothing had happened, he walked away expressionlessly.
...
Yan Zhichun and Jiang Ruoxue hurriedly took a few steps forward, beads floating above their heads, and called out to Lin Qin and Wen Qiaoyun ahead.
Just as the two were about to ask something, Jiang Ruoxue raised a hand to stop them.
Before they could speak, Jiang Ruoxue explained the origin of the black beads above their heads.
Fortunately, both of them were sharp. After hearing her story, they instantly understood the power of these beads. Lin Qin had been killed once during the 'Pegasus Moment' and never wanted to experience that sensation of being pierced through the forehead again.
"I see..." Wen Qiaoyun nodded. "In that case, I suggest we ask some common-sense questions now to use up the beads above our heads."
"That would be best," Jiang Ruoxue said. "If I hadn't experienced it before, maybe we would have died inexplicably while chatting."
"I agree," Yan Zhichun said, then turned to look at Lin Qin.
"No objection either."
Seeing that all four agreed, Jiang Ruoxue said to Wen Qiaoyun, "You go first."
Wen Qiaoyun nodded and said to Jiang Ruoxue, "Then I'll ask: How many days are in a week?"
Her bead flew toward Jiang Ruoxue.
"Seven days," Jiang Ruoxue replied.
The bead shattered with a pop. Seeing that this method could indeed destroy the bead, Wen Qiaoyun looked very pleased, but the other three remained expressionless.
"My turn," Jiang Ruoxue said.
"Okay," Wen Qiaoyun nodded. "Don't ask anything too hard. Just some common-sense questions."
Jiang Ruoxue looked at Wen Qiaoyun and nodded. "Alright. What is 'Trauma Theory'?"
As soon as she spoke, the bead above Jiang Ruoxue's head flew toward Wen Qiaoyun and hovered right in front of her forehead.
Upon hearing this question, Yan Zhichun and Lin Qin both became serious, silently watching Wen Qiaoyun.
This was a perfect opportunity to verify her identity. If she was truly the leader who had dominated the scene thirty years ago, such a simple question would be a piece of cake.
Wen Qiaoyun's brow furrowed noticeably at the question.
She had just been insisting on asking 'common-sense questions,' but now the woman in front of her had thrown out what sounded like an academic question. Wen Qiaoyun's mind was filled with a thousand doubts.
What exactly did this woman want? Was she trying to kill her?
But now, with the bead hovering at her forehead, Wen Qiaoyun dared not speak rashly.
This move by Jiang Ruoxue undoubtedly made Wen Qiaoyun lose all goodwill toward her. Staring blankly at the black bead for a long time, she swallowed her saliva, closed her eyes, and replied:
"I don't know."
Those four brief words stunned the other three for a moment. But before anyone could say anything, the black bead in front of Wen Qiaoyun shattered with a pop.
Finding herself still alive, Wen Qiaoyun slowly opened her eyes and then chuckled. "So saying 'I don't know' works too?"
"No..." Jiang Ruoxue frowned. "It only means you really don't know."
"I really don't know," Wen Qiaoyun laughed. "That question sounds ridiculous. Most people wouldn't know, right?"
The three beside her exchanged glances, each harboring different thoughts. At that moment, Jiang Ruoxue looked at Lin Qin, who nodded knowingly.
Wen Qiaoyun thought she had finally escaped the death crisis, but Lin Qin beside her suddenly spoke up.
"Wen Qiaoyun, what did you do before you came here?"
A brand new bead floated from above Lin Qin's head to Wen Qiaoyun's forehead.
Only then did Wen Qiaoyun feel that the three people in front of her seemed to be in league, working together to extract some information from her.
But now, she felt as if a gun was pressed against her head. She dared not speak carelessly, nor could she tell lies.
Just now, the woman had said she survived by saying 'I don't know' because she 'really didn't know.' That meant lying might get her killed on the spot.
"Before I came here... I was just a cashier at a convenience store," Wen Qiaoyun answered.
The second bead shattered under this unassailable answer.
"A cashier..." Lin Qin frowned slowly. She knew this answer was true.
When she first met Wen Qiaoyun, the latter had lost her sanity and was hiding in a convenience store.
Since all 'natives' mechanically repeat the lives they lived before, Wen Qiaoyun was indeed Wen Qiaoyun.
Or rather, in the real world, she was just a store clerk.
So how could such a person have led the 'participants' thirty years ago?