Chapter 836: Guardian of Hope
"Qian Wu did lie after all..." Qi Xia mumbled to himself.
"What?"
He briefly shared his speculation with the others, a peculiar look appearing in his eyes.
It was entirely possible that Qian Wu had deceived everyone in the "Cat" organization, making them fight relentlessly without knowing the truth.
But for the "Cat"... for Qian Wu...
What other choice did he have?
Although the "Cat" team wasn't large in number, and each member had a stubborn and unruly nature, they were all outstanding "Echoers."
These people might have truly made mistakes in the real world or once let their families down, but at this very moment, they were all striving for their families, willing to die a miserable death here time and again without regret.
This was the "path of redemption" they sought in the sunless hell.
Qian Wu wouldn't expose this lie, and neither would they. Even if members of the "Cat" team noticed something off in certain aspects, they would absolutely believe unconditionally that their families would truly become wealthy in the future—this was probably the last line of defense sustaining their sanity over such a long time.
Thinking carefully about the actions of Chu Tianqiu and Qian Wu, one would find it very abnormal that they had "traded" with the "Zodiacs."
Everyone here said that the "Land of the End" was filled with sinners who deserved to go to hell—people who had broken the law, done wrong, or spent their lives drowning in regret. They claimed that on the way to hell, these people were pulled here to select a "god."
It was supposed to be a place full of villains, but ironically, the two people who chose to take risks and trade with the "Zodiacs"—both Chu Tianqiu and Qian Wu—did so not for themselves.
They could have been selfish and given up on this choice.
Chu Tianqiu had painstakingly built an organization to provide food and help to others, while Qian Wu had built one to make everyone stronger and find redemption.
Yet in the end, the ones who truly ended up with nothing were these two leaders. Chu Tianqiu had completely abandoned this path, but Qian Wu was still persisting.
Compared to other members of their organizations, these two leaders not only received no tangible rewards but also had to dig out the eyeballs of countless teammates as currency, then cover their own eyes with hands stained with their teammates' blood, deceiving everyone, and finally bear a heavy psychological burden.
Even if one day everyone in the organizations found redemption, these two could never go back to how they were before.
If there was a "root cause" for this situation... then Qian Wu's root cause must be Chen Junnan, and Chen Junnan's root cause was himself.
What about Chu Tianqiu?
Qi Xia stroked his chin and felt the answer was very obvious—his root cause was Wen Qiaoyun. He was carrying the mission that Wen Qiaoyun should have completed.
Everyone here was holding onto a hope that was almost invisible.
How important is "hope" to a thinking life?
In the 1950s, Dr. Curt Richter, a scientist at Johns Hopkins University, conducted an experiment about "hope."
He threw a white rat into a bottle filled with water. To survive, the rat struggled in the water, but after fifteen minutes of struggling with no way to escape, it exhausted itself and drowned in the bottle.
Later, he improved the experiment. Just as the rat was about to drown, he reached in and pulled it out, giving it a moment to catch its breath, then threw it back into the water.
The experimental results changed dramatically from then on. How long did this second rat struggle after being thrown back into the water?
Not fifteen minutes, not an hour, not even a day.
It struggled for a full sixty hours in that water-filled bottle, always believing that a hand would reach in and pull it out at some point—but that hand never came in the end.
That is the power "hope" gives to life.
As long as hope exists, even if everyone in this damned place is drowning in water they can't breathe, they will never choose to give up.
"I don't think Qian Wu was lying to me," Qi Xia said. "Although he did trade with the 'Zodiacs,' I suspect even he doesn't know where those eyeballs were used."
"Is that possible...?" Chen Junnan asked. "He knows that 'Black Tortoise's' abilities are 'Indestructible' and 'Forget Sorrow,' so wouldn't he have figured it out?"
"He was curious, but he couldn't figure it out," Qi Xia said. "After all, he didn't know what 'Heavenly Snake' was doing, nor could he connect those eyeballs to the 'Divine Beasts' abilities right away."
"That makes sense. Who the hell else would think of that except a madman?" Chen Junnan said. "Who in their right mind would gouge out eyes and stick them on someone else's back?"
"Now we can basically get a general understanding of the 'Divine Beasts' abilities..." Qi Xia said. "The 'Cat' gathered all these people with different 'Echoes,' which conveniently lets us see the 'Divine Beasts' abilities directly. Come to think of it, even Black Tortoise's 'Pocket Reach' ultimately comes from the 'Cat.'"
After saying this, Qi Xia paused, then looked up at the street around him.
"Wait... if that's the case... then could this city itself also come from an 'Echo'... and most likely from the 'Cat's' 'Echo'..."
Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin were both startled and said, "'Ingenuity'...?"
"No wonder... no wonder..." Qi Xia said, his eyes flickering. "No wonder this is the only place where a city can be found... Five cities floating atop a vast void... How insane does a person have to be to do something like that?"
"What... cities floating on a void?" Chen Junnan asked. "What else have you remembered, you bastard?"
"It's a long story..." Qi Xia shook his head. "I suspect someone created the world out of nothing in the void, building cities from scratch... because in other places, I never..."
He stopped abruptly, swallowing the words he was about to say.
"Huh? What do you mean by 'out of nothing'...?"
"Haven't you noticed?" Qi Xia snapped back to reality and pointed at the dilapidated buildings around them. "The buildings here are hard to date. It seems like every era has its shops. Not only are there skyscrapers, but there are also farms, schools, and prisons existing at the same time. Under normal circumstances, how could these four types of buildings be so close together?"
"It's always been like that, hasn't it?" Chen Junnan said. "What's the problem?"
"No problem, except I know who built this city..." Qi Xia said. "This is an astonishing act."