Chapter 838: Embodiment
"Lao Qiao, what's wrong?" Chen Junnan asked from the side.
Qiao Jiajin stared at the telephone pole in front of him and muttered, "Are all the buildings in this place really built using 'Echo'?"
"Yes," Qi Xia nodded.
"That bastard called 'Celestial Dragon'... treats this place like a dream and messes around with it however he wants," Qiao Jiajin said. "But why would he build a city...?"
"I don't know. All I can say is..." Qi Xia murmured to himself, "This place wasn't a city before. It suddenly became like this one day. And because everyone experienced a collective memory gap, no one noticed anything strange."
Qiao Jiajin continued to stroke the telephone pole in front of him, then suddenly felt something odd.
He firmly believed that every object had its own heartbeat—but this time, he genuinely seemed to feel the heartbeat of the telephone pole. This seemingly ordinary pole was now emitting an almost imperceptible pulse. It was alive.
Qiao Jiajin quickly moved to a dilapidated building, placed his hand on it, and slowly closed his eyes.
After a long moment, he frowned. This building also had its own 'heartbeat,' but it clearly radiated a rhythm different from that of the telephone pole.
Why would something created by 'Crafty Artifact' have its own rhythm? Did it have a pulse?
"Liar... these things... were they really created by 'Crafty Artifact'?"
"What's up?" Qi Xia asked.
"I can feel the 'pulse'..." Qiao Jiajin said. "Liar, have you ever seen a city that pulses? Have you ever seen buildings in a city that pulse?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Junnan followed suit, walked over to the building, reached out and touched it, then knocked hard on it.
Aside from any 'pulse,' these cold stones didn't even make the slightest sound.
Qi Xia looked into Qiao Jiajin's eyes, didn't answer his question, but simply said calmly, "Fist, now I need to tell you something very important."
"What is it?" Qiao Jiajin looked at Qi Xia with a bewildered expression.
"One word from you could not only make everyone in this place disappear forever but also turn the entire city into nothingness," Qi Xia said. "Fist, your 'Art Breaker' can end everything."
Qiao Jiajin was not surprised by this answer, after all, Xu Liunian had already told him.
What surprised him was that Qi Xia would actually say it himself.
"Liar, do you want to end all of this?" Qiao Jiajin asked. "Won't it mess up your plan?"
"Of course I don't want to end it," Qi Xia said. "But I'm afraid that one day I'll lose control."
"Lose control...?"
Qi Xia pointed to his temple and said, "Right now, all my sanity is held together by a single extremely rigid string. Apart from that string, everything else is mad."
"Liar... are you really okay?" Qiao Jiajin asked with a frown.
"I'm fine right now. My thoughts are exceptionally clear, and I'm completely in sync with all the lunatics in this place," Qi Xia said. "But the problem now is precisely that I've retained that last shred of sanity."
"Isn't it good to keep your sanity?"
"Not entirely good," Qi Xia replied. "This state allows me to do my final reasoning and thinking, but it prevents me from unleashing the most powerful 'Echo.' I can't have both. I have to choose one or the other."
"Choose between your own sanity...?" Qiao Jiajin's eyes flickered. "Liar, your own sanity—how are you going to choose?"
"I've 'embodied' my sanity. I can see every corner of my own heart, and I know what it is that I ultimately cannot let go of yet must let go. When the time comes, I will actively destroy my own sanity," Qi Xia said. "Fist, this is not something you need to worry about, but I will hand over the decision-making power to you."
"Decision-making power?"
"When I lose all my sanity, I don't know if things will go as I expect. If at any point you think I'm doing wrong, then by all means, break my spell," Qi Xia said seriously. "Remember, if you want to kill everyone, you must use 'Art Breaker' on me. If you want to destroy the entire city, you must use 'Art Breaker' on 'Celestial Dragon.' Using your 'Echo' on just the people or the buildings here won't work. You have to find the 'source.'"
"Liar..."
"Fist, just like how using 'Art Breaker' on a 'Zodiac' won't turn their physique back to normal," Qi Xia said. "You have to find the caster. Those 'Zodiacs' don't get their enhanced physiques from their own 'Echo.'"
"But Liar... you..." Qiao Jiajin turned around, his face serious. "I have no idea what you're going to do. How am I supposed to judge what's 'right' or 'wrong' for you?"
"Use your instinct," Qi Xia said. "Trust the instinct in your own heart. If you think it's right, it's right. If you think it's wrong, it's wrong."
Qiao Jiajin was silent for a few seconds, then said, "This sounds like you're giving a last will. I don't really like this feeling."
"There's no like or dislike," Qi Xia said. "Everything I do is to get everyone to escape. That's what I've always wanted to do. Even if you don't like it, I'll still do it."
Chen Junnan was taken aback. "Wait a minute, Lao Qi... you said you want to let everyone... escape?"
"That's right," Qi Xia nodded. "Not a single one left. Everyone escapes."
"Escape to where?" Chen Junnan asked.
"Escape to the place where we're supposed to live," Qi Xia said, then paused for a long time before adding, "Escape to a place where I can live with Yu Nian'an."
"Lao Qi, are you really not lying...?" Chen Junnan asked skeptically. "So far, no one has ever escaped from here, and yet you want to take everyone away?"
"I'm not sure if I'm lying. My chances of success are very slim," Qi Xia said. "Probably at most thirty percent. But even those thirty percent are the highest ever. For that thirty percent, I'll lose my sanity and bet everything. If I succeed, then every word I say will be true. If I fail, then every word I say will be false."
Qiao Jiajin stood there stunned for a long time, then finally asked, "Liar, do you remember what I said when we first teamed up?"
"I remember," Qi Xia nodded. "You said you have the fists, and I have the brain, so we work together."
"But in the end, you decided to give up your 'brain,'" Qiao Jiajin said. "Without your brain and your sanity... can you still be considered you?"