Chapter 230: The Fake

Qi Xia still had his brows furrowed as he looked at Chu Tianqiu. After a moment, he spoke up and asked:

"Let me confirm... Chu Tianqiu, last time, was it to make me 'Hui Xiang,' so you staged this whole farce?"

"Yes," Chu Tianqiu nodded.

"So this time, you're acting like a lapdog with all your flattery, just to get me to use 'Hui Xiang' to help you," Qi Xia said.

"Yes."

"But it seems like you've got something wrong," Qi Xia frowned. "Our agreement doesn't include that."

"Oh?" Chu Tianqiu stroked his chin and thought for a moment. "You're right; that's something I'm adding now... So you can propose a new condition in return, and we'll try to keep things fair."

"Oh...?" Qi Xia let out a cold laugh. "Is that for real?"

"For real."

"Then don't regret it."

"I won't regret it at all!"

Chu Tianqiu's response was incredibly straightforward, almost unnaturally so.

"So... Qi Xia..." Chu Tianqiu smiled again, "This time, I'm offering my full 'true heart'—let's team up!"

"Of course," Qi Xia nodded. "If I didn't want to team up with you, why would I come here?"

"Yes... yes..." Chu Tianqiu smiled and nodded.

The group piled all the bodies in the center of the playground, forming a towering mound of corpses. There were nearly sixty bodies in total, and burying them all was simply not feasible—they'd have to let time take care of them.

However, the days ahead wouldn't be easy for everyone; "Tian Tang Kou" would now have the freshest stench from the entire "Zhong Yan Zhi Di."

Qi Xia and his teammates wiped the blood from their bodies and headed to their classroom.

"Great job, everyone!" Qiao Jiajin said with his usual energy. "Thanks for helping me move my bodies—I'll treat you all to some canned food later!"

No one really felt like responding to him.

"Fist, come over here for a second," Qi Xia said softly. "There's something I want to confirm with you."

"Oh?" Qiao Jiajin walked over to Qi Xia. "Deceiver, what's up?"

"How did you come back to life?" Qi Xia asked directly.

"Are you talking about the 'Tian Tang Kou Defense Battle'?"

Qi Xia sighed after hearing that. "What? You even gave that battle a name?"

"Yes," Qiao Jiajin nodded seriously. "I've been in so many fights; if I don't name them, it's easy to mix them up."

"Fine..." Qi Xia replied helplessly. "So, in the 'Tian Tang Kou Defense Battle', how did you come back to life?"

"It's strange, really..." Qiao Jiajin said. "Every time I felt like I'd been killed, I'd open my eyes and find myself nearby. Then I'd run back to where I was killed to get revenge. But those people were pretty tough—fighting them bare-handed was really hard."

Imagining Qiao Jiajin's bizarre ways of dying, it was clear this had been a grueling battle.

Even with his fighting skills, he'd died so many times—what chance would an ordinary person have?

"But it seemed like those invaders were even more afraid than I was..." Qiao Jiajin said, puzzled. "I didn't get scared when I was killed, so what were they afraid of?"

Qi Xia paused for a moment, then asked: "Back then... I mean, at that time... did you see...?"

At this point, Qi Xia subtly pointed toward Yu Nian'an, who was not far away.

"Oh? Are you asking if this girl was at the scene of the 'Tian Tang Kou Counterattack Battle'?"

"'Tian Tang Kou Counterattack Battle'...?" Qi Xia sighed helplessly again. "Did you see her there?"

"No," Qiao Jiajin shook his head. "After the kung fu girl and I successfully defended, we searched for all the survivors in 'Tian Tang Kou' and didn't find this girl."

Hearing this, Qi Xia felt a headache coming on again.

He was trying to figure out if the Yu Nian'an in front of him was a product of 'Hui Xiang'.

But now it seemed she wasn't something he'd created—was she the real one?

Why would the real one suddenly appear in the interview room?

"At the time, the doctor guy, the big guy, and a few others whose names I don't remember survived—only six people in total," Qiao Jiajin said. "The writer died, the psychologist died, and everyone else in 'Tian Tang Kou' did too. This 'Tian Tang Kou Defense Battle' was a huge loss."

"'Tian Tang Kou Defense Battle'...?" Qi Xia stared into Qiao Jiajin's eyes and finally couldn't hold back. "Fist, promise me, don't make up names like that anymore."

After chatting with Qiao Jiajin for a bit, Qi Xia went over to Yu Nian'an.

Yu Nian'an was staring blankly at the sky, lost in thought.

"An, are you okay?" Qi Xia asked.

"I... I don't know," Yu Nian'an shook her head. "Xia, this place is so strange. Aren't we just dreaming?"

"I wish we were," Qi Xia said, taking Yu Nian'an's hand and sitting her down beside him. "An, do you remember how you got here?"

"How I got here?" Yu Nian'an thought for a moment. "I also find it pretty weird..."

"Oh?"

"I've been here for about four or five days... The people I've met are all strange, the air smells bad, the sky is red... And..."

"Hold on..." Qi Xia said, his eyes widening slowly.

"What is it?"

"You said you've... been here how long?" Qi Xia asked quietly.

"Four or five days," Yu Nian'an replied.

Another lightning bolt seemed to strike Qi Xia's mind.

Fake.

It was fake again!

"The reason I suddenly appeared by your side..." Yu Nian'an pondered. "It seems to be related to some strange person."

Qi Xia didn't say anything, just let Yu Nian'an continue on her own.

"That person seemed to have some special ability. About three days ago, she grabbed my hand and said, 'You have to understand, as long as your loved one appears, you'll definitely see him.' That girl repeated it five or six times—I felt like she wasn't quite right in the head."

Qi Xia furrowed his brows. So, this fake Yu Nian'an had come here because of some 'Hui Xiang'.

She was definitely a product of Qi Xia's previous 'Hui Xiang'.

But she hadn't appeared in 'Tian Tang Kou'; instead, she'd been wandering around 'Zhong Yan Zhi Di' and then met some 'Hui Xiang' user. For some reason, that person had helped her, making it so she could "see her loved one."

So when Qi Xia showed up, this stand-in for Yu Nian'an appeared too.

That explained everything and also proved something else—the created Yu Nian'an wouldn't disappear with the 'Zhong Yan Zhi Di'; she wasn't counted among the participants.

"Xia, what's wrong with you?" Yu Nian'an noticed Qi Xia seemed off. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

After confirming that the Yu Nian'an in front of him was a stand-in, Qi Xia had nothing more to say to her.

His feelings were only for the real Yu Nian'an, not for a substitute.

"It's nothing," Qi Xia said, his expression cold as he shook his head.

"That's good..." Yu Nian'an gave a bitter smile. "By the way, Xia, yesterday at noon was really weird—I saw a lot of people turn to dust right in front of me. I thought I'd never see you again."