Chapter 541: Tattoo

Could a small door block those black lines?

Or perhaps… this is a tactic used by "Ji Dao"?

"Can you escape from those black lines' pursuit?" Qi Xia asked again.

"Don't even mention it…" Lao Sun shook his head. "Kid, if it weren't for you, we probably could have rested here for ten minutes. But you showed up and threw off our plan."

After saying that, he glanced at the plump man. "Lao Deng, are you done yet?"

The plump man continued chanting with his eyes closed for a moment, then opened them and said, "Almost… it should have shifted over."

Qi Xia listened carefully and heard a faint "thud" from outside, as if someone had fallen.

"What did you do?"

The girl in white saw Qi Xia's expression but didn't answer his question. Instead, she slowly crossed her arms over her chest and asked softly, "What's your name?"

"Qi Xia."

"Qi Xia… Do you know me?"

"If you haven't heard of my name, then we probably don't know each other." Qi Xia furrowed his brow. "But your demeanor feels familiar."

"Your demeanor is somewhat familiar too." The girl in white sneered. "These eyes of yours always remind me of some past events."

The girl in white's words made Qi Xia feel that things weren't simple. Could he have really met her before?

Yet, she clearly had a high level of sophistication. With members of "Ji Dao" standing on both sides of her, her status in "Ji Dao" was evidently not low.

Would he really have any connection with these lunatics?

"I'm Yan Zhi Chun," the girl said.

"Yi Yan Zhi Chun." Qi Xia nodded. "Nice name."

"Thanks to me, you get to rest here for a few minutes." Yan Zhi Chun turned back, picked up a bottle of water from the table, and handed it to Qi Xia. "There's a back door here. You can escape through it in a bit. We're just strangers who crossed paths, so I'll leave you with a name and a bottle of water. That's as kind as I can be."

Qi Xia still didn't fully understand the situation. Even Chen Jun Nan and Qian Wu hadn't mentioned anything about a "rest period" in this game.

"Do you happen to have some kind of 'Hui Xiang' that can counter 'Tian Ma Shi Ke'?"

The three of them exchanged glances upon hearing that. Yan Zhi Chun stepped forward and said slowly to Qi Xia, "You seem a bit too clever. Being overly clever in a place like this without hiding it can put you in danger."

"How so?" Qi Xia sensed a threatening undertone in her words but wasn't affected. "I've seen through your secrets, so now you want to kill me?"

"Interesting." Yan Zhi Chun nodded. "I like meeting clever people, especially someone like you who's defiant, wild, and arrogant."

"I only like meeting sincere people," Qi Xia replied.

"So, do you want to leave an address? We could keep in closer touch later."

"With your 'Ji Dao'?" Qi Xia instantly recalled the scenes of Qiao Jia Jin and Tian Tian being killed by "Ji Dao," and his face turned icy cold. "No need. I just have a few questions for you."

"Questions?"

Qi Xia stepped forward, fixing his gaze on the girl in front of him. When they were just two steps apart, he caught the scent on her.

It was the smell of pine-scented laundry detergent mixed with lily-of-the-valley shampoo.

In that instant, he felt his mind completely chaos, even losing the ability to think clearly.

Wasn't this exactly the scent on Yu Nian An?

"Why…?" Qi Xia asked blankly. "Why are there so many coincidences?"

Yan Zhi Chun didn't know what Qi Xia meant; she just stared at him coldly. The man in front of her seemed clever enough, but he also gave off a sense of madness.

"What coincidences? What are you trying to say?"

Qi Xia closed his eyes, feeling as if Yu Nian An was standing right in front of him. But as soon as this woman spoke, it shattered his illusion—after all, their voices were completely different.

"Yan Zhi Chun, where is your hometown?" Qi Xia asked.

"Hebei Cangzhou."

"Hebei…" Hearing that answer, Qi Xia felt a clear sense of disappointment. They were two entirely different people.

But why were there so many coincidences in the world?

Their clothing, silhouettes, figures, and even their scents were identical.

Not to mention in this limited space of the "Zhong Yan Zhi Di," even in the real world, what were the odds of meeting someone like that?

"What did you do before coming here?" Qi Xia asked again.

Yan Zhi Chun's expression turned a bit ugly with these successive questions. As one of the top figures in "Ji Dao," her principles were always about secrecy and deception, yet this man kept probing into her past.

"Does it have anything to do with you?" Yan Zhi Chun frowned and retorted. "Is this what you meant by questions?"

"Consider it as me owing you a favor." Qi Xia said. "I really want to know the answer."

Seeing the hint of plea in Qi Xia's usually cold eyes, Yan Zhi Chun softened a bit and, almost involuntarily, replied, "I'm just an English major in university, currently looking for an internship. Is this question that important to you?"

"These questions aren't really important…" Qi Xia shook his head. "The most important one is… have you ever heard the name 'Yu Nian An'?"

Yan Zhi Chun thought for a moment and then shook her head. "Never heard of it. Which room is she from?"

Qi Xia could tell the girl in front of him wasn't lying—at least, her expression didn't suggest it. He could only keep turning the situation over in his mind.

All the paths he'd deduced before were no longer worth pursuing—they would only lead to wrong answers.

Now, meeting this girl Yan Zhi Chun seemed to open a new path.

If his memories could be altered by himself, was there a possibility that…

The Yu Nian An in his memories and dreams wasn't her true self?

Due to some unknown reason, he had changed Yu Nian An's appearance… maybe for disguise, or perhaps to escape something?

Qi Xia felt certain he had met Yan Zhi Chun before, though their personalities didn't match, so the chances of him remembering her were zero.

But what exactly happened back then… that would make him borrow Yan Zhi Chun's body and place Yu Nian An's soul in it?

"Any more questions?" Yan Zhi Chun asked.

"None." Qi Xia shook his head. "To hear the truth in the morning is enough to die content in the evening."

"So, do you want to come with us?" Yan Zhi Chun stared at Qi Xia. "Lao Deng's 'Hui Xiang' won't last much longer. Those black lines will finish off the 'Kui Ei' outside and come after you next."

"'Kui Ei'…" Qi Xia seemed to understand something and nodded. "I've rested enough. Let's part ways here."

He knew the most important thing now wasn't to get tangled with this "body," but to find Yu Nian An's "soul."

"Where's the back door?" Qi Xia asked.

Yan Zhi Chun turned and pointed in a direction.

But as she extended her finger, Qi Xia's eyes widened instantly, and a buzzing sound filled his ears.

On the side of Yan Zhi Chun's index finger, there were three letters tattooed.

"YNA."