Chapter 1068: Experiment

Qi Xia avoided everyone along the way and arrived at the room marked with "Si".

Although he was now in the opponent's territory, the place still seemed safe, with no one having entered.

He reached out and touched the solitary "Men" standing in the center. It was his first time making contact with these strange portals, so he couldn't help but look at it more closely.

From the outside, these "Men" looked just like ordinary doors—common wooden material with shaky, decayed craftsmanship.

Why did these "Men" appear so ordinary yet have the ability to lead anywhere else?

Qi Xia turned the handle and slowly pushed the "Men" open.

On the other side was a bookstore.

Qi Xia stood in the doorway, frowning slightly. He recalled the location Chen Jun Nan had mentioned earlier and felt he hadn't gone wrong, but why was there a bookstore on the other side?

A snake as white as light, with its back to the "Men", seemed to sense something and slowly turned around, meeting Qi Xia's gaze.

"Brat...?"

"You...?" Qi Xia pondered for a few seconds, sensing that the situation differed from what he had imagined.

"I didn't expect anyone could actually enter this place." Bai She laughed. "Come on, you damn brat, come in and read."

"I'll pass." Qi Xia replied coldly. "I'll close the door for now. I might come back later."

"Close the door...?"

Without another word, Qi Xia shut the door and walked to the corner of the room. He took out the three "Zi" he had on him.

"Bing", "Shi", "Shi".

One of the "Shi" was crooked and clearly fake.

Qi Xia placed the fake "Shi" on the ground, then went over and opened the door again. On the other side was still the bookstore.

Bai She blinked, finding Qi Xia's behavior odd, and was about to ask something when he saw Qi Xia silently close the "Men" once more.

To verify his final hypothesis, Qi Xia placed the "Bing" on the ground as well and opened the "Men" holding only the real "Shi".

Still the bookstore.

"Isn't this... you brat, are you messing with me?"

"No." Qi Xia answered. "I'm conducting an experiment."

"You brat, what's the point of this stupid experiment?" Bai She frowned and scolded. "If you're coming in, just come in. Why keep opening the 'Men' here?"

"I'm on my own." Qi Xia said again. "If I go in, we'd have to fight, and I don't see the need."

"Uh..."

Bai She thought about it and felt Qi Xia had a point, then asked, "So, what experiment are you doing?"

"I'm figuring out a way so that when I open the door, I won't see you." Qi Xia said. "And I've found it now."

"Found it...?"

"Anything else to say?" Qi Xia asked. "Next time I open the 'Men', it won't be you I'll see."

Bai She sighed and walked up to the door.

The two faced each other, yet it felt like they were separated by a vast distance.

Bai She glanced inside the door and saw the dark space and the figures high above, knowing this wasn't the place for conversation.

He paused, then said, "Anyway... stay safe. If you die there, no one will collect your body."

"I'll take your good wishes, and you too."

Qi Xia gave Bai She a meaningful look and closed the "Men".

He pulled the real "Shi" from his pocket and threw it on the ground, leaving only the "Bing" with him. He took a deep breath and opened the "Men" again.

Inside was a very rudimentary space, with just a "Sheng Xiao" and a table.

The situation was about what Qi Xia had imagined. Once a chess piece that couldn't "cross the river" did so, opening the "Men" would trigger a "Di Ji You Xi".

Fortunately, he hadn't entered the room with an enemy, or being locked in a "Di Ji You Xi" would mean no guarantee of survival.

It could even lead to a life-or-death gamble with the "Di Ji Sheng Xiao", with a very high risk of death.

Seeing Qi Xia standing in the doorway, the "She" inside slowly stood up.

The two had met not long ago, when the person-snake had opened the door to let the group into the corridor. But now, meeting again after a few days, it felt like a lifetime had passed.

Ren She hesitated for a while before slowly uttering two words: "You are..."

"I am."

Ren She saw Qi Xia's decisive response and looked into his gray-white eyes, knowing there was nothing more to ask.

Yang Ge had never escaped from the beginning.

Ren She slowly lowered his head and touched the nearly worn-out book in his hands: "How do you prove that you..."

"This is the proof." Qi Xia reached out and tapped the book on the table.

Ren She had nothing to say, only feeling an unprecedented emptiness welling up inside him.

This emptiness gripped him like a rope, making it hard to breathe and leaving all his words stuck in his throat.

If Yang Ge had never escaped... what had he been holding on to all this time?

On one side was the person most important to him, and on the other, the deepest obsession in his heart.

Now that the person had returned, the obsession had vanished like smoke. So, was this joy or sorrow?

He had hoped Yang Ge would never leave, yet also hoped he had truly gone.

But he never wanted Yang Ge to become a "participant" and relive everything.

It was like choosing to linger between moving forward and retreating, or cycling between survival and destruction.

If even Yang Ge couldn't escape this place, who could be sure of leaving?

Qi Xia turned and closed the door, then walked over to Ren She and slowly sat down.

He looked around the room, finding it too plain, like a rundown building found on any street.

"Yang Ge..." Ren She choked up. "You were gone for almost a month, so what's going on now?"

"It's a long story." Qi Xia replied. "I became a 'Sheng Xiao' not to become 'Tian', but for this very moment."

"What...?"

"In short, every time I felt I couldn't 'win', so I chose to 'lose'." Qi Xia continued. "Luckily, everything is going according to plan now, so you don't need to worry."

Ren She nodded, seeming lost in thought.

"You're not just here to confirm my identity, are you?" Qi Xia asked.

"I promised Lao Hei and Pei Qian Hu to verify your identity..."

Ren She gripped the book full of problems tightly in his hands, crumpling its corners. He felt incredibly sad but didn't know why.

"They must have already confirmed it." Qi Xia said. "And I believe you didn't call me here just for that."

"What..."

"Does Bai Yang have any message for me?" Qi Xia asked coldly.