Chapter 1169: What He Left Me

When Qi Xia and the others arrived at "Jile Qianzhuang," it was already nearing afternoon.

They looked up at the sun in the sky and saw that dusk was not far off.

They stood at the entrance of an abandoned building, which was in such disrepair that its original form was barely recognizable. Qi Xia told the group that it had once been a bank.

Chen Jun Nan stepped forward and pushed open the completely shattered revolving door, then slowly covered his mouth and nose.

The stench inside the room was unimaginable, suggesting that many people had died there.

Sure enough, as they entered, they saw numerous skeletons scattered haphazardly on the floor.

"Lao Qi... you were quite ruthless back then..."

"It's just a bunch of gamblers, that's all." Qi Xia waved his hand to disperse the dust in front of him, then scanned the entire hall.

The place felt both familiar and strange to him.

After all, Bai Yang had lived here for many years, but Bai Yang was only one part of himself, not the complete whole.

In the center of the hall stood twelve pedestals, which appeared to have once held statues. Now, the statues had all turned into fragments, except for one that remained intact—a sculpture of a human body with a sheep's head.

"Impressive." Qiao Jia Jin also looked around and said, "Deceitful one, what kind of game were you running here before?"

"A game of manipulating hearts." Qi Xia replied.

"Oh..." Qiao Jia Jin nodded as if he understood, though he didn't fully. He had seen various game venues before, but none were as strange as Qi Xia's.

Tian Tian and Zhang Chen Ze also walked in and touched the tables in front of the pedestals. It seemed like a casino, yet not quite.

Qi Xia glanced at Tian Tian and Zhang Chen Ze, then said, "I need to ask you two for a favor."

"Why so polite now..." Zhang Chen Ze chuckled and said, "We're already at this point... just say what you need."

Qi Xia pointed to a room and said, "In the small storeroom at the back, there are some cloth strips. See if you can bandage Quan Tou and Chen Jun Nan's wounds—they need treatment."

"Got it, no problem." Zhang Chen Ze nodded. "Anything else?"

"Not for now. I just need a little time alone."

Qi Xia signaled to the group, then turned and entered a room on the side of the bank, which looked like a small office.

He pushed open the door to find skeletons inside as well.

"Deceitful one, do you really not need me to come with you?" Qiao Jia Jin called from a distance.

"No need." Qi Xia shook his head. "I'll be quick."

Qi Xia walked into the office and looked around. All that caught his eye was a desk and several cabinets on the verge of collapsing.

Among the cabinets, one stood intact—a tall black metal safe.

Qi Xia approached and examined it. The black metal safe required a six-digit code to open.

Strangely, he had no memory fragments of this black safe or its code.

He didn't dwell on it and simply walked to the desk, slowly sitting down.

With a creak, the chair behind him shifted slightly, and Qi Xia closed his eyes.

"Jidao" has completed its task.

Qi Xia sat in the chair, trying to replay in his mind everything happening in "Zhongyan Zhidi" at that moment.

But what about "Mao"...

He thought about Xuanwu's situation and felt that "Mao" was in a similar predicament to "Jidao"—both locked in a fierce battle.

He hadn't told Yan Zhi Chun about encountering "Bai Hu" before the giant clock, nor about the many "participants" who would come to interfere.

After all, just destroying the giant clock was difficult enough. Describing the full scope of the task would be a massive blow to everyone's morale.

"So this lie had to come from me." Qi Xia murmured. "Mao is also facing 'Xuanwu' within this lie..."

In Qi Xia's calculations, the "Mao" team had a 100 percent chance of successfully killing Xuanwu.

They would detect the ultimate secret of "Zhongyan Zhidi" during the battle with Xuanwu—

"Space."

The principle of "immortality" was that when faced with an unmanageable massive wound, the owner's skin would temporarily turn into a "space gate." As long as "Mao" could detect this layer, killing Xuanwu would just be a matter of choosing the right strategy.

So they would definitely achieve their goal—it was just impossible to predict the casualties.

"The closer one gets to 'space', the easier it is to spark the inspiration to kill Xuanwu..." Qi Xia said.

At that moment, Bai Yang's phantom appeared across from Qi Xia at the desk, sitting in a chair and smiling at him.

Qi Xia opened his eyes slightly and met Bai Yang's gaze.

"But what about Qinglong?" Bai Yang asked.

Qi Xia pondered for a few seconds, stroking his chin as he said, "Qinglong is moving step by step from the 'Cangjie Qi' space toward the 'train'. Theoretically, he's isolated from all sounds, so he won't reach the scene of the giant clock's destruction in time. Thus, a game existing in another space is also part of the plan."

"He still has 'Tian'." Bai Yang added.

"'Tian' is just a disorganized mob." Qi Xia said. "By then, many allies will help me attack 'Tian', and our biggest challenge will be killing 'Qinglong'."

Bai Yang's phantom chuckled, slowly stood up, walked over to Qi Xia, and patted his shoulder with a nonexistent hand.

"'Qinglong' has 'Tianxingjian'." Bai Yang said. "His self-healing and attack abilities far surpass yours. With your current body, how do you plan to kill him?"

"Of course, it's not me who will kill him." Qi Xia said. "My target is only Tianlong."

"A massive rebellion involving so many people..." Bai Yang laughed again. "Haven't you noticed someone is missing?"

"You're the one missing." Qi Xia looked up, staring straight at Bai Yang's phantom. "What did you leave for me?"

"Ha..." Bai Yang sneered mockingly, and his figure vanished.

A few seconds later, Qi Xia reached out and knocked lightly on the desk—

Knock, knock, knock.

Scattered memories flooded back into his mind, mostly fragments of Yan Zhi Chun and scenes of Bai Yang scratching something into the desk with his nails.

Qi Xia lowered his head and looked at the words Bai Yang had left—"Where does one reside and from where does one originate?"

"What a pointless trick..."

He stood up and walked to the black safe, immediately entering the code "401087".

The safe opened with a click, revealing a slowly rotating "door" inside, its interior impossible to see.

"Now it's all set. Everything is back on track."