Chapter 396: Hidden Purpose

Qi Xia felt his thoughts were a bit muddled.

The reason sounded absurd, but coming from Chen Jun Nan, it all seemed perfectly natural.

"I..." Qi Xia helplessly covered his forehead, "I never thought Tian Tian was the third person in 'Mao'. But is her ability really that strong? How could she rank as 'San'...?"

"What does that have to do with ability? We're not like the heroes of Liang Shan, I just thought Zhang San sounded smooth," Chen Jun Nan explained. "Zhang Si, Zhang Wu, Zhang Liu all feel awkward, don't they?"

Qi Xia realized that sometimes he was overthinking things.

"Then what happened next...?" He sighed and asked.

"It's a bit hard to describe..." Chen Jun Nan turned his face toward Qiao Jia Jin. "Lao Qiao and I had a big fight, and this kid even punched me."

"Ah?" Qiao Jia Jin was stunned, holding back for a while before blurting out three words, "Who won?"

"You've got the nerve to ask..." Chen Jun Nan reached out and thumped Qiao Jia Jin's chest. "Damn it, in this godforsaken place, only Zhang Shan that old guy could go toe-to-toe with you. Everyone else got beaten down."

After saying that, he still felt annoyed and turned to pat Qi Xia on the back: "Lao Qi, you remember this—the kid goes berserk and even hits his own people."

This time, Qi Xia couldn't listen anymore: "I know what kind of person Qiao Jia Jin is... If even he lost his temper, the matter must have been serious."

"It wasn't really a big deal..." Chen Jun Nan pursed his lips. "I just cursed you out right in front of this kid."

"Cursed me?"

"Yeah, you little brat abandoned us brothers and ran off on your own. Even if you're not a bastard, you're pretty close. I wanted Lao Qiao to give up and stop waiting for you." Chen Jun Nan shrugged, looking helpless. "But I didn't expect this kid to have such a temper and just part ways with me."

Qi Xia knew Chen Jun Nan was just being tough. If he didn't share the same hope of waiting for him, he wouldn't have created that ridiculous yet poignant organization called "Hulu Qi Xiong Di."

With only six people, they insisted on calling it "Seven Brothers"—whose spot was the seventh one for?

"Part ways means...?" Qi Xia asked again.

"This kid quit. That's what he said back then..." Chen Jun Nan cleared his throat and imitated Qiao Jia Jin's not-so-standard Putonghua, "If dis organization not for waiting for dat cheater guy, den I no stay lah."

Qiao Jia Jin finished listening and showed a look of disdain: "Do I really talk like that?"

"Pretty much," Chen Jun Nan said.

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

What exactly happened back then?

If he was leading a large group of "Can Yu Zhe" with "Hui Xiang," why did he choose to take the risk and become "Sheng Xiao"?

"If it wasn't for this kid going out to get himself killed..." Chen Jun Nan gritted his teeth. "I'd probably still be 'Chen Da Wa,' chilling here as the boss."

Qiao Jia Jin smiled awkwardly after hearing that: "This... this has nothing to do with me, right?"

"Lao Qi, don't think this kid's thoughtless—he actually plans things out pretty well." Chen Jun Nan put his arm around Qiao Jia Jin's shoulder. "He seemed to go off and do something on his own. The bell sounds got more frequent back then, but I kept getting news of his death."

"News of my death...?"

"Yeah," Chen Jun Nan nodded. "That kid Chu Tian Qiu kept coming to find me, complaining that you were impulsive again, that you'd died again... So, what the hell were you up to back then?"

"Chu Tian Qiu..." Qi Xia furrowed his brow.

Qiao Jia Jin could only shake his head helplessly at Chen Jun Nan's question—his memories were completely gone.

"I thought he'd give up after a while..." Chen Jun Nan came back to his senses and said. "But I didn't expect him to keep joining Di Ji You Xi even without 'Hui Xiang,' until he lost all his memories."

Qi Xia knew that, based on Qiao Jia Jin's character, he would definitely do something like that, even if he wasn't involved at the time.

"Since Lao Qiao lost his memories, he'd just go off with full enthusiasm to get himself killed again..." Chen Jun Nan stared at Qi Xia, his eyes carrying a hint of resentment. "Even though this brat beat me up, we've been through life and death together, so I couldn't let him keep dying miserably."

Chen Jun Nan returned to the room.

Through his "unwavering efforts," everyone in the room would get their skulls cleanly smashed by the sheep, then lose their memories and keep looping through that day.

"That kid Han Yi Mo must have gone crazy or something... He lost his memories too," Chen Jun Nan added. "I haven't been in touch with him for a long time. Every time I left the room, I'd just walk straight out. I didn't realize from some point on that the kid had lost his memories, and I was the only one in the whole room who still remembered."

Qi Xia pieced together Han Yi Mo's situation himself. His "Hui Xiang" condition was probably "fear." To make him lose his memories, he must have found a good "backer," forgetting his fear for a bit, only to end up dying accidentally.

This was probably a case of thriving in adversity and perishing in comfort.

"So you, single-handedly..." Qi Xia said, "stalled the entire room for seven years..."

"Yeah," Chen Jun Nan nodded, then slumped lazily into a chair. "This young master didn't want everyone to rack their brains trying to get out and end up dying horribly."

After Chen Jun Nan said that, Qi Xia furrowed his brow.

"How strange..." Qi Xia stroked his chin and looked at Chen Jun Nan with a stern gaze. "For everyone who lost their memories... each death is their first death. What's the point of you 'saving' them? They won't be troubled by repeated deaths, and they won't be happy about your rescue."

"I..."

"You clearly had better options..." Qi Xia continued. "That's a whole seven years... In seven years, didn't you ever think about getting Qiao Jia Jin to rejoin your organization? Or leading everyone to struggle again?"

Qiao Jia Jin and Zheng Ying Xiong both looked at Chen Jun Nan, surprised to see him go silent. He just stared at Qi Xia without saying a word.

A few seconds later, Qi Xia seemed to realize something and just nodded, saying: "Maybe I'm overthinking it. You go on."

Hearing that, Chen Jun Nan breathed a sigh of relief and continued: "The rest you all know... Lin Jin came to our room, but I couldn't control my 'Xin Nian,' and I died twice in a row for her. But I guess it was a blessing in disguise—now that Xiao Ran is gone, our room is full of 'Hui Xiang Zhe.'"

Qi Xia nodded heavily.

"But... speaking of which..." Chen Jun Nan lowered his voice and asked again. "Even though I can sit here chatting with you all now, I'm not sure if 'I' am still 'me.'"

Qi Xia snapped back and examined Chen Jun Nan. He had interacted with him before, and truthfully, the two had identical demeanors—even their micro-expressions and gestures when speaking were the same.

Their memories were the same, their appearances were the same—how could he deny that the Chen Jun Nan in front of him wasn't the real one?

This was still the "Shou Biao Ding Li."

When you have two watches with different hands, just smash one at random, and the time on the other one is correct.