Chapter 542: Solitude

"Xia, look, I tattooed my own name," Yu Nian'an said.

"Where is it?"

Yu Nian'an extended her index finger, and on the side near her thumb, there were three beautiful script letters.

"yna".

"Isn't it pretty? Come on, say it with me!" She happily pointed to the three letters and slowly read, "Yu—Nian—An!"

"Okay, okay," Qi Xia said with a smile and a nod, "When you're old and forget who you are, I'll point it out to you."

...

"You lied to me?" Qi Xia's eyes flickered slightly as he looked at Yan Zhichun in front of him. "How could you not have heard of the name 'Yu Nian'an'?"

"What?" Yan Zhichun was stunned. "Why must I know that Yu Nian'an? And this is our first meeting—what's the point of me lying to you?"

Qi Xia shook his head vigorously, feeling a buzz in his ears.

Something must be wrong here...

He stepped forward and grabbed Yan Zhichun's wrist, which startled the two others beside them, and they immediately stepped up to hold Qi Xia back.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Lao Sun shouted. "Young man, talk properly—no need for violence."

"I should have realized earlier..." Qi Xia gritted his teeth and said, "You are 'Ji Dao'... how many truths can come out of your mouths?"

"What?!" Lao Sun was baffled. "So what if we're 'Ji Dao'? Have we hit you or scolded you?"

Qi Xia ignored Lao Sun and instead grabbed Yan Zhichun's arm, forcibly moving her hand in front of his eyes to examine the three letters closely.

"yna".

He had seen these three letters countless times—the font and texture were absolutely unmistakable.

It was identical to the tattoo on Yu Nian'an's finger.

If he had borrowed Yan Zhichun's 'shell' to fabricate memories, why would he remember the details so clearly?

"You call yourself Yan Zhichun... but you have 'yna' tattooed on your finger..." Qi Xia said with trembling lips. "How do you explain that?"

"Just because I'm Yan Zhichun, does that have anything to do with what letters are tattooed on my finger?" Yan Zhichun said irritably. "Are you really crazy? I thought you were smart..."

"Yes... I feel like I'm about to go crazy... What here is even real?"

Yan Zhichun frowned and gently flexed her fingers, and Qi Xia immediately mirrored her exact movements.

"Qi Xia, I was treating you with courtesy because I thought you were smart, but do you want to die?"

Yan Zhichun reached up to smooth her hair, and at the same time, Qi Xia reached up to smooth non-existent long hair.

Normally, when Yan Zhichun used her 'Duo Xin Po', her strange ability would leave the other person shocked.

But the Qi Xia in front of her showed no such reaction.

He didn't care about the anomalies in his own body or what was controlling him; he just stared intently at Yan Zhichun's fingers.

"What's wrong with you?" Yan Zhichun saw that the man in front of her had no aggressive intent, so she withdrew her 'Hui Xiang', but Qi Xia remained motionless.

"No... I..." Qi Xia felt his brain clogging up again and quickly corrected himself. "This question is really important to me... If I scared you, I'm sorry in advance... It's just about that tattoo..."

Yan Zhichun rubbed her slightly sore wrist and looked at Qi Xia with curiosity, while Lao Sun and Lao Deng beside her were also puzzled.

The man in front of them seemed on the verge of madness but kept doing strange things.

"You think I tattooed 'Yu Nian'an'?" Yan Zhichun furrowed her brows and said. "What a ridiculous assumption? Who is Yu Nian'an to you?"

"She is my wife..." Qi Xia said in a low voice. "I'm looking for my wife... She has a tattoo on her finger that's identical to yours."

"Identical?" Yan Zhichun was stunned and looked down at the tattoo on her own finger. "Are you sure?"

At this point, she also felt a bit strange; she didn't even know Qi Xia, let alone his wife.

Although she had met many people in the 'Zhong Yan Zhi Di', she didn't remember anyone with a tattoo exactly like hers.

"My tattoo has nothing to do with 'Yu Nian'an'," Yan Zhichun replied. "I suspect your memory is messed up."

"Then your 'yna'... "

"It's English," Yan Zhichun said. "An abbreviation for 'you are not alone'. I got it to comfort myself."

"'You are not alone'..." Hearing those words, Qi Xia's eyes glazed over, and Yu Nian'an's voice echoed in his ears.

"Xia, you have me, you're not alone."

"Xia, if you didn't have me, how lonely would you be?"

Yu Nian'an.

Yu Nian's thoughts are hard to calm.

And I've always been alone.

Yes, Yan Zhichun tattooing an English abbreviation on her finger made more sense than Yu Nian'an's reason.

Who would tattoo their own name's abbreviation on their finger...?

"Why is it always this result..." Qi Xia trembled all over and said. "Whenever I seek answers, it's always this... Damn it... I don't even have a path left... I don't even..."

Qi Xia felt his head about to split, and he was on the verge of fainting.

But this time was different from before; if he collapsed here, there was no hope of survival. The three people in front of him weren't Qiao Jia Jin and Chen Jun Nan—they had no reason to save him.

"Zhichun," Lao Sun called. "We should go; time's almost up."

Yan Zhichun nodded, and the three of them ignored the suffering Qi Xia and walked to the back door, pushing it open and leaving.

Qi Xia clutched his hair, waiting for the intense headache to pass.

By now, he could clearly hear rustling sounds behind his ears, as if those black lines were starting to cut through the thick door and enter the room.

"I can't die yet..." Qi Xia struggled to his feet, not even turning back, and ran towards the back door.

Fortunately, the back door of the building led to a relatively wide alley, which had some light.

After roughly confirming the direction, Qi Xia started running again.

But if you looked closely, his expression was like dead ash.

Why am I staying here?

Why do I want to escape?

Why am I running for my life?

What's the point of all this?

If I get cleanly cut in half by the black lines now, what's the difference from dying randomly in some game or oblivion in a few days?

"My 'Hui Xiang trigger' is gone..." He murmured desperately.

As soon as he said that, Qi Xia felt his breath catch, a sharp pain in his ribs, and his steps slowed.

"Oh no..."

He trudged to the side of the main road, but clearly felt the lines behind him were very close.

Qi Xia looked up with a gloomy face and said, "If you don't show up now, I'm really going to die..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of a car engine roaring came from the distant intersection.