Chapter 756: Broken Room

"Yan Zhichun..." Yunyao murmured the name. "Isn't that the strange woman Chen Junnan and I met during the Di She You Xi game?"

"Someone you know from Di She You Xi...?" Chen Junnan paused beside her. "Do we?"

"You..." Yunyao looked at Chen Junnan with a complicated expression, wanting to explain but feeling it was pointless. She simply said, "Maybe it's not you. Anyway, it's 'Chen Junnan.'"

"Yan Zhichun..." Chen Junnan rubbed his head, feeling like he'd never heard the name before.

Not only was it absent from his own memories, but it hadn't come up in the past seven-plus years either.

Yunyao turned to Qi Xia at that moment. "You're saying Wen Qiaoyun is with Yan Zhichun...?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure...?" Yunyao asked skeptically.

They had only heard from Zhang Chenze that Qi Xia's ability, "Sheng Sheng Bu Xi," created a person, but they had no idea how he actually did it.

Could someone created like that appear anywhere?

Yet, from Qi Xia's demeanor, he himself didn't know where Yan Zhichun was, so how could he create a person right beside her?

As a fellow "Hui Xiang Zhe," Yunyao couldn't understand how Qi Xia's "Hui Xiang" worked, so she had no choice but to believe he had really done it.

"I'm sure; she's right there," Qi Xia nodded. "You might want to go check."

Yunyao and Zhang Chenze both glanced up at the sky, realizing that wandering outside aimlessly in search of someone wasn't a good idea right now. They decided to note it down and deal with it once dawn broke.

"We'll go look for her first thing tomorrow morning," Yunyao said, then turned to Chu Tianqiu. "Sorry about this, leader, but can we stay here overnight...?"

Chu Tianqiu just shrugged. "Whatever. 'Tian Tang Kou' is gone, and I'm no longer any kind of leader. This is just an abandoned school."

Yunyao nodded. "Thanks."

She turned and headed toward the teaching building, leading Zhang Chenze and Li Xiangling behind her. Tian Tian, who had been standing there in a daze, eventually followed slowly.

"Oh, right, Yunyao." Qi Xia turned toward her back.

"Hmm?"

"Lin Qing is with them too. Bring her back along with the others."

Hearing Qi Xia issue commands so confidently without hesitation, Yunyao found the situation strangely off-putting.

They had seen Lin Qing get sliced in half by those black threads and die right before their eyes.

Now, Qi Xia was insisting that "Lin Qing is also there," as if he weren't afraid of ending up with two Lin Qings at once.

The mention of "two Lin Qings" made Yunyao think back to the "two Chen Junnans" they'd seen yesterday. Had that Chen Junnan been created by Qi Xia too?

But no matter how she looked at it, Qi Xia hadn't known back then that "Chen Junnan was already dead." The only one who could pull off something that bizarre was Chu Tianqiu.

Yunyao was starting to feel that what these two were doing was gradually surpassing anything she could imagine.

"Lin Qing... is she with Wen Qiaoyun?" Yunyao confirmed again.

"Yes," Qi Xia nodded. "I promised to let Wen Qiaoyun join, but Lin Qing and Yan Zhichun have to come too. If you can't convince the other two, I can't guarantee I'll agree to Wen Qiaoyun joining."

"But you clearly know..." Yunyao said quietly, "I don't care whether Wen Qiaoyun joins or not; I just care if she's 'there' or not."

"As long as Wen Qiaoyun is 'there,' she'll definitely join—after all, Chu Tianqiu is here," Qi Xia replied. "But since I've helped you so decisively, you can't let me walk away empty-handed."

Yunyao thought it over for a while before giving a slight nod, then followed the others into the teaching building.

The sun had gradually set on this day, so the group decided to spend the night at "Tian Tang Kou."

Qi Xia, Qiao Jiajin, and Chen Junnan entered a classroom, lit a bonfire in the silence, and quietly watched the strange sun sink below the horizon.

Zheng Yingxiong had wandered off somewhere again.

"Six days down," Chen Junnan broke the silence first. "After seven, eight, nine, we'll be saying goodbye again."

Qi Xia tossed another piece of wood into the bonfire and said softly, "No goodbyes. I told you both you're no longer useful to me, so you don't need to help with what's next, and you don't need to get involved."

Chen Junnan looked up, annoyed. "Old Qi, has anyone ever told you you're a real pain?"

"No," Qi Xia shook his head. "I don't talk to strangers much."

"Going on about 'no longer useful' all the time—who did you even learn that from?" Chen Junnan muttered under his breath.

"It's true; you're not useful anymore," Qi Xia replied. "I came here to see Chu Tianqiu. What have you two even done to help?"

This response irritated Chen Junnan even more; he shot to his feet. "Qi, don't play dumb with us! My buddy and I risked our lives for you, and now you're saying this?!"

Qiao Jiajin frowned again, feeling unequipped to handle this, so he quickly stood up too. "Ah... Jun Nan, sit down and talk it out..."

"Screw talking it out!" Chen Junnan pointed at Qi Xia. "I could understand if this guy was half-asleep earlier, but now he's wide awake and saying it again? Does he think we're just dead weight?"

Qi Xia glanced up at Chen Junnan and said gravely, "Chen Junnan, tell me then—what have you done to help me?"

"Every damn time I went into a game, I was thinking about taking down their people for you, and now you're telling me it was all for nothing?"

"I don't need anyone to play games for me, and I don't need anyone to risk their life for me," Qi Xia said firmly. "You're giving me help I never asked for."

"You..."

Chen Junnan looked like he was about to throw a punch, so Qiao Jiajin stepped in to hold him back again.

"Fine... okay, okay..." Chen Junnan nodded. "Qi, since we're laying it all out, let's just speak plainly."

"Oh?" Qi Xia raised an eyebrow. "Is there anything left between us that needs to be 'laid out'? I probably know more about you two than you think."

"Heh." Chen Junnan sneered. "But these past couple of days, I've had a chance to figure you out too... Qiao and I aren't even supposed to be in this room, are we?"

Qiao Jiajin, listening nearby, kept pulling at Chen Junnan. "Jun Nan... is this really the place to say that?"

"Screw being careful!" Chen Junnan shouted. "I didn't ask to be here! It's got to be this Qi guy's doing! He's planning to toss us aside like dead weight, so why should I worry about his safety?"

Qi Xia picked up a stick nearby and poked at the bonfire, then nodded. "You're right. Not just you two—the whole room is something I rearranged."