Chapter 838

"Lao Qiao, what's wrong with you?" Chen Junan asked from the side.

Qiao Jiajin looked at the telephone pole in front of him and whispered, "Is it true that all the buildings in this place were constructed with 'Hui Xiang'?"

"Yes," Qi Xia nodded.

"That thing called 'Tian Long' treated this place like a dream and just messed everything up afterward," Qiao Jiajin said. "But why did he build a city...?"

"I don't know, I can only say..." Qi Xia murmured to himself, "This place wasn't a city before; it suddenly turned into one on a certain day. And because everyone had a collective memory gap, no one noticed anything unusual."

Qiao Jiajin continued to touch the telephone pole in front of him and suddenly felt something odd.

He firmly believed that every object had its own heartbeat—but this time, he actually felt the heartbeat on the telephone pole.

This ordinary-looking telephone pole was now emitting an imperceptible pulse; it had life.

Qiao Jiajin quickly went over to a rundown building nearby, placed his hand on it, and slowly closed his eyes.

After a long while, he furrowed his brow. This building also had its own "heartbeat," but it clearly emitted a different rhythm from the telephone pole.

Why would things made by "Qiao Wu" have their own rhythms? Did they have pulses?

"Pian Ren Zai... are these things really just created by 'Qiao Wu'?"

"What is it?" Qi Xia asked.

"I can feel the 'pulsing'..." Qiao Jiajin said. "Pian Ren Zai, have you ever seen a city that pulses? Have you ever seen buildings in a city that pulse?"

After hearing this, Chen Junan imitated him and walked over to the building, touching it and then knocking on it hard.

Forget about any "pulse"—these cold stones didn't even have the slightest bit of movement.

Qi Xia looked into Qiao Jiajin's eyes without answering his question, simply saying calmly, "Quan Tou, now I need to tell you something very important."

"Mei Shi?" Qiao Jiajin looked at Qi Xia with a blank expression.

"Your words alone can make everyone in this place disappear forever, and even turn the entire city into nothingness," Qi Xia said. "Quan Tou, your 'Po Wan Fa' can terminate everything."

Qiao Jiajin wasn't surprised by this answer, since Xu Liunian had already told him about it.

What surprised him was that Qi Xia was saying it out loud himself.

"Pian Ren Zai, do you want to terminate all this?" Qiao Jiajin asked. "Won't your plan get disrupted?"

"Of course I don't want to terminate it," Qi Xia said. "But I'm afraid that one day it might spiral out of control."

"Spiral out of control...?"

Qi Xia pointed to his temple and said, "Right now, all my sanity is held together by a single, extremely tough string. Everything else besides that string is complete madness."

"Pian Ren Zai... are you really okay?" Qiao Jiajin asked, furrowing his brow.

"I'm fine right now—my thoughts are exceptionally clear, and I can completely align with all the madmen in this place," Qi Xia said. "But the problem is precisely that I still retain this last bit of sanity."

"Isn't keeping your sanity a good thing?"

"Not entirely," Qi Xia replied. "This state allows me to make final thoughts and deductions, but it prevents me from unleashing the most powerful 'Hui Xiang.' I can't have both; I have to choose one."

"Choose to give up your sanity...?" Qiao Jiajin's eyes flickered. "Pian Ren Zai, how are you going to choose to give up your own sanity?"

"I've 'materialized' my sanity," Qi Xia said. "I can see every corner of my inner self and know what things I can't bear to let go of but must let go of. When necessary, I'll actively destroy my own sanity. Quan Tou, this isn't something you need to worry about, but I'll put the decision in your hands."

"The decision?"

"When I discard all my sanity, things might not go as I expect. If at any moment you think I'm wrong, then just go ahead and break my law," Qi Xia said seriously. "Remember, if you want to kill everyone, you have to use 'Po Wan Fa' on me. If you want to destroy the whole city, you have to use 'Po Wan Fa' on 'Tian Long.' Using 'Hui Xiang' just on the people or buildings here won't work—you have to find the 'root source.'"

"Pian Ren Zai..."

"Quan Tou, just like how using 'Po Wan Fa' on the 'Sheng Xiao' didn't turn their physiques back to normal," Qi Xia said. "You have to find the one who cast the spell. The enhancements to those 'Sheng Xiao' physiques didn't come from their own 'Hui Xiang.'"

"But Pian Ren Zai... you..." Qiao Jiajin turned around, his face serious, and said, "I don't even know what you're planning or how to define what's 'right' or 'wrong' for you?"

"Use your intuition," Qi Xia said. "Trust your own inner intuition—what you think is right is right, and what you think is wrong is wrong."

Qiao Jiajin fell silent for a few seconds before saying, "This sounds like you're leaving a last will and testament. I don't like that feeling."

"There's no like or dislike about it," Qi Xia said. "Everything I'm doing is to let everyone escape. That's what I've always wanted to do, even if you don't like it, I'll still do it."

Chen Junan, standing nearby, was stunned for a moment: "Wait a minute, Lao Qi... you said you want to let everyone... escape?"

"That's right," Qi Xia nodded. "Not a single one left out—all of them escape."

"Escape to where?" Chen Junan asked.

"Escape to the place where we should be living," Qi Xia said, pausing for a long time before adding, "Escape to a place where I can live with Yu Nian'an."

"Lao Qi, you're not lying about this, are you...?" Chen Junan asked skeptically. "No one has escaped from here so far, but you want to take everyone away?"

"I'm not sure if I'm lying or not—my success rate is extremely slim," Qi Xia said. "Probably at most thirty percent, but it's the highest it's ever been. For this thirty percent chance, I'll give up my sanity and bet everything. If I succeed, every word I say is true. If I fail, every word I say is false."

Qiao Jiajin stood there stunned for a while before finally asking, "Pian Ren Zai, do you still remember what I said when we first teamed up?"

"I remember," Qi Xia nodded. "You said you have the fists, and I have the brain, so we should team up."

"But in the end, you're choosing to throw away your 'brain,'" Qiao Jiajin said. "Without a brain and sanity, can you still be considered yourself?"