Chapter 119 Knock Knock Knock
"Enough." Qi Xia interrupted Officer Li's speech. "Officer Li, why are you so determined to save everyone? Are you truly willing to endure death over and over for people you hardly know?"
Officer Li smiled faintly, lighting another cigarette.
"I’d say you’re mistaken there." He shook his head. "I'm a criminal affairs officer. How can I only help the people I know? Every victim in this world is a stranger to me, but I would still risk my life to protect them. That's the principle."
"In any case, I disagree," Qi Xia said firmly. "The specific ability of your {Reverberation} is just my theory. We don't know for sure if you can really summon things at will. What if you can only conjure out lighters and cigarettes?"
"In any case, there’s nothing to lose." Officer Li replied calmly. "It wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. Maybe your guess is right, and I could indeed lead everyone out effortlessly."
"But if you trade your life for three thousand six hundred {Dào} and we manage to escape, what happens to you?" Qi Xia frowned and said. "According to this logic, the moment you gather all three thousand six hundred {Dào}, you’ll die and won’t have the right to escape at all!"
"Isn’t that perfect?" Officer Li laughed heartily. "Qi Xia, my best ending would be dying here to save everyone."
"Don’t say such ominous words." Qi Xia responded with some concern. "It’s too soon to determine your ending without understanding the situation first." He knew Officer Li meant what he said. To him, dying here to save others was the best possible fate.
"Officer Li, you’re from 2010, right?" Qi Xia asked.
"I’ll give you my contact number. Once you return to the real world, get in touch with me from back then," Qi Xia said. "I’ll help you deal with Zhang Huannan."
"Contact you from back then...?" Officer Li blinked slightly. "Qi Xia, which year are you from? How old are you currently?"
"I’m from 2022, I’m 26."
Officer Li paused in contemplation, then raised his head and asked, "You were only fourteen in 2010. Do you know what kind of person Zhang Huannan is?"
"It doesn’t matter," Qi Xia responded, shaking his head. "He doesn’t stand a chance against the fourteen-year-old me."
"You..." Officer Li found himself unable to see through the man before him. Could a 14-year-old truly stand a chance against such a merciless and dangerous swindler?
But then, Officer Li suddenly realized—Qi Xia was also a swindler.
Yet his eyes were different from any criminal Officer Li had ever encountered. There was no {malice}, only {despair}. "Qi Xia, are you really a swindler?" Officer Li asked calmly. "How many times have you swindled someone, and who did you do it to?"
"This doesn’t concern our escape from here," Qi Xia turned his head and replied. "In any case, I will not harm innocent people."
"So, what you're saying is... you lied in the first story as well?" Officer Li asked.
"That doesn’t matter, just remember that I’ll help you. In exchange, promise me you won’t recklessly throw away your life for others."
Officer Li pondered Qi Xia’s words carefully, unable to find a reason to refute them. "I promise you," he nodded. "But if I {die by accident} in one of the games, then I’ll have to test this ability no matter the circumstances."
"Alright," Qi Xia agreed. Though Officer Li hadn’t fully given up, his new proposal was more reasonable than the previous ones.
"Qi Xia, what’s your {Reverberation}?" Officer Li suddenly asked.
Qi Xia scratched his head and muttered, "I don’t know."
"Don’t know?" Officer Li paused, "That makes things tricky... so, that means next time, you might not retain any memory?"
"Yes," Qi Xia nodded. "But you’re different, Officer Li. Unless you get your head blown off by a bullet, you’ll always retain your memory. In other words, all our hopes of escaping are riding on you."
"But what can I do if I’m the only one?" Officer Li said, looking troubled, "If all of you forget everything, how could I possibly succeed?"
Qi Xia understood that this was indeed a tricky situation. If they truly wanted to escape this bizarre place, the more people who retained their memories, the better.
As the games continued, the cycle would repeat again and again, meaning the number of {Reverberatees} would steadily increase. Which means... the ability to {retain memory} can’t be kept secret. With that in mind, what’s the real meaning behind Mortal Goat’s warning?
Who should they really be cautious of?
Was it {Earthly Branches}? {Judgment’s Domain}? Or the other participants?
Qi Xia pondered seriously for a moment, then turned to Officer Li and said, "Officer Li, if I forget all of this next time, just say one thing to me."
"Yes," Qi Xia nodded. "Just tell me, '{Yu Nian'An says: knock knock knock}', and I’ll understand everything. This is a secret only she and I know."
When Qi Xia was with Yu Nian'An, he often found himself lost in thought. At such times, Yu Nian'an would say '{knock knock knock}'. Upon hearing those words, Qi Xia would snap out of his reverie and smile, asking, "Who’s outside the door?"
"Looks like Qi Xia is home," Yu Nian'an would always reply playfully. "I thought you were out since you’ve been ignoring me for so long."
They played this silly game dozens of times, becoming a unique trademark of Yu Nian'An in Qi Xia’s mind.
“Is this really all it takes?” Officer Li nodded. “Will you really believe me?”
"We’ve already ended up in this hellhole, is there anything left to not believe?..." Qi Xia replied with a melancholic expression. "I need to get out of here, but before that, I intend to reclaim what belongs to me from {End Point}."
“What belongs to you…?” Officer Li blinked, clearly confused.
Qi Xia didn’t waste time on that question and instead recalled something else. He pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper from his pocket—the {Earthly Branches Ascension Wagering Contract} he had retrieved from the Mortal Goat.
With outsiders present before, Qi Xia hadn’t yet had the opportunity to read this peculiar contract. If there were any unknown secrets regarding this realm, they could surely be revealed through this contract.
Officer Li leaned in closer as Qi Xia unfolded the paper. The two of them each took one side of the crumpled sheet, using the dim light from the surrounding school buildings to read through the contract in its entirety.
After finishing, Officer Li wore a complicated expression, feeling as if he were on the verge of losing his mind.
Could someone with a sane mind write something ?