Chapter 171 Unyieldingly Dormant Reverberation
Chu Tianqiu sat in the dimly lit room, quietly eating his breakfast, when a faint knock echoed against the door.
"What is it?" he asked.
"There’s a question… he wants to ask you," came the voice from outside.
Chu Tianqiu paused, his fingers brushing lightly against his chin as a faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Let me guess..." he mused. "Could it be... he wants to know how long I’ve been here?"
"Yes," the shadow beyond the door replied with a slight nod.
"How truly fascinating," Chu Tianqiu remarked with a smile that held layers of meaning. "Qi Xia, it seems you’re finally walking the right path..."
"It’s all my fault..." The voice outside the door trembled, remorse thick in its tone. "I never imagined Qi Xia would see through me."
"It has nothing to do with you." Chu Tianqiu shook his head. "Even if you managed to deceive everyone else, you could never hide it from Qi Xia. He would have discovered it eventually—though it happened much sooner than I anticipated."
"Is that so?" Chu Tianqiu nodded slowly, a slight smile playing at the corner of his lips. He then made his way to the table and sat down, his gaze landing on the notebook before him.
The pages were filled with a labyrinth of perplexing words: {anger}, {despair}, {fear}, {reluctance}, {longing}, {pride}, {sadness}, {remorse}—all neatly inscribed across a single page. Yet, curiously, many of these words were crossed out.
"Has Qi Xia not triggered his {Reverberation} yet?" Chu Tianqiu inquired, his voice cool and calculating.
"No," came the reply from outside the door.
Chu Tianqiu's expression darkened as he picked up the pen, his fingers moving decisively. With a swift motion, he crossed out {regret}, leaving behind a single word—{sadness}—standing solitary on the page.
He placed the pen cap back on, tapping the word {sadness} thoughtfully with his finger. "I may have found the answer."
"Really?" The shadow outside the door mulled over it, uncertainty clouding their voice. "But could it be... that the {remorse} we gave Qi Xia wasn’t enough?"
"Oh?" Chu Tianqiu's brow furrowed in contemplation. "You mean... he doesn't care about his teammates' lives at all?"
"I can't say." The person outside the door hesitated, their tone betraying a sense of confusion. "I can't tell anything from his expression."
"Fascinating." Chu Tianqiu nodded thoughtfully. "So he deliberately walked into the trap... He knew it was a lost cause, yet he pressed on, even at the expense of his own teammates. All of it, just to draw me out."
"Teammates..." The voice outside the door faltered, uncertainty threading through their words. "Tianqiu, we also lost two teammates... Is Qi Xia really that important? Is he even more important than Kim Wonhun?"
Chu Tianqiu did not immediately respond. He paused, the silence stretching between them like a thick fog. After a long moment, he finally asked, "Has Lin Qin joined {Passage to Heaven}?"
"This is an occurrence of rare significance..." Chu Tianqiu’s fingers danced lightly across the table, the faintest hint of a smirk curling at the corner of his lips. "I believe it's time I meet her in person."
"But... she’s an {Adherent}!" The voice outside the door sounded slightly flustered.
"Few {Adherents} possess such seniority." Chu Tianqiu responded, rising to his feet. "She is not like the reckless novices who flood this place with their folly."
The silence lingered for an extended moment before the voice outside the door responded, "I understand."
A slight, almost imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of Chu Tianqiu’s lips. "Does your mouth still ache from Qi Xia's blow?"
No response came immediately, and after what felt like an eternity, the voice asked, "How do you intend to answer Qi Xia's question?"
"It’s simple. Tell him, {I never left}."
Qiao Jiajin, in high spirits, grinned as he held the cloth bag.
"Psychologist, writer lad, you two are quite smart." He opened the bag and began counting the contents. To his satisfaction, he had earned six {Dào} from a {Mortal Dog} game.
Now, he could only hope that six {Dào} would be enough to buy some alcohol.
Lin Qin furrowed her brow slightly, reaching for the cloth bag. In the process, her fingers brushed lightly against Qiao Jiajin’s.
Qiao Jiajin didn't give the touch a second thought. He simply watched as the cloth bag was taken from his hands, slipping his own into his pockets afterward.
Lin Qin exhaled a soft sigh and asked, her tone tinged with curiosity, "Qiao Jiajin, what's on your mind?"
"What's on my mind?" Qiao Jiajin blinked, his expression momentarily puzzled. "What kind of blunt question is that?" He had planned to use the {Dào} for alcohol, but he couldn't exactly voice that desire so plainly.
"I..." Lin Qin hesitated, sensing something slightly off about Qiao Jiajin's demeanor.
He was just like Qi Xia—no matter how much physical contact, there was no sign of {Reverberation}.
Lin Qin's mind raced. She realized that to fully unlock Qiao Jiajin's potential, she would need to release her own {Reverberation}. However, doing so would undoubtedly trigger the bells, complicating things beyond measure.
"Are you suppressing your innermost being?" Lin Qin asked.
"Huh?" Qiao Jiajin blinked in confusion, pausing for a moment before speaking again. "Why would I be suppressing my innermost being?"
Despite Qiao Jiajin’s firm denial, Lin Qin couldn't shake the growing suspicion. There was something off about him—he wasn’t the same person, or at the very least, he wasn’t being himself.
"Qiao Jiajin," she pressed, her voice softer now, almost coaxing. "Think about who you are. Don’t suppress your true self."
"Myself...?" Qiao Jiajin's eyes grew cold, as if a veil of indifference had settled over him.
"Who are you?" Lin Qin pressed, her voice steady. "Do you have any unfulfilled wishes, things left undone before you came here?"
"I..." A faint, almost imperceptible chime of bells reverberated in the silence, ringing softly in Qiao Jiajin's ears.
For a brief, agonizing moment, memories without the mask surged back, bitter and overwhelming.
"I’m always ," Qiao Jiajin abruptly cut through the moment, his voice a little too light, a little too smooth. He turned to her, offering a smile. "Psychologist, I can't afford to book an appointment with you, so there's no need for treatment."
He stretched his arms languidly, his steps unfazed as he moved forward with an air of nonchalance.
Lin Qin understood—Qiao Jiajin’s {Reverberation} being difficult to trigger wasn’t necessarily a bad sign. In fact, it suggested that his {Reverberation} was far more potent than most.
She turned to glance at Han Yimo, her expression tinged with helplessness. Muttering to herself, she thought, ‘At least it's far stronger than {Beckoned Calamity}...’
As the trio meandered through the city, a sudden, resounding toll of a massive bell broke the calm, its echo vibrating through the very heart of the city.
"What?" Lin Qin's expression shifted, a flicker of surprise crossing her features. The toll of the bell was much closer than she had anticipated.
Who had triggered their {Reverberation}?
Was it one of their own?
"Let's go and see." Lin Qin directed, her gaze fixed on the source of the bell toll, and without hesitation, the three of them altered their course.
However, just as they approached the massive display screen, the thunderous bell rang once more.
The {Reverberation} had come to an abrupt end.
Only a {lonely} line of words remained on the screen— "I hear the reverberation of {Beckoned Calamity}."
"Could that {Reverberation} be from someone nearing death?" Lin Qin murmured, her lips barely moving as she spoke.
Qiao Jiajin’s gaze lingered on the screen for a moment before he asked, "Whose {Reverberation} is {Beckoned Calamity}? Why is it always on the screen?"
"It’s..." Lin Qin cast a brief glance at Han Yimo, but seeing his lack of response, she sighed in frustration and replied, "I don’t know either."
The three stood before the screen in silence for a moment, but when they were about to leave, the display suddenly {flashed} with several lines of words, as if the screen had refreshed like a mobile phone.
A deafening, continuous toll of bells followed, shaking the very air around them. The sound was so overwhelming that the three individuals, standing before the massive bell, were rocked by its force, struggling to maintain their balance as the vibrations reverberated through the ground beneath their feet.
"I hear the reverberation of {Adversity Shift}."
"I hear the reverberation of {Hetu Phala}."
"I hear the reverberation of {Raw Object}."
Alongside the original {Beckoned Calamity}, four additional lines of words flashed on the screen simultaneously, each one carrying a weight of dread that seemed to press down on their very souls.
"Wh—What’s going on?" Han Yimo was utterly stunned.