Chapter 82 Reverberation
"What…?" Qi Xia turned his head, gazing at Jiang Ruoxue with a tranquil and calm expression.
"Though I don’t know the reasons, I’m not foolish," Jiang Ruoxue replied with a smile. "If you were afraid I’d stop you, why would you leave me alive?"
Qi Xia pressed his hand against his wound, his complexion growing increasingly pale.
"Let me guess: you want me to inform the other {Adherents of Judgment’s Domain}, making everyone believe that {Qi Xia has already given up}. Isn’t that why you chose to save me?"
"Judgment’s Domain?" Lin Qin and Zhang Chenze exchanged puzzled glances, completely bewildered by her words.
"You are indeed clever," Jiang Ruoxue acknowledged with a nod. "But you’ve miscalculated one thing: I have no interest in whether you collect all three thousand six hundred {Dào}. I won’t stand in your way."
Qi Xia's expression darkened significantly; he hadn't expected that all his thoughts had been laid bare before the opponent.
"Although I am an {Adherent}, each of us has different pursuits," Jiang Ruoxue said, pulling a hair tie from her wrist to gather her disheveled hair into a bun. "Some are keen on sabotaging the competition, others enjoy destroying {Dào}, and there are those who parade around, masquerading as indigenous inhabitants. But I am different."
"I revel in experiencing various games, observing the intricate web of human deceit," Jiang Ruoxue replied candidly. "Though the {Adherents of Judgment’s Domain} are a bunch of lunatics, con artists, and gamblers, each one of them protects this place in their own way. My method of safeguarding it is by inciting ordinary souls to partake in games."
"So... you’re a {shill}?" Qi Xia asked pointedly.
"Shill...?" Jiang Ruoxue pondered for a moment before nodding. "By your reasoning, I suppose I am indeed a shill, even though no one is compensating me for it."
Qi Xia found himself at a loss for words, his mind racing with one persistent question—what exactly is {Judgment’s Domain}?
"So what about you?" Jiang Ruoxue asked. "Are you really going to give up?"
"What do you think?" Qi Xia released his grip on his wound and showed Jiang Ruoxue the bloodstains on his fingers. "Can you completely heal me?"
"I can't do that," Jiang Ruoxue replied, shaking her head. "I can’t grasp the {logical relation} of healing you; otherwise, I would certainly save you... after all, you just spared my life."
Noticing Qi Xia and the others still regarding her with guarded suspicion, Jiang Ruoxue ceased her futile attempts at humor. With a languid stretch that accentuated her alluring curves, she challenged them, "Are you all planning to kill me? If not, I’ll be on my way."
The trio, though not inherently malicious, found no justification for such drastic measures against her. As they contemplated their predicament, it struck them that they hadn’t even given her a compelling reason to linger.
"I'm really leaving, okay?" Jiang Ruoxue confirmed once more.
When silence reigned in response, she shook her head in exasperation, which stirred a distant tolling of bells.
Hearing the resonant sound, Qi Xia could no longer contain his curiosity and asked, "What does the bell signify?"
Jiang Ruoxue turned back, pondering for a moment before saying, "Given that you saved my life, I’ll make an exception and answer a question, but you must answer one of mine in return."
"Fine," Qi Xia nodded.
Upon hearing Qi Xia's agreement, Jiang Ruoxue began, "Currently, there are only two known situations that cause the bells to ring: the first is {hearing a Reverberation}, and the second is when the {Reverberation fades}."
"What is a {Reverberation}?" Qi Xia inquired.
"That’s the second question," Jiang Ruoxue replied, shaking her head. "Are we on such friendly terms?"
Qi Xia clutched his wound, his expression darkening.
Jiang Ruoxue appeared to feel a twinge of compassion as she remarked, "Qi Xia, I'll extend another exception and answer one more question. {Reverberation} is rather an abstract concept; some people never grasp it, while others may understand it but struggle to wield its power. Today, I've been fortunate enough to successfully invoke my {Reverberation} twice, which is why you’re all still alive."
Suddenly, Zhang Chenze seemed to recall something. "Sure enough…the man who was killed with the glass shard, it was you who manipulated the circumstances..."
"If your understanding remains stuck at {manipulating the circumstances}, you’ll never grasp {Reverberation}," Jiang Ruoxue declared, turning to leave. After taking a few steps, she paused, as if recalling something. "Qi Xia, don’t suppress your sorrow; it is in extreme emotions that one can hear {Reverberation}."
With that, she pushed open the door of the hotel and stepped onto the streets.
"Hey, don’t you have a question to ask me?" Qi Xia called out from a distance.
"Leave it for next time," Jiang Ruoxue replied, not looking back, merely waving her hand.
Her words left everyone in a state of confusion, but Qi Xia felt he had grasped a clue. {Reverberation} seemed to be some form of supernatural ability. This ability manifested randomly in certain individuals, heralded by the tolling of a giant bell, accompanied by the screen displaying the message {I hear a Reverberation}.
In essence, each instance of the bell tolling signified that someone had acquired this ability known as {Reverberation}, while the second toll indicated either that the user had concealed their power or… that the user had perished.
"Officer Li’s a {Reverberatee}…" Qi Xia murmured.
"Officer Li?" Lin Qin and Zhang Chenze turned to Qi Xia in unison.
"Before Officer Li died, the bell rang for the first time, and after his death, it rang again," Qi Xia attempted to connect Officer Li’s strange actions with this supernatural ability. "This implies he gained the power just before his demise, yet his behavior was quite peculiar."
Qi Xia retrieved the old metal lighter from his pocket and remarked to Lin Qin and Zhang Chenze, "He appeared almost like a magician, producing cigarettes from an empty pack and a lighter from a vacant pocket."
"What?" Zhang Chenze replied, furrowing her brow in confusion. "Didn’t those two items belong to you?"
"No," Qi Xia shook his head. "At the time, I was concerned that your attention might become too focused on this issue, so I chose not to mention it. But now that I think about it, he indeed briefly acquired this supernatural ability."
"So you’re saying…" Lin Qin gestured with her hand, "this ability known as {Reverberation} allows a person to conjure things out of thin air?"
"No," Qi Xia shook his head. "If we carefully consider Jiang Ruoxue's words and combine them with everything that has transpired, we ought to make a bold speculation… This ability known as {Reverberation} comes in various categories, and each person’s acquired power differs. The known types include {Beckoned Calamity}, {Adversity Shift}, and Officer Li’s {remote object retrieval}."
Zhang Chenze nodded and added her own observation. "Jiang Ruoxue’s ability seems different from Officer Li's... She appears to have the power to manipulate the {logical relations} of a situation."