"What...?"
Qi Xia turned his head, staring at Jiang Ruoxue with a calm expression.
"I don't know the reason, but I'm not stupid," Jiang Ruoxue said with a smile.
"If you were afraid of me stopping you, why would you have left me alive?"
Qi Xia clutched his wound, his face gradually turning pale.
"Let me guess. You were hoping I would report back to the other 'Extreme Dao' members, to make everyone think that 'Qi Xia has given up'. That's why you spared my life, right?"
"Extreme Dao members?"
Lin Qin and Zhang Chenze looked at each other, completely baffled by what she meant.
"You are indeed very smart," Jiang Ruoxue said with a nod.
"But you miscalculated one thing. I don't care at all whether you collect three thousand six hundred 'Dao', and I won't stop you."
Qi Xia's expression was unusually grim. He hadn't expected the other party to see through all of his thoughts.
"Although we're all 'Extreme Dao' members, each of us has different pursuits."
Jiang Ruoxue took a hair tie from her wrist, gathered her loose hair into a bun, and then said, "Some people are passionate about disrupting the games, some like to destroy the 'Dao', and some swagger around the streets playing the part of natives to swindle others. But I'm different."
"How are you different?"
Qi Xia asked.
"I like to experience different games and watch people scheme against each other," Jiang Ruoxue answered without hesitation.
"The 'Extreme Dao' members may be a bunch of madmen, con artists, and gamblers, but each one is protecting this place with their own strength. And my way of protecting this place is to incite those good people to participate in the games."
"So... you're a shill?"
Qi Xia asked, cutting straight to the point.
"A shill...?"
Jiang Ruoxue pondered for a moment, then nodded.
"If you put it that way... I really am a shill. It's just that nobody pays me."
For a moment, Qi Xia was speechless. Only one question kept running through his mind—what exactly is the 'Extreme Dao'?
"So what about you?"
Jiang Ruoxue asked.
"Are you really giving up?"
"What do you think?"
Qi Xia released the hand covering his wound, then showed Jiang Ruoxue the bloodstains between his fingers.
"Can you heal me?"
"That, I really can't do."
Jiang Ruoxue shook her head.
"I can't figure out the 'logical connection' to heal you. Otherwise, I would definitely save you... After all, you just saved my life."
Seeing that the three of them were still watching her warily, Jiang Ruoxue stopped trying to make conversation. She stretched languidly, revealing her sexy curves, and then asked, "Are you going to kill me? If not, I'm leaving."
The three of them were not vicious criminals to begin with, so they naturally had no reason to kill Jiang Ruoxue. On second thought, they didn't even have a reason to keep her here.
"I'm really leaving?"
Jiang Ruoxue confirmed once more. Seeing that they still had no reaction, she shook her head helplessly, which triggered a distant bell chime. Hearing that soul-stirring sound, Qi Xia finally couldn't help but ask, "What exactly does the bell chime represent?"
Jiang Ruoxue turned back, pondered for a moment, and said, "Considering you saved my life, I can make an exception and answer this question for you. But you also have to answer a question for me."
"Alright," Qi Xia nodded.
Seeing Qi Xia agree, Jiang Ruoxue began to speak.
"As far as I know, there are only two situations that cause the bell to chime. The first is 'hearing an echo', and the second is 'an echo disappearing'."
"What is an 'echo'?"
Qi Xia asked again.
"That's a second question."
Jiang Ruoxue shook her head.
"Are we that close?"
Qi Xia clutched his wound, his expression gradually dimming. Jiang Ruoxue seemed to feel a bit of pity for him and said, "Qi Xia, I'll make another exception this time and answer one more question for you.
'Echo' is a very abstract thing.
Some people will never understand it their entire lives, and even if some people do understand it, they can't wield the power of the 'echo'... My luck was very good today. I successfully used 'echo' twice in a row, which is also the reason you all are still alive."
Zhang Chenze seemed to have thought of something.
"I knew it... The person I killed with the glass, it was your doing..."
"If your understanding is still stuck on the level of 'foul play', I'm afraid you'll never understand 'echo' in your lifetime."
Jiang Ruoxue turned to leave. After taking three steps, she suddenly thought of something else, stopped, and said, "Qi Xia, don't suppress your own grief. People only hear the 'echo' in moments of extreme emotion."
With that said, Jiang Ruoxue pushed open the inn's door and walked out onto the street.
"Hey, don't you have a question to ask me?"
Qi Xia shouted from a distance.
"Save it for later."
Jiang Ruoxue didn't turn back, merely waving her hand. Her words left everyone confused and bewildered, but Qi Xia felt like he had grasped some kind of clue. According to Qi Xia's understanding, 'echo' seemed to be a kind of superpower.
This superpower would randomly appear in certain people. And at that time, the giant bell would also chime, and the screen would display "I heard the echo". In other words, every time the bell had chimed before, it meant someone had obtained this superpower called 'echo'.
And when the bell chimed a second time, it meant the user had hidden their superpower, or... the user had died.
"Officer Li was an 'Echo User'..."
Qi Xia muttered to himself.
"Officer Li?"
Lin Qin and Zhang Chenze looked at Qi Xia at the same time.
"The bell chimed for the first time just before Officer Li died, and it chimed a second time after he died."
Qi Xia tried to connect Officer Li's bizarre actions at the time with this superpower.
"This means he obtained this ability right before his death, but his behavior was very strange."
Qi Xia took the old metal lighter out of his pocket and said to Lin Qin and Zhang Chenze, "He was like a magician at that moment. He pulled a cigarette from an empty pack, and then pulled a lighter from an empty pocket."
"What?"
Zhang Chenze looked at Qi Xia, puzzled.
"Weren't you the one who brought him those two things?"
"No." Qi Xia shook his head.
"I was afraid you would focus too much of your energy on these questions at the time, so I kept it from you. But thinking about it now, he did briefly obtain that superpower."
"So you're saying..."
Lin Qin held out her hand, gesturing, "...this superpower called 'echo'... can let people create things out of thin air?"
"No." Qi Xia shook his head again.
"If we carefully consider Jiang Ruoxue's words and combine them with everything that has happened before, we can make a bold hypothesis... This thing called 'echo' is divided into many categories. The ability each person obtains is also different. The currently known ones are 'Disaster's Call' and 'Shifting the Blame', as well as Officer Li's 'retrieving objects from thin air'."
Zhang Chenze also nodded and interjected at this point, "That Jiang Ruoxue's ability also seems quite different from Officer Li's... It's like she can control the 'logical connection' of an event..." Friendly Reminder: The website is about to be updated, which may cause you to lose your reading progress.
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