Chapter 542

Chapter 542 Alone

“Xia, look! I got my name tattooed,” Yu Nian’An said.

“Where?”

She held out her index finger, the side nearest her thumb adorned with three elegant letters: {Y N A}.

“Pretty, isn’t it? Say it with me!” She beamed, pointing at the letters and slowly enunciating, “Yu! Nian! An!”

“Good, very good,” Qi Xia laughed and nodded. “When you grow old and forget who you are, I’ll just point to it for you.”

…

“How dare you deceive me?” Qi Xia’s gaze flickered slightly as he turned to Yan Zhichun. “How could you not have heard the name {Yu Nian’An}?”

“What?” Yan Zhichun froze for a moment. “Why would I have to know this Yu Nian’An? Besides, this is our first meeting, what reason would I have to deceive you?”

Qi Xia shook his head forcefully, his ears ringing with a deafening clamor.

Something was definitely wrong…

He stepped forward and grabbed Yan Zhichun’s wrist. The sudden movement startled the two men standing beside her, and they immediately lunged to restrain Qi Xia.

“Oi! What’re you doin’?!” Ole Sun shouted. “Talk proper, mate! No rough play allowed!”

“I should’ve realized…” Qi Xia ground his teeth. “You are {Adherents}… how many truthful words could possibly come out of your mouths?”

“What?!” Ole Sun looked baffled. “So what if we’re {Adherents}? Did we hit ya or insult ya?”

Qi Xia disregarded Ole Sun. He held Yan Zhichun’s forearm firmly, sliding her palm in front of his eyes, and studied the three letters carefully.

{Y N A}.

Having studied the style and engraving of these three letters innumerable times, it was impossible for him to misremember.

It was identical to the tattoo on Yu Nian’An’s finger.

If he had used Yan Zhichun’s {body} to fabricate memories, then why were even the minutest details etched so clearly in his mind?

“You’re name is Yan Zhichun… yet on the side of your finger is tattooed {Y N A}…” Qi Xia’s lips trembled as he spoke. “How do you explain that?”

“My name is Yan Zhichun. What my fingers are tattooed with has no necessary connection,” Yan Zhichun replied irritably. “You really have lost your mind, haven't you? I had presumed you wiser—”

“Indeed, I may be on the brink of losing my mind… what here is even real?”

Yan Zhichun furrowed her brow and flexed her fingers lightly. Qi Xia immediately released her arm and mimicked her movement exactly.

“Qi Xia, I treated you with courtesy because I thought you were a smart man, but do you truly wish to court death?”

Yan Zhichun reached up to smooth her hair, and in that same instant, Qi Xia reached up to smooth his nonexistent long hair.

Normally, when Yan Zhichun wielded her {Soul Seizing Intent}, her uncanny power would leave her opponent in awe, their eyes wide with shock.

But Qi Xia before her remained unmoved.

He paid no mind to the strange sensations in his body, nor to whatever force might be controlling him; his gaze was fixed unwaveringly on Yan Zhichun’s finger.

“What on earth is going on with you?” Seeing that he showed no aggression, Yan Zhichun withdrew her {Reverberation}, yet Qi Xia still did not budge.

“No… I…” Qi Xia felt his mind clog once more, but hastily corrected himself. “This question is truly important to me…I apologize if I’ve frightened you… It’s just that… that tattoo…”

Yan Zhichun rubbed her slightly aching wrist, curiosity flickering across her eyes as she studied Qi Xia again. 

Ole Sun and Old Deng beside her looked equally perplexed.

The man before them seemed either mad or not, yet he constantly did the strangest things.

“Did you suppose that what I tattooed reads {Yu Nian’An}?” Yan Zhichun frowned. “What an absurd assumption. Who exactly is this Yu Nian’An to you?”

“My wife…” Qi Xia replied in a low, heavy voice. “I’m searching for my wife… and on her finger, there is a tattoo identical to yours, down to the slightest detail.”

“Identical?” Yan Zhichun froze, then lowered her gaze to the tattoo on her finger. “Are you certain?”

At that instant, a sense of oddity struck her; she had no acquaintance with Qi Xia, let alone his spouse.

Though she had encountered many people within the limited confines of {End Point}, she could not recall anyone bearing a tattoo exactly like her own.

“My tattoo has nothing whatsoever to do with {Yu Nian’An},” Yan Zhichun replied. “I suspect your memories have become distorted.”

“Then your {Y N A}…”

“It’s English,” Yan Zhichun said calmly. “An abbreviation for {You’re Not Alone}. I had it inked to comfort myself.”

‘{You’re Not Alone}…’ The moment Qi Xia heard those words, his eyes went vacant, and Yu Nian’An’s voice echoed endlessly in his ears:

“Xia, you have me. You’re not alone.”

“Xia, without me, how lonely (alone) would you be?”

Yu Nian’An.

Lingering thoughts have never known peace.

And I have always been alone.

Indeed… for Yan Zhichun to tattoo an English abbreviation onto her finger was far more reasonable than Yu Nian’An’s motive.

Who normally would carve the abbreviation of their own name onto their finger?

‘Why must it always be this result…’ Qi Xia trembled violently. ‘Every time I seek the truth, it inevitably ends like this… f*ck…not a single path remains…I don’t even…’

His head felt as though it were splitting apart, and he was on the verge of collapsing again.

But the circumstances now were unmistakably unlike the past. If he fell here, there would be no chance of living; the three individuals before him were not Qiao Jiajin and Chen Junnan, they had no reason to save him.

“Zhichun,” Ole Sun called out, “we oughta be goin’ now. Time’s about up.”

Yan Zhichun nodded. They no longer spared a glance for the anguished Qi Xia. One after another, they moved to the back door, pushed it open, and slipped out.

Qi Xia clutched at his hair, waiting for the agonizing headache to pass.

By now, he could clearly hear the sounds rising behind him, as though those black threads had already begun carving fissures into the heavy door, now worming their way into the room.

‘I can’t die yet…’ Qi Xia forced himself upright. He did not even have time to look back before he sprinted toward the back door.

Fortunately, the rear exit opened into a fairly wide alley, where at least a faint trace of light remained.

After roughly confirming his direction, Qi Xia began running once more through the streets.

Yet if one looked closely, it was clear his expression was like cold, lifeless ash.

Why was he even here?

Why was he trying to escape?

Why was he running for his life?

What meaning did any of this hold?

If he were sliced neatly in half by those black threads now, how would it differ from dying at random in some game a few days from now, how would it differ from facing annihilation on the tenth day?

“My {Reverberation trigger} is no more…” he murmured in utter despair.

The moment the words left his lips, Qi Xia suddenly felt his breathing falter. A sharp pain flared between his ribs, and his pace slowed at once.

‘Damn it…’

He dragged his feet toward the roadside, but he could clearly sense it: the thread behind him was already within arm’s reach.

Qi Xia lifted his head, his face dark as night. “If you don’t reveal yourself now, I’m genuinely going to die here…”

The instant his words fell, a roar of car engine thundered from the distant intersection.