TDU Chapter 223
Chapter 223 Who’s At The Door
Qi Xia furrowed his brows and slowly sat up, reaching out to gently caress Yu Nian'An's face. "An, are you feeling unwell?"
Yu Nian'An remained silent. After a moment of contemplation, she spoke again, her voice steady but distant, "Knock, knock, knock."
Although confusion swirled in his mind, Qi Xia tentatively asked, "Who’s at the door?"
But this time, instead of saying, {So Qi Xia is home}, Yu Nian'An stared into Qi Xia’s eyes and enunciated each word clearly, "The one at the door… isn’t me."
"What…?" Qi Xia felt completely baffled. "An, are you… sleeptalking?"
Yu Nian'An didn’t answer. She simply turned away and slowly lay down, closing her eyes as though nothing had happened. Within moments, her breathing evened out, as if she had drifted back into sleep.
Qi Xia, still worried, gently patted Yu Nian'An’s back, trying to make her feel more secure.
Perhaps it was the strain of the past few days, or the exhaustion from his absence that wore her down.
"Don’t worry, An, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay right here with you," Qi Xia murmured, pulling her closer into his arms.
…
"Knock knock knock."
Qi Xia suddenly woke up, only to find Yu Nian'An once again sitting by his side.
The world outside the window remained a solid, impenetrable darkness, and in the dim light, only the glimmer of Yu Nian'An’s sparkling eyes could be seen.
"An... you..." Qi Xia slowly sat up, a sense of unease creeping in his chest.
"Knock knock knock," Yu Nian'An said.
Qi Xia fixed his gaze on her and noticed that her eyes seemed to be brimming with tears.
‘What on earth is going on?’
He wanted to understand the motive behind Yu Nian'An's actions.
"Knock knock knock."
But Yu Nian'An seemed to only be able to say that one sentence.
Qi Xia remained silent for a long while before finally asking, "Who—Who’s at the door?"
"Xia, the one at the door isn’t me."
Qi Xia could distinctly see a tear at the corner of Yu Nian'An's eye. The tear shimmered weakly in the night, gliding down half of her face before dropping.
After speaking, Yu Nian'An closed her eyes and slowly lay down again.
She had fallen asleep once more.
But sleep had completely eluded Qi Xia.
For seven years, Yu Nian'An had not shed a single tear. He had once sworn that in his lifetime, he would never let Yu Nian'An's tears fall to the ground.
Yet this time, he had broken that vow.
Yu Nian'An looked incredibly distressed, her gaze sharp as though it carried a blade, engraving despair into her heart.
The foul odor slowly filled the room, leaving Qi Xia with an overwhelming sense of unreality. This was the kind of odor only found in {End Point}; why would it be here—in the real world?
The darkness around him was overwhelming. Qi Xia could not discern whether he was in reality or in {End Point}. All he could do was slowly hold Yu Nian'An, hoping to calm his restless heart.
Time passed, second by second. About an hour later, Qi Xia felt Yu Nian'An's body stir.
He gently released his hold, watching as Yu Nian'An sat up.
She opened her eyes and turned her head, her gaze fixing on Qi Xia.
"Knock knock knock."
Qi Xia slowly sat up, an uneasy thought beginning to take root in his mind.
If everything was truly as he feared, this would be the most terrifying thing he had ever encountered in his life.
"Who is at the door?" Qi Xia asked, his voice trembling.
Yu Nian'An paused for a moment before whispering, "The. One. At. The. Door. Isn’t. Me."
After the words left her lips, Yu Nian'An’s painful tears began to fall.
And in that instant, Qi Xia collapsed.
Watching as Yu Nian'An lay down once more to sleep, Qi Xia’s own tears flowed uncontrollably.
So, this was the truth…?
She was in pain, but she couldn’t fight it—she knew the person who had spoken {knock knock knock} wasn’t Yu Nian'An, and she also knew she wasn’t herself.
Yu Nian'An should not be in existence, yet here she lay.
Why was she lying here?
What was the reason for her appearance?
‘What exactly is my {Reverberation}...?’
Qi Xia curled himself up, his hands gripping his hair tightly in the blackness. His conviction and persistence felt like a fallen building, crumbling and collapsing from its foundation.
Why did the meal Yu Nian'An made today match exactly what Qi Xia had anticipated?
Why did the flavor she created align perfectly with his expectations?
Why did her recollection of those seven years match his memories to the smallest detail?
Why did she carry the distinct scent of {End Point}?
It’s glaringly obvious now...
Qi Xia’s entire body trembled.
The Yu Nian'An before him was neither real nor fake—she was a creation of Qi Xia’s own making.
She was the masterpiece of his {Reverberation}, born from his own {belief}, and naturally, she aligned perfectly with his thoughts.
The tremors in Qi Xia grew more intense as doubts began to cloud his mind.
If the Yu Nian'An before him was created...
Then where, in truth, was the real Yu Nian'An?
‘N—No, that’s not right…’ The question seemed to have circled back to its starting point... Did Yu Nian'An even exist? If she didn’t, then where did these seven years of memories come from?
Qi Xia had even risked his life to deceive a scumbag for Yu Nian'An—was all of that just a figment of his imagination?!
"Cut the nonsense..." Qi Xia snapped, shaking his head sharply. He knew, deep down, that he had lived with Yu Nian'An. Those memories were too vivid, too real—etched into his soul.
There was no one in this world who lived solely for others. But Qi Xia was different—he had always felt as though he existed for Yu Nian'An alone.
If there was no Yu Nian'An in this world, then where did his belief come from?
Those seven years...
At that moment, Lin Qin’s voice echoed in Qi Xia’s mind: "In these past seven years, I’ve never come across any mention of you, nor heard of your formidability within {End Point}"
Qi Xia furrowed his brows, feeling as if his thoughts were beginning to clear.
Over the span of seven years, he never once left his probation room.
Could it be… that he wasn’t actually in the room at all?
This explained why he hadn’t guided everyone out, and why the people at {End Point} had never seen him, nor Qiao Jiajin, Officer Li, or the rest.
‘Was... I... with Yu Nian'An back then...?’
This bold thought emerged in Qi Xia’s mind.
It was irrefutable that he had not merely entered {End Point} three times; his involvement in this realm must have begun at a much earlier juncture.
From his previous conversations with Vermilion Bird and White Tiger, he discerned that his former self must have wreaked havoc within {End Point}, to the extent that he may have even escaped.
He broke free into the real world, while those in the room remained ensnared.
It was then that he met Yu Nian'An and spent seven years with her in the real world. But after those seven years, something unknown occurred, pulling him back to this cursed place, compelling everything to begin anew.
"It all fits together so perfectly..." Qi Xia murmured under his breath.
Unless someone’s memories had been preserved for over seven years, it would have been impossible for anyone to know what had happened to him in the past.
Qi Xia found himself suspended in a strange and precarious equilibrium between madness and reason… It was as if he was one straw away from plunging into complete insanity.
