TDU Chapter 232
Chapter 232 Junnan
"Oh?" Qi Xia raised an eyebrow. "Kill me...? Interesting. Now that’s an idea worth considering."
"Right?" The pale-faced young man nodded. "I think so too, bro."
Qi Xia’s gaze lingered on the young man, a flicker of curiosity crossing his features. Despite his delicate, almost innocent appearance, something in the sharpness of his eyes suggested a deeper, more dangerous side—a hint of ruthlessness barely concealed beneath the surface.
"What's your name?" Qi Xia asked.
"Chen Junnan," the young man responded after a moment’s pause, as though considering the weight of the question. "And you, what should I call ya?"
"Qi Xia."
"Ah, yes... Qi Xia," Chen Junnan murmured, his lips curling into a slow, almost detached smile. "How amusing..."
‘Amusing?’ Qi Xia’s gut tightened, a knot of unease settling in. The man’s erratic demeanor struck a discordant chord deep within him. There was something about Chen Junnan that felt unnervingly familiar, though Qi Xia couldn’t quite place it.
"Qi Xia... what happened?" Chen Junnan’s manic grin quickly contorted into something darker, but just moments later, his eyes welled with tears. "What exactly are you doing here...?"
His emotions fluctuated wildly—as if on the brink of mental collapse, yet somehow as though they had already long since shattered beyond repair.
The question dug under Qi Xia’s skin, a jarring reminder of the words Vermilion Bird had once asked him.
"Why are you asking me this?" Qi Xia retorted, his tone sharp. "What’s your relation to Vermilion Bird?"
Chen Junnan lowered his head in defeat, almost lost in his own confusion. "Ridiculous... Me and Vermilion Bird? Qi Xia, are ya here to rescue Ole Qiao?"
"What?" Qi Xia's brow furrowed in confusion.
"You escaped already... so why come back?" Chen Junnan ground his teeth, his voice thick with bitterness. "If you're not here to save Ole Qiao, then you came back to give me a chance to kill ya, didn’t you?!"
The words struck like a blow, but Qi Xia's composure held steady. His earlier suspicions seemed to be confirmed—he had indeed escaped {End Point}.
But what had brought him back?
"So I really did escape...?" Qi Xia mused, his voice quiet but intense. "Chen Junnan, how long have you been here?"
He had the sense that, before Lin Qin arrived—or perhaps even earlier—Chen Junnan had been his teammate. Yet with so many memories clouding his mind, it was hard to keep his bearings straight.
"How long have I been here...?" Chen Junnan forced out a bitter smile. "What kind of question is that? Is this the new trend? Asking dumb questions?"
"What...?"
"How could we all have arrived here at different times?!" Chen Junnan’s smile faltered completely, his face contorting with frustration and anger. "Didn't we all arrive together?! This hell of a place where reincarnation never stops... Why are you here trying to figure out who came first?!"
This person’s memories were a labyrinth, too vast and tangled to navigate.
Could it be that… in the fragments of his mind, he even held the origins of {End Point}?
Qi Xia thought for a moment, his tone softening. "Tell me... What exactly did we go through?"
Chen Junnan’s response was almost animalistic—his entire frame trembling, the madness and anguish in his eyes flickering with each passing second. "Qi Xia… the three of us made a pact back then. I was supposed to cover for both of y’alls, to help you escape. But you abandoned Ole Qiao... and ran off yourself."
"W—What?" Qi Xia froze for a moment.
"Have you truly lost your memory?" Chen Junnan’s sneer cut through the air like a blade. "Seven years... seven damn years. In front of someone like Qiao Jiajin—so determined, so willing to help you—how could you be so heartless? It’s disgraceful. Do you have any idea how many times Ole Qiao died alone in those seven years, Ole Qi?"
"I..." The accusations hurled at Qi Xia were like a thousand jagged blades, each one piercing deeper into his sense of self. The words didn't feel like truth, yet they gnawed at him relentlessly.
"Look deep into your own conscience and ask yourself..." Chen Junnan said, his voice harsh. "How many times did Ole Qiao die for you? No... I should rephrase that—how many times did Qiao Jiajin die because of you?"
Qi Xia felt his chest tightening with a discomfort he couldn't quite place.
"Chen Junnan, although I don't know what happened in the past, what I do know about myself... is that I could never be so cruel." Qi Xia said, his gaze drifting toward the sky. "As long as someone shows me {genuine sincerity}, I could never {deceive} them. The ones I target are always those who wear lies like a second skin."
Chen Junnan fell silent.
After a long pause, he slowly shook his head. "Yes, even after such a huge change, you're still you," he said, grasping his own hair in frustration. "Do ya know... for these seven years, not a day went by when I didn't want to kill ya... but when I finally saw you, I hesitated. Ole Qi... tell me the truth, are ya just a villain reaping the consequences of your own misdeeds? Or are you a beacon of hope, someone worth trusting?"
Qi Xia had no answer to that question.
"Before I answer you... I want to know what exactly happened back then." Qi Xia asked, his voice steady.
Chen Junnan slowly stood up at his words and responded, "Ole Qi, you clearly escaped seven years ago."
"But... how do you know I escaped?"
"You told me yourself," Chen Junnan said, his gaze intense. "You said after that day, you would succeed. Didn't ya escape? Now you're going to slap your own face? I gave you my {genuine sincerity}, but back then, you repaid me with {deception}?"
"You’re telling me… that I was the one who said I’d escape soon?" Qi Xia’s voice wavered, his mind grappling with the fragments of a past he couldn’t quite grasp. "It sounds like we were quite close before, so why didn't I take you with me?"
"Because I told you I didn't want to leave," Chen Junnan's eyes grew cold once again. "But I never expected you would leave Ole Qiao behind too... After that, ya never showed up in the probation room again."
Qi Xia’s brow furrowed as he absorbed the words, each one heavy with unspoken history. "So… you didn’t actually see me escape," he said slowly, piecing it together. "You just realized I was gone."
Chen Junnan’s confusion flickered across his face, quickly replaced by a simmering anger. "What are you getting at? That you still deceived me in the end?"
"No," Qi Xia shook his head. "Chen Junnan, don’t you think it's possible... that it wasn't me who deceived you, but rather I was the one deceived?"
Chen Junnan let out a bitter laugh, his voice sharp with disbelief. "Are you messing with me, bro?" His tone hardened, anger simmering beneath the surface. "Ole Qi, in {End Point}, who the hell could possibly outsmart you?"
"Yu Nian'An is one of them," Qi Xia replied.
"Who?" Chen Junnan’s brow furrowed, his confusion evident. The name seemed to mean nothing to him.
Qi Xia’s eyes narrowed as he studied Chen Junnan’s reaction. Something felt off. "You’ve… never heard of Yu Nian’An?" he pressed, his voice tinged with suspicion.
"There are endless people at {End Point}. You expect me to remember every single name?" Chen Junnan replied dismissively.
A cold realization began to creep into Qi Xia’s mind.
"Chen Junnan... were we really close before?" Qi Xia asked, trying to confirm.
"How do I put this?" Chen Junnan hesitated for a moment. "You’re not exactly the most principled person, so I’d say I was closer to Ole Qiao than to you."
Qi Xia shook his head. "Fine. Even if we only crossed paths a few times, you must have at least heard of {Yu Nian’An}, right?"
Chen Junnan grew more confused. "What... just from a couple encounters with you, I should know the name {Yu Nian'An}? Is she that new girl who popped up in the last three cycles? Just cause she’s got a pretty face and a bangin' body doesn’t mean I’ll know her."
Qi Xia’s jaw clenched as he realized Chen Junnan was referring to Lin Qin. "No," he said firmly, cutting through the misunderstanding. "I’m talking about the woman who’s been with me today. Her name is Yu Nian’An. She’s my wife."
"Your what—?" Chen Junnan’s hand froze mid-motion, his fingers still resting on his chin. His eyes widened, disbelief etched across his face. "Wife?"
That single question struck Qi Xia like a thunderclap, sending his thoughts spiraling. This man—Chen Junnan, his supposed former comrade—had no idea Yu Nian’An even existed. The revelation was staggering, and it left Qi Xia reeling.
A cold clarity began to settle over him. If Chen Junnan didn’t know about her… then Yu Nian’An must have only entered his life within the last seven years.
