TDU Chapter 531
Chapter 531 Wake Me Up
Qi Xia felt tears streaming endlessly down his face. If this was a nightmare, why would it not end?
“Mouse… you…” His pupils trembled slightly.
He recalled the first time he had seen the child before him, when he had declared with absolute certainty, “I want to stake my life”
After that gamble ended in victory, an unbearable headache had struck him.
“What am I even doing…?”
He wanted so badly to reach out and touch the corpse’s face, but it recoiled as if terrified, stepping back.
The doors along both sides of the corridor continued to creak open. One by one, {Earthly Branches} emerged. They nodded and saluted Qi Xia, then proceeded deeper into the corridor.
From the distance, the sound of heaven collapsing and earth shattering continued to echo, mingled with the countless footsteps of {Earthly Branches} on the wooden floor.
Qi Xia felt his mind unravel, as if innumerable fragments of lives were converging toward him.
“I want to go home…” Qi Xia finally regained some composure, trembling as he muttered, “I want to return to my room… this place does not belong to me…”
He took a few steps forward, only to find that the door he had entered through was gone.
Now, in front of him and behind him stretched corridors of unfathomable depth; no edge could be seen on either side.
“White Goat gege…”
Qi Xia heard the corpse behind him call once more. He turned, but there was nothing there.
“White Goat gege…”
No matter how Qi Xia turned, her voice always continued to sound from behind him.
It was as if she hovered just behind his back, following his every movement, yet no matter how he tried, he could not see her.
“Stop calling me…” Qi Xia said, utterly breaking down. “I’m sorry, Mouse… I’m truly sorry…”
“White Goat gege…”
“White Goat gege…”
Qi Xia slowly closed his eyes and covered his ears.
Why wouldn’t this dream end?
If this continued, he felt certain he would completely lose his mind.
How much time passed, he could not tell. Eventually, her voice seemed to vanish entirely. In the empty corridor, only the sound of his heartbeat and his breathing remained, and under the dim light, the silence felt especially profound.
“White Goat.”
Behind Qi Xia came an unusual voice, blending male and female elements, and somehow… it felt vaguely familiar.
Even with both hands pressed tightly over his ears, the voice still pierced through his palms and poured clearly into his mind.
“Dreams don’t have sound…” Qi Xia said. “This isn’t a dream. Where is this place? What… what are you?”
“White Goat, don’t you recognize me?” The androgynous voice sounded again beside his ear. “Turn around. Look at me.”
Qi Xia’s entire body went cold. This voice was even more terrifying than everything that had come before.
“I can’t…” Qi Xia said. “I can’t look at you…”
“White Goat, turn around and look at me.” The voice carried an irresistible pressure, leaving no room for refusal.
“No…” Qi Xia suppressed his surging emotions and spoke softly. “I can’t…”
“So soon you admit defeat?” The voice let out a light chuckle. “I’m deeply disappointed.”
“I will never admit defeat.” Qi Xia replied without turning around. “The reason I remain here is to crush you completely. So as long as you still live, I won’t accept defeat.”
“Then how am I supposed to die?” the voice continued calmly. “None of us are capable of dying. You know that perfectly well, don’t you?”
“You…”
“White Goat, you know it well: if you don’t die, then none of the people here can die either.”
The voice seemed to draw closer and closer, and every inch of Qi Xia’s skin felt an icy chill. A thin layer of goosebumps spread across him, and every hair on his body stood on end.
“White Goat, I see you,” the voice said. “If you won’t turn to look at me, then I will come to seek you.”
Even though Qi Xia had no recollection, his inner self was in constant resistance, a voice telling him he must never look at who stood behind him.
But the footsteps were closing in, about to arrive right before him.
“Wake me up…” Qi Xia whispered, eyes shut. “I mustn’t see him… not here…”
{Smack}!
A sharp sound rang out, and a searing pain shot across the left side of his face as his head jerked to the side.
When he opened his eyes, there was no one in front of him.
“Ole Qi!”
“Swindler lad!”
Qi Xia slowly widened his eyes. “Chen Junnan… Fists… wake me…”
{Smack}!
Another loud slap rang out. Qi Xia felt as though all the surroundings were shaking, as if they were about to collapse.
“Not enough…” he gritted his teeth. “Wake me up… now…”
He lifted his head, as if speaking to someone across a void.
“Wake up!!”
“Quick, wake me!!”
{Smack}!!
A violent slap struck Qi Xia’s face. At the same moment, a sharp pain shot through his lower abdomen, as if someone had punched him there with unimaginable force. The blow was so heavy that not only did his internal organs churn, but even the surrounding scenery seemed to collapse instantly under the impact.
All around him, the scenery shattered like thin sheets of paper, revealing the void behind it.
When Qi Xia looked up, beyond the scenery stretched a vast starry sky.
Before he could react, the ground beneath him cracked completely, and his entire body plummeted downward at breakneck speed.
“AHH!!”
Qi Xia’s eyes shot open. The stench of decay flooded his nostrils, and the dim light of the room glimmered into his vision.
In front of him were the faces of Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin, and not far off, Zheng Hero, Qian Five, and Zhou Six watched him with worry etched across their expressions.
“My goodness, Ole Qi, what on earth happened to you?” Chen Junnan exhaled in relief when he saw Qi Xia awake. “There’s nothing wrong with you, so why’re ya hollering on the bed all by yourself?”
Seeing these familiar faces, Qi Xia, though still aware that he had been through a kind of hell, felt a measure of relief.
Everything he had just experienced was now vividly clear; it had not been an ordinary dream.
Who was the voice behind those words?
What had Yu Nian’An meant by her words?
What could ‘The Dào encompasses three thousand six hundred doors, and each person clings to a single root’ possibly mean?
“Hehe!” Qiao Jiajin laughed sheepishly. “Junnan lad, I told you slaps wouldn’t work, my punches always do the trick.”
Qi Xia turned his head and surveyed his surroundings carefully, realizing that he had been lying in bed, asleep.
“Outrageous…” Qi Xia murmured softly. “How could you allow me to lie down?”
“Huh?” Chen Junnan blinked. “What do you mean, Ole Qi? What’s wrong with lying down?”
“I cannot lie down…” Qi Xia replied, his expression distant. “I can only sleep sitting up…lying down would render me far too relaxed.”
Qiao Jiajin looked at him, puzzled, then shook his head. “Swindler lad… you fainted, you know. Most would place a fainted person flat, on a bed after all, why would we put you in a chair?”
Qi Xia felt a strangeness himself.
Deep within, his mind insisted he must not lie down, must not relax his vigilance, yet he had no idea why.
TL Note: When I heard Qi Xia cry, ‘Wake me up’, Evanescence immediately came into mind. The chorus really fits xD
