Chapter 90: Unblinking Eyes

"Xu Liunian." Qi Xia nodded slightly. "It's very poetic."

"Good, isn't it?" Xu Liunian smiled faintly, keeping her eyes on the road as she drove. "I thought this name would make me a big star, but in the end, I ended up driving a taxi. Ha ha."

Qi Xia let out a few weak chuckles along with her, but the next second, his expression turned dark and cold.

"Xu Liunian, what kind of joke are you playing on me?"

"What's wrong?"

Qi Xia extended his pale hand, pointing at the taxi driver's license displayed in front of them.

"The photo on this... it's definitely you."

"Yes, it's mine. This is my car, so it has my license. Is there a problem?" Xu Liunian looked puzzled.

"Don't play dumb with me..." Qi Xia coughed violently a few times, then took a deep breath and said, "Having your license here means this car really belongs to you... So who are you? Why is there a car belonging to you in this city?"

"I don't understand." Xu Liunian shook her head. "Sir, is this how you usually talk to people?"

"'Participants' can't possibly be brought here with a car like this!" Qi Xia felt his entire worldview shattering.

Though it was ridiculous to talk about a "worldview" in this strange place, the woman in front of him was beyond his comprehension.

He had assumed that the locals, who moved like walking corpses, were former "participants" who had stayed too long and lost their minds.

But here was someone like Xu Liunian...

Her behavior was odd, yet her thinking was clear.

She even had her own property in this city.

"I really don't understand." Xu Liunian shook her head. "If you're just looking for trouble, sir, you should get out now."

Qi Xia shook his head vigorously, trying to stay alert and ensure what he was seeing wasn't an illusion.

"Xu Liunian..." he called out.

"What's the matter now?" The woman in front of him had lost her earlier politeness, her tone now filled with impatience.

"You drive a taxi—how many passengers do you pick up in a day?" Qi Xia suddenly changed the subject, chatting casually.

"I..." After hearing this, Xu Liunian paused, as if she'd never thought about it before. She pondered for a moment before replying, "You seem to be my first passenger today..."

"Then how many in a week?" Qi Xia asked again.

Xu Liunian felt as if a long-hidden dark corner of her mind was being slowly torn open by the man's questions.

Before meeting him, she had felt everything was fine.

But after encountering him and hearing just a few questions, painful memories flooded her mind like a raging torrent.

"I think... I haven't picked up any passengers in a whole week..." Her expression began to grow dazed, her eyes darting around as if searching for something.

Qi Xia realized his questions were shaking her, so he pressed on:

"What have you been eating and drinking this week? Where do you go after you finish work?"

"I... I..." Xu Liunian's face grew increasingly frantic, teetering on the edge of collapse. "I haven't eaten anything for a long time... When there are no passengers, I just park on the roadside..."

"How long have you been parked on the roadside?" Qi Xia asked, his tone calm, but his hair stood on end, dreading the answer.

A loud screeching sound erupted as Xu Liunian slammed on the brakes, stopping the car in the middle of the road.

She stared ahead, her lips trembling, her eyes changing in a way that set her apart from the lifeless people on the streets.

There was emotion in her gaze, completely different from the walking dead.

"I've been parked on the roadside for two years!!!" she screamed, then burst into sobs. "Oh my god... what's wrong with me?!"

"Two..." Qi Xia swallowed hard. "You've been there for two years without eating, drinking, or sleeping?"

She looked at her own hands, finally realizing.

"It's this car... When I saw this car in the city, it was like I was possessed..."

"What's so strange about this car?" Qi Xia asked.

"This was the tool I relied on to make a living in the real world! How could I possibly see it here..." Xu Liunian suddenly turned back and noticed Qi Xia's clothes stained with blood. "You're injured?"

"It's nothing..." Qi Xia shook his head. "The wound isn't serious... Are you clear-headed now?"

Xu Liunian tremblingly examined Qi Xia's injury and saw that the surface had been roughly treated—the flesh burned by high heat to stop the bleeding, though the burn marks were severe.

"You have such a bad injury... If we don't find medicine soon..." She choked up. "I almost forgot, there's no medicine here at all..."

"Yes, this place doesn't have the conditions for us to survive." Qi Xia gazed sadly into the distance. "Xu Liunian, can you do me one last favor before I go?"

"You... you say."

"Keep driving forward." Qi Xia said. "I want to escape this place, to see the edge of the city."

Xu Liunian looked at Qi Xia with sorrow, knowing that his ability to stay conscious now was already a miracle.

"Okay, I'll take you to the edge of the city. You have to hold on."

She put the car in gear and shakily started driving again.

Qi Xia leaned his head against the window, watching the scenery recede outside.

He coughed lightly twice, feeling something pressing on his windpipe, making it hard to breathe.

As his life entered its final countdown, what he saw wasn't a flashback of memories, but the dilapidated high-rises speeding backward.

He remembered that day, when he got into a taxi and headed resolutely to another city.

He had thought that once he returned home, he and Yu Nian'an could live a good life.

But he never expected...

On the empty streets, Xu Liunian drove fast, while Qi Xia bit his tongue hard to stay conscious.

Soon, his mouth was full of fresh blood, and he opened the window to spit it out.

"Are... are you okay?" Xu Liunian asked anxiously.

"I'm fine." Qi Xia wiped his mouth and whispered, "I feel great right now. I don't have to worry about 'staying alive' anymore. I've never felt so relaxed in all these days."

The two sped on in silence, driving for nearly half an hour more.

"Hey... are you still alive?" Xu Liunian slowed the car and reached out with her right hand to shake Qi Xia. "We've reached the edge of the city. How do you plan to escape?"

Qi Xia mustered all his strength to turn his head and open his eyes, straining to look ahead. After a few seconds, his pupils dilated.

In front of them was a highway toll booth, its sign rusted and illegible.

Following the toll booth, broad roads stretched onward.

The highways branched out in all directions, extending endlessly.

In the far distance, other high-rises loomed faintly.

"So there’s no edge here at all..." Qi Xia murmured, lips quivering, utterly defeated by the sight.

Ren Yang's words echoed in Qi Xia's ears: "We are far grander than any 'religion'; we have a whole world!"

Indeed, if this wasn't just a city but an entire world, how could anyone escape?

"Where do we go next?"

Xu Liunian turned back to look at Qi Xia, only to find him lying lifeless in his seat.

His eyes held a trace of confusion, resentment, and unwillingness—even in death, they remained open.