Chapter 90

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

"Doesn't it sound good?" Xu Liunian smiled slightly, still looking forward as she drove, "I thought this name would make me a big star, but in the end, I ended up driving a taxi, hahaha."

Qi Xia gave a few weak chuckles, but the next moment, his face turned cold.

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

"What's wrong?"

Qi Xia stretched out his pale hand and pointed to the taxi driver's license in front of him.

"The photo on this... is indeed you."

"Yes, it's my car, so I have my license hanging here. What's the problem?" Xu Liunian wore a puzzled expression.

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

"I don't understand." Xu Liunian shook her head, "Customer, do you usually chat with others like this?"

"How could a 'participant' bring a car here?!" Qi Xia felt his worldview was about to shatter.

Although talking about "worldview" in this bizarre place was somewhat ridiculous, the existence of the woman in front of him indeed exceeded his understanding.

He had thought that the "original residents" who were like zombies were all previous "participants" who had stayed here for too long, thus going mad and losing their way.

But now there was someone like Xu Liunian...

Her behavior was very strange, but her mind was very clear.

She had her own property in this city.

"I really don't understand." Xu Liunian shook her head, "If you're looking for trouble, you'd better get out of the car early."

Qi Xia shook his head hard to stay as clear as possible, hoping this method would ensure that what he saw was not an illusion.

"Xu Liunian..." he called out.

"What now?" The woman in front of him had lost her previous politeness, her tone filled with impatience.

"How many customers do you get in a day?" Qi Xia changed the subject, starting a casual conversation.

"I..." Xu Liunian was clearly taken aback by this question, as if she had never thought about it before. After a long pause, she said, "You seem to be my first customer today..."

"How many customers do you get in a week?" Qi Xia asked again.

Xu Liunian felt a hidden dark area in her mind being slowly torn open by the man's questions.

Before meeting this man, she felt everything was fine.

But after meeting him and hearing a few questions, the painful memories in her mind surged like a flood.

"I don't seem to have had any customers in a week..." Her expression became dazed, her eyes constantly moving, as if pondering something.

Qi Xia noticed his questions were affecting her and continued to press:

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

"I... I..." Xu Liunian's expression became increasingly panicked, on the verge of collapse, "I haven't eaten for a long time... When there are no customers, I just stay by the roadside..."

"How long have you been parked by the roadside?" Qi Xia's tone was calm, but his whole body was on edge, afraid of hearing a strange answer.

A loud screeching sound rang out as Xu Liunian slammed the car to a stop in the middle of the road.

Her lips trembled as she looked ahead, her eyes changing.

There was emotion in her eyes, completely different from the zombies on the street.

"I've been parked by the roadside for two years!!!" She screamed, then burst into tears, "Oh God... What's wrong with me?!"

"Two..." Qi Xia's throat moved, and he swallowed, "You haven't eaten, drunk, or slept, and you've been parked by the roadside for two years?"

She looked at her hands, finally understanding.

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

"Is there something strange about this car?" Qi Xia asked.

"This is the tool I relied on to survive in the real world! How could I see this car here..." Xu Liunian suddenly turned her head and noticed the bloodstains on Qi Xia's clothes, "Are you hurt?"

"It's fine..." Qi Xia shook his head, "This injury is not serious... Are you clear now?"

Xu Liunian's hands trembled as she examined Qi Xia's wound, noticing that the surface had been roughly treated, the flesh burned by high temperatures, stopping the bleeding but leaving severe burn marks.

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

"Yes, there are no conditions here for us to survive." Qi Xia looked into the distance with a sense of loss, "Xu Liunian, I don't have much time left. Can you do me one last favor?"

"Y-You say."

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

Xu Liunian looked at Qi Xia with a sad expression, knowing that his ability to stay clear was almost a miracle.

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

She shifted gears and shakily restarted the car.

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

He coughed lightly, feeling something pressing on his throat, making it extremely difficult to breathe.

As his life entered its final countdown, Qi Xia saw not a montage of memories but the dilapidated, rapidly receding skyscrapers.

He remembered that day, when he had also taken a taxi, resolutely heading to another city.

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

But it didn't turn out that way...

On the empty street, Xu Liunian drove the car at high speed, and Qi Xia bit his tongue hard to stay conscious.

Before long, his mouth was full of blood, and he opened the window to spit out a large mouthful.

"Are you okay?" Xu Liunian asked anxiously.

"I'm fine." Qi Xia wiped his mouth and said softly, "I feel great now, no need to worry about 'living.' I've never felt so relaxed these past few days."

The two drove in silence for nearly half an hour.

"Hey... Are you still alive?" Xu Liunian slowed down, reaching out with her right hand to shake Qi Xia, "We've reached the edge of the city. How are you going to escape?"

Qi Xia used all his strength to turn his head and open his eyes, looking ahead. A few seconds later, his pupils gradually dilated.

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

Looking down the highway, wide roads stretched out.

The roads were interconnected, extending endlessly.

In the distance, other skyscrapers were faintly visible.

"So there's no edge here at all..." Qi Xia's lips moved slightly, and he was once again overwhelmed by the scene before him.

The words of the "sheep" echoed in Qi Xia's ears: "We are much grander than 'religion,' we have a world!"

Yes, if this is not a city but a world, how can one escape?

"Where do we go next?"

Xu Liunian turned to look at Qi Xia and found him lying lifelessly on the seat.

His eyes carried a hint of confusion, a hint of resentment, a hint of unwillingness, and he did not close them even in death.