Chapter 42: Seeking Benefit and Avoiding Harm
"Cough, cough..." Qiao Jiajin lay on the ground coughing incessantly, feeling as if all his internal organs had been shattered by the impact.
The guy with glasses reacted quickly, scrambling to his feet and starting to reposition the iron plate.
"Come help!" he shouted at the women behind him. "If these two fall, we're all finished!"
Although terrified, the girls knew the situation was critical. They all bent down, gritted their teeth, and began moving the iron plate.
Qi Xia lay on the ground, his head spinning. That charge from the black bear seemed to have knocked his very soul out of his body. He truly didn't know how Qiao Jiajin had managed to withstand two attacks on his own.
"I'm going to make sure that fleeing fat bastard dies a horrible death..." Qiao Jiajin cursed through clenched teeth.
"Seeking benefit and avoiding harm... it's only human nature..." Qi Xia murmured from the ground. "As written in the 'Memorial to General Liang Shang': 'As for seeking benefit and avoiding harm, fearing death and loving life, these are universal truths...'"
"Did that crash scramble your brains?" Qiao Jiajin forced his eyes open to look at Qi Xia. "What the hell does some general have to do with anything? If that bastard hadn't suddenly abandoned us, this iron plate wouldn't have tipped over like this..."
By now, the iron plate had been propped upright by the girls. The guy with glasses bent down to help Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin up. "Brothers, you okay?"
The two stood up and wearily leaned against the iron plate.
"I wouldn't say 'okay,'" Qiao Jiajin replied as he glanced at the black bear. "I'd say 'not dead yet.'"
After that collision, the beast wasn't in much better shape either. Its massive body seemed disoriented, and it kept shaking its head to stay alert.
"My turn this time!" the guy with glasses said. "You two go to the back of the formation and rest for a bit."
With that, he copied Qiao Jiajin's stance, lowering his center of gravity and pressing his shoulder against the iron plate.
But the guy with glasses looked far too skinny. Just bracing against the plate seemed extremely difficult—his legs trembled continuously, and veins bulged on his forehead.
"Damn... this iron plate is this heavy?" He seemed to realize his stance was wrong and adjusted the angle of his legs, but the plate didn't get any lighter.
"Brother, it's not that I don't trust you," Qiao Jiajin said with a helpless shake of his head. "If we're counting on you to hold the plate, there's no point in us standing behind you. Either way, we're all dead."
"Maybe... maybe you should do it instead..." The guy with glasses gave an awkward smile and stepped aside.
By now, the group had basically reformed their defensive formation, and Qiao Jiajin once again braced himself against the iron plate.
The black bear had also mostly recovered. It was about to charge at the iron plate again when it noticed the middle-aged man standing alone off to the side.
"Crap! Old Lü!" the guy with glasses suddenly panicked. "Get over here, quick!"
"Hmph," Qiao Jiajin snorted coldly. "That fatso wanted to go out and seek death himself. Let him."
"No..." The guy with glasses' expression turned cold. "Old Lü saved my life before. I can't just abandon him!"
"You're pretty dumb," Qiao Jiajin said.
But before the guy with glasses could figure out a way to save Old Lü, the black bear had already positioned itself between the group and him. It seemed to understand that if Old Lü made it behind the iron plate, there would be no chance of killing him.
The guy with glasses was visibly frantic. After hesitating for a long moment, he turned back to Qi Xia. "Can you save Old Lü?!"
Qi Xia's eyes turned cold. "Sure, go ahead and save him. I won't stop you."
"I... I can't do it myself... that's why I'm asking you..." the guy with glasses said, trembling. "You seem like a capable person. Can you help me..."
"No," Qi Xia said without hesitation. "If you want to go, go yourself."
The guy with glasses wanted to say more, but on second thought, he really had no good reason to ask a complete stranger to risk his life for this.
He thought it over for a long time before finally gritting his teeth. "Then... fine... I'll go save him myself..."
He slowly let go of Qi Xia's clothes and fixed his gaze on the black bear.
Then, in a rather comical manner, he took three deep breaths, let out a yell to bolster his courage, stomped his foot, and was about to rush at the black bear.
Just as he was about to charge, Qi Xia reached out and stopped him.
"Whoa!" The guy with glasses was so startled he nearly twisted his back. "What the hell?!"
"You'll die. Aren't you afraid?" Qi Xia asked slowly.
"Of course I'm afraid!" The guy with glasses looked like he was about to cry. "But I can't just stand here and watch Old Lü die either!"
"In that case, I'll make you a deal." Qi Xia stared at the black bear in the distance. "If I can keep you alive through this game, both of your 'Tao' belong to me."
"Huh?" The guy with glasses hadn't expected Qi Xia to make such a demand at a time like this. For a moment, he didn't know how to respond.
"Of course, if you're not willing, you can go save him yourself."
Qi Xia's tone brooked no argument, putting the guy with glasses in a difficult position. He and Old Lü had risked their lives to participate in this game, but if they didn't even get a single 'Tao' out of it, what was the point?
"I can only promise to give you my own 'Tao,' but Old Lü's..." The guy with glasses said hesitantly. "I don't know if he'd be willing."
"Then vouch for him," Qi Xia said. "You two are together, right?"
"I... I..." After much deliberation, the guy with glasses still felt that 'life' was more important than 'Tao.' "Fine... I'll vouch for him. If we both survive, our 'Tao' is yours."
"Good." Qi Xia nodded. "Take off your shoes and give them to me."
"What?"
"Your shoes," Qi Xia repeated.
Not knowing what he intended, the guy with glasses quickly took off his dirty sneakers and handed them to Qi Xia.
"Rules of the hunt—animals are instinctively sensitive..." Qi Xia silently recited to himself again. "First rule: never attack from behind."
Qi Xia weighed one sneaker in his hand, then suddenly took a step forward and hurled it with force. It struck the black bear square on the back.
The bear was startled—its entire body seemed to flinch as it quickly spun around, looking in all directions.
"Second rule: never injure the nose."
Qi Xia picked up the other sneaker and threw it hard at the bear's face.
The shoe hit the black bear right on the nose. Though the impact wasn't strong, it made the beast stumble backward.
Enraged once more, the black bear completely ignored Old Lü, who was right in front of it, and charged straight at Qi Xia.
Qi Xia reacted quickly, tugging on Qiao Jiajin's clothes to adjust the angle of the iron plate.
The black bear's next attack seemed completely reckless—it simply slammed its front paws against the iron plate.
Once, twice, three times.
It roared madly, but these strikes were clearly not as powerful as before. All of them were blocked by Qiao Jiajin and the iron plate.
Old Lü, meanwhile, scrambled over frantically and joined the group.