Chapter 45: Capture the Ringleader to Subdue the Rebels
The Minotaur didn't respond. He merely swept his gaze across the remaining survivors, then said with slight displeasure, "Nineteen ‘Tao’ per person. The game is over. Please come forward one by one to collect your ‘Tao’."
Little Glasses glanced at Zhang Shan's wound and couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat. "Zhang Shan... are you really okay?"
"I'm just fine," Zhang Shan said with a smile, patting Little Glasses on the head. "How did things go on your end? You and Old Lü seem pretty energetic."
"Ah...!" Little Glasses suddenly cried out. "Zhang Shan, speaking of Old Lü, there's something I need to discuss with you..."
Old Lü also rushed over anxiously to Zhang Shan, waving his arms frantically. "Yeah, yeah! You have to stand up for me!"
"Stand up for you? What happened?"
Seeing the three of them whispering, Qi Xia's expression darkened. He turned back and asked Lin Ju, "What exactly happened over there?"
Lin Ju took a deep breath and said, "To be honest, I thought we were done for..."
"That's right..." Tian Tian added from the side. "When the black bear came out, Lin Ju and I were so scared we couldn't even stand."
"And then?" Qiao Jiajin asked.
"Then..." Lin Ju blinked, thinking. "I only remember that man named Zhang Shan shouting, ‘Get out of the way!’ and then he picked up an iron plate by himself and charged at the black bear."
"What?!" Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin exclaimed in unison.
"We didn't dare look..." Lin Ju said. "It was too brutal. He used the iron plate to knock the bear down, pinned its body, then straddled the plate and kept hitting its head. The whole place was covered in blood..."
"Damn... he's a real Terminator..." Qiao Jiajin gritted his teeth. "That big guy is fierce."
"He seemed to know the bear's weakness. Before the game even ended, the bear was already beaten beyond recognition—its nose was broken, and a lot of its teeth were knocked out..." Lin Ju said.
Tian Tian added, "But Zhang Shan didn't fare well either. The bear fought back desperately in its last moments, knocked off the iron plate, and kept clawing at him, shredding him until he was covered in blood. Luckily, the bear collapsed in less than a minute. Thanks to him, the rest of us were fine..."
Qi Xia frowned after hearing this. No wonder Tian Tian and Lin Ju thought they couldn't win this game on their own.
It turned out that in their arena, no one had used the same method as he had. Instead, someone had taken that heavy iron plate and used it as a weapon to fight the bear.
"In that case... why did you take so long to come up?" Qiao Jiajin asked. "You didn't come back until three or four minutes after the game ended. Me and the Conman were already preparing your funerals."
"That's the scarier part..." Lin Ju bit her lip and lowered her head. "After that big guy killed the bear, he suddenly said, ‘I haven't eaten in days, and bear paws are a delicacy.’ Then he ordered us all to smash the bear's arms off with the iron plate..."
"So those two bear arms..." Qiao Jiajin was about to say something when he suddenly saw the big man, Little Glasses, and Old Lü walking straight toward them.
Each of them had a small cloth pouch hanging from their waist, apparently already having collected their "Tao."
The big man in the lead wore a cold expression, his eyes fixed on Qi Xia, clearly not coming with good intentions.
"Oh..." Qiao Jiajin suddenly remembered Qi Xia's "deal" with Little Glasses and sensed trouble. "Conman, what's the plan?"
"The Matthew effect..." Qi Xia murmured to himself, almost inaudibly. "For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance. But from him who has not, even what he has shall be taken away."
"What does that mean?"
Qi Xia didn't answer. He silently sized up the environment, then pulled a chair in front of himself to keep some distance from the other man.
There were three more chairs beside him. He looked closely and noticed that one of them was within easiest reach—its leg was nearly broken, making it an excellent weapon.
The Minotaur was still ten steps away and couldn't intervene in time. Qi Xia knew that if everything went smoothly, he could definitely take down Zhang Shan.
"Not a big deal..." Qi Xia said, eyeing Zhang Shan coldly. "He can kill a bear, but unfortunately, I'm not a bear."
"What are you going to do...?" Lin Ju felt a pang of fear.
Qiao Jiajin also stared seriously at the three approaching men and subtly cracked his neck.
The atmosphere grew tense, thick with the smell of gunpowder.
If this big man really intended to "stick up" for his friends, it would surely be a fierce fight.
Zhang Shan walked up to Qi Xia and looked at him thoughtfully.
Qi Xia raised his head and met the gaze of the man who stood over six feet tall.
"I heard... you had some trouble with my friends," Zhang Shan said flatly.
"That's right," Qi Xia replied. "That old man bought his life from me with ‘Tao.’"
"Hmph... Who do you think you are?" Zhang Shan stuck his pinky finger in his ear and scratched. "Bought his life from you? Are you the King of Hell?"
"I can be." Qi Xia took a step forward, moving closer to the chair. "I can save lives, and I can end them."
Zhang Shan frowned. "What's wrong with you? Can't you talk like a normal person?"
"Whether I can talk normally depends entirely on whether you hand over your ‘Tao’."
"You're really annoying," the big man scowled. "What if I don't give it to you?"
Little Glasses was taken aback and quickly whispered, "Zhang Shan! What do you mean? This isn't what we agreed on!"
"Don't worry about it," Zhang Shan whispered back. "I have my own plan."
"If you don't give it to me, I'll take it myself."
"Oh? Are you tired of living?"
Before Zhang Shan could react, Qi Xia kicked the chair at his feet forward, slamming it into Zhang Shan's knee.
Zhang Shan winced and stumbled back two steps.
Seizing the opening, Qi Xia dashed forward, grabbed the broken chair from the ground, and gripped its leg. He knew Zhang Shan was wounded, and this was the perfect chance to take him down.
"Thirty-Six Stratagems: capture the leader to subdue the rebels," Qi Xia muttered under his breath as he swung the chair.
Seeing the danger, Zhang Shan immediately ducked and raised his arms to protect his head.
The next second, the chair shattered against his arms.
*CRACK!*
Though painful, the blow didn't hit a vital point.
"Crush their stronghold, capture their chief, and their forces will collapse," Qi Xia silently recited again.
Zhang Shan was clearly enraged. "You're actually trying to hurt me for real?!"
But before he could finish cursing, he noticed that Qi Xia still held a broken chair leg in his hand.
Qi Xia spun with the momentum and swung the leg straight at Zhang Shan's head.
Zhang Shan was no pushover. He immediately turned, using the hardest part of his forehead to meet the wooden stick.
*CRACK!*
The chair leg snapped on impact, leaving a red mark across Zhang Shan's forehead.
"Interesting...!" Zhang Shan said through gritted teeth. "You fight to kill. Then I won't hold back either!"