Chapter 1037: Dying for a Bosom Friend
“Qi Xia!”
Zhang Chenze saw Qi Xia rush out of the River, calling out to him in a low voice from behind.
But Qi Xia just crouched on the ground, examining Qiao Jiajin’s injuries.
“What is it?” Qi Xia asked in a low voice without looking up.
Zhang Chenze left the doorway and came to the River, asking with a puzzled expression, “You’re the ‘Commander’… how can you leave the ‘Ready Zone’?”
Qi Xia still didn’t lift his head. He reached out and felt Qiao Jiajin’s neck, finding his pulse very weak and many wounds on his face.
It was impossible to tell if he had passed out or fallen asleep; he had completely lost consciousness.
“The rules never said the ‘Commander’ can’t leave the ‘Ready Zone,’ only that the ‘Commander’ has to score points,” Qi Xia said. “I’m also carrying a ‘character,’ so naturally I’m one of the pieces.”
“But it’s too dangerous here…”
Zhang Chenze looked at Qiao Jiajin, then at Zhang Shan lying not far away, and naturally understood that a fierce battle had just taken place here.
She had worried about this problem before the game started—that tall man was so muscular and powerful. What would happen if they came to blows?
But the man with the tattooed arms had actually knocked him down.
“Lawyer Zhang, help me retrieve the ‘character,’” Qi Xia said. “The enemy won’t expect our ‘Commander’ to come out himself. I need your help right now.”
“Alright…!”
Without hesitation, Lawyer Zhang ran to Zhang Shan’s side, reached into his pocket, and sure enough found a ‘character.’ But as she took it out, her expression quickly changed.
Qi Xia ignored the change in Lawyer Zhang’s expression. He simply bent down and hoisted Qiao Jiajin onto his back. Turning his head, he said, “It doesn’t matter what ‘character’ it is. Let’s go.”
“Qi Xia… but this ‘character’…” Zhang Chenze’s eyes flickered. “If Qiao Jiajin fought that fight for the sake of this ‘character’… then what exactly are we doing for…”
“I only know he won,” Qi Xia said. “That ‘character’ is his trophy. We have to take it away for him.”
Zhang Chenze knew that Qi Xia had already thought of this possibility. She was silent for a few seconds, then wordlessly tucked the ‘character’ into her pocket.
Just as she was about to stand up, she saw blood foam continuously flowing from the corner of Zhang Shan’s mouth. She paused, and on impulse reached out to feel Zhang Shan’s neck.
His pulse was almost gone. He was in shock—if he didn’t receive medical attention, he would die soon.
There were obvious heavy injuries on his throat and temple; they already looked deformed. It must have happened when they exchanged blows, and Qiao Jiajin instinctively struck his vital points.
But it was unavoidable. This was a deadly fight that had stained the entire ‘River’ with blood… would anyone care where the punches landed?
In this life-or-death struggle, when both sides were reduced to pure instinct and faith, Zhang Shan had probably lost to his own subconscious.
When he threw punches in his daze, he still ended up choosing a non-lethal attack.
It was a shackle rooted deep in his heart—something even he couldn’t control.
Zhang Chenze turned her head again to look at Qiao Jiajin, who was lying on Qi Xia’s back.
Had he really wanted to kill someone?
It could only be said that his body wanted to win, his fists wanted to win. In that final moment, every limb had its own will, leading and winning this fight. They believed that even if they had to commit murder and bear the guilt, it was worth it.
Now Zhang Shan could only lie on this cold ‘Chu River and Han Border’ and walk toward death, with no one able to help him.
“Let’s go,” Qi Xia said. “Don’t let anyone see us.”
Zhang Chenze naturally understood what Qi Xia meant. Leaving now with Qiao Jiajin would leave the enemy with countless questions.
Zhang Shan had been beaten to death, but Qiao Jiajin was not at the scene. So how did he kill Zhang Shan? How did he leave? Where was he now?
The enemy would suspect that Qiao Jiajin had used some trick and then escaped unscathed.
In the time to come, even if Qiao Jiajin spent the whole time resting in the ‘Ready Zone,’ it would still put immense psychological pressure on the enemy.
They would always have to be on guard against that man who could pop up at any moment—the one who had killed Zhang Shan.
The three of them quickly made their way around several empty rooms. They ran into Zheng Yingxiong and Tiantian along the way, both of whom looked horrified when they saw Qiao Jiajin’s blood-covered face. But Qi Xia said nothing.
Back in the ‘Ready Zone,’ Qi Xia helped Qiao Jiajin sit down against the wall. After thinking for a moment, he felt uneasy and laid him flat.
In a daze, he saw Qiao Jiajin’s mouth seem to move, so he quickly bent down and put his ear close to Qiao Jiajin’s lips.
What he said was entirely in Cantonese, but Qi Xia could still make out the general meaning—
“The big man… is very dangerous… go save him quickly…”
“Don’t worry,” Qi Xia said softly. “He won’t be in any more danger. Rest easy.”
Hearing this, Qiao Jiajin’s lips moved slightly, as if he understood Qi Xia’s meaning. His expression was wooden, then he fell quiet again.
His eyelids were purple and red; he hadn’t opened them at all from start to finish. It was impossible to tell if he was awake or asleep.
Only then did Zhang Chenze step forward, take out the ‘character’ that belonged to Zhang Shan from her pocket, and slowly open her hand in front of Qi Xia.
It was a blood-stained ‘士.’
It was ‘士,’ not ‘仕.’
“Qiao Jiajin almost traded his life for this ‘士,’” Zhang Chenze said, her eyes filled with grief. “And Zhang Shan died for this ‘士’ too… What exactly is…”
“It’s fine. Give it to me.” Qi Xia took the ‘士’ from Zhang Chenze’s hand and turned toward the ‘Phoenix Book Terrace.’
“They really are too scheming…” Zhang Chenze frowned. “Wasn’t this supposed to be a fair duel…? Their ‘Commander’ reduced the stakes in advance. Qiao Jiajin was fighting with a ‘相’ in a true duel, but the opponent only had a ‘士’…”
Qi Xia didn’t answer that question. He simply used the ‘士’ and ‘干’ to score two points.
Fifteen points in total.
“The enemy didn’t hide the ‘亻,’” Qi Xia said. “They never had a ‘亻’ from the beginning.”
“What…?”
“My fault,” Qi Xia said. “I should have figured it out earlier. If the enemy had a ‘亻’ from the start, this game would have ended long ago.”
Zhang Chenze was momentarily stunned. She looked up at the walls of the entire ‘Ready Zone’ and realized that Qi Xia had already written countless characters here.
Counting them, there were at least a hundred, including those that didn’t look like ‘characters’ and those that could only be combined in strange ways.
“If the enemy had a ‘亻’ from the start, combined with the three parts of ‘将’ and ‘卒,’ the ‘characters’ in their hands could have formed twenty-eight directly.”