Chapter 173: The Stone
"Wait... aren't you two on the same team?" Qi Xia furrowed his brow.
"So what?" Old Sun sized up Qi Xia. "Can't teammates fight anymore?"
Qi Xia felt that the man in front of him had a quality very similar to Qiao Jiajin.
It was just that this quality, once combined with their regional differences, manifested in completely opposite ways between the two.
"Thanks, but I don't need anyone to stick up for me," Qi Xia said. "If there's nothing else, you two go ahead and fight. We'd like to leave first."
"Leave...?" Old Sun looked stunned. "I stick up for you... and you want to leave?"
Qi Xia felt like he had fallen into that situation again—a scholar meeting a soldier.
"I told you I don't need anyone to stick up for me," Qi Xia said. "If you're just putting on a show for me, you might as well stop now."
"Putting on a show?!" Old Sun was instantly furious. "Come on, come on, let me show you whether I'm acting or not!"
With that, he clenched his fist and said to Qi Xia, "Take this stone for self-defense. When the fight starts, you'll see if I hold back or not."
He extended his hand forward, as if handing something to Qi Xia.
But Qi Xia knew that hand was empty.
"I said you—"
Before Qi Xia could object, he was startled to find a heavy stone in his own hand.
The stone lay quietly in his palm, as if it had been there all along.
"This?" Qi Xia was taken aback. "Conjuring a stone out of thin air?"
Without hesitation, Old Sun reached out again, and a thick stone rod appeared in his hand. "Xiaoxiao! You need to apologize to this guy. If you keep offending him, how are we supposed to get him to join us?"
"I'm not apologizing. I didn't do anything wrong," Xiaoxiao said. "If it weren't for me, could Qi Xia have learned about the 'Land of Endings' so quickly?"
Qi Xia's face darkened. He tossed the stone aside and said, "You people are absolutely ridiculous. Let me repeat: I am not joining your group. Even if the two of you kill each other over me right here, I still won't join."
"Hey, hey, hey! Buddy!" Old Sun turned back and grabbed Qi Xia's arm. "Let's talk this out! If you're still not satisfied, take this rod!"
Qi Xia snorted coldly. "So you were putting on a show after all... I don't want anything to do with you."
"Ah, I really wasn't acting." Seeing that Qi Xia wasn't buying it, Old Sun tossed aside his stone rod as well. "I've never been happy with Xiaoxiao's methods. She's way too extreme."
Qi Xia exchanged a glance with Dr. Zhao. Neither of them wanted to get tangled up in this, so they prepared to go around the group and leave.
"Buddy!" Old Sun still hadn't let go of Qi Xia's arm. "Won't you at least consider joining us?"
Qi Xia stopped, looked at Old Sun, and asked, "Are you going to kill me?"
"Huh?"
"If you're not going to kill me, then don't waste my time. Haven't I made my stance clear enough?" Qi Xia turned his head to look at Xiaoxiao. "I will never associate with a lunatic like her."
Hearing this, a trace of disappointment flickered across Xiaoxiao's face.
Old Sun stood there awkwardly, also at a loss for what to do.
Jiang Ruoxue slowly stepped forward and said with a smile, "Forget it, Old Sun. Let him go."
"Huh? Xiao Jiang... didn't you say this guy was really capable?"
"But his first impression of Xiaoxiao couldn't be worse. There's no point in pressing him anymore." Jiang Ruoxue smiled bitterly and turned to Xiaoxiao. "Xiaoxiao, did you take that bottle of lithium salt I found earlier?"
"Yeah, I take it every midnight," Xiaoxiao said, head lowered.
"What?! Midnight?!" Old Sun was instantly startled. "Make sure you're taking the right stuff! No wonder I've been throwing up acid in the middle of the night—you've been dosing me the whole time, haven't you?!"
"Huh?" Xiaoxiao was stunned. "No... don't tell me I passed it on to you?"
Qi Xia looked at these lunatics and felt his patience had reached its limit.
Was this yet another act?
"Let's go," he said quietly to Dr. Zhao.
"Okay, okay, okay." Dr. Zhao was ready to bolt.
"No... no way..." Xiaoxiao suddenly turned her head, her expression vacant as she stared in the direction Qi Xia was about to flee. "Ruoxue, we can't let him go. He's too smart. He'll collect three thousand six hundred Paths..."
"Calm down, Xiaoxiao," Jiang Ruoxue said, frowning.
"I am calm." Xiaoxiao took a deep breath. "Everyone else's death doesn't matter, but Qi Xia is different. He's destined to live here with us just like we are..."
As the words left her mouth, she pulled off her top, revealing the sports vest underneath and a firm, muscular physique.
Dr. Zhao was taken aback.
"Oh my god..." He never imagined that beneath Xiaoxiao's T-shirt lay such a powerful body.
Xiaoxiao picked up the stone that Qi Xia had discarded.
"Xiaoxiao!" Jiang Ruoxue grabbed her arm anxiously. "Don't be impulsive! Didn't we agree to discuss things together?"
"I'll keep Qi Xia here first..." Xiaoxiao revealed an eerie smile. "I'll make him stay first, and then we'll talk!"
With that, she swung the stone hard, smashing it against her own forehead.
Qi Xia and Dr. Zhao stared in shock.
With that one blow, blood began to stream down Xiaoxiao's forehead.
"What... what is she doing?"
"Never mind that—run!"
Qi Xia grabbed Dr. Zhao and turned to flee.
A look of disappointment slowly crept across Xiaoxiao's face. "It failed? No matter..."
She raised the stone again and slammed it down a second time.
With a dull thud, Dr. Zhao, who had been right beside Qi Xia, was sent flying sideways.
"Ah!!" Dr. Zhao lay on the ground, clutching his forehead. "What the hell was that?!"
His brow was furrowed in pain. It felt like he had been hit by a stone, but his forehead only hurt—there was no visible injury.
Seeing Dr. Zhao writhing on the ground, Qi Xia gritted his teeth and glared at the three in front of him. "Lunatics... are you never going to stop?"
Xiaoxiao, now unsteady on her feet, tossed the stone aside. She didn't look too good herself.
"Old Sun... tie him up quickly..."
"Huh?" Old Sun was taken aback. "Wait, you really want me to tie him up?"
"Stop talking nonsense... hurry..." Xiaoxiao said, holding her forehead.
"Then... sorry about this, buddy." A stone rod appeared out of thin air in Old Sun's left hand, and with his right hand he pulled a small coil of rope from his pocket. He began walking slowly toward Qi Xia.
Qi Xia's expression turned cold. He slowly rolled up his sleeves.
"Tie me up? Try it."
Jiang Ruoxue's expression was also unnatural. She hurried over to help Dr. Zhao up, feeling that the situation was getting out of control.
"Um... are you okay?"
Dr. Zhao, still holding his forehead, looked at the current situation. He stood up slowly, a flattering smile on his face. "I'm fine, I'm fine..."
With that, he instinctively touched Jiang Ruoxue's hand. "Thanks!"