Chapter 185: Attacking One's Conviction
"There's a disease called congenital insensitivity to pain," Qiao Jiajin said. "It sounds like a superpower, and as someone who loves fighting, I was fascinated by it for a long time. But later, a clever guy told me that people with this disease have an extremely high mortality rate."
Xiaoxiao's face darkened, and she said nothing.
"Because people with this disease have no awareness of danger. Pain is a human self-protection mechanism, but you've thrown it away." Qiao Jiajin rolled his neck and said, "I broke your leg, and you didn't even try to dodge. Is that really a superpower?"
"My leg... is broken?" Xiaoxiao was stunned.
Qiao Jiajin took a step forward and smiled. "Big girl, I'll say it one more time: give up."
Xiaoxiao felt his entire aura shift.
His dangerous presence had risen by more than just a notch.
"Give up, and you won't have to die." Qiao Jiajin enunciated each word.
After thinking for a few seconds, Xiaoxiao slowly swallowed. This man was far too terrifying.
Now... perhaps there was only one way to defeat him.
"Luo Shiyi, take back the 'Oblivion'!" Xiaoxiao shouted coldly.
"I can take it back, but the fee still stands!" Luo Shiyi yelled from a distance.
"Less nonsense."
Within a few seconds, Xiaoxiao felt pain throughout her entire body.
Her leg, her jaw, her temples, her ribs, her fingers—all at once, a heart-wrenching agony struck her.
"Ugh..." She grunted, taking several seconds to calm down. Then she raised her eyes and coldly stared at Qiao Jiajin.
Qiao Jiajin snorted coldly.
He was about to step forward and finish off Xiaoxiao when he suddenly felt something was off.
Now, his own leg, jaw, temples, and fingers faintly ached as well.
Qiao Jiajin's expression didn't change as he took another step forward, only to find that his right leg had also lost sensation.
He'd been hit.
Her ability seemed to transfer pain.
What should he do now?
Qiao Jiajin's heart began to race. All the injuries she bore had now been transferred to him. One careless move could create a massive opening.
"Trickster boy, it's time to borrow your 'brain' again," Qiao Jiajin thought to himself.
Qi Xia's voice slowly sounded in Qiao Jiajin's ear: "If you're at a dead end, find a way to make her doubt herself."
Qiao Jiajin took a deep breath to steady himself. Enduring the searing pain all over his body, he stepped forward.
Seeing the man walk toward her with an unchanged expression, Xiaoxiao sensed something was wrong.
She immediately raised her right hand and struck her own leg hard.
The moment she made her move, Qiao Jiajin understood everything. He stopped in his tracks and stood still without moving.
Sure enough, the blow sent a sharp pain through his thigh.
But he remained expressionless.
"What are you doing?" Qiao Jiajin asked with feigned confusion. "Can't beat me, so you're hurting yourself? Is that okay?"
"What...?" Xiaoxiao's eyes widened. She felt her 'Echo' should have worked, so why was he completely unaffected?
Without time to think further, she pulled a handful of capsules from her pants pocket and threw them into her mouth.
"Ruffian... you probably don't remember how you died last time..." With that, she crushed the capsules and swallowed them all.
These were metronidazole capsules—overdosing would cause limb numbness, sensory abnormalities, and mental confusion.
Soon, Qiao Jiajin felt a violent dizziness in his head, and his hands and feet gradually went numb. Yet his face still wore a puzzled expression.
"Poison?" He paused, then smiled. "Big girl, you can just admit defeat. No need to swallow poison."
Though his words were tough, a cold sweat slowly trickled down Qiao Jiajin's forehead. He was mustering every ounce of his focus to keep from falling—this felt worse than drinking a hundred bottles of beer.
He slowly extended his right hand, but watched himself raise his left instead. He didn't show any abnormality; instead, he used that left hand to shove her hard.
"I don't have time to waste with you," Qiao Jiajin said. "Are you going to give up or not?"
Xiaoxiao stared at the man in disbelief, feeling as if her 'Echo' had vanished.
But... could he be toughing it out?
Qiao Jiajin keenly noticed Xiaoxiao's expression. He knew her 'conviction' was wavering.
Just one more step and her 'conviction' would shatter completely.
But that final step was too difficult.
If he didn't show overwhelming force, how could she believe?
As the saying goes, fortune favors the bold.
Qiao Jiajin struggled to control his left leg and right leg, slowly retreating a few steps. Then, under Xiaoxiao's astonished gaze, he sprinted toward her.
He stomped hard on the ground, launched himself into the air, and drove his knee into Xiaoxiao's chest.
In his mind, the plan was to strike her jaw with his right leg, but instead his left leg hit her chest.
After landing, Qiao Jiajin stumbled a few steps before steadying himself.
He ached all over—ached terribly.
The worst pain was in his own chest; that blow had stopped his breathing.
He cursed inwardly: "Even after training in boxing for years, I never gave myself a knee strike... So my power is that fierce?"
Qiao Jiajin paused, took a deep breath, and asked, "Big girl... do you yield?"
Hearing this question, Xiaoxiao's expression shifted to one of terror.
And the next second, the pain on Qiao Jiajin's body suddenly disappeared.
The 'Echo' was lifted.
"Ha..." Qiao Jiajin smiled. "That was tough..."
He walked slowly toward her. "I heard that if we lose this battle, you'll take the trickster boy away. Right?"
"Trickster... boy?"
"I lost my 'brain' once. There's no way I'm losing it again." Qiao Jiajin grabbed both of Xiaoxiao's wrists and pulled her up from the ground. "If you take away my 'brain,' I'll become stupid."
Holding her wrists, he dragged her step by step to the edge of the single-plank bridge.
"Wait, wait a second..." Xiaoxiao said in panic.
She realized the way Qiao Jiajin gripped her wrists was extremely tricky—this position prevented her hands from grabbing anything.
A trace of sadness gradually appeared in Qiao Jiajin's eyes.
"Sorry."
He suddenly pushed outward. Xiaoxiao's arms flew wide, and her entire body fell backward. She flailed desperately, trying to grab something, but there was only air.
"Ahhh—"
A scream rang out as Xiaoxiao plummeted. The scream was cut short midway as she struck the hemp ropes.
Muffled thuds echoed one after another, and Xiaoxiao's screams came in broken, intermittent bursts.
Until she fell rapidly, until her voice faded completely.
Xiaoxiao had fallen from the bridge.
In the distance, Luo Shiyi and Old Sun were stunned speechless by the sight.
They could accept that someone might kill Xiaoxiao, but it was hard to believe that the man before them seemed completely unharmed.
Qiao Jiajin worked his sore neck and said coldly toward the distance, "Since I've started killing, I'm not stopping today. Which of you two wants to go first?"
With an icy aura, he strode forward. Li Xiangling and Zhang Shan, standing in the middle, quickly moved out of his way.
Zhang Shan had been a soldier for a few years. He recognized that look.
It was the look of someone who had killed.
Old Sun and Luo Shiyi felt no pity for Xiaoxiao; they only found the situation troublesome.
Xiaoxiao was not only a renowned combat expert in the 'End of Eternity,' but she also possessed the 'Framing' ability that was perfect for fighting. Yet she had been killed without a scratch by an ordinary man they had never seen before.
This meant his skill and cunning were superior to hers.
Old Sun slowly stepped forward and reached out to strike Qiao Jiajin.
Qiao Jiajin swept his left hand, blocking the non-existent stone rod, then delivered a straight kick to Old Sun's chest, knocking him flat on his back.
"Puny fool, if you're only this capable, this game is over."