Chapter 188: The Cheater
"But if only one person can get out in the end, how can I be sure you won't get rid of me?" Qi Xia asked again.
"That's a good question, and I have to be upfront with you in advance." Tian Chuqiu put away his smile, his expression gradually becoming serious. "If that day really comes, I will do everything in my power to get rid of you. Likewise, you can get rid of me."
Qi Xia nodded.
What Tian Chuqiu had just said finally gave Qi Xia a taste of "heart for heart."
"In that case, it's settled." Qi Xia extended his hand slightly. "You 'become a god,' I 'gather the Dao,' and we cooperate."
Tian Chuqiu also extended his hand and shook Qi Xia's.
"Deal."
The two looked at each other with complicated expressions, and the atmosphere fell silent.
Neither of them could be sure how much of what the other had said was true; the handshake at this moment felt somewhat hollow.
In just a few seconds, hasty footsteps sounded from outside the door. The two turned to look.
It was Tian Chuqiu again.
"Phew... you really scared me. So you were here after all." Tian Chuqiu, standing outside the door, said.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
"Hurry up and leave... there are quite a few 'Jidao' around here. Your situation is very dangerous."
"Alright." Tian Chuqiu inside the room nodded, turned, and left.
And Tian Chuqiu outside the door transformed back into Xu Liunian at that moment, nervously looking around.
After taking a few steps, Tian Chuqiu stopped and turned back to Qi Xia. "Qi Xia, it should be 'sorrow.'"
"What?"
"The catalyst for your 'Echo' is extreme 'sorrow.'" Tian Chuqiu explained. "That's the answer I found, but I couldn't find a solution."
Qi Xia paused and asked, "You mean... you can't find a way to make me feel 'sorrow'?"
"That's right." Tian Chuqiu nodded. "So I'm telling you this answer. Solve this problem yourself."
Qi Xia didn't speak, only nodded silently.
After looking at him, Tian Chuqiu sighed and turned to ask Xiaonian, "Zhang Shan is upstairs, right?"
"Yes, I arranged for him to come."
Tian Chuqiu gave a slight nod and said to Qi Xia, "Don't worry. If Zhang Shan is up there, it's hard to lose this game."
"Hard to lose?" Qi Xia looked up at Tian Chuqiu. "Why?"
"Because he's about to 'Echo.'"
Qi Xia was silent for a moment, then asked, "What's the catalyst for Zhang Shan's 'Echo'?"
"'The desire to win.'"
Tian Chuqiu laughed heartily, then waved his hand and left with Xu Liunian.
Qi Xia stared at the ground, feeling a sense of loss.
"The desire to win..."
With such a catalyst, why worry about not having an 'Echo'?
But what about himself?
"Sorrow..." He looked expressionlessly at the dark red sky outside the door. "My sorrow..."
Before he could figure it out, a rustling sound suddenly came from inside the room.
Qi Xia was startled and slowly stood up.
The sound was very close, as if it came from the elevator?
He walked over to the elevator and pressed the up button.
The elevator door opened, and it was empty inside.
But the rustling sound continued.
He turned to look at the wooden door next to the elevator, feeling that the sound was coming from behind it.
"Someone...?"
He slowly reached for the door handle, but the next second, the door opened by itself.
Xiao Xiao was standing inside.
She didn't look good; she was injured in many places all over her body.
"Qi Xia...?" She was also startled, as if she didn't know where she was.
"You..." Qi Xia furrowed his brows and looked at her for a long time, feeling very confused. Xiao Xiao was clearly on the rooftop, so how could she come out of this door?
Xiao Xiao snapped back to reality, ignored Qi Xia, turned and walked into the elevator, and without a word pressed the button for the sixth floor.
Qi Xia suddenly understood: "So this is the hidden rule of the game..."
Seeing Xiao Xiao get on the elevator, he immediately turned around to step into the wooden door to investigate, but the door closed automatically.
...
Qiao Jiajing stood quietly on the bridge, bleeding all over.
He didn't know what technique Old Sun had used, but now Qiao Jiajing's four limbs were stuck in four stones respectively.
He clumsily moved his limbs but couldn't take a single step.
Behind him, Li Xiangling and Zhang Shan seemed to be in an even worse situation.
Zhang Shan was pinned down by a stone as huge as a small mountain, lying face down on the bridge, unconscious, his fate unknown.
Li Xiangling, covered in blood, was desperately trying to move the stone.
"Old Sun... I didn't see that coming..." Luo Shiyi patted Old Sun's shoulder with some admiration. "This 'Echo' of yours must be top-tier in the whole 'Land of the End,' right?"
Old Sun's gaze seemed a bit dazed; he could only nod blankly.
To unleash such a powerful 'Echo,' he had nearly driven himself mad.
If he weren't crazy enough, he couldn't have imagined that a person's body could grow stones.
Old Sun struggled to control his thoughts, trying to stay clear-headed. "Hey, tattooed guy, I won't bully you. Just jump off yourself..."
"Impossible." Qiao Jiajing lowered his head, his chest heaving as he panted heavily. "'The Brain' has the mission of 'the Brain,' and 'the Fist' has the duty of 'the Fist.' Conman has helped me many times. This time, I won't take a single step back."
He forcefully raised his tens-of-jin-heavy hand and gave a bitter smile. "Isn't it just a pair of stone gloves? Consider it a boost to my attack power..."
Old Sun shook his head after hearing this. "Gloves...?"
His thinking was a bit slow, and it took a few seconds before he said, "No... those aren't gloves. They're big stones."
Qiao Jiajing suddenly realized that the stones on his hands had grown larger.
The right hand he had just raised slumped down again, this time hitting the ground, forcing him into a crouch.
"Crap... this is really troublesome..." Qiao Jiajing glanced sideways at Li Xiangling, who still couldn't move the huge stone pinning Zhang Shan.
"Sister Qiao..." Li Xiangling's face showed extreme anxiety. "What do we do now..."
The only person not restrained was Li Xiangling now.
Though her martial arts were good, if she recklessly attacked, she might not be able to overcome the 'Echo' of these two.
One of them could ignore pain, delivering lethal blows with every attack. The other could conjure stones out of thin air anywhere, and if you weren't careful, you'd get hit.
It was supposed to be a three-on-three battle, but these two had been cheating the whole time.
"Conman... if it were you... what would you do?" Qiao Jiajing looked around, his expression unusually serious.
Before he could think of a countermeasure, the sound of limping footsteps came.
"Heh... Looks like you guys are quite capable, huh?" Xiao Xiao walked over slowly and stepped back onto the single-plank bridge. "Killing them now should be a piece of cake... right?"