Chapter 194: Dead Weight?
Qiao Jiajin walked over, reached out, and touched Luo Shiyi's neck. After confirming the man was dead, he quickly rushed to Li Xiangling's side.
"Kung Fu Girl..." he called out with some concern. "You okay?"
"I'm fine..."
"Come on, I'll take you up." Qiao Jiajin said as he grabbed Li Xiangling's arm.
"No... don't..." Li Xiangling let out a bitter laugh. "I'll... stay down here for now..."
"Huh?" Qiao Jiajin was stunned. "What nonsense are you talking about? Planning to set up home here?"
"Heh heh..." Li Xiangling laughed weakly. "I've run into a bit of trouble... it's not easy to walk..."
"What?" Qiao Jiajin could tell something was clearly wrong. He froze for a moment, then reached out his hand.
Just as he was about to get close to Li Xiangling, Qiao Jiajin felt a vertical piece of wood.
Like a table leg.
"My luck is really too bad..." Li Xiangling said with a smile. "When the boulder fell, it shattered the table... and the table leg flew right at me..."
"Don't... don't joke around..." Qiao Jiajin said. "You..."
"My right arm is pinned to the wall..." Li Xiangling shifted her body, trying to make herself a little more comfortable. "Even if I pull out the wooden stake, I'm probably going to die..."
"You haven't 'Echoed' yet, so don't talk about dying or not dying." Qiao Jiajin kept feeling around the table leg, trying to find where Li Xiangling was injured. "Kung Fu Girl, the three of us fought side by side this time, and we won beautifully. If you dare to forget that, I won't let you off."
"Shan Ge... is he okay?" Li Xiangling asked again.
"He's doing great." Qiao Jiajin nodded. "That big guy could probably kill a bear with one punch now..."
As soon as he said it, he felt something was off: "Damn it, Kung Fu Girl, don't ask around like that. You sound like you're leaving a last will. I'm getting you out of here right now."
Qiao Jiajin finally found the location of Li Xiangling's wound. It was on her right upper arm. The table leg was thin—it hadn't hit the bone, just pierced through the biceps.
"Whew... it's not a fatal wound..." Qiao Jiajin instantly relaxed. The priority now was to treat the injury. "Kung Fu Girl, you said just now—where's the key?"
"Don't waste your energy, Brother Qiao. The key is under the boulder... we can't move that boulder..."
"The boulder...?"
Qiao Jiajin turned around. He pondered for a moment, then walked toward the huge stone.
He slowly placed his hands on the stone, only to realize that his hands were covered in Li Xiangling's blood. For a moment, he couldn't calm his mind.
"Please... let a miracle happen one more time..." he muttered to himself, continuously recalling the state he had been in during the battle just now.
"There was never any stone here..." Qiao Jiajin finally murmured under his breath.
But the stone didn't move an inch.
"Damn it..." Cold sweat dripped down Qiao Jiajin's face. "Come on, show up... that miracle like a star..."
He found that the harder he tried, the more he couldn't feel that miracle.
A look of despair slowly crept onto Qiao Jiajin's face.
Was Li Xiangling going to be stuck here, waiting to die?
"Don't... don't let this happen... The thing I hate most in my life is gambling and cheating... I don't want anyone else to die because of gambling and cheating..."
As his words fell, the boulder trembled. In an instant, it shattered into countless specks of light, scattering everywhere like fireflies in the night.
*Clang!!*
At the same moment, the massive bell rang again. Qiao Jiajin felt his ears become much clearer.
He let out a long breath. Looking down by the light of the white specks, he spotted a metal key.
"Great!"
He picked up the key and glanced around. The faint light now illuminated a wooden door not far away.
"Kung Fu Girl... I'm taking you out of here now." Qiao Jiajin said.
"Brother Qiao..." Li Xiangling gritted her teeth. "Forget it. I'm dead weight now."
"A teammate who fights side by side is never dead weight."
By now, Qiao Jiajin could also clearly see Li Xiangling's condition. She had a number of injuries, but most were superficial. The worst was her right arm. It seemed she had been hit while jumping. Her right arm was now raised high, suspending her entire body against the stone wall.
"But how are you going to get me down...?"
Qiao Jiajin walked over slowly and assessed the situation. Li Xiangling was about thirty centimeters from the stone wall behind her. She was almost hanging in midair, and just the thought of it was painful.
"I told you, I practiced Wing Chun." Qiao Jiajin replied.
"Wing Chun...?" Li Xiangling didn't understand. "Is there a move like this in Wing Chun...?"
"No, you've misunderstood." Qiao Jiajin walked behind Li Xiangling, placing one hand in a palm strike and the other in a fist, positioning them on the front and back of the table leg respectively. "When I was training Wing Chun, I discovered something interesting."
"What?"
"If you apply force cleverly enough, you can very easily destroy a wooden dummy."
*Crack!*
With a sudden burst of his hands, he released an explosive inch-force. The wooden stake behind Li Xiangling snapped instantly.
"Huh?"
Li Xiangling didn't even feel any pain. She fell from the stone wall, and Qiao Jiajin caught her just in time.
Qiao Jiajin laid her down on the ground, then went over and opened the wooden door.
Outside the wooden door was a staircase leading upward.
"Let's go, Kung Fu Girl."
Li Xiangling looked at Qiao Jiajin's clear eyes, and a strange feeling rose in her heart.
Those eyes made her heartbeat speed up a little.
"Let's go."
"Oh, okay..."
...
Qi Xia paced back and forth in the hall with a complicated expression. He had heard all the bell rings just now.
Why were the bells so loud this time?
Who had "Echoed"?
Had Qiao Jiajin "Echoed"?
Why had that madman who used the stones slunk away?
"Hey, Qi Xia." A soft voice sounded from outside the door.
He turned his head and saw that Jiang Ruoxue had arrived.
Qi Xia didn't say a word. He sat down calmly.
"Why are you ignoring me again?" Jiang Ruoxue gave a bitter smile. "Every time, you just brush me off."
"Different paths cannot lead to the same goal." Qi Xia shook his head. "Are you here to take your teammates home?"
"No, I just came to see you." Jiang Ruoxue sat down beside Qi Xia. "But come to think of it, we've met several times now. When have I ever made you feel that our 'paths are different'?"
Qi Xia was about to reply, but upon thinking it over, he realized there was something interesting about it.
The first time he met Jiang Ruoxue was in the "Earth Dog" message-delivery game. She had been an enemy spy, but she hadn't stirred up any trouble. Moreover, when Amu and the other two tried to kill him, she had used her "Karma" ability, causing one of them to crash into the glass that Lawyer Zhang had in his hand.
To be honest, that time, Jiang Ruoxue had saved him.
The second time he met her was yesterday. She had repeatedly tried to dissuade that lunatic Xiaoxiao, but Xiaoxiao was too far gone and refused to listen.
If Jiang Ruoxue hadn't called herself a member of the "Extreme Path," Qi Xia would have thought she was a perfectly normal "participant," even a decent person.
"After all, you and Xiaoxiao are together," Qi Xia said. "No normal person would act alongside her."
"I never said I was normal." Jiang Ruoxue stretched lazily. "Originally, I really did come to pick up Xiaoxiao and the others. But now that I think about it, I might not be able to get them back."
"Why?"
"Because too many people have 'Echoed.'" Jiang Ruoxue extended her slender fingers to count. "Just now, about five people must have 'Echoed,' right? Zhang Shan's chance of having 'Echoed' is five out of six—too high."
Qi Xia fell silent again. He couldn't guess what Jiang Ruoxue was thinking.
Just then, a faint rustling sound came from the wooden door not far away.