Chapter 464: Absurd Life
"Oh...?" Qi Xia's expression also turned cold. "It can work that way?"
The Horse Earthly Branch nodded. "In my game, I am the sole rule. Anything not explicitly 'permitted' is 'forbidden.'"
Qi Xia listened and once again stared into the Horse's eyes, beginning to probe the motives deep within her heart.
"Horse..." Qi Xia called out. "You said just now you didn't want to face us... So have you seen us before?"
Seeing the Horse's expression change slightly, Qi Xia asked tentatively, "Where...?"
He watched her face, and finding that these two words hadn't shaken her at all, he changed his approach. "How long ago...?"
The Horse furrowed her brow, feeling that even though she hadn't said a word, she was about to be seen through by the man before her.
"Ten years... More than ten years...?" Qi Xia stared into the Horse's eyes, continuously provoking her with short phrases. "Twenty years? Could it be even longer?"
"You..." The Horse simply stopped looking at Qi Xia's eyes and turned her head away. "There's no need to ask anymore. We're not on the same side right now. Why should I feed you information?"
"Yes..." Qi Xia squinted and took a step forward, speaking quietly. "If you haven't managed to leave for over twenty years... then why have you turned yourself into this fucking horrible mess?"
These words clearly stung the Horse's heart. What woman would willingly replace her face with that of a monster? Who would want to be covered in animal skin, reeking with body odor and covered in short fur?
Qi Xia stared at the Horse's bizarre lips, smeared with lipstick, and the corner of his mouth lifted again. "Even a white horse has black lips... How pitiful. How much lipstick do you have to apply to dye your lips back to red?"
The look in the Horse's eyes was unmistakably one of profound grief. She had found this lipstick on a dead participant and had immediately treasured it.
She had thought that applying lipstick to her mouth would help her reclaim what little humanity she had left.
But the black lips of a horse showed no trace of color no matter how much she applied. She could only keep increasing the area she painted, staining all the white fur around her mouth red.
Yes... Only by seeing red on her lips could she feel she had improved her complexion.
But doing this... Did it make her look more human?
No. She only felt she looked more like a monster.
A monster with a white horse head and bright red lips... as if she had just eaten someone.
Seeing the obvious dejection in the Horse's eyes, Qi Xia softened his tone a little and said, "Join us... Let's destroy this place."
"Destroy..." The Horse was startled, all the dejection in her eyes vanishing, replaced by panic. "What the hell are you talking about?! You're clearly a 'Participant'!"
Seeing the Horse's reaction, Qi Xia felt that all the 'Zodiacs' probably had similar attitudes toward this matter.
"I'm just making a suggestion... You don't have to take it..." Qi Xia said. "But I also want to know, what would make you consider the feasibility of this?"
"You!" A burst of hot air shot from the Horse's black nostrils. "I... will never consider it..."
"Best if that's the case," Qi Xia said.
The conversation between the two had essentially ended on a sour note, and Qi Xia's expression was no better than the Horse's.
Just how bizarre were the words the Horse had just spoken?
More than twenty years...?
He was only twenty-six years old this year. He had already spent more than twenty years in the 'End Land'?
What an absurd and ridiculous life?
The time he had spent here already exceeded his time in the real world? Or... were all the memories of his life simply fake?
None of the others cared about their feelings right now, because a more difficult problem lay before them—
The Horse had expressly forbidden two people from riding at once... Didn't that mean she would definitely pitch in the seventh round?
"Liar..." Qiao Jiayin turned to look at Qi Xia. "Got any countermeasure?"
Qi Xia snapped back to reality and rubbed his chin. "I haven't thought of one yet."
Qiao Jiayin slowly grinned. "But I have a way."
"You do...?" Qi Xia had a bad feeling. "What's your way?"
Qiao Jiayin walked over, picked up the metal baseball bat, and said with a smile, "Liar, this is my way."
"This...?" Qi Xia frowned, seemingly catching on. "Your way seems..."
"Even if that big horse woman comes to pitch herself, I'll use this bat to knock every one of her throws away."
Qiao Jiayin's brief statement made the others all look worried.
Using a metal baseball bat to block the 'balls' thrown by an Earth-level Zodiac... How was that any different from a regular 'Participant' going one-on-one with a 'Zodiac'?
"Are you serious...?" Qi Xia felt uneasy. "We have no idea what the upper limit of an 'Earth-level' is. Can you really catch the 'balls' she throws?"
"Precisely because we don't know the upper limit of 'Earth-level', we have to try. Once we try once, things will be much easier later." Qiao Jiayin swung the iron bat in his hand nonchalantly. "Let's proceed normally this round... Next round, everyone wait for me at the starting point. I'll risk my life to knock those 'balls' flying."
Qi Xia knew that in this kind of non-strategic game, the decisive factors he could provide weren't significant. What mattered more was the physical quality of the strongest member of the team.
But even if that female Horse had never undergone any combat or pitching training, the balls she threw would certainly not be ordinary. What were the odds that Qiao Jiayin could catch them?
The team immediately finalized their tactics. They set the cart back up and let the relatively slim Yun Shijiu get on first.
"Ready?" Qiao Jiayin asked.
"Ready!"
Following Qiao Jiayin's rhythm, everyone took a deep breath and suddenly shoved the cart forward. Due to the unstable force, the cart spun as it flew ahead.
This time, the 'Giant Gate' star's attribute was still 'Earth', but it was clearly worlds apart from last time.
From the mechanism flew wet, muddy clumps, emitting strange smoke as they flew wildly left and right through the air.
Yun Shijiu considered his mental fortitude to be quite strong, but riding a cart with no safety restraints, sliding at high speed on ice with countless mud balls flying behind him, made him feel like his heart had stopped for a few seconds.
Everyone had ridden a roller coaster before, but how many had tried a roller coaster without a seatbelt, with deadly projectiles flying at you at any moment?
Fortunately, Qi Xia's tactics were working perfectly for now. The mechanism's launch and the projectiles' flight both took time. The fast-gliding cart could leave its starting point in an instant, making it extremely difficult for the mechanism to lock on.
The group saw the cart stop steadily at the finish line. Just as they were about to rush over and turn the cart around, they noticed that the mud balls that had fallen on the ground earlier were emitting thick, rolling smoke, instantly enveloping the entire track.