Chapter 489: Falling Off
"Ah, yes." Cui Shisi nodded awkwardly. "When a 'Zodiac' loses their head, they die... but Tenth Brother should be fine."
Hearing this, Chen Junnan could only barely turn his head back to look at Jiang Shi, only to find that the situation was indeed rather strange.
Jiang Shi hadn't bled a single drop.
A few seconds later, Jiang Shi, who had been sprawled on the ground, moved his hands slightly. He began groping his body as if searching for something. In no time, he found his head.
"Ah... ah...?" Jiang Shi's voice came from his throat. "So much strength...? Knocked my head clean off."
Seeing this, Chen Junnan and Earth Rabbit both gaped.
Jiang Shi kept groping his head, trying to reattach the severed neck, but failed several times. After all, human joints aren't like puzzle pieces—once severed, they can't be reconnected by brute force.
"No sense of restraint..." Jiang Shi could only prop himself up with one hand holding his head and the other supporting the ground as he stood. "What do I do now... Go back to see Fifth Brother holding my head?"
"Hey... k-kid..." Chen Junnan called out in astonishment. "Are you really okay?"
Hearing this, Jiang Shi turned his head back in a very eerie posture. Since his neck wasn't connected, his head didn't stop turning in time and went an extra half-circle.
"I'm fine, dummy leader." Jiang Shi straightened his head and said. "It's just troublesome right now... I can't free my hands... I have to keep holding it..."
Only then did Chen Junnan notice that Jiang Shi's left cheek was completely caved in. The skin and muscle on that side had been knocked off, revealing yellowish-white bone.
"Uh..." Chen Junnan swallowed. "N-no, it's good that you're fine... Take care of yourself... You don't look so good..."
"Look good?" Jiang Shi reached out with his other hand and touched his entirely missing half-face. "You can tell how I look from this?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Earth Rabbit, now fully focused, attacked again.
Earth Rabbit had also made up his mind. No matter what kind of creature this kid was, as long as he was still human, there was no way he couldn't die.
A hook punch came flying. Chen Junnan yelled "Watch out!" and Jiang Shi reacted immediately, sidestepping slightly before pulling off his signature backflip again.
He leaned back, hands bracing against the ground—except this time, things were a bit different. Although he dodged Earth Rabbit's attack, his neck stretched during the flip, and his head hit the ground.
Before he could complete the flip, Jiang Shi let out a muffled groan and crumpled to the side.
Every time Chen Junnan thought Jiang Shi was dead, he wasn't.
Earth Rabbit's expression was also extremely ugly now. The kid's neck was clearly broken—fine, he could still talk, that much was bearable—but why was he trying to backflip?
Who backflips after their neck is broken?
"Ouch... smacked myself good..." Jiang Shi lay on the ground holding his head. "You rabbit demon are truly outrageous. As the saying goes, 'Sweeping the ground without harming an ant's life, cherishing the moth that flies into the lamp'... You knock my head off and still keep chasing me... I'll find a demon-subduing Daoist to have you..."
"Damn!" Chen Junnan slapped his thigh. "This kid got beaten stupid!"
"You're the dummy leader..." Jiang Shi stopped his muttering, held his head, and struggled to get up from the ground. "I don't think I can backflip anymore in this condition... My head might fall off..."
"Fall..." Chen Junnan swallowed. "It's not just about your head falling off at this point, is it? Don't you feel pain?"
"How could I not be in pain?!" Jiang Shi turned around, and Chen Junnan could clearly see tears welling in his eyes. "My head fell off!! And you're asking if it hurts?!"
"Well... that's true... So you should still take care of yourself..."
Earth Rabbit felt as if the two of them were mocking him. He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and suddenly punched horizontally toward Jiang Shi's head. Jiang Shi was quick-witted—instead of backflipping, he grabbed his head with both hands and pulled it to his chest, narrowly dodging the blow.
Earth Rabbit had killed countless people, but he had never seen such a bizarre way of dodging. Who moves their head to their chest to avoid an attack?
"Hey... why are you still aiming for the head?" The head cradled in Jiang Shi's arms asked in confusion. "Can't you hit somewhere else? If my head gets knocked off, it'll be a real hassle for me!"
"You're a monster..." Earth Rabbit muttered under his breath.
"Hey, that's enough, okay!" Chen Junnan fanned the flames from the side. "You're an Earth-level 'Zodiac,' chasing a kid around for half the day. Since you couldn't kill him, just give up already. It's too embarrassing if word gets out."
"It doesn't matter," Earth Rabbit shook his head. "As long as you all die here... no one will spread the word."
Earth Rabbit stopped wasting words with Jiang Shi. He threw an uppercut straight at the head in Jiang Shi's arms. This attack was swift and fierce—Jiang Shi had no way to dodge.
*Bang!*
A light, crisp sound rang out. Jiang Shi's head lost all connection and was sent flying cleanly to the ceiling, knocking down some dust, before falling back down. Meanwhile, his body took two steps forward and caught his own head in its hands.
Once again, Chen Junnan and Earth Rabbit's faces were filled with a speechless expression.
Jiang Shi held his head, carefully wiped his own face with a bit of pity, then tucked the head under his arm like a basketball and turned to face Earth Rabbit.
"You're too strong. Who are you trying to kill with pain?" Jiang Shi said, holding his head under his arm with a deep sigh. "How many times do I have to say it? Don't knock my head off. Why don't you ever listen?"
Chen Junnan nervously held his breath and looked at the torn part of Jiang Shi's neck. You only see someone walking around holding their own head in horror movies.
But if you looked closely, you'd notice that Jiang Shi's condition was very strange. There wasn't a single drop of blood on his entire body.
The flesh at his neck had been violently torn off by Earth Rabbit, but the wound looked black and dark—neither flesh nor bone.
It looked more like a dead, withered tree.
"What kind of 'Echo' is that?" Earth Rabbit's lips trembled as he spoke. "I've never seen anything like you before."
"Me?" Jiang Shi blinked. "This ability of mine is very special. I have to use it together with Fifth Brother. Otherwise, when the 'Echo' ends, I'll die. Besides, I've never participated in any games before, so it's normal that no one knows about me."
Hearing this, Chen Junnan seemed to understand something.
Song Qi had said before that Jiang Shi's ability was to be "invincible and immortal for a certain period of time." It seemed his "Echo" also had a clear drawback.
If his guess was correct, when the "Echo" ended, Jiang Shi would return to a normal physical state. Then all the fatal wounds he had received would take effect at once, killing him instantly.
What an absurd "Echo" was this?
His body had not become stronger, he could not be immune to pain, and he even scared himself with his own appearance. But during the "Echo," no matter what injury he suffered, he merely "would not die."