“There’s a condition called ‘Congenital Insensitivity to Pain,'” said Qiao Jiajin. “At first glance, it sounds like a superpower, and as someone who loves to fight, I was fascinated by it for a long time. But then a smart guy told me that people with this condition have an extremely high mortality rate.”
Xiaoxiao’s face darkened, but she remained silent.
“Because those who suffer from it can’t sense danger. Pain is the body’s way of protecting itself, yet you’ve discarded it,” Qiao Jiajin said, rolling his neck. “I could break your leg, and you wouldn’t even flinch. Is that really a superpower?”
“My leg… is broken?” Xiaoxiao froze for a moment.
Qiao Jiajin took a step forward and grinned. “Big girl, I’ll say it again—surrender.”
Xiaoxiao could feel his aura shift entirely.
His sense of danger had escalated by more than just a notch.
“Surrender, and you won’t have to die,” Qiao Jiajin said, each word deliberate.
After a few seconds of hesitation, Xiaoxiao swallowed hard. This man was terrifying.
Right now… perhaps there was only one way left to defeat him.
“Luo Shiyi, take back ‘Forget Sorrow’!” Xiaoxiao barked.
“I can take it back, but the payment stays the same!” Luo Shiyi shouted from a distance.
“Shut up.”
Within seconds, Xiaoxiao felt pain surging through her entire body.
Her leg, jaw, temple, ribs, and fingers—all erupted in agony at the same time.
“Ugh…” She stifled a groan, taking several seconds to steady herself before coldly glaring back at Qiao Jiajin.
Qiao Jiajin snorted.
Just as he was about to finish her off, something felt off.
A dull ache suddenly spread through his own leg, jaw, temple, and fingers.
Expression unchanging, he took another step forward—only to realize his right leg had gone numb.
He’d been hit.
Her ability seemed to transfer pain.
What now?
His heartbeat quickened. Every wound she had suffered was now his to bear. One misstep, and he’d be left wide open.
“Trickster, time to lend me your ‘brain,'” Qiao Jiajin thought to himself.
Qi Xia’s voice echoed softly in his ears: *”If you’re cornered, find a way to make her doubt herself.”*
Taking a deep breath, Qiao Jiajin steeled himself, enduring the searing pain as he strode forward.
Seeing the man advance without so much as a flinch, Xiaoxiao sensed something was wrong.
She immediately swung her right hand down, smashing it against her own leg.
Qiao Jiajin understood instantly. He halted, standing perfectly still.
Sure enough, the blow sent a sharp pain shooting through his thigh.
Yet his expression remained blank.
“What are you doing?” he asked, feigning confusion. “Can’t beat me, so you resort to self-harm? That’s pathetic.”
“What…?” Xiaoxiao’s eyes widened. Her *Echo* should have worked—so why wasn’t he affected?
Without hesitation, she pulled out a handful of capsules from her pocket and swallowed them whole.
“Punk… You probably don’t remember how you died last time,” she muttered, crushing the capsules between her teeth.
They were metronidazole capsules—overdosing would cause numbness, sensory disturbances, and mental confusion.
Soon, a wave of dizziness crashed over Qiao Jiajin’s mind, his limbs growing numb. Yet he kept his puzzled expression intact.
“Poison?” He paused, then smirked. “Big girl, you could’ve just surrendered. No need to poison yourself.”
Though his words were bold, a thin layer of sweat formed on his forehead. He was fighting with everything he had just to stay upright—the sensation was worse than downing a hundred bottles of beer.
Slowly, he reached out with his right hand—only to watch his left hand move instead. Unfazed, he used his left to shove Xiaoxiao back.
“I don’t have time for this,” Qiao Jiajin said. “Are you surrendering or not?”
Xiaoxiao stared at him in disbelief. It was as if her *Echo* had vanished.
But… was he just bluffing?
Qiao Jiajin noticed the flicker of doubt in her eyes. Her *conviction* was wavering.
One last push, and it would shatter.
But that final step was the hardest.
If he didn’t strike decisively, how could she believe him?
As the saying went, *fortune favors the bold.*
Struggling to control his legs, Qiao Jiajin took a few steps back—then, to Xiaoxiao’s shock, sprinted straight at her.
Planting his feet, he launched into the air, driving his knee into her chest.
In his mind, he’d aimed for her chin with his right leg—but in reality, it was his left that struck her chest.
Landing unsteadily, he staggered before regaining his balance.
Every inch of him hurt—*badly.*
The worst was his chest. The impact had knocked the wind out of him.
*”Even after all these years of training, I’ve never kneed myself before… Damn, I hit hard,”* he grumbled inwardly.
Catching his breath, he asked, “Big girl… you done yet?”
At those words, Xiaoxiao’s expression twisted into horror.
And in the next second, all of Qiao Jiajin’s pain vanished.
The *Echo* had lifted.
“Whew…” He exhaled, grinning. “That was rough…”
Slowly, he walked toward Xiaoxiao. “I heard that if we lost this fight, you’d take the Trickster away, right?”
“T-Trickster?”
“I lost my ‘brain’ once before. I won’t let it happen again,” Qiao Jiajin said, gripping her wrists and hauling her up. “If you take my ‘brain,’ I’ll turn stupid.”
Holding her firmly, he dragged her step by step to the edge of the log bridge.
“W-Wait…” Xiaoxiao stammered, panic rising.
She realized his grip on her wrists was cunning—it left her unable to grab anything.
A trace of sorrow flickered in Qiao Jiajin’s eyes.
“Sorry.”
With a sudden shove, her arms splayed wide as she toppled backward. She flailed, grasping at nothing but air.
“AHHH—”
Her scream was cut short as she plummeted, crashing into the rope mid-fall.
A series of dull thuds echoed, her cries breaking intermittently.
Then—silence.
Xiaoxiao had fallen.
From afar, Luo Shiyi and Lao Sun stood frozen in shock.
They could accept someone killing Xiaoxiao—but not that the man before them seemed completely unharmed.
Rolling his stiff neck, Qiao Jiajin turned coldly toward them. “Since I’ve already crossed the line today, I won’t stop now. Which of you is next?”
He strode forward, his icy presence forcing Li Xiangling and Zhang Shan to step aside.
Zhang Shan, a former soldier, recognized that look.
It was the look of a killer.
Lao Sun and Luo Shiyi felt no pity for Xiaoxiao—only that things had taken a dire turn.
Xiaoxiao was renowned in *Terminus* as a combat expert, wielding *Transference*, an ability perfect for fighting. Yet she’d been effortlessly defeated by some unknown nobody.
That meant his skill and cunning surpassed hers.
Lao Sun stepped forward, swinging an invisible stone staff.
Qiao Jiajin blocked with his left arm, then drove a front kick into Lao Sun’s chest, sending him sprawling.
“Idiots. If this is all you’ve got, the game’s over.”
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