Chapter 192: Not Over Yet

Countless stones splattered in all directions.

Xiaoxiao shot straight out like a bullet. Since everyone was standing on the rooftop with no buildings obstructing the path, she flew across more than a dozen low-rise buildings before crashing heavily onto a distant street.

With such severe injuries, no one could possibly survive.

“That was brutal…” Qiao Jiayin nodded.

Just when they thought Zhang Shan would continue by killing Old Sun, he instead started panting heavily.

“Hey, big guy… you okay?”

Zhang Shan’s chest heaved up and down. Before long, the distant toll of a bell echoed once again.

The **「Echo」** had vanished.

“I’m fine… just a bit tired,” he said with a bitter smile. “Seems I overexerted myself.”

“No worries, leave the rest to me.”

Now, only Old Sun remained as the last enemy on the bridge.

“You… you guys…” Old Sun knew he stood no chance against the two of them. With his **「Echo」** now useless, what hope did he have left?

“Stone Man, why didn’t you give that big woman a stone earlier?” Qiao Jiayin asked.

“Huh?” Old Sun froze.

“Just now, both the big guy and I were immobilized… that woman had the chance to kill us,” Qiao Jiayin said with a faint smile. “But you didn’t give her a stone.”

“Xiaoxiao asked me for a stone, and I didn’t give it to her?” Old Sun frowned. “How could that… no, that can’t be…”

“You’re not a bad person. I don’t plan on killing you.” Qiao Jiayin rolled his neck and asked, “Your boss is dead—don’t you want to switch sides?”

“Switch… sides?” Old Sun furrowed his brows. “Buddy… do you even know what you’re saying?”

“Maybe I said too much.” Qiao Jiayin nodded. “You seem capable, and your mind’s in the right place, yet you insist on following a bunch of lunatics…”

Old Sun lowered his head slowly and said, “Our end goals conflict. Even if I joined **「Paradise Port」**, I couldn’t work for you.”

“I’m not asking you to join **「Paradise Port」**,” Qiao Jiayin shook his head. “I’m asking you to join **me**.”

“Join… you?”

Even Zhang Shan, standing nearby, was slightly taken aback by this.

“Stone Man, I’m not joking with you,” Qiao Jiayin said to Old Sun. “The Conman can’t succeed with just me—he needs more people.”

“This…”

Old Sun silently lowered his head in thought, neither agreeing nor refusing.

“No rush, take your time to think it over,” Qiao Jiayin said. “You can go. The game’s already over—no need to throw your life away.”

Old Sun glanced at Qiao Jiayin, then at Zhang Shan, before nodding and turning to walk off the bridge.

Seeing Old Sun leave, Zhang Shan asked, “Qiao Jiayin… what’s your deal?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’s my deal’?”

“If you’ve joined us, doesn’t that mean you’re part of **「Paradise Port」**?” Zhang Shan looked puzzled. “Are you and Qi Xia planning to leave the group?”

“I don’t know,” Qiao Jiayin replied. “I never said I was joining **「Paradise Port」**—only that I’d cooperate with the Conman. If he stays, I stay. If he leaves, I leave.”

Zhang Shan’s expression darkened.

He knew Qiao Jiayin and Qi Xia were rare talents—more suited for **「Paradise Port」** than anyone else.

Now that Qiao Jiayin had awakened such a powerful **「Echo」**… could they really let him go?

“Big guy, let’s go touch the flag,” Qiao Jiayin said. “This game’s about to end.”

Zhang Shan snapped out of his thoughts and nodded. According to the rules, the game would only conclude when all surviving members of one side crossed the bridge and simultaneously touched the opposing team’s flag.

“Let’s go.”

Following Qiao Jiayin, the two of them reached the other end of the bridge.

Old Sun had already taken the elevator and left—no one else stood in their way.

But when they both grasped the flag, the Earth Tiger in the distance remained unmoving.

“Hey!” Zhang Shan called out after a moment. “This should do it, right?”

The Earth Tiger stared coldly at them, still silent.

“What’s going on…?” Qiao Jiayin was also confused. “Isn’t this a win?”

“Something’s wrong…” Zhang Shan frowned. “If we followed all the rules but the game hasn’t ended… it can only mean we still have teammates alive!”

“Kung Fu Girl?!”

Qiao Jiayin suddenly realized something—if Xiaoxiao had fallen into the void and climbed back up without relying on an **「Echo」**, then falling into the void in this game didn’t mean death.

Xiaoxiao had climbed back up on her own.

The numerous ropes below must have slowed the fall enough for someone to survive the landing.

Both of them came to the same conclusion and locked eyes.

“This is bad…” Qiao Jiayin thought for a moment. Li Xiangling had fallen into the void with that man, Luo Shiyi.

And Luo Shiyi was likely the cruelest of the three.

“Big guy, wait here,” Qiao Jiayin said, stepping back onto the bridge.

“What are you doing?” Zhang Shan asked.

“I need to go down there!” Qiao Jiayin said. “If we leave it alone, Kung Fu Girl might get beaten to death by that cheating scumbag.”

“But how are you going down…?”

“I’ll jump.”

“Jump…?” Zhang Shan was stunned. “What if you die?!”

“That big woman climbed back up even with a broken leg—how could I die?”

Zhang Shan wanted to argue but realized there was no other way.

At this point, there were only two ways to win the game:

1. Li Xiangling crosses the bridge.

2. Li Xiangling dies.

If forced to choose, what would most people pick?

Qiao Jiayin’s actions had already made his choice clear.

“Then… be careful,” Zhang Shan said.

Qiao Jiayin nodded and looked down at the abyss beneath him.

The stones that had pinned Zhang Shan earlier had fallen, breaking many of the ropes. Jumping now was far more dangerous.

But he couldn’t just let his teammate be beaten to death.

“I don’t want to lose another teammate in a game,” Qiao Jiayin murmured, recalling the moment Tiantian slit her own throat. “That feeling was too painful.”

Taking a deep breath, he leaped into the abyss without hesitation.

Zhang Shan anxiously peered over the edge but saw Qiao Jiayin moving like a monkey.

Instead of falling straight down, he grabbed onto a rope and swung himself to another, descending meter by meter.

Only when Qiao Jiayin’s figure completely vanished from sight did Zhang Shan finally relax.

“What a stubborn kid…” He shook his head helplessly.