“So that’s how it is…?” Qiao Jiajin nodded. “So the Horsewoman played a word game—these ‘balls’ do have rewards, but all the rewards are concentrated on the ‘Lu Cun’ star…”
Bai Jiu suddenly realized something too. “Ah, how sneaky of her… Isn’t she just tricking the ‘participants’ into catching as many balls as possible early on? But those balls will kill you if you catch them.”
“It’s fine,” Qiao Jiajin said. “I’m here now.”
“Uh…” The group felt reassured by his words, but when they took a closer look at the blisters on his burned arms, they knew he wasn’t really okay—he was just putting on a brave face.
The next two balls were both of the “earth” element. Optimistically, they might just be “stone balls,” but what about the worst-case scenario?
Wouldn’t that eerie mechanism fire out stone-flail weapons designed to kill?
“I’ll catch them,” Qiao Jiajin declared resolutely. “This isn’t your area of expertise… Since I’m your ‘big boss’ here, it’s my duty to protect you.”
“Big boss…?”
The group hesitated. Wasn’t Qiao Jiajin their “leader”? When did he become a “big boss”?
Qiao Jiajin waved his hand as if to dispel the increasingly frigid air in the arena, then stepped forward toward “Lu Cun.”
From this round onward, things seemed to change.
Previously, all the mechanisms had been on the right side of the straight track, arranged in a diamond shape, with each mechanism placed at a vertex—these four represented the last four stars of the Big Dipper.
Now it was the turn of the first three stars of the Big Dipper, all positioned on the left side of the track in a diagonal line.
Was there any difference between the mechanisms on the right and those on the left?
Since Qiao Jiajin had no idea what the mechanism would fire, he stopped about five or six steps away from “Lu Cun.”
“Come on…” He repeated his earlier tactic, adopting a Tai Chi stance to face “Lu Cun,” though beads of sweat had already formed on his forehead.
At this distance, what difference would it make whether he was hit by a fist-sized “stone ball” or an “iron ball”?
The only certainty was that either would cause severe injury—except the stone ball would likely shatter on impact, while the iron one wouldn’t.
“I can’t afford to tire out yet…” Qiao Jiajin took a deep breath and slowly extended his palm toward “Lu Cun.”
“Let’s move!” Bai Jiu turned to direct the others. With their increased proficiency, the cart was pushed faster than ever before.
Meanwhile, the “Lu Cun” mechanism in front of Qiao Jiajin began to stir. Soon, a gray-black “ball” shot out, and once again, he flipped his palm, slamming the ball hard into the ground.
It was just an ordinary “stone ball”—no blades, no extreme heat.
“Huh…?” Just as Qiao Jiajin was puzzled by the sudden drop in difficulty, he heard chaos erupt in the distance.
He turned quickly and saw that every mechanism had activated simultaneously, firing stone balls in all directions—some aimed at the “riders,” others at the “pushers.”
Even the two mechanisms that shouldn’t have been active this round—”Tan Lang” and “Ju Men”—had also fired stone balls.
Because everyone had fallen into a pattern, no one was prepared—not even Qiao Jiajin, who stood right beside them, managed to block these two extra balls.
“Oh no!”
In the distance, several men and women were cleanly knocked down without any warning. The only one who reacted and counterattacked was Ning Shiba, the stargazing girl.
She crossed her arms to shield her chest, twisting slightly to alter the ball’s trajectory just enough for it to graze her arm and fly past.
But before she could even sigh in relief, she spotted another stone ball hurtling toward Luo Shiwu on the “Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse.”
Without hesitation, Ning Shiba leaped across the icy ground, using her own body to block the ball.
It struck her squarely in the ribs, and when she landed, she spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Hey!!” Qiao Jiajin’s eyes burned red at the sight. “You damn, sneaky, ruthless Horsewoman—what the hell are you pulling?! Is this how the rules work?!”
“Rules…?” The Horsewoman seemed amused. “How exactly did I explain the rules?”
“You never said the balls could just go flying all over the place in one round?!”
“I did explain the rules, but when did I say only one mechanism activates per round? When did I say there’d only be seven ‘balls’ per round?”
Qiao Jiajin opened his mouth to argue but realized she had a point.
The rules had never mentioned these details—neither the “order of activation” nor the “number of attacks per round.” Those were all assumptions the participants had made.
“You misled us…” Qiao Jiajin gritted his teeth. “You’re really using this kind of trick to take out my people?”
“Don’t get it twisted,” the Horsewoman said. “The real fool here is you. If things went your way—where one person blocks the mechanisms and the rest get to survive—what would be the point of me, a ‘Horsewoman,’ even being here?”
“If you have a problem, take it out on me…” Qiao Jiajin said, voice tinged with defeat. “Horsewoman, let’s make a deal—aim all the mechanisms at me, okay?”
“Hah…” The Horsewoman chuckled. “What a joke. Do you think I, the ‘Horsewoman,’ am here to watch you race? To hand out rewards? To let you play the hero? Don’t be naive! What I want is lives—participants’ lives!”
Qiao Jiajin’s gaze turned icy, his usual relaxed expression vanishing, replaced by the cold ruthlessness of a killer.
“So that’s how it is…?” He paused briefly before walking over to the “Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse,” helping the fallen members back to their feet one by one.
“Qiao… Qiao-ge…” Ning Shiba clutched his hand but couldn’t stand, no matter how hard she tried. Blood trickled from her lips as she gritted her teeth and said fiercely, “Leave me… I’m done…”
“Stargazer, you’re the MVP of this round. Even if you die, it won’t be before me.” Qiao Jiajin hooked his arms under her armpits and lifted her up.
“What MVP…” Ning Shiba wiped the blood from her mouth and laughed bitterly. “I should’ve realized… The ‘Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse’ was for transporting military supplies… How could there be no danger on this road? How could we, the transporters, be this safe…? If only I’d figured it out sooner…”
“No.” Qiao Jiajin shook his head, cutting her off. “Stargazer, you really are the MVP. Were you wrong about the iron ball? Wrong about the fireball? Did you misidentify the Five Elements for any of these stars? Without you, I’d be the one holding my teammates while puking blood right now.”
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage