Chapter 460: The Unmentioned Rule

“Brother Qiao…”

“Brothers.” Qiao Jiajing glanced around at the group. “I admit I underestimated this challenge, but there’s no time for apologies now. I have a new plan.”

Everyone struggled to stand, their eyes fixed on him.

This man had once shattered three stars single-handedly, shining like the sun itself. Now, they had no choice but to rely on him once more.

This wasn’t a test of strategy—if even he couldn’t solve it, no amount of intellect from the others would make a difference.

“Brother Qiao… go ahead,” Bai Jiu said, clutching his aching chest.

“I’ll do everything in my power to protect this car,” Qiao Jiajing said. “But this time, I can’t promise to ‘protect everyone.’ I can only ensure those in the car aren’t eliminated. As for the rest…”

“Isn’t that enough?” Bai Jiu interrupted. “If the people in the car survive, we win the game.”

“But the rest of you might die…” Qiao Jiajing gritted his teeth. “I hate this feeling—being unable to protect those around me. Before, whenever someone dared touch my people, I’d make them pay tenfold. But this time… the gap between me and those monsters is just too wide…”

Bai Jiu rubbed his chest, then forced a sweet smile. “Brother Qiao, are you stupid? Haven’t you been protecting us all along?”

Qiao Jiajing paused for a few seconds before nodding coldly. “I’ll keep doing my best.”

The group reformed their formation and pushed the car forward again.

Only a few steps later, Ning Shiba gave a sharp look. “It’s coming…”

Everyone immediately halted the car, bracing themselves.

*Whoosh!*

The first stone sphere shot from the left side of the straight track—”Lu Cun”—hurtling toward one of the pushers. Then, the other six mechanisms fired in rapid succession, as if prearranged. Qiao Jiajing hesitated for only a fraction of a second before lunging toward the sphere aimed at him. With a precise sideways push, he altered its trajectory, sending it crashing into another.

*Crash!*

The two spheres shattered mid-air, spraying dust and debris everywhere. The group winced, barely able to keep their eyes open.

The spheres were too fast—Qiao Jiajing couldn’t possibly intercept all of them in time.

This time, Chou Ershi and Yun Shijiu barely managed to block their assigned spheres, but the others weren’t so lucky.

Feng Shiqi was struck squarely in the back by a rogue sphere. The sheer force of the impact sent her stumbling forward uncontrollably, about to collapse—right onto a bed of razor-sharp broken glass.

“Ah! Flash Girl!” Qiao Jiajing shouted. “Watch out!”

A single thought flashed through Feng Shiqi’s mind—*I’m going to die.* What were the odds of surviving a direct fall onto those shards?

In that split second, her entire life seemed to replay before her eyes.

She hadn’t even awakened her “Echo” yet. Would she forget everything now?

Would all her accumulated memories of the “Endgame” vanish?

Just as she was about to hit the ground, Qiao Jiajing’s words from before the game echoed in her ears:

*”If you feel yourself falling, curl your body, push off with your legs, and try to leap forward.”*

With no other options, Feng Shiqi twisted her legs, bent her knees, and kicked off the ground with all her might—propelling herself forward just enough to clear the glass.

But she wasn’t a combat specialist. While her body mostly cleared the shards, one leg remained slightly raised—the other landed squarely on a jagged piece.

“Ugh!” She stifled a scream, biting down on her pain.

“Sister Seventeen!”

Chou Ershi and Yun Shijiu rushed to her side. The glass wasn’t scattered randomly—each shard had been deliberately angled to impale anyone who fell.

Qiao Jiajing, still shaken, turned his attention to Ning Shiba.

From his angle, she shouldn’t have been hit—yet she twisted at the last second, letting the sphere slam into her ribs.

The impact was brutal. The sphere seemed to embed itself into her torso, crushing her ribs inward and leaving a deep indentation in her side before finally dropping to the ground.

“AAAAAHHHH!!!”

Ning Shiba’s scream was bloodcurdling. She collapsed to her knees, burying her face in her hands while pounding the ice in a futile attempt to distract herself from the agony.

“What the hell?!” Qiao Jiajing rushed to shield her from any further attacks. “Astro Girl, are you out of your mind?! You trying to die?!”

“Cough—!” Before she could respond, Ning Shiba vomited a mouthful of blood. The shattered ribs had likely punctured her organs, leaving her choking on her own fluids. “Cough—!”

Qiao Jiajing had never seen anything like this. But before he could react, a distant bell tolled.

*Dong!*

Ning Shiba’s “Overgrowth” had been triggered.

“Cough…” She spat out the remaining blood and forced a bitter smile. “Brother Qiao… if you hadn’t trusted me so much, I wouldn’t have had to resort to this…”

Then it hit him—Ning Shiba’s Echo awakened through “extreme pain.”

“Whether I die or not… you’ve done your part,” she gasped, dragging herself to the side before collapsing. “But my chances aren’t great… I’ve endured too much pain already. It takes worse each time to trigger my Echo… This… cough… this was perfect…”

Qiao Jiajing glanced at her frostbitten right hand and realized she wasn’t exaggerating.

If losing an entire hand to frostbite didn’t qualify as “extreme pain,” how desperate must she have been each time she awakened?

He hadn’t expected the fourth round to cripple them so quickly. Two of their strongest women were down—their injuries too severe to continue pushing.

“What the hell…” Qiao Jiajing’s lips trembled as he stared at the pristine ice now stained with their blood. “Horse Girl… have you no humanity?”

Bai Jiu surveyed the fallen and grimaced.

Seven spheres attacked per round—one for each of them.

Every casualty meant fewer hands to face the same onslaught.

“Are we… going to die?”