Chapter 488: Knocked Senseless

This round, Earth Rabbit walked up to Jiang Shi and directly opened the door.

Naturally, this was the right choice. After all, Jiang Shi’s direction was closer to Room “Ten” and Room “Fourteen.” As long as Earth Rabbit got this right, he could naturally advance toward the participants.

Seeing his door opened, Jiang Shi slowly stood up and turned to Chen Junnan next door, saying, “Dumb leader, aren’t you gonna lock your door?”

“Huh?” Chen Junnan looked at Jiang Shi in confusion. “Don’t you want me here cheering you on?”

“You’re insane…” Jiang Shi curled his lips. “He’s about to come in and beat me up—what good is your cheering? You want me to get pumped up for a beating?”

“You’ve got no appreciation for kindness!” Chen Junnan also curled his lips.

Of course, Chen Junnan wanted to see just how strong “Immortality” was. This close-up situation was perfect for observation, but it also had obvious drawbacks. If Earth Rabbit realized that “Immortality” was incredibly hard to kill, he’d immediately shift all his attention to Chen Junnan himself.

Thinking this, he slightly parted his lips and said, “I’ll just watch from here. Make sure you put on a good show.”

“I promise I won’t cry,” Jiang Shi said with a deadpan expression.

Chen Junnan watched as the group moved from Room “Six” to Room “Ten,” but they neither closed nor locked the door, as if leaving some escape route for themselves.

“Leader,” Cui Shisi turned and said, “The ‘treasure’ isn’t in ‘Ten.’ We’ll keep moving down to ‘Fourteen.'”

“Got it,” Chen Junnan nodded. Right now, he wasn’t in the mood to worry about the “treasure.”

After all, Earth Rabbit had already chosen the battlefield, and soon, this place would be drenched in blood.

“‘Immortality’…” Chen Junnan felt a pang of nervousness. “Let me see just what the hell you are…”

“Participants’ turn ends. Zodiac, proceed.”

As the broadcast faded, Earth Rabbit stepped into Jiang Shi’s room, cracking his knuckles with an overwhelming aura.

Jiang Shi was still lazily squatting with his arms crossed, looking up at the towering Earth Rabbit. The stark contrast between their sizes made the scene almost surreal.

“Kid…” Earth Rabbit slowly rolled his neck, veins bulging on his face. “You’ve been begging for death, haven’t you?”

“Yeah… I have,” Jiang Shi replied flatly. “So, how do you wanna kill me?”

“Heh…”

Earth Rabbit slowly raised his fist. From a distance, Chen Junnan could see that the fist was nearly the size of Jiang Shi’s head.

Jiang Shi remained expressionless, still squatting, staring at the massive fist. He muttered softly, “Am I… gonna die?”

The moment he spoke, a perfectly timed chime of a bell echoed in the distance. Earth Rabbit’s fist swung down casually with the sound.

Jiang Shi instantly leaned back, planting his right hand on the ground and flipping backward in a surprisingly graceful motion.

The punch missed entirely.

“Tch…” Jiang Shi steadied himself and crossed his arms again. “Not that fast…”

“You move like a damn monkey…” Earth Rabbit frowned at the kid, baffled that someone who looked barely twelve or thirteen could move with such skill.

But Chen Junnan noticed something odd.

That flip Jiang Shi just did—he’d seen it many times before. It wasn’t “martial arts.” It was too precise, more like the acrobatics of Peking Opera.

“Don’t be mad,” Jiang Shi grinned up at him. “As the saying goes… wine is poison to the gut, lust is a blade to the bone…”

Earth Rabbit charged forward and stomped down, clearly putting more force into it this time. But Jiang Shi flipped backward again, swiftly creating distance.

A dull thud shook the ground, almost cracking it—but the kick didn’t land.

Once steady, Jiang Shi crossed his arms again and drawled, “… wealth is the root of trouble, and anger… is a firework blast.”

“What the hell’s wrong with you, kid?” Earth Rabbit felt something off about this child. He carried himself with a bizarrely aged demeanor.

Chen Junnan, watching this, felt slightly reassured. Earth Rabbit’s physique was similar to Zhang Shan’s—muscle-bound, capable of explosive power, but lacking in actual combat technique.

Those punches and kicks had no form, just brute street-fighting. He was trying to overpower Jiang Shi with sheer force, but the kid was far more agile than most, with a foundation in performance-style movement. For now, at least, he wouldn’t be killed.

Their agility was leagues apart, but Zodiacs had far greater stamina than ordinary people.

Earth Rabbit had no time limit to kill participants, and Jiang Shi seemed to be using his whole body to flip and dodge. He wasn’t getting hit yet, but how long could he keep this up?

Just as Chen Junnan predicted, after seven or eight flips, Jiang Shi was already panting. He tried to keep his distance, but Earth Rabbit slowly backed him into a corner.

“Kid, done jumping?” Earth Rabbit sneered, his massive frame blocking all escape routes.

Jiang Shi swallowed hard. “Too bad I only learned backflips… never got around to forward rolls.”

“Ha.” Earth Rabbit barked a laugh. “Then don’t say I’m bullying a kid. Time to die.”

Jiang Shi exhaled, uncrossed his arms, and flexed his small fingers.

“Three feet of steel, ten thousand books—what purpose did Heaven give me?” Jiang Shi closed his eyes. “If I cannot serve my country and protect the realm, how dare I call myself a man? Last we left off… the great rabbit demon, without a word, forced the hero into a corner and struck with a fist like thunder, the wind howling so fiercely none could open their eyes…”

Earth Rabbit’s expression darkened. Done with the kid’s nonsense, he threw a merciless punch straight down onto Jiang Shi’s face.

A sickening crack echoed as Jiang Shi’s head twisted violently to the side—so far it looked like his neck had snapped, his skull dangling by skin alone.

The punch was so fast that flecks of skin were flung off Jiang Shi’s face, scattering on the ground.

The wind from the blow settled. Jiang Shi didn’t move.

“Hey… no way…” Chen Junnan stared in horror. He’d expected Jiang Shi to get hit, but not to be killed in one strike. “Kid, you’re ‘Immortality,’ right? Activate it!”

Jiang Shi’s head lolled limply to the side as his body slumped to the floor.

Chen Junnan whirled around to look at Cui Shisi in the distant room. “Fourteen! What the hell?! The kid’s not moving after getting hit!”

Cui Shisi smoothed her hair, thinking carefully before replying, “I didn’t see what happened, but maybe Ten just got knocked silly. It’s fine. Really.”

“Knocked silly?!” Chen Junnan was beyond baffled. “His head’s twisted off! And you’re saying it’s fine?!”