Chapter 1037: Die for One Who Truly Knows You

“Qixia!”

Zhang Chenze watched as Qixia rushed out of the river channel, continuously calling out softly from behind.

Yet Qixia simply squatted on the ground, inspecting Qiao Jiajin’s injuries.

“What is it?” Qixia asked, without lifting his head, his voice low and heavy.

Zhang Chenze stepped out of the doorway toward the “river channel,” asking in confusion, “You’re the ‘commander’… how could you leave the ‘preparation zone?'”

Qixia still didn’t raise his head, reaching out to feel Qiao Jiajin’s neck. His pulse was very weak, and there were numerous wounds across his face.

It was impossible to tell whether he had fainted or fallen asleep; his entire body had lost consciousness.

“The rules never said the ‘commander’ couldn’t leave the ‘preparation zone,'” Qixia replied, “They only specified that the ‘commander’ must score the points. I also carry a ‘character’ on me, so naturally I’m one of the chess pieces.”

“But it’s so dangerous here…”

Zhang Chenze glanced at Qiao Jiajin, then at Zhang Shan, who lay unconscious not far away, naturally understanding that a fierce battle had just occurred here.

Before the game began, she had worried about exactly this—how could they handle that tall man with his massive, muscular build if it came to a fight?

Yet the man with floral tattoos before her had actually knocked him down.

“Attorney Zhang, help me retrieve the ‘character,'” Qixia said. “They would never expect our ‘commander’ to personally come out here. We need your help now.”

“Alright!”

Without hesitation, Attorney Zhang immediately ran to Zhang Shan’s side, reaching into his pocket. Indeed, there was a ‘character’ there, but as she touched it, her expression quickly changed.

Qixia ignored her reaction, simply bending down to lift Qiao Jiajin onto his back. He turned around and said, “It doesn’t matter what the ‘character’ is. Let’s go.”

“Qixia… but this ‘character’…” Zhang Chenze’s eyes flickered. “If Qiao Jiajin fought this battle for this ‘character’… then what exactly are we fighting for?”

“I only know he won,” Qixia said. “That ‘character’ is his trophy, and we must take it for him.”

Zhang Chenze knew Qixia had already considered this possibility, so she remained silent for a few seconds before wordlessly putting the ‘character’ into her pocket.

As she was about to stand up, she noticed blood foaming from Zhang Shan’s mouth. She hesitated, then instinctively reached out to feel his neck.

His pulse was nearly gone; he was in shock now. Without medical assistance, he would die soon.

There were clear signs of heavy trauma on his throat and temple, both visibly deformed. It seemed that during their exchange of punches, Qiao Jiajin had instinctively struck his vital points.

But this was unavoidable; it was a life-or-death fight that had already soaked the entire “river channel” in blood… who would care where the punches landed?

In this kind of kill-or-be-killed struggle, the two had fought until only subconsciousness and belief remained. In the end, Zhang Shan had probably lost to his own subconscious.

In his daze, when he threw his punches, he ultimately chose non-lethal strikes.

This was something even he couldn’t control—a deep-rooted inner restraint.

Zhang Chenze turned her head again to look at Qiao Jiajin, who was now slung over Qixia’s back.

Had he really wanted to kill?

It could only be said that his body wanted to win, his fists wanted to win. In that final moment, every part of him had its own consciousness, guiding him and winning the fight. They believed that even if it meant committing crimes by delivering fatal blows, it was worth it.

Now, Zhang Shan could only lie here on this cold “Chu River Han Boundary” and head toward death, with no one able to help him.

“Let’s go,” Qixia said. “Don’t let anyone see us.”

Zhang Chenze naturally understood Qixia’s intention. Leaving now with Qiao Jiajin would leave countless questions for the other side.

Zhang Shan was beaten to death, but Qiao Jiajin wasn’t at the scene. So how exactly did he kill Zhang Shan? How did he leave? Where is he now?

The enemy would suspect that Qiao Jiajin might have used some method to escape unscathed.

Even if Qiao Jiajin remained in the “preparation zone” resting for the next round, it would still create immense psychological pressure on the enemy.

They would always have to be wary of that man who could appear at any moment—the one who had killed Zhang Shan.

The three quickly bypassed several empty rooms, encountering Zheng Yingxiong and Tian Tian along the way. Everyone was shocked at the blood-soaked sight of Qiao Jiajin, but Qixia said nothing.

After returning to the “preparation zone,” Qixia helped Qiao Jiajin sit down in a corner, then thought for a moment and, still uneasy, laid him flat.

For a moment, he saw Qiao Jiajin’s mouth twitch slightly, so he quickly leaned down, putting his ear close to Qiao Jiajin’s mouth.

He was speaking entirely in Cantonese, but Qixia could still roughly understand:

“That big guy… is dangerous… go save him quickly…”

“Don’t worry,” Qixia whispered gently. “He won’t face any more danger. Rest easy.”

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin’s lips moved slightly, as if he understood Qixia’s meaning. His expression remained blank for a moment, then he fell silent again.

His eyelids were bruised purple, and he never opened his eyes throughout—no one could tell if he was awake or had fallen asleep again.

Only now did Zhang Chenze step forward, pulling out Zhang Shan’s “character” from her pocket and slowly opening her hand before Qixia.

It was a blood-stained “shi” (士).

It was “shi” (士), not “shi” (仕).

“Qiao Jiajin almost gave his life for this ‘shi,'” Zhang Chenze said sorrowfully. “Zhang Shan also died for this ‘shi’… what exactly is going on?”

“It doesn’t matter. Give it to me.” Qixia took the “shi” from Zhang Chenze’s hand and walked toward the “Phoenix Delivering the Scroll Platform.”

“They’re truly too cunning…” Zhang Chenze frowned. “Wasn’t this supposed to be a fair duel? Their ‘commander’ actually reduced the stakes in advance. Qiao Jiajin always fought sincerely with ‘xiang,’ but their piece was merely a ‘shi’…”

Qixia didn’t answer this question, merely scoring two points with “shi” and “gan.”

A total of fifteen points.

“They didn’t hide the ‘ren’ (亻) character,” Qixia said. “They never had it from the beginning.”

“What…?”

“It’s my mistake,” Qixia said. “I should have calculated this earlier. If they had the ‘ren’ character from the start, this game would have ended long ago.”

Zhang Chenze was slightly stunned, raising her head to look at the entire wall of the “preparation zone,” only now realizing that Qixia had already filled it with characters.

Upon closer count, there were at least over a hundred, including characters that didn’t look like characters and those that could only be combined through bizarre methods.

“If they had the ‘ren’ character from the beginning, combining it with ‘jiang’ and ‘zu’ into three parts, they could directly form twenty-eight characters.”