“Hmm… that doesn’t seem to work…” Jiang Shi muttered. “Do you have anything else? Something that can help me stand up?”
In the adjacent room, Cui Shisi heard this and took a step forward, moving closer to Chen Junnan. “Leader, Brother Shi needs something to support himself? We have a sword here.”
“Bring it quickly…” Jiang Shi called out without hesitation through the wall. “Right now, I’ve got no head or legs—it’s gonna be awkward fighting that rabbit…”
He paused, then adjusted his phrasing: “I mean… it’ll be awkward getting beaten up by the rabbit.”
Cui Shisi shook her head and pulled a longsword from her back—this was the treasured weapon of Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals.
“Leader…” Cui Shisi turned her head, her pale, almost glowing face looking at Chen Junnan. “Should we give this to Brother Shi?”
The middle-aged man Wu Shisan frowned. “Hold on… helping Brother Shi stand is one thing, but what if that rabbit destroys the sword? Then we’ll never get out…”
“No, he won’t,” Chen Junnan said. “The Zodiac can’t cut off all escape routes in this game. If the exit tool is destroyed, he’d be breaking the rules himself.”
“Oh, I see…” Cui Shisi nodded. “Then this sword…”
“Toss it to me…” Chen Junnan smiled. “Might even pull off something unexpected…”
“Unexpected?” Cui Shisi didn’t quite understand but handed the sturdy-looking iron sword over to Chen Junnan through the door. He then turned and threw it to Jiang Shi’s side.
The rabbit, sensing something amiss, tried to lunge forward, but Jiang Shi’s body suddenly flipped over—accompanied by the screams of his severed head—and lunged for the sword.
“Hell yeah!” Jiang Shi’s head shouted. “Grandpa’s got a proper weapon now! You fiend, you’d better—”
His hand grabbed the blade by mistake, yelped in pain, then quickly adjusted to grip the hilt.
“AAAH! SURRENDER NOW!!!”
Chen Junnan facepalmed. “I really don’t wanna deal with this kid anymore… He seems perfectly fine, full of energy.”
Jiang Shi used the sword to prop himself up, staggering forward a few steps before grabbing his own hair and tucking his head under his arm.
“I feel so cool right now…” he mumbled. “Sword in one hand, head in the other… I’m like some mythical hero… who was it again?”
Chen Junnan sighed deeply. “Pretty sure no myth has that. The closest might be Xingtian, but he didn’t carry his head, and his weapon wasn’t a sword.”
“Whatever!” Jiang Shi’s head yelled. “As long as I’m here—no one’s getting past!”
“Your spirit’s commendable…” Chen Junnan shook his head. “Kid, if you use that sword right… it might keep you from getting hurt again.”
“Oh?” Jiang Shi turned his upper body around, his head in hand, tone serious. “What do you mean? Got a plan?”
Chen Junnan blinked at the headless torso facing him.
“TURN YOUR DAMN HEAD AROUND!!” he bellowed. “Why’re you just spinning your torso?! Can you even see me?!”
“Ah, sorry.” Jiang Shi, realizing the weirdness, manually rotated the head he was holding. “If you’ve got a plan, tell me… I’ll do my part.”
“Sigh… you’ve done plenty already… but why do I feel like you’re just like me? Never giving anyone peace of mind…” Chen Junnan shook his head. “Fine. Like I said, the Zodiac can’t destroy game tools… so that sword in your hand? Right now, it’s your shield.”
“Oh?” Jiang Shi blinked. “That makes sense… He can’t break the sword…”
“But how much of a beating you take… that’s still up to you.”
Jiang Shi nodded with his hand-held head. “Got it. Thanks for the tip.”
“Stop nodding! It’s too much effort!” Chen Junnan yelled. “Get ready!”
Jiang Shi turned back to face the rabbit, who was now scratching its head in hesitation.
“To kill you… do I have to pulp you?”
“Won’t work,” Jiang Shi grinned. “Even if you pulp me, I’ll just keep wriggling. ‘Undying’ means undying—you can’t erase me.”
“Freak… is this really an ‘Echo’…?” The rabbit narrowed its eyes. “What’s the difference between you and those four…?”
“Those four? Grandpa here’s on par with the Four Heavenly Kings of the South Gate? Take this!!” Little Jiang Shi, clutching his head, raised the sword high. “Fiend! Prepare to die!”
Chen Junnan eyed the kid’s demeanor, finding it oddly off.
A twelve- or thirteen-year-old should be playful and lively, but this kid acted like an old-timer, spouting nonsense no one understood.
“Sis Fourteen,” Chen Junnan called back. “What did your Brother Shi do before all this?”
“He was a storytelling apprentice,” Cui Shisi replied. “When nights got boring… he’d tell us tales from the classics.”
“Storytelling—” Chen Junnan nodded. “Right, right, a family of performers, huh…”
Before they could say more, the rabbit swung its fist at Jiang Shi again. At the last second, Jiang Shi swung Lü Dongbin’s sword to meet it.
The rabbit’s fist, carrying a howling wind, froze just before striking the blade.
For a moment, both stood completely still.
“Ha!” Jiang Shi shouted triumphantly. “Fiend! Behold my ‘treasure’ and tremble!”
“You…” The rabbit frowned, slowly retracting its fist. After a few seconds of thought, it cracked a sinister smile. “I see.”
“You see?” Jiang Shi, wobbling, steadied himself with the sword. “What’d you see, rabbit-demon?”
“I see your game…” The rabbit rubbed its furry fists, then tucked both hands into its pockets. “‘Undying,’ huh? What if I just… ignore you?”
“Ignore me…?” Jiang Shi blinked, sensing trouble.
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