Free Web NovelThe others nodded and helped Qiao Jiajin onto the wheelbarrow. The latter was relieved; he could finally catch a short break.
“Ah, everyone...” Qiao Jiajin smiled, leaning back in his seat. “I haven’t ridden in many vehicles, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) so I might have motion sickness. Steer slowly and steadily, please.”
“Qiao ge, you jest...” the others retorted with concern on their faces. “We don’t have your skills. What if you get hit?”
“Hit?” Qiao Jiajin laughed and suddenly said, “Young ones, I just came up with a new idea!”
The group felt a bit anxious. Though they had been together for some time and formed a modest understanding of Qiao Jiajin, he unfailingly produced yet another new notion every round. Was this truly a course they ought to follow?
“What idea, Qiao ge?” Bai Nine asked politely, her usual sweet smile in place.
“I want all six of you to push the wheelbarrow together,” Qiao Jiajin said. “Push a little slower and keep the wheelbarrow as steady as possible.”
“Huh?!” Bai Nine felt that ever since stepping into this game arena, the phrase she uttered most often was {Huh?}.
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“Then who will block the balls?!” Qiu Twenty too widened his eyes.
“I will.” Qiao Jiajin replied. “I won’t deal with the ice balls flying at you lads, only the ones coming toward me. I’ll catch the ones I can and dodge the ones I can’t. It should be fine.”
Bai Nine considered the possibility in Qiao Jiajin’s words and felt that matters were taking an odd turn.
“Qiao ge... I believe your plan sounds feasible, but the margin for error is too low.”
“Margin for error?”
“You only need to falter a single time to lose your life,” Bai Nine remarked, eyeing the chair under Qiao Jiajin. “Your chair is set atop a single-wheel wheelbarrow, and the wheelbarrow itself rests on ice. Any movement you make up there will be nothing like what you could manage on solid ground.”
“Uh, that’s true.” Qiao Jiajin nodded. “If I fail to catch even once, that counts as being {eliminated}, and {eliminated} means dead.”
“Exactly.” Bai Nine nodded. “Qiao ge, don’t take unnecessary risks. If it’s {ice balls}, the rest of us can handle them just fine.”
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“But...”
“Don’t carry everything on your own shoulders,” Bai Nine interjected. “This is a team game. Qiao ge, you’ve already done so much for us. Let us protect you this round.”
Qiao Jiajin couldn’t help but smile; in over twenty years of memory, no one had ever said they’d protect him.
“Is that so...?” He nodded, leaning back in the chair once again. “Then I trust you all.”
Seeing everyone nod in agreement, Qiao Jiajin added, “I’m entrusting my life to you all this round. Even if I die, it doesn’t matter.”
Bai Nine understood that he wasn’t speaking lightly; it was an act of true {trust}.
“Understood.” Bai Nine let out a small laugh. “Qiao ge, if you die this round, I, Bai Nine, will slit my own throat the very next instant.”
The others also laughed. “Likewise.”
“Ha!” Qiao Jiajin nodded. “Not bad at all, {Cats}. Who’d have thought this place still held people with a sense of righteousness?”
“Qiao ge, sit tight, we are setting off.”
They began pushing the wheelbarrow forward. Qiao Jiajin was the third to mount the {Wooden Ox Flowing Horse}. Many among them had already taken three consecutive turns pushing, and their control over the vehicle’s stability had markedly improved.
Bai Nine cast a glance at Qiu Twenty and Ning Eighteen. Understanding immediately, the two stepped away from the wheelbarrow and approached {Academic Intelligence}. Unlike Qiao Jiajin, they did not draw close to {Academic Intelligence}, instead maintaining a distance of several meters.
“Why send Irritant lad and Sat gal over?” Qiao Jiajin looked at Luo Fifteen and Yun Nineteen. “Are these two leng-zais too tired?”
“No.” Bai Nine shook her head. “Twenty and Eighteen are among the most skilled in our squad. Having them go will put minds at ease.”
“I see...” Qiao Jiajin nodded, then turned his gaze toward {Academic Intelligence} in the distance.
‘{Academic Intelligence}...so it’s {Academic Intelligence Star}?’ he mused, stroking his chin. ‘Isn’t that basically the triad’s {White Paper Fan}?’ fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
The thought stirred a quiet apprehension within him.
It seemed as though some hidden clue was circling in his mind. In the first round, {War Conqueror} was also of {Water} nature, representing the vanguard; a fragile {minon} in the team, easily shattered at first touch. But {White Paper Fan} was different.
Both revolve around {water}, so what exactly distinguishes the {White Paper Fan}?
{White Paper Fan} and {Red Pole} were pillars of a triad. If that were the case then...
“Don’t catch it!” Qiao Jiajin suddenly raised his head. “{White Paper Fan} delivers death without form; never try to catch it!”
The others clearly did not grasp Qiao Jiajin’s meaning. What did this game have to do with {Paper Fans}?
Whoosh!
From {Academic Intelligence} suddenly shot a white sphere. Pure as snow, it seemed wreathed in layers of mist, flying straight toward Ning Eighteen.
Ning Eighteen’s eyes cooled. Immediately mimicking Qiao Jiajin, she stretched out her hand to strike the ice ball.
{Crack}!!
Like the coal ball, the sphere shattered with a crisp sound.
Yet there was a difference: where the coal ball emitted curling black smoke, the white sphere belched thick white mist.
Ning Eighteen raised her right hand to inspect it. Layers of white vapor swirled upon her palm, yet she felt nothing unusual. She lightly rubbed the substance between her fingers, yet in the next instant, a heart-wrenching scream tore from her throat:
“AHHH!!”
Clutching her right hand, she wailed, her expression contorted in acute agony.
“Oh no!” Qiao Jiajin sprang to his feet, intending to check Ning Eighteen’s injury, but suddenly remembered he could not leave the wheelbarrow.
Qiu Twenty hurriedly bent over to inspect Ning Eighteen’s right hand. The situation looked grim: her fingertips were coated in layers of white frost, as if instantly frostbitten.
“Co–Could this be dry ice?” Qiu Twenty frowned, picking up a fragment of white debris from the ground. The moment he touched it, an intense cold radiated into his fingertips. “No...can dry ice really inflict instant frostbite...? How can it be this cold?”
He quickly discarded the white fragment. Thick cold liquid still issued from it, but it was nowhere near enough to cause instant frostbite. Then what could it be...?
Ning Eighteen’s right hand had completely lost all sensation.
“There... there’s something inside the sphere...” she gritted her teeth. “This ball is just a shell... there’s something packed inside!”
Only then did Qiu Twenty notice that the surrounding ground was entirely coated in white frost, as if some substance had been scattered across a one-meter radius.
Bai Nine furrowed her brows, a sense of understanding dawning. Although she did not know the full situation, she could surmise that the {Wooden Ox Flowing Horse} had used a dry-ice sphere to encase something of extreme cold, capable of instantly injuring anyone who shattered the white sphere.
“So it really is {White Paper Fan}...” Qiao Jiajin remarked, frowning. “A (sur)face so clean and cold, yet its heart’s utterly merciless.”
