Chapter 142 Shedding Weight
Chu Tianqiu slowly rose to his feet, his gaze no longer lingering on the chessboard. With deliberate steps, he approached the dining table and came to a halt. Before him lay a meticulously arranged, exquisite breakfast, each dish a testament to careful preparation.
A faint knocking sound echoed through the room, causing Chu Tianqiu to pause his movements. "What is it?" he asked.
"Wouldn't it be hard to justify if someone were to die?" a voice questioned from the outside.
"No one else matters, as long as that self-conceited Qi Xia is still breathing," Chu Tianqiu said, a strange smile curling his lips. "At this moment, he’s as clever as he is conceited. We’ll ensure he’s struck with the greatest {regret}."
"I understand." After a brief silence at the door, the figure outside gradually moved away.
The four of them, Qi Xia and his companions, pressed themselves tightly against the walls, breathing anxiously. The two ends of the seesaw had entered an eerily stable state.
"Rather than calling it luck…" Qi Xia gritted his teeth, "It’s more likely that {Mortal Dragon} arranged it this way from the start." He paused, his eyes darkening. "This deadlock is the best outcome for us right now. If we can hold on long enough to find a solution…"
Before he could finish his sentence, the room began to descend once again. Qi Xia wanted to maintain the {stalemate}, but unfortunately, their opponents had no intention of doing the same.
"If you’re set on dying..." Qi Xia muttered through clenched teeth. "Then you’ll have no one to blame but yourselves."
"What should we do?" Qiao Jiajin pressed against the wall, cold sweat dripping down his face. "How can we make ourselves lighter than them?"
Tian Tian glanced at the long knife in Qiao Jiajin’s hand, swallowed nervously, and asked, "Could it be that we need to cut off one of our hands...?"
"Don’t be ridiculous," Qi Xia interrupted her, his tone sharp. "No matter which hand you cut off, it’s still sealed in this room and can’t be thrown out; our weight won’t change."
"Then…" Tian Tian lowered her head in silence, her expression clouded with sorrow.
"Leng-mui, your idea’s too dangerous," Qiao Jiajin said, hiding the knife behind his back. "That’s a no-go for me too; think of something else."
Without saying another word, Yun Yao approached the small window. She pulled out a few {Dào} from her bag and began tossing them out one by one.
"You…" Qi Xia was momentarily stunned, but then realized that there was no better option. Every little bit of weight reduced counted.
"Let’s all take part."
Everyone pulled out the {Dào} from their pockets, fully aware that this was not the moment for restraint. If they sank, this cycle would be over.
Qiao Jiajin and Tian Tian emptied their pockets, discarding the entirety of their {savings} without hesitation. Qi Xia drew out several {Dào} and flung them out, ensuring he kept one hidden in his pocket for any unforeseen contingency.
It was the one Officer Li had given him. With this {Dào}, Qi Xia had defeated the Mortal Monkey. It was his lucky charm, and he hoped it would bring him good fortune once again in this dire situation.
But after tossing nearly all their {Dào}, the room’s position remained unchanged. This indicated that the other team was also looking for ways to lighten their load.
"It seems there's a clever one in that team as well," Qi Xia muttered to himself. "What else can we get rid of?"
Yun Yao bit her lip, hesitating for a moment before slowly reaching for her purse. With a reluctant sigh, she pulled out a tube of lipstick. Cosmetics were even rarer than {Dào} in {End Point}, and she looked genuinely pained as she held it.
After a few seconds of hesitation, she tossed the lipstick out, followed by foundation, concealer, eyeliner, lip gloss… A small shower of makeup products rained down, clattering one after another.
As a fellow woman, Tian Tian felt a pang of sympathy seeing Yun Yao’s sacrifice.
At last, the four began to feel their room slowly ascending, the flickering flames beneath their feet growing more distant with each passing moment.
"Excellent..." Qi Xia said, his posture rigid as he pressed himself against the wall and peered downward from a distance. "Let’s maintain this position… even a small shift—no more than a kilogram—will decide everything."
But within less than a minute of ascending, the balance was once again disrupted. It seemed the other team's room had found a way to lighten their load as well, causing their weight to drop steadily.
The metal column connecting the two rooms let out a deafening {creak} as it groaned under pressure. Qi Xia could clearly feel their own room sinking once again. Though the two rooms had not yet come face-to-face, both teams were desperately doing everything they could to survive.
"There’s no more {Dào}... so how about this {knife}?" Qiao Jiajin mused, eyeing the blade in his hand. "This thing weighs at least a kilogram. Should I toss it out too?"
"No," Qi Xia replied, shaking his head. "Qiao Jiajin, there's a very difficult task for you."
"A difficult task?" Qiao Jiajin paused. "What is it?"
"This task... is one only you can undertake," Qi Xia said, gesturing to the small stool off to the side. "Break it into pieces." The small stool had been placed in the room from the very beginning, and it was no mere coincidence. It undoubtedly served a purpose.
Qiao Jiajin understood instantly. He lifted the stool, weighing it in his hands. Solid wood, it was indeed hefty.
"If we’re speaking of raw strength, you are the only one capable of dismantling it swiftly," Qi Xia remarked. "However, exercise caution. Overzealous movements will disrupt the stability."
"I got it." Qiao Jiajin nodded. With a deep breath, he raised the long knife and brought it down on the stool with a powerful swing. A sharp crack echoed in the room as the blade cleaved into the wood, leaving a jagged split. But instead of continuing with the knife, Qiao Jiajin's fingers moved with precision—he found the crack and, with a twist of his wrist, snapped the stool in half. The grain of the wood splintered violently under his strength, the pieces breaking apart. Without hesitation, he shook his hand, the knife flashing once more as he chopped at the remaining fragments.
Due to the narrowness of the window, Qiao Jiajin realized that he needed to break the stool down into smaller pieces to throw them out. Without hesitation, he adopted a methodical, almost practiced approach, resembling that of someone {splitting firewood}. He gripped one of the stool’s legs, planted it firmly on the ground, and with a precise, powerful swing, cleaved it cleanly in two.
"Take these and throw them out!" He instructed.
The four of them quickly fell into an efficient routine: Qiao Jiajin continued chopping the stool, Tian Tian grabbed the wooden pieces and passed them to Qi Xia, who in turn handed them off to Yun Yao, and she threw them out the window. This method ensured that the movements of all four were minimized as much as possible.
In just a few minutes, the four stool legs were entirely disassembled and thrown out, leaving only a single wooden plank.
"Strange..." Yun Yao muttered, her gaze narrowing as she peered through the small window, scanning the opposite side. "Why are we still evenly matched? What kind of strategy are they using?" But before she could finish her thought, something caught her eye. Through the opposite window, she saw the unmistakable sight of wooden fragments being tossed out, one after another.
"Oh no! It looks like they’re chopping the stool too…" Yun Yao exclaimed urgently. "We need to hurry!"
Qi Xia knew there was no fault in their opponent’s actions. After all, the setup of both rooms was likely identical—each side had one stool and one long knife. In this scenario, it was inevitable that both teams would opt to chop up the stool. The sooner they destroyed it, the farther they could distance themselves from the looming threat of death. Time was running out, and every second counted.
Qiao Jiajin couldn’t help but accelerate his movements. His strength, honed over countless battles, was now on full display. Though each motion was minimal, it was executed with such precision that the stool seemed to surrender to him. Every strike followed the grain of the wood, splitting it effortlessly. Before long, the once sturdy stool was nothing more than a pile of splinters.
Tian Tian continued to pass the pieces of wood to Qi Xia and Yun Yao, ensuring they were quickly tossed out through the small window. But Qiao Jiajin wasn’t satisfied with their pace. His eyes flickered with impatience, and he bent down, scooping up the smaller shards of wood scattered across the floor. Without hesitation, he shoved them through the mesh floor, speeding up the process even more.
Six minutes passed, and the countdown on the wall showed only four minutes remaining. In that short span, the stool had been completely disassembled, the room now devoid of its weight. It was a sign that their efforts were paying off. Their room began to rise slowly, the metal creaking beneath them, signaling that it was significantly lighter than the opposing team's.
"Stay steady..." Qi Xia urged, his voice calm but firm. He motioned for everyone to gather closer, his eyes darting to the space around them. The room’s subtle shift confirmed it: they were moving, gaining an advantage. Each movement, no matter how small, was crucial to ensuring the balance tilted in their favor.
Yun Yao paused, her eyes narrowing in contemplation. With a swift motion, she wrenched the long knife from Qiao Jiajin's grip, reduced her leather purse to pieces, and tossed the remnants through the small opening.