Chapter 185 Eroding Their Belief
“There’s a condition called {CIP(Congenital insensitivity to pain)},” said Qiao Jiajin. “It almost sounds like some sort of superpower, something that I—as someone who loved to fight—longed for. But then a smart lad told me that those who suffer from it have a much higher chance of dying.”
Xiao Xiao’s expression darkened, but she remained silent.
"Because those who suffer from this condition are blind to danger. Pain is a natural self-defense mechanism, yet you've completely discarded it." Qiao Jiajin cracked his neck as he spoke. "You didn't even attempt to dodge when I was kicking to break your leg. How can anyone even call this a superpower?"
“My leg... is broken?” Xiao Xiao was momentarily stunned.
Qiao Jiajin stepped forward, a smile curling at the corner of his lips. “Buff mui, I’ll say it again: surrender.”
Xiao Xiao sensed the change in the atmosphere—the energy around him had shifted entirely. In that instant, the dangerous aura emanating from him reached an entirely new level.
"Surrender, and you won't die," Qiao Jiajin said, each word deliberate and chilling.
Xiao Xiao pondered for a few seconds before slowly swallowing.This man was too terrifying.
“Luo Eleven, retract your {Affliction Dismissal}!” Xiao Xiao ordered coldly.
"Retract it, sure, but the payment still stands!" Luo Eleven shouted from a distance.
Within seconds, Xiao Xiao felt every inch of her body scream in pain. Her legs, chin, temples, ribs, and fingers all throbbed simultaneously with an excruciating intensity.
"Ugh..." Xiao Xiao groaned, taking several seconds to calm herself. She then lifted her eyes and glared coldly at Qiao Jiajin.
Just as he was about to step forward to finish Xiao Xiao off, he suddenly felt something was wrong. His legs, chin, temples, and fingers began to throb with pain.
Unfazed, Qiao Jiajin took a step forward, only to realize that his right leg had also gone numb.
He had fallen into the trap.
It seemed her ability transferred pain.
What should he do now? Qiao Jiajin's heart raced. All the injuries from Xiao Xiao's body had now been transferred to him. A single mistake could open up a massive vulnerability.
‘Swindler lad. It's about time I borrow that {brain} of yours,’ Qiao Jiajin thought to himself.
Qi Xia's voice slowly echoed in Qiao Jiajin's ears: "If you find yourself in a dire situation, you need to find a way to make the other party doubt themselves."
Taking a deep breath, Qiao Jiajin steadied his nerves, enduring the intense pain in his body, and took a step forward.
Seeing the man approach her without a change in expression, Xiao Xiao felt a gnawing sense of wrongness. She immediately extended her right hand and struck her leg hard.
Qiao Jiajin had already figured it out the moment she moved. He stopped, standing still. As expected, the strike sent sharp pain through his thigh.
But his expression remained impassive.
"What are you doing?" Qiao Jiajin asked, feigning confusion. "Are you resorting to self-harm because you can’t beat me? Is that really the way to go?"
"What...?" Xiao Xiao's eyes widened. She felt certain that her {Reverberation} should have worked, so why does he look completely unaffected?
She didn't have time to think further. Reaching into her pants pocket, she pulled out a large handful of capsules and tossed them into her mouth.
"Thug... you might not remember how you died the last time," she said, before biting down on the capsules, swallowing them all.
They were metronidazole capsules, and an overdose would lead to quadriplegia, paresthesia, and mental confusion.
Before long, Qiao Jiajin felt a violent dizziness in his brain, and his limbs gradually lost feeling. But the expression on his face remained one of confusion.
"Taking poison?" He paused, then laughed. "Buff mui, you could just admit defeat. No need to poison yourself."
Though his words were defiant, beads of cold sweat slowly trickled down Qiao Jiajin's forehead. He was focusing all his mental energy to make sure he wouldn't collapse. The sensation was worse than drinking a hundred bottles of beer.
He slowly extended his right hand, but to his astonishment, he saw his left hand reaching out instead. He didn’t show any surprise; instead, he forcefully shoved Xiao Xiao with his left hand.
"I don't have time to waste with you," Qiao Jiajin said. "Are you surrendering or not?"
Xiao Xiao looked at the man before her, incredulous. It felt as though her {Reverberation} had vanished entirely.
But...could it be that he's just toughing it out?
Qiao Jiajin noticed the change in her expression, and he knew her {belief} had wavered. The final blow to shatter Xiao Xiao’s {belief} was within reach.
But that final step was incredibly difficult.
If he didn’t take decisive, overwhelming action, how could Xiao Xiao ever be convinced?
As the saying goes, fortune favors the bold.
Qiao Jiajin exerted all his strength to control his left and right legs, slowly retreating a few steps. In the midst of Xiao Xiao's shocked expression, he suddenly sprinted toward her.
With a powerful stomp, he leapt into the air, aiming his knee at her chest.
His initial plan was to strike her chin with his right leg, but instead, his left knee collided with her chest.
Upon landing, Qiao Jiajin staggered a few steps before finally regaining his balance. Pain coursed through his entire body, an intense, overwhelming sensation. The most excruciating was his chest—this impact had nearly taken his breath away.
Grumbling to himself inwardly, he thought, ‘After all these years of training, I’ve never tried to give myself a Clinch Knee... so this is how penetrating my strength is?’
Qiao Jiajin paused, taking a deep breath before asking, “Buff mui, have you... had enough?”
Upon hearing the question, Xiao Xiao’s expression shifted, her face filled with terror.
In the next instant, the pain that had plagued Qiao Jiajin vanished.
Her {Reverberation} had rescinded.
“Phew…” Qiao Jiajin chuckled. ‘That sure wasn’t easy…’
He slowly approached Xiao Xiao. “I heard that if we lose this battle, you’ll take away Swindler lad, right?”
“I’ve already lost my {brain} once, there's no way I’ll lose it again.” Qiao Jiajin gripped both of Xiao Xiao’s wrists and hauled her up from the ground. “If you take my {brain}, I'll become an idiot."
Holding Xiao Xiao’s wrists, he pulled her step by step toward the edge of the single-plank bridge.
“No—No, wait a…” Xiao Xiao pleaded in terror. She realized the way Qiao Jiajin held her wrists was uniquely restrictive, leaving her unable to grasp anything.
A hint of sadness gradually appeared in Qiao Jiajin’s eyes.
With a sudden push, Xiao Xiao’s hands were forced open, and her body tipped backward. In a panic, she tried to grab onto something, but there was only air around her.
A scream echoed as Xiao Xiao plummeted, but her scream was abruptly cut off when she slammed into the hemp ropes. The dull thuds reverberated as Xiao Xiao’s cries came in intermittent bursts.
She continued to plummet, her scream fading until it could no longer be heard.
Xiao Xiao had fallen off the bridge.
In the distance, Luo Eleven and Ole Sun were both stunned into silence by the sight before them.
They could accept someone killing Xiao Xiao, but they couldn't fathom the fact that the man before them appeared completely unscathed.
Qiao Jiajin stretched his sore neck and coldly called out toward the distance, “Now that I’ve already taken a life, there’s no point in holding back any longer. Which one of you will come first?”
With an aura of ice-cold determination, Qiao Jiajin moved forward, and both Li Xiangling and Zhang Shan stepped aside to make way for him.
Zhang Shan, having served in the military for a few years, recognized that look in his eyes—this was the gaze of someone who had killed before.
Ole Sun and Luo Eleven felt no pity for Xiao Xiao. Instead, they were beginning to recognize the gravity of the situation.
Xiao Xiao wasn’t just a renowned expert in hand-to-hand combat at {End Point}; she also possessed {Adversity Shift}, a power that made her extremely suited for fighting. Yet, she had been taken down by a mere ordinary man whom they had never seen before, and without a scratch on him.
This meant that the opponent’s skills and shrewdness far surpassed hers.
Ole Sun slowly stepped forward, extending his hand and attempting to strike at Qiao Jiajin.
With a swift movement, Qiao Jiajin's left hand waved, blocking the nonexistent stone cudgel. Then, he delivered a solid Push Kick to Ole Sun’s chest, sending him crashing to the ground.
“Lan-joeng, if your abilities are limited to this, then this game is over.”