Chapter 79 Unconventional Logic
Just as Ole Lu was on the verge of being captured, he finally reached Qi Xia’s side.
"Punk Qi! I’m going to die!!" Ole Lu exclaimed, shoving Qi Xia in front of him in desperation. "You’ve got to save me…"
"What happened?" Qi Xia inquired, bewildered.
Seeing Qi Xia obstructing his path, A'Mu’s fury boiled over. "Move it!!"
Instead of yielding, Qi Xia firmly extended his hand to block A'Mu.
"Hey, let’s talk this through. What exactly transpired?" he asked, adopting an air of feigned anxiety. "Did my teammate do something to offend you?"
A'Mu gradually slowed his advance, shooting a suspicious glance at Qi Xia. "Are you their leader?"
In response, Qi Xia merely scratched his head, sidestepping A'Mu's question. "For now, let’s avoid any rash actions. Just explain what’s happening."
Before he could finish, an iron box soared through the air, aimed directly at A'Mu’s face.
Caught off guard by the sudden attack, A'Mu had no time to react and was struck squarely on the nose.
In that fleeting moment of instability, A'Mu swiftly regained his composure.
"Motherf*cker... you really are something," he muttered, wincing as pain radiated from his nose. Realizing the man before him was no ordinary opponent, A'Mu understood that any lapse in vigilance could cost him dearly before the {punishment} was enacted.
Just as A'Mu regained his balance and was preparing to counterattack, Qi Xia unleashed a punch that connected squarely with A'Mu's face.
A'Mu, initially dismissive of Qi Xia's amateurish stance, was taken aback when he found himself knocked to the ground, his temples throbbing painfully.
Without missing a beat, Qi Xia followed up with a swift kick to A'Mu's jaw, leaving him incapacitated and unable to rise.
Observing that his adversary had lost all fighting capability, Qi Xia slowly discarded the padlock he had been clutching. A blow to the temple with such an object would likely render most people unable to stand again.
"Who cares about what happened?" Qi Xia said coldly. "You dare to lay a hand on my teammate…In any gamble, there must be a loser."
Just then, the bald man and the blonde man rushed over, their expressions filled with urgency.
Qi Xia felt a pang of confusion—why had the opposing team's cabinet door also opened? Had they deciphered the code right behind him?
"A'Mu!" they shouted, rushing forward, only to find him sprawled on the ground.
"Kill them..." A'Mu commanded weakly, his voice barely above a whisper. "If we don’t act fast, we’re going to face punishment..."
"F*ck!" the two exclaimed, swiftly adopting fighting stances as they drew folding knives from their pockets.
Seeing the unfolding tension, Qi Xia and Ole Lu instinctively took a step back.
Despite his earlier ruthlessness, Qi Xia found himself at a loss for strategies against two knife-wielding thugs who were clearly in a heightened state of focus.
"Hey! Terrestrial Dog!!" Qi Xia gritted his teeth and shouted. "Aren’t you supposed to manage the private confrontations among participants?!"
After a few agonizing seconds, a dispirited voice drifted over from a distance: "Of course! But please bear with me for a moment; I’m tidying up and will be there shortly."
"Heh…" The bald thug slowly lifted his knife, a smirk creeping across his face. "The {Earthly Branches} are all too eager to watch us kill each other in this game; why would they ever intervene?"
Qi Xia’s expression darkened to an alarming degree; he had never anticipated that player-versus-player violence would be tacitly sanctioned by the {rules}.
Reflecting on past encounters, he recalled the fierce struggle against Zhang Shan in Terrestrial Ox’s venue, where intervention had only come at the very last moment.
It was becoming increasingly clear that this time, the stakes were even higher.
"Ole Lu... take Zhang Chenze and run," Qi Xia whispered. "There’s a window in the room I was in; break it and escape."
"Punk Qi... what about you?!" Ole Lu's voice trembled with a hint of panic.
"I’ll find a way to handle them."
"You..." Ole Lu's eyes darted around, quickly coming to a decision. "Then you be careful!"
With that, Ole Lu spun around, seized Zhang Chenze's hand, and pulled her into the room. He swiftly shoved Jiang Ruoxue aside before smashing the window with the chair she had been sitting on.
"Go! Now!" Ole Lu urged Zhang Chenze. "Those guys are serious criminals—they really won’t hesitate to kill!"
Jiang Ruoxue, watching from the side, observed with interest, a faint smile curling at her lips.
"No, I can’t leave," Zhang Chenze said calmly. "And sir, please don’t touch me."
"What the hell? Think about the time and place!" Ole Lu exclaimed, feeling frustrated by her stubbornness. "We’re running for our lives! What does it matter now if I touch ya?!"
"If Qi Xia doesn’t leave, neither will I," Zhang Chenze replied with quiet firmness. "If you want to flee, do it alone."
Without waiting for his response, she bent down and grasped a slender shard of glass from the floor, gripping it tightly as she steeled herself to confront the impending danger and made her way toward the door.
"Girly, are you out of ya mind?!" Ole Lu was nearly beside himself with panic as he stepped forward to grasp Zhang Chenze’s wrist. "What do you think you’re doing with that flimsy thing? They have knives!"
"Please do not touch me." A glint of cold resolve flashed in Zhang Chenze’s eyes. "In a place , running alone won’t ensure survival. I need to fight them to the death."
Jiang Ruoxue, overhearing their exchange, couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
"You two are really interesting…" she said, covering her mouth, her laughter completely out of place given the dire circumstances.
Both turned to look at her, but neither felt inclined to respond.
Ole Lu continued to implore Zhang Chenze, "Little girly, have you ever watched those movies? As long as they escape, everything turns out fine. Yet some insist on returning to seek their doom… Aren’t you just being one of those troublemakers right now?"
Zhang Chenze pondered for a moment before responding, "If it’s just Qi Xia alone, his chances of survival are indeed quite low. However, if I join the fray with a weapon, our odds of survival will increase exponentially."
"What the hell…" Ole Lu was utterly baffled. "Ya think running at them with a piece of glass will somehow exponentially increase your chances?"
Jiang Ruoxue couldn’t contain herself and burst out laughing at the absurdity.
"What are you laughing at?" Zhang Chenze asked, looking at her.
"I…" Jiang Ruoxue moved closer to Zhang Chenze and asked, "Could you tell me how you plan to deal with those two?"
"I’m not sure," Zhang Chenze replied, glancing at the shard of glass in her hand. "If I’m lucky, I might be able to stab one of them in the throat with this."
Jiang Ruoxue slowly extended her hand, gripping Zhang Chenze’s tightly. Speaking slowly and deliberately, she said, "Jie jie, you must understand the {logical relation} at play here."
"Logical relation?" Zhang Chenze asked, perplexed.
"Exactly, just as you stated…" Jiang Ruoxue smiled as she explained, "It’s precisely because of your involvement that the chances of survival for both you and Qi Xia will increase. Therefore, your appearance will inevitably result in the death of one of them. To achieve that, you must stab him in the throat with the glass. It’s all predetermined, there is no need to mention {luck}."
"What do you mean…?" Zhang Chenze still didn’t comprehend. "Ms, aren’t you on the same side as them?"
"I'm on the brink of death; does it really matter who my teammate is?" Jiang Ruoxue gradually released Zhang Chenze’s hand and urged, "Go on, a life is waiting for you to claim."