“That’s also because your rules weren’t clear!” Qiao Jiajin shouted. “You said there would be rewards for catching the ‘balls.’ Who knew you’d make us catch burning coal balls?!”

“Coal balls… can’t be caught?” Earth-Horse raised her eyebrows. “If you’re not afraid of being burned, you can hold that ‘ball’ in your arms.”

“Damn…” Qiao Jiajin looked quite angry. He just felt fortunate that this round he hadn’t let those young people deal with “Incorruptible Purity,” otherwise they would definitely suffer more than being hit by iron balls.

“Qiao Ge, are you alright?” Bai Jiu asked with a worried expression while pushing the cart.

“Can’t really say ‘alright’… can only say ‘not dead.'” Qiao Jiajin shook his head. “You don’t need to worry about me. Continue.”

Everyone didn’t know if what Qiao Jiajin said was true or false, but this time Qiao Jiajin had already decided to stand in front of “Incorruptible Purity.” They could only believe he had a way to overcome this difficulty.

“Everyone also be a bit careful.” Bai Jiu said in a low voice. “We can’t let Qiao Ge block all the attacks for us. Ershi, be ready with ‘Strong Wind’ at all times. Shiqi on the chair also needs to protect herself. At critical moments, rather jump off the cart than be hit by the balls.”

“Jump off the cart?”

“That’s right.” Bai Jiu nodded. “Just now the rules said that if the ‘cart rider’ is hit by a ‘ball’ it counts as elimination, but she never said anything about the problem of falling off the cart. I feel the worst situation would be that we retreat to the starting point and start over again.”

“Good!” Feng Shiqi agreed. “I understand.”

Everyone looked vigilantly toward Qiao Jiajin’s direction, only to see he had retreated several steps back, stopping only at a position three to five meters away from “Incorruptible Purity.”

He bent down to stretch his legs, then straightened his body, bent the knee of one leg, and raised both hands to his temples on both sides.

“Such passionate ‘Incorruptible Purity’…” Qiao Jiajin said in a low voice. “Watch me kick you to death…”

“Boom!”

“Incorruptible Purity” shot out a black coal ball with thick smoke like a cannon firing. After Qiao Jiajin confirmed the coal ball’s flight direction, he took a slight running start, then bent forward and extended, propping one hand on the ground. He swung his right leg in a large arc, slicing through the air toward the coal ball like a battle axe.

Another crisp sound—the coal ball was kicked to pieces once again.

Qiao Jiajin took advantage of the momentum to roll forward, dodging the sparks filling the sky, then steadily crouched to one side.

“Big horse woman, oh big horse woman…” Qiao Jiajin smiled slightly. “You really are testing my fighting techniques… ‘Wing Chun’ is finished, then ‘Taiji,’ ‘Taiji’ is finished, then ‘Muay Thai’… was this game really not made for me?”

Seeing this scene, Earth-Horse in the distance slowly narrowed her eyes.

This figure… gradually overlapped with a person in her memory.

The person in her memory had also pushed her aside and said, “Gaotou girl, be careful of getting hurt.”

Then he assumed a Muay Thai stance and kicked toward a flying spear.

How many years ago was that?

Over thirty years ago.

No, to be precise, thirty years had already passed. She had become Earth-Horse, and he was still a “Participant.”

What a tragic yet laughable reunion was this?

In these thirty years, the “Zodiac” hadn’t gotten out, and the “Participants” also hadn’t gotten out.

It seemed like everyone was trying hard, but “Participants” without memories were obviously more passionate than the “Zodiac.”

“So it really is you?” Earth-Horse smiled bitterly and muttered in a low voice. “The mechanisms here were almost all made with you as inspiration… if you really can display your divine abilities, I won’t be surprised at all.”

Earth-Horse slowly walked to one side, found a large abandoned stone, then chose the most comfortable position and sat down.

What came next was watching this person’s performance.

Thirty years had already passed. Was he still the same as back then?

Was their leader Wen Qiaoyun still active?

Would he use his superb fighting techniques to solve every difficult problem here?

The third burning coal ball—Qiao Jiajin once again leaped into the air and used a roundhouse kick to kick it away. Those exploding coal balls were like clusters of blooming fireworks in mid-air, not only illuminating this dark venue where countless people had died, but also dispelling the cold brought by the thick ice surface.

The man before her was more like a sun, blooming with dazzling light in the raging fire.

Next came the fourth, fifth, and sixth.

This flower-armed man, whether from fatigue or heat, had sweat soaking through his clothes, but his stance hadn’t relaxed at all. He still vigilantly faced “Incorruptible Purity.”

It wasn’t until he leaped high and used a flying knee to shatter the last coal ball that he lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face. At this moment, everyone also saw his body full of knife scars and well-developed muscles.

Where in this world were there any gifted people? To be able to block all the “balls” here today, this person had likely put in more effort than anyone else.

“Phew!” Qiao Jiajin took a deep breath. “‘Incorruptible Purity’! You’re too kind!”

“Incorruptible Purity” trembled as if admitting defeat, then lowered its posture and inserted back into its original position.

Qiao Jiajin also returned to everyone’s side at this time. Everyone looked at his body—his clothes had already been burned with many black spots and small holes by sparks, and both arms were covered with red dots.

“Qiao Ge, you don’t look too good…” Bai Jiu reached out to touch his arm and discovered the entire arm was covered with blisters burned by high temperatures.

“Not too good?” Qiao Jiajin also lowered his head to look at his own arm. “Right now I can run, jump, and even do a somersault. Where is that not too good? I’ve suffered injuries dozens of times heavier than this. It’s fine.”

Everyone looked at each other, still not knowing what to say, when Earth-Horse in the distance spoke first. “Are you planning to rely on your own power to let everyone live?”

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin slightly turned his head and looked at Earth-Horse’s pure white cheeks, feeling somewhat amused. “Then what else? Will you guarantee we live?”

“I can’t guarantee it.” Earth-Horse shook her head. “Actually, one day I once thought about this question.”

“What?”

“I thought… if that man came to participate in the game, he would definitely carry on to the end by himself.” Earth-Horse smiled and said. “But I’m already a ‘Zodiac.’ I need to eliminate this kind of individual heroism behavior, so I added two stars, ‘Giant Gate’ and ‘Greedy Wolf,’ at the end of this game. The purpose is that even when encountering the strongest participant, someone must still die.”

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin obviously didn’t understand. “What thing? What ‘that man,’ what ‘heroism’?”

“I’m just eager to show you my creativity.” Earth-Horse shook her head. “Whether you understand or not, in any case, saying this sentence… my mood after holding it in for so many years will be much better.”

“Lost your mind?” Qiao Jiajin glanced at Earth-Horse and ultimately stopped paying attention to her. He turned back to say to everyone, “Next round according to the original plan. Astrology girl just said ‘Literary Music’ might be ‘ice balls.’ I suspect this time won’t differ much from the first round. I’ll ride the cart.”