Mercifully, the part that hit was not the blade.

Even so, Shen Fei was sent stumbling forward, falling to the ground along with Bai Youwei!

“What is going on?!” Tan Xiao howled in a panic. “Has he lost his mind, throwing axes at us?! Youwei, electrocute him!”

Jiang Hao heard this and curled the corner of his mouth into a cold sneer. He raised the other axe. “She gave the rabbit to Shen Mo!”

“Are you kidding me — acting this brazen?!” Tan Xiao stopped running, raised his sword, and charged forward. “Let me, your Lord Xiao, show you what I’ve got!”

The two of them clashed in a tangle.

Tan Xiao had no method to his fighting, often striking from completely unexpected angles — and for a moment, even Jiang Hao was struggling to keep up!

Shen Fei had taken a hit to the back. Gritting his teeth, he hauled himself up, scooped Bai Youwei up once more, and forced himself to keep running forward.

Jiang Hao saw them trying to escape, and a venomous flash crossed his eyes. He suddenly made his move! From the palm of his white glove, a metal pipe shot out with a whoosh!

The pipe was absurdly long!

And it launched at terrifying speed straight toward Shen Fei, piercing through his shoulder blade and bursting out through his chest! It skimmed right across Bai Youwei’s cheek, and the force of it drove the pipe clean through Shen Fei, pinning him in place!

“Ahhh!!!” Shen Fei let out a scream of agonizing pain.

Bai Youwei dropped from his arms and fell to the ground.

“Holy sh—” Tan Xiao was scared out of his wits, staring wide-eyed at Jiang Hao. “What kind of monster is this guy?!”

In the distance, faint firelight was visible again — the ragdoll cat, having lost its targets, seemed to be heading this way.

Time was pressing. This was not the moment for a drawn-out fight.

Bai Youwei struggled to sit up and called out to Tan Xiao: “Tan Xiao! Come help!”

She couldn’t manage to pull Shen Fei off the pipe by herself.

“Trying to run?” Jiang Hao closed in with a sinister grin. “Without the rabbit, let’s see what tricks you have left. Hand over the puzzle pieces and the items!”

Shen Fei knelt on the ground, his face ash-white, barely holding on.

Tan Xiao moved to help brace the steel pipe, otherwise the wound would tear open further.

Bai Youwei was crumpled on the ground in a wretched state, her white long dress covered in dirt — to Jiang Hao’s eyes, she looked like a white bird mired in the mud, mournful and desperate, unable to struggle free.

That look of desperate anguish was like the final garnish on a delectable dish, making his appetite surge.

He advanced step by step, the steel pipe in his palm shortening little by little, his tone carrying a faint note of ease as he asked:

“Where have you hidden the puzzle pieces and the items?… Are you afraid?… Do you want to escape? Then take out your puzzle piece — as long as you have the puzzle piece, you can leave the game. Isn’t that right?”

Tan Xiao erupted in a furious stream of curses: “Do you think we’re idiots?! If you find out where the puzzle pieces and items are, we’d be killed before we even got them out!”

“Tan Xiao, stop wasting words on him!” Bai Youwei propped herself up, her face flushed with fury. “He wants the puzzle pieces and items? Give them to him!”

“Huh?” Tan Xiao froze.

Jiang Hao looked over at Tan Xiao, narrowing his eyes. “The puzzle pieces and items are on you?”

Tan Xiao, not thinking too hard about it, instantly shot back: “Yeah! Right in your Lord Xiao’s back pocket! What are you going to do about it? Come and take it if you dare! Lord Xiao will ruin you, you pathetic wretch!”

He spewed a torrent of vulgarities — Jiang Hao’s face twitched with every word, and he was just about to move toward him when Bai Youwei, seizing her moment, suddenly produced a card!

She cried out: “Question time!”

Jiang Hao’s heart lurched with alarm — he stumbled backward in a panic!

At the same time, the white-gloved fist clenched and retracted, and that steel pipe instantly snapped apart. Under the effect of gravity, it tilted backward.

Caught completely off guard, Shen Fei and Tan Xiao failed to steady themselves, lurching unsteadily on the verge of toppling. Tan Xiao dropped to one knee and managed to brace the steel pipe again.

Shen Fei’s wound was wrenched wider — his shoulder felt as though a great hole had been torn through it!

And before Jiang Hao — a card had appeared!

The card hovered suspended in front of his eyes.

His entire body seized up, unable to move. Even his eyeballs seemed to be locked in place! He could only stare at the card floating before him!

Bai Youwei said coldly, “Please answer the question! —

73567073 multiplied by 30791325, plus 530351216 — what is the answer?!”

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*(Author’s note: The numbers here are the group numbers for the game’s fan communities — the main fan group, the adult fan group for Hua Hua, and the minor fan group for Hua Hua, respectively.)*

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