Qiao Jiajin felt a drop of sweat trickle down from his forehead. Just as it reached his eye, Zhang Shan moved.

He didn’t dare blink, letting the sweat flow across his eyeball, leaving behind a salty, stinging pain.

Zhang Shan took a large step forward, raised his heavy fist behind his head, and threw a plain, straightforward punch straight at Qiao Jiajin’s head.

Though the punch seemed unremarkable, Qiao Jiajin felt a tremendous gust of wind rushing toward his face. With his back against the wall, he dodged to the side. Zhang Shan’s iron fist struck the wall instead.

*Crack!*

The tremendous sound seemed different from before—Zhang Shan had actually created fine cracks in the wall.

Taking advantage of his opponent’s missed strike, Qiao Jiajin immediately mobilized all his strength and landed a hook punch on Zhang Shan’s side ribs. But Zhang Shan only grunted and quickly counterattacked.

The two rapidly exchanged punches in midair. Each of Zhang Shan’s punches carried monstrous power like bullets, while Qiao Jiajin was forced back against the wall with nowhere to retreat. Apart from dodging left and right, he could only block with his arms. Though he appeared uninjured, each block sent numbing shocks through his arms.

Zhang Shan’s fists continuously hammered the white wall behind Qiao Jiajin. Soon the wall cracked extensively, and this wall of unknown composition began exploding into white powder like shattered ice sculptures.

Qiao Jiajin found an opening and blocked Zhang Shan’s incoming right punch with his left arm, then endured the bone-breaking pain and suddenly raised his right elbow, striking Zhang Shan squarely on the chin.

Zhang Shan’s mouth instantly filled with the taste of blood. His entire body seemed to lose consciousness momentarily, involuntarily turning half a circle before suddenly accelerating into a spin, swinging his thick right fist around.

Relying on instinct, Qiao Jiajin ducked. The high-speed fist still scraped away a large patch of skin from his face. He gritted his teeth and charged forward, alternating left and right elbows, repeatedly ramming them into Zhang Shan’s chest.

Zhang Shan retreated hastily while struggling to block. When Qiao Jiajin jumped up with a flying knee, Zhang Shan gave up defending. As the knee slammed violently into his chest, he directly embraced Qiao Jiajin in midair, then turned and threw him to the ground.

While Qiao Jiajin couldn’t move yet, Zhang Shan leaped up and stomped down forcefully. At the critical moment, Qiao Jiajin rolled away to dodge, then viciously swept at Zhang Shan’s legs, dragging him down to the ground as well.

The two went from standing exchanges to ground grappling. By now, adrenaline had taken control of their entire bodies. For a moment, they forgot about fatigue and forgot about pain.

After exchanging several punches on the ground, both men stood up again and continued punching toward each other’s faces.

Both fighters’ punches carried terrifying force. To survive, they had to block these fists.

But at this moment… how could they still block?

Their stamina and consciousness no longer allowed them to think about more complex problems. Their blood had stained their entire faces. Qiao Jiajin finally couldn’t withstand it—his temple took a solid punch from Zhang Shan.

The force contained in that punch far exceeded his imagination. He only felt his head violently twist to one side, and both ears instantly began ringing.

He felt the world spinning, all consciousness distancing itself from him.

An ordinary person’s body truly couldn’t defeat a mountain… Was he about to fall?

Though he himself wasn’t a mountain, what he carried on his back was heavier than any mountain.

“Master Rong, I don’t know how to do anything except fight. You saved me and Jiu Zai. From now on, I’ll follow you and fight for you.”

“Pian Ren Zai, you have brains, I have fists. Let’s work together, shall we?”

Only when he raised his fists did he feel he truly existed.

Only when he fought desperately for others did he feel he could truly repay these debts of gratitude.

Qiao Jiajin felt himself slowly falling through a pitch-black space. The surroundings were exceptionally quiet.

After getting out… what exactly should he do?

Repay kindness, or take revenge?

He didn’t know.

After all, everyone important to him in this world was already gone.

In the darkness, he slowly opened his eyes and saw two young men before him running forward together. They had words tattooed on their backs, smiles on their faces.

Compared to that time, this journey… was exceptionally exhausting.

The last time he was this exhausted was when he went to the casino with Master Rong and was chased and attacked by over thirty people. He pulled Master Rong along, running and fighting, fighting and getting injured.

But there were just too many of them… defeat one and there was another, defeat ten and there were still ten more.

So if he fell… could it end?

If he fell… could he put down what he carried on his shoulders?

If he fell, Zhang Shan would break through their side’s “door” and charge in. Who could stop him then?

His fists were hard as steel, his speed swift as bullets, his body like a mountain—even after taking dozens of his punches, he wouldn’t fall.

So…

Seeing Qiao Jiajin’s center of gravity unstable, Zhang Shan stepped forward and threw another heavy punch. If this punch could hit his opponent’s face, this fight would truly be decided.

When the fist was only a few centimeters from Qiao Jiajin’s cheek, Qiao Jiajin reached out like a conditioned reflex and gripped Zhang Shan’s massive fist.

“So I can’t fall…”

“Even if I die, I can’t fall down dead…”

“As long as I’m still standing, the enemy won’t dare touch those behind me…”

Qiao Jiajin suddenly opened his eyes, roared, and threw his right fist, landing it heavily on Zhang Shan’s face.

Before Zhang Shan could react to what had happened, the ferocious punch sent him staggering back five steps, and his vision instantly went black.

Zhang Shan sensed something was wrong and hurriedly recovered to assume a blocking stance.

What followed was Qiao Jiajin’s wild flurry of punches like a violent storm. The surge of adrenaline meant neither could feel pain for the moment. Zhang Shan simply gave up defending and began punching back at his opponent’s incoming fists.

Neither defended anymore, only mechanically throwing punches at each other’s faces.

The blood spraying from their mouths scattered everywhere, flying away from their bodies with each heavy punch, painting the entire “riverway” with a sky full of blood-red stars.

The surroundings fell deathly silent. Only the whooshing of fists could be heard, occasionally punctuated by the sound of fist meeting flesh.

Whether from excessive blood loss or the aftermath of too many blows to the head, Qiao Jiajin’s vision could no longer see anything—only a red darkness remained.

But Zhang Shan was right there.

Any punch thrown would hit him. He was right there.

So he couldn’t move a single step, couldn’t retreat a single step. If he moved away from this spot, he’d never hit him again.

Ten punches, twenty punches.

The two men’s punching speed gradually slowed, but they still struck each other’s heads with unwavering accuracy.

More blood and more piercing wind scattered everywhere.

After dozens of punches, both seemed to have gone silent. Qiao Jiajin couldn’t even speak anymore. His ears were ringing, his mouth dripping blood, but this battle still wasn’t over.

He slowly lowered his head, waiting for the punch that should have come but had yet to arrive.

Zhang Shan was right there.

Now that his opponent had stopped… this was a good opportunity…

Qiao Jiajin slowly raised his fist and, relying on muscle memory, threw a punch.

But this punch hit empty air.

Empty… why did this punch hit nothing?

Zhang Shan… did you back away…

Do you know I can’t see… so you backed away?

Qiao Jiajin changed angles, used all his strength to arduously raise his arm, and threw another fierce punch.

Empty again.

Don’t leave, Qiao Jiajin thought to himself. I haven’t fallen yet. You can’t leave.

As long as I’m standing here, you can’t touch a single one of my teammates.

He could only turn his body again and throw another punch at the void.

After throwing who knows how many punches or dozens of punches at empty air, a pair of hands gently pressed on his shoulders, then held his fists.

The owner of those hands said softly to him:

“Fists… enough… you’ve worked hard… he fell down…”

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin stood dazed for a long time. His face had lost all sensation, so he didn’t know if he was crying or laughing. He only remembered making some expression before slowly falling down.

He didn’t remember hitting the ground—he was caught and supported once more.

This time, what supported him was the weight he carried on his shoulders.