“Cough, cough…” Qiao Jiajin lay on the ground coughing continuously, feeling as if his internal organs had been completely shattered.

Little Glasses reacted quickly, immediately scrambling up and beginning to reposition the iron plate.

“Come help!” he roared at the women behind him. “If these two go down, we’re all finished!”

Although the girls were terrified, they also knew the situation was urgent. They all bent down and gritted their teeth as they began moving the iron plate.

Qi Xia lay on the ground, feeling somewhat dizzy.

The black bear’s strike seemed to have knocked his very soul out of his body. He truly didn’t know how Qiao Jiajin had managed to withstand two attacks on his own.

“I’ll make that fat bastard who ran away suffer a miserable death…” Qiao Jiajin cursed through clenched teeth.

“Seeking benefits and avoiding harm… human nature…” Qi Xia lay on the ground, murmuring to himself. “The ‘Memorial to General Liang Shang’ states: ‘As for seeking benefits and avoiding harm, fearing death and delighting in life, all are equally disposed’…”

“Did you get knocked stupid?” Qiao Jiajin opened his eyes with difficulty to look at Qi Xia. “What the hell does the general have to do with anything? If that sausage hadn’t suddenly abandoned us, the iron plate wouldn’t have fallen over like this…”

By now, the iron plate had been lifted back up by the girls. Little Glasses bent down to help Qi Xia and Qiao Jiajin up. “Brothers, are you okay?”

The two men stood up and feebly supported the iron plate.

“Can’t say ‘okay,’ can only say ‘not dead.'” Qiao Jiajin answered while glancing at the black bear.

After this collision, that beast wasn’t in much better shape either. Its massive body looked dazed, constantly shaking its head to stay conscious.

“Let me take over this time!” Little Glasses said. “You two go to the back of the line and rest for a bit.”

Having said this, he imitated Qiao Jiajin’s posture, lowering his stance and bracing the iron plate with his shoulder.

But Little Glasses looked far too frail. Just supporting the plate seemed extremely difficult for him. His legs kept trembling, and veins bulged on his forehead.

“Damn… is this iron plate really this heavy…” He seemed to feel his posture was wrong and slightly adjusted the angle of his legs, but the iron plate didn’t get any lighter.

“Brother, it’s not that I don’t trust you.” Qiao Jiajin shook his head helplessly. “If you’re the one holding the plate, there’s no point in us standing behind you. Either way, we’re dead.”

“Maybe, maybe you should do it…” Little Glasses smiled awkwardly and stepped aside.

By now, the group had basically adjusted their defensive formation, and Qiao Jiajin had repositioned himself against the iron plate.

The black bear had also mostly recovered its senses. It wanted to attack the iron plate again but spotted the middle-aged man, Old Lu, standing alone to the side.

“Oh no! Old Lu!” Little Glasses became flustered. “Hurry and come over here!”

“Hmph.” Qiao Jiajin snorted coldly. “That fat bastard chose to go out there and seek death himself. Let him be.”

“No…” Little Glasses’s expression turned cold. “Old Lu saved my life before. I can’t just ignore him!”

“You’re being pretty stupid,” Qiao Jiajin said.

But before Little Glasses could figure out a way to save Old Lu, the black bear had already positioned itself between the crowd and Old Lu.

It seemed to understand that once Old Lu hid behind the iron plate, it would never have another chance to kill him.

Little Glasses looked extremely anxious. After holding back for a long time, he turned to Qi Xia and said, “Can you save Old Lu?!”

Qi Xia’s eyes turned cold. “Sure. You go save him. I won’t stop you.”

“I, I don’t have a way… so I wanted to ask you…” Little Glasses said tremblingly. “You seem like a very capable person. Can you help me…”

“No.” Qi Xia said without hesitation. “If you want to go, go yourself.”

After hearing this, Little Glasses wanted to say something more, but upon careful thought, he really had no appropriate reason to ask a stranger to risk his life.

After pondering for a long time, he could only grit his teeth and say, “Then, then fine… I’ll go save him…”

He slowly released his grip on Qi Xia’s clothes and fixed his gaze on the black bear.

Next, Little Glasses took three comically deep breaths, then shouted loudly to bolster his courage. His right foot stomped the ground as he was about to charge toward the black bear.

At this critical moment, Qi Xia reached out and stopped him.

“Holy crap…” Little Glasses was startled, nearly twisting his waist from being blocked. “What are you doing?!”

“You’ll die. Aren’t you afraid?” Qi Xia slowly asked.

“How the hell could I not be afraid?!” Little Glasses was nearly in tears. “But I can’t just watch Old Lu die either!”

“In that case, let me make a deal with you.” Qi Xia stared at the black bear in the distance and said, “If I can keep you all alive in this game, your ‘Dao’ belongs to me. Both yours and his.”

“Huh?” Little Glasses hadn’t expected Qi Xia to suddenly propose such a demand at this moment and didn’t know how to respond for a while.

“Of course, if you’re unwilling, you can go save him yourself.”

Qi Xia’s tone was unquestionable, immediately placing Little Glasses in a difficult position.

He and Old Lu had risked their lives to participate in this game, but if they couldn’t even obtain a single “Dao,” what was the point of it all?

“I can only promise to give you my own ‘Dao,’ but as for Old Lu’s…” Little Glasses said with difficulty. “I don’t know if he’d be willing.”

“Then you vouch for him,” Qi Xia said. “You two are together, right?”

“I… I…” After thinking it over repeatedly, Little Glasses still felt that “life” was far more important than “Dao.” “Alright… I’ll vouch for him. If we both survive, our ‘Dao’ will be yours.”

“Good.” Qi Xia nodded. “Take off your shoes and give them to me.”

“What?”

“Your shoes.” Qi Xia repeated.

Little Glasses didn’t know what he intended to do but hurriedly took off his two dirty sneakers and handed them to Qi Xia.

“Hunting principles: animals are naturally sensitive…” Qi Xia silently recited in his mind. “First taboo: attacking the back.”

Qi Xia weighed one sneaker in his hand, then suddenly took a step forward and hurled the shoe forcefully, hitting the black bear squarely on its back.

This gave the black bear a huge fright. Its entire body seemed to shudder as it hastily turned around to look in all directions.

“Second taboo: injuring the nose severely.”

Qi Xia picked up the other sneaker and threw it fiercely at the black bear’s face.

This shoe flew onto the black bear’s nose. Though the force wasn’t great, it made the bear stagger.

The black bear was enraged once more. Completely ignoring Old Lu before it, it turned and charged toward Qi Xia.

Qi Xia reacted swiftly, immediately pulling on Qiao Jiajin’s clothes to adjust the direction of the iron plate.

The black bear’s attack this time looked completely chaotic—it simply slapped the iron plate with its front paw.

Once, twice, three times.

Although it roared madly, the power of these attacks was clearly less than before. They were all blocked by Qiao Jiajin and the iron plate.

Old Lu also ran over in a panic at this moment and rejoined the group.