“I know…” Bai Jiu answered with a furrowed brow. “But could there be this possibility… there are a total of seven wooden boxes in front of us, each wooden box has seven ‘balls,’ and among these seven times seven, forty-nine ‘balls,’ only one has a reward?”

Bai Jiu’s train of thought made Qiao Jiajin pause.

Yes, if there really was only one ball with a reward, that shouldn’t count as the rules lying. After all, Earth-Horse had also said that a small number of “balls” would have rewards.

If there was only one…

“I don’t care anymore.” Qiao Jiajin said. “I’m not as smart as you all. I’ve been single-minded since I was young. If I say I can catch them, then I can catch them. Even if only one ball has a reward, I accept it.”

After hearing this, everyone didn’t know how to persuade him and could only nod.

In the second round, everyone chose to have Ning Shiba, whose height was only slightly taller than Bai Jiu’s, sit on the “Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse.” Since the first round proceeded very quickly, it saved everyone quite a bit of time.

“Qiao Ge, I feel your strategy is correct.” Bai Jiu said. “Having two people specifically block the balls seems to be the best choice.”

“No…” At this time, Qiao Jiajin slowly shook his head. “This time I have a new plan.”

“New plan?”

“Astrology girl.” Qiao Jiajin said. “Tell me which mechanism will activate this round.”

Ning Shiba, sitting on the “Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse,” was slightly stunned, then pointed toward the end of the track and said, “It’s at the farthest point, the ‘Military Music’ near ‘Army Breaker.'”

“Good.” Qiao Jiajin nodded. “This round, annoying kid can rest for a bit. After all, he also caught quite a few ice balls.”

“I, I rest?” Qiu Ershi didn’t quite understand. “If I rest, what about you? Are you going to guard this cart by yourself?”

“No, no, no…” Qiao Jiajin shook his head. “I feel that guarding the cart isn’t a solution at all. I’m preparing… to duel Military Music Star one-on-one.”

Duel?!

Without paying attention to everyone, Qiao Jiajin directly walked forward along the straight track by himself, finally reaching the end of the track. He stepped over the glass fragments and stood facing “Military Music.”

“I heard you’re ‘Yin Metal’…” Qiao Jiajin smiled slightly. “I don’t know if you’re harder, or if I’m harder?”

“Hey!!” Earth-Horse also felt something was wrong. “You can’t destroy the game props, otherwise the ‘rules’ will be invalid and it will count as you violating the rules!”

“Destroy the props…?” Qiao Jiajin shook his head. “No… destroying the props would be too unrighteous. These mechanisms were carefully crafted by you. Even if they were to be destroyed, it should properly be destroyed by you. Outsiders can’t do it.”

“Hmm…? You, you person…” Earth-Horse didn’t quite understand Qiao Jiajin’s motive. Since he didn’t plan to destroy the props, what was he doing standing in front of “Military Music” now?

“If I said it’s a duel, then it’s a duel.” Qiao Jiajin was only one meter away from “Military Music.” His hands slowly raised to assume a battle-ready stance. “I will block all the ‘balls’ here. No one will have any problems.”

“Ah?!”

This time, not only all the members of the “Cat” team, even Earth-Horse was stunned for a moment.

“No, no… Qiao Ge…” Ning Shiba, sitting on the chair, almost fell off. “You, what are you saying? You’re too close to that mechanism! This time it might be ‘iron balls’!!”

“I know.” Qiao Jiajin nodded with a completely serious expression. “Precisely because this task is very difficult, it needs to be done by me.”

“This!” Bai Jiu also said nervously from the side. “This isn’t a question of difficult or not at all… this kind of thing simply can’t be done by anyone!”

“Astrology girl!” Qiao Jiajin shouted without concern. “You can roughly deduce the timing of the ‘ball’ launches, right?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Remember to remind me in advance.” Qiao Jiajin said. “I can’t see you all behind me at all, and don’t know when the ‘balls’ will launch, so I still need your reminder.”

Ning Shiba felt that just “reminding” was a bit too far-fetched. Blocking seven iron balls traveling at eighty kilometers per hour with bare hands at a distance of less than one meter—what kind of level was this?

At this kind of distance, even blinking once would be a fatal opening.

Qiao Jiajin slowly spread his horse stance wide open. His left and right hands also assumed a yin-yang position, arranged front and back. His entire body swayed slightly with the air, like drifting clouds and flowing water.

“Using softness to overcome hardness… using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds.” Qiao Jiajin muttered slightly. “Lord Guan Er, I heard you are the Military Music Star descended to earth. I shouldn’t be fighting with you… but you once rode alone for a thousand li to escort an important person. I believe you can certainly understand me. If I don’t stand here, those young people behind me will die.”

The cold wooden mechanism before him slowly rose accompanied by mechanical sounds like the earlier “Army Breaker,” as if responding to Qiao Jiajin’s words.

“They’re all standing here because of me. If even one is injured, it’s my responsibility.” Qiao Jiajin slowly stabilized his horse stance downward, lowering his entire center of gravity extremely low. “So this is my ‘righteousness.’ As the ‘Military Music Star,’ you can certainly understand.”

Watching Qiao Jiajin talk to the wooden box by himself, the people of the “Cat” team could only stop wasting time. After stabilizing their formation, they once again stepped onto the track.

At this moment, only a bit over a minute had passed. For this game, it was still quite ample.

“Qiao Ge, be careful, we’re setting off!” Ning Shiba called out from atop the “Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse.”

“I understand…” Qiao Jiajin turned one right hand into a palm and slowly placed it in front of the wooden box’s hole, the distance only a few dozen centimeters. “‘Military Music,’ pardon my offense.”

After these words, everyone pushed the cart and carefully advanced forward.

Although the “balls” of this round would be blocked by Qiao Jiajin’s flesh no matter what, everyone just felt extremely nervous.

This feeling was even more panicked than if they themselves were standing in front of the wooden box.

Ning Shiba roughly calculated the distance traveled and raised her head saying, “Qiao Ge! Watch out!”

Qiao Jiajin’s eyes turned cold, staring intently at the opening. Only hearing a “bang” sound, a dark thing drilled out like a living creature.

Qiao Jiajin immediately adjusted his palm position, reaching toward the bottom of the black ball. He surprisingly made that black ball roll several inches along his forearm in an instant. In the time it took for a spark to fly, Qiao Jiajin moved his arm to change the black ball’s direction. Just as the black ball was about to leave his arm, his entire body suddenly shook. His arm swung in a large arc, directly flinging that hard black iron ball onto the ground not far away.

“Boom!!”

The black iron ball smashed a small pit in the wooden floor not far away.

This brief moment made everyone present open their mouths wide.

Was everything that just happened really not a scene that could only appear in movies?

Even someone as strong as Earth-Horse was slightly stunned. Although her body had been enhanced and could be hit by an iron ball at such close distance without being injured, she knew she absolutely could not possibly change the iron ball’s direction at such close range.