Qiao Jiajin’s expression was also ice-cold. Several times he wanted to speak but swallowed his words back down.

Zhou Liu slowly laid Ning Shiba on the ground, then turned back to Wang Ba and said, “Take her out and burn her.”

“Okay…” Wang Ba nodded tremblingly, hoisted Ning Shiba onto his shoulder, then turned back and said, “Sixth Sister… are we really not taking action? That damn horse…”

“This isn’t Fifth Brother’s intention,” Zhou Liu shook her head. “Don’t make Fifth Brother worry. Take Little Shiba away first. She’s already done very well.”

Watching Ning Shiba being carried outside, Qiao Jiajin saw that obese man gather some wood fragments on the ground, then lay Ning Shiba on the wood fragments and light them with a lighter. He felt exceptionally grieved in his heart.

“You big horse woman…” He turned back to look at Earth-Horse. “Your method of victory is to strike at an injured person who can’t even move?”

Earth-Horse nodded. “As long as I kill someone, this game isn’t a loss for me.”

“What about your ‘righteousness’?” Qiao Jiajin asked.

“I’m just a monster with a horse’s head. You want to talk to me about ‘righteousness’?”

“But your venue displays ‘Military Melody’… You killed an injured person before ‘Military Melody.'” Qiao Jiajin sneered. “Did you hear that star’s wail?”

“Even if it’s ‘Military Melody,’ it’s still a prop created by people,” Earth-Horse said. “They must obey my orders to kill.”

Qiao Jiajin gripped the iron rod in his hand tightly, his face cold as he walked forward several steps.

“Oh.” Earth-Horse smirked without mirth and pulled out another ice ball from the bamboo tube. “Looking at your expression, it seems you want to kill someone. But this is really funny. What exactly are you planning to do?”

“If you won’t let Second Brother be righteous, then I’ll be righteous in your place.” The aura around Qiao Jiajin began to slowly change. “The person who came with me was beaten to death by you… Do you think this matter is funny?”

“Of course it’s funny,” Earth-Horse grinned, revealing pure black lips. “A group of participants actually fantasize about directly confronting an ‘Earth-level.’ What confidence do you all have?”

“Yes.” Earth-Horse nodded. “Although it’s somewhat unethical, only this way will more people willingly go to their deaths.”

“Ha…” Qiao Jiajin only felt buzzing in his ears. “How laughable… ‘Not saying’ doesn’t count as ‘deception’… This is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard in this world.”

Earth-Horse felt something wasn’t quite right. The ground here seemed to be starting to tremble slightly.

“Big horse woman, I’ll say it one more time. Our confidence in standing here… is me.”

Qiao Jiajin slowly opened his eyes. Suddenly, tremendous bell sounds came from all directions.

DONG!!

Because the sound was so loud, everyone was startled by these bell sounds. Even someone as strong as Earth-Horse swayed in place.

“Break Ten Thousand Laws” descended!

Seeing this scene, Qi Xia couldn’t help but furrow his brow. He looked around, knowing that only Qiao Jiajin’s “Echo” could stir up such tremendous bell sounds.

But was this really necessary?

According to the information he had obtained, “Zodiacs” didn’t possess “Echoes,” so where was the use for “Break Ten Thousand Laws”?

What could he “break” here?

“I’ve had enough of you…” Qiao Jiajin slowly extended his bat, pointing at the distant Earth-Horse and said, “Put away your little cleverness. In this game, stop cheating.”

“Heh.” Earth-Horse found it absurd. “Your ‘Echo’ sounds like it has something, but how are you going to deal with me?”

As soon as the words fell, Earth-Horse suddenly widened her eyes.

A situation she would never have expected was actually happening before her eyes.

All the “mechanisms” on both sides of the track gradually became illusory at this moment. Within a few seconds, they all suddenly shattered into points of starlight, then drifted up into the air.

These starlights continuously circled in the air and fell down, illuminating the room as if it were a sea of stars.

At this moment, whether it was the people from the “Cats” team or Qi Xia, who had always maintained his composure, were all shocked speechless.

“This…” Qi Xia’s lips moved slightly, feeling his mind was somewhat confused.

All the mechanisms were broken—what kind of bizarre situation was this?

“Wait, wait a moment…” Qi Xia seemed to have discovered some doubt. “This ‘Zodiac’s’ game props… were actually ‘Echoed’ into existence?!”

Threads of clues wildly shuttled through his mind, always feeling that something important was flashing back and forth.

In other words, these were all “props” built with the help of certain “Echo users”?

From this perspective, Qi Xia suddenly felt that many things he couldn’t understand before were now acceptable.

Those incredible “game props,” those items that shouldn’t appear in the “Land of the End”… all of these came from “Echoes”?!

“Heaven…” Qi Xia felt he had overlooked a crucial question. “Could there be ‘Echo users’ standing on the ‘Zodiacs” side?”

Naturally, everyone wasn’t thinking as deeply as Qi Xia. They were just amazed by this sky full of stars, feeling as if they had returned to the real world. They stared blankly at the points of starlight falling in the air, only sighing at how breathtakingly beautiful it was.

“Little Shiba.” Zhou Liu smiled with slight loss. “If you had persisted a bit longer, you could have seen these stars filling the sky. I believe you definitely could have divined an ‘auspicious’ hexagram… We have a way to counter the ‘Zodiacs’ now.”

Qiao Jiajin waved the iron rod covered in stars, his face stern as he looked at Earth-Horse. “Let you and me… fight to the death.”

Seeing this scene, Earth-Horse—whether from anger or nervousness—was actually trembling all over.

For her, an even more troublesome situation was now before her.

The props she used to kill people were actually transformed into stars by some unknown force… These precision mechanisms that had operated for nearly thirty years had just vanished before her very eyes?

Then what should she do in the future?

Was it that she had violated the “rules”?

Or was it that the other party had violated the “rules”?

But the other party hadn’t even touched these props before making them disappear. Did “disappearing” also count as a form of “destruction”?

Thoughts continuously circled in her mind, leaving her heart in complete chaos.

The game she had submitted to her superiors was clearly killing with the “Big Dipper,” but where was the “Big Dipper”?

If this game could only push carts, was there still any need for its existence?

“What exactly are you…?” Earth-Horse felt as if she had fallen into some kind of impossible predicament. “What did you do to these mechanisms?”

Qiao Jiajin turned back bewilderedly to look at the glittering round dots around him that flickered up and down like stars, and said softly, “I don’t want to do anything. I only want a fair and just confrontation.”