“A fair and just confrontation…”

Hearing these words, Earth-Horse could only calm down and focus on the problem before her.

Regardless of what the venue had become, whether or not anyone would hold her accountable, she could only first try her best to deal with this batch of participants. If this game both lost all its facilities and let the participants escape unscathed, that would truly be difficult to explain.

“The mechanisms weren’t lost by me… I believe Zhu Que will definitely forgive me…” Earth-Horse slowly moved her fingers and pulled out the second ball from the bamboo tube beside her. “As long as I kill all the people as usual… he will definitely forgive me.”

Looking from afar, the ball in Earth-Horse’s hand also seemed to be of ordinary material, just a common wooden ball.

Everyone looked at each other. Now there were no mechanisms around the track. As long as they could withstand the “balls” Earth-Horse would launch next, they would win this game.

But who on the field could withstand the “balls” thrown by Earth-Horse?

Everyone’s eyes once again unanimously looked toward Qiao Jiajin.

“I’ll do it.” Qiao Jiajin squinted his eyes slightly and waved to signal everyone behind him. “It’s just that this big horse woman has only attacked once. I haven’t been able to adapt yet…”

“That means sooner or later you can adapt.” Bai Jiu nodded. “Then I’m relieved.”

“Ha…” Qiao Jiajin smiled bitterly. “I hope so.”

The few surviving participants had now placed all their bets on Qiao Jiajin.

If he could block it, everyone could survive. If he couldn’t block it, according to the rules, everyone would receive “punishment.”

Earth-Horse weighed the wooden ball in her hand, then slowly raised it above her head and suddenly swung at everyone.

BOOM!!

Based on Earth-Horse’s motion, Qiao Jiajin tried his best to predict where the ball would land. Because the wooden ball’s speed was simply too fast, if he couldn’t start swinging the bat in advance, he definitely couldn’t block it.

He felt like a goalkeeper standing before the goal waiting for the opponent to kick a penalty—luck played a far greater role than skill.

Fortunately, Earth-Horse was a complete amateur at throwing balls. She had no feints or deceptive moves, and she wouldn’t leverage her whole body’s strength to increase the throwing force. She just threw the ball out like tossing a piece of garbage.

But even so, this ball was still very fast, fast beyond the limits that humans could accept.

Qiao Jiajin tilted his body to the right in advance and swung the bat toward his lower right.

What caught everyone completely off guard was that the wooden ball also seemed to be flying toward Qiao Jiajin’s lower right side. If his luck was good enough, he should be able to block this ball just right.

But why could he predict so accurately?

Qiao Jiajin gritted his teeth and swung the bat. He couldn’t see the ball’s trajectory at all. This attack was pure gambling.

CRACK!!

In a flash, Qiao Jiajin’s bat collided with the wooden ball. The impact between wood and metal bat actually sparked faint black smoke.

Everyone thought this ball had been blocked, but only Qiao Jiajin knew he hadn’t hit it completely—he only grazed the edge of the wooden ball.

But for something flying at such speed, even slight friction would completely change its direction of travel.

BOOM!!

A tremendous sound rang out beside everyone. That wooden ball actually struck straight into the ground far from the “Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse,” instantly creating huge cracks in the ice surface. The wooden ball also shattered into flying wood chips at this moment.

Only after the sound completely settled did many people nearby gradually come back to their senses.

In that time of less than a second just now, Qiao Jiajin had truly relied on his own power to deflect an attack from an Earth-level.

This was probably an unprecedented event in the entire “Land of the End.”

“Brother… Brother Qiao…” Bai Jiu looked at him incredulously. “You… adapted?”

Qiao Jiajin sneered and raised his head to speak to Earth-Horse. “Just as I predicted… The first attack on Astrology Sister, the second attack on Flash Sister… You damn monster only know how to attack the injured, right?”

Only then did everyone notice that if Qiao Jiajin hadn’t deflected this wooden ball, it would definitely have pierced through Feng Shiqi, who had injured legs.

“Ha.” Earth-Horse laughed in the distance. “So what? These injured people are burdens to all teams. I’m being merciful by helping you get rid of the burdens.”

“What…?” Qiao Jiajin gritted his teeth. “Who told you that teammates fighting side by side are burdens?”

“Take off your mask.” Earth-Horse shook her head. “Every one of you thinks this way in your hearts. You just can’t say it out loud. After all, speaking the truth goes against the ‘humanity’ you persist in. So I’m really helping you.”

After hearing this, Qiao Jiajin slowly walked three steps forward, getting closer to Earth-Horse.

“I’m very glad now that I liberated ‘Military Melody’ in your venue,” Qiao Jiajin said. “Now I can’t hear that star’s wail anymore.”

Earth-Horse furrowed her brow and looked at Qiao Jiajin, not knowing why he dared to continue advancing in this situation.

She pondered for a moment, then looked at the bat in Qiao Jiajin’s hand and discovered a clue.

A dark red stream of blood slowly flowed from Qiao Jiajin’s palm, continuously spreading from the bottom of the metal bat toward the top, dividing it into gray and red colors.

“Heh…” Seeing this, Earth-Horse pulled out another crystal-clear ice ball from the bamboo tube. “Showing off…”

Qiao Jiajin knew that the tiger’s mouths of both his hands had completely split open. The momentum of this ball was simply too fierce. Wanting to catch it without a scratch was pure fantasy.

He extended his left hand, moved it to his collar, pulled forcefully to tear his clothes apart, then bound the metal rod to his right hand like a bandage. Finally, he used his teeth to bite the cloth strip and tied a firm dead knot.

This way, even if his hand broke, the weapon would absolutely not slip from his grip.

Earth-Horse slowly tossed the ice ball in her hand a few times, looking at Qiao Jiajin with slight mockery.

The current situation was practically a human confronting a deity, yet the man before her had adopted street fighting methods to respond. What difference was there from seeking death?

Qiao Jiajin gripped the metal bat with both hands, trying his best to steady his breathing.

He had bet correctly on the wooden ball’s landing point just now, but what about this time?

Zhou Liu at this moment slowly walked to the side and sat down. Seeing this, Luo Shiyi, Wang Ba, Qiu Shiliu and others also found abandoned large stones to sit on.

“Qiao Jiajin,” Zhou Liu called out. “This time, whether you succeed or not, the ‘Cats’ will give you the highest standard funeral to see you off. You’re already a strong person we acknowledge.”

“Not very auspicious,” Qiao Jiajin shook his head. “If I succeed, I don’t need any funeral. I just need you all to give me a bottle of good wine. If I don’t succeed, likewise don’t hold a funeral. Just let me rot on the street.”