Chapter 194: Burdens?

Qiao Jiazhen walked over and touched Luo Shiyi's neck to confirm he was dead, then quickly went to Li Xiangling's side.

"Kungfu Girl..." he called out with some concern, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine..."

"Come on, I'll take you upstairs," Qiao Jiazhen said as he grabbed Li Xiangling's arm.

"No... don't..." Li Xiangling gave a bitter smile, "I'll stay down here for now..."

"Huh?" Qiao Jiazhen was stunned. "What are you talking about? Are you planning to settle down here?"

"Heh..." Li Xiangling laughed weakly. "I've got a problem; it's hard for me to move..."

"What?" Qiao Jiazhen sensed something was wrong. He paused for a moment and reached out his hand.

Just as he was about to touch Li Xiangling, he felt a protruding piece of wood. It was like a table leg.

"My luck is just terrible..." Li Xiangling said with a laugh. "When the boulder fell, it smashed the table... and the table leg flew straight toward me..."

"Don't joke around..." Qiao Jiazhen said. "You..."

"My right arm is nailed to the wall..." Li Xiangling shifted her body slightly to make herself more comfortable. "Even if we pull out the wooden stake, I probably won't make it..."

"You haven't 'Hui Xiang' yet, so don't talk about dying." Qiao Jiazhen kept reaching out to feel the table leg, trying to find where Li Xiangling was injured. "Kungfu Girl, the three of us fought side by side this time and won brilliantly. If you dare forget that, I won't let you off."

"What about Shan Ge? Is he okay?" Li Xiangling asked again.

"He's fine." Qiao Jiazhen nodded. "That big guy could probably punch a bear to death right now..."

After saying that, he realized it didn't sound right. "Damn it, Kungfu Girl, stop asking questions like you're leaving last words. I'm getting you out of here right now."

Qiao Jiazhen finally found the location of Li Xiangling's wound—it was on her right upper arm. The table leg was thin and hadn't hit the bone; it had just pierced through the biceps.

"Thank goodness... it's not a fatal injury..." Qiao Jiazhen felt relieved, and the priority now was to treat the wound. "Kungfu Girl, where did you say the key is?"

"Don't waste your effort, Qiao Ge. The key is under the boulder... There's no way we can move that thing..."

"The boulder...?"

Qiao Jiazhen turned around. He thought for a moment and walked toward the massive stone.

He slowly placed his hands on it, but realized his hands were covered in Li Xiangling's fresh blood, making it hard to calm his mind.

"Please... let the miracle happen one more time..." He muttered to himself, constantly recalling the state he was in during the fight.

"This place originally had no stone..." Qiao Jiazhen finally whispered.

But the stone didn't budge.

"Damn it..." Qiao Jiazhen broke into a cold sweat. "Come on, appear... that miracle like the stars!"

The more he forced it, the less he could feel that miraculous power.

Despair slowly appeared on Qiao Jiazhen's face.

Was Li Xiangling going to be left hanging here to die?

"Don't... don't give up... I hate gambling and cheating the most in my life... I don't want anyone else to die because of gambling and cheating..."

As soon as he spoke, the boulder trembled and shattered into countless points of light, scattering like fireflies in the night.

"Clang!"

At the same moment, a massive bell rang again, and Qiao Jiazhen felt his ears clear up.

He let out a long sigh of relief and, in the glow of the white light points, looked down to see a metal key.

"Great!"

He picked up the key and looked around. The faint light was illuminating a wooden door not far away.

"Kungfu Girl... I'm taking you out now..." Qiao Jiazhen said.

"Qiao Ge..." Li Xiangling gritted her teeth. "Forget it, I'm just a burden right now."

"Teammates who fight side by side are never a burden."

Qiao Jiazhen could now clearly see Li Xiangling's condition. She had quite a few injuries on her body, but most were superficial. The worst was her right arm—she seemed to have been hit while jumping, and now her arm was raised high, pinning her entire body to the stone wall.

"But how are you going to get me down...?"

Qiao Jiazhen slowly walked over and assessed the situation. Li Xiangling was about thirty centimeters from the wall behind her, hanging in mid-air—it must have been painful.

"I told you, I've practiced Yong Chun," Qiao Jiazhen replied.

"Yong Chun...?" Li Xiangling didn't understand. "Is that move in Yong Chun...?"

"No, you've got it wrong." Qiao Jiazhen walked behind Li Xiangling, one hand in a palm strike and the other in a fist, placing them on the front and back of the table leg. "When I practiced Yong Chun, I discovered something interesting."

"What?"

"If you use your strength just right, I can easily destroy a wooden dummy."

"Crack!"

With a sudden burst of inch force from his hands, the wooden stake behind Li Xiangling snapped instantly.

"Huh?"

Li Xiangling didn't even feel any pain; she just fell from the wall and was caught by Qiao Jiazhen.

Qiao Jiazhen set Li Xiangling down on the ground, then went to the side and opened the wooden door.

Beyond the door was a staircase leading upward.

"Let's go, Kungfu Girl."

Li Xiangling looked into Qiao Jiazhen's clear eyes, and a strange feeling stirred in her heart.

Those eyes made her heartbeat quicken a bit.

"Let's go."

"Oh, okay..."

...

Qi Xia paced back and forth in the hall with a complicated expression; he had heard the bell rings earlier.

Why was the bell so loud this time?

Who had "Hui Xiang"?

Had Qiao Jiazhen "Hui Xiang"?

Why did that madman with the stone slink away?

"Hey, Qi Xia." A gentle voice came from outside the door.

He turned around to see Jiang Ruoxue.

Qi Xia didn't say anything and sat down calmly.

"Why are you ignoring me again?" Jiang Ruoxue gave a bitter smile. "You always brush me off."

"Our paths are different, so we can't work together." Qi Xia shook his head. "Are you here to take your teammates home?"

"No, I'm just here to check on you." Jiang Ruoxue sat down next to Qi Xia. "But to be honest, we've met several times now—when have I ever made you feel our paths are different?"

Qi Xia was about to speak, but after thinking it over, he realized there was some truth to it.

The first time he met Jiang Ruoxue was in the "Di Gou" delivery game; she was an enemy spy but didn't cause any trouble. In fact, when A Mu and his group tried to kill him, she used her "Yin Guo" ability to make one of them crash into the glass held by Zhang Lvshi.

Truth be told, she had saved him that time.

The second time was yesterday; she had repeatedly tried to dissuade Xiao Xiao, but Xiao Xiao was too insane to listen.

If Jiang Ruoxue hadn't called herself part of "Ji Dao," Qi Xia would have thought she was just a normal "participant," and even a decent person.

"You're with Xiao Xiao after all," Qi Xia said. "Normal people wouldn't team up with her."

"I never said I was normal." Jiang Ruoxue stretched lazily and said, "I was originally here to take Xiao Xiao and the others back, but now I think that's not happening."

"Why?"

"Because too many people have 'Hui Xiang.'" Jiang Ruoxue counted on her slender fingers. "There should have been five just now, right? Zhang Shan's chances of 'Hui Xiang' are five out of six—that's too high."

Qi Xia fell silent again; he couldn't figure out what Jiang Ruoxue was thinking.

Just then, a rustling sound came from the wooden door nearby.