Chapter 464: A Pathetic Life

“Oh…?” Qi Xia’s face also turned cold. “Is that even possible?”

Di Ma nodded. “In my game, I am the only rule. Anything I haven’t explicitly ‘allowed’ is ‘prohibited’.”

Qi Xia stared into Di Ma’s eyes once more, probing deep into her inner motivations.

“Di Ma…” Qi Xia called out, “you just said you don’t want to face us… so, have you seen us before?”

Seeing Di Ma’s expression shift slightly, Qi Xia probed, “Where…?”

He watched Di Ma’s face closely and noticed that the word didn’t faze her at all, so he changed his question: “How long ago…?”

Di Ma furrowed her brow, feeling that even though she hadn’t said a word, the man in front of her was about to see right through her.

“You…” Di Ma simply averted her gaze, turning her head to the side. “There’s no point asking anymore. We’re not on the same side, so why should I give you any information?”

“True…” Qi Xia narrowed his eyes and stepped forward, whispering, “If you’ve been stuck here for over twenty years… why would you end up looking like this?”

The remark clearly stung Di Ma deeply. As a woman, who would willingly turn her face into that of a monster? Who would want to be covered in animal skin that reeked and was matted with short fur?

Qi Xia stared at Di Ma’s oddly lipsticked lips and smirked again. “Even a white horse has black lips… How pitiful. How much lipstick do you have to smear on to turn your lips back to red?”

Di Ma’s eyes looked utterly sorrowful. She had once found this lipstick on the body of a deceased participant and treasured it instantly.

She had thought that applying the lipstick would help her reclaim the last remnants of her humanity.

But her horse-like black lips showed no trace of it, no matter how much she applied. In the end, she just kept expanding the area, covering the white fur around her mouth with red as well.

Yes… only if her mouth looked red could it improve her appearance even a little.

But did that make her more human?

No, she only felt like more of a monster.

A white horse-headed creature with bright red lips, as if it had just feasted on someone.

Seeing the clear despair in Di Ma’s eyes, Qi Xia softened his tone. “Join us… and destroy this place together.”

“Destroy…” Di Ma was startled, her despair vanishing in an instant, replaced by panic. “What nonsense are you talking about?! You’re clearly a ‘participant’!”

From Di Ma’s reaction, Qi Xia sensed that all the Sheng Xiao probably felt the same way about this.

“I’m just making a suggestion… you don’t have to go along with it…” Qi Xia said. “But I’d like to know, what would make you consider the feasibility of this?”

“You!” Hot air snorted from Di Ma’s black nostrils. “I… would never consider it…”

“Let’s hope that’s the case.” Qi Xia replied.

The conversation ended on a sour note, and Qi Xia’s expression wasn’t much better than Di Ma’s.

What on earth did Di Ma mean by what she had just said?

Over twenty years…?

He was only twenty-six years old. Had he been in the Zhong Yan Zhi Di for more than twenty years?

What a ridiculous and absurd life that would be.

Had the time he spent here exceeded that of the real world? Or were all his memories of life just fabrications?

No one in the group was in the mood to dwell on their feelings, as a much bigger challenge loomed ahead.

Now that Di Ma had explicitly forbidden two people riding at once… didn’t that mean she would definitely throw the ball in the seventh round?

“Deceiver…” Qiao Jia Jin turned to Qi Xia. “Do you have a plan?”

Qi Xia snapped back to attention and stroked his chin. “Not for now.”

Qiao Jia Jin, however, slowly grinned. “But I do.”

“You do…?” Qi Xia felt a sense of unease. “What’s your plan?”

Qiao Jia Jin walked over, picked up the metal bat, and grinned at Qi Xia. “Deceiver, this is my plan.”

“This…?” Qi Xia frowned, as if realizing something. “Your plan seems like…”

“Even if that big horse woman throws the ball herself, I’ll block every one with this bat.”

Qiao Jia Jin’s brief statement made everyone around him look worried.

Using a metal bat to block the “balls” thrown by a Di Ji level Sheng Xiao… what was the difference between that and an ordinary “participant” going one-on-one against a Sheng Xiao?

“Are you serious…?” Qi Xia felt something was off. “We have no idea what the upper limit of ‘Di Ji’ is. Can you even handle the balls she throws?”

“Exactly because we don’t know the upper limit of ‘Di Ji’, we have to test it. Once we try it once, it’ll be easier next time.” Qiao Jia Jin swung the iron bat casually. “We’ll proceed as usual this round… In the next one, everyone wait for me at the starting point. I’ll risk my life to knock those ‘balls’ out of the way.”

Qi Xia knew that in this non-strategy game, his input wouldn’t make a decisive difference. What mattered most was the physical prowess of the strongest participant in the team.

But even if that female Di Ma had never trained in combat or pitching, the balls she threw would still be far from ordinary. How confident was Qiao Jia Jin in blocking them?

The group quickly finalized their tactic. They repositioned the vehicle and had the slimmer Yun Shijiu get on first.

“Ready?” Qiao Jia Jin asked.

“Ready!”

Following Qiao Jia Jin’s rhythm, everyone took a deep breath and shoved the vehicle forward hard. Due to the uneven force, it spun as it sped across the ice.

This time, the Ju Men star attribute was still “Earth,” but it was vastly different from before.

The mechanisms launched wet clumps of earth, emitting strange smoke as they flew erratically through the sky.

Yun Shijiu prided himself on having a strong mental fortitude, but racing across the ice in a vehicle with no safety features, while mud balls flew chaotically behind him, made his heart skip a few beats.

He had ridden roller coasters before, but one without seatbelts and with deadly projectiles? How many people had experienced that?

Fortunately, Qi Xia’s tactic was working perfectly. The mechanisms and balls took time to launch and fly, and the speeding vehicle could escape the area in moments, making it hard for them to lock on.

As the group saw the vehicle come to a stop at the finish line, they rushed over to turn it around. But they noticed the mud balls that had landed on the ground were now billowing thick smoke, instantly enveloping the entire track.