As it turned out, the other end of the canyon was a dead end, blocked off by a mountain-like rock face. The cliff walls flanking both sides of the narrow path were several hundred meters high.
From the perspective of the ambushers, this was indeed a perfect terrain, especially when the person they sought to encircle and kill ran fast—faster than even a Great Spike.
"This place was chosen to kill me."
Given the current situation, since the three on that end couldn't fight their way out, the most logical course was naturally for Han Qingyu to fight his way in.
That was precisely what they hoped for, so getting in would probably be very easy. If things were laid bare, Han Qingyu could even just walk right in.
Lifting his head, Han Qingyu looked toward the far end of the canyon once more.
Because of his arrival, the fighting had temporarily ceased. Blood-soaked ground stretched all the way to the feet of Shen Yixiu, Yin Caixin, and He Tangtang.
Among the three, Shen Yixiu stood at the very front. Her iron armor was smeared with blood, and she propped herself up with her custom-made long blade, standing there resolutely with a stubborn show of strength, still maintaining a stance to fend off enemies.
Yin Caixin was behind her, leaning against the rock wall. Breathing heavily, she gritted her teeth as she bound her wound. Above her left knee was a horizontal slash wound, and nearly her entire trouser leg was soaked in fresh blood. If this had been an ordinary person, she would likely have collapsed long ago.
Of the three, He Tangtang was wounded the most severely, bearing at least six or seven cuts across his body, one of which ran all the way from his right shoulder down to his lower-left abdomen.
Han Qingyu knew that He Tangtang must have made many desperate blade-trading exchanges just now, making reckless attempts to protect Rusty Sister and Caixin like a real man, even though he wasn't really all that strong.
"Fuck, there're too many of them." Seeing Han Qingyu, He Tangtang threw back his head and forced a ragged grin, shouting aloud, "We fought... but we just couldn't break through, Qingzi. Haha, shit."
His voice echoed in the canyon.
Nodding from afar, Han Qingyu knew he was also caught in the gazes of Yin Caixin and Shen Yixiu. Standing at the mouth of the canyon, he offered a warm smile. "It's fine. I'm here to bring you out."
By the side of the canyon path, a figure suddenly stepped out, standing not far in front of Han Qingyu.
This person was named Yuan Qing. He had stayed alongside Yu Fengzi and the others before, but had never stepped forward or lifted a finger... His age was also not right.
"Actually, it was just a coincidence that we obtained the other metal block." Yuan Qing looked at Han Qingyu while taking out a metal block, tossing it lightly in his hand. "So then I wondered: who should get the final reward? Since I couldn't find you to discuss it, I had to talk it over with your people first."
Han Qingyu said nothing.
"How about this? The two of us will both set down our metal blocks first. Later, whoever is left standing takes them both." He narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Oh right, I almost forgot to mention: my name is Yuan Qing, Grade A, wearing armor for thirteen years."
Grade A, thirteen years. Han Qingyu looked at him. "So, the two of us are going one-on-one?!"
Yuan Qing gestured with his eyes toward the crowd packed beside him. "What do you think?"
Nearly everyone from the Self-Preservation Faction participating in this trial, and even the undercover members of the Cleansing Faction, seemed to have gathered here. A cacophony of clamorous accusations erupted, but Han Qingyu couldn't understand any of it.
More importantly, Han Qingyu didn't believe a word of it.
The ultimate victory and the metal blocks, the roasted hawk and the metal block, the plundered source energy blocks, the humiliation of being called an old auntie... None of these conflicts or grudges were enough to form such a meticulous, lethal death trap.
Furthermore, not a single one among them possessed the influence to organize everyone gathered here.
Therefore, someone else had to be behind the scenes organizing or guiding them, using this conflict to kill me.
Who could it be?
This was the territory of the Alphonse family, and this trial was organized by them.
Once he figured that out, every suspicion and clue that had already lingered in Han Qingyu's mind instantly connected together.
[The five-man squad limitation and the implicit push toward forming alliances, which were clearly advantageous for the Cleansing Faction's infiltrators to stir up larger-scale chaos and instigate more fighting.]
[The metal block airdrop rule that was almost guaranteed to trigger strife.]
[Adubu inexplicably finding the cave where they had been hiding, claiming it was divine guidance; and the experts who had suddenly appeared at his side, noticeably stronger than his original teammates.]
[The corpses that were always retrieved quietly and promptly.]
[...]
"They are creating as many plausible deaths as possible during the trial—producing and collecting more corpses, the corpses of young elites from various nations."
Han Qingyu reached his first conclusion.
Then, two questions arose from it:
1. What do they want them for?
2. Since they have consistently used the rules to orchestrate plausible deaths, why did they go out of their way for me, mounting an organized, guided effort that clearly exceeded restraint—stopping just short of taking direct action themselves?
In his mind, words Wen Jifei had just spoken suddenly rang out:
"Qingzi... do dead people still have source energy in them? What about Great Spikes? According to physics and the conservation of energy or whatever, they should, right? Uh, can you absorb that?"
And then, everything unfolded with sudden clarity.
It sent chills down his spine.
"They... really want my corpse."
Han Qingyu's deductions stopped here.
What he didn't know at this moment was that what the Alphonse family truly needed was:
[Vitalized source energy.]
For Han Qingyu, it was precisely the energy he had incorporated into his body by directly absorbing metal blocks or slowly digesting liquid source energy—energy he could not yet actively tap into.
For Chen Buer, it was the energy he had channeled years ago when he unleashed that Twilight slash, aging twenty years in a single night.
For most people, it was that rather modest portion of energy slowly absorbed through long periods of source energy training, combat, and nourishment, which enhanced their physical attributes and source energy sensitivity—an energy that the vast majority of them could never actively harness or use in their entire lifetimes.
And for the Alphonse family, it was a prolonged lifespan.
It was the means for the hundred-and-twenty-something-year-old Alphonse to save himself from the terror of death, and the means for his sons and grandsons—whose degrees of fusion were actually not very high—to remain by his side forever.
When they obtained this method one day and failed to resist the temptation,
a former hero of Azure turned into a sordid wretch.
As for the so-called plausible accidents under the rules that the entire family clung to, and their restraint against intervening directly, rather than calling it their remaining hypocrisy, it was better described as fear: fear of guilt deep down, and even more so, a profound dread of exposure and losing everything.
Han Qingyu's constitution was too suspicious and too tantalizing. Therefore, the orchestrator of this event, Charles Alphonse, had conducted a direct steer that skirted the edge of breaking that restraint, hoping he would die right here.
...
Han Qingyu didn't know any more, but what he had deduced was already enough for him to make his choice and decision.
When Yuan Qing saw Han Qingyu suddenly walk toward him, he was actually caught off guard and frightened, instinctively wanting to shrink back.
Until Han Qingyu drew close and whispered, "The only one who really must die is me, right?"
Han Qingyu judged that not everyone here could have been directly guided—Adubu, for instance, certainly hadn't been. The vast majority had merely been manipulated into participating... While this Yuan Qing, who had stayed hidden until inexplicably stepping forward at the very end, was likely the pawn directly controlled by the Alphonse family.
That was why Han Qingyu addressed him.
"Doesn't it all end the same way?" Yuan Qing composed himself, then asked in return.
Han Qingyu smiled faintly. "It's not the same. Because I can run fast—very fast. Even while carrying a shuttle craft, I could outrun Great Spikes. So if I turn around and run right now, none of you can catch me."
Yuan Qing smiled as well. "The problem is, you can't possibly abandon them, can you? I didn't make a move earlier, and only two of the four strongest people here stepped into the fight—precisely so they'd be heavily wounded but still alive to see you."
"True, but what if?" Han Qingyu said. "I'm thinking, if staying behind means we all definitely die together, shouldn't I escape first and slowly avenge them later?"
Yuan Qing: "..."
"Do you dare bet on that 'what if'?" Han Qingyu let out a low chuckle by his ear, continuing, "In fact, you're more afraid of me choosing to run than I am, aren't you? If I run, you'll die—and you'll die horribly."
"..." Yuan Qing struggled internally for a moment. "What are you trying to say?"
Han Qingyu said, "I stay. Let them go."
Yuan Qing considered it, then shook his head. "I don't trust you. Not unless you go over to that end first."
"Then I can't trust you either." Han Qingyu smiled, paused, and suggested, "How about this: let them walk outward while I walk inward... There are three of them, so I'll reach the inside before they reach the outside."
Yuan Qing hesitated over this suggestion for a long while, but in the end, he agreed.
Still under the pretext of fighting for the metal blocks,
Yuan Qing set down his metal block first. Then, at the other end, Shen Yixiu also set down hers at Han Qingyu's signal.
The exchange began. There were no explanations, only instructions.
The first to come was He Tangtang. As the two passed face to face, he looked bewildered and anxious. "Qingzi..."
"Shh, it's complicated; there's no time to explain." As if in a final farewell, Han Qingyu hugged him and murmured, "Once you're out, call all the Azure people back here. Otherwise, even if I win, I might not make it out."
He Tangtang was stunned for a moment, then kept moving forward.
The second was Yin Caixin. When she came to a halt, she hadn't expected that Han Qingyu would hug her as well... So, was this truly goodbye? The young girl's eyes, which hadn't shed a tear despite her injuries, instantly reddened, and she started to speak.
Han Qingyu whispered by her ear, "Since they agreed to let you go, there will definitely be people waiting outside to intercept you. If there are too many, activate your Hot Wheels and make sure you push forward."
Having said that, he patted her on the back of the shoulder, urging her along, while continuing to walk forward himself.
By the time he approached Shen Yixiu, the last of the three, He Tangtang and Yin Caixin had almost reached the outer edge and tail end of the surrounding crowd.
Han Qingyu made a motion to step forward and embrace her.
Shen Yixiu stepped forward too, extending her right arm in a stiff, awkward gesture as if preparing to hug him. In reality, her left hand simultaneously thrust out from her waist toward Han Qingyu. The motion was subtle, yet packed with immense force—she wanted to shove Han Qingyu flying out of the trap.
Yet her hand was pinned down first by Han Qingyu, and then she was caught in his embrace.
Ever since putting on this suit of iron armor, she seemed never to have been hugged. Before Shen Yixiu had time to feel or dwell on it, she said, "If someone has to stay to hold them off, it should be me. I'm stronger than you."
"That's just because I went easy on you." Han Qingyu smiled faintly and said, "Without you, they won't make it out... I'll be waiting for you to come back and pick me up."
With that, Han Qingyu turned sideways and channeled force from behind Shen Yixiu's waist with one hand, hurling her straight out of the encirclement.
The instant she landed, with no time left for sentimentality or hesitation, the source energy in Shen Yixiu's body detonated. "Go!"
Without looking back, the three of them sprinted off together with all their might.
The abrupt turn of events threw the entire crowd into a momentary panic, and everyone gathered along both sides of the canyon spun around on the spot.
At the same time, Yuan Qing raised his hand, seemingly about to dispatch part of the crowd to give chase; he had never intended to actually let them escape.
At this very moment, just as his hand hovered before dropping and the command lingered on the verge of his lips—
*Clang-clatter!*
The sound of a blade being drawn came from behind.
*Clang-clatter, clang-clatter...* The sound magnified within the canyon, reverberating ceaselessly between the two cliff faces, making every single person—including Yuan Qing—tremble in their heart.
The man behind them...
The man behind them asked flatly, in a tone that needed no emphasis:
"Do you really dare turn your backs on me?"
Chapter 140