Ten Day Ultimatum

“Even if you’re exactly as you claim, even if you truly cannot die or be destroyed, so what?” Terrestrial Rabbit said, lowering his gaze at the severed head in Jiang Ten’s hand, “I’ll go kill your teammates one by one right now; with that ruined body of yours, what can you possibly do to stop me?”

“You...” Jiang Ten finally showed a flicker of panic. “You rabbit demon, aren’t you going too far? Aren’t these the rules of your game? You’re in this room, yet you haven’t killed me. Isn’t that a violation?”

“A violation...?” Terrestrial Rabbit shook his head. “I never said I had to kill everyone in the room. What I said was that {I will strike immediately}.”

“{Strike immediately}...?”

“I’ve already done that,” Terrestrial Rabbit replied flatly. “And look at you now. Neither human nor ghost.” He took a few slow steps forward and stopped beside the diminutive Jiang Ten, shoulder to shoulder. “Your head is gone. Your legs are broken. What do you plan to do now? If you have the ability, come and kill me. Otherwise, I’ll go kill someone else.”

Jiang Ten’s lips trembled slightly. This was the first time he had ever felt so utterly disregarded.

The {Earthly Branches}’ games were not designed with {Cats} in mind. These {Earthly Branches}, monsters even more monstrous than himself, obeyed only their own game rules. Most of the time, what they judged was not {life and death}, but {victory and defeat}. As long as everything remained within the rules, Terrestrial Rabbit’s actions were entirely justified.

Terrestrial Rabbit took a few more unhurried steps forward, arriving at the doorway, where he stood facing Chen Junnan through the door.

A thin sheen of cold sweat slowly formed on Chen Junnan’s forehead. What came next was likely the most difficult situation they could face. Terrestrial Rabbit was no longer going to bother with Jiang Ten in the room. In the next round, he would begin a true pursuit.

“Will you be locking the door?” Terrestrial Rabbit asked. “There are so many of you. Aren’t you going to lock the doors and try to hold me off?”

Chen Junnan furrowed his brows, contemplating. At this very moment, {locking the door} was indeed the most optimal choice. Otherwise, in the next round, Terrestrial Rabbit could move twice and catch up to everyone who was fleeing for their lives.

However, once someone chose to {lock the door}, the one who did so would be unable to move for that round. In the following round, Terrestrial Rabbit would carry out {unlocking} and {opening the door}, and that person’s chances of survival would still be slim.

All things considered, this round required sacrificing one teammate to take on the role of {locking the door}.

Just as Chen Junnan was hesitating, he suddenly saw Jiang Ten, sword in hand, slowly shuffle behind Terrestrial Rabbit. Before Terrestrial Rabbit could react, Jiang Ten raised his arm and slashed down without hesitation.

“No!!”

{Whoosh}!!

“ARGH!” With a piercing scream, Terrestrial Rabbit swung recklessly, sending Jiang Ten hurtling backward.

The divine sword and the severed head flew off in two different directions. Had everyone not seen it clearly with their own eyes, anyone would have assumed Jiang Ten had suffered a devastating blow.

Unfortunately, Jiang Ten had struck with only one arm. Coupled with his tender age and the stark disparity in their builds, the sneak attack merely sliced open the back of Terrestrial Rabbit’s suit, leaving a shallow streak of blood across his skin.

“You ankle biter...” Terrestrial Rabbit stormed forward in fury. “I already said I wasn’t dealing with you anymore, and you still insist on courting death...?”

He did not even know whether to address the head or the body, and could only stand between the two.

“Cough, cough...” Jiang Ten’s head rasped with another cough. Despite the distance, a bizarre link persisted between head and body, every movement still transmitted in full. “Rabbit demon, I said I seek death. If you don’t kill me today... I’ll chase you with that sword and keep hacking at you.”

Terrestrial Rabbit let out a cold laugh and walked toward Jiang Ten’s body. “Now that you’ve lost your {protective artifact}, what can you still do?”

As the words fell, he lifted his foot and brought it down viciously on Jiang Ten’s dislocated knee.

“AHH!!” Jiang Ten’s juvenile voice tore out in a wretched scream from the floor, shrill and broken, until his throat grew hoarse.

“Can’t keep yourself in line, can you?” Terrestrial Rabbit ground his foot down on Jiang Ten’s knee as though extinguishing a cigarette. “You want to die? Then I’ll make sure you suffer a fate worse than death.”

“Hey!!” Chen Junnan’s expression changed instantly. He stepped forward, intending to argue this out with Terrestrial Rabbit face to face.

“What?” Terrestrial Rabbit turned back with a cold sneer. Whenever he sneered, two yellowed rabbit teeth jutted out from his mouth, an utterly nauseating sight. “You lot...starting to feel sorry for your teammate?”

Chen Junnan frowned. “We’re human beings with humanity. What you’re torturing right now is a child. But if this young master turned into some musclebound, cold-blooded, ruthless mala rabbit head, maybe I wouldn't feel a shred of compassion either.”

“What did you just say...?”

“Let that child go,” Chen Junnan said, forcing a strained smile. “Come kill me instead. I’m far easier to kill than him.”

“Oh?” Terrestrial Rabbit stomped down hard on Jiang Ten’s knee once more. Only after confirming that he was completely unable to stand did he turn and walk over to Chen Junnan. “Do you have any idea how badly I want to kill you?”

Before answering, Chen Junnan turned to glance at Jiang Ten’s severed head. The child looked moments away from passing out from the pain.

“Of course I know,” Chen Junnan let out a dry laugh through the doorframe. “I’ve always been the most punchable bastard on this land. So, can this young master here... just walk in now and let you kill me?”

“Unfortunately, that won’t do.” Terrestrial Rabbit shook his head, putting on a show of difficulty. “This isn’t your round. If you appear in another room now, that would be a violation.”

“Oh?” Chen Junnan’s lips curved in a cold, brief smile, and he picked at his ear. “This young master’s ears might be acting up... Didn’t catch that very clearly.”

“What?”

“So stepping into another room when it’s not your turn... is considered a violation?”

“That’s right,” Terrestrial Rabbit nodded. “Is there anything unclear about that rule?”

“Crystal clear,” Chen Junnan said, shuffling half a step forward, edging closer to Terrestrial Rabbit. “But this young master still has one thing to ask, on behalf of a friend of mine.”

“Ask?”

“Mhm.” A crooked, sinister smile crept onto Chen Junnan’s lips. “Cotton-tailed rascal da ge, have you ever thought about staging a {rebellion}?”

Hearing those words, Terrestrial Rabbit’s head twitched slightly. His expression shifted, and ultimately he forced out a smile.

“You’re telling me...staging a {rebellion}?” He slowly split his cleft lip into a grin, exposing his yellowed rabbit teeth. “Ha...haha! Ridiculous.”

“What’s so funny?”

Terrestrial Rabbit shook his head and fixed Chen Junnan with a pair of cold, crimson eyes. “This is you trying to {negotiate}, isn’t it?”

“More or less,” Chen Junnan nodded. “To be precise, it’s a friend of this young master who wants to negotiate with you.”

“I’ve never seen such a lopsided negotiation,” Terrestrial Rabbit took a step back, removed his immaculate black suit jacket, and revealed the dark-blue dress shirt clinging to his body, outlining every hard line of muscle. “If my calculations are right, in no more than three minutes, all of you will be beaten to death by me. And now you think of {negotiating}?”

“Oh, that’s what you believe?”” Chen Junnan asked, his tone deliberately vague. “No wonder it struck you as ridiculous.”