You're my wife, don't doubt it!

After all, this is a fight, not a race (horse race).

Let her go as she pleases, it would be best if she were to die by my spear.

Xiao Yao believed that the trajectory of a motorcycle was actually a little more rigid than that of a horse.

In particular, the direction the bike should go is controlled by the rider, and Xiao Yao is confident that he can clearly see the action of turning the handlebars.

Therefore, it is easier to pierce with a long spear.

and many more……

I……

I don't have a spear.

Xiao Yao only had a long sword in his hand, which seemed less long when he was sitting on horseback.

Another disadvantage of longswords is that they can't penetrate armor, but Joan is only wearing a leather coat and has no shield—quickly say thank you, Joan.

Ideally, the spear would appear out of thin air in one's hand just before the two sides clash, which would be fairer.

Of course, wishful thinking cannot be used as a basis for formulating strategies.

I have a severe injury to one of my calves and cannot sit upright on a horse at all.

Xiao Yao tried hard to recall the descriptions in the chivalric novels he had read.

In this situation, even if he managed to stab Joan, he might be thrown into the air and fly backward due to the interaction of forces, before crashing to the ground.

In short, it's not much different from jumping off a motorcycle traveling at high speed.

Perhaps I should have let go and thrown the sword after stabbing the opponent.

The steed, unusually, began to run, its hooves whistling through the air, completely unlike its previous sickly appearance.

Xiao Yao had already figured it out when it took the initiative to save Shen Jie.

This guy is completely playing dumb to fool others.

This was Xiao Yao's first time riding a horse, and he had no idea how to command it.

The reins were merely for show; the steed rarely understood his thoughts.

Or perhaps, he and Don Quixote were of one mind, and it was Don Quixote riding a horse.

Therefore, at the moment of intersection, he should be able to trust Lao Tang's judgment and let his muscle memory take over.

The horse was moving faster and faster than ever before, and within seconds, Joan went from a tiny black dot in the distance to right in front of him.

Xiao Yao took a deep breath and gripped the sword hilt even tighter.

Joan appeared to her left, her right hand gripping the handle, her left hand already brandishing the whip high.

Xiao Yao knew that her car could emit nuclear thermal energy from its front, which was very disadvantageous to him.

He felt that Joan probably wouldn't use it, because it wasn't very honorable, but to really believe that villains had honor and to entrust one's life to it was a sign of a bit of a lapse in judgment.

Xiao Yao wanted to cut to Qiong An's left side, but he felt there was a 50% chance he and his horse would be killed.

That would be an utter disgrace.

What if we switch the shield between our left and right hands? No, the left hand can't use a sword at all... that's too risky.

But in this state, it's impossible for the sword in my right hand to hit the enemy on my left.

Xiao Yao started to panic.

An emotion called fear began to grow within me.

This isn't a turn-based game; there's no way to make him press the spacebar to pause and then think things through.

He instinctively bent down, pressing himself against the rare neck of the stray horse.

Xiao Yao and Qiong An intertwined their figures.

Joan didn't hit him, nor did she emit any nuclear thermal energy.

Her whip struck Xiao Yao with perfect accuracy.

Not only that, the leather whip was also wrapped around his stomach three or four times.

Xiao Yao lightly lifted off the ground—no, off the horse.

It roared through the sky at high speed.

My mind started playing out scenes from the past 16 years of my wonderful life, like a movie playing in my head.

Countless moments that bring joy, sorrow, emotion, pain, warmth, and regret.

He saw the half of the shield he had thrown with his left hand spin and slice flatly into Joan's neck.

Perhaps the broken surface of the shield was somewhat sharp, or perhaps Joan's high speed provided the shield with powerful kinetic energy.

Her neck seemed to have been cleanly severed as if by a sharp samurai sword.

The girl's beautiful face, hidden behind the mask, flew into the air, a look of disbelief on her lips.

On the headless body, blood gushed upwards from the severed artery in the neck, like a small fountain.

The whip slipped from Joan's hand, so Xiao Yao did not crash into the rocks on the artificial hill as she had planned, but instead landed on a relatively soft patch of sand.

The girl released her right hand from the accelerator and frantically clawed at the broken neck, like a suffocating person, or as if she were saying, "Where's my head?"

Xiao Yao and Qiong An's heads hit the ground at the same time. The boy's helmet shattered into three or four pieces. The violent impact left him no time to feel the pain before everything went black and he lost consciousness.

The lesson from this story is that young people shouldn't become "ghost riders" just because they think it's cool, and they should always wear helmets properly, whether riding motorcycles or horses.

……

……

……

When the boy woke up again, he found himself lying in the girl's soft embrace.

The feeling was somewhat familiar, like lying in his mother's arms, and it reminded him of the time when he went to Huinan University Town and fainted on the bus, only to wake up to find himself lying in Shen Jie's arms.

What a nostalgic time, Xiao Yao thought.

However, unlike that time, Xiao Yao felt that the chest on the top of his head... was a little flat.

The boy looked up and saw Yu Luying's face.

Shen Jie sat slumped down next to Yu Luying, wrapped in Xiao Yao's white cloak, panting heavily, and holding hands with Yu Luying.

It was still pitch black all around—was the shadow time not over yet, or had he been unconscious for too long, causing it to get dark?

Xiao Yao was only confused for a few seconds before he figured out the situation.

The film's runtime is still ongoing.

"You're awake?" Yu Luying said, "Sis, Brother Xiao Yao is awake."

"That's good, that's good." Shen Jie's voice was very weak. She hesitated for a moment, then reached out and gently touched the top of Xiao Yao's head.

Then, Xiao Yao, along with Yu Luying and Shen Jie, turned their gaze to the headless girl in front of Mount Shengmu.

"A zombie?" Xiao Yao said, "It's still not completely dead?"

The headless girl was still wearing Joan's leather coat, so you could tell who she was at a glance.

At this moment, she was kneeling on the ground, holding a plate in her left hand with a human head on it.

Xiao Yao was shocked when he saw the head clearly. He quickly turned to look at Shen Jie before he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Isn't it terrifying?" Yu Luying didn't notice Xiao Yao's subtle movements: "Seeing your own head being served on a plate."

His own head? Xiao Yao was puzzled.

"Is what you see my head?" Xiao Yao asked cautiously.

"Whose head is it if not yours?" Yu Luying asked, bewildered. "Sister, am I seeing things?"

"No," Shen Jie replied weakly, "It's definitely Xiao Yao's."

Yu Luying asked Xiao Yao, "Could it be that you saw someone else? Who did you see?"

Xiao Yao mumbled vaguely, "No, no, it's just me—so what are we doing sitting here now?"

“This…is…Sha…” Shen Jie burst into a violent cough, coughing up blood again.

"Shen Jie, are you alright?" Xiao Yao asked in shock, asking a ridiculous question.

Of course something happened.

“Sister, let me speak,” Yu Luying took over. She seemed to have only injured her leg, so she was quite energetic compared to Shen Jie: “This should be her true spiritual fortress, her final incarnation—Salome.”

“Salome?” Xiao Yao’s head was still throbbing with pain. “I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere before.”

Yu Luying said, “At that time, Herod, the fiefdom ruler, heard of Iesu’s fame and said to his servants, ‘This is John the Baptist, who has risen from the dead; and for this these wonders are at work in him.’ Herod had arrested John and imprisoned him because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because John had told him, ‘You must not have this woman!’ Herod intended to kill him, but he feared the crowds, for they all considered John a prophet. On Herod’s birthday, Herodias’s daughter danced at the banquet and pleased Herod; therefore, Herod swore that he would give her whatever she asked for. Instigated by her mother, she said, ‘Put John’s head on the spot and give it to me!’” "The king was very distressed, but for the sake of his oath and those who had shared the table, he gave the order to give it to her. So he sent men to cut off John's head in prison, and they brought it to the girl in a dish; and the girl took it to her mother. John's disciples came, took the body, buried it, and then went to report to Iesu."

"Hey, what a bastard," Xiao Yao commented. "Let me guess, this girl's name is Salome."

“It seems that her name is not recorded in the Bible,” Yu Luying continued, taking on the role of explaining the Boss’s background: “But people say that her name is Salome.”

“I remember now,” Xiao Yao said, “I think I heard somewhere that she was a very famous evil witch, the progenitor of witches, or something like the Great Witch, but I don’t know anything about her.”

“In the 18th century, this story was adapted into a play by Oscar Wilde,” Yu Luying continued. “In the play, Salome, after being rejected by John, angrily asked King Herod to behead John, and kissed John’s head in her hands, thus possessing John in this bloody way.”