“You… you…” Song Qi felt his mind was in a mess. After just a few exchanges with Chen Junnan, it was as if he had drunk a bit too much and was feeling dizzy.
“Isn’t this plan great?” Chen Junnan said. “Who said that just because the Earth Rabbit told us to ‘run,’ we have to ‘run’? Let’s pick two ‘door-shutting disciples’ to stand behind the door and curse him out, trapping him inside until he’s so furious he drops dead at the starting point. Am I not a genius?”
“Wait… hold on a second…”
The others instinctively reached out to calm Chen Junnan down. His proposal was just too bizarre, making it hard for anyone to process immediately.
“What?” Chen Junnan looked at them in confusion.
“Even if this plan could work…” Song Qi said, “what about the two ‘door-shutting disciples’? They wouldn’t be able to escape.”
“Not necessarily,” Chen Junnan chuckled. “If everything goes smoothly, only one of them might not make it out.”
“Plan?” Song Qi asked. “Do you have a backup move?”
“No, I don’t,” Chen Junnan admitted. “But at the critical moment, I’ll activate my ‘Echo’ to save one of them. The only condition is that I have to be one of the door-shutting disciples myself.”
“You…” Song Qi stared at him. “No way. What do you take ‘Cats’ for? Abandoning teammates to save yourself is just despicable. I can’t accept that.”
“Why not?” Chen Junnan said, baffled. “I’ve already ‘Echoed.’ If I die, I die.”
“Xiao Jiang and I will do it,” Song Qi declared firmly. “Leader, you’re a guest here. You can’t die on our team, or I’d have no face to go back and see Fifth Brother.”
“What ‘Fifth Brother’? If you stay here, you won’t see him either,” Chen Junnan waved his hand dismissively. “I’m the oldest here, so it’s settled.”
The others could only exchange silent glances, feeling uneasy.
For years, the ‘Cats’ had survived in the ‘Land of the End’ on their own. How could they rely on a newly appointed leader to save them now?
Song Qi slowly stretched his neck, bent down to stretch his legs, and then turned to look at Jiang Shi.
Jiang Shi nodded. “Understood.”
He tucked his hands into the sleeves of his long robe, stood up slowly, and his eyes sharpened with focus.
“Leader, it’s not that we don’t trust you,” Song Qi said. “But there’s never been a rule where outsiders die in the ‘Cat Team.’ Leave the two ‘door-shutting disciples’ to Xiao Jiang and me.”
“Huh?” Chen Junnan glanced at the two, now poised for action. “That won’t do.”
“It might actually work,” Song Qi said. “I don’t know what your ‘Echo’ is, but I have a feeling it’s not something good. Activating it would probably kill you.”
“Ah…” Chen Junnan gave a bitter smile. “You’re pretty sharp.”
“But Xiao Jiang and I might survive,” Song Qi continued, flexing his arms. “As Xiao Fourteen asked earlier, we *can* fight back against ‘Predators.’ If I go all out, I can tear off a ‘Predator’s’ arm. And if Xiao Jiang goes all out…”
“What happens?” Chen Junnan asked, intrigued.
“…He can tire the ‘Predator’ to death.”
Jiang Shi puffed out his chest proudly at the remark, as if he had just received high praise.
“What kind of nonsense is that?” Chen Junnan thought he had misheard. “So *that’s* your ‘immortality’? I thought you could actually fight him head-on.”
“You try fighting him!” Jiang Shi snapped. “Are you stupid? That’s an Earth-level Zodiac!”
“Alright, alright…” Chen Junnan sighed in resignation. “Are you two really sure about this?”
“Yes,” they said in unison. “Leave it to us.”
“Fine.” After a moment of thought, Chen Junnan nodded. “Then let me explain one last thing.”
“Go ahead,” the others said, watching him intently.
“We need to confirm directions,” Chen Junnan said, pointing at the chessboard he had carved on the wall. “I’m worried someone might get lost later, since you lose all sense of direction in the center of the board.”
“How do we confirm directions?” The group studied the board on the wall.
“Even if we’re a bit disoriented, we’ll stick to ‘North up, South down, West left, East right’ for communication,” Chen Junnan explained. “For example, this room only has an ‘East Gate’ and a ‘North Gate.’ Most other rooms have four doors. Even if someone loses their bearings, the rest can guide them back using coordinates.”
Seeing their confused expressions, Chen Junnan pointed at the two doors. “Say I exit through the ‘East Gate,’ and Xiao Song exits through the ‘North Gate.’ If Xiao Song gets lost, he can call for help, and I’ll tell him I’m to his ‘northeast.'”
“If that’s the case, as long as one person has a strong sense of direction, none of us will get lost,” Cui Shisi mused. “That’s actually a pretty good idea.”
“Also, we need to mark each room,” Chen Junnan added, pointing at the grid. “To track coordinates, we’ll call this room ‘Room One,’ the next to the right ‘Room Two,’ then ‘Three,’ ‘Four.’ The second row is ‘Five,’ ‘Six,’ ‘Seven,’ ‘Eight,’ and so on up to ‘Room Sixteen.'”
“Got it.”
Once the strategy was set, Chen Junnan quietly moved to the door and flung it open, checking the situation outside.
The burly rabbit was sitting far from the door, eyes closed, meditating—completely uninterested in eavesdropping.
“What?” the Earth Rabbit slowly opened its eyes at the sound of the door. “Done talking?”
“You really are something,” Chen Junnan grinned. “Didn’t even take the chance to listen in?”
“Doesn’t matter,” the Earth Rabbit shook its head. “I have my own tactics. Whatever trick you pull, I can counter it.”
“Perfect,” Chen Junnan nodded. “Come on, fat rabbit, time to meet your doom. We’ve finalized our plan.”
The Earth Rabbit snorted, stood up, dusted off its pants, and strode into the room.
“Then I’ll reiterate one last time,” the Earth Rabbit said, scanning the group. “After the game starts, it’s your turn first, then mine. If you reach the farthest diagonal room, you win.”
“You’ve said it eight hundred times already. Are we starting or not?” Chen Junnan tilted his head. “I’ve got important business, so hurry up.”
Without another word, the Earth Rabbit pulled out a strange remote from its pocket and pressed a button.
The remote was made of emerald-green bamboo, slender as a finger, with a thin red string tied to it.
A rustling noise echoed through the rooms.
A mechanical voice boomed from above: “I am the voice guide for this game. The game will begin in three minutes.”
After the announcement, the Earth Rabbit adjusted the red string around its neck, leaned against the wall, and waited.
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