“Hmm…?” Saturday didn’t quite understand Qi Xia’s words. “Are you planning to…?”
“I’m going to trigger a ‘rage,'” Qi Xia said. “Right before the ‘daytime period’ ends, tell her exactly what I said—that Qiu Shiliu was the first to be abandoned because her emotions were unstable and her ‘echo’ was useless. This was the leader’s decision.”
“Tch, are you sure…?” Saturday hesitated. “Knowing Sixteen, betrayal would absolutely infuriate her…”
“Good if it does.” Qi Xia agreed and then turned to Turtle. “Sorry for the harsh words earlier, but I think I understand what kind of person you are now. From this point on, I’ll reveal the real plan step by step. Just follow my lead.”
“You…”
“This ‘game’ isn’t just about training,” Qi Xia said. “First, I intend to win. Second, I want all of you to ‘echo.’ Third, I want you to see my capabilities. Fourth, I’m taking down ‘Groundhog.'”
The three of them exchanged bewildered glances after hearing Qi Xia’s words. This guy seemed normal at first glance, but was he actually insane?
For a regular person entering an Earth-level game, even saying “I want to win” was a stretch—most would just say “I want to survive.” Yet here he was, listing four objectives and expecting to achieve all of them in this convoluted game.
“L-Let’s not talk about the rest for now…” Luo Shiyi frowned at Qi Xia. “You just said you’re taking down ‘Groundhog’…?”
“Yes.” Qi Xia nodded. “I already have a rough idea of how to ensure everyone survives and wins this game. But at the final moment… I want to corner ‘Groundhog.’ For that, I’ll need your help.”
Luo Shiyi felt like his brain had short-circuited. From hearing the rules to now, barely twenty minutes had passed.
If everyone had the same twenty minutes, how could this guy named Qi Xia come up with so much?
“Luo Shiyi.” Qi Xia called out, then glanced at the pomegranate in his hand. “Are you sure there was only one fruit in your room?”
“I’m sure,” Luo Shiyi nodded. “When I entered, there was only one pomegranate on the plate.”
Qi Xia turned to the other two. “What about you? How many fruits were in your rooms?”
“Four small oranges,” Saturday said. “Those tiny oranges really annoyed me. I could’ve grabbed them all in one hand, but I could only take three.”
Turtle hesitated before speaking. “My room was the one you all saw—four dragon fruits. I took three as well.”
Qi Xia looked at the three peaches in his hand and realized this was bad news—the total number of fruits likely wouldn’t be enough for all five of them to survive.
Just as Qi Xia had initially suspected, for five people to avoid “starvation” in six rounds, they needed at least twenty fruits.
But now, one room had only a single fruit.
Even if the other rooms all had four, the total would only be seventeen—meaning at least two “rats” would starve.
But… was there another possibility?
“Tch, so the number of fruits in each room isn’t fixed…” Saturday mused before asking, “But there’s still one room we haven’t checked… Could there be more in there…?”
“Unlikely,” Qi Xia shook his head. “Following your logic, the remaining room would need at least seven fruits to barely meet our survival needs. That doesn’t make sense.”
Seeing Saturday’s confusion, Qi Xia pointed at the small oranges in her hand. “Even small fruits like these only had four. That suggests the size doesn’t affect the quantity—’four’ is probably the fixed number.”
“Then why was there only one pomegranate in my room?” Luo Shiyi asked, puzzled. “Isn’t it because pomegranates are too big?”
“We’ll only know the answer after we meet Qiu Shiliu,” Qi Xia said. “Next round, we need to prioritize securing a room.”
“Tch, how do we do that?” Saturday asked. “Should we try to enter the third room we haven’t checked yet and take the four fruits inside?”
“No… That room will be the ‘cat’s’ main focus now,” Qi Xia said. “Whether it’s ‘mousetraps’ or ‘searching,’ one of those strategies will definitely target the third room. From the ‘rats’ perspective, that room holds the most rewards, so we have to avoid it for now. No reckless moves.”
“Then…”
“Next, two people will go for the ‘rescue,’ while the other two continue ‘searching’ in the rooms we’ve already checked,” Qi Xia said.
“Two people for rescue?” Turtle blinked. “We already know Qiu Shiliu is in the ‘cat room.’ Why send two?”
Qi Xia thought for a moment. “I have a theory, so I need to see the ‘cat room’ for myself. If it’s correct, I can’t do it alone—I’ll need someone to cooperate with me.”
Silence fell over the group again.
“Then I’ll go with you,” Luo Shiyi said.
“Good.” Qi Xia nodded and turned to Saturday and Turtle. “The two of us will bring Qiu Shiliu back. You two keep ‘searching.’ Remember, you can go to any room except the third one.”
“Tch, but this time, at most, we can only get two fruits,” Saturday said. “And if either of us gets caught, we’ll only bring back one and lose a teammate. What do we do then?”
“Not necessarily,” Qi Xia countered. “According to the rules… unless both of you are caught, we’ll at least bring back two fruits this time.”
“What?”
“The rules state that the person ‘carrying fruits’ can not only carry their own but also those ‘searched’ by everyone else,” Qi Xia explained. “So even if you’re caught or chased by the cat, you should be able to hand your fruits to a teammate… I can’t think of any other scenario where you’d carry someone else’s fruits.”
Saturday and Luo Shiyi nodded, then looked at the fruits in their hands. This round, they’d gathered ten, enough to keep all the “rats” fed for two rounds. But what about the rounds after?
Food would only grow scarcer, and the “rats’” situation would become increasingly dangerous.
“Should we consume the fruits now?” Luo Shiyi tentatively asked Qi Xia.
“No…” Qi Xia shook his head. “Only you and I will consume them. The others don’t need to.”
“What?” Luo Shiyi and Saturday were stunned. “Logically, all five of us have lost a point of satiety. You’re only using two fruits?”
“You need to understand something,” Qi Xia said. “Even real mice don’t share food equally with every member of their group. If we insist on everyone eating their fill, winning this game is impossible. The ones who get the most food are the rats on the front lines.”
“And the others?” Luo Shiyi asked.
“Maintain one point of satiety,” Qi Xia said. “Groundhog said that even if satiety drops to 0, we won’t die—as long as it doesn’t go below 0, the collars around our necks won’t explode. The optimal strategy is for all of us to hit exactly 0 satiety the moment we win.”
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