"Damn it, we joined this game just to be toys!" Su Lei said with a mournful face.
The weak have no human rights, no one cares about their lives.
Even joining the game, they had to bear all the disadvantages.
Meimei, biting her fingernails, said, "So, we really can only cooperate with the cat."
Gao Xin nodded firmly.
Su Lei was puzzled again, "Wait, I still don't understand. You all talked a lot, but how... how can we only cooperate with the cat?"
Gao Xin looked at Su Lei with a strange expression; he considered himself an ordinary person, and all these ideas were the result of wracking his brain.
Meimei also thought a lot, it was just a blind spot in her thinking, not having considered cooperating with the cat.
Once she was prompted, she also understood immediately.
Unexpectedly, Su Lei still hadn't figured it out.
Meimei explained, "Cooperating with the dog is based on the situation that identities cannot change. Once the dog can kill the cat and become the cat, all the previously agreed protection is nonsense."
"Once he becomes the cat, why protect us mice? Why split the money with the dog? Just kill us and get the full hundred points, right?"
Su Lei tilted his head and said, "Then we can also give the dog a hundred, no need to leave any for the Japanese…"
Upon saying this, he paused in astonishment.
Meimei glanced at him sideways, "Kid, there's only one hundred redemption coupons, but there are three dogs."
"Are you going to tell them\ 'Hey, you three go kill the cat, whoever grabs the cat's collar and lives to the end, we mice will give our hundred to him? The other two dogs get nothing?'"
"Wouldn't they just slap you dead? Why would they listen to orders from us mice?"
"Even if they have a moment of conscience, to repay our kindness and agree,"
"It still means that we have to give all the earned redemption coupons to the one who ultimately becomes the cat... In that case, why don't we just directly negotiate cooperation with the current cat?"
"Why bother negotiating with three old dogs, taking such a big detour and adding so many risks?"
Su Lei suddenly saw the light, right, since the dogs are trying to become cats anyway, why not talk directly with the cat?
He had been misled by the identity of the old dog.
Meimei scoffed, "The identity of the old dog is the most useless; at the end they have nothing, even not being dogs!"
"The old dog just has to try by all means to change its identity to the old cat!"
"So talking to the old dog is truly bargaining with a tiger for its skin!"
Su Lei nodded repeatedly, finally understanding all that had been said.
"Yeah, the cat gets a hundred redemption coupons for killing a mouse, but if letting a mouse go also nets a hundred, then the profit is the same."
"If he can earn the same profit without having to do anything, why should he kill?"
"Moreover, one cat, three dogs, he would have to fight three against one, also needing to hunt down mice everywhere, the pressure is too great."
"So there is certainly room to negotiate, as long as the mice cooperate with the cat, the cat can free his hands to focus on dealing with the three dogs!"
Meimei nodded, "Exactly, hence in the rules, when mentioning the cat's tasks, it states that surviving till the end of the game can earn 100 redemption coupons."
"Thinking about it now, the cat is actually an escape role; he has a survival reward."
"He just needs to accept the conditions of the mice, and then he can spend the whole game just dodging the dogs, dragging it out until the time ends to collect 100 redemption coupons, plus the 2000 redemption coupons gifted by twenty mice!"
Su Lei was shocked, "Damn, this role is simply making a killing."
Meimei remarked, "You need strength to grab that money; you're envious, not to mention the old dogs?"
"The game rules seem to require the cat to kill the mice, as if cats and mice are mortal enemies."
"In reality, cats and dogs are the real mortal enemies! Not fearing lack but fearing inequality, cats and dogs are bound to clash!"
"On the other hand, the mice can cooperate with the cat, telling the cat that accepting the mice's term maximizes profits and that the dogs are the real enemies."
"Moreover, the dogs killing the mice serve no purpose; their primary target must be the cat, considering killing mice only after becoming the cat."
"In this way, neither cats nor dogs will prioritize killing mice; they will battle each other to death, allowing mice to hide in the dark and survive to the end."
"This is indeed the best survival solution for a mouse!"
Saying so, Meimei looked towards Gao Xin, her eyes sparkling.
This method of survival, this man had figured it all out in a short time.
She too had realized that cooperating with the cat was the optimal solution thanks to his hints.
Suddenly, Gao Xin also looked at her with bright eyes and asked, "Did you also go to a technical school? Not fearing lack but fearing inequality, you said it wonderfully."
Meimei smiled awkwardly, "No, technical school is too expensive; I self-studied in the community library while I was a legal outreach officer."
Gao Xin realized, recalling that Meimei had previously mentioned she had been a legal outreach officer in the community.
It seemed she had used her position to frequently enter the library under the guise of researching materials, and thus had self-studied many books.
Meimei continued, "This saying is from 'The Analects', spoken by our sages thousands of years ago."
"It means whether managing a country or a family, one should not worry about having few people but rather uneven distribution, not worry about lacking wealth but rather unrest within. Thus, with even distribution there is no poverty, with harmony there is no feeling of scantiness, and with internal peace there is no danger of collapse."
Gao Xin was taken aback, thought for a long time and then said, "Truly a profound saying, enlightening indeed."