Hearing these words, there was another extremely intense round of commotion.
The bearded man cursed again, "Shortie, are you also overloading your organs? Your big brother is dead, and you're still holding back?"
Shortie sobbed, "I'm not holding back! I... I can't overload my organs!"
"What?" the bearded man exclaimed in shock.
It seemed that not being able to overload organs was a very speechless matter on the island.
"Fuck, where the hell are you from? You can't even get your hands on a gene module for organ overloading?"
Shortie shouted, "I'm from the Bitter Head Alliance!"
The bearded man cursed, "What alliance? I've never heard of it, what kind of poor-ass gang is that?"
Silver Hand, however, recognized them, and laughed, "Hehehe, so it's that group of Korean bandits from East Mountain, chased into the mountains by Yakuzas, barely able to afford food..."
The bearded man cursed irritably, "Fuck, so poor they can't even afford food, and they dare to have a name?"
"Don't insult the Bitter Head Alliance, one day, we will also have our own territory!" Shortie shrieked.
The bearded man, cursing, knew he couldn't hold back anymore and immediately roared, "You distract him, I'll take the lead!"
With that said, a roar followed, probably also due to organ overloading, and the fight became even more intense.
Gao Xin lay silently in the mansion, hoping they would fight to a mutual defeat, giving those like him, the rats, a glimmer of hope for survival.
He knew about organ overloading; previously on the beach, Tanabu, Sasaki, and a hundred other Yakuza from the Black Hand Group had used this move.
It appeared to be a common genetic ability, with all the flesh and blood burning up as if in flames, greatly enhancing combat strength with explosive power, but at a considerable cost.
The body emitted smoke, visibly withering at a speed visible to the naked eye.
And this move seemed to be a must-have for the strong survivors on Crime Prison Island.
Without it, one might be embarrassed to say they were out there mixing it up.
And Silver Hand was truly formidable, for besides this ability, he also had Bloodthirsty Regeneration and Blood and Flesh Integration, it seemed all achieved through the consumption of corpses.
"Ah!"
In the midst of the fierce battle, Shortie suddenly screamed, and after that, Gao Xin heard no more noise from him.
It was down to the bearded man and Silver Hand in the final showdown.
After dealing with two opponents in a row, Silver Hand was probably at the brink of exhaustion, but with his ability to recover, it was hard to tell what his condition was.
The bearded man looked like he had been conserving energy, but earlier outside the courtyard, he had also been ambushed and seriously injured, nearly losing his life.
So as to who would win between the two of them, it was really hard to say.
Gao Xin and all the other rats in the hall were praying that the two would end up killing each other.
As time ticked by, waiting became torture.
Finally, the sounds of battle grew weaker until they ceased.
"Is it over?" Gao Xin wondered to himself.
But then he heard Silver Hand's angry shout, "Don't run, you coward!"
The bearded man retorted, "Fuck, you maniac, take your damn game! I don't want the reward anymore, okay?"
Gao Xin's heart skipped a beat, realizing it wasn't over—instead, the bearded man had chickened out and didn't want to fight anymore.
Essentially, the Radiations didn't need to fight to the death; they could easily choose to survive, especially dogs, by just expressing that they gave up on the reward and could simply sit back and watch.
Of course, others might not believe it, for as long as he was around, he posed a threat and they might still want to kill him.
But with the capability of someone like the bearded man, simply avoiding combat was sufficient; the yard was big enough, and if Radiations wanted to hide or run, they were much harder to catch than rats.
But this was not good news for the rats.
"Hahaha, scum, not daring to fight to your last breath on Crime Prison Island, you'll never make something of yourself!" Silver Hand mocked wildly.
The bearded man snapped, "Why are you chasing after me? Go catch some rats! There are so many rats in the hall, I already caught them for you!"
Silver Hand said hoarsely, "Idiot, you... are also a rat!"
"What?"
The bearded man fully realized the madness of Silver Hand, utterly different from himself. He was there to get a redemption ticket, to try his best to get it, and if he couldn't, then so be it, but he didn't want to risk his life.
But Silver Hand, fighting against three, wanted to turn them all into rats to claim more rewards, not accepting surrender.
Too crazy, too greedy.
"Just for a damn hundred points, why are you trying so hard!"
Boom, the sound of walls shattering could be heard from the second floor; they were no longer restricting their fight to the courtyard and had started to move around.
Silver Hand said coldly, "Without trying hard, I will never become strong; if I don't push myself to the limit, how can I take my revenge!"
Turns out he was pushing himself not just for redemption vouchers, but also to challenge himself, aiming to become stronger through life and death situations.
The big-bearded man said anxiously, "Revenge? Who is your enemy? I'll help you with that! Otherwise, after we get out, I'll give you another hundred points!"
Silver Hand sneered, "Help me? A hundred points? Hahaha... My enemy is Tiger Head Shark, Fujihara Tomohiro."
Upon hearing this name, the big-bearded man looked confused, "Fujihara Tomohiro? You want to kill him? He's a Black Hand Group executive at Sea King Port, you're crazy! That's a damn Elephant King, the backbone behind all Japanese forces."
"So what! One day, I will become the Elephant King!" Silver Hand declared adamantly.
The big-bearded man said, "You madman, you're not an SR, how can you become an Elephant? Even if you go crazy, at most... wait, don't tell me..."
Silver Hand roared, "Who says I'm not an SR!"
Boom! The sound of metal clashing against stone came from upstairs, as Silver Hand had caught up to the big-bearded man, and the fierce battle resumed.
Gao Xin listened in alarm; he had not expected Silver Hand's Radiation type to be SR.
This was the second SR he had seen; the first was the newcomer, Xia Heng.
But the difference in strength was just too vast.
To him, Silver Hand didn't even compare to Sasaki, let alone Tanabu.
And Xia Heng? When Tanabu, along with a hundred Sasaki-level fighters using organ overclocking, surrounded Xia Heng, he managed to kill seventy of them and got away, leaving behind only a hand... and even that was willingly shot out by Xia Heng himself...
The gap between their powers was as vast as heaven and earth.
Gao Xin realized that combat power is one thing, and potential is another. The former is denoted by wolves, tigers, and elephants, corresponding to the Radiation types N, R, and SR.
A Radiation with high potential but undeveloped strength is worthless. But if one isn't an R, they can never become a tiger, and if one isn't an SR, no matter how hard they fight, they'll never become an elephant.
"If I became a Radiation, what would my potential be?"
Gao Xin whispered to himself, originally just wanting to live an honest life as a normal person, but fate had other ideas.
Having experienced despair where he could be squashed like a bug at any moment, his desire for power grew ever stronger.
"Thinking too far ahead, just need to survive first."
"Unless they destroy each other, whoever survives is beyond my capabilities... Hoping for mutual destruction is too much of a long shot."
Gao Xin quickly discarded his random thoughts and abruptly sat up.
"Gao Xin?" Su Lei was stunned to see a body suddenly sit up not far from him.
He had not expected Gao Xin to be hiding right under his nose.
"Shush!" Gao Xin took the opportunity to reveal himself as Silver Hand and the big-bearded man moved their fight upstairs.
He first checked the injuries of Su Lei and the others, feeling disappointed; all the old mice present were disabled.
The bones in their legs were all broken, and some had serious injuries to their arms or shoulders. The only one who had an uninjured arm was Liu Xu, but she was too weak, and with a broken leg, how much could she help?
"I can only rely on myself, then..." Gao Xin muttered to himself, scanning his surroundings.
Su Lei asked, "Gao Xin, what are we going to do after they finish their fight?"
Gao Xin's gaze was fierce, "What else? Fight him."
"I will face him head-on!"
Everyone was shocked; a flesh-and-blood man, in an ultimate showdown with a Radiation?
Even if the opponent was seriously injured while he was at full strength, what good would it do? A wounded beast is more frenzied, more terrifying.
They had seen several times the grievous wounds Silver Hand suffered, feeling like he might be close to death, yet what happened? He was still so fierce! Didn't they see that even the big-bearded man of the same level was scared of him?
The eight old mice present felt both despair and a sliver of hope looking at Gao Xin.
They didn't believe Gao Xin could win, but they had no other choice but to believe, as there were no other options.
They were already grateful that Gao Xin was willing to step forward; theoretically, Gao Xin could have stayed hidden until the end, while they were certain to be the last ones massacred in a fit of rage.
"Gao... Gao Xin, right... please, we entrust our lives to you," the old mice all hoped.
"You... you have to win!"
...