Gao Xin expressed his doubt, "Why not possible? The rules have told us, let the rats enter the designated area, search for a hiding place, survive 120 minutes."
"This is the most direct and clear avenue of life for the rats, but you're not told to find any collars."
The bald man sneered, "Do you know how strong the Radiation Hunters are? Although I don't know the capabilities of the four people outside, I think it's not so difficult to listen for breathing sounds to find someone in the same room."
"You expect to hide from the Radiation Hunters for two hours just in this old mansion, that's totally iron-headed!"
Gao Xin shook his head, "Just hiding ordinarily is definitely seeking death."
"But in this game, there must be a real hiding place designed to be difficult for the old cats to find, otherwise wouldn't it become a one-sided slaughter?"
Everyone paused, a real hiding place?
At this moment, Meimei said, "Are you suggesting...there's a hidden area?"
Gao Xin nodded and said, "The rules specifically mentioned a limited area, including the entire area of this mansion. Is it possible...that there's more than just the part of the mansion we can see with our eyes?"
Everyone started to ponder.
Meimei agreed, "Indeed, the rules tell the cats and dogs to enter the mansion, but they tell the rats to find hiding places within the limited area... this description is like a hint that there are other areas."
"It's very possible that finding such a place could allow you to hide until the game ends."
Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up with eagerness. Forget the collars, quickly find a hiding place.
The bald man said urgently, "Where could it be?"
Meimei replied sarcastically, "Where else could it be? It has to be underground. Rats are best at digging holes; there must be a hidden entrance inside the mansion that leads to an underground area."
The bald man immediately shouted to the others, "Search for the hole! We must find the passage to the underground, whoever finds it, share it, let's all survive together!"
All the rats got busy, hitting and tapping around, trying to find a hidden passage or something similar.
Seeing that nobody was paying attention to him, Gao Xin turned and headed upstairs, Su Lei quickly followed.
After reaching the second floor, Su Lei asked in a low voice, "Gao Xin, didn't they search your body?"
Gao Xin let out a breath of relief, "Fortunately I was wearing only a pair of underpants, otherwise they certainly would have searched me."
In fact, the dog's collar was hidden on his body, but not simply inside the underpants. It was wrapped around his thigh.
One collar on each leg!
Although he was very thin, thighs are still thighs, and the middle part of the collar wasn't that big. At that moment, wrapped around his leg, it was almost cutting off his circulation.
But by doing this, combined with his underpants, at least it didn't look like he was hiding anything from the outside.
Furthermore, he acted the part well and was indeed only wearing underpants, which were loose and shaky, not seeming like he could hide anything, so the other man let his guard down.
"Gao Xin, we're supposed to be looking for an underground cavern, why are we heading upstairs?" Su Lei asked, puzzled.
Gao Xin glanced at him, "Who said we were looking for an underground cavern?"
Su Lei was shocked, "Huh? But didn't you just say..."
Then he paused, realizing that it was the woman who had said that. In fact, Gao Xin had only suggested there was a hidden area.
Gao Xin said, "Such a large mansion should have quite a few hiding spots, but I don't think any of them are guaranteed to be safe."
"Don't forget, the hunting ground for the mice includes the so-called hidden areas as well."
"You have to think from the organizer's perspective. Do the elites want to see the rats hiding in an invincible spot? The simpler the avenue of life appears, the harder it is likely to be achieved."
"The first twenty minutes of the game are too crucial for us. Time is of the essence; there's no need to expend too much effort looking for such places."
Su Lei paused, realizing that even if there were areas beyond the mansion, they were also within the hunting range.
"So...is this a trap?" he questioned.
Gao Xin spread his hands, "I don't know. I only know that the first floor is the most dangerous because the old cats are likely to start from downstairs and search one floor at a time."
"That group of people is doing all they can to find the so-called rat's hole on the first floor. If they find it, good; if they don't, it's a group annihilation..."
Su Lei pondered, "Then...are we going to hide upstairs?"
As he searched various places, Gao Xin said, "Get to know the site; find a few hiding spots that are convenient for shifting."
"When you're given the identity of a rat, don't actually start playing like one. The key to survival is to let the dogs restrain the cats."
"In this game, hiding is our last resort."
"After all, it's too passive... If I were the cat and I couldn't find the rats, I'd simply destroy everything in the scene. I don't believe the rats could still hide..."
Su Lei shivered, beginning to grasp the full implication of 'the hunting range includes all areas within the mansion.'
"I get it. The real way to survive is to bring the dogs in. Gao Xin, are you really not going to give the collars away now?"
Gao Xin shook his head firmly. Su Lei resigned himself to the situation and immediately began to examine the second floor with Gao Xin, getting to know the site.
The second floor was a layout of a circle of rooms, and the corridor could overlook the full view of the first and second floors, because the hall on the first floor had a high ceiling that spanned two floors.
"Look, Gao Xin, all these rooms are connected by secret doors, and the other side should be the same," Su Lei observed.
"If the old cat wants to enter our room, we can stealthily move to another room."
Su Lei shared his discovery, but Gao Xin was looking down.
"Not good." Gao Xin noticed that both he and Su Lei had left charcoal dust footprints.
They had been tainted with it in the fireplace. Both were covered in soot, leaving tracks as they walked.
"We need to find a place to wash!"
When Su Lei looked down and saw the same thing, both of them hurried to find a bathroom.