The group was talking when suddenly a scream came from downstairs.
"Ahhh!"
On the second floor, it seemed that a rat had been found by the bearded man.
"Another one dead," Su Lei murmured.
Meimei shook her head, "He won't kill them. Listen, the screams are prolonged; it must be that their limbs have been broken..."
Indeed, everything was happening just as Gao Xin had predicted; the bearded man wasn't a cat... A dog catching mice, he wouldn't kill them.
After quite a while, at least ten minutes, the third floor was once again filled with screams.
Clearly, it was taking the bearded man much longer to find the rats. It was hard to say whether it was a problem of ability, or whether the easier-to-find rats had all been caught by Silver Hand, leaving only those who were extremely well hidden.
The bearded man had found another rat, and the two kinds of screams intertwined, forming a duet.
The people listened carefully, feeling the sound getting closer and closer.
They could easily imagine the scene where two rat players, their limbs broken, were being dragged away by the bearded man.
Dragged all the way to other rooms, then onto the next one, endlessly.
"Yeesh, it feels even worse to fall into the dog's hands," Su Lei exclaimed in shock.
Meimei said softly, "Based on the sound, we can tell the bearded man is near the staircase."
The three of them gathered in front of the window, ready to escape.
Once he climbed the stairs, the fourth floor would only have this one large attic room. Seeing the locked door, the bearded man would know someone was hiding inside.
"Hm? Why is he going down?"
Meimei's eyes lit up, only to hear the screams growing more distant; the bearded man had reached the staircase but, surprisingly, went down and at a fast pace.
Su Lei was delighted, "Maybe he heard some noise downstairs?"
"Or maybe he feels that dragging two encumbrances will expose his position, and wants to dump the caught rats in the first-floor hall."
As expected, the sound went all the way down to the first floor and then stopped there.
It seemed the found rats had their limbs broken and were thrown into the hall, and now they could no longer pinpoint the bearded man's location by the screams.
Su Lei worriedly said, "He won't come in through the window, will he?"
"With Silver Hand still fighting, it leaves the bearded man free to do as he pleases. What do we do?"
Meimei, pointing at the cat collar around Gao Xin's neck, said quietly, "Gao Xin, why don't we take this off now?"
"If the bearded man comes up, we'll throw this thing into the courtyard and let them fight over it."
"I don't believe a few of them won't die then!"
Gao Xin pondered, "More likely, it will just end up being handed over to the bearded man for nothing."
"With those brothers and Silver Hand locked in battle, the cat collar appearing suddenly might mean that none of them can get it because they're all holding each other back."
"Then the bearded man, who's rested and unencumbered, will easily become the cat, and then as soon as he sees a mouse, he'll kill a mouse. Those who have already been caught will all have to die."
"Don't you understand? The greatest utility of the cat collar, while it's with me, is to ensure the dog catching mice won't kill. Even if you're caught, you'll only have your limbs broken."
"As long as I'm not caught, none of you will die."
Su Lei understood that Gao Xin was now the 'lifeblood' of all the mice. If he was caught, everyone would die.
If he wasn't caught, even if all the others were lost, there would still be a chance.
Meimei sighed, "I see. I understand now."
Su Lei pondered, "But what about you? How long can you just hide? There's still more than an hour left."
"What if we hide the collar instead? Yes, then you'd be safe, and if he catches any of us, he won't kill us because we don't have the cat collar, and will keep searching."
"This way, no matter who gets caught, the worst outcome would just be broken limbs."
Gao Xin chuckled, "Then why don't you just throw it out of the compound wall?"
Su Lei's eyes brightened, "Ah, right! We'll throw it beyond the compound wall. Once a player enters, they can't leave until the time is up."
Gao Xin shook his head, "What use is that? The number of mice is limited; nine have already been killed, and one suffocated in the stairwell at the hall."
"That means only ten mice are left."
"The bearded man has already caught two, and excluding us three, five are hiding all over the place."
"If he catches all of us and finds no cat collar, guess what will happen?"
Su Lei was stunned, while Meimei solemnly said, "That would be worse than death. He will definitely torture us, forcing us to reveal the whereabouts of the collar."
Who knows what methods Radiation has? They wouldn't last over an hour.
Even if they did, what would it matter? They would prevent the others from getting points, but in the end, they would still be killed out of spite.
Gao Xin said indifferently, "For us, this game can't go on without a cat. If there's a cat, we can negotiate. Without a cat, what's left is just rubbish time, and it will become a game of tormenting mice out of spite."
"Once they know the collar's been thrown out of the compound, every Radiation will think 'these damned mice made me lose a redemption ticket,' and then they might all unite."
Su Lei scratched his head, staring at Gao Xin, "I get it now; it doesn't matter where the cat collar is, the key is to ensure that at least one mouse isn't caught."
"As long as one isn't caught, the others won't die."
"It's up to you, big guy; you've got to hide well."
"When the critical moment comes, I'll buy you time!"
Meimei also nodded in agreement, "The goal is to protect you at all costs. Cover your neck, and when it's time to run, I'll pretend to have a cat collar to attract the bearded man's pursuit."