“So who will be the ‘Commander’ next?” Zhou Liu asked.

Qi Xia turned his body sideways, his gaze sweeping across several people before stopping on Qiu Shiliu.

“Qiu Shiliu, you do it. How about that?” Qi Xia asked in a slightly forceful tone.

Qiu Shiliu frowned and glanced at Qi Xia. “Me…?”

“Yes, please.”

“But I think…” Qiu Shiliu said with furrowed brows. “The person assigned to be the ‘Commander’ should be the most useless person, right? Are you saying I can’t go steal the ‘fruit’?”

“Oh?” The corner of Qi Xia’s mouth curled up slightly. “That’s my fault. I don’t know what each of your abilities are, so who do you think can be the ‘Commander’ besides you?”

Qiu Shiliu felt that Qi Xia’s words seemed to have cornered him into a strange dead end. No matter which name he said, it wouldn’t be quite appropriate.

But thinking about it again, there really was one annoying character in this room.

“Wang Ba…” Qiu Shiliu said. “Let Wang Ba do it. He’s definitely more suitable than me.”

“What?!” Wang Ba, who had just been scolded by Qi Xia and hadn’t yet recovered his mood, became even more furious when he heard Qiu Shiliu’s words. “Shiliu, are you saying I’m useless?!”

“At least I practice sports,” Qiu Shiliu said. “If the cat chooses ‘patrol’, I have a chance of escaping. But you can’t.”

“I…” Wang Ba’s expression looked unpleasant. “I… I think you all should wait a moment…”

“What?” Everyone looked at him.

“Do you all really think this person called Qi Xia’s plan is feasible?” Wang Ba asked. “Why are you all willing to act according to his plan? What if… what if something goes wrong?”

“Wu Ge said Qi Xia is very intelligent,” Zhou Liu said. “I can understand if you don’t trust him, but Wu Ge has never lied to us.”

“But…” Wang Ba anxiously broke out in fine beads of sweat on his forehead.

Zhou Liu gave a cold laugh. “Besides, every strategy you’ve proposed requires me to kiss you. I really don’t want to use them.”

After thinking for a few seconds, he sighed. “Then fine… I’ll trust Wu Ge…”

“But I don’t trust you.” Qi Xia immediately interrupted Wang Ba, pointing at him and saying to the others, “Everyone… this might sound harsh, but although I need a ‘control center’, this kind of person really won’t work.”

He sighed and said, “Everyone, to survive in this game, I need capable people, not waste. Waste really won’t work.”

Wang Ba’s face visibly darkened, and his eyes glaring at Qi Xia became even more furious.

“Tsk, no need to argue. Let Shiliu go first,” Zhou Liu said. “According to this tactic, we should take turns being the ‘Commander’. Everyone will have a chance.”

Wang Ba pressed his lips together and glanced at Zhou Liu, then turned back to Qi Xia and said, “Since Liu Jie trusts you… then I’ll give you this face. But don’t think this matter is settled just like that.”

Qi Xia still acted as if he hadn’t heard, turning around and reaching out to pat Qiu Shiliu’s shoulder. “Then I’ll leave it to you.”

“I…” Qiu Shiliu looked at Qi Xia’s serious eyes and finally nodded. “Alright.”

After several people confirmed the tactics, they happened to hear the iron door beside them open with a “pa” sound.

“Let’s go,” Qi Xia said.

Several people, each carrying different feelings, pushed open the wooden door and walked out of the “Mouse House.”

Outside, except for the absence of the “cat”, everything was exactly the same as before they entered. From the corridor alone, no changes could be seen.

Besides the “Mouse House” and “Cat House”, five colored doors stood before them. The gloomy tones combined with the faint scent of fruit drifting over created an exceptionally eerie atmosphere.

“Choose your rooms,” Qi Xia said. “From here on, don’t announce your choice publicly. Try to communicate with eye contact.”

“Why…?” Luo Shiyi asked.

“I don’t know, but I feel something’s off,” Qi Xia answered. “The ‘cat’ only mentioned that two rooms have very good soundproofing and can’t hear each other’s conversations, but didn’t mention the issue with the corridor, so let’s be careful.”

“You really are thorough in your thinking,” Luo Shiyi nodded and said. The way he looked at Qi Xia had already changed somewhat.

“Stop talking nonsense and choose your rooms,” Qi Xia gestured to several people with his eyes. Everyone understood and split up to act, each standing in front of the first four doors.

Qi Xia watched several people’s actions, frowned and shook his head, then used eye contact to signal Zhou Liu, who was standing in front of the third door.

“What?” Zhou Liu asked.

“That one won’t work,” Qi Xia said while standing in front of the fourth door. “Switch to another one.”

Although Zhou Liu looked puzzled, she still nodded and switched to the last door.

Now, except for the third door, all four other doors had someone in front of them.

Qi Xia nodded to everyone again. According to his calculations, the third door placed in the middle should be the most dangerous. Since there were two symmetrical doors on the left and right sides, people tend to choose the most moderate middle option when hesitating, so theoretically the third door absolutely shouldn’t be chosen first.

After several people confirmed their positions, they all opened their doors and walked in.

Qi Xia turned back and left his door slightly ajar, walking forward a few steps to the altar table.

On the table still sat a plate with four pink and green intermingled, exceptionally beautiful-looking peaches.

However, according to the rules, he couldn’t immediately pick up the peaches and escape. He had to wait in this room until the night ended.

On the wall beside the altar table was a button with the words “Search” written on it.

Qi Xia walked toward the button. The moment he pressed it, the room’s door closed with a “ka-da” sound and locked.

“The red light didn’t come on…” Qi Xia nodded. “This means the ‘cat’ didn’t use the mousetrap this round and should choose ‘Search’…”

Qi Xia touched his chin with his hand, and the corner of his mouth slowly curved up into a slight smile.

“This is just perfect…” he muttered in a low voice. “‘Search’ is exactly what I want…”

In the adjacent room number five, Zhou Liu paced back and forth restlessly. She wasn’t very certain whether Qi Xia’s strategy could work. Having a person stand directly in the corridor—was this kind of behavior a strategy that an ordinary participant could think of?

Calculating by time, all the rooms should be locked now. It’s just that the soundproofing in each room was very good, making it impossible to hear what was happening outside. Except for Qi Xia, everyone was anxiously waiting in their own rooms for the “cat” to arrive.

Ten minutes later, the locks on everyone’s rooms opened with a “ka-da” sound. They all waited carefully for a few seconds, and only after discovering that no one was opening their doors did they walk up and push their own doors open.

The “cat” wasn’t there.

“Tsk, the first round is over…?” Zhou Liu frowned and looked around left and right, discovering that the other people were also poking their heads out to look.

“Don’t wait anymore,” Qi Xia said. “Take the fruit.”

Zhou Liu was about to agree when she suddenly felt something wasn’t quite right.

Qiu Shiliu, who had been standing in the corridor earlier, was also nowhere to be seen.