The few people outside the room were participating in a game proactively for the first time, so everyone was somewhat nervous.

“Qi Xia,” Lin Qin called out.

“What?”

“You once said that different animals represent different game types, right?”

“Should be.”

After hearing this, Lin Qin looked at the Man-Mouse before them, then asked in a low voice, “What kind of game do you think a ‘Mouse-Type Game’ is?”

Qi Xia was also considering this question. If they didn’t know the game type in advance, Tiantian’s situation would be rather passive.

But what is “Mouse” related to?

“It seems the game currently in progress fits the characteristics of ‘Mouse’ quite well—that is, searching for a target among numerous miscellaneous items,” Qi Xia said in a low voice. “Could ‘Mouse’ be a ‘search’-type game?”

…

Inside the room, Tiantian first surveyed the room generally and discovered there were many shelves here.

Each shelf was stacked with cardboard boxes of various sizes. At a glance, there were at least a hundred of them.

Tiantian casually picked up a cardboard box to look at it and found it was filled with miscellaneous items.

She calculated in her mind that if she opened the cardboard boxes one by one within these five minutes and then rummaged through the contents, she probably wouldn’t be able to find the “Dao” no matter what, since there were too many boxes.

She raised her head again and discovered that in this small warehouse there was only one incandescent light, and the switch was right on the wall beside her.

Tiantian thought for a few seconds, and suddenly a plan came to mind.

She gathered her strength and directly pushed over a shelf, making a tremendous sound.

When the people outside heard this, they immediately became flustered.

“Hey! Pretty girl, are you alright?” Qiao Jiajin shouted loudly.

“I’m fine,” Tiantian said loudly. “I just thought of a method.”

Qi Xia pondered briefly, then nodded and said, “Right, indeed a good method.”

“Huh?” Qiao Jiajin was stunned. “You know about this? Do you two have that ‘sound transmission’ thing from martial arts novels?”

The sounds inside the room grew louder and louder as Tiantian pushed over all the shelves, scattering cardboard boxes all over the ground.

Various miscellaneous items spilled out all at once.

Some cardboard boxes contained plastic plates and bowls, some contained old clothes, and others contained waste paper.

She walked up to several intact cardboard boxes and stomped on them forcefully. Before long, the originally tidy warehouse had become a complete mess.

She looked around while panting, feeling the timing was about right, then walked to the wall and turned off the incandescent light.

The room instantly plunged into darkness, with only Tiantian’s breathing audible.

“This…” Tiantian looked around and slowly frowned.

In her memory, that small ball called “Dao” emitted a faint glow. If the miscellaneous items here were scattered all over the ground, there would be a very high probability of discovering the “Dao” in the darkness.

But the moment she turned off the light, the entire room fell into darkness, with not a trace of light remaining.

She didn’t quite believe it and boldly walked forward, then continuously kicked various cardboard boxes with her foot, expanding her search area.

A ball that could glow—why would it completely lose its trace in a dark room?

After kicking for quite a while, Tiantian felt she had opened all the cardboard boxes, yet still hadn’t discovered anything glowing.

At this moment, the Man-Mouse knocked on the door outside and said, “Ten seconds remaining.”

Tiantian helplessly shook her head and turned on the light.

With this sudden illumination, she discovered that under her feet was actually a box of canned goods. The canned goods had previously been packed in the cardboard box but were now spilled all over the ground.

She reached out, picked up a can, and read the label, discovering it contained “beans.”

Tiantian shook the can, and sure enough, it made a “rustling” sound.

“I feel like such an idiot…” Tiantian bit her teeth. “Could it be inside these cans?!”

Creak—

The Man-Mouse turned the handle from outside and pushed open the door. “Time’s up. Challenge failed.”

Tiantian was startled and raised her head, meeting the Man-Mouse’s bizarre face directly.

The three people outside immediately came forward. Qiao Jiajin asked, “How was it, pretty girl? Did you find it?”

“No good…” Tiantian threw down the can and stood up with a sorrowful expression. “I suspect the ‘Dao’ is packed inside these cans, but to open these dozens of cans with bare hands within five minutes… isn’t an easy task either.”

Qi Xia looked down at the cans. These were all broad bean cans—hiding a “Dao” inside them made sense.

But he still felt something wasn’t quite right.

Tiantian dejectedly exited the room and looked at the Man-Mouse with some panic.

But the Man-Mouse made no other moves. She just closed the door and continued standing at the entrance.

“So really it’s just losing one ‘Dao’?” Tiantian asked in a low voice. “She’s not planning to take my life…”

The Man-Mouse smiled and asked, “When did I ever say I wanted your life?”

Seeing this scene, Qiao Jiajin finally understood. “I say… you liar, if that’s the case… we can try again, right?”

“Try again?” Qi Xia frowned.

“We already know the ‘Dao’ is most likely placed in those cans. This time we can go in and directly open the cans. After all, she won’t kill us anyway.”

Qi Xia looked at his pocket, where only one “Dao” remained.

Previously, the “Man-Dragon” had said that these “Dao” were both their rewards and their “stakes.”

This being the case, participating in these games required paying a certain amount of “Dao” to gamble with the opponent. If they consumed too many “Dao” here, then future games wouldn’t be able to proceed.

“Pretty girl, are you sure you searched all the other boxes?” Qiao Jiajin confirmed with her.

“I didn’t carefully search through them, just opened all the boxes, then turned off the light,” Tiantian shook her head. “But I didn’t discover any place with light, so… the ‘Dao’ should be packed in a sealed container.”

“Very good, then I’ll go in and try again!” Qiao Jiajin nodded.

But at this moment, Qi Xia suddenly reached out to stop him.

“Wait.”

“Hm?”

Qi Xia looked at the Man-Mouse and asked, “Can I hear the game rules again?”

“Of course!”

The Man-Mouse smiled and turned to open the door.

Only then did everyone discover that the room inside was actually brand new—all the shelves had returned to their original positions, and the boxes were also put back.

“Holy crap!” Qiao Jiajin was stunned.

Lin Qin and Tiantian also exclaimed in surprise.

The Man-Mouse slowly walked in, looked around, and asked, “How about it? My ‘game’ is quite magical, isn’t it?”

Qi Xia nodded.

The Man-Mouse continued, “My ‘game’ is called ‘Seeking Dao.’ The entrance fee requires consuming one ‘Dao.’ Right now there is one ‘Dao’ in this room. As long as you can find it within five minutes, then the ‘Dao’ belongs to you.”

After finishing, she smiled warmly again.

After hearing this, Qi Xia slowly nodded.

“I want to play again,” he said.

“Fine, no problem,” the Man-Mouse nodded. “You can play as many times as you want.”

“This time, I want to wager my life,” Qi Xia said.