“Hey… Qi Xia…” Zhou Liu felt something was off. “Isn’t this wrong? Where did Qiu Shiliu go?”

A trace of worry flashed through her heart. Just as she was about to lower her head to transmit her voice, she was stopped by Qi Xia.

“No need to transmit. Go take the fruit.”

After Qi Xia finished speaking, he turned back into the room, reached out to take three peaches, and came back out.

After hesitating for a moment, the other people also walked out carrying the fruit from their rooms, each person’s expression somewhat unnatural.

Qi Xia looked at the fruit in everyone’s hands—three crimson dragon fruits, three very small oranges, three peaches, and… one pomegranate.

“One pomegranate?” Qi Xia frowned and looked at Luo Shiyi. “What’s the situation?”

“There was only one pomegranate in that room. Never mind that for now…” Luo Shiyi frowned, staring at Qi Xia with a cautious expression on his face. “What’s the situation with Shiliu? Where is she…?”

“She was caught,” Qi Xia said. “A ‘mouse’ wandering in the corridor ran into a ‘cat’ coming to forage for food, so she was captured. That’s quite normal, isn’t it?”

“Normal…?” Wang Ba’s veins bulged after hearing this. He ran forward a step and grabbed Qi Xia’s collar. “What the fuck are you saying?! You spouted off about your bullshit plan, and now you’re pretending to be calm and saying it’s ‘normal’?”

Qi Xia looked coldly at Wang Ba and said softly, “Have you noticed a problem?”

“What…?”

“You’ve been thinking of their best interests, yet asking them to kiss you once earned you faces full of disgust.” Qi Xia said with a mocking expression. “I made up a plan off the top of my head. Even though I promised nothing, someone was willing to die for this ‘fabrication.'”

“You… you fucking…” Wang Ba glared fiercely with his eyes, his pupils already turning red. “What kind of thing are you? Treating my teammates like this?”

“Has pretending to be thick-skinned all these years been useful?” Qi Xia slowly leaned close to Wang Ba’s ear. “No matter how many years of friendship you have, I only need one sentence to completely replace you. Waste is waste, understand?”

Wang Ba finally couldn’t bear it anymore and swung his fat fist toward Qi Xia’s face.

Qi Xia took a step back and dodged the punch. A sentence rang in his ears: “Liar boy, only this way can you exert force.”

He sank his fist to his waist, generating power from his waist, and flew upward toward Wang Ba’s chin. The moment before collision, Qi Xia intentionally held back his force, but this punch still solidly knocked Wang Ba to the ground.

Seeing this scene, Luo Shiyi’s face darkened. He rushed forward and immediately grabbed Qi Xia’s arm, his expression extremely angry. “Hey! Who told you to make a move? Are you crazy?!”

Qi Xia forcefully shook off Luo Shiyi’s hands, thought for a while, then frowned at him.

“Hmm…?” Luo Shiyi also frowned and glanced at Qi Xia, as if thinking of something.

Wang Ba lay on the ground continuously gasping for breath, looking as if he had suffered great grievance.

“You… an outsider actually dares…” Wang Ba said viciously while lying on the ground. “Knowing nothing… yet daring to arrange for our people to die…”

“Dang”!!

The bell suddenly arrived. “Gigantification” descended.

“I’m going to kill you…” Wang Ba stood up and lightly raised his right hand. That fist inflated like a balloon to several times its size within a few seconds, sweeping over with tremendous punching force.

Seeing the situation turning bad, Luo Shiyi flashed behind Wang Ba and hugged his waist.

“Lao Ba!” Luo Shiyi called out. “Calm down first!”

“Shiyi, this person is very dangerous! He’ll get us all killed!” Wang Ba said somewhat irrationally. “Didn’t you hear what he just said to me…”

“I know!” Luo Shiyi roared. “But you wait a moment first!”

Luo Shiyi hugged Wang Ba and retreated a large step, finally making that fist as huge as a wheel stop just a few centimeters in front of Qi Xia’s face.

“Shiyi, what are you doing?!”

“I can’t really say…” Luo Shiyi said. “But don’t make a move here first.”

Qi Xia looked at the enormous fist before him without even blinking, only raising the corner of his mouth. “That’s roughly one taken care of.”

“Taken care of?!” Hearing this sentence, Wang Ba’s fist slowly shrank down, but his expression still showed considerable anger. “Now your plan is completely messed up. The ‘Commander’ has no effect at all. You can’t stand in the corridor—standing there means getting caught by the cat. So what exactly are you going to…”

“Everything is within my plan,” Qi Xia said. “Qiu Shiliu is safe. She’s in the ‘Cat House’ now.”

“Being in the ‘Cat House’ is called safe?!” Wang Ba shouted loudly. “Isn’t the ‘Cat House’ the most dangerous place in this game?!”

“It’s not convenient to talk here,” Qi Xia said in a low voice. “Take the fruit and go back inside.”

Watching his back as he walked alone toward the “Mouse House,” Wang Ba’s hands nearly clenched until they bled.

“Don’t be angry yet…” Luo Shiyi patted Wang Ba’s shoulder. “I feel this kid really has something. Let’s follow along and see first.”

“Shiyi, you too…”

“Although his methods seem very problematic, you did achieve ‘Echo,'” Luo Shiyi said. “Your ‘Echo’ hasn’t come all this time. Even Wu Ge couldn’t think of a solution, but this man thought of one.”

“He thought of shit!” Wang Ba still felt very angry. “What does he mean? Although Liu Jie seems to find me annoying, she saves my life at critical moments every time. What does this outsider understand?! Does he know what kind of feelings we have between us? It’s purely a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse!”

“Tsk, stop arguing.” Zhou Liu looked thoughtfully at Wang Ba and Luo Shiyi, and said softly, “Let’s go inside first.”

The four people entered the “Mouse House” one after another. The moment they closed the door, it also locked, and one of the lights on everyone’s collar extinguished at this time.

Next was the second round—the “cat’s” daytime.

No one had the mind to consider the “cat’s” actions in this round. They just cast complicated gazes toward Qi Xia one after another.

“Speak up…” Wang Ba said through gritted teeth. “I want to see how you’re going to make up for the lies you’ve told.”

“The ‘Commander’ must exist,” Qi Xia explained patiently. “It’s just that the place she observes the ‘cat’s’ field from isn’t the corridor, but another place.”

“Another place?” Zhou Liu asked doubtfully.

Luo Shiyi nodded at this moment. “You mean… the ‘Cat House’?”

“Exactly.” Qi Xia nodded. “Six rounds. We need to send different people to the ‘Cat House’ each round to accurately and precisely know the ‘cat’s’ actions.”

Everyone’s eyes widened after hearing this.

Zhou Liu felt something wasn’t right. “Are you certain you can see the cat’s actions from the ‘Cat House’?”

“I’m certain,” Qi Xia said. “The first time I entered the ‘Mouse House,’ I confirmed it. When the ‘cat’ acts, his ‘Cat House’ should be like ours—the door is open. The mouse inside can definitely see all of the ‘cat’s’ actions clearly from inside the door.”

“You…”

“Moreover, entering the ‘Cat House’ is safer than entering any other place to observe the ‘cat,'” Qi Xia explained. “The strategy just now was only to make Wang Ba achieve ‘Echo.’ What comes next is the real plan.”

“I understand…” Zhou Liu nodded. “I’ll transmit to Shiliu now and have her not panic first…”

“No…” Qi Xia denied in a heavy voice. “Tell her I’ve completely abandoned her.”