The four people discussed tactics once more, waiting for the second round’s door to open.

During this time, Qi Xia and Luo Shiyi each dropped one fruit into their holes. Their satiety returned to two bars, while the others all had one bar.

With a light “ka-da” sound, the door lock released, and the four people successively left the room.

“Zhou Liu, regardless of whether you step on a ‘mousetrap’ after entering the room, remember to immediately transmit to Qiu Shiliu,” Qi Xia said. “Luo Shiyi and I will only begin ‘rescue’ after you transmit.”

“Tsk, I got it.”

Zhou Liu and Wang Ba respectively walked toward the first room and the second room. Just as they were about to enter, Qi Xia suddenly felt something wasn’t quite right.

“Wait…” He raised his hand to stop their movements. “Wang Ba, switch to another one.”

“Me…?”

Qi Xia nodded, then pointed toward the brown wooden door of room number five.

After hearing this, Wang Ba sighed and slowly walked over.

Qi Xia felt that rooms one and two were simply too close together. If the Earth-Mouse had predicted his prediction, he would focus attention heavily on the other rooms besides room three.

If the “cat” used “patrol” instead of “mousetrap” this round, two people so close together could very likely be caught together. This would be the worst situation in the entire game.

But thinking carefully, the “cat” not using “mousetrap” in the last round was the correct choice, because this round was his best moment to catch people.

In other words, there was a very high probability of “mousetraps” in any two of rooms one-two or four-five. The probability of two people each stepping on a “mousetrap” was both one-half.

“Be careful,” Qi Xia said softly. “Warm up in advance so you don’t cramp up later.”

“Ah?” Wang Ba obviously didn’t understand, but seeing that Qi Xia wasn’t paying attention to him anymore, he could only push the door open with a hesitant expression and walk into the room.

Luo Shiyi’s expression as he looked at Qi Xia at this moment became increasingly complex. He had a strange feeling.

This man before him truly seemed extraordinary. Like Qian Wu, he possessed an extremely unique aura. It wouldn’t be inappropriate to call him a leader of one side.

“Come with me,” Qi Xia said expressionlessly. “Let’s go take a look at the ‘Cat House.'”

Luo Shiyi nodded quietly and followed Qi Xia forward.

“Hey, you know what? I really like capable people,” Luo Shiyi said in a low voice.

“What do you mean?”

“Only remarkable figures in this world can make me submit,” Luo Shiyi gave a cold laugh. “I originally thought that in this city only Wu Ge could control me, but I didn’t expect you’d also have some skills.”

Qi Xia acted as if he hadn’t heard Luo Shiyi’s words at all and came to the side of the “Cat House.” There was a button on the wall outside.

Above the button it read: “Press to begin rescue.”

“I’m really afraid of failure,” Luo Shiyi continued speaking. “You may not be my age yet. Once a man passes thirty, we simply don’t have time for failure, so we must follow the right person…”

“Still no transmission?” Qi Xia frowned.

“Hey… are you listening to me?”

“No transmission means there’s a situation in her room, which means she’s been delayed by something. This thing can only be a ‘mousetrap’…” Qi Xia stroked his chin and began deducing. “Just as I expected, the ‘mousetrap’ is in room one. Next…”

“Hey… I’m saying…” Just as Luo Shiyi was about to say something, a bell suddenly rang in the distance.

“Dang”!!

The bell quietly arrived. “Crimson Flame” descended.

Qi Xia’s eyes widened. He hurriedly pressed the “rescue” button on the wall. At the same moment, a heart-rending scream came from the “Cat House.”

“Qi Xia!! You’re looking for death!!”

Before the words even fell, Qi Xia kicked the door open with one foot.

Qiu Shiliu, who had been howling toward the sky with completely red eyes, froze in place when she saw this scene.

The Earth-Mouse beside her also seemed frightened by Qiu Shiliu’s fury and was currently hiding motionless in a corner.

“Huh?” Qiu Shiliu was stunned. “No… you guys… what?”

Seeing her appearance, Qi Xia let out a long breath. “The intelligence was wrong. I came to rescue you.”

“You…” Qiu Shiliu blinked her eyes. The fury in her pupils had already disappeared by more than half.

“Rescue me…? What… what’s going on exactly?”

“Don’t talk yet. Come with me first,” Qi Xia said. “The two of us will go back first.”

After hearing this, Luo Shiyi felt something wasn’t right. “Wait… what do you mean ‘you two go back first’? What about me?”

After hearing this, Qi Xia didn’t answer. He only surveyed the walls of the room, and before long nodded to himself. “Luo Shiyi, you stay here.”

“What?!”

Seeing that Luo Shiyi didn’t understand his meaning, Qi Xia could only lean close to his ear and softly say a few sentences.

These few sentences also made Luo Shiyi’s expression become wonderful.

“You… you’re not crazy, are you?” Luo Shiyi asked. “Did the rules mention this?”

“They didn’t mention it, but they didn’t prohibit it either,” Qi Xia said. “Since he set it up in advance, it means this method is feasible.”

After looking, Luo Shiyi remained doubtful, but he carefully looked at the Earth-Mouse’s collar, then suddenly discovered that on the room’s table there was also a pomegranate placed. This finally made his brain tense up.

“Did you think of this step early on… or did you think of it after entering the room?” Luo Shiyi asked.

“Why do you think I arranged for myself to rescue people?” Qi Xia looked at him expressionlessly and answered. “I said before, there’s something I need to confirm in the ‘Cat House.’ Now everything is about the same as I thought.”

After saying this, he looked again at the Earth-Mouse. “Are you really not going to reconsider what I said before? The three of us are now standing together in the ‘Cat House.’ This should represent that what I said before wasn’t false. Do you want to join a ‘Torrent’ or not?”

The Earth-Mouse’s pair of pitch-black eyes looked toward the ground with some complexity. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking about, but Qi Xia knew his “shake” had most likely already succeeded.

“Leader… you’re… really joking,” the Earth-Mouse said with a bitter laugh. “I simply want you all to die, that’s all. You really think too highly of me. How could I possibly do something so treasonous and heretical?”

“Is that so?” Qi Xia said with furrowed brows. “The people above you… are really formidable to this degree?”

The Earth-Mouse walked step by step toward Qi Xia, met his eyes, then opened his mouth and said, “So leader… please really stop meddling. Can you obediently go die? I just want to bow and scrape while watching your collar explode and your brains splatter, rather than climbing up the social ladder by getting involved in your ‘Torrent.’ I’m not worthy.”

The complexity of this gaze almost exceeded Qi Xia’s imagination.

The Earth-Mouse wanted to die, wanted to escape, wanted to win, wanted to lose, and wanted to live.

He had worn his protective coloring for too long, so long that even he himself didn’t know which of his own words were true.

But Qi Xia had seen quite a few Earth-level “Zodiacs,” yet had never seen someone fear “Heavenly-Dragon” so much. Could it be that above the Earth-Mouse wasn’t “Heavenly-Dragon,” but there was another person in between?

“If ‘Man-Dragon’ is the manager of all ‘Man-level Zodiacs’…” Qi Xia muttered to himself, “then are you afraid of ‘Earth-Dragon’?”