“That’s exactly what I mean,” Qi Xia nodded. “If you don’t agree, today’s probability of death is as high as one hundred percent. If you agree, the probability of death is only ninety percent.”

“You…” Earth-Mouse gritted his teeth. He wanted to organize his words, but felt like he was about to be overcome by anger.

“This ten percent is my gift to you,” Qi Xia said in a low voice. “If my plan goes smoothly, the ten percent probability will continuously grow, eventually reaching twenty percent.”

“You’re truly too naive,” Earth-Mouse sighed. “If you want to resist that person… the probability of survival could never possibly reach twenty percent.”

He paused, then said as if talking to himself: “I’m afraid it couldn’t even reach two percent…”

“Time is almost up,” Qi Xia said. “This round, I will completely cut off all your paths of survival. If you don’t quickly think of a countermeasure, what comes next will be the final moment of your life.”

“You’re a master at manipulating people’s hearts,” Earth-Mouse said with a cold laugh. “I can’t one hundred percent believe that you can see through this game. This is a game I designed by wracking every bit of my brain.”

“Is that so?” Qi Xia also gave a cold laugh. “I could even guess ‘papaya,’ yet you don’t believe I can cut off your ‘path of survival’?”

“I…” Earth-Mouse was clearly hesitating. After a long while, he said in a dazed voice, “Being blown up by the collar is better than being killed by them.”

“Is that so?”

Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brow. He didn’t understand—he had already used threats to this degree, yet Earth-Mouse still hadn’t relented. What exactly was he resisting?

“That’s right,” Earth-Mouse said with a sorrowful expression. “Dying here at least proves that I worked hard to get out, but I failed. That’s all. I couldn’t possibly regret dying on the road to pursuing my dreams, but I would regret making any out-of-line moves.”

As the footsteps outside the door gradually faded away, Qi Xia knew Earth-Mouse had already made his choice.

“It’s truly a bit of a pity…” Qi Xia said with a dejected expression. “Such a scheming person, yet he can’t serve as my chess piece…”

The footsteps disappeared in the corridor, and Saturday’s voice reached Qi Xia’s ears: “Turtle is fine now.”

“As it should be,” Qi Xia said.

“Tsk, but I didn’t expect Earth-Mouse would actually give up…” Saturday said, puzzled. “He clearly could have gone back on his word. Could those two words ‘papaya’ that Turtle said really be that terrifying? So what if he guessed it? If I were Earth-Mouse, I’d catch him if I should catch him.”

Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. How could Earth-Mouse be afraid of Turtle?

What he was afraid of was that someone in this five-person team had seen through his game.

Once someone could break through layers of fog and see through to this level, then he couldn’t win anymore.

Qi Xia turned his head again to look at the fruits on the table. Earlier, he had obtained three small tangerines, three dragon fruits, three peaches, and one pomegranate.

He and Luo Shiyi had each consumed one small tangerine and one peach. Now the most important thing was to go “rescue” Saturday.

“Saturday,” Qi Xia called out. “There’s still one dragon fruit in your room, right?”

“Tsk, yes.”

“Take it with you,” Qi Xia said. “Next round, I’ll go rescue you.”

“Take it…?” Saturday was a bit stunned. “Aren’t I being controlled by the ‘mousetrap’?”

“You were misled by the rules,” Qi Xia said. “Although you’re now being controlled by the ‘mousetrap,’ before being controlled you were ‘searching.’ Theoretically, you should get the fruit.”

“Will that really work…?” Saturday looked at the dragon fruit on the table with skepticism. “Then wouldn’t I be triggering ‘transport’?”

“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “You don’t need to transport. Just give the fruit directly to Turtle when he passes by the door.”

“Then what should I do next?”

“You continue to the second room,” Qi Xia said. “I’ll go to the third room. This round, I’m planning to move away all the food.”

“Tsk… all the food?” Saturday stroked her chin and thought for a moment. “That’s not right, is it? Is this something that can be done?”

“What’s the problem?”

“Tsk, right now the fruits in the five rooms… if I’m not mistaken, the quantities are respectively one, one, four, zero, and one. Aside from the pomegranate which has already run out, the other fruits either have one left or four left…”

“So?”

“Tsk, so how will you take away all the fruits?” Saturday looked at the dragon fruit in her hand. “Even if Turtle and I simultaneously take away the two ‘ones,’ there’s still one ‘one’ and one ‘four’ left. If Turtle executes ‘transport,’ we’d need at least three more people to take away the fruits from these two rooms…”

“Oh?” Qi Xia raised his eyebrows.

“Tsk, but do we have enough people?” Saturday said. “Luo Shiyi is in the ‘Cat House,’ Turtle is transporting. Next round, you three will only be three people total. Don’t we need a ‘commander’?”

“None of that matters anymore,” Qi Xia said. “The game doesn’t need six rounds at all. It’s about to end.”

“Huh?”

Qi Xia thought for a while, grabbed a small tangerine from the table, then said to Qiu Shiliu: “Aside from the pomegranate, just take any fruit to replenish one slot of ‘satiety.’ Next round, you just wait here.”

“Wait here?” Qiu Shiliu looked at Qi Xia with furrowed brows. “You don’t need me to go out and ‘search’ anymore? Didn’t this game just start?”

“Of course not,” Qi Xia said. “This game already ended after the rules were explained.”

Click.

The door lock gave a crisp sound. The door to the “Mouse House” opened again. The third round quietly descended.

Qi Xia came to Saturday’s room and opened the door. At the same moment, the door to the “Cat House” also opened.

Saturday was holding a dragon fruit in her hand and happened to see Luo Shiyi holding a pomegranate.

“Huh…?” Both of them were somewhat stunned.

“What’s going on?” Saturday asked. “Tsk, how did you bring out fruit from the ‘Cat House’?”

“I…” Luo Shiyi gave a bitter laugh and shook her head. “Last round, Qi Xia went to the ‘Cat House’ to rescue, and I followed his instructions and went inside to ‘search’…”

“Huh?” Saturday was once again shocked by the situation before her. “Going to the ‘Cat House’ to ‘search’…? Was it mentioned in the rules?”

“Regardless of whether it was mentioned in the rules…” Luo Shiyi sighed. “But the ‘Cat House’ indeed has a ‘search’ button… When the round ended and I had to leave with the pomegranate, that Earth-Mouse didn’t stop me either.”

After Saturday finished speaking, she looked at Qi Xia again: “This is also part of your plan? Tsk, but why would the ‘Cat House’ have fruit?”

“Because the ‘Cat’ also needs to eat, but his food isn’t just fruit—it can also be ‘mice.'”