The impression Bai Youwei tended to leave on people generally came down to a few fixed traits:

One — she sat in a wheelchair;

Two — she held a stuffed rabbit;

Three — she had a canvas bag hanging from the wheelchair.

The canvas bag carried her everyday essentials as well as her tools. No one found this unusual; they simply assumed she planned to use her tools as weapons.

Still, such a large bag was rather enviable.

Jiang Hao’s gaze lingered on the canvas bag for two extra seconds.

“Alright, now that we have weapons, let’s discuss how to kill Mali and the cat!”

Zhao Mingdeng was always the most enthusiastic of the group. He spoke about the game as though he were posting a strategy guide on a forum.

“My view is that the main strategy should focus on Mali, not the cat!

“That cat is the size of a bus — normal human beings are no match for it whatsoever, let alone killing it! But Mali — you all saw her, right? Mali is the height and build of a little human girl, and she’s even more delicate than that. Clearly far easier to deal with!”

“The previous players definitely thought the same thing.” Lu Ang frowned, unconvinced. “I’d say Mali is a trap — maybe the game is counting on exactly this mentality of ours, making us think Mali is easy to handle, and then when we make a move, everyone ends up dead.”

Zhao Mingdeng widened his eyes: “Then do you want to go straight after that cat? With a cat that huge, even all ten of us together may not be enough to kill it!”

These swords and blades — landing on that cat would probably be no more effective than toothpicks!

“I actually have another line of thinking.” Yan Qingwen, standing nearby, spoke up.

Everyone looked toward him.

“Whether we’re going after the cat or going after Mali — as soon as we move against one, we’ll inevitably encounter the other.” Yan Qingwen said, unhurried. “If we could get them separated — is it possible that would change things?”

Zhao Mingdeng’s eyes lit up immediately: “That’s a great idea! According to the game data, Mali and the cat are always together, and that cat is practically indestructible. If they’re separated, maybe both of them will have a weak point exposed!”

“But how do we actually get Mali and the cat apart?” Yu Yaqing asked.

Yan Qingwen was quiet for a moment, then raised his head and looked at everyone. “We could set a trap — something to knock Mali off the cat. But there’s a certain level of danger, and we’d need to plan the escape routes in advance. After all, none of us can know for certain what will happen once those two are separated.”

“How long would it take to set up a trap?” Shen Mo asked.

Yan Qingwen glanced around, quickly running through several plans in his mind, and answered: “Forty minutes.”

“And the escape routes?” Shen Mo asked again.

Yan Qingwen smiled faintly. “At least two hours.”

Tan Xiao couldn’t help letting out a cry: “That long?!”

“Two hours is already considered short.” Shen Fei said gravely. “Escape isn’t about running blindly in any direction without a plan — it’s about making precise calculations to deliberately engineer three to five visual blind spots along the route from start to finish, using the terrain and environment, to enable a safe getaway. And because each person’s escape direction cannot be identical, we need a separate escape route for every person involved in the action. The computational demands are enormous.”

Having said that, Shen Fei couldn’t help casting an admiring glance at Yan Qingwen.

Rational, intelligent, calm and composed — this was exactly the kind of friend his cousin should be associating with! Not running with the daughter of Wang Jingxian, picking up a whole crowd of disreputable people! It was like watching a top student get led astray by troublemakers — with no way back.

Yan Qingwen smiled at Shen Mo with a half-knowing look: “If you let Weiwei come help me, the time might be cut down a bit.”

Shen Fei: “???”

—