Death Hide-and-Seek

The game had barely begun when the four Radiation Users erupted into sharp conflict.

The organizers threw four identities onto the ground and made them fight over them, and the battle immediately turned vicious.

Naturally, the silver-handed youth's provocation had played no small part in it.

He had taken all four for himself, so of course the other three had joined forces against him.

But by monopolizing all four, destroying two, then releasing one, he had forced the other three to kill each other.

One Dog Collar had driven three people into a bloody struggle, while the youth responsible watched as though nothing had happened. The irony was almost absurd.

The newcomers were dumbfounded. Whether it was the others' strength or the silver-handed youth's ruthlessness, both made them tremble.

And what was this game about? Cat Catches Mouse—and they... were the mice.

They did not even have a choice. Their identities had been assigned directly around their necks.

The organizers apparently knew very well that people like them had no right to participate in the "identity scramble," so they had simply skipped that part for them.

"Where's Brother Xin Ku?" Only after seeing them fight did Sule come to his senses, only to find that Gaoxin had already disappeared.

Gaoxin had run into the manor the moment the game began.

"Oh, oh..." Sule stopped watching and hurried through the doors, following close behind Gaoxin.

The courtyard was huge, filled with lush greenery: fresh lawns, flowers, small bushes, and several banana trees.

Along the inner side of the courtyard walls ran a ring of crystal decorations, extravagantly luxurious.

Straight ahead stood a massive mansion in the center of the courtyard, four stories tall and lavishly furnished.

As Sule ran after him, he searched the lawn everywhere. "Where are the Dog Collars that were thrown in?"

At the same time, more mice entered the courtyard one after another, all searching the grounds as well.

Sule scanned around but found nothing, so he followed Gaoxin first.

Gaoxin curled his lip and turned sideways to show him what he was holding. "I got them already."

He had been the first one inside. At that time, the silver-handed youth had not even thrown the collars yet, and everyone outside was still watching the show.

When Silver Hand threw the collars afterward, it had practically been like tossing them straight into Gaoxin's face.

Seeing this, Sule said, "Without these two collars, at least two people outside would have died!"

Gaoxin nodded. "These two collars are important."

Sule asked, "Brother Xin Ku, are you planning to trade these two collars with the people outside later, so Old Dog will protect us from Old Cat?"

Gaoxin looked at Sule in surprise. "Why aren't you thinking of putting one around your own neck?"

"Huh?" Sule froze. "We're mice. Can we have two identities at once?"

Gaoxin shook his head. "I don't know. But why not try?"

Sule's eyes lit up. "I see! You mean we can survive by becoming dogs!"

Gaoxin's face darkened. Why did he have to put it so unpleasantly?

Still, Gaoxin had indeed considered it. The rules had never said they could not wear two identities. Now that two Dog Collars had fallen into their hands, why not give it a try?

As they ran, they immediately tried to pry open the Dog Collars by hand.

But even after they rushed into the mansion's main hall, he still could not force one open.

It was too hard. Why was it clamped so tightly? Big Beard had made it look easy earlier.

Gaoxin shut the mansion doors and surveyed the richly decorated hall.

"Let me try." Sule held out his hand.

Gaoxin handed him one. Sule's muscles instantly tightened, and veins bulged on his forehead.

To his surprise, he forced open a gap, roughly as wide as a child's wrist.

But he could not hold it for long. Once his strength gave out, the alloy collar snapped shut again.

"Whew... I can't do it, Brother Xin Ku. It's too tight," Sule panted.

Gaoxin felt ashamed. This boy was far stronger than he was.

"The two of us together!"

As he spoke, Gaoxin and Sule each grabbed one side. Their bodies nearly tipped over as they pulled wildly in opposite directions.

This time, with both of them working together, they finally pried the collar open wide enough to barely fit around someone's neck.

But their bodies were practically falling over, their feet braced against each other's, using every bit of strength they had, including their own body weight... How were they supposed to put it on?

The instant they straightened up, they could no longer hold it open. With a buzz, the collar clamped shut.

"Damn it! Why is this so hard to open?" Sule could not believe it.

Gaoxin gritted his teeth. "The organizers must have considered the possibility of mice getting Dog Collars. They simply won't give us the chance to wear them."

"It's like they're saying that without a dog's strength, we're not even qualified to be dogs..."

Sule lowered his head in frustration. The Radiation Users outside could put these things on effortlessly.

Yet the two of them could not pry one open even together. It was utterly fucked up.

It was as though mice were mice, born as mice and only fit to be mice—forced to hide here and pray they would not be hunted down by cats.

"Brother Xin Ku, it seems we can only negotiate with the people outside using the Dog Collars," Sule said.

Gaoxin could not refute that, but doing so would be far too dangerous.

Giving the collars to those people would be no different from saving their lives, but expecting them to protect Gaoxin and Sule in return was wishful thinking.

An agreement without any binding force meant they would be absolutely vulnerable.

"Not yet. There are still cats outside, and the cats entered first! That guy is too ruthless... and too clever."

"So what you said about negotiating with the dogs can only be done during those ten minutes after the cats enter but before the dogs do."

Sule was somewhat confused. Why did it have to wait until then?

Shouldn't it be the opposite? Shouldn't they negotiate with the dogs before the cats could get in?

But Sule still nodded. "Brother Xin Ku, I'll listen to you."

By then, there was already a great deal of commotion in the courtyard. All the mice had entered and were searching for collars.

"We have less than twenty minutes to find a hiding place. Let's familiarize ourselves with the terrain first."

As Gaoxin spoke, he was already searching all over the first floor.

He examined every possible place where someone could hide.

The mansion was enormous, with countless rooms, luxurious decor, a European style, stone carvings, and murals everywhere.

In the center of the hall stood an opulent, spacious staircase covered in a precious carpet. It split into left and right stairways halfway up, leading to the second floor.

A huge wall clock hung on the wall at the landing.

Gaoxin had noticed it as soon as he came in. The time was about 2:02 in the afternoon.

Crossing the courtyard did not take two minutes, but even allowing for some delay, that meant the game had begun at exactly two o'clock.

The game lasted two hours, which meant it would end at exactly four.

Besides that, they noticed crystal-ball-like decorations embedded everywhere, at every angle and in every location.

Thinking back, there had been similar crystal decorations in the courtyard as well. That was rather strange.

Did they just like crystals that much? One or two decorative pieces would have been understandable, but having them everywhere was eerie.

"Could these be surveillance cameras?" Gaoxin muttered.

Sule froze. "That's actually possible! Didn't the Wa people say that powerful nobles watched the Redemption Game through live broadcasts? These might be scanners that transmit three-dimensional images."

Gaoxin's expression sank. He stared coldly at those crystal spheres as though they were countless eyes.

Behind those eyes, many nobles might be eating, drinking, clinking glasses, and enjoying the sight of their misery.

It disgusted him, but there was nothing he could do except ignore it. "Never mind that. Focus on finding places where people can hide."

"Mm."

Gaoxin looked around the first floor while hiding the collars.

Sule, meanwhile, set his sights on the fireplace. After leaning in to inspect it, he said, "Brother Xin Ku, how about we hide in the chimney?"

Gaoxin went over to look as well. The chimney was deep and dark. If they could climb high enough, people below truly would not be able to see them.

If they were discovered, they might even be able to climb out through the top of the chimney and find another hiding place.

It really was a good option.

"Can you climb up?"

"I should be able to."

Sule crawled in and jumped upward, using both hands and feet to brace himself against the walls. After a few grunts, his body steadily climbed higher.

Gaoxin's mouth twitched, but he still gritted his teeth and climbed after him.

However, the chimney was too wide for him to exert much force. He managed to brace himself upward less than a person's height before falling back down, covering himself in soot.

"Ugh, I can't do it. You hide here. I'll keep looking."

Gaoxin walked out of the fireplace, filthy and gray-faced, just as Jin Meimei and another fierce-looking newcomer rushed into the mansion.

Jin Meimei gave him an appraising glance, then suddenly fixed her gaze on Gaoxin's crotch.

Gaoxin forced a smile. "Beautiful, do you like looking at me that much?"

Jin Meimei curled her lip. "Did you take the Dog Collars?"

Gaoxin paused. "Dog Collars? What use are those? Shouldn't you be hiding already?"

With that, he walked away calmly, acting as though he needed to hurry and find a hiding spot.

Watching Gaoxin's back, Meimei looked puzzled but said nothing.

The other fierce-looking newcomer saw that Gaoxin truly wore nothing but briefs and did not appear capable of hiding two large alloy collars. He immediately turned his gaze toward the fireplace.

"If the people who entered first took them, they must have hidden the collars in there!" the fierce-looking newcomer roared as he charged inside and started searching.

Then he noticed someone climbing above him. He immediately picked something up and threw it upward. "Get down here!"

He jumped up and hurled things at Sule several times, finally knocking him down.

Then he pounced on him, grabbed him by the throat, and began feeling all over his body.

But Sule was also wearing nothing except briefs. One touch was enough to tell that he had nothing.

"What are you doing? What are you doing? I finally climbed up there... Hey, hey, hey, where are you touching?" Sule looked utterly bewildered.

"Damn it... Where are the collars?"

Sule said innocently, "I didn't take them. What use are those things? I finally found a place to hide, so why did you knock me down?"

"Get lost. This place is mine." The fierce-looking newcomer failed to find anything, so he began climbing upward like Sule had. He figured there might be some hidden compartment or something up there.

Even if there was not, it was still a good hiding place.

Seeing that his spot had been taken, Sule could no longer hide there. He hurried after Gaoxin.

Just as the two were about to go upstairs and had reached the staircase—

The bald man suddenly arrived with eight newcomers. "Hold it. You there, stop."

Gaoxin did not even turn around. He did not want to deal with him.

But the bald man quickly caught up and shouted, "Kid in the briefs, are the collars with you?"

Gaoxin turned around, looked left and right, then rubbed his bare chest with a speechless expression.

The bald man froze, also feeling that it seemed rather ridiculous.

He immediately turned his attention to the others. "Everyone, I need to search you!"

He sensed someone in the fireplace and charged in, dragging the person out.

The fierce-looking man wanted to explode in anger, but the bald man was large, and so many newcomers stood behind him.

Thus, he suppressed his rage and said, "Those two kids came in first. They definitely hid the collars somewhere."

The bald man looked at Gaoxin again. "Where did you hide them? Hand them over!"

Gaoxin rolled his eyes. "What the hell is wrong with all of you? Instead of finding hiding places, why are you looking for collars?"

The bald man said sternly, "Stop playing dumb. How could this game possibly let us escape the Radiation Users' pursuit just by hiding?"

Gaoxin asked in confusion, "Why not? The rules already told us: the mice are to enter the designated area, find hiding places, and survive for 120 minutes."

"That's the most straightforward path for mice to survive. It never told you to look for collars."

The bald man curled his lip. "Do you know how strong Radiation Users are? I don't know the strength of the four outside, but finding someone by listening for their breathing in the same room shouldn't be difficult."

"You think you can hide in a mansion like this for two hours and avoid a Radiation User's search? You must have an iron head."

Gaoxin shook his head. "Hiding normally would definitely be suicide."

"But this game must contain a true hiding place, somewhere Old Cat will struggle to find. Otherwise, wouldn't this just be a one-sided slaughter?"

Everyone froze. A real hiding place?

At that moment, Meimei said, "You mean... there's a hidden area?"

Gaoxin nodded. "The rules specifically mention a designated area, the entire area including this manor. Is it possible... that this manor is not the only place we can see?"

Everyone fell into thought.

Meimei agreed. "That's true. The rules tell the cats and dogs to enter the manor, but tell the mice to search for hiding places within the designated area... That wording seems to imply there are other areas."

"If we can find such a place, we may be able to hide there until the game ends."

Hearing this, everyone's eyes burned with excitement. Who the hell cared about collars? They needed to find a hiding place quickly.

The bald man asked urgently, "Where would it be?"

Meimei curled her lip. "Where else could it be? It can only be underground. Mice are best at digging holes. There must be a hidden entrance somewhere in the manor leading underground."

The bald man immediately barked at the others, "Find the hole! We have to find a passage underground. Whoever finds it, share it so we can all survive!"

At once, the mice became busy, knocking and searching everywhere for hidden passages.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to him anymore, Gaoxin turned and headed upstairs. Sule hurried after him.

After the two reached the second floor, Sule lowered his voice. "Brother Xin Ku, they didn't search you?"

Gaoxin let out a breath. "Luckily, I'm only wearing briefs. Otherwise, they definitely would have searched me."

The Dog Collars were actually hidden on his body, but not simply tucked into his briefs. He had put them around his thighs.

One on each leg!

Although he was thin, a thigh was still a thigh, while the opening of the collars was not large. They were clamped so tightly around his legs that they were nearly cutting off his circulation.

But with his briefs covering them, at least it was impossible to tell from the outside that he had hidden anything.

On top of that, he had acted convincingly. He truly wore only loose, swaying briefs that did not look like they could hide anything, so that man had let down his guard.

"Brother Xin Ku, if we're looking for an underground tunnel, why are we going upstairs?" Sule asked in confusion.

Gaoxin shot him a glance. "Who said we're looking for an underground tunnel?"

Sule was stunned. "Huh? Didn't you just say..."

Then he froze. That was what the woman had said; Gaoxin had merely mentioned the possibility of a hidden area.

Gaoxin said, "In a mansion this large, there should be plenty of hiding spots, but I don't think any of them are guaranteed to be safe."

"Don't forget, the hunting grounds for the mice include the so-called hidden areas."

"You have to consider it from the organizers' perspective. Do the wealthy elites want to see the mice hide in an invincible shelter? The easier a route to survival appears, the harder it must be to achieve."

"The opening twenty minutes are too important to us. Time is tight, so there's no need to spend too much effort looking for a place like that."

Sule paused. Right—even if there were areas beyond the mansion itself, they would still be within the hunting grounds.

"So... it's a trap?"

Gaoxin spread his hands. "I don't know. I only know that the first floor is the most dangerous, because Old Cat will most likely start downstairs and search upward floor by floor."

"That group is trying every possible way to find some so-called mouse hole on the first floor. It'll be fine if they find one, but if they don't, they'll be wiped out..."

Sule pondered. "Then... are we hiding upstairs now?"

Gaoxin inspected the surroundings as he spoke. "We just need to familiarize ourselves with the place and find a few hiding spots that make it easy to relocate."

"They gave you the identity of a mouse, but don't actually start playing like a mouse. Making the dogs restrain the cat—that's the way to survive."

"In this game, hiding is our last resort."

"After all, it's too passive... If I were the cat, and I couldn't find the mice, I'd simply destroy everything in the entire area. I refuse to believe the mice could still stay hidden..."

Sule shuddered, beginning to understand what it truly meant for the hunting grounds to include every area within the mansion.

"I get it. The real way to survive is still to let the dogs in. Brother Xin Ku, are we really not going to deliver the collar now?"

Gaoxin shook his head firmly. Sule could only sigh helplessly, then immediately began searching the second floor with Gaoxin to familiarize themselves with the layout.

The second floor was arranged in a ring of rooms. From the corridor, they could overlook the first and second floors, because the lobby on the first floor had a ceiling that extended through two stories.

"Brother Xin Ku, look. This row of rooms is connected by hidden doors. The other side should be the same."

"If Old Cat enters our room, we can secretly move into another room."

Sule voiced his discovery, but Gaoxin was looking down.

"Not good." Gaoxin noticed that both he and Sule were leaving charcoal ash behind as they walked.

They had gotten it on themselves from the fireplace. Both of them were blackened with soot, and their footsteps left prints behind.

"We need to find somewhere to wash up!"

Sule lowered his head and saw it too. The two hurriedly searched for a washroom.

They quickly entered a bathroom on the second floor. It was incredibly luxurious and even had a huge bathtub, so they immediately washed themselves off.

Since they had no clothes on anyway, they simply took a bath, then went to the wardrobe in the neighboring room and found some clothes.

Sule changed into a silk casual outfit and put on a pair of sneakers. Delighted, he said, "This place is really well prepared. The rooms have everything."

"Look how big this wardrobe is, and how many clothes it has. We could even hide inside it."

Gaoxin also changed into a similar outfit. The material was excellent; even though the size did not fit perfectly, it was still very comfortable to wear.

He said, "Hiding in a wardrobe? Isn't that just asking to die?"

"This isn't ordinary hide-and-seek. The price of being found is death!"

Sule nodded. If they truly had to rely on hiding, they would need to take a different path and think of an exceptionally clever hiding place.

"Huh? Brother Xin Ku, look, there's someone outside too."

Sule pointed out the window. Gaoxin saw that not everyone in the front yard had entered the mansion. One person had yet to go in.

That person sneaked around, avoiding the view from the main gate, and slipped into a bush beside it, separated from the Radiation Users outside by only a single wall.

Sure enough, from the surface, there was no sign that anyone was hiding there.

"Wow, that person is actually hiding right by the front gate!" Sule's eyes widened.

Gaoxin's expression turned strange. "He's thinking that once Old Cat comes in, he'll head straight for the mansion and won't carefully search around the gate?"

Sule clapped his hands. "Now that you mention it, he really might overlook that place."

"Old Cat will definitely search the more complicated areas first, killing his way from the first floor to the fourth. Only when he can't find anyone in the mansion will he consider the area by the front gate."

"You could say that as long as he gets through the first wave, he'll be safe for quite a while."

"Old Cat only has a hundred minutes in total to search. With twenty mice, he only has an average of five minutes to find each one."

Gaoxin grinned. "You can't calculate it that way. Old Cat might hunt several mice in quick succession."

Sule gave an affirmative sound. "I know, but this guy is betting that Old Cat will overlook the front gate for a long time, while the other mice buy him plenty of time."

"And he's the closest to the gate. Once time is up, he can immediately dash out."

"Hunting mice is only allowed within the designated area, which is the area inside the courtyard walls. Once he gets out, Old Cat won't receive any Redemption Vouchers for killing him."

"He might even be able to rush straight into the elevator and escape..."

Gaoxin shook his head. "That's gambling with his life."

"Huh? Holy crap, that works too? Brother Xin Ku, look—the stair steps in the first-floor lobby can actually be lifted! Did they find a tunnel?" Sule suddenly cried out again.

Gaoxin turned around and saw that everyone in the first-floor lobby was still frantically searching for the so-called hidden areas.

One veteran Glass Person was feeling around everywhere. While knocking on the stairs, he seemed to discover something unusual about one of the steps.

He lifted the carpet, searched carefully, found a place he could pry open, and actually levered up the marble slab on the step.

The inside was indeed hollow, drawing a crowd around it.

Unfortunately, it was not some secret passage. It looked more like a cramped coffin, only large enough for one person to lie inside!

Some people were overjoyed and even began fighting one another for the spot.

No one knew what they discussed, but in the end, one veteran was allowed to enter. After he lay down inside, the people around him even helped close the marble slab, restoring it seamlessly before covering it with the carpet.

At that point, there was no visible difference from the outside. It looked like an ordinary stair step.

If they had not seen it with their own eyes, Old Cat would probably never imagine that someone could be hidden inside a stair step.

"This step was deliberately designed for mice to hide in. Did you notice the inside of the slab? It has crystal balls too," Gaoxin said.

Sule sighed. "That's way too well hidden. Who could possibly find it?"

"So this mansion really does have plenty of great hiding places. If everyone could hide somewhere on that level, Old Cat probably wouldn't find many mice."

Gaoxin frowned slightly. "Two hours... he might suffocate in there."

"Uh..." Sule froze. "No way?"

Gaoxin shook his head. "I'm not sure either, but it feels too cramped inside, and the stone slab fits seamlessly. There probably isn't enough air."

Sule's mouth twitched. "Then this is way too much of a trap."

P.S. Sorry. I've mainly been polishing the plot for this book, so I've written it in greater detail. The game could actually have started right from the beginning, but I spent too much time describing the characters from the readers, so I've been posting more to move things along faster. Then the editor said my updates were too intense—I'd already written over fifty thousand words just after launching the book—and that it would hurt the system's recommendation scheduling, so they told me to slow down... After thinking it over, I'll only post one chapter today, though it's still six thousand words.