Relentless Hunt

"Pfft!"

The silver-handed youth pressed a hand to the man's face and crushed his head on the spot!

Blood and brain matter splattered across the bushes.

The first hunted mouse had been born.

Ignoring the blood staining his body, the youth turned to look at the mansion.

His gaze swiftly locked onto somewhere on the third floor, then shifted again to fix on the attic window.

Meimei was the first to meet his eyes. She shrank back in terror, her legs giving out as she collapsed to the floor, covering her mouth as she failed to suppress her sobs.

Sule also recoiled in shock. Seeing Gaoxin still looking out the window, he whispered, "He knows we're in the attic!"

Gaoxin merely grunted and continued staring outside.

Neither of them knew what he was looking at. Meimei asked, "Shouldn't we run? We need to find somewhere to hide! The attic isn't safe anymore!"

Gaoxin took two deep breaths and said, "Baldy is watching from the third floor. Old Cat must have spotted him too. If he's killing anyone, he'll kill the ones downstairs first..."

Sule said, "Exactly! Which is why we need to hide while we still can!"

But Meimei forced herself to calm down and said, "Right. Baldy and the others should hurry up and pass the collars to the people outside. As long as they can get three dogs in here, we still have a chance!"

They still remembered how the silver-handed youth had been surrounded by three people and beaten nearly to death.

Meimei immediately forced down her fear, got to her feet, and looked outside.

Seeing that neither of them was leaving, Sule could only stand up and look as well.

"Where is he?" The silver-handed youth was nowhere to be seen in the courtyard.

Gaoxin said, "He entered the mansion."

They could see the courtyard clearly from the attic, but they could not observe what was happening inside the mansion.

Now that the silver-handed youth had vanished, the unknown was what frightened them most.

Who knew whether he had already reached the attic door?

Every now and then, they glanced toward the reinforced door, terrified it might suddenly be smashed open.

A tense, oppressive atmosphere spread through the attic. The three of them had their hearts in their throats, and even breathing became difficult.

Suddenly, a scream came from the first floor.

"Ahhh! Don't kill me! Ugh..."

From the voice, Sule recognized the vicious-looking guy who had pulled him out of the chimney earlier.

That man had looked fierce enough, but before the silver-handed youth, he was nothing more than a little mouse.

"Another one died," Meimei murmured, though she also let out a small sigh of relief.

From the sounds, they could tell that Old Cat was still on the first floor.

"Ah!"

Not long afterward, another scream rang out.

It was still from the first floor. The third victim had appeared.

The three people in the attic were soaked in cold sweat as they continued waiting.

Then came the fourth victim! This time, the scream seemed to have come from the second floor.

"Too fast... He's killing too fast!"

"No wonder he dared hunt us without waiting for Old Dog to die. He can probably hunt nearly half the mice before Old Dog gets inside..."

Meimei covered her mouth as tears streamed down her face.

What time was it even? Old Cat had only just entered, and four people were already dead!

Just then, Sule suddenly growled, "Someone's sneaking out!"

Meimei looked over and saw Cao Yang crawling through the grass from who knew where, racing toward the courtyard gate.

Everyone was delighted, but their smiles froze the next moment.

The silver-handed youth had apparently been waiting all along. He silently dropped from the second floor, landed on all fours, and ran soundlessly through the grass.

He was incredibly fast and well-hidden, truly like an old cat!

If they had not been in the attic, they probably would not have seen him at all.

"Hurry!" Sule shouted a warning at the top of his lungs.

Hearing the shout, Cao Yang turned around, and the sight nearly scared his soul out of his body.

He instantly sprang up and sprinted madly toward the gate. Without wasting time talking, he directly threw two Dog Collars outside.

The people outside were ecstatic. They immediately stopped fighting and stared at the collars flying toward them.

But the silver-handed youth burst out laughing and leaped up as well, like a wildcat pouncing through the air.

His silver arm shot out, catching both collars midair before they could fly over the wall.

Cao Yang trembled and collapsed to the ground, as though the sight had frightened every bone out of his body.

The three people outside looked awful too, especially the two brothers, whose eyes had turned bloodshot.

"It's over..."

Everyone knew that once the Dog Collars fell into Old Cat's hands, there was no hope left.

The silver-handed youth was delighted. He swung the two collars around in his hand and spun in circles smugly.

"Want them? Come in and take them," he laughed arrogantly.

This time, the two brothers did not get angry. Their faces were ashen, and their hearts had gone completely cold.

Cao Yang was also despairing. Kneeling on the ground, he said, "Don't kill me. You promised to let me go. I'll give you two hundred Redemption Vouchers!"

The silver-handed youth asked with interest, "Oh? Do you have them?"

Cao Yang nodded desperately, spewing nonsense. "I do! I really do! I've survived several Redemption Games and saved up some."

The silver-handed youth laughed. "You're wearing prison clothes, yet you claim you've lived through several games?"

Cao Yang babbled, "I... I like prison clothes. I think they look good."

"Let me go, and I'll definitely give you two hundred Redemption Vouchers when I get out, really! Believe me! If you kill me, those Redemption Vouchers will be gone!"

He was shamelessly begging to live, willing to cling to life for even one more moment.

The silver-handed youth placed his palm on Cao Yang's face. Though Cao Yang was a grown man, he immediately began crying with choked sobs.

"Your cowardly appearance makes you unworthy of living," Silver Hand said disdainfully.

Hearing that, Cao Yang immediately began struggling desperately.

But in an instant, his head was crushed.

It was too brutal. The three in the attic watched the scene in utter silence.

Meimei's face turned ashen. She dropped to her knees and murmured, "It's over. The collars are in Old Cat's hands. We're all finished."

Sule clawed wildly at his own hair, utterly despairing.

Every mouse was going to be killed because of that baldy. Now that the Dog Collars had fallen into Old Cat's hands, what could they do next?

Play hide-and-seek? Could this attic alone stop Old Cat? He already knew they were here! It had been a good run. It was over!

Yet after staring outside for a while, Gaoxin suddenly let out a breath and said, "He went upstairs."

Hearing that, Sule jumped up. "We're dead. He's coming to kill us."

But Gaoxin gritted his teeth and forced out a smile. "No. This isn't the worst-case scenario. Not even close."

Meimei asked in surprise, "This isn't bad enough? Are you saying... he didn't wait until the two dogs were eliminated before turning on us?"

"But he deliberately left, lured the hidden mice into delivering the collars, then ambushed them and took the collars. Isn't that the same thing?"

Gaoxin stared hard at the corpses outside. "It's different. That guy got careless. We still have a chance."

"What chance?" Meimei asked in confusion.

"He didn't take the mice's collars," Gaoxin said.

"Huh?" Meimei was startled and began thinking rapidly.

Sule asked, "What? Didn't you say we can't become mice?"

Gaoxin said solemnly, "I said mice most likely can't become cats or dogs. I never said cats and dogs can't become mice..."

"Besides, those two people outside aren't dogs either. Did you forget? They don't have identities right now!"

In an instant, both their eyes lit up as hope rose again.

Those two were Identityless, and the rules only said there were twenty mouse slots. They never said someone else could not fill a slot after a mouse died.

"Right!" Meimei said excitedly. "Yes, yes! As long as we throw out two mouse collars, we can save those two brothers."

"Even though it'll be two mice and one dog coming in, the three of them together will definitely be overwhelmingly stronger than Silver Hand. For us, it's basically the same."

"I finally understand why the rules were worded so strangely, using phrases like, 'After the game begins, mice may enter the game area,' and 'Twenty minutes after the game begins, Old Cat may enter the area.'"

"Actually, the entry times for the different identities are not that restricted. They can enter anytime after a certain point."

"In theory, players could even stay out forever! They could enter after everyone else had been playing inside for over an hour!"

Sule exclaimed, "Doesn't that mean the real path to survival is for the mice to stay outside and never enter?"

Meimei curled her lip. "How could that work? Killing you outside gives them no reward, but they can throw you in here and kill you afterward."

Sule gave an awkward laugh and scratched his head. Only the strong could drag things out like that.

In theory, Old Cat could stand guard at the entrance until the mice were nearly starved to death, then enter and harvest them all...

Of course, the dogs would never allow that. Everyone wanted to be the cat, so they could just kill the cat outside the gate. That was why Silver Hand had entered immediately. If he had been even a moment slower, he might have been beaten to death by a group.

After all, the strong came to this game for Redemption Vouchers, not merely to survive. Otherwise, why participate at all? No master was forcing them to come.

As for weak people like them, they might only want to stay alive, but they did not have the ability to take that path.

The so-called Low-level Game was only low-level to those Radiation Users. To people like them... it was still incredibly difficult.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, a scream came from downstairs.

The fifth victim had appeared. This time, it was on the third floor!

Then came the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth!

Several thunderous crashes of things being torn apart rang out, mixed with footsteps and a chaotic burst of screams. Five people on the third floor had died in quick succession! It was far too fast.

Meimei swallowed and said, "Old Cat is too strong. He went up to the third floor and found five people with ease."

Sule said urgently, "Brother Xin Ku, aren't we going down yet? If we wait too long, we might lose our chance. We can't see the time, and the Identityless could be eliminated at any moment."

Gaoxin said solemnly, "He knows we're in the attic. We'll wait until he smashes our door."

"Then we split into three groups and go down from three different windows. We'll take the collars from the mouse corpses..."

Meimei continued, "Then we race straight to the courtyard gate and throw the collars out. We can't hope to negotiate anymore. We should count ourselves lucky if we can get those two brothers inside."

Bang!

A heavy crash suddenly sounded. Someone was smashing the attic door.

The force was immense, like thunder exploding in their hearts, making all three of them flinch.

He was here! Old Cat was here!

The person outside seemed not to have expected the door to be so sturdy. After pausing for a moment, he struck it a second time.

Boom!

This strike was even heavier, making the entire attic shake!

Fortunately, this was exactly the moment the three had been waiting for. They had already cleanly lowered their ropes and descended from three separate windows.

Going down from the fourth floor by rope sounded simple, but actually doing it was unbelievably hard.

Gaoxin had already used all his strength, yet his hands still hurt so much they trembled. Gritting his teeth, he tried to descend as quickly as possible, but he simply could not speed up.

In a burst of recklessness, he even felt the urge to just jump.

But when he turned his head, he found that Sule had already reached the ground. He was peeking out from the corner of a nearby wall, craning his neck to see why Gaoxin had not come down yet...

"Holy crap! That fast?" Gaoxin exclaimed in surprise.

When they had taken off their clothes earlier, he had noticed that this young man was lean and wiry, with highly explosive muscles.

Later, while climbing the chimney, the difference between his and Sule's physiques had become obvious.

Now Sule had descended from the fourth floor by rope in just a few swift movements, landing on the ground in no time at all.

Did this guy climb high places every day or something?

Then Gaoxin suddenly remembered that when Sule had introduced his skills on the beach, he seemed to have said he was a forest ranger.

Damn, what kind of forest ranger was this? He was practically an ape!

"Go!"

Gaoxin signaled Sule with his eyes, telling him not to worry about him and to hurry up and deliver the collars first.

Sule immediately understood and sprinted toward the gate at full speed.

He did not need to enter the mansion to find corpses and take collars. There were corpses right beside the courtyard gate.

One was the guy who had died first, and the other was Cao Yang...

Even better, both of them had been decapitated!

That saved him the trouble of having to cut off their heads first just to get the collars. After all, prying open a collar required no ordinary amount of strength!

Sule ran incredibly fast. He picked up the collars, rushed close to the courtyard gate, and hurled them out with all his strength.

He did not care how far they went. The people outside could pick them up themselves.

At the same time, Gaoxin finally descended to the height of the second floor. Gritting his teeth, he slid straight down. As expected, he lost his balance and came crashing down from above.

"Ugh..."

Gaoxin protected his head. He twisted his ankle and landed flat on his back, pain making him bare his teeth as he nearly lost his breath.

He shook his head and opened his eyes, only to see the silver-handed youth standing on the mansion roof, looking down at him.

"Hiss!"

Gaoxin was alarmed and hurriedly pushed himself into a sitting position.

But before he could stand, a figure landed in front of him, kicking up dirt and debris.

The silver-handed youth had jumped straight down from the fourth floor!

"Brother Xin Ku!" Sule raced back. Seeing this, his eyes nearly split with rage as he shouted anxiously.

Everyone knew what happened when a mouse fell into a cat's hands... especially when the cat was a lunatic like this one.

"Don't come over! Run!" Gaoxin roared.

"Hurry! Hide in the place we agreed on!"

"Run!"

Hearing the shout, Sule's eyes filled with tears. He wanted nothing more than to rush over and fight.

"Mm... Brother Xin Ku..." In the end, he gritted his teeth, took a detour, and sprinted around to the side of the mansion.

That was the direction Meimei had landed. After only a few steps, Gaoxin and Old Cat could no longer see Sule.

"Still worrying about someone else..." The silver-handed youth took a step and swept over to Gaoxin's side.

"Wait, I have a plan..."

Gaoxin spoke rapidly, but the silver-handed youth could not be bothered to listen. His hand had already gripped Gaoxin's cheek!

He knew that the next second, his head would be blown apart.

Gaoxin's heart pounded wildly. The pressure of death was terrifying.

Yet he did not feel afraid. Perhaps he had been too afraid; knowing what awaited him, he was no longer frightened.

He glared furiously and shouted in a fast, loud voice, "Don't you want 2,400 points?!"

The words seemed to work. That silver, icy palm stopped.

With his cheek pinched, Gaoxin's face was distorted as though he were trying to act cute, his lips pursed.

"Huff... huff..." He gulped down breaths, able to hear his own violent heartbeat.

"2,400 points?" The silver-handed youth looked at him.

Sure enough, this guy was greedy to the core.

Earlier, when he said people could buy their lives for two hundred points, it had not been an empty joke. It was his true feelings spilling out.

Gaoxin hurriedly said, "Twenty mice can contribute 2,000 points to you, and Old Cat's own survival reward is 100 points."

"But 2,100 points isn't Old Cat's limit. The true maximum is 2,400 points, since there are twenty-four players in total."

The youth was very smart; a hint was all he needed.

He recalled the direction Sule had come from just now and instantly realized something. He abruptly looked toward the courtyard gate.

The three Radiation Users had stopped killing one another. They stood outside the gate, coldly staring over, their auras surging with fury and an excitement that said, We've finally turned things around.

His eyesight was excellent, and he saw collars around all three of their necks.

He did not need to think to know that two of them were Mouse Collars, because the Dog Collar was in his hand.

"You bastard!" The silver-handed youth's expression turned grim as he realized he had been careless.

He had thought that after ambushing Cao Yang and recovering the two Dog Collars, everything would be settled and the two dogs would be doomed.

But in truth, they were not two dogs, but two Identityless!

So regardless of whether Old Dog could turn into a mouse, the two of them definitely could.

"I should have collected every collar worn by the mice I killed."

The silver-handed youth was furious. In fact, if he had seriously considered what the mouse players might do, he could have thought of this.

But he had not cared about the mice at all. In his eyes, they were all just moving Redemption Vouchers.

Especially that bald man earlier, who had claimed he would give him ninety points after getting the reward. His greedy, foolish face had been utterly laughable.

He had casually agreed, and the other man had been moved to tears, ecstatic beyond measure.

Yet he had never expected that there was another group of mice operating in secret. After he had taken control of the situation, instead of hiding properly, they had dared to strike first! Dared to manipulate him!

He had been careless, and he had underestimated the courage of the mouse players.

P.S.

Sorry.