Greediest Strategy

"You deserve to die!"

The silver-handed youth's contempt for the mice had left him facing three powerful enemies, and he was instantly filled with rage at the mouse before him who had caused all this.

Instead of hiding properly, this mouse actually dared to show its face?

Seeing his terrifying killing intent, Gaoxin hurriedly said, "Did you forget? Mice can enter as soon as the game begins!"

Hearing this, the silver-handed youth's expression stiffened as he looked toward the courtyard gate again.

The three Radiation Users were waiting anxiously outside, and the short one kept glancing at his watch...

Gaoxin was speechless. Why were you checking your stupid dog-brain watch? Just come in and kill the cat already.

Had those two Super Mice not realized they were wearing Mouse Collars? Or had they forgotten that mice did not need to wait thirty minutes to enter? Or were they unsure whether they could act as mice and still hesitating over whether to come in?

Still, for Gaoxin right now, it was a good thing that they had not entered.

If those two charged in now, the silver-handed youth would probably kill him immediately no matter what he said, then face the two of them.

It was precisely because they were still waiting outside that Gaoxin had a chance to speak.

"I have plenty of Redemption Vouchers, Old Cat. Since I said I'd cooperate with you, I'll cooperate with you."

"Cats are mice's best partners. You should understand that."

Gaoxin first talked himself up a little, terrified that Silver Hand would casually crush him to death.

Fortunately, Gaoxin had not worn prison clothes from the start. Unlike Cao Yang, who definitely had no savings, Silver Hand had exchanged a few words with Cao Yang before dealing with him, so Gaoxin should at least get to say a few more.

Gaoxin did not dare waste time and rapidly said, "The two Super Mice outside were muddled by anger. They still haven't realized they can come in, but that probably won't last long."

"When all three of them charge in, what will you do? Right now, you should use me to restrain them."

Gaoxin spoke rapidly, utterly shameless.

The silver-handed youth did not rush to act. He played with Gaoxin's skull and sneered. "I will definitely win in a one-on-one. I'm not afraid of one against two either. Even if all three come at me together, it'll only be a little troublesome."

"You, a Glass Person, think you can restrain them?"

Gaoxin sneered inwardly. Who was it that had been beaten into a bloody dumpling earlier?

Forget all three attacking together. He probably could not handle even two.

"Yes, yes, I've seen your strength with my own eyes. But there's a better method now. Not only can it let you defeat them one by one, you might even earn 2,400 Redemption Vouchers in the end!" Gaoxin said.

The silver-handed youth said disdainfully, "I would have thought of your 2,400 points sooner or later. It's nothing more than defeating them, forcibly switching them into mice, then killing them for the rewards."

"As for defeating them one by one? With you?"

Gaoxin said as though it were perfectly obvious, "Very simple. Put on a Mouse Collar, then put the Cat Collar on me."

"Hm? What did you say?" The silver-handed youth grinned viciously, and Gaoxin's skull creaked beneath his grip.

His aura was overwhelming. Gaoxin truly felt like a mouse encountering a cat, seized by terror as every hair on his body stood on end.

At such close range, Gaoxin felt it especially deeply. A certain fear seemed to become tangible and crash into him, as though he had encountered a natural predator!

Humanity's natural predator! His mind turned to mush, and all sorts of physiological reactions interfered with him.

Gaoxin struggled to say, "Don't be so attached to that identity!"

"There's no point in me becoming the cat, is there?"

"Likewise, you're so strong. So what if you become a mouse?"

The silver-handed youth released him and began to think seriously.

Gaoxin fell to the ground, gasping. The terror seemed to fade somewhat.

He pinched his thigh and forced himself to calm down. "Cats and dogs are natural enemies, but what if you aren't a cat? Then their first objective will still be to find the cat!"

"Otherwise, killing you would bring them no benefit other than venting their anger. They would even lose 100 Redemption Vouchers for nothing."

"Perhaps you think those two hate you to the bone and will definitely kill you first."

"But even if the first thing they do after entering is gang up on you, Big Beard won't."

"That bearded white man got the dog identity from the very beginning. The only threat to his life came from the other two fighting to seize his identity."

"So as long as you aren't the cat, Big Beard definitely won't join forces with those two against you. He'll only go look for the cat first."

"And those brothers may look like they hate you to the bone, but they also want Redemption Vouchers! How could they let Big Beard search for the Cat Collar, become the cat, and start slaughtering everyone? While they stay behind to fight you to the death and gain nothing? Wouldn't that be helping Big Beard?"

"If I were those brothers, at most I'd leave one person behind to restrain you, while the other searched for the cat, restrained Big Beard, and preserved the chance to become the cat first."

Silver Hand narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "Little mouse, you've got quite the scheme. You actually want to become the cat?"

Gaoxin said seriously, "I don't want to become the cat, but now that I've fallen into your hands, I have no other choice. If I can't serve you, I'll die right now."

"I'm so weak. What meaning is there in me becoming the cat? I sincerely want to cooperate with you. I'm telling you the real way to play Old Cat in this game."

"The real way to play Old Cat?" Silver Hand raised a brow.

Gaoxin nodded. "When they discover that the Cat Collar isn't on you, they'll know you've hidden it."

"In any case, there are so many mice, and they're all hiding. They won't be easy to find."

"If you give me the Cat Collar and I hide too, I can draw two of them into searching for me, and you'll have an opportunity for a one-on-one."

"That way, you can first kill one in a duel, then kill his brother. Big Beard still won't interfere, because the more fiercely you fight, the better it is for him. As long as I'm not caught, once you deal with the brothers, only you and Big Beard will remain for a one-on-one."

"At that point, you'll have defeated them one by one and taken down all three."

"Most importantly, one has the dog identity and one has the mouse identity. So even if they find other mice, they won't kill them. They'll leave them alive, at most breaking their legs, then kill them after becoming Old Cat so they can get Redemption Vouchers."

"In other words, as long as I'm not found and you become the final king of one-on-ones, they'll be catching mice for you, saving you the trouble of searching. When the time comes, whether to kill or spare them will be up to you. This is..."

Gaoxin lifted his head, staring intensely at Silver Hand. "This is the true essence of Dog Catches Rat."

The true essence of Dog Catches Rat?

The silver-handed youth was genuinely stunned for a moment.

This game was called Dog Catches Rat, not Cat Catches Mouse.

Could it really be about finding a way to make the dogs search for mice, then letting the final Old Cat reap the harvest? After all, dogs had no use for mice they found and would not kill them. Whoever became the final Old Cat could devour everything.

During the process, the strongest cat instead had to shed the cat identity to avoid becoming everyone's target.

It did not matter if a mouse became the cat either. Mice had no combat power. Even after becoming cats, they would be sickly cats, still only able to hide and barely cling to life.

The key to Dog Catches Rat was that anyone could catch mice during the process, but only the player who became the final cat was the real winner.

"No." The silver-handed youth suddenly calmed down and said grimly, "Wouldn't it be the same if I just hid the Cat Collar?"

Suppressing his fear, Gaoxin asked, "How could it be the same? Where do you plan to hide it?"

The silver-handed youth said coldly, "Bury it directly in the ground."

Gaoxin forced out a smile. "Do you think no one else can think of a method you thought of?"

"They're watching the front yard, so you can only bury it in the back yard. How long do you think it would take Big Beard, with that giant axe, to scrape through the entire yard?"

"Of course, you could hide it in the mansion. But the collar is a dead object. Once it's found, it can't run away."

The silver-handed youth said disdainfully, "That's still safer than putting it on a mouse. Do you think it would be easier for Radiation Users to find a living thing than a dead object?"

Gaoxin shook his head. "That's not the point... You shouldn't be considering which one is harder for Big Beard to find. Do you know him? Do you know what abilities he has? That would be gambling."

"Boss, you should consider which method has a worst-case outcome you can accept."

The silver-handed youth froze.

Gaoxin explained, "If it's around my neck, the worst outcome after it's found is that it ends up around Big Beard's neck. At worst, you can kill Big Beard again..."

"But if you hide it, the worst outcome is that it gets thrown over the wall... There will be no cat for the rest of the game..."

"Hm?" The silver-handed youth frowned.

Gaoxin stared at him. "Don't underestimate the mice. Big Beard isn't the only one who wants the Cat Collar. Every remaining mouse wants it too..."

"Though dead objects are harder to find, there could be ten times as many people looking for it. And if mice find the collar, they'll definitely throw it over the wall to ensure there's no cat."

The silver-handed youth roared, "Who would dare? I'll slaughter them!"

Gaoxin said, "They're dead either way, so why wouldn't they dare? You can kill me now, but you can't kill all the mice right now."

Silver Hand stared coldly at Gaoxin. He had underestimated the mice too much. Deep down, he had assumed mice would not dare manipulate him, that they lacked the courage. That was why he had not thought of killing people and collecting Mouse Collars earlier.

Yet reality had slapped him in the face, leaving him in his current situation, facing three powerful opponents of the same level.

If he hid the collar now and a mouse found it first, throwing it over the wall, then even if he killed every mouse to vent his anger, he would receive no reward.

That truly was an outcome he could never accept.

He could not assume the mice were all fools. As long as they secretly saw that he did not have the Cat Collar, they would probably know what was happening.

Gaoxin said solemnly, "With the collar around my neck, I can't take it off. I can only hide and run for my life. I'll use my life to buy you time."

The silver-handed youth suddenly revealed an amused smile. "Little mouse, I can't see what benefit you gain from this plan. This is Old Cat's greediest strategy for killing everyone, yet it came from the mouth of a mouse like you?"

Gaoxin said bitterly, "If I don't tell you this, I'll die now."

"You rejected a peaceful ending with the mice. What else could I do..."

"I can only beg you. Can't you spare us mice? After settlement, we really will give you all our Redemption Vouchers."

The silver-handed youth stared at Gaoxin and said icily, "This plan sounds simple, but defeating those three one by one won't be that easy. What if I'm not the one who takes back the cat position in the end?"

Gaoxin looked puzzled. "Aren't you the strongest?"

"You'll definitely win in a one-on-one. You're not afraid of one against two either. Even if all three come at you together, it'll only be a little troublesome."

"If you fight them one at a time, how could you fail to become the final cat?"

He repeated the other man's own words back to him.

Silver Hand immediately fell silent.

After a long while, he said, "Heh heh heh. The person who wanted to cooperate with me earlier was actually you, wasn't it? Everything that stupid bald man said was taught to him by you?"

Gaoxin said gloomily, "I definitely didn't teach him the stupid idea of offering you only ninety Redemption Vouchers."

Silver Hand smiled, but his expression then turned cold, his eyes filled with cruelty and killing intent. "Oh... You make a good case, but I refuse."

Gaoxin felt his heart race as immense sorrow rose within him.

His life and death rested entirely in Silver Hand's grasp. It was unbearably painful.

Just as he had said before, no matter how hard he worked, another person's single thought or single sentence could reduce everything to nothing.

It felt awful. Gaoxin was deeply unwilling, yet helpless.

Oh. A single "oh" could reject him without any reason at all. What utter contempt.

Seeing Silver Hand about to kill him for no reason, fury erupted in Gaoxin's heart. He was going to die anyway, so he lifted his head and glared back coldly.

"Fuck your mother. So you think you can't beat me in the end? Trash."

Gaoxin said those words hysterically! He started openly cursing! Damn it, he was about to die, so who the hell cared who this guy was?

Silver Hand froze. After thinking for a moment, his killing intent suddenly vanished, and he returned to calm.

He grabbed Gaoxin, took several strides into the mansion's main hall, casually found a corpse, and picked up a Mouse Collar.

With a click, Silver Hand decisively put the collar around his own neck.

Then he swiftly removed Old Cat's collar and fastened it around Gaoxin's neck.

Everything was clean and efficient!

Gaoxin's pupils shrank violently, and joy exploded inside him. It worked. He had actually persuaded him! So reason would not work, but he had to curse at him?

At the same time, he felt a little disappointed, because he had actually hoped cats could not become mice, and that the other man would be instantly killed when removing the Cat Collar.

What a pity. It seemed the move he had imagined really could work...

"You're right. I am the strongest here! In this game, I'll take everything!"

Silver Hand bared his teeth arrogantly, suddenly becoming inexplicably excited like a madman.

Then he pointed at Gaoxin and said, "After I deal with those three little wolf cubs, you'll be the fourth. I'll pound you into meat paste."

"I'll be waiting." Gaoxin said one word at a time, "And I will definitely slaughter you too."

Silver Hand ignored him outright, twisted his neck, strode out of the hall, and went to meet the three Radiation Users who had begun entering.

Gaoxin wiped away his sweat. He had survived. Only now did he realize that his entire body was soaked.

He had cut off every possible retreat for himself. Even if others could survive by paying protection money, he could not.

Gaoxin and Silver Hand were destined to fight. Silver Hand would pound him into meat paste.

The gap between them was far too great. He was just an ordinary person, an ordinary person who could not even beat someone like Sule.

Still, could Silver Hand really defeat all three in a row? That would be difficult.

"I need to hide quickly..."

Gaoxin glanced outside the window. Big Beard, Brother Dong Can, and the other man were besieging Silver Hand.

But he knew that would only be temporary. Silver Hand was already saying something, and Big Beard would probably abandon him soon and come searching for mice.

Without further hesitation, Gaoxin rushed upstairs two steps at a time.

When he passed a certain stair, he paused, crouched down to feel around, and soon lifted a marble slab.

He had seen that someone had hidden here earlier and had guessed they might suffocate to death.

Sure enough, a corpse lay inside, its face twisted and body deathly pale.

It had really suffocated to death.

The space beneath the stair was too narrow. A person lying flat inside could not even bend their arms, much less exert any force.

On top of that, it was extremely heavy. Once closed, it fit perfectly tight, and there was only a spot outside where it could be pried open.

"What a sick sense of humor." Gaoxin coldly glanced at the crystal balls inside. There were two of them, aimed directly at the face and feet. They were probably meant to watch someone struggle in regret and despair as they died inside the "coffin."

Gaoxin closed the stair panel but deliberately did not restore the carpet properly.

He immediately rushed up to the second floor without looking back. Once there, he casually slipped into a room, opened a hidden door, and entered the room next door.

He and Sule had discovered earlier that all the rooms around the second floor were connected by hidden doors.

"Sule!"

He ran through room after room, calling out softly.

Finally, when he entered one room, a muffled voice suddenly came from the bathroom. "Brother Xin Ku, I'm here."

Gaoxin walked in but still did not see Sule.

Only when the mirror above the sink was pushed aside did he see Sule curled up in a tiny hidden compartment less than a square meter wide behind the mirror.

There were many places in the mansion where people could hide. This was just one of them.

Even so, Silver Hand had found nine people within only a few minutes.

"Brother Xin Ku, you're okay! That's great!" Sule was overjoyed. After crawling out, he immediately hugged Gaoxin.

He cried with joy, his eyes red. "I thought you were definitely dead."

Gaoxin said, "I got lucky."

Sule wiped away his tears, then suddenly widened his eyes and pointed at Gaoxin's neck. "Brother Xin Ku, y-you-you-you..."

Good lord. Gaoxin wore both a Cat Collar and a Mouse Collar around his neck, completely stunning Sule.

"How did you turn into a cat?"

Just moments ago, Sule had been worried that Gaoxin would be killed by the cat. Who would have thought that not only had Gaoxin survived, he had even taken on the cat's identity? Could he have killed Old Cat instead?

"No time to explain. Upstairs first."

As Gaoxin spoke, he and Sule crouched low and prepared to open the door and flee to the third floor.

But the moment they opened it, a loud clang came from the hall.

It was the sound of a stone slab breaking!

"Someone came in and discovered that people could hide beneath those steps," Gaoxin said quietly.

Sule immediately felt frustrated. "That place was so well hidden, and they still found it..."

"I did it on purpose."

As Gaoxin spoke, he retreated with Sule and once again moved through the rooms. The floors were carpeted, so as long as they were careful, they could move without making a sound.

He had deliberately exposed the steps earlier. The people inside had suffocated to death anyway, and the Radiation Users searching the place would definitely lift them up to check, causing a disturbance.

That way, they could learn the enemy's location. That big-bearded white man should be standing on the stairs now, so they needed to get as far away from the stairs as possible.

"Look, our rope."

When they reached a certain room, Sule pointed outside the window.

They had lowered three ropes from the attic in three different directions. This one probably belonged to Meimei.

"Climb!"

Without another word, Gaoxin opened the window and climbed up the rope first. Sule followed.

But he was too slow. Sule directly said, "Brother, step on me and climb up..."

Gaoxin did not stand on ceremony. He stepped on Sule and climbed upward. With something to brace his feet against, he was naturally much faster.

Before long, he passed the third floor and entered through the attic window on the fourth floor.

Aside from his dirty clothes, Sule was completely fine. He quickly followed him inside.

The two swiftly pulled in the ropes from all three directions, when a head suddenly popped out of a box. It was Meimei.

"Great, you're both all right." Meimei was overjoyed as well.

It turned out that she had descended very slowly earlier too. Around the second floor, she saw Sule run over and say that the collar matter had been settled, but Gaoxin had fallen into Old Cat's hands.

Meimei had been devastated, but knowing that Old Cat was at the front of the first floor, she naturally did not dare go down again. Instead, she climbed back up and called for Sule to come with her.

However, Sule remembered the place Gaoxin had secretly arranged for him to hide in before, so he did not follow her and went to the second floor instead.

Sure enough, Gaoxin later came looking for him.

"Big Beard has already come in to look for rats. Good thing you didn't pull in the rope, or we might've been trapped on the second floor by him."

Gaoxin secretly looked out the window and saw Brother Dong Can and the short masked man surrounding and attacking Silver Hand. That completely confirmed that Big Beard, the only Dog player in the entire game, was the one who had come in to look for rats.

Truly, Dog Catches Rat.

"Of course I wouldn't pull in the rope. Silver Hand knew we climbed down from the attic. If the rope disappeared, he'd definitely know someone had climbed back up," Meimei explained.

Gaoxin nodded. "Now that Silver Hand isn't Old Cat anymore, he won't come looking for us until he kills the other three."

"What?" Meimei froze. Only then did she notice the two collars around Gaoxin's neck.

Her eyes widened in an instant. A rat caught by a cat should have had no chance of survival, yet not only had he lived, the rat had become the cat instead.

She had no idea how Gaoxin had done it.

P.S. Sorry.