I Will Directly Confront Him

Gaoxin stripped naked and was thrown directly over the courtyard wall.

Then, bare-chested, he crept into the ground floor hall.

Two people lay there, groaning incessantly. Upon seeing him enter, they urgently begged him for help.

Gaoxin put a finger to his lips and shushed them as he approached.

"Don't make a sound. The cat collar is with me. As long as I'm not caught, you won't die."

Hearing this, the two weren't fools and immediately understood why Big Beard had only crippled them instead of killing them.

"Keep crying, keep wailing, don't stop. Just pretend you never saw me."

Gaoxin spoke as he swiftly rushed to the marble steps in the center of the hall.

As expected, the section of the steps that could hide a person had been lifted.

The corpse inside still lay there, slightly disturbed, with a large bloodstain on its chest.

It turned out that Gaoxin had deliberately left the carpet askew after checking the steps earlier, creating a flaw to let Big Beard discover it and thus know about the corpse here.

Besides using the sound of the lifting panel to determine Big Beard's location at the time, it was also for this very moment!

The deceased had suffocated, yet there was a wound on his chest, clearly indicating Big Beard had taken out his frustration on the corpse with an axe.

Gaoxin smiled upon seeing this. It was even better this way.

Without a word, he began to strip the corpse and put its clothes on himself.

At the same time, he scooped out some of the corpse's flesh and smeared it on his own chest in the same spot.

For a moment, he looked just like the dead man.

It wasn't over yet. Gaoxin dragged the corpse out and, glancing at the nearby fireplace, quickly dragged it over to hide.

From above, Sule's voice pleading and negotiating could still be heard intermittently, asking if he could have the collar and if his life would be spared.

Big Beard replied that he agreed.

Yet, the two continued their chase on the third floor, their voices constantly moving.

Gaoxin understood that Sule was providing him with intel, letting everyone in the building know Big Beard's location.

"Well done!" Gaoxin praised inwardly.

Sule was too agile, and his strength was considerable. Coupled with his familiarity with the terrain, he was proving useful at this moment.

The time this bought him was absolutely crucial.

Gaoxin raced against time and soon buried the corpse in the pile of charcoal in the fireplace.

Beneath was dark soil. He dug out a section, shoved the body in, and then covered it with a large amount of soil and charcoal. Thus, the corpse was completely pressed inside, with no way to tell from the surface that someone was hidden there.

This was actually a very good hiding method, but people needed to breathe. Burying himself would be suicidal, wouldn't it?

However, dead people didn't need to breathe.

Gaoxin wiped his hands and rushed back to the steps, lying down directly inside.

He then covered his head with the red carpet, leaving most of his body exposed. The marble slab remained tilted to the side, everything as it was when he arrived.

Then, he breathed slowly and carefully, remaining completely still.

The two people in the hall, having witnessed the entire process, were stunned.

Disguising himself as a corpse? In broad daylight?

Could this really work? The last person who tried the "hiding in plain sight" tactic had already died.

Gaoxin slowed his breathing, remaining motionless, yet his ears were everywhere.

Sule held out on the upper floor for a while, but finally let out a scream and was caught by Big Beard.

THUMP!

A loud noise, like an axe striking a wall, echoed. Clearly, Big Beard, seeing that Sule didn't have the cat collar, realized he'd been tricked again and was hacking at the wall in frustration.

"Ughhhhhh!"

Sule's screams gradually drew closer.

Big Beard, carrying him, strode down from the upper floor, passing right by where Gaoxin was hiding.

However, Big Beard didn't realize the corpse in the pit had been swapped. He took two or three steps at a time, leaping over several steps.

He actually stepped right over Gaoxin!

Success!

Gaoxin remained motionless, secretly letting out a sigh of relief.

But he still didn't dare to let his guard down, maintaining the lowest possible breathing frequency.

If the hall had been quiet, his method would likely have been impossible. But he was certain the hall would be the noisiest place, filled with people's wails. This "hiding in plain sight" tactic thus had a chance.

But then Big Beard spoke, "What are you looking at?"

He was addressing the two broken-legged mice in the hall. Clearly, they had been staring at Big Beard as he came down the stairs, hoping he would discover Gaoxin.

Even the whimpers grew quieter, making Big Beard feel strange.

No way... Gaoxin felt a pang of sorrow. Could we really be this unlucky? Is someone really this stupid?

Fortunately, the two quickly realized their mistake. They gradually amplified their cries of pain and pleaded, "Uh... Big Boss... spare... spare us. We're willing to give you all our rewards, just let us live."

Big Beard said coldly, "You've already fallen into my hands. As long as I become a cat, I can get redemption vouchers by killing you. Why would I bother collecting debts?"

He refused. If everyone else was still hiding, and he himself was being hunted, he might have been happy to accept such a deal.

As long as he was alive, he would eventually get the reward. Why wouldn't he?

But the mice had already fallen into his hands, like fish on a cutting board, ready for him to slaughter. Unless this person truly disliked killing, why bother with the trouble of collecting debts afterward? What if something unexpected happened?

"Wuwuwu..."

The two sobbed and moaned, seemingly resigned to their fate.

But in their hearts, they knew even more clearly that Gaoxin absolutely could not be exposed.

Gaoxin was the lifeline of all the mice!

"Hmph!"

Big Beard dropped Sule and went outside to drag Meimei back in.

In an instant, four mice had been caught in the hall. Not counting Gaoxin, there were still five left.

Big Beard didn't stop, continuing to search the mansion.

He scrambled around, checking rooms on the first floor, then went to the second.

Gaoxin lay there on the central marble steps, not even covered by a board, completely exposed. Yet, Big Beard passed by several times without suspecting him.

After all, he was the one who discovered the corpse, and he was the one who personally stabbed it with an axe.

Unless there was a significant difference or inconsistency, Big Beard would hardly suspect that the corpse had been swapped.

Even looking directly at it, one might automatically overlook it.

Thus, time ticked by, second by second.

Every so often, Big Beard would catch another person.

One after another, he found three more mice.

Including Gaoxin, only two mice were still hiding.

Judging by the sounds, the remaining ones not found were the bald man and Liu Xu.

Gaoxin secretly thought that these two really had some skills; they were quite good at hiding. Could they have found a hidden area?

"Fuck, where are they! Where are the other three mice hiding!"

"Or perhaps, the collars aren't on the mice's necks, but buried somewhere?"

Big Beard gradually grew impatient and finally began to destroy everything, wielding his Mechanical Giant Axe and wildly chopping at all the furnishings.

He would dig three feet deep if necessary to find the collars.

And surprisingly, this tactic actually worked.

When he smashed a statue, a woman's scream came from within.

It turned out that the statue, which appeared seamless around the edges, actually had an entrance at the bottom.

Liu Xu discovered it, tilted the statue, and crawled in from below. Her slender figure fit perfectly.

To get some air, she even made a few inconspicuous holes, and had managed to hold out until now.

Unfortunately, merely hiding offered too low a chance of survival.

As long as there was no one to check them, Radiators would resort to any means necessary to search and destroy, and they would always find them.

"Fuck, still no cat!"

Big Beard threw Liu Xu, whom he had grabbed, into the hall and continued to chop and destroy everywhere.

Gaoxin's heart suddenly tightened because he felt Big Beard was wildly chopping at every single step!

Clearly, the fact that the steps could hide someone made him suspicious that there might be another set of steps that could also hide someone.

He intended to use a brute-force method, smashing through all the stair steps!

"This is bad..."

Gaoxin felt the sound getting closer and closer, sighing inwardly. There was nothing he could do about this.

Thump, thump, thump. Each axe blow landed like a strike to his heart, getting closer and closer.

Suddenly, a roar erupted from the courtyard.

Then came a burst of intense activity.

"Brother Dong Can!" the masked short man cried. "Xi Ba, I'll fight you to the death!"

Gaoxin's heart stirred. Was it finally over?

It looked like that sword-carrying strongman had died.

"Hahahaha!" Silver Hand's laughter was highly recognizable, wild and insane.

Gaoxin thought to himself, two against one, and one was killed. This showed how formidable Silver Hand was.

With the sword-carrying strongman dead, the other wouldn't last long.

The strength of the four should have been on the same level, but if broken down specifically, Silver Hand was probably the strongest, Big Beard second, Brother Dong Can third, and the weakest was that short guy.

At first, the short guy's darts were very effective, but after he ran out, he clearly lacked the means for a head-on confrontation.

When cooperating with the sword-carrying strongman, he primarily played an auxiliary role, and it was often the sword-carrying strongman who had to protect him.

Thinking back now, it wasn't surprising that these two didn't split up, and didn't do as Gaoxin suggested, with one tying up Silver Hand and the other going to find the cat like Big Beard.

Perhaps because they were very effective when cooperating, they were weak individually, especially the short guy, who couldn't defeat any of the other three.

"Die! Hahaha!" Silver Hand roared with laughter.

Clearly, Big Beard had also seen the fight in the courtyard.

Big Beard immediately stopped chopping the stairs and ran into the yard, saving Gaoxin from a close call.

"Heh, how much longer can your [Organ Overclocking] last? You look like you're about to die." Big Beard could tell his opponents were at their limit.

Silver Hand sneered, "Is that so? Haven't you found the cat yet?"

"I'm not looking anymore, I'll kill you first!" Big Beard was also hot-tempered.

Since he couldn't find Gaoxin and saw that out of the three in the courtyard, one was dead and the other two were almost spent, he had an idea. He decided to enter the fray now and finish them off.

Once these two were dead, he would be the only Radiator on the scene, and he could do whatever he wanted. He would have plenty of time to search every inch of the ground!

Gaoxin breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, one Radiator was dead.

The situation had changed, and Big Beard was drawn away.

Big Beard, a white man, was undoubtedly shrewd. He had avoided fighting for so long, and seeing how formidable Silver Hand was and that he had killed the sword-carrying strongman, he finally couldn't sit still.

If the weakest had died, he might have waited, but one as strong as himself had died...

Big Beard would definitely enter the fray, ally with the weakest first, and take down Silver Hand. Once Silver Hand was dead, the remaining short guy would be no threat.

For a moment, Gaoxin heard even more intense fighting coming from the direction of the courtyard.

The current situation was likely Big Beard and the short guy teaming up to kill Silver Hand.

"What? You have [Bloodthirsty Regeneration]?"

Suddenly, Big Beard let out a startled cry.

The short guy also exclaimed in shock, "You dare to drink Brother Dong Can's blood!"

Silver Hand rasped, "I'm not just going to drink his blood, I'm going to eat his flesh too!"

"Fuck! This guy also has [Flesh Assimilation]!" Big Beard exclaimed again.

"Hurry and snatch the corpse, otherwise he can keep recovering from his injuries, and he can even use your brother's flesh as fuel to sustain your Organ Overclocking!"

Upon hearing this, there was another burst of extremely fierce sounds.

Big Beard cursed again, "Shorty, you're also using Organ Overclocking! Your Big Brother is dead, are you still holding back?"

The short guy whimpered, "I'm not holding back! I... I don't know how to use Organ Overclocking!"

"What?" Big Beard was stunned.

Apparently, not knowing how to use Organ Overclocking was a very baffling thing on the island.

"Fuck, where are you from? You can't even get a Gene Module for [Organ Overclocking]?"

The short guy shouted, "I'm from the Kutou Alliance!"

Big Beard cursed, "What alliance? I've never even heard of it. What kind of poor gang is that?"

Silver Hand, however, recognized it and said with a laugh, "Hehehe, so it's that group of Korean bandits from East Mountain. They've been driven into the mountains by the Yakuza, and can barely afford to eat..."

Big Beard irritably cursed, "Fuck, a gang so poor they can barely afford to eat, and they still dare to have a name?"

"You're not allowed to insult the Kutou Alliance, we will one day have our own territory!" the short guy roared.

Big Beard cursed, knowing he couldn't hold back any longer. He immediately roared, "You distract him, I'll lead the attack!"

With that, he let out a roar, presumably also overclocking his organs. The fight became even more intense.

Gaoxin lay silently in the mansion, listening, hoping they would fight each other to a mutual destruction. Then, they, the mice, would have a slim chance of survival.

He knew about Organ Overclocking. Before, on the beach, the Black Hand of a hundred Yakuza, including Tianshe and Sasaki, had all used this move.

It was probably a common gene skill, like burning all one's flesh and blood, increasing combat power with explosive force, but with a huge consumption.

Smoke rose from their bodies, and they visibly wasted away.

And this move seemed to be a must-have for the strong fighters on Sin Prison Island.

Without this move, one might not even dare to say they were out here fighting.

And Silver Hand was indeed formidable. Besides this move, he also had Bloodthirsty Regeneration and Flesh Assimilation, which seemed to replenish himself through corpses and flesh.

"Ah!"

In the midst of the fierce battle, the short man suddenly let out a scream, and after that, Gaoxin heard no more movement from him.

By this point, it was Big Beard and Silver Hand engaging in their final one-on-one duel.

Silver Hand had eliminated two people consecutively. He was likely at his limit, but he also had regenerative abilities, so his current state was hard to determine.

Big Beard appeared to be conserving his strength, but in reality, he had been ambushed and severely wounded outside the courtyard earlier, nearly dying.

Therefore, it was truly difficult to say who would win or lose between these two.

Gaoxin and all the mice in the hall were praying that these two would take each other down.

Time ticked by, and the waiting was agonizing.

Finally, the sounds of battle grew fainter and fainter until they ceased.

"Is it over?" Gaoxin's heart stirred.

But then he heard Silver Hand roar, "Don't run! Coward!"

Big Beard cursed, "Fuck, you lunatic, keep the game! I don't want the reward, alright!"

Gaoxin's heart sank. So the fight wasn't over; Big Beard had chickened out and didn't want to fight anymore.

Essentially, the Radiators didn't need to fight to the death. If they wanted to survive, it was simple. Especially for dogs, they just had to declare they were giving up the reward and watch from the sidelines.

Of course, others might not believe him. As long as he was still around, he was a threat, and they would still want to kill him.

But with Big Beard's strength, he could simply avoid combat. The courtyard was vast, and if a Radiator wanted to hide or run, they were much harder to catch than mice.

However, this was not good news for the mice.

"Hahaha, scum, afraid to fight for your life on Sin Prison Island, you'll never amount to anything!" Silver Hand mocked him cruelly.

Big Beard angrily retorted, "Why are you chasing me! Go catch the mice! There are so many mice in the hall, I've already caught them for you!"

Silver Hand hissed, "Idiot, you... are also a mouse!"

"What!"

Big Beard completely realized Silver Hand's madness. He was completely different from Silver Hand. He was here to get the redemption voucher, to try his best to get it, and if he couldn't, then so be it. But he didn't want to risk his life.

Yet Silver Hand was fighting one against three, wanting to turn them all into mice to get more rewards, and refusing to accept surrender.

Too arrogant, too greedy.

"It's just a hundred points, why are you fighting so desperately!"

BOOM! The sound of a wall shattering echoed from the second floor. Clearly, they were no longer confined to fighting in the courtyard and had begun a mobile battle.

Silver Hand said coldly, "Without desperately fighting, you can never become stronger. If I don't wring out all my potential, how can I get revenge!"

So, he was fighting so desperately not only for the redemption voucher but also to challenge himself, intending to grow stronger through life-and-death struggles.

Big Beard anxiously said, "Revenge? Who is your enemy? I'll help you! Or after we get out, I'll give you another hundred points!"

Silver Hand sneered, "Help me? A hundred points? Hehehe... My enemy is Tiger Shark, Fujiwara Tomotaka."

Hearing this name, Big Beard seemed stunned. "Fujiwara Tomotaka? You want to kill him? He's an executive of the Black Hand Gang in Haiwang Port, are you crazy! That's an Elephant King! The backer behind all the Wa people's forces."

"So what! One day, I will also become an Elephant King!" Silver Hand declared resolutely.

Big Beard said, "You lunatic, you're not an SR, how can you become an Elephant? Even with your madness, at your peak, you'll only be... Wait a minute, are you...?"

Silver Hand roared, "Who says I'm not an SR!"

BOOM! The sound of metal clashing echoed from upstairs. Clearly, Silver Hand had caught up to Big Beard, and the two had begun a fierce battle once more.

Gaoxin listened with a pounding heart, surprised that Silver Hand's Radiation Type was actually SR.

This was the second SR he had seen, the first being the newcomer Xia Heng.

However, the strength difference was too vast.

In his opinion, Silver Hand wasn't even as good as Sasaki, let alone Tianshe.

And Xia Heng? Tianshe, with a hundred warriors of Sasaki's level, had attacked Xia Heng with Organ Overclocking, but Xia Heng had killed seventy of them and escaped, leaving only one hand... and that was a hand he'd shot off himself...

The strength difference between them was like heaven and earth.

Gaoxin realized that combat power was combat power, and potential was potential. The former was referred to as Wolf, Tiger, and Elephant, corresponding to N, R, and SR Radiation Types.

Radiators with high potential who hadn't grown up were nothing. But if you weren't an R, you could never become a Tiger, and if you weren't an SR, no matter how hard you tried, you could never become an Elephant.

"If I become a Radiator, what will my potential be?"

Gaoxin murmured inwardly. He had originally just wanted to live as an ordinary person, but fate had other plans.

After experiencing repeated despair where he could be crushed at any moment, he increasingly craved power.

"Thinking too far ahead, I need to survive first."

"Unless they both die, whoever survives, I won't be a match for them... Relying on them to kill each other is too lucky."

Gaoxin quickly dismissed his distracting thoughts and suddenly sat up.

"Brother Xin Ku?" Sule was stunned to see a corpse not far away suddenly sit up.

He hadn't expected Gaoxin to be hiding right under his nose.

"Shh!" Gaoxin appeared decisively as Silver Hand and Big Beard went upstairs.

He first checked the injuries of Sule and the others, feeling disappointed. All the mice present were crippled.

Bones in their legs were broken, and some had severe injuries to their arms or shoulders. The only one whose arm wasn't injured was Liu Xu, but she was too frail, and with her broken legs, what help could she offer?

"So it's up to me..." Gaoxin muttered, scanning his surroundings.

Sule asked, "Brother Xin Ku, what do we do after they finish fighting?"

Gaoxin's gaze was intense. "What else can we do? We fight him."

"I will confront him directly!"

Everyone was shocked. A Glass Person versus a Radiation Type in an ultimate showdown?

Even if the opponent was heavily injured and he was at full strength, what good would that do? A heavily injured fierce beast was even more ferocious and terrifying.

They had seen Silver Hand's painful injuries several times, feeling he was close to death, but what was the result? He was still so fierce! Didn't they see that even Big Beard, of the same level, feared him?

The eight mice present looked at Gaoxin with both despair and a sliver of hope.

They didn't believe Gaoxin could win, but they had to believe it, as there was no other choice.

Gaoxin was willing to step forward, and they were deeply grateful. After all, theoretically, Gaoxin could have hidden and dragged things out until the end, while they were certain to be killed in the final moments to vent anger.

"Brother Xin Ku, is it... please, our lives are in your hands." The mice pleaded.

"You... you have to win!"

p.s: Sorry. I just entered the 'New Book In-Storage' intelligent distribution pool on Qidian and feel like I'm about to be nakedly put on the shelves.