Chapter 428: The Waverer

Qi Xia looked up and asked, "What about the other two actions of the 'Mao'?"

"'She Ka' and 'Xun Luo'—what do they mean?"

"The so-called 'She Ka' means I will set up a 'Bu Shu Jia' in one of the rooms," Di Shu said with a smile. "Since real-world mice have a hard time distinguishing traps, we will simulate that phenomenon."

"Tsk, how do you simulate it?" Zhou Liu asked.

"The room with the 'Bu Shu Jia' will look no different from the others, but if you press the 'Sou Xun' button in that room and a red light comes on, it means I have set up a 'Bu Shu Jia' there. This will cause your 'Sou Xun' to fail—you won't be able to take the food or escape from the room. To get out of the 'Bu Shu Jia', there are only two ways: either a teammate comes to rescue you by reopening the door from outside, or I take you back to the 'Mao Wu'."

"So that means..." Qi Xia confirmed, "Even if you are caught by the 'Bu Shu Jia', you won't be eliminated right away, but you'll still need to be taken back by you?"

"That's right." Di Shu nodded. "That's what 'She Ka' is. As for the third action, 'Xun Luo', it means I will designate two rooms and open their doors at the same time, counting as me 'Xun Luo' within those two rooms and trying to catch any 'Shu' inside. But keep in mind... even though I have opened the doors of those two rooms, unlike 'Sou Xun', it doesn't mean the 'Shu' in them will definitely be caught. You can try everything you can to run back to the 'Shu Wu' the moment the doors open."

Qi Xia nodded. "So 'Xun Luo' expands the 'attack range' but reduces the success rate of catching 'Shu'."

"Having a smart leader makes explaining things much faster." Di Shu nodded. "Just like you, each round I will choose one of these three actions to perform."

Seeing that everyone seemed to understand, Di Shu led them out of the house and to the door of the 'Shu Wu'.

"Because I said I won't enter the 'Shu Wu', please open the door yourselves."

Without a word, Qi Xia stepped forward and pushed the door open.

Inside, there were five chairs, and on the wall, five holes about the size of a palm, each labeled with numbers: "one, two, three, four, five."

"This is your safe house, leaders. Any food you steal can only be eaten in the 'Shu Wu', and by 'eaten', I mean putting these fruits into the hole that corresponds to your number."

Everyone looked at their collars and saw that each had an inconspicuous number on it.

It seemed that as long as you put the fruit into the hole matching your own number, your 'Bao Fu Zhi' would increase.

"Tsk, stingy..." Zhou Liu muttered with pursed lips. "I thought with so many fruits, we'd at least get to eat one..."

"Oh!" Di Shu suddenly remembered something and said to everyone, "I almost forgot to mention, leaders, as long as you survive, not only will you get to divide thirty 'Dao' among you, but you'll also keep all the 'Shui Guo' you put in."

"Ah?!" Zhou Liu was stunned. "All—all the 'Shui Guo'?"

"Yes, yes." Di Shu nodded. "That's exactly why my game has so many 'Hui Tou Ke'—they come not just for the 'Dao', but also for the fresh 'Shui Guo'."

"'Hui Tou Ke'...?" Qi Xia found the term interesting.

What kind of 'Hui Tou Ke' were they?

Five people, each handing in five 'Dao', and in the end, dividing thirty 'Dao'—that meant Di Shu lost five 'Dao' each game.

If everyone survived, the game would be pointless, but Di Shu had still brought out 'Shui Guo' to entertain them.

In a situation where food couldn't be found for ten days, a single fresh, sweet 'Shui Guo' was enough to make people desperate.

If the 'Sheng Xiao' didn't care about 'Dao', would they care about 'Shui Guo'?

The answer was yes—nobody in this world does business at a loss. If five people could leave safely, the 'Sheng Xiao' would not only lose 'Dao' but also 'Shui Guo'.

A 'Sheng Xiao' who came up with this method to attract 'guests' was definitely not a philanthropist.

He would absolutely make sure everyone perished in the game.

"By the way..." Di Shu added, "Only putting something into your own hole will have the 'Bao Fu' effect. In other words, you can't feed other 'Shu'."

"Understood." Qi Xia nodded and then asked, "Can we store the 'Shui Guo' we get in this room?"

"Of course." Di Shu nodded. "You're being a bit formal, leaders. This is the 'Shu Wu'—essentially a 'Lao Shu Dong'—so of course you can store food here and use it when you need to."

Now, everyone had a general understanding of the rules.

Although it was called a "Mao Shu You Xi," it seemed there was little emphasis on "chasing" or "physical strength"—it was more about testing the strategies of the 'Mao' and 'Shu'. Surviving this game required thinking beyond just "filling your stomach."

"Since you leaders understand the rules, the game will start in ten minutes."

Di Shu gave everyone a sinister look before turning to leave, but Qi Xia called out to stop him.

"Wait a minute."

"What is it?"

"You seem to have forgotten something." Qi Xia said.

Di Shu thought for a moment and replied, "I don't think so."

"Is that so...?" Qi Xia slowly narrowed his eyes.

"This leader, I've said everything I need to say. I won't answer any other questions." Di Shu said. "With these rules, you should be able to survive this game."

Qi Xia nodded and then asked again, "I have a personal question I want to ask you."

"A personal question...?" Di Shu frowned. "Now?"

"Yes." Qi Xia nodded. "This question will affect my strategy for the rest of the game."

"I might not answer it, but go ahead and ask." Di Shu said with a furrowed brow.

Qi Xia stepped forward, getting close to Di Shu's furry face, and whispered, "If you found out you'd never become 'Tian', would you choose to rebel against those above you?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Di Shu's eyes twitched violently, and he quickly stepped back two paces.

He never imagined a participant would ask a question that could shake the 'Sheng Xiao's stance.

What did this have to do with the participants?

"You... you..." Di Shu blinked, slowly calming himself, then said with a strange expression, "I don't know what you meant by that, but my leader is my 'Tian'. I would never do anything harmful to my leader."