Chapter 16 I will face him directly

Gao Xin stripped off his clothes and threw them over the courtyard wall.

Then, bare-chested, he sneaked into the first floor hall.

Two people lay there, wailing nonstop. When they saw him come in, they quickly begged him to save their lives.

Gao Xin placed a finger on his lips and shushed them as he moved closer.

"Be quiet. I have the cat collar with me. As long as I am not caught, none of you will die," he whispered.

Hearing this, the two men were not fools; they immediately realized why the bearded man had only crippled them instead of killing them outright.

"Keep crying, keep wailing, don't stop. Pretend you never saw me," Gao Xin instructed them.

As he spoke, Gao Xin rushed over to the marble staircase in the center of the hall.

Indeed, the step where someone could hide had already been lifted.

Inside, the corpse still lay there, slightly disturbed with a new large bloodstain on its chest.

Gao Xin had earlier intentionally checked the step without properly fixing the carpet back in place, leaving a flaw to make the bearded man notice and realize there was a body hidden there.

Besides being able to pinpoint the bearded man's location by the sound of lifting the panel, it was also for this very moment!

The deceased had suffocated, yet there was a wound on his chest, clearly the bearded man had taken out his frustration on the body with an axe.

Seeing this, Gao Xin couldn't help but smile; this was even better.

Without saying a word, he started stripping the clothes off the body to wear himself.

He also scooped up a handful of blood and flesh, smearing it in the same location on himself.

In an instant, he looked just like the dead fellow.

But that wasn't all. Gao Xin dragged the body out and glanced at the nearby fireplace before quickly taking it over and hiding it.

Overhead, Su Lei's pleading and negotiating could still be heard intermittently; he was saying he would give up the cat collar if the bearded man could guarantee not to kill him.

The bearded man responded, agreeing to the deal.

Yet the two were still playing cat-and-mouse on the third floor, their voices moving constantly.

Gao Xin understood that Su Lei was signaling to him, letting everyone in the building know the bearded man's location.

"Well done!" Gao Xin praised him silently.

Su Lei was extremely agile and not lacking in strength. With a good knowledge of the layout, he was proving quite useful now.

The time he had bought was absolutely critical.

Gao Xin worked against the clock, quickly burying the corpse in the charcoals of the fireplace.

Beneath was dark earth. He dug out a small space, stuffed the body inside, then covered it with a large layer of dirt and charcoal. Now, the body was completely hidden inside, invisible from the surface.

Indeed, it was a perfect hiding method, but obviously lethal for anyone still breathing.

However, the dead do not breathe.

Gao Xin wiped his hands and rushed back to the step, lying straight in it.

He covered his head with the red carpet, leaving most of his body exposed, with the marble slab still haphazardly resting beside him. In short, everything was left as it had been when he arrived.

Then, he breathed slowly and carefully, remaining motionless.

The two in the hall, having witnessed everything, were stunned.

Disguised as a corpse? Right out in the open?

Could this really work? The last one who tried to trick the bearded man in plain sight ended up dead.

Gao Xin slowed his breathing, not moving a muscle, yet his senses were alert to the surroundings.

Su Lei held out for quite a while upstairs, but ultimately, with a miserable howl, he was caught by the bearded man.

"Thud!"

A loud noise echoed, as if an axe had struck a wall. Clearly, the bearded man had realized Su Lei didn't have the cat collar and, finding himself played again, was venting his anger on the wall.

"Arghhhh!"

Su Lei's screams grew nearer.

The bearded man, carrying Su Lei, came down the stairs with large strides, passing right by where Gao Xin was hiding.

However, the bearded man did not realize that the corpse in the pit had been switched out. With two or three strides, he crossed several steps at a time.

He actually stepped right over Gao Xin!

It was a success!

Gao Xin remained motionless, silently breathing a sigh of relief in his heart.

But he still dared not be careless, continuing to breathe at the lowest possible frequency.

If the hall was silent, his ruse might not have been feasible. But he had counted on the hall being the noisiest place, filled with the sounds of people's wailing. With all this commotion, his gambit under the light might have a chance of success.

But then, the bearded man uttered, "What are you two looking at?"

This question was directed at the two men with broken legs in the hall; they had been staring as the bearded man descended the stairs, curious to see if he would discover Gao Xin.

Even their wailing had quieted down, arousing the bearded man's suspicion.

"No way..." Gao Xin thought despairingly. Could I really be this unlucky? Could anyone actually be that foolish?

Fortunately, the two quickly realized their indiscretion, gradually increasing the volume of their cries and pleading, "Uh... boss... please spare us, we're willing to give you the reward, we just want to live."

The bearded man replied coldly, "You're already in my hands. As long as I become the cat, I can get the redemption tickets by killing you. Why should I bother collecting debts later?"

He refused. If everyone was still hiding and he was being chased, he would have been happy to accept such a deal.

Staying alive meant eventually getting the reward; why not take advantage of it?

But with the mice now in his grasp, like fish on a chopping board, unless the man truly disliked killing, why bother with the hassle of collecting debts later when there might be complications?

"Wuwuwu..."

The two sobbed and moaned as if resigned to their fate.

Yet in their hearts, they understood all the more that they must not let Gao Xin be exposed.

Gao Xin was the lifeline of all the others rats!

"Hmph!"

The bearded man set down Su Lei and went back outside to carry Meimei in.

In a short time, four mice were caught in the hall. Not counting Gao Xin, five were still missing.