Chapter 10: Negotiating with a Tiger for Its Skin_3

"We can discuss this... So we should hurry now to negotiate a good price, before Old Cat comes in. We might not have the time or opportunity then!"

She reacted quickly, thinking of many things all at once.

Spreading her thoughts widely, she analyzed actively.

Su Lei sighed, "Isn't this too humble? We fight desperately, and even if we survive until the end, we barely earn one hundred redemption coupons."

"Just to save one life, we must give ninety coupons, with thirty to each of the three dogs and then the remaining ten to the Japanese... and with this, we still have to look at the mercy of those Japanese!"

"And not to mention a beating that might just kill us."

His words were filled with distress, yet it was a harsh reality everyone had to face.

Meimei sighed, "What else can we do? The struggle to get here to participate in the Redemption Game was not easy. Otherwise, I might have been sent to..."

She rubbed her eyes, not finishing her sentence, her gaze firm as she stared at Gao Xin, "What do you say? Have I missed anything?"

"As rats, just hiding is too risky, especially since the Radiations are so powerful. It's said that each of them has keen senses. Relying on finding the perfect hiding spot to avoid Old Cat is like gambling with our lives..."

Gao Xin also sighed deeply, saying, "You're right; you've thought of almost everything I did..."

"But there's one thing you haven't considered... our truly best partners are actually the cats..."

Meimei, the woman, widened her eyes, almost jumping in shock, "What? Rats partnering with cats? Are you insane?"

"This game is designed for cats to hunt rats, and cats can earn an additional hundred redemption coupons, the more they kill, the more they earn."

"To us rats, in their eyes, we are just walking redemption coupons. Negotiations? It's like asking a tiger for its skin!"

Gao Xin raised an eyebrow, "Asking a tiger for its skin? Well said, I think I understand the meaning of that phrase."

"But I think, partnering with dogs, that's really asking a tiger for its skin!"

Meimei was puzzled, "Huh? What are you talking about? What good does it do for dogs to kill us?"

Gao Xin earnestly said, "You know that these Radiations, they participate in this game for benefits, right?"

"Dogs don't get benefits in this game, and like you said, they hate that cat to the bone! So they will definitely attack the cat."

"If the cat gets killed by them, what do you think they will do?"

Meimei said, "Killing the cat, the rats no longer have a natural predator, so we can..."

Suddenly, she stopped, unable to continue.

Gao Xin spoke solemnly, "It seems you've realized it. After killing the cat, the dogs will take the cat's collar, wear it around their necks, and transform into cats to continue hunting us."

Meimei stared at Gao Xin's crotch, "Can a collar really be worn by two?"

"Can identities really be swapped?"

Gao Xin felt uncomfortable under her gaze, indeed the woman had realized where he was hiding his collar.

He immediately said, "After wearing two, you can still take one off."

"The rules only stated 'Once the game officially starts, thirty minutes later, players without an assigned identity will be eliminated.'"

"It specifies eliminating 'players without an identity,' not those with 'multiple identities', so it should be just a matter of sequence... Don't take off the original collar before putting on the new one..."

Meimei thoughtfully said, "So are you now a mouse or a dog? Or perhaps both?"

Gao Xin said bitterly, "I believe my identity is still that of a mouse."

"I tried to break open the collar, unfortunately without success, but I could still slip it directly over my leg. Given that the mouse's collar originally materialized directly on our necks..."

"The organizers' intention couldn't be clearer; they don't want mice putting on the collars themselves. I think a collar only binds the identity once it's on the neck."

Meimei sighed, "It's also possible that the rules simply don't allow changing identity."

Gao Xin pointed at the Crystal Ball on the wall and said, "No, the elites, they set three dogs, exactly three! And they are dogs that get no benefits... hungry dogs!"

"If three hungry dogs attack an old cat, they can almost certainly kill it. Then all the mice would have no natural predators, and so peacefully survive till the end. Do you think that's what the elites want to see?"

"The organizers forcibly labeled us twenty people as mice but threw the dog and cat collars on the ground."

"Do you remember what the rules said? 'The identities of the old cat and old dog will be decided by the remaining players.'"

"The implication is, anyone can become the cat or the dog, decide for yourselves, which naturally includes changing midway."

Meimei gritted her teeth, "Damn it, so you mean that only the identity of the mouse might not be changeable..."

Su Lei was somewhat puzzled, "Can't we mice become cats or dogs? Big brother Xin, if we both work together, we could break it open, then a third person could just slip their neck through, right? Couldn't that work?"

"Now that Meimei is here, we could give it a try."

Gao Xin smiled, then looked at Meimei, "So... are you willing to try it?"

Meimei gave Su Lei a cold look and shook her head, "I won't try. The rules, both explicitly and implicitly, are saying not to let mice become cats or dogs. Why should I try?"

"Even if you two forcibly break it open, something might just pop out the moment I put my neck in and kill me."

"And let's take ten thousand steps back, even if the organizers haven't designed some maniacal device, what benefit would there be for me to become an old dog?"

"A mouse becoming a dog means one hundred redemption tickets less for the old cat, who can easily capture me, put the mouse collar back on my neck... and then kill me."

Su Lei realized, yes, what use is there to become a dog?

As previously analyzed, dogs were designed to fight cats!

They, a bunch of weaklings, becoming dogs, could they win against a cat?

As Gao Xin previously said, without the strength of a dog, they don't even qualify to be dogs...

No wonder the organizers directly stuffed the mouse collar on their necks and made the collar so hard to open, the implication is pretty clear: a bunch of fragile people, stop making trouble, just obediently be your mice, and hope to survive between cats and dogs.

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