"We could allocate some of the redemption coupons we get for surviving to the end to Old Dog and bind our interests together,"
Gao Xin turned around, looking at her somewhat surprised, "You plan to give the dog a share of the profits?"
Meimei spoke excitedly, "Exactly. Although the rules didn't explicitly say so, if Old Dog wants to gain benefits, he can only demand them from the rats."
"There's no benefit for the dog in killing the rat. If the cat does it, the redemption coupons will be the cat's."
"Therefore, the dog must 'catch the mouse' but not kill it and wait until the game is over to let the rat give them the redemption coupons."
"This is the only way for Old Dog to obtain redemption coupons in this game."
"The more rats that survive, the more redemption coupons they can contribute to him, giving Old Dog the incentive to protect the rats!"
Su Lei was shocked, "Ah? Can you really do that?"
Meimei smiled and said, "It should be possible. Haven't you noticed? This round has twenty rats, but not even a single NPC was matched, because NPCs can't get any rewards after completing the game!"
"Furthermore, I asked that bald guy. He's an experienced player and said that in low-level games, glass people could give survival rewards to strong players in the game just to live."
"That is to say, in games that force players to kill each other, there theoretically exists a common hidden way to survive, that is, the weaker players hiring stronger ones to save their lives."
"This game's design of having three dogs is exactly to provide us rats with mercenaries."
Su Lei asked, "Isn't this just robbing those Japanese of their money? Will they be okay with it?"
Meimei said, "If it really is the game's ransom money, the Japanese usually honor these agreements. After all, they can't monopolize it if they open the doors for people from various places to participate in the game."
Gao Xin nodded in agreement, "These folks are aiming to build a village and become local tyrants, not bandit gangs. Moreover, Sasaki has said outside that it would be good enough for us newbies to survive, but regarding redemption coupons, no matter how many we take out, we'll have to give them to them."
"Now that I think about it, his words actually meant they know we may just survive without being able to bring out any redemption coupons, or only a very few."
Su Lei couldn't help but reflect, "Then why would the Radiation bother killing us? They don't even need to play the game; they can just wait outside, and when the time comes, they collect money from the surviving rats."
Meimei shook her head, "That won't work. If the glass person could originally survive, and then they go outside and the Radiations still use force to demand redemption coupons, it's equivalent to robbery outside the game."
"I heard from the bald guy that these Japanese will know about such things and will hunt down that person. After all, it's equivalent to robbing them and declaring war on the entire gang."
Su Lei scratched his head, "But what if outsiders collaborate and wipe out the glass people after collecting the redemption coupons? How would the Japanese find out?"
Meimei shrugged, "No one does that, or at least that's what the bald guy said."
Gao Xin scoffed, "Isn't it obvious? This isn't just challenging the local gangs but also passively playing the game. For a few hundred redemption coupons, offending both the local snakes and the organizers... who would survive doing that, but the dead?"
Su Lei had a moment of enlightenment.
Meimei then said, "Exactly, besides, Sasaki also merely suggested that this time, as newbies, we could just focus on surviving. He didn't say we could do it again in the future."
"I think this is just the one-time protection we, as newbies, have. If we have to work for the Japanese long-term in the future, they will definitely push us to work to the bone. If we can't bring back even a penny, it would be worse than death."
Both Gao Xin and Su Lei fell silent.
Meimei continued, "What do you think? I see you're not confused; you understand all of it."
"No matter what happens later, at least this time we can all pay to survive. We can use this to negotiate with Old Dog; it's certain we can survive. Haven't you seen them say this is the newbie welfare service?"
Gao Xin nodded and said, "Hmm, I understand. So how much do you plan to... give to the dog?"
Meimei pondered and said, "For us, even if we survive till the end and get the redemption coupons, we'll still have to hand them over to those Japanese."
"Our only goal is to survive. There's no need to keep any. I think we might as well give it all to Old Dog; that way, the amount would correspond to the benefit Old Cat gets for hunting us."
"The cat earns a hundred for hunting one, and the dog also earns a hundred for saving one. Like this, Old Dog will surely do his utmost to protect the rats."
Gao Xin took a deep breath and sighed, "That's the point where you are... mistaken."
Meimei frowned, "Huh? I'm mistaken? Are you saying the dog will fear we'll renege on the deal afterward?"
"Yes, there should have been instances where glass people, in order to take back some redemption coupons, reneged on the deal and took the elevator to escape while the strong players were unprepared."
"Once they reach the ground floor, they will have the protection of the Japanese. The Japanese don't care about any broken promises; once it's in their hands, it's their money. With their power in Yamaguchi Village, neither individual players nor outsiders can do anything about it."
"But after all, that's a low-probability event. They're so powerful, how could they not dominate us? We wouldn't dare not to pay them."
"In any case, Old Dog will definitely agree to this deal. After all, if all the rats die, they won't have any benefits left."
"Or are you worried about not being able to take a single penny out, making the Japanese unhappy and resulting in punishment? Yes, that might affect our treatment in the future, but it's still better than dying."
"I get it now, you mean to say dividing the spoils among the three dogs is difficult, right? Hmm... we can each only give out ninety points to the dogs to split among themselves, leaving ten points for ourselves to give to the Japanese later..."