"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.
...
"Damn it, we joined this game just to be toys!" Su Lei said with a mournful face.
The weak have no human rights, no one cares about their lives.
Even joining the game, they had to bear all the disadvantages.
Meimei, biting her fingernails, said, "So, we really can only cooperate with the cat."
Gao Xin nodded firmly.
Su Lei was puzzled again, "Wait, I still don't understand. You all talked a lot, but how... how can we only cooperate with the cat?"
Gao Xin looked at Su Lei with a strange expression; he considered himself an ordinary person, and all these ideas were the result of wracking his brain.
Meimei also thought a lot, it was just a blind spot in her thinking, not having considered cooperating with the cat.
Once she was prompted, she also understood immediately.
Unexpectedly, Su Lei still hadn't figured it out.
Meimei explained, "Cooperating with the dog is based on the situation that identities cannot change. Once the dog can kill the cat and become the cat, all the previously agreed protection is nonsense."
"Once he becomes the cat, why protect us mice? Why split the money with the dog? Just kill us and get the full hundred points, right?"
Su Lei tilted his head and said, "Then we can also give the dog a hundred, no need to leave any for the Japanese…"
Upon saying this, he paused in astonishment.
Meimei glanced at him sideways, "Kid, there's only one hundred redemption coupons, but there are three dogs."
"Are you going to tell them\ 'Hey, you three go kill the cat, whoever grabs the cat's collar and lives to the end, we mice will give our hundred to him? The other two dogs get nothing?'"
"Wouldn't they just slap you dead? Why would they listen to orders from us mice?"
"Even if they have a moment of conscience, to repay our kindness and agree,"
"It still means that we have to give all the earned redemption coupons to the one who ultimately becomes the cat... In that case, why don't we just directly negotiate cooperation with the current cat?"
"Why bother negotiating with three old dogs, taking such a big detour and adding so many risks?"
Su Lei suddenly saw the light, right, since the dogs are trying to become cats anyway, why not talk directly with the cat?
He had been misled by the identity of the old dog.
Meimei scoffed, "The identity of the old dog is the most useless; at the end they have nothing, even not being dogs!"
"The old dog just has to try by all means to change its identity to the old cat!"
"So talking to the old dog is truly bargaining with a tiger for its skin!"
Su Lei nodded repeatedly, finally understanding all that had been said.
"Yeah, the cat gets a hundred redemption coupons for killing a mouse, but if letting a mouse go also nets a hundred, then the profit is the same."
"If he can earn the same profit without having to do anything, why should he kill?"
"Moreover, one cat, three dogs, he would have to fight three against one, also needing to hunt down mice everywhere, the pressure is too great."
"So there is certainly room to negotiate, as long as the mice cooperate with the cat, the cat can free his hands to focus on dealing with the three dogs!"
Meimei nodded, "Exactly, hence in the rules, when mentioning the cat's tasks, it states that surviving till the end of the game can earn 100 redemption coupons."
"Thinking about it now, the cat is actually an escape role; he has a survival reward."
"He just needs to accept the conditions of the mice, and then he can spend the whole game just dodging the dogs, dragging it out until the time ends to collect 100 redemption coupons, plus the 2000 redemption coupons gifted by twenty mice!"
Su Lei was shocked, "Damn, this role is simply making a killing."
Meimei remarked, "You need strength to grab that money; you're envious, not to mention the old dogs?"
"The game rules seem to require the cat to kill the mice, as if cats and mice are mortal enemies."
"In reality, cats and dogs are the real mortal enemies! Not fearing lack but fearing inequality, cats and dogs are bound to clash!"
"On the other hand, the mice can cooperate with the cat, telling the cat that accepting the mice's term maximizes profits and that the dogs are the real enemies."
"Moreover, the dogs killing the mice serve no purpose; their primary target must be the cat, considering killing mice only after becoming the cat."
"In this way, neither cats nor dogs will prioritize killing mice; they will battle each other to death, allowing mice to hide in the dark and survive to the end."
"This is indeed the best survival solution for a mouse!"
Saying so, Meimei looked towards Gao Xin, her eyes sparkling.
This method of survival, this man had figured it all out in a short time.
She too had realized that cooperating with the cat was the optimal solution thanks to his hints.
Suddenly, Gao Xin also looked at her with bright eyes and asked, "Did you also go to a technical school? Not fearing lack but fearing inequality, you said it wonderfully."
Meimei smiled awkwardly, "No, technical school is too expensive; I self-studied in the community library while I was a legal outreach officer."
Gao Xin realized, recalling that Meimei had previously mentioned she had been a legal outreach officer in the community.
It seemed she had used her position to frequently enter the library under the guise of researching materials, and thus had self-studied many books.
Meimei continued, "This saying is from 'The Analects', spoken by our sages thousands of years ago."
"It means whether managing a country or a family, one should not worry about having few people but rather uneven distribution, not worry about lacking wealth but rather unrest within. Thus, with even distribution there is no poverty, with harmony there is no feeling of scantiness, and with internal peace there is no danger of collapse."
Gao Xin was taken aback, thought for a long time and then said, "Truly a profound saying, enlightening indeed."
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