Chapter 432: Gigantification Descends
"Hey... Qi Xia..." Zhou Liu felt something was off. "Isn't this wrong? Where did Qiu Shiliu go?"
A flicker of worry passed through her heart, and just as she was about to lower her head to send a telepathic message, Qi Xia called out to her.
"Don't bother with telepathy. Go get the fruit."
Qi Xia finished speaking, turned back into the room, reached out and took three peaches, then turned around and came out.
After a moment's hesitation, the others also came out carrying fruit from their rooms, each with an uneasy expression.
Qi Xia looked at the fruit in their hands: three bright red dragon fruits, three very small oranges, three peaches, and... a pomegranate.
"One pomegranate?" Qi Xia frowned and looked at Luo Shiyi. "What's going on?"
"There was only one pomegranate in that room. Forget that for now..." Luo Shiyi frowned and stared at Qi Xia cautiously. "What about Shiliu? Where is she...?"
"She got caught," Qi Xia said. "A 'Rat' wandering the corridor ran into a 'Cat' looking for food, so she was taken. That's normal, isn't it?"
"Normal...?" Wang Ba's veins bulged. He stepped forward and grabbed Qi Xia by the collar. "The hell are you talking about?! You rambled on about your crappy plan, and now you calmly say 'normal'?"
Qi Xia coldly stared at Wang Ba and said softly, "Have you noticed a problem?"
"What...?"
"You do everything for their good, yet ask them for a kiss and get a face full of disgust," Qi Xia said mockingly. "I made up a plan on the spot, and even though I promised nothing, someone was willing to die for that 'made-up' plan."
"You... you son of a bitch..." Wang Ba glared, his eyes already bloodshot. "What kind of person are you? Treating my teammate like this?"
"All these years, has pretending to be thick-skinned helped?" Qi Xia slowly leaned close to Wang Ba's ear. "No matter how many years of friendship you have, I can completely replace you with just one sentence. A waste is a waste, you understand?"
Wang Ba finally couldn't take it anymore. He swung his chubby fist toward Qi Xia's face.
Qi Xia stepped back to dodge the punch, and a sentence echoed in his ear: "Liar boy, only like this can you exert force."
He sank his fist to his waist, used his waist to generate power, and sent it flying from bottom to top toward Wang Ba's chin. In the moment before impact, Qi Xia intentionally pulled his strength, but the punch still solidly knocked Wang Ba to the ground.
Seeing this, Luo Shiyi's face darkened. He rushed forward and grabbed Qi Xia's arm, extremely angry. "Hey! Who told you to throw a punch? Are you crazy?!"
Qi Xia forcefully shook off Luo Shiyi's hands, thought for a moment, and then frowned at him.
"Hm...?" Luo Shiyi also frowned at Qi Xia, as if something occurred to him.
Wang Ba lay on the ground, breathing heavily, looking extremely wronged.
"You... an outsider like you dares..." Wang Ba said viciously from the ground. "You understand nothing... yet you dare to arrange for one of us to die..."
**Clang!!**
The bell suddenly rang. "Gigantification" descended.
"I'll kill you..." Wang Ba stood up and lightly raised his right hand. Within seconds, that fist swelled up several times like a balloon, and he swung it with a huge gust of wind.
Luo Shiyi saw this was bad. He flashed behind Wang Ba and hugged his waist.
"Lao Ba!" Luo Shiyi yelled. "Calm down first!"
"Shiyi, this man is dangerous! He'll get us all killed!" Wang Ba said somewhat crazily. "Didn't you hear what he just said to me..."
"I know!" Luo Shiyi roared. "Just wait a moment!"
Luo Shiyi held Wang Ba and took a big step back, stopping that wheel-sized fist just a few centimeters from Qi Xia's face.
"Shiyi, what the hell are you doing?!"
"I can't say..." Luo Shiyi said. "But don't start a fight here."
Qi Xia didn't even blink at the huge fist in front of him, just curled the corner of his mouth. "For now, I've settled one."
"Settled?!" Hearing this, Wang Ba's fist slowly shrank, but his expression was still furious. "Now your plan is all messed up. The 'Commander' has no effect. We can't even stand in the corridor—if we do, the cat will take us. So how exactly are you going to..."
"It's all within my plan," Qi Xia said. "Qiu Shiliu is safe. She's in the 'Cat Room' now."
"Safe in the 'Cat Room'?!" Wang Ba shouted. "Isn't the most dangerous place in this game the 'Cat Room'?!"
"It's not convenient to talk here," Qi Xia said in a low voice. "Take the fruit and go back to your rooms."
Watching the back of him as he walked alone toward the 'Rat Room', Wang Ba's hand nearly clenched until it bled.
"Don't be angry yet..." Luo Shiyi patted Wang Ba on the shoulder. "I feel this kid really has something. Let's follow him for now and see."
"Shiyi, you too..."
"Even though his methods seem problematic, you did actually 'Echo'," Luo Shiyi said. "This time your 'Echo' wasn't coming, and even Fifth Brother couldn't figure out a way, but this man did."
"He figured out nothing!" Wang Ba was still furious. "What does he mean? Sixth Sister might act annoyed with me, but she saves my life every time in critical moments. What does this outsider know?! Does he understand the bond between us? He's just a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse!"
"Tsk, stop arguing." Zhou Liu looked thoughtfully at Wang Ba and Luo Shiyi, then said softly, "Let's go inside first."
The four of them entered the 'Rat Room' one after another. As they closed the door, it locked, and one of the lights on their collars went out.
Next was the second round, the 'Cat's' daytime.
No one had the mind to consider the 'Cat's' moves in this round; they all cast complicated looks at Qi Xia.
"Spill it..." Wang Ba said through gritted teeth. "I want to see how you're going to cover up your lies."
"The 'Commander' must exist," Qi Xia said patiently. "It's just that the place she observes the 'Cat' from isn't the corridor, but another place."
"Another place?" Zhou Liu asked, confused.
Luo Shiyi nodded at this moment. "You mean... the 'Cat Room'?"
"Correct," Qi Xia nodded. "In six rounds, we need to send different people to the 'Cat Room' each round, so we can know the 'Cat's' actions accurately."
Everyone's eyes widened after hearing this.
Zhou Liu felt something was off. "Are you sure you can see the 'Cat's' actions from the 'Cat Room'?"
"I'm sure," Qi Xia said. "I confirmed it the first time I entered the 'Rat Room'. When the 'Cat' is active, his 'Cat Room' should be like ours—the door is open, and the rat inside can definitely see all the 'Cat's' actions from the doorway."
"You..."
"And entering the 'Cat Room' is safer than observing the 'Cat' from anywhere else," Qi Xia explained. "The earlier tactic was just to make Wang Ba 'Echo'. The real plan comes next."
"I understand..." Zhou Liu nodded. "I'll send a telepathic message to Shiliu now, tell her not to panic..."
"No..." Qi Xia denied in a deep voice. "Tell her that I've completely given up on her."