“Hey, Qi Xia...” Zhou Six said hesitantly, her brow furrowing. “Sothing’s off. Where’s Qiu Sixteen?”
A flicker of worry passed through her mind, and just as she was about to use her {Sound Conveyance}, Qi Xia stopped her.
“No need for that. Retrieve the fruits.” After saying this, Qi Xia turned and reentered his room, returning with three peaches in hand.
The others faltered briefly before following suit. They stepped out with various fruits, their expressions less than natural.
Qi Xia glanced at the fruits in their hands: three bright red dragon fruits, three clentines, three peaches, and... one pogranate.
“One pogranate?” Qi Xia furrowed his brow before looking at Luo Eleven. “What’s going on?”
“There was only a single pogranate in that room; never mind that for now...” Luo Eleven frowned, his gaze fixed warily on Qi Xia. “What about Sixteen? Where is she?”
“She was caught,” Qi Xia stated matter-of-factly. “A {Mouse} strolling down the corridor crossed paths with a foraging {Cat}. Naturally, she was caught. That’s only to be expected, isn’t it?”
“Expected...?” Wang Eight’s veins bulged, and he lunged forward, grabbing Qi Xia by the collar. “You talk up your f*cking plan like it’s foolproof, and now you’ve got the nerve to say it was {expected}?”
Qi Xia looked at him with detached calm. “Have you perhaps not co to notice?”
“Notice what...?”
“You acted purely for their sake, and what did it earn you? Only their scorn for asking a single kiss.” Qi Xia said, a hint of mockery in his tone. “I made up a plan on the spot, offered no guarantees, yet soone was ready to die for it.”
“Y–You motherfu...” Wang Eight’s eyes bulged, bloodshot from fury. “What kind of person are you? Treating my teammates like this?”
“Has all this ti of playing thick-skinned served you?” Qi Xia slowly leaned toward Wang Eight’s ear. “No matter how many years of camaraderie you have, I only need a single word to completely replace you. Pretend all you like, a useless man is still useless.”
Wang Eight could bear it no longer. He swung his hefty fist at Qi Xia’s face.
Qi Xia stepped back, dodging the punch, and a voice echoed in his ear: {Swindler lad, to get your full power in, you must do this}.
Qi Xia dropped his fist to his waist, engaged his hips, and thrust upward toward Wang Eight’s chin. Just before impact, Qi Xia deliberately tempered the force—but the punch still landed solidly, sending Wang Eight crashing to the ground.
Luo Eleven’s face darkened at the sight. He rushed forward and grabbed Qi Xia’s arm, furious beyond words. “Hey! Who told you to hit him? Are you insane?!”
Qi Xia shook off Luo Eleven’s hands with a strong motion, paused in thought for a mont, and then furrowed his brows at him.
“Hmm...?” Luo Eleven frowned and gave Qi Xia a look, realization slowly dawning in.
Wang Eight lay on the ground, panting heavily, his expression one of deep grievance.
“Y–You’re just an outsider, how dare you...” Wang Eight snarled from the floor. “You know nothing...and yet you dare sacrifice our people...”
{Dong}!!
The bell toll rang out abruptly; {Giant Morphing} was triggered.
“I’ll kill you...” Wang Eight hauled himself to his feet and raised his right hand. Within seconds that fist ballooned to several tis its normal size, sweeping forward with a crushing gust of wind.
Seeing this, Luo Eleven moved swiftly, slipping behind Wang Eight and seizing his waist.
“Eight!” Luo Eleven shouted. “Calm down!”
“Eleven, this man is dangerous! He’ll get us all killed!” Wang Eight said, sounding nearly unhinged. “Didn’t you hear what he said to just now—”
“I know!” Luo Eleven roared. “But just wait!”
Luo Eleven braced and stepped back a long pace while still holding Wang Eight, bringing that wheel‑like, enormous fist to a stop just inches from Qi Xia.
“Eleven, what on earth are you doing?!”
“I can’t say...” Luo Eleven replied. “But don’t start a fight here.”
Qi Xia stared at the enormous fist before him without so much as blinking, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “Consider one handled,” he remarked.
“Handled?!” Wang Eight’s fist slowly shrank, but his expression remained furious. “Your plan is a complete ss! The {Commander} role is completely worthless, we can’t stand in the hallway—anyone who does gets caught by the {Cat}! So what exactly are you—”
“It’s all been accounted for in my plan,” Qi Xia said. “Qiu Sixteen is unhard; she’s inside the {Cat House} at the mont.”
“Unhard?! In the {Cat House}?!” Wang Eight shouted. “Isn’t the most dangerous place in this ga the {Cat House}?!”
“It’s not convenient to talk here,” Qi Xia replied softly. “Take your fruits and go back to our room.”
Watching him walk alone toward the {Mouse House}, Wang Eight’s hands nearly clenched themselves raw.
“Don’t get too worked up...” Luo Eleven patted Wang Eight on the shoulder. “I think that punk’s actually got so skill. Let’s follow and see for now.”
“Eleven, even you—”
“Although his approach seems questionable, you did trigger your {Reverberation},” Luo Eleven said. “You struggled to trigger your {Reverberation} this cycle, even Five ge couldn’t solve it—yet this man managed it.”
“Like hell he managed!” Wang Eight was still seething. “What did he an by that? Six jie may seem annoyed, but she’s always got my back whenever my life is in danger. What does that outsider know?! Does he understand the bond between us? He just got lucky!”
“Tsk, stop arguing,” Zhou Six said thoughtfully, glancing at Wang Eight and Luo Eleven. “Let’s go inside first.”
The four entered the {Mouse House} one by one. The mont the door closed, it locked automatically, and one of the lights on their collars went out.
Next ca the second round—the dayti period for the {Cat}.
No one had the energy to consider what {Cat} would do this round, instead casting complex glances at Qi Xia.
“Go on, explain...” Wang Eight gritted his teeth. “I want to see how you’re going to cover up your lies.”
“A {Commander} is truly indispensable,” Qi Xia said patiently. “However, she isn’t ant to watch the {Cat} from the corridor—her post is elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?” Zhou Six asked, puzzled.
Luo Eleven tentatively inquired, “Are you referring to...the {Cat House}?”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia confird. “For all six rounds, we’ll send a different individual to the {Cat House} each ti, guaranteeing accurate knowledge of the {Cat}’s actions.”
Everyone’s eyes widened at his words.
Zhou Six was skeptical. “Are you positive the {Cat}’s actions can be observed from the {Cat House}?”
“Positive,” Qi Xia said. “The first ti I entered the {Mouse House}, I confird it. When the {Cat} acts, its {Cat House} should be just like ours—the door remains open. Every action of the {Cat} would be plainly visible to the captive {Mouse}.”
“You—”
“Furthermore, the {Cat House} offers greater safety than observing the {Cat} elsewhere.” Qi Xia explained. “My earlier tactic was only to trigger Wang Eight’s {Reverberation}. What cos next is the real plan.”
“Got it...” Zhou Six nodded. “I’ll transmit a ssage to Sixteen right now, so that she wouldn’t panic—”
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head and continued, “Tell her I’ve entirely abandoned her.”
TL Note: So it has co to my attention that there are a number of people gatekeeping this novel....For those of you who are doing this, I just want you to be aware of the fact that I, as the translator, decided to translate this novel so that MORE PEOPLE can enjoy this masterpiece. It’s pretty redundant if you refuse to share, you know? Plus, more readers fuel my enthusiasm; I want to see more comnts and supporters who share my passion for this novel. If it cos to a point where this novel becos buried and I get little-to-no engagent, I might just be forced to drop this whole thing all together.
FYI, translating is more of a hobby of mine, because I don’t get paid doing this. I barely get 4USD in ad revenue a day, and that’s not just for this novel, it’s for this whole site (I also need to pay the translators who host their novels on this site too). I dedicate a lot of ti on this because I want everyone to enjoy the novel to the fullest, but that doesn’t an I’m obligated to finish what I started. If the novel I translate doesn’t garner any attention and can’t even pay for the host domain, then what’s the point? So please, don’t gatekeep. If anything, this translator would really appreciate if you could share this novel to more people, go rave about it on reddit, other forums, etc etc.
I don’t want this to be a hidden gem, I want Ten Day Ultimatum to beco a classic, standing alongside with the other giants like LOM and RI.
Ok, that’s it, thanks for listening to my rant.
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