Chapter 19
Chapter 19
Chen Nuo now understood the newlyweds’ entire plan.
Lu Qian had probably inspected every floor the previous afternoon and discovered the storage room whose interior window opened onto the light well. Judging by Lv Chao’s muscular body, he was likely an athlete. If he had climbing experience, descending from the fourth floor to the first would be easy.
Lu Qian might truly have studied psychology. From the very beginning, she and her husband had been misleading everyone.
The first step had been for Lv Chao to undress until he wore only swim trunks, then cover himself with olive oil. That created the impression that he had prepared to run and that an elaborate chase was about to begin.
In reality, he had never planned to race around the hotel evading the Cats. He intended only to hide somewhere no one would imagine and wait for the hour to expire.
After taking the elevator to the fifth floor, Lv Chao had quickly run down the stairwell to the storage room on the fourth. With his strength, he would not even need a stool or box. He could grip the windowsill with both hands and pull himself up as if doing a pull-up.
As for the safety rope tied to the pipe joint, he had probably secured it the previous afternoon or evening. He could fasten the rope around his body, climb down the exterior pipe without any risk, then enter one of the rooms on the left side of the first floor through its window.
At that time, everyone who had watched Lv Chao run right had gathered by the elevators and on the right side of the lobby, discussing how to go upstairs and catch the Mouse. None realized the Mouse had already entered their mental blind spot: the area to the left of the lobby. Perhaps Lv Chao had even hidden in a corner there, watching the Cats discuss how to catch him upstairs and laughing inwardly.
Naturally, no one could find the Mouse on any floor. After some people came back down, Chen Nuo had proposed a new strategy. But no plan could possibly catch a Mouse who was not upstairs.
That was when Lu Qian staged her second misdirection. She shouted up the stairwell for Lv Chao to move to a middle floor. Her purpose was to tell everyone that the Mouse was upstairs.
If Chen Nuo had not recognized her trick in time, they might have spent the remaining twenty minutes searching above and wasted every second.
He immediately acted. First, he shut and locked the storage-room window so Lv Chao could not climb back up from the first floor. Then he raced down the stairwell to the second floor. Tang Ying and the others had just finished searching it.
“We didn’t find the Mouse on the second floor,” she told him.
“I know. Stop wasting time. The Mouse isn’t on any of the upper floors.”
“What? Then where is he?”
Chen Nuo checked his watch. “We only have a little over ten minutes. There’s no time to explain. Tang Ying, please tell everyone guarding an elevator or stairwell to abandon their posts and assemble in the lobby immediately.”
“All right.” Tang Ying nodded and ran off.
“The rest of us will take the stairs down,” Chen Nuo told the others.
Several minutes later, everyone had gathered in the lobby again. Chen Nuo told them about the interior window and light well he had found in the fourth-floor storage room, as well as the pipe and rope. Then he explained his theory: the Mouse was most likely hiding somewhere on the left side of the lobby. If everyone searched together while several people blocked the corridor leading out, they should be able to catch him.
As he spoke, Chen Nuo kept glancing at Lu Qian. Her composure finally collapsed. Her face gradually drained of color.
This time, Chen Nuo knew he was on the right track.
“If everyone understands, move now!” he ordered.
More than a dozen people ran toward the left side of the lobby. After only two steps, Chen Nuo turned back to Lu Qian.
“Miss Lu Qian, do you still think there’s no possible way for us to catch the Mouse?”
Lu Qian checked the time on her phone. Her voice trembled slightly, though she still refused to concede.
“Fourteen minutes remain. You’ve all wasted a lot of energy running up and down, haven’t you? My husband is a sports-university graduate. He’s been conserving his strength, and his body is covered in oil, making him as slippery as an eel. Whether you can catch him remains to be seen.”
“Then the rest comes down to fitness. Your husband graduated from a sports university? What a coincidence. So did I. Those stairs were only my warm-up before the real contest.”
With that, Chen Nuo ran to the left side of the lobby and joined the hunt for the Mouse.
Behind him, Lu Qian stood rigid, her face ashen.
The left side of the first floor contained a large conference room, several offices, and several storage rooms. Cabinets and boxes provided plenty of hiding places, making the search relatively difficult. Fortunately, they had numbers. Apart from the four people guarding the corridor out of the area, more than a dozen joined the search.
Yet nearly ten minutes passed without anyone finding the Mouse in any room or possible hiding place. They searched the light well too, but Lv Chao was nowhere to be seen.
“It’s ten twenty-four! The hour ends in six minutes!” Shu Yanjun said, staring anxiously at his watch.
Hong Long glared viciously at Chen Nuo. “Didn’t you say the Mouse was hiding on the left side of the first floor? We’ve searched the whole place. Where is he?”
Chen Nuo ignored him and continued thinking.
In truth, only a few minutes into the search, he had sensed something was wrong.
If the Mouse really was hiding here, more than a dozen Cats would inevitably find him. Under such circumstances, he should watch for an opening and find some way to break out. His body was coated in olive oil. Even if several people guarded the corridor, a fast and agile man might still struggle free and escape. If he stayed in one hiding place, being discovered would mean certain defeat.
But the Mouse had made no attempt to run.
Was Lv Chao simply that composed? Or had he never been hiding in this area at all?
They had searched every floor above and every part of the first floor. The hotel was only so large. Where else could he hide?
Then Chen Nuo remembered what Lu Qian had told him: this was a psychological game.
When he considered it carefully, only one accessible place in the entire hotel had never been entered.
The place everyone believed was the least likely of all.
Had Lu Qian counted on them refusing to believe that Lv Chao would dare hide in his own room? Had she turned that certainty against them and sent him there from the very beginning?
If so, the rope tied outside the fourth-floor window and Lu Qian’s momentary panic had both been deliberate misdirection. Everything this woman did was designed to confuse them and consume their time.
Just as she had said, every move they made had been exactly what she expected.
Only five minutes remained. Chen Nuo had no time to explain to the others. He hurried over to Lu Qian.
“Miss Lu Qian, didn’t you offer us the key card to your room earlier so we could check it? Please give it to me now.”
Lu Qian said nothing. Unlike before, she did not immediately take the card from her pocket. Instead, she drew out her phone, checked the time, and said, “Five minutes left.”
Her reaction suggested that Chen Nuo might finally be right. Of course, she might still be misleading him. Either way, he had to verify the possibility immediately. He could not wrest the card from her, so he ran to reception.
“Give me the key card to Lu Qian and Lv Chao’s room!”
Under ordinary circumstances, no hotel would give one guest access to another guest’s room. But the first contest was underway, making this a special situation. Perhaps the staff had already received instructions from the organizers to cooperate with certain contestant requests so the game could proceed smoothly. The receptionist smiled, nodded, and handed Chen Nuo a key card.
The room number printed on it was 0903.
Chen Nuo sprinted toward the elevators. Tang Ying watched in confusion. “Chen Nuo, where are you going?”
“To the ninth floor. I’m checking whether Lv Chao is hiding in his own room.”
Tang Ying’s eyes shifted. She turned to Ruirui. “We’ll go too. If Lv Chao really is inside, Chen Nuo may not be able to hold him alone.”
“Okay!” Ruirui nodded. Mild-mannered by nature, she generally followed Tang Ying’s lead.
The three entered an elevator together, setting off what seemed like a herd response. They had already searched the entire lobby. Some people had even checked the theater on the right a second time. With only minutes left, their sole remaining option was to gamble on the Mouse hiding in his own room.
A crowd rushed toward the elevator bank and divided among the other three cars, all bound for the ninth floor.
Lu Qian’s expression turned grave. She did not remain behind. Turning toward the stairwell, she began running upward.