Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Chen Nuo, Tang Ying, and Ruirui quickly found room 0903 on the ninth floor. Chen Nuo held the card to the reader. A crisp beep sounded, and the lock opened. He pushed, but the door moved only a crack. The security chain had been fastened from inside.
Tang Ying cried out in excitement. “The security chain can only be locked from inside. Lv Chao really is in there!”
The others reached the room at that moment. Less than three minutes remained.
“Move!” Hong Long bellowed.
Chen Nuo, Tang Ying, and Ruirui stepped aside. Hong Long weighed nearly one hundred kilograms. He backed up two paces, charged, and drove his solid shoulder into the door like a bull smashing through a fence.
Bang!
The door burst open.
Chen Nuo, Tang Ying, Che Dongming, Shu Yanjun, and several others flooded into the room. The rest blocked the doorway in case Lv Chao tried to rush out.
The room was spacious, but with several people searching together, they quickly established that Lv Chao was not in the wardrobe, on the balcony, or beneath the bed. The bathroom door was closed. Chen Nuo turned the handle, but it would not open.
“Lv Chao is in here!” he shouted.
“I’ll break it down!”
Hong Long used brute force again. A bathroom door was easier to destroy than the room’s main door. He put too much power into the charge. After an enormous crash, he flew inside like a cannonball, unable to stop his momentum, and slammed into the opposite wall with a cry of pain.
Chen Nuo rushed into the bathroom first, followed by Tang Ying, Shu Yanjun, and the others. The sight before them left everyone stunned.
Lv Chao really was hiding in the bathroom. Still nearly naked in only his swim trunks, he stood in a bathtub filled with water. A hair dryer hummed in his hand.
“You figured out where I was hiding at the last moment,” he said. “But did you think I’d make no preparations and let you catch me? My wife and I developed a foolproof plan. Finding me won’t help you. If anyone dares touch me, I’ll drop this running hair dryer into the water, and we’ll die together!”
His stance shocked them all.
Hong Long snorted. “I don’t believe you’d kill yourself.”
“Then try me. You need to maintain contact with my body for three seconds to win. Two seconds in, I’ll drop the hair dryer into the water and grab you so tightly that we die together. If I lose this contest, I die. If I take you with me, I still die. What’s the difference? At least I won’t go alone.”
The resolve in Lv Chao’s eyes told Hong Long he meant it. The big man swallowed and did not dare advance. No one else did either.
Shu Yanjun spoke up. “Even if you drop the hair dryer in the water, you may not be electrocuted. Hotel electrical panels usually have ground-fault circuit breakers. The instant the dryer hits the water and causes a short circuit, the breaker should trip and cut the power.”
“Is that so, sir? Would you like to test your theory?” Lv Chao asked. “This is Country T, not home. Are you certain the panel has a ground-fault breaker? And if this hotel was built specifically to make us play this game, do you really think they considered every safety precaution? Do you think the K Organization cares whether we live?”
Before Lv Chao finished, Lu Qian spoke from behind Shu Yanjun. Only then did Chen Nuo and the others realize she too had entered the bathroom.
“Even with a ground-fault breaker, the short circuit created when the hair dryer enters the water produces an enormous instantaneous current. That surge can stop the heart. You’ll still die.”
Lv Chao and Lu Qian’s claims visibly made Shu Yanjun retreat. He did not dare gamble his life on whether a hair dryer in the bath would electrocute him. None of them had any experience with such a thing.
“Two minutes left!” Xiang Meiling said, staring anxiously at her watch.
Tang Ying understood why she was so desperate. They were the only family of three in the tour group. In other words, random elimination placed them at the greatest disadvantage. A family member had to worry not only about their own life, but about their loved ones too.
“Rubber gloves,” Chen Nuo said suddenly. Then he added, “Rubber is an insulator. Check the storage room!”
“Right!” Shu Ke cried. He was about to run out when he remembered something. “We searched the storage room earlier. There weren’t any rubber gloves!”
“Lu Qian and Lv Chao may have hidden or thrown them away in advance,” Chen Nuo said. “But reception or the cleaners may have some. Hurry and ask!”
Shu Ke sprinted out of the room.
Shu Yanjun turned to two of the college students. “We’ll search too!”
They ran together toward the storage room on that floor.
Lu Qian addressed Chen Nuo with hatred in her voice. “You’re ruthless. Do you really have to kill my husband?”
“Miss Lu Qian, I told you before that I have no desire to oppose you emotionally. You’re newlyweds who came here on your honeymoon. If either of you dies, it will be a tragedy. But tell me, which of the others deserves to die instead? The high school student? His father or mother? The college students in the prime of their lives? The inseparable sisters?
“I’m not the ruthless one. The ruthless people are the Mastermind who created these rules and the organizers running this game. I only want to give every contest everything I have, so I don’t betray myself. It’s the instinct to survive. I believe everyone else feels the same, including the two of you.”
Lu Qian had no answer. After a moment, she smiled faintly.
“You’re right. Everyone is fighting desperately to win because they want to live. Whoever loses has no grounds to complain. But do you remember what I told you? You cannot win this contest. Everything you do is futile. That outcome was determined from the very beginning.”
Chen Nuo stared at her. Even now, she still possessed such confidence? If Shu Ke and the others found rubber gloves, all they had to do was touch the Mouse standing before them to win. What possible countermeasure could the young couple still have?
Did Lu Qian have one final move in reserve?
As Chen Nuo wondered, Shu Ke and two college students returned, gasping for breath, with Shu Yanjun behind them.
“We got rubber gloves!” Shu Ke said.
“Well done, son!” Xiang Meiling said. “One minute left!”
“I’ll do it!” Shu Yanjun rushed into the bathroom and held out a hand to his son. “Give me the gloves. I’ll maintain contact for three seconds.”
Shu Ke handed them over. Shu Yanjun quickly pulled them on and looked at Lv Chao.
“I’m sorry, young man.”
He was about to step forward and touch Lv Chao when a cold voice sounded beside him.
“Take one more step, and I’ll kill you.”
Shu Yanjun turned. Lu Qian held a sharp fruit knife aimed at his stomach.
“What are you doing?” Xiang Meiling shouted. “Weapons and violence are against the rules. You’ll face elimination too!”
“Will I? Think carefully about Tina’s four rules. The last one said that throughout the game, neither the Cats nor the Mouse may use weapons or violence against the opposing side. I’m on your side. We’re all Cats. The rules never said members of the same side couldn’t use violence against each other.”
Xiang Meiling and Shu Yanjun froze. So did everyone else.
Lu Qian continued, “I love my husband more than anything. If he loses this contest and dies, I won’t want to live either. I’ll follow him. So even if I have to become a murderer, I will stop you from catching him!”
“You think I’m afraid because you’re holding a little fruit knife? If Cats can use violence against each other, there’s nothing stopping me from beating you unconscious, is there?” Hong Long clenched his fists and took a step forward, preparing to overpower her.
“Come on!” Lu Qian screamed fiercely.
Without a trace of fear, she slashed the fruit knife through the air and pointed it at the man more than a head taller than her. Boundless strength seemed to erupt from her small frame.
“Let’s see if you can beat a woman who’s ready to die!”
Everyone has to overcome their fears, don’t they?
Lu Qian used the thought to steel herself.
Her ferocity stunned Hong Long. For a moment, he did not dare advance.
Chen Nuo looked at the mechanical watch on his wrist and sighed.
“There’s no point doing anything now. Only a few seconds remain. We lost.”