Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Just as Chen Nuo had said, during the final seconds of the first contest, Lu Qian’s fearlessness and resolve intimidated everyone. No one dared step forward. Those precious last seconds slipped away before their eyes, even though the Mouse was standing right in front of them.
At ten thirty, Tina appeared in the eighth-floor corridor without anyone noticing when she had arrived and announced, “The first contest is over! The winner is Number One, Mr. Lv Chao!”
At those words, Lv Chao and Lu Qian let out long breaths of relief. For the past hour, their minds and bodies had been as taut as bowstrings. At last, they could relax.
Lv Chao switched off the hair dryer, climbed out of the bathtub, and embraced Lu Qian. Then he put his clothes back on.
“What an exciting contest that was!” Tina said. “Judging by the audience feedback, they were very satisfied with our first game!”
“Anyone who bet on Number One must have made a fortune,” said a long-haired man wearing an earring. He did not talk much and rarely offered an opinion. There was something cool and rebellious about both his appearance and his manner, and he had an equally unusual name: Thomas Feng. His unconventional name and style made it easy to imagine that he worked in the arts, perhaps music or painting, or that he was the creative director at some hair salon.
“That’s right! With twenty Cats chasing one Mouse, not many people bet on Number One. The odds were long, so anyone who called it correctly made a lot of money! That’s the charm of gambling! I’m sure the winners are very grateful to you both right now,” Tina told Lv Chao and Lu Qian.
“I’m no gambler, and I was your opponent, but I have to admit that your courage, intelligence, and devotion to each other were truly admirable. Now that the game is over, we’re no longer opponents. Please accept my congratulations.”
After offering them this sincere praise, Chen Nuo extended his right hand. Lv Chao and Lu Qian smiled and shook it in turn.
“You were an admirable opponent too,” Lu Qian said. “You didn’t let my repeated misdirection cloud your judgment, and at the very end, you figured out where the Mouse was hiding. But my husband wasn’t in our room from the beginning. If you’d decided not to take anything for granted and searched it right away, you would have found him immediately. The strategy we devised could only delay you for a few minutes. It couldn’t have held up for long.”
Understanding dawned on Chen Nuo as he nodded. “So he started on the tenth floor, where the Sky Garden and massage room made it the best place to hide, right? The only way we could have found him early was to assign a large number of Cats to search the tenth floor from the start. But that was impossible, because we had to clear all the other floors too, which meant distributing the Cats evenly. With only two people searching the tenth floor, finding him would have been extremely difficult.
“Halfway through the game, when we decided to change our plan, you ran upstairs and shouted. You really were signaling Lv Chao that it was time to hide in your room. By then, you’d realized none of us believed he would dare hide there. And everything you told me was meant to make me think the Mouse might be in our blind spot: the left side of the first floor. You lured me into finding the rope outside the fourth-floor restroom window. That was another piece of misdirection you’d planned from the beginning.
“In other words, if we’d searched your room at the start, we naturally wouldn’t have found him. Then you could signal Lv Chao to hide there later, knowing there was a good chance we wouldn’t search it twice. Even if we came back during the final stage of the game, you already had the hair dryer and fruit knife ready to threaten us and run out the clock. No wonder you said there was no way we could win this contest.”
“Exactly,” Lu Qian said.
“That final battle of wits, and the courage you showed, were both remarkable. I accept my defeat without reservation.”
Chen Nuo spoke from the heart, smiling along with the couple.
At the sight, Tina clapped her hands gleefully. “Wonderful! I just love scenes filled with friendship and good sportsmanship! But…” Her tone shifted. “Even though the first contest is over, today’s games aren’t finished yet!”
“Because Number One won, one of the rest of us must face random elimination, right?” Shu Yanjun asked, his face deathly pale. He was terrified that the misfortune of random elimination would fall on one of the three members of his family.
“That’s right. It’s one of the rules, so it has to be carried out,” Tina said.
“How exactly will it be random?” Xiang Meiling asked in a trembling voice.
“Please come downstairs with me, everyone. We’ll go to the big screen with all your names and numbers!”
The group of more than twenty took the elevators back down to the hotel lobby and gathered before the enormous display. All twenty-one contestants’ portraits were currently lit.
Tina walked up to the screen. “Since Mr. Lv Chao, Number One, has won, we’ll exclude him first.”
She rose on tiptoe and tapped Lv Chao’s portrait. A green frame appeared around it, showing that he was safe for this round and would not be selected.
“Now comes the moment that will decide someone’s fate.” Tina pointed at an option labeled RANDOM. “The instant I tap this button, the random elimination will begin. Whoever’s portrait the red frame finally stops on will, unfortunately, be eliminated! Is everyone ready?”
“Just press it! What’s there to get ready for?” Hong Long snapped. He tried to sound bold, but his voice trembled faintly.
“All right, here we go!”
Tina tapped the RANDOM option at the bottom of the screen. A red frame began flashing and jumping unpredictably among the other twenty portraits, moving too quickly for the eye to follow. Everyone held their breath and stared at the display, waiting for its cruel death sentence. In a few seconds, they would learn whether they would survive the day.
Those seconds felt like the helpless torment of drowning. Each person knew death might be imminent, yet still yearned for rescue, suspended in the profound terror of uncertainty.
After about ten seconds, the red frame stopped moving and locked around one contestant’s portrait.
The result of the first random elimination had been decided.
Everyone froze.
Especially Number One, Lv Chao.
Because the person selected was his new wife, Number Seventeen, Lu Qian.