TDU Chapter 433
Chapter 433 Power over Provisions
“Huh?” Zhou Six frowned, not quite understanding Qi Xia. “What’re you—?”
“I’m going to bring about {Violent Rage}.” Qi Xia remarked. “When {Day Phase} is about to end, you tell her my exact words: because Qiu Sixteen is emotionally unstable and has a useless {Reverberation}, she’s the first to be abandoned. Those are the captain’s orders.”
“Tsk, are you sure…?” Zhou Six hesitated. “From what I know of Sixteen, being {betrayed} would anger her to death…”
“That’s fine. Better if she rages to death,” Qi Xia agreed, then turned to Wang Eight. “Apologies for speaking harshly earlier, but now I know what kind of person you are. From this moment I’ll reveal my real plan; please follow my instructions.”
“You—”
“This {game} isn’t merely an exercise to temper the troops.” Qi Xia said. “I seek four things: victory, the awakening of every one of your {Reverberations}, the appreciation of my capabilities, and the subjugation of {Terrestrial Mouse}.”
The three exchanged uneasy glances. The man in front of them looked sane on the surface… but was he a lunatic beneath it all? Any ordinary person stepping into a Terrestrial-grade game would never talk about {victory}; {survival} alone would be ambition enough. But he had set forth four goals at once, and meant to accomplish every one of them in this shrouded, bewildering game.
“Hold on a sec…” Luo Eleven frowned at Qi Xia. “Did you just say you want the subjugation of {Terrestrial Mouse}…?”
“Indeed.” Qi Xia nodded. “I’ve got a rough approach to keep everyone alive and achieve victory. But at the closing moment I intend to drive {Terrestrial Mouse} to the brink—that demands your assistance.”
Luo Eleven felt as if his brain had completely shut down. Less than twenty minutes had passed since they initially heard the general rules of this game.
Everyone had the same twenty minutes; why could this man, Qi Xia, think so far ahead?
“Luo Eleven,” Qi Xia called out, then glanced at the pomegranate in his hand. “Are you sure there was only one fruit in your room?”
“I’m sure,” Luo Eleven nodded. “When I went in, there was only a single pomegranate on the plate.”
Qi Xia then turned to the other two. “What about you two? How many fruits were in your rooms?”
“Four small clementines,” Zhou Six answers. “You don’t get how annoyed I was; I could have obviously grabbed them all with one hand, but the rules only let me take three.”
Wang Eight was silent for a moment before speaking. “You’ve all seen my room: four dragon fruits. I also took three.”
Qi Xia looked at the three peaches in his own hands and realized this was bad news—the total amount of fruit wouldn’t be enough for five people to survive.
As Qi Xia had predicted from the start, for five people to survive six rounds without {starving}, they would need at least twenty fruits.
However, one room only had a single fruit.
Even if all the other rooms contained four each, the total would only reach seventeen, meaning at least two {Mice} would starve.
But…could there be another possibility?
“Tsk, so the number of fruits in each room isn’t fixed…” Zhou Six pondered for a moment before asking, “But there’s still one room we haven’t checked… could it be that the middle room has—”
“That’s improbable," Qi Xia shook his head. “According to your logic, the remaining room would need at least seven fruits just to barely meet our survival needs, which isn’t reasonable.”
Seeing Zhou Six’s puzzled expression, Qi Xia pointed at the clementines in her hand. “They only set out four of these small fruits, which indicates that size doesn’t influence quantity. {Four} is likely a fixed count.”
“Then why was there only one pomegranate in my room?” Luo Eleven asked in confusion. “Isn’t it because the pomegranate’s large size?”
“We’ll have our answer once we see Qiu Sixteen,” Qi Xia said. “In the next round, we move to secure the rooms.”
“Tsk, how should we do that?” Zhou Six asked. “Do we try to enter the third room we haven’t been to yet and take its four fruits?”
“No…that room will be the {Cat}’s main focus,” Qi Xia said. “Whether it’s {Trap} or {Search}, one countermeasure will target that third room. From the {Mouse}’s perspective, only that room offers the most gain. So we must avoid it for now—no rash moves.”
“Then—”
“Two people will go to {Rescue}, while the other two continue searching in rooms already checked,” Qi Xia explained.
“Two people for {Rescue}?” Wang Eight blinked in surprise. “We already know Qiu Sixteen is in the {Cat House}. Why do we need two people to rescue her?”
After a moment’s reflection Qi Xia spoke, “It’s only a conjecture, so I must personally check the {Cat House}. If it proves correct, I can’t manage it alone; I’ll need someone to cooperate with me.”
The group fell silent once again.
“I’ll go with you,” Luo Eleven said.
“Alright,” Qi Xia nodded, then turned to Zhou Six and Wang Eight. “The two of us will be responsible for bringing Qiu Sixteen back. You two continue {Search}. Remember, all rooms but Room Three are permissible.”
“Tsk, but this time we'll only be able to bring back a total of two fruits max,” Zhou Six said. “And if either Wang Eight or I get caught, we’ll only bring back one fruit—and lose a teammate in the process. What then?”
“That’s not necessarily the case,” Qi Xia replied. “According to the rules…unless both of you get caught, we should be able to bring back at least two fruits.”
“What?”
“The rules state that those who choose to {Transport} can not only carry their own fruits, but also the fruits collected by others during {Search}.” Qi Xia paused, then added, “In other words, even if you’re caught or pursued by the {Cat}, you should be able to hand over the fruits in your possession to your teammates… Beyond that, I can’t think of any other way to transport other people’s fruits.”
Zhou Six and Luo Eleven nodded, then looked at the fruits in their hands. This round they had collected ten fruits, enough to sustain all the {Mice} for two rounds. But what about the remaining rounds?
Food would grow scarcer, and the {Mice}’s situation would become increasingly perilous.
“Should we consume the fruits now?” Luo Eleven asked Qi Xia cautiously.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “Only you and I need to consume them; the others don’t.”
“What?” Luo Eleven and Zhou Six were both stunned. “All five of our satiety levels have decreased, so why do you two get to consume a fruit?”
“There’s one thing you all need to grasp,” Qi Xia said. “Even actual mice can’t divide their food evenly among every member. If your goal is to feed everyone, then victory is out of reach. Only those at the front lines get to feast.”
“And the others?” Luo Eleven asked.
“Just maintain one unit of satiety as much as possible,” Qi Xia replied. “Terrestrial Mouse mentioned that a satiety value of zero doesn’t kill us—as long as it doesn’t go below zero, the collars won’t detonate. The optimal solution for this game is that, at the moment of victory, everyone’s satiety should be exactly 0.”
TL Note: Rant goes here ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)
