The siblings stated their objections in unison. Lin Sanjiu forcefully overruled them and got the cat doctor to stay. She had too many questions she needed answers to. While Lin Sanjiu organized her thoughts and deliberated over how she should start questioning, the siblings profusely apologized to the cat doctor. They even tried to look for a good, leveled resting spot. They wanted to clean the spot with their sleeves and invite the cat to sit. When Lin Sanjiu looked up again and was about to write her questions, she found Meowie Hu lying on a cushion dignifiedly. The cushion was on a rock, and a cup of hot steaming tea was beside him.
The cushion was just a piece of rag, and the tea was just water. Yet, Lin Sanjiu was astonished by Meowie Hu's ability to charm humans. Not counting herself, even when Reno was badly hurt, his sister didn't even consider getting something soft to let him lay on. The siblings sat straight and properly by his side as if they feared Lin Sanjiu might ask the cat an offensive question. Unfortunately, they were quite distressed when they discovered Lin Sanjiu's first question had been very offensive.
She spelled in the air: WHAT ARE YOU EXACTLY?
"Did I already answer you? I am a doctor." The cat looked as if he was hiding his disgruntled face, "Haven't I shown you my incredible medical skills? Why won't you believe me?"
Similarly, the siblings showed her a "what-are-you-doing?" expression.
'I've never met such a boastful cat before. I'm not going to judge his medical skill at the moment,' Lin Sanjiu thought and wrote: IF YOU'RE A CAT, HOW DID YOU BECOME A DOCTOR?
Meowie Hu nodded and said proudly, "By learning."
Lin Sanjiu was about to explode.
Seeing that the cat wasn't about to answer her questions properly, she changed her question: DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THESE NUMBERS?
All along, she had the inkling that Zhu Mingchun wasn't telling them the whole truth, so she wanted to use this opportunity to confirm her doubts.
"Yes. I came here to collect corps—patients precisely because I know." The cat doctor displayed his elegant demeanor and answered truthfully without further probing, "A person can transfer another person's numbers to their bodies through combat. I think you know this. Next, you all must spend 180 days in the pocket dimension. Oh, you know this too? Oh, you know quite a lot. Do all of you know how much longer you can live?"
The three people froze on the spot.
Just when the siblings were cautiously going to ask the cat doctor, "What do you mean?" the cat narrowed its eyes as if he instantly understood their intentions. "So, this is what you don't know. The numbers represent the number of days you can live."
"What? Don't they represent how many lives I have?" Rena was startled, "Doctor, previously, I only survived those lethal attacks because—"
The cat doctor waved his paw dismissively.
"That's right. Every time you receive a lethal blow, the number on your back will drop by 1. Meanwhile," the cat squinted his eyes and licked his paws, continuing, "Every day, that number would also naturally decrease by 1. Once you use up the numbers, you're dead. Why do you think these people attacked you? If that was the case, nobody would fight. Everyone could survive peacefully for 180 days with the original 5 on their backs."
"The starting number is 5!"
When they found those numbers on their back, they were already 4 because a day had passed. The three of them were so shocked they couldn't say anything. After some time, Rena suddenly became aware of something. She quickly tried to look at the number on her back, "What is... what is my number now?"
Lin Sanjiu quickly checked her own Higher Consciousness as well.
Even though each of them had killed one enemy and gained their numbers, there was a large disparity between them. Among the three of them, Lin Sanjiu had the highest number. Due to the tenacity of her Higher Consciousness, she didn't really receive any lethal attacks. As Derik's number was 11, Lin Sanjiu's number was now 15.
That is to say, even if she didn't do anything, she could still survive for half a month without fretting. Reno had the second-highest number. After getting Zhu Mingchun's number, he was already at 9.
Rena had the lowest number. Logically speaking, Hannie Huang's number should be very high—at least above 10. However, when Rena threw all her Ripple Spheres, Hannie's number was used up immediately. At the same time, they were also added to Rena. However, the explosions were still ongoing at that point. The detonation waves were strong enough to kill Rena several times over. As a result, she spent many of the lives she had gotten and was now left with 3.
When Rena found out the number on her back, she turned pale.
Many people have questioned themselves or others about what they would do if they had only three days to live. However, it isn't something everyone can accept when it becomes a reality. Luckily, there were still ways to solve this.
"So... I have been in this area for several days. I have seen a sort of fighting strategy," Meowie said slowly. "There are those who form teams and eventually backstab their comrades. Others lure and trick newcomers; they hide the truth about the numbers and kill them silently. Some people use surprise attacks. They would suddenly rush out, attack you, and then run away, though that is quite difficult, and you only get 1 each time. Some also ambush victims, set traps, etc. There are just countless methods."
Even though they could feel the bloodlust and cruelty from the actions the cat described, the cat's voice did not show any emotions. He still used that slightly lazy, elegant tone. If one had to really describe it, it sounded like he was slightly annoyed by humans' stupidity.
"Is attacking others the only way we can gain numbers?" Reno asked urgently. He had a ghastly expression.
If everybody's number dropped by 1 each day, the combined value of the numbers on everybody's backs would constantly drop. Under such extreme circumstances, one would have to kill a heap load of people to survive 180 days.
On top of that, as time passed, there was another possibility: the combined value of numbers on the survivors may not even add up to 180. In that case, death was certain for almost everyone in the pocket dimension.
While two pairs of eyes and two sockets from a skull stared at the cat doctor, he groomed his fur unhurriedly. As his audience was anxious, he spoke leisurely, "Actually... there are other ways."