Death Game

Li Renshu looked approving. "Exactly. That's what I wanted to say.

"Anyone with even a little sense of justice and compassion could actually survive this game.

"Other than the fifth shot, which had already been confirmed as a blank, the player had five more chances to fire.

"If he fired twice at the innocent person and three times at himself, he could clear the game without a scratch.

"If he fired three times at the innocent person and twice at himself, he would only suffer minor injuries.

"Only if he fired four or five times at the innocent person would he suffer severe cranial trauma or even die."

Cai Zhiyuan spread his hands. "But that doesn't affect my conclusion, does it?

"What I mean is that this game's survival rate is actually very high.

"What you said only further proves that its survival rate is even higher than I imagined.

"Those sensitive to wording and able to see through linguistic traps won't die.

"Those who understand probability and can make rational decisions won't die.

"Even those who understand nothing at all, but simply have reverence for life and compassion, won't die.

"Only those who disregard everything and fire five consecutive shots at an innocent person will die.

"There ought to be limits even to being a beast, right?"

Fu Chen thought for a moment. "Maybe the Gallery itself encourages 'tolerance'? The more tolerant the game, the higher its rating? That still doesn't quite make sense."

Li Renshu looked at the big screen. "We can spend twenty-four hours of Visa Time to exchange for the player information and outcome report for this case."

Cai Zhiyuan shook his head slightly. "There's no need, right?

"This game isn't complicated. We've already analyzed it pretty thoroughly.

"Twenty-four hours of Visa Time is too precious. I'm afraid no one would be willing to waste it on completely meaningless information.

"What if we find out that the player ultimately survived without injury? Wouldn't that be a huge loss?"

Li Renshu asked in return, "Then what if he died?"

Cai Zhiyuan froze for a moment. "Died? The odds of that are far too low, aren't they?

"And even if he really did die, what would that prove besides that he was a beast?"

Fu Chen considered it seriously for a moment. "Twenty-four hours of Visa Time sounds like a lot, but if the twelve of us split it evenly, two hours each for a piece of intelligence is barely acceptable."

Wang Yongxin was the first to state his position. "I don't agree."

Xu Tong, the HR director, shook her head as well. "I don't agree either."

Wang Yongxin added, "It's not that I'm stingy. The key is that Visa Time is precious right now, so we definitely need to consider the return on investment when using it.

"Besides, trading Visa Time by any means is prohibited here. How are we supposed to split it evenly?"

Fu Chen silently sighed. Clearly, a plan to split the cost was basically impossible to implement.

Although they could propose a motion according to the rules, this motion would be very difficult to get approved by more than half of them.

Li Renshu looked at Cao Haichuan again. "Officer Cao, do you think the player who participated in this game could ultimately survive?"

Cao Haichuan toyed with a lighter in his hand, fell silent for a moment, then said, "Hard to say. But I'm inclined to think he couldn't."

Li Renshu pressed, "Why?"

Cao Haichuan spread his hands. "I can't give a good reason. Just intuition."

Li Renshu nodded. "All right. That's enough."

She stood up directly. "I'm willing to spend twenty-four hours of my own Visa Time in exchange for the relevant information."

Cai Zhiyuan was stunned. He looked at her, but could only spread his hands. "All right. It's your Visa Time. How you choose to spend it is your freedom."

Li Renshu walked straight up to the big screen. "I want to purchase information related to Redemption Roulette."

[Please proceed to any vending machine to deduct Visa Time.]

Li Renshu went to the vending machine beside her and swiped her visa. As the charge was deducted, the relevant information appeared on the big screen as well.

[Player Information:]

[Wei Xinjian, male, 37 years old.]

[After his business failed, he raced through a downtown road with a speed limit of 40 km/h, killing a married couple by the roadside on the spot.]

[Sentence: Three years' imprisonment for causing a traffic accident. Sentence completed; released from prison.]

[Game Process:]

[Shots one, two, three, four, and six were fired at the innocent person.]

[The fifth shot was fired at himself.]

[For the second and fourth shots, he hesitated and aimed the gun at himself, but ultimately changed his mind.]

[Final Result: Death.]

"Ah?"

"What?!"

The crowd erupted in an uproar.

Clearly, this result had completely exceeded their expectations.

Cao Haichuan slammed his lighter onto the table with a snap. Even his usual nonchalant expression turned serious. "That intelligence was really worth the price. It seems many of our previous conclusions need to be overturned."

As a criminal investigator, Cao Haichuan had not shown much seriousness before. He came across as somewhat carefree, even carrying the air of a greasy middle-aged man.

But when he became serious, it was as though he gained a special aura. His voice was low and steady, giving people an inexplicable sense of security.

"Actually, there was nothing wrong with our discussion just now. For ordinary people, the game in this case truly wasn't particularly lethal.

"Whether they noticed the linguistic trap, understood a little probability, or merely possessed even a trace of compassion, they would get through it with a scare but no real danger. They wouldn't die in the game.

"But this game seemed tailor-made for someone named Wei Xinjian.

"It was, in fact, a game where The Selfish Must Die.

"Perhaps this extremely strong targeting was one of the important reasons the Gallery rated it S."

"A game where The Selfish Must Die?"

Fu Chen carefully considered those words, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

Cao Haichuan looked at Wei Xinjian's information on the big screen.

"Just now, we were wondering what kind of beast could fire five consecutive shots at an innocent person.

"Clearly, this man was exactly the kind of beast we were talking about.

"Of course, calling him a 'beast' is too broad. More accurately, he was an extremely selfish person, someone who held other people's lives in extreme contempt.

"Otherwise, he would never have raced through a busy district, killed two people, and still refused to repent."

Cai Zhiyuan interrupted him. "Wait, Officer Cao. How do you know he refused to repent? It doesn't seem to say that in the information."

Cao Haichuan instinctively wanted to reach for a cigarette, but restrained himself again.

"Because that was the result tested by the game.

"What was the key to solving this game? The wording trap? Or probability?

"Actually, the key was 'reverence for life.'

"Wei Xinjian was a criminal. He was the murderer who killed a married couple.

"The person sitting across from him in the game was an innocent person.

"If Wei Xinjian had sincerely repented during those three years in prison, then he should have understood that the innocent person's life should be placed above his own.

"If so, both he and that innocent person could have been saved.

"But clearly, he was unwilling to bear even a one-in-six or one-in-five chance of death, choosing instead to point the gun at the innocent person.

"The more someone is like this, the faster he dies in this game."

Everyone nodded one after another.

Some even wore expressions of satisfied vindication, as if he had gotten exactly what he deserved.

Cao Haichuan continued, "More than that, the game's designer had an extraordinarily precise grasp of Wei Xinjian's humanity.

"Wei Xinjian actually had two chances to save himself.

"On the second and fourth shots, he turned the gun around and aimed it at himself. That showed that something within him had wavered.

"But in the end, he still couldn't pull the trigger.

"That wasn't a coincidence."