Reasonableness and Fairness

Li Renshu explained, "Because this game actually simulates the distribution mechanisms of the real world.

"Ways to gain huge profits often come with huge risks.

"While following the crowd can avoid risks, it also greatly lowers the upper limit of your earnings.

"Besides that, there might also be different situations between players, or between communities, such as cooperation or deception.

"If you can find loopholes or bugs hidden within the rules ahead of others, you can then gain an advantage in competition with other players.

"Although I didn't get many chips, I don't feel envious that people like Brother Wang and Lawyer Lin received a lot.

"It's very reasonable."

Ding Wenqiang's expression was somewhat grim, "What's reasonable about any of this?

"It's clearly a world that looks like a utopia, an ideal world, but in the end, it's still encouraging gamblers, swindlers, and speculators?"

Wang Yongxin's lips twitched slightly, feeling that Ding Wenqiang's three words were all indirect accusations aimed at him, but he held back and said nothing.

Officer Cao shrugged indifferently, "This is also normal, isn't it? When did New World ever claim to be a utopia?

"Thinking of it as a utopia where everyone is equal is just wishful thinking on everyone's part.

"On the contrary, the rules of New World clearly state: not everyone is qualified to survive here long-term, which is why there's Visa Time, and why there's the Gallery's judgment.

"If the Gallery truly believes that gamblers and swindlers are more qualified to survive, there's nothing strange about that. At least from a social Darwinist perspective, they do fit the definition of the strong.

"Of course, speaking of which, I don't think we need to view New World and the Gallery so highly, but we don't need to view them so negatively either.

"Even if someone earned hundreds of thousands in Visa Time by mindlessly going all-in in this game, I don't think it's necessarily a good thing for him."

Wang Yongxin looked at him, "What do you mean by that?"

Cao Haichuan fiddled with his lighter, "It's very simple. The gambler won a lot in this game, but what if the designer suddenly changes their mind next time and designs a game where players have almost no chance of winning and can only survive by folding? What will happen to him?"

No one replied, because the answer was obvious.

On the surface, if someone is a gambler, they can indeed win a lot in this game.

But it also laid the groundwork for the future.

It's like in reality, those who always lose when gambling can't become true gamblers. Those gamblers are often the ones who win consistently at the start.

This kind of success will completely destroy their rational thinking ability and cause severe path dependence.

Then, as long as the next game changes the details slightly, this "successful experience" could potentially kill him.

Cao Haichuan comforted them, "So, everyone doesn't need to be too discouraged. The Gallery won't only open this time; we will definitely encounter various other games in the future.

"These games might have completely different rules and logic; they might involve life-threatening danger, or they might allow you to earn more Visa Time.

"This game was favorable to you, the next game might be favorable to him; this is all very normal.

"In short, everyone is safe and sound this time, and everyone earned Visa Time, which is already very good.

"Even if you only had ten thousand chips, didn't that extend your Visa Time by a week?

"Researching the Gallery's game rules and preferences is also for us to better crack these games later. As for what has already passed, let it pass; there's no need to dwell on it."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Although Officer Cao often appeared carefree, his words at critical moments always gave people a sense of solid belief and security.

Fu Chen stood up, "In any case, everyone worked hard today. Since it's already happened, there's no need to dwell on it.

"Everyone should go back and get some good rest."

The next morning, Lin Sizhi woke up very early.

As usual, he ordered a cup of coffee and a sandwich and sat at the long table in the lobby, eating leisurely.

However, at that moment, he saw that the kitchen door was ajar, and Ding Wenqiang seemed to be busy inside.

Su Xiucen's voice could be faintly heard, "Brother Ding, you can't do this..."

But then their voices became very low, and finally, only Su Xiucen's sigh could be heard.

Not long after, Fu Chen also woke up.

He ordered a bowl of soy milk and some fried dough sticks and naturally sat in the seat next to Lin Sizhi.

They ate in silence, without saying much.

A while later, Su Xiucen came out of the kitchen, her face full of anxiety, and sat at the long table.

Fu Chen keenly noticed this and asked, "Aunt Su, what's wrong?"

Su Xiucen sighed, "I'm fine. Brother Ding... sigh, he plans to only eat steamed buns and pickles for every meal from now on. I tried to persuade him, but I couldn't..."

Fu Chen was stunned for a moment, and his expression immediately turned serious.

There was a steamer and various cooking utensils in the kitchen, and one could also spend Visa Time in the community to buy flour and yeast. Steaming buns was not difficult.

The problem was, why was Ding Wenqiang doing this.

The answer wasn't hard to guess: Ding Wenqiang had the least amount of Visa Time among everyone.

Initially, Ding Wenqiang only had 11 days of Visa Time. Later, in the "Blood Poker" game, he only earned an additional 15,000 minutes of Visa Time.

That's just over ten days.

While it might not seem like much, no one could guarantee when the Gallery would open next, nor could they guarantee if Ding Wenqiang would even qualify for the game when it did.

Therefore, even though daily meals seemed to consume little Visa Time—for example, a tomato and egg rice bowl cost 45 minutes of Visa Time—Ding Wenqiang had to find every possible way to save.

What if he was just a few minutes short of the next game starting? That would be truly desperate.

Buying some flour and steaming a large batch of steamed buns at once, paired with a small amount of pickled vegetables, was currently the cheapest way to eat.

Su Xiucen was naturally worried, but no matter how worried she was, she had to admit that this was indeed Ding Wenqiang's best option right now.

To completely forget about Visa Time and eat and drink freely would be insane.

Fu Chen's expression was solemn: "Yeah, Uncle Ding's situation isn't very optimistic.

"We have to find a way to help him.

"Aunt Su, don't worry for now. We'll discuss it privately later to see if we can come up with a solution.

"Even if we can't directly gift Visa Time, we can at least find a way to help Uncle Ding with his meals."

Su Xiucen's expression relaxed a bit: "Okay, thank you, Little Fu. Oh, it's truly our good fortune to be in the same Community as good children like you and Little Lin.

"But... can there really be a solution?"

Clearly, although she felt some comfort, she was still unsure.

[Direct or indirect transactions involving "Visa Time" between players are strictly prohibited within the Community. Indirect transactions, such as using Visa Time to purchase supplies and then gifting those supplies to others, are also not permitted.]

These were the basic rules of the Community, which had been clearly explained to everyone on the first day.