Apology

Two days later, morning.

"Morning."

"Morning."

Fu Chen, as usual, was among the first to wake up.

Cai Zhiyuan, on the other hand, seemed not to have slept well. As a programmer, his body was in a chronically unhealthy state, making him one of the weaker players.

He ordered a steamed bun and soy milk, then sat opposite Fu Chen and began to eat slowly.

He seemed to be deep in thought. After a while, he said to Fu Chen, "Do you think there's a possibility of a situation similar to the last 'Team Battle' occurring in future games?"

"Team Battle?"

Fu Chen pondered for a moment. "The way you put it has given me an idea. There's actually a possibility."

In the previous game, the 12 players from Community No. 17 had been divided into three different groups and participated in three different games.

From the results, each player's gains were highly correlated with the collective decisions of their group.

Therefore, if everyone were prepared for this and reached some kind of consensus before entering the game, they could cooperate more effectively within the limited game time or gain a certain advantage when playing life-or-death games against players from other communities.

Community No. 3 had done just that and had indeed become a troublesome opponent.

Cai Zhiyuan nodded. "Exactly. I thought of this after seeing the situation with Lawyer Lin's group.

"Those four players from Community No. 3 had clearly reached an internal consensus within their community from the start. That's why Lu Xinyi's on-the-spot decision, even though it seemed to severely harm the interests of the other three players, still received their support.

"This was also a key factor in her deceiving Jiang He.

"As for Wang Yongxin's group, they couldn't reach a consensus due to a lack of mutual trust beforehand, which led to their division.

"Although, in terms of the outcome, Wang Yongxin benefited from the division, and Lawyer Lin compensated for the losses of Jiang He and the others, what if the next game is of the 'No Survival for Lone Wolves' type?

"We need to prepare for such a situation in advance."

Fu Chen nodded seriously. "That makes sense."

Jiang He being deceived earlier was, of course, partly because she hadn't considered this possibility herself. But another significant reason was that she subconsciously believed that the players from Community No. 3, like those from Community No. 17, had only recently arrived in the New World and couldn't have formed particularly strong bonds of trust yet, which led her to participate in that game.

If she had realized from the beginning that "Community No. 3 might be a Black Shop," the outcome might have been different.

"However, our situation is still very different from Community No. 3.

"Community No. 3 likely proposed a more stringent resolution than ours, for example, that all chips earned by players after leaving each game would be equally distributed.

"But the players in our community wouldn't accept such a proposal.

"At most, we'd make a verbal appeal, urging everyone to cooperate with fellow community members when they're assigned to the same group in the next game.

"But even without our appeal, everyone knows this. After all, who would seek out outsiders when they can cooperate with acquaintances from their own community?

"As for establishing one or a few absolute core members, like Community No. 3 did, where others must unconditionally obey them during the game...

"I feel our community doesn't have the right environment for that currently."

Fu Chen raised a new point.

Cai Zhiyuan had finished his breakfast and wiped his mouth with a tissue. "Mm, I understand.

"Without knowing the specific content and rules of the next game, it's indeed difficult to make any detailed arrangements right now.

"But I think there's at least one point we can discuss with everyone first, to give them a heads-up.

"That's the 'voluntary participation' situation."

Fu Chen was taken aback. "You mean, encouraging people to voluntarily participate in games? That might be a bit difficult."

According to the rules published by the Gallery, there were two different mechanisms for selecting players: mandatory participation and voluntary participation.

Cai Zhiyuan explained, "We haven't encountered voluntary participation yet, but since this mechanism clearly exists in the Gallery's rules, there must be an issue: what if the number of people who voluntarily participate significantly exceeds the number of players the game can accommodate?

"I suspect the Gallery might screen them according to certain rules.

"But no matter what rules they use for screening, two points are likely to remain constant:

"First, the earlier you sign up, the more likely you are to be selected.

"Second, the more people who sign up, the more likely you are to be selected.

"So, if a group game appears in the future, and some players from our community have already been selected for mandatory participation, then other players should immediately sign up to voluntarily participate and grab the remaining slots."

Fu Chen instantly understood. "You mean, it's somewhat similar to 'Illegal Team-up' in games?"

Illegal team-up refers to games, like battle royales, where teaming up is not allowed, but many players queue for the same game and then voluntarily form teams within the game to target other players, thereby increasing their chances of winning.

"It sounds feasible.

"If in a multiplayer game, our people form the majority, we can easily gain an advantage and exclude people from other communities.

"But would the Gallery allow such an obvious loophole in the rules to exist?"

Cai Zhiyuan shook his head slightly. "I don't think we should over-deify the Gallery. While it appears to be in control of everything, the specific game rule designs are made by people.

"Since they are made by people, there's a high chance of loopholes.

"Even the game designers might find ways to leave backdoors in the game."

Fu Chen thought for a moment, "That's true.

"The players who integrate their communities and realize the importance of teamwork earlier will inevitably have a greater advantage in the upcoming games.

"But there's still a problem:

"If this game itself is very brutal with a high elimination rate, won't players from the same community be wiped out all at once?

"If that happens, it might be better to participate separately."

Cai Zhiyuan said with some helplessness, "But thinking about it this way becomes too complicated, making it impossible to reach a definitive conclusion.

"If our community chooses to participate separately, while other communities choose to participate collectively, then with a fixed elimination rate for each game, we will always be at a disadvantage."

Fu Chen pondered seriously again, "Well, you're right. Overall, it's safer to have as many people participate as possible.

"I'll tell everyone later, but this can only be a suggestion, not a mandatory rule."

Meanwhile, Wang Yongxin had already gone downstairs and ordered a hamburger and a coffee from the vending machine.

Just as he sat down on the single sofa by the window and placed the hamburger and coffee on the coffee table, he saw Ding Wenqiang walking towards him.

Wang Yongxin instinctively became wary.

However, the next second, Ding Wenqiang stood before him and said somewhat awkwardly, "I've come to apologize to you."

Wang Yongxin was stunned for a moment, "Huh?"

Ding Wenqiang said, "I might have had some prejudice against you before and my attitude was not good. Please don't take it to heart."

Wang Yongxin quickly stood up, "No, no, no, Uncle Ding, you're being too serious. You're an elder, so I should be the one apologizing to you.

"I think we just have some differences in ideology, but our desire for the community's well-being is the same.

"We're both men, we won't dwell on such small matters, right?"

Ding Wenqiang nodded, "Yes, I think so too.

"...Alright, you go ahead and eat your breakfast then."

He seemed to want to say more, but racked his brain for a topic and ended the conversation with an awkward wave.

Wang Yongxin sat down again to continue enjoying his breakfast.

It was clear that a large part of Ding Wenqiang's change in attitude towards him was due to the Community Security Fund.

Wang Yongxin supported the Community Security Fund and had indeed contributed 5% of his earned chips.

Ding Wenqiang directly benefited from this security fund, so his perception of Wang Yongxin naturally improved.

"Money can resolve conflicts, and money can certainly buy friendship.

"Heh, this place isn't much different from the real world."

Wang Yongxin looked out the floor-to-ceiling window and stretched lazily, feeling quite comfortable.

However, at that moment, new information suddenly appeared on the big screen.

[Good morning, players!]

["Gallery" will open in 5 minutes.]

[This game is named "King's Judgment", and the objective is to "judge the sinner".]

[Mandatory participants for this community are: Wang Yongxin, Ding Wenqiang, Cai Zhiyuan.]

[There are a limited number of free participation slots for this game, which will be randomly selected from all registered players.]

[Please players make your preparations.]