Chapter 50

Cai Zhiyuan strained to push the crossbar, his teeth clenched and face twisted in agony.

Wang Yongxin was in even worse shape. During his second Hanging Street Lamp Judgment Game, the game duration would increase by five minutes.

Five minutes did not sound like much, but it was added directly onto the end. Extending it by another five minutes when he was already exhausted would send the danger level soaring.

If Wang Yongxin suddenly lost strength and his body completely gave out, his full weight would hang from his neck. He would suffocate and fall unconscious in mere moments, beyond even divine salvation.

The only good news was that the two of them had rested long enough, so they could still hold on.

Ding Wenqiang's expression was complicated. He could hardly imagine how he was supposed to face the two of them after returning to the community.

It couldn't be helped. Those were the game rules. I only did what most players would have done.

The others in the community... should understand, right?

Just then, the broadcast sounded again.

[Audience Member No. 1 rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 5,000 minutes of Visa Time. Attached message: Kill them both. One hundred thousand.]

Those five simple words exploded in Ding Wenqiang's mind like thunder.

Kill them both. One hundred thousand!

One hundred thousand minutes of Visa Time was roughly seventy days, an enormous sum Ding Wenqiang had never seen since entering the New World.

But if he killed Cai Zhiyuan and Wang Yongxin, how would he face the others after returning to the community?

In this King's Judgment game, people from Community No. 17 were watching as audience members throughout the entire process.

And even without spectators, the players of Community No. 17 would certainly look up the game's details. When that happened, every one of Ding Wenqiang's actions would be laid bare.

There was no way to hide it.

Then... what if he did not hide it?

What if he said the game mechanics had killed them, that the game's designer had killed them, and that he had simply had no choice?

After Cai Zhiyuan and Wang Yongxin completed this Judgment Game, two rounds would remain out of the ten Judgment Games.

All three of them had already gone through two Judgment Games, and the third carried an extremely high risk of death.

In other words, two people would most likely die.

Picking one unlucky bastard between Cai Zhiyuan and Wang Yongxin and letting him die in a Judgment Game would still be difficult to explain to the others after returning to the community.

Besides, given their current injuries, it was uncertain whether they could even hold on after returning to the community.

In that case, why not go all the way?

Ding Wenqiang already had Zhang Peng's death on his hands, and he was somewhat in a reckless, nothing-left-to-lose state of mind.

But he quickly shook his head.

No, that wouldn't do. One death and two deaths were still different. If either Cai Zhiyuan or Wang Yongxin died, he could barely argue that it was the game mechanics' fault. But if both died, there would be no way to explain it.

For one hundred thousand minutes of Visa Time, he would be socially dead in Community No. 17 and permanently isolated by the other players. It was not worth it.

He might participate in similar group games later. A lone wolf player's odds of survival would be infinitely reduced.

Yet just as Ding Wenqiang finally talked himself through it and decided to reject Audience Member No. 1's proposal, more broadcasts rang out.

[Audience Member No. 1 rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 5,000 minutes of Visa Time. Attached message: Kill them both. One hundred thousand.]

[Audience Member No. 7 rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 5,000 minutes of Visa Time. Attached message: Kill them both. One hundred thousand.]

[Audience Member No. 2 rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 5,000 minutes of Visa Time. Attached message: Kill them both. One hundred thousand.]

[Audience Member No. 8 rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 5,000 minutes of Visa Time. Attached message: Kill them both. One hundred thousand.]

[Audience Member No. 3 rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 2,000 minutes of Visa Time. Attached message: Calm down!]

[Audience Member No. 9 rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 4,000 minutes of Visa Time. Attached message: They're lying!]

Rewards and messages began flooding the screen, and Ding Wenqiang's mind descended into chaos again.

If all five audience members made the same promise, that would be five hundred thousand minutes of Visa Time.

That was nearly a year!

Judging from the current situation, only Judgment Games targeting sinners seemed compulsory in the arcade corridor. The others were voluntary.

That meant Ding Wenqiang could spend that entire year living freely without joining any dangerous arcade corridor games, enjoying a peaceful life in the community.

He could buy whatever he wanted.

He could indulge himself in the safe zone, surrounded by bright lights and lavish pleasures, watching others struggle through Death Games. The sense of security was indescribably wonderful.

This might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Once he missed it, he might never encounter another one.

If he truly could obtain a full year's worth of Visa Time, what did it matter if the entire community isolated him?

Given how frequently the arcade corridor kept launching Judgment Games, could the people of Community No. 17 really survive for another year?

If those people gradually died over the course of that year, who would still know what he had done now?

Ding Wenqiang was genuinely tempted.

But after thinking it over again, he felt something was wrong.

Because the one hundred thousand minutes of Visa Time promised by those audience members were still nothing but empty checks.

According to the game mechanics, those audience members could freely reward Ding Wenqiang and attach messages, but their promises were not actually bound by the rules.

In other words, they could go back on their word whenever they wanted.

They could promise one hundred thousand minutes of Visa Time and ultimately give him nothing. Ding Wenqiang would have no recourse.

Although these audience members had been trustworthy so far, quickly paying the remaining balance on the ten thousand minutes of Visa Time they had promised several times before, who could guarantee they would not renege this time?

After all, it was one hundred thousand minutes of Visa Time.

Ding Wenqiang vaguely guessed that the audience might have some special game mechanic that allowed them to earn large amounts of Visa Time, and one major condition for that profit was the prisoners' collective deaths.

That was why the audience members were willing to spend so extravagantly.

Like a flock of vultures circling overhead, waiting to descend after a brutal war and feast on the fresh corpses.

But the problem was that Ding Wenqiang did not know exactly how much those audience members could gain from it, so he had no way of determining how credible their empty checks truly were.

If the audience could earn two hundred thousand, then offering one hundred thousand as a reward made sense.

If the audience could earn only fifty thousand, then offering one hundred thousand was purely a scam.

Although Audience Member No. 9 had also sent the message, "They're lying," was that message necessarily true?

The audience members were merely numbered from one to ten. Ding Wenqiang could not tell who any of them were, much less whose words were more trustworthy.

Besides, what did it matter whether he listened to the audience? He was the king. In the end, he still had to make the decision himself.

As an employee, he could only listen to his boss. Now that he was king, did he still have to listen to the audience? Was he destined to be someone else's puppet for his entire life?

Should he take a gamble?

As long as two or three of those audience members kept their word, the proposal was incredibly tempting.

Seeing Ding Wenqiang lost in thought, with conflicted expressions flashing across his face from time to time, Wang Yongxin's heart quickly sank.

If he could, he wanted nothing more than to shout that he would transfer all the Visa Time he had earned in the previous game to Ding Wenqiang in exchange for his life.

But unfortunately, he could neither transfer Visa Time nor shout.

As his strength drained away, his body felt heavier and heavier, while the noose around his neck gradually tightened.

He could not make a sound. All he could do was pray in despair.

New broadcasts sounded one after another in Lin Sizhi's room.

[Please conduct a Fairness Vote on the king's actions.]

[Vote result: ××××√×√×××]

[Audience Member No. 5 has had 10,000 minutes of Visa Time deducted.]

[Final fairness score: -60]

[Thank you for your evaluation!]

[Please conduct a Fairness Vote on the king's actions.]

[Vote result: √×××××√×××]

[Audience Member No. 1 has had 10,000 minutes of Visa Time deducted.]

[Final fairness score: -60]

[Thank you for your evaluation!]

Judging from the voting patterns, more and more audience members were inclined to vote against him.

This also drove the fairness score lower and lower.