Cowardice

Meimei's idea was too idealistic.

Negotiating with the Viking Gang was out of the question; everyone immediately rejected it. They wouldn't sacrifice Gaoxin.

What's more, the Viking Gang might want to destroy them all.

However, the Glass Persons of the Servant Squad fell into thought.

Gaoxin looked at him, "What are you thinking about?"

A curly-haired youth shook his head. "Nothing much... I was thinking about the invitation vote. What are your thoughts?"

"This requires a unanimous vote. Otherwise, we'll have to duel the other side. And the defense can only send out a Glass Person, which means certain defeat."

"You could say the invitation vote is the only 'shield' for each faction."

"The Black team attacks first. I assume the invitation will be sent soon. What do you think it will be like?"

Dongfang Yi chuckled, "Whatever it is, the key to the invitation vote is that everyone chooses the same option."

"However, since we have to vote alone and cannot communicate, we can only agree on an abstract strategy beforehand."

"Hmm... Let's agree to vote for the biggest option... three short and one long, pick the longest."

Everyone broke out in a cold sweat. That was too casual.

However, Gaoxin chuckled, "Good idea, let's do that."

The curly-haired youth was stunned. "Wait, what do you mean 'three short and one long, pick the longest'? What if the options are the same length?"

Dongfang Yi rolled his eyes. "If the characters are the same length, we'll go by the number of strokes. Pick the one with the most strokes."

"Ah? We only have ten seconds to choose. What if I can't count them?" the curly-haired youth asked nervously.

Gaoxin chuckled, "If even the number of strokes can't distinguish them, then ponder the content. Whichever option feels 'bigger,' choose that one."

"Dongfang Yi is talking about an abstract concept, understand? In short, choose the longer, more numerous, higher, bigger, stronger..."

Everyone nodded. They understood, but it still felt prone to errors.

They wanted to discuss further when suddenly, there was a ding.

The round table projection indicated that the Black team's first duel invitation had been sent. Everyone in the White Base had to enter the voting room within one minute.

A countdown had already appeared.

Well, they had no time to discuss.

Gaoxin said, "Hurry upstairs and vote... Listen, after you vote, activate the incite defection and get Big Hammer to defect first."

"Also, if the vote fails, don't bother choosing a gladiator. Just come out."

The curly-haired youth shouted, "There are only two options in the first round. Why make it so complicated? Why don't we just pick the first one? No matter what the option is, just pick the first one."

Gaoxin and the others laughed. Dongfang Yi was about to explain...

Xing Shiping was the first to turn back and say to his companions, "Brother, that's impossible. As long as the organizer isn't stupid, the order of the options on the invitation sent by the other side will definitely be different."

"Otherwise, if everyone picks the first one, they'll always agree, wouldn't that be absolute defense?"

The curly-haired youth suddenly understood. The countdown was already nearing its end.

"Hurry up and vote!" Gaoxin's team acted decisively and rushed to the second floor.

The others immediately followed. There were twenty-five rooms, and they were only ten people, so they could each pick one and go in.

Soon, everyone entered a voting room, and the door automatically locked.

Gaoxin checked the door and found it couldn't be opened. It seemed they had to finish voting before it would unlock.

Immediately, a projection appeared in the room, starting to play the content of the invitation.

"If you defect to the Black team, five of you will be allowed to live until the end."

The playback was very fast because the invitation's content was too brief. It was just this one sentence, designed to sow discord.

Below, two projected images immediately appeared as options.

One was a square, and the other was a circle.

They looked the same size.

There were no words, no explanations, just these two shapes.

Once the options were listed, a countdown immediately began, with only ten seconds to choose.

Gaoxin raised an eyebrow. "Impressive. It looks like we're going to fail in the first round."

They had anticipated the questions, but they hadn't guessed this.

Gaoxin thought for a moment and chose the square.

Soon, the result was announced.

"Vote inconsistent. Choose a gladiator within three minutes. Only Glass Persons may be chosen."

The projection immediately displayed the avatars of everyone in the White Base. Simply clicking one counted as a vote.

Their White team were all Glass Persons, so everyone was on the list.

Gaoxin pouted, as expected, someone chose incorrectly.

He smiled slightly and said directly, "Activate Incite Defection."

After waiting for a while.

The character selection screen suddenly shrunk and retreated, replaced by the avatars of the nineteen people on the opposing black team, even their names were displayed.

Only then did Gaoxin learn that the Big Hammer man's name was Luis, and the Twin Tails woman's name was Sophia.

No need to think, they had already discussed it, and would directly choose Luis.

After waiting for a while longer, it showed "Incite Defection Successful," and only then did Gaoxin open the door and go out.

He saw that Dongfang Yi and Qiao Long had also finished, and soon the others came out one after another.

As soon as Sule came out, he shouted, "Damn it, there were no words!"

Meimei asked him, "What did you choose?"

"The square. Even though there were no words, just images, I figured 'square' has three characters, so I chose it because it had the most characters," Sule said.

Meimei nodded, "I chose the square too."

If Sule didn't have a problem, then the others didn't need to check; she directly looked at Xing Shiping from the servant team.

She saw Xing Shiping also looking over, frowning unhappily, "What did you guys choose?"

Meimei grinned, "The square. The five of us are definitely fine. Which one of you chose the circle, step forward."

Xing Shiping's expression was gloomy. He turned back to talk to his teammates.

She saw all four of them shake their heads, all saying they had chosen the square.

"A joke!"

Dongfang Yi couldn't help but say, "You don't think I chose incorrectly, do you?"

Xing Shiping said solemnly, "Who knows? There's no standard answer for this. Maybe your person chose incorrectly. Anyway, I chose the square."

Meimei said angrily, "How is that possible?"

Then she stared at the curly-haired youth, "Hey, you didn't choose incorrectly, did you? The first one was a circle, are you stupid enough to have chosen the first one?"

The curly-haired youth looked bewildered, "Huh? I did choose the first one, but the first one was a square."

Meimei was stunned. As expected, the order was random.

"This person chose incorrectly," Gaoxin walked over, staring at a muscular man behind him. This man had a square face and a righteous expression.

But Gaoxin had seen at a glance just now that he had lied.

Seeing Gaoxin staring at him, the square-faced man was startled, "What?"

Gaoxin's gaze was intense, "If you had admitted directly that you chose incorrectly, it wouldn't have been a big deal. After all, the opponents are very cunning, making the first question so difficult, it's understandable to choose incorrectly."

"But you clearly chose incorrectly and didn't admit it. Are you trying to help the other side play?"

"It's not too late to admit it now!"

The square-faced man was taken aback.

Qiao Long patted his shoulder, "It's okay if you made a mistake. We won't blame you. Everyone needs to be honest."

"They deliberately said 'defect to the black team' in the invitation, just to shake us."

"But think about it, if even we ten Glass People can't unite, do you really expect to cooperate with those Radiators on the other side?"

Hearing this, the square-faced man seemed to sober up a bit, "I..."

Xing Shiping could now see that he was lying. He went over and put an arm around him, "Brother, don't be confused. If you chose the circle, you chose the circle. I actually chose the circle too!"

Hearing him say this, the square-faced man finally admitted, "I... I did choose the circle, but I really didn't do it on purpose."

Meimei asked, "Hey, why did you choose the circle?"

The square-faced man felt very wronged, "You guys said 'longer, more, bigger, taller, stronger'..."

"When I saw that circle, I thought of Earth. I figured how big is Earth, so I chose it."

Everyone was speechless, this was too abstract.

Sule even complained, "Oh my god, why didn't you think it looked like a ping pong ball?"

The square-faced man defended dejectedly, "No, there were only two shapes, and in such a short time, how could I tell which one was bigger?"

Sule then asked Xing Shiping, "Then Xing Shiping... why did you choose the circle?"

Xing Shiping said dully, "I didn't choose the circle... Didn't they say at the beginning to choose the longest one?"

"Between a square and a circle, if their areas are the same, the perimeter of the square is longer."

"I deliberately said I chose the circle just now so my brother would relax a bit and not lie."

The square-faced man looked pitifully at Xing Shiping, tears welling up, "Brother Xing, I'm sorry, what do we do now? We have to choose one Gladiator to die."

For a moment, many of the servant Glass People became flustered.

The first round of the invitation vote was inconsistent. As the ones being challenged, they had to send out one Glass Person.

Dongfang Yi rolled his eyes and said, "What the hell are we picking? We just admit defeat."

The curly-haired youth said, "Does surrendering work? The rules say it has to be a fight to the death, right?"

Gaoxin chuckled, finding it both amusing and exasperating. "We don't have to fight. It's the gladiators who must fight to the death. So, we just don't pick a gladiator, right?"

"Huh?" the curly-haired youth exclaimed. "But the rules say we have to send out a gladiator within three minutes, we have to!"

Gaoxin smiled. "Yes, we have to. So, what's the price?"

The curly-haired youth paused, then quickly looked at Xing Shiping's notebook, reviewing the rules.

Indeed, the price wasn't an instant kill.

Once the votes on the invitation were inconsistent, it would be considered an acceptance of the duel, and the base must send out a Glass Person to become a gladiator within three minutes. Failure to do so would result in an automatic loss for this duel.

It was an 'automatic loss for this duel,' and the 'losing faction would have 1 HP deducted.'

Gaoxin said, "This game allows for changing factions. It was also stated at the beginning that 'initial distribution' requires at least five Glass People."

"Meaning, as the game progresses, we might reach a point where we have no Glass People left to send. What do we do if we have no Glass People? We just lose HP."

"The rules explicitly mention instant kill in these situations: The gladiator is decided by a full vote. The one with the most votes must enter the arena within one minute, or face an instant kill."

"So, I'm asking you, if the vote fails, don't pick a gladiator. Just incite defection and come out..."

"And didn't we say before? We can ensure all Glass People survive. If Glass People are destined to die, then what's the point?"

The curly-haired youth finally understood. It was possible to be a coward!

Only gladiators had no retreat, forced to fight to the death.

However, Xing Shiping's eyes narrowed. "Is that so? Do you really want the opposing Glass People to survive as well?"

Gaoxin nodded. "Theoretically, it's possible. Although it's difficult, let's prioritize working towards that direction. As long as everyone cooperates, we can achieve it."

Xing Shiping fell silent.

"Hey..." Meimei opened her mouth, about to ask him something.

Gaoxin, however, stopped Meimei and then smiled. "Alright, enough talk. We'll admit defeat in the first round and take back our advantage in the second."

"After the duel ends, we'll send out the invitation. Now, we need to think about the content."

"Xing Shiping, what kind of options do you think would be good?"

Xing Shiping looked up. "The options they gave us the first time were very abstract. A square and a circle, it was hard to choose."

"We can upgrade on their basis."

"For example, project three equilateral triangles: one pointing up, one pointing down, and one tilted. They all look the same, only the angles and orientations are different."

Gaoxin praised, "Wow, yours is excellent!"

Dongfang Yi and Qiao Long were also surprised. This was truly brilliant.

If they scrambled the order, how would the other side choose? Unless they guessed the question beforehand. No matter if they had agreed beforehand to choose based on size, strength, or wetness, there would be no way to tell.

"That's great, I didn't even think of that," Dongfang Yi agreed.

Qiao Long nodded, and the others didn't object.

Xing Shiping said calmly, "I like math. When I think of abstract, geometry is the first thing that comes to mind."

Gaoxin smiled and patted Xing Shiping's shoulder. "Okay, we'll go with this."

"You'll be in charge of editing the invitation when the time comes."

p.s: Sorry.