A Strange Genius

What could you do in one minute?

You could get a silent look in return, or receive a softly spoken apology.

But for Luo Tong, one minute was his moment to unleash his might.

Having answered everything correctly, he now possessed a sharp flying sword, superhuman physical abilities, and invincible strength.

Those Bratty Girls, Bratty Big Girls, and Bratty Old Girls who had chased and beaten him earlier would all become souls beneath his blade, dying under his invincible Soul-Severing Flying Sword!

Heaven birthed all things for mankind, and mankind repaid heaven with foul mouths—kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!

Now, he would rely on his own strength to smash this damn world to pieces!

The unhinged Luo Tong let out a wild laugh, charged Brick Brat with his flying sword in hand, and sent the other party out of the battlefield with a single strike.

Then, brimming with battle intent, he continued hunting the other NPCs, taking them down one by one with the weapon in his hand.

When the minute ended, he was still unsatisfied. He rushed to another supply point, opened the supplies there, and entered another one-minute period.

"Muahahaha! Today, this old man shall begin a grand slaughter! This old man will defy the heavens! Keep supplying me—I want to keep answering questions!"

In the office, Chen Yu and the three others watched Luo Tong immersed in the Dreamscape, and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

Lost in the Dreamscape, Luo Tong sometimes laughed uproariously, sometimes wore a savage expression, sometimes danced about wildly, and sometimes sobbed pitifully.

The Dreamscape was supposed to be an intelligence contest, yet he seemed to have turned it into something entirely different. Glasses and the others had no idea what was happening inside.

Chen Yu, meanwhile, looked at his Constitution panel and felt that his understanding of Constitutions had deepened a little more.

[A certain cultivator killed a Bratty Girl and contributed 50 points of Positive Emotion.]

[A certain cultivator killed a Bratty Old Girl and contributed 30 points of Positive Emotion.]

[A certain cultivator finished answering questions, drew the Perfect Xuanyuan Sword, and slaughtered in all directions, contributing 20 points of Positive Emotion.]

[A certain cultivator's contributed Positive Emotion has reached its limit.]

After getting his thrills several times, Luo Tong's contributed Positive Emotion had reached its limit, but Negative Emotions were still accumulating slowly.

Though the amount accumulated was not as great as Positive Emotion, it had the advantage of being steady and continuous. As it built up bit by bit, it actually surpassed the total amount of Positive Emotion, allowing Chen Yu to grasp a pattern:

Positive Emotion had to be squeezed out all at once, while Negative Emotions had to be squeezed out slowly.

In other words, he needed to fish a pond dry sustainably, then give the players one fierce burst of satisfaction. That would maximize Negative Emotions, reduce Positive Emotion, and keep the Dreamscape immensely appealing.

This approach coincided perfectly with the emotional push-and-pull of games and flow theory, making Chen Yu realize that he could use game design theories to create Dreamscapes.

Seeing that the time was about right, Chen Yu had Glasses wake Luo Tong up.

Luo Tong was still a little dazed after waking up, but the moment he saw the short one, his gaze turned razor-sharp.

Grabbing a ruler from beside him, he pointed it at the short one and sneered viciously. "You damn Bratty Girl, you actually dare show your face before this old man again! Today, this old man shall enforce justice on heaven's behalf and take in you, monster! Strip and apologize obediently now, and I might give you a quick death!"

The short one promptly grabbed a stool and gave him a hard one.

Hearing that crisp impact, Chen Yu's pupils contracted sharply as he shouted in alarm, "That could kill someone!"

"It won't," Glasses said calmly. "During the college entrance exams, we always used this method to stay awake. If someone occasionally went crazy, this could bring them back too."

"You guys played that hard?"

"We couldn't afford Concentrated Coffee Pills, so we usually woke ourselves up physically."

"We should still call a doctor! I'll pay the medical bills, and while we're at it, have his brain checked."

"Boss, don't waste money on us! Our brains aren't even worth as much as a medicine cultivator's pills!"

"I'll say it again: can you stop being so humble? Hurry up and spend my money!"

Just as Chen Yu and Glasses were arguing over whether to go to the hospital, Luo Tong finally sat up shakily and rubbed his head. "That felt good. The old method still works. I got too immersed just now. Killing Bratty Girls felt way too good."

Glasses hesitated before asking in confusion, "Wasn't it a question-answering Dreamscape?"

"It was a question-answering Dreamscape," Luo Tong explained.

Then he looked hesitant, waved his hand through the air for quite a while, and said with some difficulty, "But, well, it wasn't an ordinary question-answering Dreamscape. It was special. The gameplay inside was unique. Getting every answer right felt amazing, but sometimes, when it felt too amazing, it became really painful afterward."

"You'd better be talking about answering questions. So what exactly happened?"

"You haven't played it yet?"

"No. We only watched you go crazy."

"Then you'd better hurry. This Dreamscape is really thrilling. President Chen, I have a few questions. I got every answer right every time, but why were the rewards different every time?"

"Scores at different levels correspond to different random weapon pools, so the rewards you get each time are different. That adds more randomness after answering questions and makes it more exciting to play."

"That's true, but it still feels pretty bad when you don't draw what you want, and the occasional junk reward is really uncomfortable too."

"That's what true randomness is like."

For a Dreamscape creator, true randomness was an absolutely terrible setting.

With a large enough sample size, true randomness made extreme outcomes much more likely. For example, getting every answer right ten times in a row and only drawing tissues—used ones at that.

Your probability-based weapon missed every time, while the Bratty Girl in front of you landed critical hits every single time. The resulting frustration could make someone question their entire life.

But that was exactly what Chen Yu had done!

He wanted to harvest Negative Emotions this way!

Every instance of true randomness was a hidden harvest. Sustainable pond-drying was displayed to perfection through these tiny design choices. And the more players lost, the more they wanted to play, helping him burn through more Positive Mana while providing him with huge amounts of Negative Emotions.

In the end, the players gained mana, while he gained Negative Emotions and reduced the risk of being persecuted later. A perfect world where nobody got hurt had been achieved—what could feel more wonderful than that?

While Chen Yu was marveling at what a genius he was, Glasses and the other two entered the Dreamscape with mixed feelings of belief and doubt, then promptly turned red with rage inside it.

"You damned Bratty Girls! I... I... I'm going to kill every last one of you!"

"Kill... kill..."

"Answer questions! Answer questions!"

The three had terrible luck. The moment they entered, they were brutally slaughtered by Bratty Girls. Even after dying, they had to watch as their corpses were used as weapons until their durability ran out, after which they were tossed aside.

Though the Dreamscape had a fairly cartoonish style and portrayed such cruelty in a rather humorous way, as the victims, the three felt deeply humiliated. They swore they would not leave until they had slaughtered those bastards.

Watching the three of them so worked up, Luo Tong asked in disbelief, "President Chen, was I like that just now?"

"That's right. Cute, isn't it?" Chen Yu said with satisfaction.

Luo Tong looked at President Chen in confusion and could not help sighing. Geniuses really were strange.