According to the game rules, for every prisoner the king executes, each audience member who bet on the king receives an additional 30,000 minutes of visa time.
Not to mention, after winning the game, they could also split the visa time bet by the audience members who sided with the prisoners, which would average out to another 50,000.
This meant that for frequent tippers like Audience Member 1, as long as their tips didn't exceed 80,000, they would still come out ahead if they won the game.
These factors all spurred the audience members who bet on the king to tip more frequently.
But for the audience members on the prisoners' side, there was no such "the more you work, the more you get" principle. As long as at least 3 prisoners were alive when the game ended, they would receive the base reward.
There was no extra reward for more prisoners surviving.
So even if they chose the prisoners' side, these audience members were not very willing to waste their own visa time on tips.
Someone like Audience Member 3, who was willing to spend 1,000 minutes of visa time to send a single word, was already considered quite compassionate.
But clearly, the effect of this single word was minimal.
...
[Audience Member 2 tips Ding Wenqiang 6000 minutes of visa time, with the message: Cell 4, ten thousand.]
[Audience Member 8 tips Ding Wenqiang 4000 minutes of visa time, with the message: Number 4, ten thousand.]
The audience members who bet on the king had all realized this.
They knew this wasn't a fair trial, but for the sake of the visa time reward, they still wanted Gao Zhankui to die quickly.
Ding Wenqiang was also a bit surprised.
Was Gao Zhankui... that detestable?
In fact, judging purely from the crimes revealed on the videotape, Gao Zhankui wasn't the worst.
Could it be that people naturally have a deeper hatred for this kind of lackey who helps a tyrant?
Ding Wenqiang didn't know the relevant rules for the audience, let alone why these audience members kept tipping him.
He could only continuously receive a very simple and crude message: these audience members were tipping large amounts of visa time just to see him judge Gao Zhankui harshly.
Coincidentally, among the four prisoners, Ding Wenqiang disliked Gao Zhankui the most.
But seeing Gao Zhankui covered in blood, Ding Wenqiang hesitated again. He wasn't mentally prepared to kill someone yet.
Even if it was the rule of the game, and even if he didn't have to do it himself, it was still not easy to cross this line.
Zhang Peng lowered his voice, "Uncle Ding, what are you still thinking about?
"You can't just focus on the present. If you don't do as the audience says, they might not tip you anymore later."
This sentence instantly reminded Ding Wenqiang.
These audience members were indeed tipping enthusiastically, but these tips obviously came with conditions.
The audience members would usually give 4,000 or 6,000 minutes of visa time first, and only after Ding Wenqiang had truly met their demands would they give the remaining visa time.
And once Ding Wenqiang ignored their demands, they would surely stop giving visa time.
In that case, what Ding Wenqiang would lose wouldn't just be these few thousand, but the majority of potential future tips, an amount that could reach tens of thousands.
Gritting his teeth, Ding Wenqiang once again walked towards Gao Zhankui's Cell 4.
...
Lin Si looked down at the scene below through the glass, watching quietly.
As expected, once a landslide begins, it's hard to stop.
The five audience members could use this special killing mechanism to obtain a large amount of visa time, and by giving away just a portion of that visa time, they could easily manipulate Ding Wenqiang's actions.
But the audience on the prisoners' side had almost no equivalent countermeasures.
Although they could also tip Ding Wenqiang, since they couldn't profit from Ding Wenqiang's actions, their tips would most likely go to waste.
Even if one or two people were willing to pay out of their own pockets to advise Ding Wenqiang not to continue tormenting Gao Zhankui, their voices would easily be drowned out by the five audience members on the king's side.
Therefore, the audience on the prisoners' side wasn't tipping because they realized the act was meaningless.
If this continued, the prisoners' side was doomed to lose.
After a moment of consideration, Lin Si pressed the tip button on the desk.
...
Ding Wenqiang arrived in front of Cell 4 again, but just then, he heard a new broadcast.
[Audience Member 5 tips Ding Wenqiang 8000 minutes of visa time, with the message: Zhang Peng is the one who beat you.]
Ding Wenqiang froze, not quite understanding what this sentence meant for a moment.
Zhang Peng? Beat?
He subconsciously looked at Zhang Peng, only to see Zhang Peng instantly become nervous, his body trembling involuntarily.
"You seem to know something. What does this mean?" Ding Wenqiang asked.
Zhang Peng swallowed hard, "Uncle Ding, I don't know what this means. We've never met before."
Ding Wenqiang's face darkened as he raised the scepter, "Are you going to talk or not!"
Zhang Peng dropped to his knees with a thud and raised his hands high, "Uncle Ding, I really don't know what to say!"
Ding Wenqiang's brows furrowed tightly. He felt that Zhang Peng was lying, but he couldn't sort out his thoughts for a moment.
Just then, a coughing sound came from Cell 2.
"Cough! Ahem!"
Wang Yongxin sat on the floor, rubbing the bruises on his neck, and said in a hoarse voice:
"Uncle Ding, don't you get it yet?
"The five of us being assigned to this trial game is actually due to a deeper connection.
"I didn't realize it at first either. After all, you, me, Cai Zhiyuan, and these two, we don't know each other.
"But in fact, the connection between the five of us is much closer than we imagined. There's an invisible thread that ties the five of us together.
"It's that delivery driver.
"He was a rider for Jisu Delivery, I am the CEO, and Gao Zhankui is the station manager. As for Cai Zhiyuan, the algorithm he developed was sold by his company to many platforms, including, of course, my Jisu Delivery.
"In other words...
"In this trial game, the five of us are to be held responsible for that delivery driver's death.
"That being the case, isn't it strange that this unemployed punk is mixed in? On the surface, he has absolutely no connection to the delivery driver's death.
"However, in your and his videotapes, a hidden clue was buried.
"You accidentally hit and killed the delivery driver back then, not just because of drowsy driving, but also because you had just been beaten, which caused your vision to be impaired.
"And him?
"The videotape said, robbery, brawling. His malice was like a butterfly flapping its wings, turning into an undeserved disaster for the innocent.
"And in the final file, it was written 'unjudged'.
"Obviously, for a scumbag like him who's been in and out of jail, he can't be lucky enough to not get caught every single time, right?
"So, 'unjudged' doesn't mean he has never been judged at all, but specifically refers to the fact that, like me and Cai Zhiyuan, he was not judged in this case of the 'delivery driver's death'.
"And judging from your reaction, the time he beat and robbed you probably also ended with nothing, the case was never solved, right?"
Wang Yongxin spoke with great satisfaction. The thought of how Zhang Peng had subtly manipulated him into Cell 2 with just a few words earlier angered him. Now that he had the chance, he would of course retaliate without mercy.
All of this was also within the permissible scope of the game rules.
Ding Wenqiang's hand gradually tightened, veins popping out.
Zhang Peng's face turned deathly pale. He could feel the killing intent in Ding Wenqiang's eyes and became somewhat flustered.
Ding Wenqiang's voice was a bit hoarse, "You recognized me from the very beginning, didn't you?
"Back then, you were wearing a mask and a hat, but I wasn't.
"Thanks to you, my left eye was swollen for a week before it went down.
"If it weren't for the blind spot in my left eye, I would never have hit and killed that delivery driver."
Terrified, Zhang Peng dropped to his knees with a thud and hugged Ding Wenqiang's leg, "Uncle Ding! I was wrong, I'm sorry! I was out of money at the time, I was confused for a moment, it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, I was really wrong!
"Let me go into Cell 3, let me atone for my sins. Uncle Ding, I promise, I'll smash all ten of my fingers! I'll definitely smash them all!
"If I don't, you can electrocute me with the scepter!"
Ding Wenqiang pointed at Cell 5, "Get in."
Zhang Peng was crying, snot and tears everywhere, "Uncle Ding, even if I'm sentenced for robbery, even if I'm sentenced for brawling, it's just a few years in prison. My crime doesn't deserve death, Uncle Ding!
"How could I have known something like this would happen after I hit you!
"That delivery driver's death, it really has nothing to do with me!"
Ding Wenqiang kicked him away, "Get in! I don't want to say it a second time!"
"Okay, okay, I'll go, I'll go."
Zhang Peng scrambled into Cell 5, and Ding Wenqiang slammed the cell door shut with a loud "CLANG."