Cai Zhiyuan struggled to push the horizontal bar, his teeth gritted and his face contorted.
Wang Yongxin was in an even worse state, as the game time for the second 'Hanging from a Lamppost' trial would be increased by 5 minutes.
Although this duration didn't seem long, it was added directly at the end, extending the ordeal by 5 minutes when one was already exhausted, which would drastically increase the danger level.
If Wang Yongxin's body suddenly gave out and he completely lost his support, the entire weight of his body would press down on his neck, and he would suffocate and fall unconscious in a very short time, beyond any hope of rescue.
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 a bit complicated, he found it hard to imagine how he would face the two of them after returning to the community.
There's no other way, these are the game rules. I just did what most players would do.
The others in the community... should be able to understand, right?
Just then, the broadcast sounded again.
[Audience 1 has rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 5000 minutes of visa time, with an attached message: Kill them all, one hundred thousand.]
...
Those simple five words exploded in Ding Wenqiang's mind like a clap of thunder.
Kill them all, one hundred thousand!
One hundred thousand minutes of visa time was about 70 days, a huge sum that Ding Wenqiang had never seen since entering the new world.
But, if he were to kill Cai Zhiyuan and Wang Yongxin, how would he face the others when he returned to the community?
In this game of 'King's Judgment', Community 17 had people watching as an audience for the entire duration.
And even without an audience, the players of Community 17 would inevitably look up information about the game, and all of Ding Wenqiang's actions would be laid bare.
It was impossible to hide it.
Then... what if he didn't hide it?
What if he said that the game mechanics killed them, that the game's designers killed them, and that he had no choice?
After Cai Zhiyuan and Wang Yongxin completed this trial game, there would still be 2 trials left out of the 10.
All three of them had now undergone 2 trial games, and the third one carried an extremely high risk of death.
In other words, it was highly probable that two people would die.
Picking an unlucky one between Cai Zhiyuan or Wang Yongxin and letting them die in a trial game would still be hard to explain to the others back in the community.
Moreover, given their current injuries, it was uncertain if they could even survive after returning to the community.
In that case, why not just go all the way?
Ding Wenqiang already had Zhang Peng's life on his hands, and at this point, he had a bit of a "might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb" mentality.
But he quickly shook his head again.
No, that won't work, there's a difference between one death and two, if one of Cai Zhiyuan or Wang Yongxin dies, I can still barely argue it was a problem with the game mechanics, if both die, there's no way to explain it.
To cause my own social death in Community 17 and be permanently ostracized by other players for one hundred thousand minutes of visa time, it's not worth it.
Perhaps I'll participate in similar team-based games in the future, and the survival probability of a lone wolf player will be infinitely compressed.
However, just as Ding Wenqiang had finally managed to convince himself and decided to reject Audience 1's proposal, more broadcast announcements sounded.
[Audience 1 has rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 5000 minutes of visa time, with an attached message: Kill them all, one hundred thousand.]
[Audience 7 has rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 5000 minutes of visa time, with an attached message: Kill them all, one hundred thousand.]
[Audience 2 has rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 5000 minutes of visa time, with an attached message: Kill them all, one hundred thousand.]
[Audience 8 has rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 5000 minutes of visa time, with an attached message: Kill them all, one hundred thousand.]
[Audience 3 has rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 2000 minutes of visa time, with an attached message: Calm down!]
[Audience 9 has rewarded Ding Wenqiang with 4000 minutes of visa time, with an attached message: They're lying!]
All sorts of rewards and messages began to flood the screen, and Ding Wenqiang's mind was thrown into chaos again.
If five audience members all made the same promise, that would be five hundred thousand minutes of visa time.
That's nearly 1 year!
From the current situation, it seemed that only the trial games for sinners in the Arcade were mandatory, while others were voluntary.
In that case, for that entire year, Ding Wenqiang could live a carefree life without participating in any dangerous Arcade games, enjoying life peacefully in the community.
Buy whatever he wants.
Living a life of debauchery and indulgence in the safe zone, watching others struggle in death games, the feeling of security was indescribably wonderful.
This might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, if he missed it, he would never encounter it again.
If he could really get a whole year's worth of visa time, so what if he was ostracized by the entire community?
Considering the frequency at which the Arcade was launching trial games, could these people from Community 17 really survive for a year?
If these people died off one by one within a year, who would still know what he did at this moment?
Ding Wenqiang was truly moved.
But on second thought, he felt something was wrong.
Because the 100,000 minutes of visa time promised by these audience members were still just empty promises.
According to the game mechanics, these audience members could freely reward Ding Wenqiang and attach messages, but such promises were not actually bound by the rules.
In other words, they could go back on their word at will.
They could promise one hundred thousand minutes of visa time, but if they didn't give it in the end, there was nothing Ding Wenqiang could do.
Although these audience members had been very credible so far, having quickly paid the balance for the previously promised ten thousand minutes of visa time on multiple occasions, who could guarantee they wouldn't change their minds this time?
After all, that was one hundred thousand minutes of visa time.
Ding Wenqiang vaguely guessed that the audience side might have some special game mechanics that allowed them to earn a lot of visa time, and a large part of that profit was likely contingent on the collective death of the prisoners.
That's why the audience members were so willing to spare no expense.
Like a flock of vultures, circling in the air, waiting to descend and enjoy the fresh corpses after a brutal war.
But the problem was, Ding Wenqiang didn't know exactly how much profit these audience members could gain from this, so naturally, he couldn't determine the credibility of the audience's empty promise.
If the audience could earn two hundred thousand, then offering a reward of one hundred thousand was reasonable.
If the audience could only earn fifty thousand, then offering a reward of one hundred thousand was purely a lie.
Although Audience 9 also sent the message "They're lying," was this message necessarily true?
These audience members were just numbered from 1 to 10, Ding Wenqiang couldn't tell who they were at all, so naturally, he couldn't determine whose words were more credible.
Besides, what did it matter whether he listened to the audience or not? He was the king, and in the end, he had to make the decision himself.
When he was a worker, he had to listen to his boss, now that he's a king, does he still have to listen to the audience? Is he destined to be someone else's puppet his whole life?
Should he take the gamble?
As long as two or three of these audience members kept their promise, the proposal was very tempting.
...
Seeing Ding Wenqiang lost in thought, his face flashing with a conflicted expression from time to time, Wang Yongxin's heart sank quickly.
If he could, he would have loved to shout right now, to transfer all the visa time he earned from the last game to Ding Wenqiang, to buy his own life.
But unfortunately, he could neither transfer visa time nor shout.
Because as his stamina drained, he felt his body getting heavier and heavier, and the noose around his neck was gradually tightening.
He couldn't make any sound, he could only pray in despair.
...
New broadcasts sounded one after another in Lin Sizhi's room.
[Please vote on the fairness of the king's actions.]
[Voting result is ××××√×√×××]
[Audience 5 has been deducted 10000 minutes of visa time.]
[Final fairness rating: -60]
[Thank you for your evaluation!]
[Please vote on the fairness of the king's actions.]
[Voting result is √×××××√×××]
[Audience 1 has been deducted 10000 minutes of visa time.]
[Final fairness rating: -60]
[Thank you for your evaluation!]
Judging from the voting patterns, more and more audience members were inclined to cast a "no" vote.
This also caused the fairness rating to get lower and lower.