Su Xiucen lowered her head and said nothing.
Wang Yongxin continued to explain, "Fine, even if we don't consider the all-survive strategy, don't consider using Cell 3, we still could have avoided triggering the King's Trial vote by executing the judgments more fairly.
"We know now that only when the fairness rating drops to 0 does it trigger a trial against the King.
"If Uncle Ding had been more just during this process, adjusted the order, and made the punishment each of us four prisoners received roughly match our crimes, then by the time the 10 rounds of the game were over, regardless of who lived or died, as long as the fairness rating didn't drop to 0, he wouldn't have been in any danger.
"Taking it a step further, even if all of the above failed and the King's Trial still began, Uncle Ding still had a way to live.
"According to the rules of the King's Trial, the execution vote only passes if it exceeds half of the total prisoner votes.
"If Uncle Ding had entered a cell to share the judgment game, then he would also be considered a prisoner and could have cast a vote against his own execution.
"Moreover, as long as Uncle Ding could make the other prisoners feel grateful, instead of completely ruining the relationship, then those prisoners wouldn't have all voted for execution.
"In either of these two scenarios, Uncle Ding wouldn't have died either."
Lin Sizhi added, "Actually, there's another possibility, but it's quite demanding and not easy to achieve.
"If there were two or three highly intelligent audience members on the side that bet on the King, then no matter what Uncle Ding did, he wouldn't have died."
Everyone was stunned for a moment, clearly not having considered this possibility before.
Lin Sizhi explained, "According to the rules of the fairness rating, the audience can actually give a fair evaluation against their conscience, but they will be deducted ten thousand minutes of visa time.
"If the audience members who bet on the King voted fairly against their conscience, according to the game rules, they could close the 20-point gap each time.
"A few such votes would be enough to pull the fairness rating back to a safe level.
"Of course, this condition is too demanding, and I think it's almost impossible to happen.
"Because the King's audience couldn't have guessed the specific punishment for the fairness rating dropping to zero. What if it was just forcing the King into a cell or replacing the King? That wouldn't have much to do with them.
"Under such uncertainty, forcing a vote against their conscience would cost ten thousand minutes of visa time each time, which is too high a price.
"Besides, for the King's audience to win, they had to constantly instigate the King, which already cost a large amount of visa time. If they then had to force votes against their conscience, the input would be completely disproportionate to the output.
"Even if one audience member did this, it's unlikely they would get the unanimous support of the other King's-side audience members."
Cai Zhiyuan, who had been silent all this time, spoke up, "Speaking of which, Lawyer Lin, I have a question.
"Did you also notice the issue with the fairness voting very early on?
"Did you guess that it would trigger a mechanism to trial the King?"
Lin Sizhi shook his head, "I guessed that the fairness voting might trigger some kind of in-game mechanism, but I couldn't guess what specific mechanism it would be.
"It's a bit like the principle of dramatic writing, if a gun appears in the first act, it will definitely go off in a later act. I thought, since the designer of this game designed the fairness voting, it must serve a purpose somewhere.
"The rules clearly state that fairness voting brings no benefit to the audience, so it must be related to the five players on the field."
Su Xiucen's head drooped listlessly, as if she was finally starting to accept reality, her voice shifting more from questioning to pleading.
"Lawyer Lin, you were Audience 5. According to Officer Cao, you intentionally voted incorrectly twice."
Lin Sizhi nodded, "Yes."
"Why?"
Lin Sizhi calmly explained, "The first time was to verify the accuracy of this lie-detection mechanism, to decide on the game strategy for later.
"The second time was to correct the previous erroneous result, to prevent the first attempt from causing a deviation in the fairness rating."
Su Xiucen's body trembled slightly, "But, if you had long been aware that this mechanism might exist, and guessed that you could delay its activation by voting against your conscience.
"Then, if you had intentionally cast a few more insincere votes, could you have possibly delayed the trial from happening?"
Lin Sizhi thought for a moment but didn't offer any defense, "That's right."
Su Xiucen wanted to say more, but Wang Yongxin could no longer bear it.
He seemed to have finally reached his breaking point, slamming his hand on the table, "Enough!"
The previous game had already injured his throat and made his voice hoarse. Now, as he raised his voice in anger, he sounded even more strained and desperate.
"What are you trying to say? Are you going to put the three of us on trial like murderers?
"I'll answer for Lawyer Lin:
"Even if he had cast a few more fair votes against his conscience, it would have been completely meaningless!
"Even if the eighth vote temporarily delayed the trial of the King, what about the ninth? The tenth?
"Assuming Uncle Ding had killed us all by then, once the trial started, he would still die instantly! Because dead prisoners automatically cast an execution vote!
"What's more, even if Lawyer Lin guessed that something might happen when the fairness dropped to zero, who knew what exactly would happen before the 'King's Trial' mechanism was actually triggered?
"Maybe it would just put Uncle Ding in a cell? Or maybe it would switch the King's identity?
"With all this unknown, hasn't Lawyer Lin done enough as an audience member?
"Besides, you think Lawyer Lin should have insincerely voted 'agree' to prevent the trial mechanism from triggering, but would that have been fair to me and Cai Zhiyuan?
"I don't care what you think, but I know that Lawyer Lin is the one who saved both of our lives.
"If Lawyer Lin had really done as you said, the two of us would have been dead long ago! Killed by Uncle Ding long ago!"
Su Xiucen shook her head, "Big Brother Ding is a good person, he wouldn't kill anyone!"
Wang Yongxin roared, "He wouldn't kill anyone, then how did Zhang Peng die?
"If he was really as good as you think, why didn't he go into Cell 3 himself, and why didn't he let anyone else go into Cell 3?
"The audience said they'd give him five hundred thousand minutes of visa time if he killed us all!
"You didn't see his expression then, but I did, he was seriously considering it!
"Maybe you think Lawyer Lin didn't do enough, but just how much would have been enough?
"Lawyer Lin's three speeches already revealed the core secret of this game. If Uncle Ding wouldn't listen, what else could be done?
"Should Lawyer Lin have spent tens of thousands of minutes of visa time to post a short essay?
"The words I said when I was persuading Uncle Ding to enter the cell, if you calculate it at 1000 minutes per word, that would be hundreds of thousands of minutes, right? And how did Uncle Ding answer me?
"He asked me back: On what grounds?
"He wouldn't even listen to what I said while covered in injuries, why would you think he would listen to a short essay of a few dozen words from Lawyer Lin as 'Audience 5'?
"So, is it wrong for us to want to live?
"The King's Trial vote happens only once, miss it and it's gone forever! He had already disappointed us time and time again, on what grounds should we continue to trust him unconditionally!"
Wang Yongxin's outburst startled everyone, and for a moment, no one spoke.
Wang Yongxin still felt indignant, "I'm not saying I'm more noble than him. Maybe if I were the King, I would have died even sooner.
"I'm probably the most selfish person in this community, but when others treat me with the same selfishness, I find it perfectly reasonable.
"If I were Uncle Ding, I would have accepted my loss.
"Since you've already chosen the selfish path, wanting to earn the most visa time, shouldn't you bear the corresponding consequences?
"What kind of business in this world has only profits and no risks?
"As for whether this is fair? Of course it's very unfair, but so what?
"How naive can you all be, to still be looking for fairness in this world?
"Fairness, fairness, where is there so much fairness in this world?
"I've said it before, the New World is not a utopia. In this world, there is only one rule, and that is to do whatever it takes, by any means necessary, to survive!
"In every game, I've been seriously analyzing the optimal strategy for you, telling you as much as I can about how to increase your chances of survival.
"And what were you all doing? This is not okay, that is not right, always getting endlessly tangled up in some inexplicable details.
"This is a life-and-death game where you could die at any moment, not a variety show, okay? My dear brothers and sisters?
"Are we going to repeat this stupid process every time someone dies from now on?
"I've had enough. From now on, I don't want to discuss these boring issues with you anymore, and I don't care what you think or how you see me!
"If you think I'm an unforgivable villain who must pay with my life just for being forced to protect myself in the game, then do as you please. I welcome you to use any means to kill me!"
After speaking, Wang Yongxin began to cough violently and uncontrollably.
Then, he turned and went upstairs back to his room, no longer participating in the discussion.
Another long silence.
Fu Chen looked at Su Xiucen and comforted her, "Auntie Su, you should calm down too.
"I believe everyone is equally saddened by what happened to Uncle Ding.
"But Wang Yongxin and Cai Zhiyuan just came back from the brink of death, and being judged like murderers is something no normal person can emotionally accept.
"You really shouldn't have said those things to them.
"I believe we can't use our past moral standards to judge people who have been through life-and-death games. As the saying goes, never test human nature, because human nature cannot withstand testing.
"Especially at times like this, we need to be calm, rational, and trust and unite with each other.
"If we start fighting among ourselves, how can we deal with those terrifying copycats?"
Fu Chen's words brought a bit of life back to the somber hall.
Su Xiucen held Ding Wenqiang's visa wristband in her hands and nodded sadly, "I understand.
"Little Fu, you're a good kid, thank you."
So far, the group hadn't discussed the details of the 'King's Trial' much, far from the in-depth discussions they had before.
Perhaps because of Ding Wenqiang's death, most people were resistant to discussing this topic, so even if it were forced, it would be difficult to move forward.
Fu Chen sighed, "Let's stop here for today. Everyone is tired, let's get some rest early."