Zheng Jie stared at the big screen in shock, his panic visibly growing, "Huh? This is the game invitation? Is the Gallery already starting a trial?"
The others didn't react as strongly.
After all, having gone through two games, everyone was gradually getting used to it.
In fact, after so many days, many had already guessed that a new game would likely start around this time in the morning and had mentally prepared themselves.
While still a bit panicked, they wouldn't overreact like Zheng Jie.
Fu Chen was a little surprised, "Hmm? The preparation time is one hour again?
"I see, it seems that for different types of games, not only are the participation rules for players different, but the preparation times are also different.
"This is probably to encourage us to negotiate in advance, right?
"Quick, let's discuss our strategy."
From the current situation, both 'Blood Poker' and this 'Matchmaking Game' had a 1-hour preparation time, while 'King's Trial' only had 5 minutes.
In other words, trial games don't give players much time to prepare, nor do they offer a chance to discuss tactics beforehand.
Just like with 'King's Trial', if there had been an hour for discussion, and Wang Yongxin, Ding Wenqiang, and Cai Zhiyuan had a confession session, admitting their crimes and guessing the game's content, the outcome within the game would have been hard to predict.
But for non-trial games like this one, players are allowed to prepare in advance and even discuss specific participants.
Li Renshu asked, "First, let's confirm, who are the bottom three in our community in terms of visa time countdown? They will be forced to participate."
Everyone looked at each other.
Yang Yuting and Xu Tong each raised their hands, "It should be the two of us."
Zheng Jie was also very flustered, "It should include me too, right? I haven't participated in any games at all, I only have the most basic visa time!"
Fu Chen nodded, "Yes, it looks like the three of you will be forced to participate."
In 'Blood Poker', Yang Yuting and Xu Tong were in the same group, and the other two were Wang Yongxin and Ding Wenqiang.
Wang Yongxin earned a large amount of visa time for himself, and Ding Wenqiang was dead, so Yang Yuting and Xu Tong naturally became the ones with the least visa time in the community.
Fu Chen raised his voice slightly and continued, "Everyone, please be quiet.
"We've discussed before that in these multiplayer games, the more people from our community participate, the greater our advantage often is.
"We can form a natural alliance of interests through illegal teaming, and we can also better brainstorm and discuss countermeasures.
"Since this game allows 4 to 8 people to participate, I think it's best to have a full 8. The game rules require a 1:1 male-to-female ratio, which means we still need 2 female players and 3 male players.
"I'll state my position first, I'm willing to participate in all such multiplayer games in the future.
"Are there any other volunteers?"
No one responded for the moment.
Jiang He said weakly, "I just noticed that Auntie Su doesn't seem to be here. Should I go get her?"
Li Renshu shook her head, "No need, Auntie Su has plenty of visa time, and besides, the game is called 'Matchmaking Game'.
"Judging by the name, we can probably assume this is a game that mimics a matchmaking event. People who are popular in real matchmaking might have an advantage in this game.
"Auntie Su is definitely not suitable to participate."
Jiang He didn't insist, "Ah, okay."
Yang Yuting added, "Auntie Su should be able to see the new game invitation in her own room. If she really wanted to participate, she would have come down."
Everyone tacitly ended the topic.
Cao Haichuan's expression was a bit serious, "I don't quite agree with what Fu Chen said about having to gather 8 people for this game.
"We can't wishfully think that this game is similar to 'Blood Poker' or 'King's Trial'.
"The Gallery's rules state it very clearly:
"The goal of 'Blood Poker' is to 'complete the distribution of visa time', the goal of 'King's Trial' is to 'judge the sinner', and the goal of the 'Matchmaking Game' is to 'screen players'.
"Different goals naturally mean different optimal strategies for the game.
"Since it's 'screening', and it allows the community to choose between 4 to 8 participants, I don't think the copycat who designed the game would be stupid enough to let players from the same community exploit loopholes by illegally teaming up.
"Just like 'King's Trial', on the surface, it seems the more players from the same community enter the game, the greater the chance of winning, since more audience members can change the game's outcome.
"But in reality, the Gallery will randomly select players to participate, and won't allow a situation where 'all 9 people from Community 17, besides the sinner, become the audience'.
"This is the first time a 'screening' type of game has appeared, who can guarantee it has no death rate? Without knowing the specific situation, finding a strong player to lead a team of 4 is actually the safer choice."
Cai Zhiyuan thought for a moment and nodded, "Officer Cao means that it's easy for one person to carry three, but very difficult to carry seven. I agree with this view.
"If this game didn't have a limit on the number of people, I would lean towards having more people sign up, so that even if the Gallery randomly selects people, the probability of being chosen would be higher.
"But since it's clearly stated to be 4 to 8 people, I actually think that more people doesn't necessarily mean an advantage."
Fu Chen had a bit of a headache, he increasingly felt that as the organizer of the discussion, he was having a hard time keeping up with the pace.
Lin Sizhi looked at Cao Haichuan, he noticed that after experiencing 'King's Trial', Officer Cao had become significantly more active in game discussions.
Li Renshu's gaze swept over everyone.
"Judging by the standards of a typical matchmaking event, appearance, temperament, profession, conversation skills... all of these could affect the success rate.
"Qin Yao, Yang Yuting, Xu Tong, Lawyer Lin, and Brother Wang, you all should be considered hot commodities in the matchmaking market.
"Fu Chen is also okay, but... still a bit lacking.
"Yang Yuting, Xu Tong, and Zheng Jie have already been automatically selected due to their low visa time. If we only form a team of 4, we can only bring one more male player.
"Officer Cao is right, this person must be strong enough and smart enough to ensure everyone's safety."
Her gaze had just swept past Cao Haichuan when he waved his hand helplessly.
"It doesn't seem appropriate for me to go. I'm almost forty, going on a blind date with this wrinkled face, I'm afraid I'd lose half the battle as soon as I enter the game."
Li Renshu's gaze moved past Wang Yongxin, "Brother Wang's injuries haven't healed, and he's not short on visa time, so he should stay in the community to recover.
"Lawyer Lin, are you willing to go?"
Lin Sizhi nodded, "I can."
Zheng Jie was almost moved to tears of gratitude, "That's great, Brother Lin! If you're willing to go, I feel like I'm saved!"
In fact, Lin Sizhi knew very well that he was bound to participate in this game.
Even if he didn't sign up, the Gallery would definitely pull him into the game under the pretext of 'randomly selecting players as the number of participants is less than 40'.
Since that was the case, it was better to volunteer, which would seem more natural.
Fu Chen asked, "Or maybe we can consider a team of 6? Bring one extra man and one extra woman.
"I can participate too. Lawyer Lin, what do you think?"
Lin Sizhi considered for a moment, "I also lean towards a team of 4. This is, after all, the first time participating in a 'screening' type of game, and the risks are uncertain.
"More people might just lead to more chaos.
"If we return safely this time and confirm that 'screening' games are relatively safe, then we can consider increasing the number of participants next time."
Fu Chen nodded, "Alright, I respect your opinion then."
Zheng Jie looked at the other three people who were about to participate in the game and started to worry again.
"Matchmaking... I've never been to one before.
"Medical school is too busy, all these years I've been either in class or on duty, I've had no time for romance..."
Fu Chen comforted him, "It's okay, you're a doctor. Logically, doctors should be very sought-after in the matchmaking market."
Wang Yongxin spoke with a hoarse voice, "There's one more thing I think we need to pay attention to.
"The Gallery gave a special reminder that killing a copycat allows you to split the visa time, and killing the copycat of the current game can end the game directly.
"I think starting from this game, Lawyer Lin, you guys can try to look for anyone in the game who might be a suspected copycat.
"If a player blatantly uses a hard-to-detect backdoor in the game, they might be the copycat. Killing them would be like hitting the jackpot."
Lin Sizhi nodded, "It's still unclear if there are rules for killing in this game. But don't worry, if there's a suitable opportunity, I will try."
Yang Yuting and Xu Tong looked at each other. Obviously, they couldn't make a promise to "kill someone" as decisively as Lin Sizhi.
Even if they really found the copycat, they would probably still go through some internal struggle before making the decision to kill them.
But in any case, the fact that the Gallery had revealed this rule meant that all players had to mentally prepare themselves for killing as soon as possible.
Afterward, the group briefly speculated on the possible mechanics of the game.
But it was obvious that just based on the four words "Matchmaking Game," it was too difficult to guess the specific rules. At most, they could only briefly go over basic matchmaking etiquette and other trivial details.
Everyone knew this was probably useless, but they really couldn't think of anything else to do with the remaining time.
As the countdown reached zero, new information appeared on the big screen.
[Players from this community participating: Yang Yuting, Xu Tong, Zheng Jie, Lin Sizhi.]
The next second, the four of them disappeared from the hall.