Looking at Fang Wencong's mineral water, Zheng Jie asked, "Bro, looks like that water isn't for your blind date, but for yourself?"
Fang Wencong subconsciously moved the mineral water closer to himself, "Oh, this.
"This bottle is for me, but I was indeed considering whether I should buy one for the female player I'm meeting."
Zheng Jie looked at the mineral water in his own hand, "Do we have to buy it? Doesn't that mean each meeting will cost an extra 50 minutes of visa time?
"Add the room fee, and that's 250 in total, which comes out to 5000 minutes of visa time for 20 meetings!"
Zheng Jie was thirsty himself and wanted to drink some water too.
Fang Wencong sighed, "What else can we do? It's hard to believe you'd still ask such a question after playing 'Blood Poker'.
"In a multiplayer game, you have to take the initiative to be competitive, or your earnings will definitely be at the bottom.
"Everyone else gives a gift, but you don't, you can forget about getting a 'Like', it won't be for you.
"Although the game hasn't specified what 'Likes' are for, they must be something good, right? Even if they can't be directly exchanged for visa time, they can probably be exchanged indirectly.
"If it can be exchanged for anything at all, then spending these 50 minutes of visa time is well worth it.
"Besides, if you can find a suitable female player and exchange 'Likes' in the final meeting, you can get an extra 30,000 minutes of visa time.
"You can't just cram at the last minute for the final meeting, can you? Don't you have to find a suitable candidate in advance and build some rapport?"
Zheng Jie nodded, "Sigh, that's true. I actually know this, I just feel a bit reluctant."
Fang Wencong shifted into a more comfortable position on his chair, "It's useless to be reluctant, these are the game's rules!
"Speaking of which, I don't know what the female players you've met are like, but the two I met were both very ill-tempered, I just asked if we could go Dutch, and they threatened to give me a 'Dislike'.
"I had to coax them for a while to calm them down, and I don't even know if they gave me one in the end.
"So I've learned my lesson, it's just a game, no need to argue with women, just let them have their way, we end up earning more than them anyway."
...
Ten minutes passed quickly, and Zheng Jie felt like the conversation had ended too soon.
Especially after the two of them privately complained about the bizarre female players they had encountered, they felt inexplicably relieved.
Zheng Jie said frankly, "Bro, thanks for telling me so much, but I don't have a 'Like' to exchange, I already gave it to someone else."
Fang Wencong waved his hand dismissively, "No problem.
"Besides, you shouldn't exchange 'Likes' with men either."
Zheng Jie was a bit puzzled, "If two men trust each other, isn't it safer to exchange 'Likes'?"
Fang Wencong sounded a bit helpless, "It is safer, but what's the point? In the final meeting, men exchanging 'Likes' with each other doesn't grant extra visa time!
"You definitely have to exchange 'Likes' with female players in advance to build mutual trust and goodwill.
"If you exchange all your 'Likes' with men, even if you want to exchange with a female player in the last round, she won't trust you."
Zheng Jie had a sudden realization, "Ah, that seems right. Okay, see you later then, bro."
...
Returning to the waiting room, just as Zheng Jie sat down in the rest area, an image appeared on the big screen.
The draft event had begun.
The huge screen was split in two, one side showing a slightly chubby girl with a somewhat nervous expression, the other a disheveled, dark-skinned middle-aged man.
Judging from the surroundings of the two, they should be in a waiting room identical to Zheng Jie's, standing in the open space with extra lighting.
At this moment, all the lights were on, giving it a bit of a stage-like feel.
The chubby girl's name appeared on the screen: [Community 1 - Zhong Yuanyuan].
"Hello everyone, I, I will sing a song for you..."
The chubby girl began to sing, a cappella of course, with no accompaniment, and her voice wasn't particularly beautiful, but her gentle tone was still pleasant to listen to.
Zheng Jie listened while continuing to ponder the game's rules.
The chubby girl sang for about three minutes, then bowed shyly to the camera and pressed the button to end her performance.
Each player could perform for a maximum of five minutes, but could also end early.
The big screen's audio system switched to the other side, and the disheveled middle-aged man also began his performance.
[Community 8 - Jiao Hongtao].
He didn't have any special talents either, he was also singing.
Zheng Jie noticed that next to the seats with the best view of the big screen, there were also two sets of buttons, each with 'Interesting' and 'Boring', corresponding to the two people participating in the draft on the screen.
There was also a reminder message nearby that re-emphasized: [No matter what you choose during the draft event, it will not consume any of your existing resources.]
In other words, for each draft, you could press these two buttons freely, without any restrictions.
But for the same person's performance, you could only choose either 'Interesting' or 'Boring'.
"Such a cute girl, just a little chubby, and she didn't receive any 'Likes'?
"This game is a bit too realistic."
Without much thought, Zheng Jie directly pressed 'Interesting' for the chubby girl who had already finished her performance.
Because according to the rules, anyone who appeared on the draft stage had the lowest number of 'Likes'.
Since that was the case, there was no harm in giving a 'Like'.
As for this skinny, thirty-something-year-old man...
His singing was really a bit terrible, Zheng Jie wanted to mute the big screen, but unfortunately, there was no such option.
Zheng Jie hesitated, logically, this man was also a poor soul with no 'Likes', giving him one would be a simple gesture, but...
Just as he was hesitating, the big screen's sound system was cut off, although the image was still there, a new message appeared above.
[Performer No. 2 has received over 20 'Boring' votes, performance has been forcibly terminated.]
[Performer No. 1 has received 31 'Interesting' votes, and has been awarded an additional 3 'Likes'.]
[Performer No. 2 has received 2 'Interesting' votes, and has been awarded an additional 0 'Likes'.]
On the screen, the chubby girl, Zhong Yuanyuan, hurriedly expressed her gratitude to the audience in front of the screen, although her voice couldn't be heard, her joy could be felt through her body language.
The draft on the big screen was cut off, and it reverted to displaying the basic game rules.
Zheng Jie felt a bit emotional, although these two players both got a chance in the draft, their rewards were worlds apart.
Suddenly, he remembered something else and got up again to go to the inquiry machine.
An hour had passed, and he could finally check the specific number of 'Likes' and 'Dislikes' he had.
[Community 17 - Zheng Jie]
[Current 'Likes' owned: 1]
[Current 'Dislikes' owned: 2]
[Current 'Likes' received: 0]
[Current 'Dislikes' received: 0]
"This..."
Although Zheng Jie had somewhat prepared himself mentally, he was still very disappointed to see this result.
Because a new hour had begun, the game had reissued him one 'Like' and one 'Dislike'.
But the 'Likes' and 'Dislikes' he received from other players were both zero.
In other words...
Lu Xinyi did not give him a 'Like'.
"I'm so stupid, what was I even expecting..."
Zheng Jie wanted to slap himself twice, he had actually fantasized that someone like Lu Xinyi would keep her promise and exchange a 'Like' with him.
Obviously, Lu Xinyi had faked the motion of pressing the button, but didn't actually press it.
First, she genuinely pressed the go-Dutch button, then gradually let Zheng Jie lower his guard during the subsequent chat, and finally, a casual fake motion before leaving, a flawless performance, completely fooled the naive Zheng Jie.
Zheng Jie had held a bit of a fluke mentality before, thinking that since Lu Xinyi knew he was a player from Community 17, maybe she would give Lawyer Lin some face?
When the game was still unclear, why not exchange 'Likes' to build a good relationship? Why resort to deception from the very beginning?
Now it seemed he was on the second level, while Lu Xinyi was on the third.
Perhaps for Lu Xinyi, there was no 'Like' in the entire game that was easier to trick someone out of than this one.