"What is this??"
The large amount of text information sent Zheng Jie into an instant panic. He quickly walked to the large screen and read the new rules from beginning to end.
Then, he felt his hands and feet turn cold, and his breathing almost stopped.
Accusation and murder!
This meant that players with a large number of 'Likes' or 'Dislikes' could attack him in the meeting room.
And once the attack was successful, for example, by being accused three times, or by unluckily encountering a player with more than 5 'Dislikes', he would die directly in the game.
Zheng Jie found it somewhat unbelievable. Death in this game came so suddenly, and so casually!
You have to understand, in a trial game like 'King's Judgment', sinners dying in traps at least had some mental preparation. They would have to endure physical torture two or three times before dying.
But in this game, there was hardly any room to struggle.
Just by killing, you could snatch 1/10 of the victim's remaining visa time.
Currently, among the players, the shortest visa time was less than a month, while the longest was three to five months.
Doing the math, if you really encountered a fat sheep with two or three hundred thousand minutes of visa time, one kill would net you twenty or thirty thousand minutes.
Not only that, the game didn't limit the number of kills. This meant that as long as other players had enough likes and dislikes, they could kill many people in a row.
And what about players like Zheng Jie, who had few likes and dislikes?
They would probably just be at the mercy of others, left to their fate.
Zheng Jie had thought that likes and dislikes would play some role in the game, but he never expected them to play such a role.
If he had been able to see the game rules in advance, he might have adopted a completely different strategy in the first 4 hours. But now, it was obviously too late for regrets.
"How many 'Likes' and 'Dislikes' does everyone have right now?"
Zheng Jie desperately wanted to figure this out, but this data was not displayed to the players at all.
"Lawyer Lin might be able to come up with a countermeasure, but the problem is, how do I even see Lawyer Lin?
"This game has already updated its murder rules, yet it doesn't even allow sending a voice message to players in the same community. Isn't that going too far??
"The copycat who designed this game is simply insane!"
Zheng Jie was burning with anxiety, and his state of isolation further intensified his distress.
If the four players from Community 17 could communicate with each other, discuss countermeasures, and execute team strategies, Zheng Jie's sense of security would be significantly enhanced.
But unfortunately, the game had not enabled such a mechanism.
Zheng Jie paced around the room anxiously.
Suddenly, he thought of something and hurried to the data query machine.
"The prerequisite for killing is to consume 'Likes' or 'Dislikes'! So, I can check a player's 'Like/Dislike Ratio' from the first 4 hours, and then check their current 'Like/Dislike Ratio'. If there's a significant consumption of 'Dislikes', wouldn't that prove they're the murderer?
"Then I can broadcast this data, and other players will naturally try to kill them!"
Zheng Jie was very excited. He felt he had found a glimmer of hope in a desperate situation.
However, upon seeing the rule prompt, he was doused with a bucket of cold water.
[Note: Data related to changes in an individual player's 'Like' or 'Dislike' count cannot be queried.]
Zheng Jie instantly deflated.
This rule had existed from the very beginning.
The copycat had sealed this loophole from the start of the design, absolutely not allowing players to expose a murderer in such a simple way.
Of course, Zheng Jie could also query the change in the 'Like'/'Dislike' ratio for the entire group of players, but in that case, there would be too many variables. It would be impossible to pinpoint a specific player and might even cause greater chaos.
This game was like a cold slaughterhouse, leaving no way out for the players.
...
Unconsciously, the 10-minute break ended.
[Players, please enter the meeting room immediately. Exceeding the time limit will result in an instant death penalty.]
When Zheng Jie saw this sentence in the first 4 hours, he didn't feel much, just thought it was a bit nonsensical.
But seeing it now, he felt a sense of despair, like being caught between a tiger and a wolf.
He could only brace himself, push open the door in the room, and walk through the corridor to the meeting room.
Seeing an aunt in her forties trembling as she pushed open the door and entered the meeting room, Zheng Jie subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness, this aunt looked kind-hearted. She probably wouldn't be dangerous.
Moreover, Zheng Jie realized this aunt looked a bit familiar. It seemed she was the one who performed bel canto singing during the talent show PK with that handsome guy.
[Community 12 - Zhou Guifen].
However, before he could speak, he saw this Auntie Zhou curled up in a corner of the room, waving her hands repeatedly: "Young man, don't, don't kill me..."
Zheng Jie was a bit helpless: "Auntie, do I look that much like a murderer?
"Don't be nervous, please sit down first.
"I saw you on the talent show, your singing was very beautiful."
Zhou Guifen was still very nervous, trembling all over: "How about I sing for you now? Just don't kill me..."
Zheng Jie was at a loss for words. It was obvious that this aunt had been terrified the moment she saw the rules and had, to some extent, lost her sanity.
"Auntie, you're really overthinking it. I have neither likes nor dislikes, how could I kill you?
"Please sit down first. Anyone who didn't know better would think I was about to do something to you."
Only then did Zhou Guifen sit down in her seat, half-believingly.
But then she jumped up again neurotically, pointing at Zheng Jie: "Put your hands up! Don't hide them down there!"
Zheng Jie had no choice but to make a surrender gesture: "Is this okay?
"Then I'll pay the room fee first? Watch carefully, I'm pressing it."
Zheng Jie pressed the [I'll Pay] button, then placed both his hands where the aunt could see them.
Only then did Zhou Guifen calm down a bit, letting out a long sigh after pressing the [You Pay] button.
"I'm sorry, young man, I was too scared. You really don't look like a bad person, but... who can say for sure? You are a man, after all."
Zheng Jie frowned: "Auntie, I don't like what you just said. What do you mean, 'I am a man, after all'? You make it sound like all men are murderers."
Zhou Guifen quickly waved her hands: "No, no, no, young man, you misunderstood. That's not what I meant.
"I mean, isn't that how the game's mechanics work?
"In the first 4 hours, who do you think got more 'Dislikes'? Is there even a need to ask?
"The more 'Dislikes' someone has, the easier it is for them to kill, isn't that right?"
Zheng Jie was stunned for a moment. It seemed what this aunt said actually made some sense.
He hadn't realized this before because he was also a male player and had, to a certain extent, overlooked one fact, which was:
After the first 4 hours of the game, the 'Likes' and 'Dislikes' currently held by players would inevitably show a rather obvious gender-based pattern.
Because male players would be more inclined to use 'Likes' to show their sincerity and win the other party's trust, with the ultimate goal of establishing a stable matching relationship, making them the more proactive party;
While female players would be inclined to use 'Dislikes' to threaten the other party into making concessions, preferring to hold onto their 'Likes' rather than giving them out easily.
In other words, female players naturally found it easier to get 'Likes', while male players naturally found it easier to get 'Dislikes'.
Male players ganging up to dislike female players was an overly idealistic strategy, almost impossible to implement when everyone's communication was completely cut off.
And the specific methods of killing also differed between 'Likes' and 'Dislikes':
'Likes' required 2 for one accusation, but it took three accusations to cause death;
'Dislikes', on the other hand, required 5 at once. As long as a murder was initiated, it was a guaranteed death in 10 seconds, with no buffer time at all.
So for this aunt, upon seeing a male player, even without knowing if he had 5 dislikes, she would feel terrified and scared.
Of course, when Zheng Jie faced a female player, he also had to bear the risk of being 'Accused'. But an accusation only led to death after three times, so the psychological pressure wasn't as great.
"Alright, Auntie, since we're both good people, there's no need to be scared. Let's just chat casually and go through the motions."
Zheng Jie thought for a moment: "Auntie, how about we exchange a like? During the last meeting, if you're willing, we can also like each other and get 30,000 minutes of visa time together."
The aunt still shook her head violently: "No! Don't put your hand there!
"It's fine like this. Let's just maintain this state. Nobody touches any buttons. We'll just wait like this until the meeting is over."
Zheng Jie was a bit speechless, but he still nodded: "Alright."
He felt the aunt's behavior was a bit foolish. After all, if he really wanted to kill her, it would just be a matter of casually pressing a button. The aunt couldn't impose any physical constraints on him.
This "keeping both our hands where they can be seen" was purely for psychological comfort.
But Zheng Jie didn't dare to provoke her. What if this aunt mistakenly thought he was about to do something and, in a fit of emotional distress, pressed 'Accuse'?
Zheng Jie knew that this aunt definitely had at least 2 'Likes'.
So, the two of them just kept their hands where the other could see them, staring at each other for a full ten minutes, and then left separately.
...
Returning safely from the first meeting after the murder rules were enabled made Zheng Jie feel a little more at ease.
However, just as he returned to the rest area, he heard a new system notification sound from the large screen.
[From now on, the following rules will be added to all talent shows:]
[Accumulate 20 'Boring' votes, and the talent show performance will end immediately. The performer will also suffer an instant death penalty.]
Zheng Jie was shocked. His eyes widened, finding it hard to believe this rule was real.
Just by voting 'Boring', you can kill someone?
How utterly deranged must the copycat who designed this game be!
In the last 4 hours of this game, there were murder rules almost everywhere!
Are they really not leaving any way out for the players?
Now he could only pray that everyone was paying attention to the new rules on the large screen and wouldn't casually vote 'Boring' for someone out of habit from the first 4 hours. Otherwise, there would be big trouble.