As the only female player he had exchanged 'Likes' with, the two had a verbal agreement before. After Zheng Jie confirmed the 'Like', he would give Zhou Rong a voucher for 10,000 minutes of visa time, and Zhou Rong would confirm that she would exchange 'Likes' with him in their final meeting.
Now that the first step of exchanging 'Likes' was complete, Zheng Jie thought that if she accepted the invitation, he would immediately fulfill his promise, buy a voucher, and give it to Zhou Rong at their next meeting to further build mutual trust.
If everything went smoothly, the two could even keep matching for meetings until the game ended.
This way, neither of them would need to match with other strangers, and both would be safe.
However, not long after the invitation was sent, a rejection notification popped up.
"Ah..."
Zheng Jie's hopeful heart sank again.
Obviously, Zhou Rong was the safest meeting partner for him, but he was not the same for her.
Among the many male players who sent her invitations, Zhou Rong would inevitably choose those who appeared to have more 'Likes'. This was the same safety strategy.
"Sigh."
Zheng Jie lowered his head in frustration. Although this result disappointed him, he felt he couldn't really complain.
The 'Like' exchange had actually been completed long ago. He could have invited Zhou Rong before the murder rules were updated in the second phase.
But Zheng Jie hesitated and didn't send the invitation right away.
Now, with the murder rules updated in the second phase, everyone was on edge. Sending a meeting invitation at this point was indeed a bit late and seemed to have ulterior motives.
It was normal for Zhou Rong to be wary of him.
Perhaps she had already found someone more trustworthy to match with?
Zheng Jie had no choice but to accept random matching again.
However, just as he was about to open the door and enter the meeting room, a broadcast message appeared on the big screen.
[Fang Wencong from Community 1 is broadcasting a piece of data to all players.]
[In the meeting room, the percentage of female players who agree when a male player proposes to split the bill is: 7%.]
Zheng Jie was stunned for a moment. Fang Wencong, he remembered him.
He was the guy he met in the meeting room for the third time.
He wasn't handsome, but he was quite friendly to Zheng Jie.
What a critical time, and he's still hung up on splitting the room fee. Doesn't he get the situation at all?
[Players, please enter the meeting room immediately. Exceeding the time limit will result in an instant death penalty.]
Zheng Jie couldn't be bothered with such nonsensical data and quickly opened the door to the meeting room.
Seeing the other person's gender, Zheng Jie tensed up subconsciously.
It was a man.
[Community 8 - Jiao Hongtao].
This was a disheveled and dejected-looking middle-aged man. Zheng Jie had some impression of him. It seemed he was the first one to go on the talent show and instantly get 20 'Boring' votes, having his signal cut off.
Moreover, he also seemed to have sent out an inflammatory broadcast.
This person must have a lot of 'Dislikes'. It was hard for Zheng Jie not to worry.
Jiao Hongtao plopped down on the chair opposite him and preemptively slapped the [I'll Pay] button.
"I'll treat you for this meeting. When you leave, give me a 'Dislike'."
Jiao Hongtao's voice was very low.
Zheng Jie had a bad feeling. He asked tentatively, "You want a 'Dislike'... what are you planning to do?"
Jiao Hongtao suddenly looked up, glaring at Zheng Jie: "Why the hell are you asking so many damn questions?
"Give me a 'Dislike', or I'll kill you right now!"
Zheng Jie quickly raised his hands to signal for the other person to calm down: "Okay, okay! I'll give you a 'Dislike' right now.
"Alright, I've already pressed 'Dislike'."
Only then did Jiao Hongtao lower his head again, staring blankly at an empty space in the meeting room: "I was scammed out of twenty thousand minutes of visa time, twenty thousand minutes!
"Those bitches, every one of them swore they would keep their promise, but then they wouldn't accept my invitations for the next meeting!
"And so many people gave me 'Dislikes'...
"Since they were ruthless, they can't blame me for being unjust.
"I'm going to use these 'Dislikes' they gave me to take back the visa time I was scammed out of!"
Zheng Jie opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately swallowed his words.
He could tell that Jiao Hongtao was in a very unstable mental state. The first 4 hours of the game seemed to have dealt him a heavy blow.
As for how to get back the scammed visa time...
Obviously, it was impossible to meet with the female players who scammed him.
Because the people who reported him would certainly not accept his meeting invitations again, and the probability of the two of them being randomly matched together next was also very low.
What Jiao Hongtao was going to do next was most likely indiscriminate killing.
Killing the next unlucky female player who matched with him.
Zheng Jie wanted to persuade him, but he also knew that his advice would most likely be useless and would instead put himself in danger.
The two remained silent like this, ending the meeting.
Leaving the meeting room, Zheng Jie finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Of course, he didn't give Jiao Hongtao a 'Dislike'. Just like with Lu Xinyi before, he just placed his hand next to the button and pretended to press it.
But this didn't mean much, because Zheng Jie knew that Jiao Hongtao must have already had enough 'Dislikes'.
Whether he gave this 'Dislike' or not would only affect whether he killed a second person, it couldn't stop him from killing the first.
It might not even be able to stop the second one.
Because according to the rules updated in the second phase, if a player had unused 'Likes' or 'Dislikes' at the end of the game, each would incur an additional deduction of 10,000 minutes of visa time.
Even if he didn't give Jiao Hongtao a 'Dislike', other male players would.
"This is bad, this is bad..."
Zheng Jie walked back to his lounge, his mind in a mess.
Just as he pushed open the door, he saw two names appear on the big screen, slowly being crossed out by a bright red line.
In other words, in the last meeting, two players were killed.
Zheng Jie swallowed nervously and carefully looked at the two names.
[Community 9 - Zeng Shiya]
[Community 12 - Liu Lin]
"Liu Lin..."
Zheng Jie didn't know Zeng Shiya, hadn't matched with her, and it seemed this person hadn't participated in the talent show yet.
But he remembered Liu Lin. She was a player he had matched with before, and it had been a bit unpleasant.
He just didn't expect that the next time he heard this name, it would have already become a cold, crossed-out line of text on the big screen.
"Strange, Jiao Hongtao just met with me. Hasn't he had a chance to act yet?
"Could it be... besides him, two other players have already started killing??"
Although he was very reluctant to believe it, the facts were right in front of him, forcing Zheng Jie to accept it.
He looked at the big screen anxiously. A new round of the talent show had begun.
Unlike the last time when two people were crying, this talent show had some changes.
Performer No. 1 was a young man with round-framed glasses. Although not very handsome, he had a smile on his face and seemed to be the cheerful and optimistic type.
Before officially starting his performance, he even said a few words to cheer on all the players.
"I know everyone might be in a state of panic right now, and I am too, but I want to say:
"This game doesn't have a mechanism that requires killing other players. In the end, it's about inciting hatred and greed among us to make us kill each other.
"I hope everyone can calm down and remain as rational and restrained as possible. The 'Likes' or 'Dislikes' in the hands of the killers are not infinite. As long as the majority of us stay rational, we can all survive this game."