Deceitful Game

Chapter 6 This damn matchmaking system

Upon hearing the rabbit's words, everyone's expressions turned strange.

After all, the person who just boasted about having a sure-fire winning formula is now everywhere within a 50-meter radius.

Faced with doubts, the rabbit remained steadfast: "First of all, I hope everyone can know..."

"The storyteller's story is meaningless, and even the act of 'asking questions' itself is meaningless. Because whether I say 'Does one plus one equal two?' or 'Should pasta be mixed with No. 42 concrete?'... people's votes will absolutely not be determined by whether the answer to the question is correct."

"When everyone says 'one plus one does not equal two,' the person who tells the truth will still be executed. Even if everyone gives the same answer, the person who tells the story will still die. This is a game where, under normal circumstances, at least half the people will die... and even the smartest people..."

At this point, she glanced at Mingpo subconsciously: "It's not necessarily possible to... accurately guess everyone's thoughts. No matter how high the odds of winning are, in the end it still comes down to 'gambling'."

Hearing this, Mingpo smiled and nodded repeatedly, seemingly agreeing with her words.

There was a hint of mockery in the corners of his mouth... but the rabbit couldn't see the expression beneath the mask at all.

"That's how it should be, according to common sense."

Having received Mingpo's affirmation, the rabbit's voice suddenly grew louder: "But the situation is different now!"

"I truly possess a foolproof method that can ensure everyone's survival!"

Seeing her determination, everyone looked up and listened attentively to the second speaker.

Looking at the animal masks covered in blood, Lin Ya felt a little scared.

But her thinking became increasingly clear—

"Actually, we just had an optimal solution! Because of the unexpected death of 'Cat,' we are now left with only eleven people."

"If we remove 'Bear,' who is the narrator, there are ten people left."

"This means that we could have tied!"

"This way, we can trigger the game's third rule!"

3. If the answers given are different and the quantities given are equal (i.e., A=B), then no one will be executed.

Lin Ya took a few deep breaths after saying this, and glanced at Ming Po again.

She had just felt that the wolf's act of raising its head was very strange. The cat's unexpected death could have been due to the wolf's psychological manipulation.

Lin Ya previously thought that this might be because the "wolf" was testing the rules and bottom line of the game.

But now it seems...

The wolf seems to have another purpose!

If one person is killed first, then the voters will have a basis for a tie!

As long as everyone maintains a tie of five votes to five, then they might not even lose a single person!

He did this so that as many people as possible could survive!

But why didn't "Mr. Ai" bring this up during the discussion...?

Thinking about this, Lin Ya decided to reveal what she had discovered directly:

"If the number of voters is even, then we use the voters as a dividing line: the left half chooses blue, and the right half chooses red. Then, when it's the next voter's turn, we continue doing this. We keep repeating this until the last round, and then no one dies!"

"In that case, the game isn't about 'at least half the players dying'—a maximum of eleven players can survive!"

At this point, Lin Ya looked around and couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.

Everyone was listening to her and agreeing with her point of view.

This feeling... is really good.

Lin Ya took a deep breath and made her boldest suggestion: "So the problem now is... we need to make the total number of people odd again."

"Of course, the way to maximize the survival rate is to throw me out. I know that, but I don't recommend that you choose that path..."

Lin Ya preemptively voiced any potentially malicious suggestions people might make: "Because so far, although our faces are stained with blood, I think—our hands are still 'clean'."

"We only had one round of voting, and the purpose of that round was self-preservation, not to deliberately exile someone or kill another one of us. The only 'dog' that wanted to attack us is now dead."

"But if you really vote me out, it means you have already betrayed me once—and betrayed the proposer of 'peace'!"

"Then how can we ensure that others can still trust each other?"

At this point, Lin Ya coughed a few times.

When she became slightly agitated, she felt her breathing become painful.

Here, she deliberately concealed the fact that "the wolf intentionally killed the cat." This was not only because of her secret alliance with the wolf, but also because she wanted to avoid disrupting the atmosphere of mutual trust.

Lin Ya took a few deep breaths, then continued, "So I have a suggestion:

"We all pressed the buttons on our left and right hands at the same time, without telling anyone else what vote we cast."

"Leave the decision of life and death to luck. The dead should not resent the living, and the living should not feel that they killed others—it was just luck that caused their deaths!"

"We randomly eliminate other people like this until an odd number of survivors remain!"

"—At the same time, to prevent betrayal."

The rabbit added, "I hope everyone can understand that this is the best decision to ensure everyone's survival... Once trust is broken, it's almost impossible to rebuild. So we only have this one chance."

"Once the 'peace vote' is reached, if anyone changes their vote and betrays the party, then those who survived that round must work together to punish the 'traitor'!"

"I hope everyone will join together to banish those who have betrayed trust and disrupted unity! With such a promise, I'm sure traitors will not dare to act recklessly!"

"At that time, we will follow my previous suggestion and live peacefully until the end, and we will all survive together!"

That concludes my remarks. Thank you everyone!

Lin Ya finished explaining her plan, almost within the five-minute mark.

"The second narrative phase has ended; we now move on to the discussion phase."

"That's what the host announced."

As the host finished speaking, the right to speak was restored.

"I call."

Mingpo spoke without hesitation.

Without hesitation, he stretched out his hands and slapped the armrests on both sides of his body to show his support for the rabbit's suggestion.

After casting his vote, Mingpo removed both hands from the handrail without even looking at it.

He raised his hands as if surrendering, indicating that he would no longer vote.

No one knows which vote he cast, so it's impossible to follow his vote or vote in reverse.

Lin Ya's words do make sense.

If you vote according to her method, you can indeed create a tie in the end, allowing everyone to survive.

But the first part of her proposal was so dangerous.

The meaning of "fairness" also implies "randomness".

The layers of strategic maneuvering completely lose their meaning at this moment, turning into a chilling and cruel game like Russian roulette.

"What's wrong, everyone?"

Seeing that no one had voted, Mingpo called out, "Aren't you going to vote?"

At this moment, Mingpo's face was full of an exceptionally pleasant smile, and her voice became cheerful and relaxed.

And others simply cannot see it—

That wasn't a feeling of relief that "I was finally able to survive."

It's more like the kind of pleasure you get when watching those unlucky videos.

The schadenfreude that comes from watching someone unknowingly walk into a prank trap.

Mingpo knew that by making this choice, he was gambling with his life. He would lose his advantage and compete on equal footing with others for the chance to survive.

But... so what?

Mingpo didn't even know how she died, and she had no resentment or obsession in her heart, nor any reason to live.

For some reason, Mingpo never felt any fear of death from the very beginning.

Or to be more precise... he didn't even feel much fear.

Compared to choosing the cautious strategy of "survival," the thrill of walking on the edge of life and death was much more exciting for him.

"I think that's a great idea too! Let fate decide who lives!"

In the silence, the raccoon quickly spoke up and simultaneously patted the armrest.

She couldn't wait for such a proposal.

Whether it's the "dog" and "wolf" who look oppressive and aggressive, or the "fox" who looks like a very intelligent social elite, or the "bear" who lies and wants to kill people right away and may have killed people in real life, or the "rabbit" who speaks clearly and is not nervous in this situation... all these people are much stronger than her, a college student who has only just started her second year.

This damn game has an even more outrageous matchmaking system than Honor of Kings.

The raccoon muttered to itself.

How could a mere mortal like her, who failed advanced mathematics despite her best efforts, be ranked alongside these deities?

The raccoon knew very well that if everyone relied on their own abilities, she had no chance of winning.

And she's number ten now, the last one...

Even though the raccoon wasn't very smart, she knew one simple fact—the later you speak in this game, the greater your disadvantage.

In this situation, being able to skip speaking and bargaining... and just gamble on luck to make a peaceful retreat actually increases her chances of winning!

We ordinary people are nothing more than rats in a corner.

The mouse doesn't want to fight to the death; the mouse just wants to survive!

If her chips hadn't already been turned into masks, she would have even wanted to give all of them to others as a bribe to let them off the hook—after all, you get at least one chip for completing the game.

If she gets just one, she and her boyfriend can be brought back to life!

By then...

—She was determined to sell that damn Cygnus 600 and never touch a motorcycle again in her life!

Is this really a good idea?

But just then, the fish, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up: "Do you guys even have brains?"