Chapter 29: Reasonableness and Fairness

Lee In-sook explained, "Because this game actually simulates the distribution mechanisms of the real world.

"The ways to obtain massive gains are often accompanied by massive risks.

"While following the crowd can avoid risk, it also significantly lowers the ceiling for potential gains.

"Besides that, there can also be various situations between players, or between communities, such as cooperation or deception.

"If one can find the loopholes or bugs hidden within the rules ahead of others, they can, in turn, gain an advantage in the competition against other players.

"Although I didn't get many chips, I don't feel envious of people like Brother Wang and Lawyer Lin getting so many.

"It's perfectly reasonable."

Ding Wenqiang's expression turned somewhat unsightly. "What's reasonable about it?

"It's clearly an ideal world that looks like a utopia, but in the end, isn't it just encouraging gamblers, swindlers, and speculators?"

Wang Yongxin's mouth twitched slightly. He felt that Ding Wenqiang's three words were subtle insults directed at him, but he held back and said nothing.

Officer Cao, on the other hand, simply shrugged his hands indifferently. "Isn't that normal? When has the New World ever called itself a utopia?

"Thinking that this is a utopia where everyone is equal is just wishful thinking on everyone's part.

"On the contrary, the rules of the New World state very clearly: not everyone is qualified to survive here long-term, which is why there is visa time and the judgment of the Corridor.

"If the Corridor truly believes that gamblers and swindlers are more qualified to survive, there's nothing strange about that. At least from the perspective of Social Darwinism, they do fit the definition of the strong.

"Of course, having said that, I don't think it's necessary to view the New World or the Corridor as entirely good, but there's no need to view them as entirely bad either.

"Even if someone really earned hundreds of thousands of minutes of visa time through mindless all-ins in this game, I don't think that is necessarily a good thing for them."

Wang Yongxin looked at him. "What do you mean by that?"

Cao Haichuan toyed with his lighter. "It's simple. A gambler might indeed win a lot in this game, but what happens if, the next time, the designer suddenly changes their mind and designs a game where players have almost no chance of winning and can only survive by folding?"

No one responded, because the answer was already obvious.

On the surface, if a person is a gambler, they can indeed win a lot in this game.

But it also lays the groundwork for what comes next.

Just like in reality, a person who loses every time they gamble can never become a gambler. Those gamblers are often the ones who win consistently right from the start.

This kind of success will completely destroy their ability to think rationally and cause them to develop a severe path dependency.

Then, as long as the details of the next game change slightly, this "successful experience" could very well be the death of them.

Cao Haichuan comforted them, "So, there's no need for everyone to be too depressed. The Corridor won't only open this once; we will certainly encounter all sorts of different games in the future.

"These games might have completely different rules and logic; there might be life-threatening dangers, and there might also be opportunities to earn even more visa time.

"This game was favorable to you, and the next game might be favorable to him—that's all quite normal.

"In any case, everyone is safe this time and has earned visa time, which is already very good.

"Even if it was only ten thousand chips, didn't that extend the visa time by a week?

"Studying the rules and preferences of the Corridor's games is also so that we can better crack these games in the future. As for things that have already passed, let them pass. There's no need to dwell on them too much."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Although Officer Cao appeared quite easygoing most of the time, his words at critical moments always provided a sense of steady conviction and security.

Fu Chen stood up. "Anyway, everyone worked hard today. Since it's already happened, there's no need to dwell on it.

"Everyone, go back and get some good rest."

...

...

The next morning, Lin Sizhi woke up early.

As usual, he ordered a cup of coffee and a sandwich and sat down at the long table in the hall to eat leisurely.

However, just then, he saw the kitchen door slightly ajar, and it seemed like Ding Wenqiang's figure was busy inside.

He could faintly hear Su Xiucen's voice: "Brother Ding, you can't do this..."

But the voices of the two people following that were very low, and in the end, he only heard Su Xiucen's sigh.

Not long after, Fu Chen also got up.

He ordered a bowl of soy milk and some fried dough sticks and naturally sat down in the seat next to Lin Sizhi.

The two ate in silence, neither saying much.

A short while later, Su Xiucen came out of the kitchen and sat at the long table with a face full of anxiety.

Fu Chen noticed this keenly and asked, "Auntie Su, what's wrong?"

Su Xiucen sighed. "I'm fine. It's Brother Ding... sigh, he plans to only eat steamed buns and pickles for every meal from now on. I tried to persuade him, but I couldn't..."

Fu Chen froze for a moment, and then his expression turned serious.

There were steamers and various kitchen utensils in the kitchen, and flour and yeast could be purchased in the community using visa time; steaming buns wasn't difficult.

The problem was, why did Ding Wenqiang want to do this?

The answer wasn't hard to guess: because Ding Wenqiang had the least amount of visa time of everyone.

In the beginning, Ding Wenqiang only had 11 days of visa time, and later in the "Blood Poker" game, he only earned 15,000 minutes of visa time.

That was just a little over ten days.

Although it seemed like a lot, no one could guarantee when the Corridor would open next, let alone whether Ding Wenqiang would even be able to obtain game eligibility when it did.

Therefore, although the visa time spent on three meals a day didn't seem like much—for example, a bowl of tomato and egg rice costs 45 minutes of visa time—for Ding Wenqiang, he had to find every possible way to save.

If he were just a few minutes short of the next game's start, it would be utterly hopeless.

Buying some flour, steaming many buns at once, and pairing them with a small amount of pickles was currently the lowest-cost way to eat.

Su Xiucen was naturally worried, but no matter how much she worried, she had to admit that this was indeed Ding Wenqiang's optimal solution for now.

To completely forget about visa time and feast would be true madness.

Fu Chen's expression was solemn. "Yeah, Uncle Ding's situation is indeed not very optimistic.

"We must find a way to help him.

"Auntie Su, don't worry for now. Let's discuss this privately in a moment and see if we can come up with a solution.

"Even if we can't directly gift him visa time, we should at least find a way to help Uncle Ding solve his food problem."

Su Xiucen's expression relaxed slightly. "Alright, thank you, Xiao Fu. Sigh, it's truly our blessing to be in the same community as good children like you and Xiao Lin.

"But... can we really find a way?"

Clearly, although she had received some mental comfort, she still felt uncertain.

[Players are prohibited from engaging in any direct or indirect transactions regarding "Visa Time" within the community. Disguised transactions, such as using visa time to purchase supplies and then gifting those supplies to others, are also not permitted.]

This was the basic rule of the community, which had been clearly stated to everyone on the first day.

(End of Chapter)