Chapter 37: Apology

Two days later, morning.

"Morning."

"Morning."

Fu Chen was, as usual, among the first group of people to wake up.

Cai Zhiyuan, on the other hand, looked like he hadn't slept very well. As a programmer, his body was in a constant state of sub-health, making him one of the physically weaker players among them.

At this moment, he had ordered a serving of steamed buns and soy milk, sitting across from Fu Chen to eat slowly.

He seemed to be lost in thought. After eating for a while, he said to Fu Chen, "Do you think it's possible for something similar to the last 'Team Battle' to occur in future games?"

"Team Battle?"

Fu Chen pondered for a moment. "Your way of putting it has actually enlightened me; it is indeed a possibility."

In the previous game, the 12 players from Community 17 had been divided into three different groups, each participating in a different game.

Looking at the results, each player's gains were highly correlated with their group's collective decision-making.

Therefore, if everyone had prepared for this beforehand and reached some sort of consensus before entering the game, they could better coordinate within the limited game time, or gain a certain advantage when playing life-and-death games against players from other communities.

Community 3 had done exactly that, and they had indeed become a rather troublesome opponent.

Cai Zhiyuan nodded. "Exactly. I thought of this through the situation with Lawyer Lin's group.

"Those four players from Community 3 had clearly reached a consensus within their community from the very beginning. Thus, even though Lu Xinyi's split-second decision appeared to severely harm the interests of the other three players, it still received support.

"That was also a key factor in how she deceived Jiang He.

"As for Wang Yongxin's group, they lacked mutual trust beforehand and struggled to reach a consensus, which led to their fragmentation.

"Although, looking at the results, Wang Yongxin was a beneficiary of the split and Jiang He's losses were compensated by Lawyer Lin, what if the next game is of the type where 'lone wolves have no way to survive'?

"We still need to make preparations in advance for such a situation."

Fu Chen nodded seriously. "That makes sense."

The reason Jiang He was deceived was certainly because she hadn't considered this layer, but there was another important reason: she subconsciously assumed that the players from Community 3 were like those from Community 17—having just arrived in the New World, it would be impossible for them to have formed particularly tight bonds of mutual trust. That was why she participated in that game.

If she had realized from the start that "Community 3 might be a shady establishment," the outcome might have been different.

"But our situation is still quite different from Community 3's.

"Community 3 likely proposed much stricter motions, such as: after every game, all chips earned by players are distributed completely equally.

"But the players in our community wouldn't accept such a motion.

"At most, we would verbally call for everyone to cooperate with fellow community members as much as possible when they are assigned to the same group in future games.

"But even if we didn't call for it, everyone would already know. After all, who would seek out strangers when they can cooperate with acquaintances from their own community?

"As for establishing one or several absolute cores like Community 3, where everyone else in the game must obey unconditionally...

"I feel like our community doesn't have the soil for that right now."

Fu Chen raised a new question.

Cai Zhiyuan had finished his breakfast and wiped his mouth with a tissue. "Mm, I understand.

"Without knowing the specific content and rules of the next game, it is indeed difficult to make any particularly detailed arrangements right now.

"However, I think there is at least one thing we can talk to everyone about beforehand to give them a heads-up.

"That is the situation regarding 'voluntary participation'."

Fu Chen froze for a moment. "You mean, encouraging everyone to participate in the games voluntarily? That might be a bit difficult."

According to the rules announced by the Corridor, there are two different mechanisms for selecting players: one is mandatory participation, and the other is voluntary participation.

Cai Zhiyuan explained, "We haven't encountered voluntary participation yet, but since such a mechanism explicitly exists in the Corridor's rules, there will inevitably be issues. Suppose the number of people wishing to participate voluntarily is significantly higher than the number of players the game can accommodate, what happens?

"I suspect the Corridor might use certain rules to filter them.

"But regardless of what rules are used for filtering, two points are likely to remain unchanged

"First, the earlier you sign up, the easier it is to be selected;

"Second, the more people who sign up, the easier it is to be selected.

"Therefore, if a group game appears in the future and some players from our community have already been selected for mandatory participation, the other players should immediately sign up for voluntary participation to snatch up the remaining slots."

Fu Chen understood instantly. "You mean, something similar to 'illegal teaming' in games?"

So-called illegal teaming refers to situations in certain games, like Battle Royales, where the game itself does not allow teaming, but many players queue into the same match and spontaneously form teams during the game to target other players, thereby increasing their own chances of winning.

"That sounds feasible.

"If we have the majority of people in a multiplayer game, we can easily gain an advantage and squeeze out people from other communities.

"But would the Corridor allow such an obvious loophole to exist?"

Cai Zhiyuan shook his head slightly. "I don't think we should over-deify the Corridor. The Corridor seems to control everything, but the specific game rules are designed by people.

"Since they are designed by people, there is a high probability that loopholes will exist.

"In fact, the designers of those games might even find ways to leave backdoors in the games themselves."

Fu Chen thought seriously for a moment. "True.

"The earlier players integrate the community and realize the importance of teamwork, the greater their advantage will inevitably be in subsequent games.

"But there is still one problem

"If the game itself is extremely brutal with a high elimination rate, wouldn't players from the same community just get wiped out all at once if they go in together?

"If that happens, it might actually be better to participate separately."

Cai Zhiyuan felt somewhat helpless. "But thinking like that becomes a bit of a circular argument, and we won't be able to reach a definitive conclusion.

"Suppose our community chooses to participate separately while other communities choose to participate as a group; given a fixed elimination rate for each game, we will always be at a disadvantage."

Fu Chen thought deeply again. "Mm, you're right. Generally speaking, it's safer to have as many people participate as possible.

"I'll mention it to everyone a bit later, but this can only serve as a sort of proposal; it cannot be mandatory."

...

Meanwhile, Wang Yongxin had also gone downstairs and ordered a burger and a coffee from the vending machine.

Just as he sat down in a single sofa by the window and placed his burger and coffee on the coffee table, he saw Ding Wenqiang walking toward him.

Wang Yongxin instinctively became wary.

However, in the next second, Ding Wenqiang arrived in front of him and said somewhat awkwardly, "I've come to apologize to you."

Wang Yongxin was stunned. "Huh?"

Ding Wenqiang said, "I might have had some prejudices against you before and had a bad attitude. Don't take it too much to heart."

Wang Yongxin hurriedly stood up. "No, no, no, Uncle Ding, you're being too formal. You're an elder; if anyone should be apologizing, it's me to you.

"I think we just have some differences in philosophy, but our hearts are the same in wanting what's best for the community.

"We're both men; we won't take such small matters to heart, right?"

Ding Wenqiang nodded. "Right, I feel the same way.

"...Alright, then go ahead and eat your breakfast."

He seemed to want to say something more, but he couldn't think of a topic, so he ended the conversation with an awkward wave of his hand.

Wang Yongxin sat back down to continue enjoying his breakfast.

Clearly, a large part of the change in Ding Wenqiang's attitude toward him stemmed from the Community Security Fund.

Wang Yongxin supported the fund and had indeed set aside 5% of his own earned chips.

Since Ding Wenqiang benefited directly from this security fund, his view of Wang Yongxin naturally improved.

"Money can eliminate conflict, and money can certainly buy friendship.

"Heh, this place isn't much different from the real world."

Wang Yongxin looked out the floor-to-ceiling window and stretched comfortably.

However, at that moment, new information suddenly appeared on the large screen.

【Good morning, players!】

【The "Corridor" will open in 5 minutes.】

【The name of this game is "The King's Judgment," and the objective is "To Judge the Sinners."】

【Mandatory participants from this community are: Wang Yongxin, Ding Wenqiang, Cai Zhiyuan.】

【There are a small number of slots for voluntary participation, which will be randomly selected from all registered players.】

【Please all players prepare yourselves.】