Chapter 49: Accidental Death

Wang Yongxin froze. He suddenly felt that the Ding Wenqiang before him was somewhat unfamiliar.

Cell No. 3 was still open.

Even without smashing his own fingers, conducting a single game in Cell No. 3 would only cost 18,000 minutes of visa time.

Even if it were doubled, it would only be 36,000.

The tips Ding Wenqiang received from the audience were more than enough to cover that amount.

Even if he didn't want to accept a second trial, wouldn't it be reasonable to use 18,000 minutes of visa time to spread out the cost of a single trial?

Ding Wenqiang wore an expression of indignation, glaring at Wang Yongxin: "Why are you looking at me like that?

"Isn't this exactly what people like you have been doing all along?

"As a rich man, if you let just a little bit leak through your fingers, how many poor people could you feed?

"A bottle of wine you open might be several years' worth of living expenses for a delivery driver.

"If you paid an extra hundred yuan in social security for every delivery driver, perhaps many people involved in accidents could receive medical treatment!

"Have you rich people ever given even a drop of that grace?

"Why is it that when it comes to me, I must bear the burden for you?

"I am the King. My status as King was won through my own ability; I earned it step by step!

"By what right should I enter a cell and undergo the same trials as you?

"Whether it's ten thousand minutes of visa time or a hundred minutes, it's all money I earned myself. Even if it was easy to earn, why should I give it up to save others?

"If you were the King, would you be so noble and selfless as to share the trial games with the other prisoners?

"I don't believe it. If you were that kind of person, you wouldn't have been dragged into this game by the Corridor!"

Wang Yongxin opened his mouth, but for a moment, he was speechless.

He had instinctively wanted to reply, "I would," but Ding Wenqiang's last sentence forced him to swallow the words.

Indeed, he seemed to have no standing to demand any sacrifice from Ding Wenqiang.

Even if it was just a mere 18,000 minutes of visa time.

【Audience No. 1 tipped Ding Wenqiang 3,000 minutes of visa time, with message: Well said!】

【Audience No. 7 tipped Ding Wenqiang 2,000 minutes of visa time, with message: Agreed.】

Ding Wenqiang seemed to have made a certain decision. At this point, he was the only free person left in the arena; the other four prisoners had all been locked in their respective cells.

Ding Wenqiang walked to Cell No. 5, where Zhang Peng was held, and with an expressionless face, initiated the trial game once again.

...

Lin Sizhi leaned back in his chair and sighed silently.

He had done his best to reach this point.

The designer of this game was relatively merciful, leaving a way for everyone to survive, and that method wasn't actually that difficult to achieve.

Of course, it might not be mercy from the designer, but rather a form of survivor bias: games with no way to survive would never pass the Corridor's audit, let alone be selected.

But regardless, a way out existed, and Lin Sizhi had pointed it out clearly.

Ultimately, the lives of these four people were in Ding Wenqiang's hands.

As an audience member, Lin Sizhi could not enter the field personally; he could only do this much.

Audience No. 1 was indeed a very troublesome opponent.

If Lin Sizhi had done nothing, Audience No. 1 would most likely have successfully manipulated Ding Wenqiang into conducting a third trial game on Gao Zhankui, killing him.

And after killing Gao Zhankui, Ding Wenqiang would have fallen into an even deeper downward spiral.

At that point, Audience No. 1 could release Zhang Peng's secret and layer it with the guilt of killing Gao Zhankui, easily manipulating Ding Wenqiang into killing Zhang Peng as well.

In this way, step by step, the King would be pushed to kill more prisoners, securing the maximum profit for the audience on the King's side.

Of course, Lin Sizhi did not know if Audience No. 1 had actually spotted the hidden information in Zhang Peng's videotape, but based on their previous performance, they were a clever and dangerous opponent. He couldn't take that risk.

Once it reached that stage, the prisoner side would be doomed to lose.

Zhang Peng's hidden information was a chess piece that both the King's side and the prisoner side could use; it was only a matter of when it was played.

Lin Sizhi could only push Zhang Peng forward a step ahead of time—on one hand to disrupt the rhythm planned by Audience No. 1, and on the other to buy time to persuade Ding Wenqiang to enter a cell.

If that had happened, all five could have survived.

But unfortunately, Lin Sizhi was not a god, nor could he control Ding Wenqiang's thoughts.

【Please vote on the fairness of the King's actions.】

【Voting results: ×√×√××√√××】

【Final Fairness Rating: -20】

【Thank you for your evaluation!】

The audience's fairness rating dropped further.

Clearly, for those audience members who truly believed Zhang Peng was a scoundrel, initiating a second trial was fair.

But others believed that considering this game was far more dangerous than the previous ones, it was unfair to trial Zhang Peng for a second time now—after all, Cai Zhiyuan and Wang Yongxin had lighter game punishments yet had only undergone one trial.

Furthermore, Ding Wenqiang himself had not entered a cell.

...

In Cell No. 5, Zhang Peng's wails continued to ring out from time to time.

With a dark face, Ding Wenqiang chose to stop looking at him.

This blond kid always made a mountain out of a molehill; it was just a few nails, yet he screamed louder than a slaughtered pig.

After a while, the noise finally stopped.

Ding Wenqiang turned to look, only to be surprised to find that the trial game had not ended.

The nail gun was still going "click-clack, click-clack," driving nails into the target or into Zhang Peng's body.

However, one nail had struck Zhang Peng squarely in the forehead, and the young blond man had gone silent.

Ding Wenqiang's mind went blank instantly.

Zhang Peng was dead.

He hadn't expected Zhang Peng to die so easily, because in all previous trial games, one could play at least twice safely.

Gao Zhankui had rolled out of the Iron Maiden a second time, nearly covered in blood, and was still alive.

Clearly, the game in Cell No. 5 was different from the others; it was a game of extreme luck.

Theoretically, these games only became life-threatening upon the third attempt.

But if a nail happened to hit the forehead, all probabilities and attempts became meaningless.

【Audience No. 1 tipped Ding Wenqiang 4,000 minutes of visa time, with message: He deserved it.】

【Audience No. 7 tipped Ding Wenqiang 3,000 minutes of visa time, with message: You did nothing wrong.】

【Audience No. 2 tipped Ding Wenqiang 5,000 minutes of visa time, with message: He was just unlucky.】

Ding Wenqiang looked at the records on the screen.

【Trials completed: 6/10】

He had a strange feeling in his heart; Zhang Peng's death didn't seem to move him much; instead, he felt much calmer.

"Four more left."

Ding Wenqiang walked numbly to Cell No. 4 and looked at Gao Zhankui, who was still lying on the ground, covered in blood.

A moment later, he went to Cells No. 1 and No. 2.

There was an obvious problem now: with 4 trials remaining, if Gao Zhankui played one more game, he would most likely die, leaving 3 trials still to be completed.

In other words, no matter what, Cai Zhiyuan and Wang Yongxin would have to play at least one more game.

"I'm sorry."

Ding Wenqiang initiated the trial games for Cell No. 1 and Cell No. 2 one after another.

He ultimately decided to leave the hardest problem for last: complete the second trials for Cai Zhiyuan and Wang Yongxin first, and for the final two trials, make a choice of two out of the three people.

Cai Zhiyuan and Wang Yongxin said nothing; they simply prepared themselves once more.

(End of Chapter)