Chapter 734: Turning the Tide

Zeng Yiming forced down his anger, "Everyone, stay calm. Things are difficult right now, but we're not at the point of no return yet.

"There are still two players whose numbers haven't been exposed.

"Yes, the rules clearly state that Sympathy Votes are limited, and Liang Guicheng is going to eat into that pool significantly.

"But looking at the vote tallies right now, there should still be enough to cover three players, just barely.

"So here's what everyone needs to do: stop entering any more numbers, right now.

"If even one more player gets exposed, the last one won't survive it either, because the others will expose every number out of pure spite, and then it's over completely. We'll have walked straight into the Imitator's trap.

"On the other hand, if we don't expose anyone else and just focus on producing medication properly, the audience will keep working every angle they can to save us with Sympathy Votes.

"We still have three more batches left to produce. That medication matters, to us, to the audience, and to every player in every other community too.

"So from this point forward, there's only one thing any of us needs to do: produce the medication properly. Understood?"

He gripped Liang Guicheng by the shoulders and shook him hard. "Get a grip. You still have a chance to survive this. Don't throw it away yourself."

A moment later, the broadcast rang out again.

[A player from Community 8 has chosen to send a broadcast to all players.]

"There are enough Sympathy Votes left. If you keep producing quality medication like you have been, the audience will do everything we can to keep you alive.

"But if any one of you starts causing trouble again, exposing someone else's number, egging others into guessing, or stirring up conflict, we will not give that person another vote. From that point on, they're on their own."

Community 8 was Zeng Yiming's community. Its audience clearly believed the strategy he'd already been using was as good as it could get, and needed no further advice. They chose to use their single broadcast opportunity to reinforce order on the floor instead.

Liang Guicheng's clouded eyes gradually cleared. It seemed Zeng Yiming's words, backed by Community 8's broadcast, had gotten through.

After a brief silence, no one said anything more. They each returned to their Production Rooms and resumed their work.

Before long, another batch of medication was sent off to the audience waiting rooms.

None of the five offenders spoke further. They each returned to their own waiting rooms, expressions varying. Some looked anxious, some uneasy, and some showed a bone-deep exhaustion.

Huang Shengjie let out a long breath, "Thank goodness for Community 8.

"I genuinely thought this whole thing was about to fall apart again, but Zeng Yiming managed to force it back on track.

"He really is impressive."

Ye Lin gave a nod, "Yes. What Zeng Yiming has shown us is probably close to the optimal play available in this entire game.

"I honestly can't think of a better way to handle it."

Huang Shengjie said, "Sister Ye Lin, you originally wanted Wen Wan to be the one playing Zeng Yiming's role, didn't you?

"Confess voluntarily, secure a favourable vote tally, become Production Director, direct the others, and earn Sympathy Votes to clear her own name.

"If Wen Wan had managed to pull that off, she'd have had the best possible odds.

"But there was no way to force that."

Ye Lin nodded, "I know. This kind of strategy depends heavily on the person carrying it out. I couldn't step into the game and play it for her, and the message was only five characters, not nearly enough to explain everything in detail. There's no reasonable way I could have demanded more.

"What we have now is still a reasonably good outcome. Either way, Wen Wan's crime number hasn't been exposed yet.

"Zeng Yiming ended up with the most control, but he also had to make the most sacrifices. He's carrying the heaviest burden in this entire game.

"If we can ride things out under his lead, that would still count as a very good result."

Wen Wan returned to her waiting room and stared at the five machines in front of her, her thoughts in disarray.

She regretted it now. If she'd never tried guessing Liang Guicheng's number in the first place, maybe things wouldn't have spiralled this way.

But at the time it had felt far too early to know how the game would unfold. And she hadn't dared not guess either, because if her own crime were exposed with no way to retaliate in kind, and if someone approached her privately to cooperate, she would have had nothing worthwhile to trade.

It was reasonable, in the early stages, to try guessing numbers. The problem was that once every offender reasoned the same way, it became an unsolvable trap.

Wen Wan looked at He Qing's machine.

She'd already worked out earlier that his third digit was 8, but had no leads on the first, second, or fourth.

Liang Guicheng's outburst had filled in that gap.

He'd said He Qing's last three digits were 286, which meant only the first digit remained. And he'd also given away the information that could be used to estimate it: He Qing had worked the job for 7 years, installing roughly 6 units a day during peak season.

Wen Wan wasn't entirely sure what a normal daily installation count looked like for that job, but assuming the figure given on the machine was genuine, she could work with it.

At 6 units a day, over 7 years, even accounting for the occasional rest day, the total would very likely run into five figures. Which would put the first digit at 9.

But that reasoning was almost certainly wrong, because air conditioner installation was a heavily seasonal job. Peak season might see 6 units a day, but the off-season could easily drop to only one or two.

So Liang Guicheng probably hadn't understood the nuance. He'd guessed the last three digits correctly by luck, but for the first digit, not knowing how to properly estimate it, he'd likely overshot with too high a guess.

He'd probably worked his way down from 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, and gotten every single one wrong.

Weighing it all, Wen Wan judged the first digit was most likely 4 or 3, with every other possibility fairly unlikely.

She hesitated for a long moment, but in the end chose not to enter it.

As Zeng Yiming had said, the offenders couldn't afford to keep guessing at each other's numbers. If even one more crime got exposed, there simply wouldn't be enough Sympathy Votes to go around.

Her own crime hadn't been exposed yet. All she could hope for now was that nothing else went wrong before the game reached its end.

Before long, the rest period ended, and the offenders left their waiting rooms to begin producing the ninth batch.

But almost immediately, the broadcast rang out.

[The crime number of He Qing (Installer) has been correctly guessed by at least 2 offender players. Crime has been exposed.]

[He Qing's crime: As an air conditioner installer, over 7 years of work, he never once followed the national standard for vacuuming a unit during installation, and when customers raised reasonable concerns, he responded with deception and evasion, at times deliberately refusing to cooperate. Total units installed with this defect: 4,286.]

[Sentencing outcome: Permanently blacklisted by an air conditioner brand.]

[All audience members, please cast your votes to complete the First Trial.]

[The results of the First Trial vote for He Qing (Installer) are as follows:]

[Guilty: 17 votes]

[Not Guilty: 10 votes]

[Charge established in the First Trial. The offender will receive the Instant Death Penalty.]