Chapter 756: Competing for the Endorser Role

This time, the players were given a fairly generous window to think it over, a full 10 minutes.

Everyone fell into quiet thought, working through the rules and possible strategies. Of course, they had no way to communicate or coordinate a group strategy, since no one could speak.

A few players tried using hand gestures to signal their intentions to fellow community members, pointing first toward the stage or first toward the large screens to indicate a preference for claiming the Endorser role or the Media Representative role. But this only allowed for very rough communication, with no room to discuss finer details.

Lu Qi glanced around at the others, particularly the two players she suspected were Qin Cheng and Yao Yuan, both of whom stood with heads bowed, deep in thought over strategy. She didn't want to interrupt, so she simply tried to work through the rules on her own.

Before long, the 10-minute thinking period ended.

New system messages appeared across the surrounding screens.

[Round 1 begins!]

[This round's product category is: Alcoholic Beverages.]

[If this product's endorser survives to the final round without elimination and achieves the highest Heat Value among all endorsers, "alcoholic products in the community will receive a Special Bonus."]

[Any player interested in becoming the Alcoholic Beverages Endorser: please take the stage within 5 minutes.]

[The four flashing large screens will now enter Bidding status. Please use the touchscreen on your forearm to bid. The highest bidder will become that screen's Media Representative.]

Lu Qi looked around and found that the four screens open for bidding this round happened to be directly behind her, slowly pulsing like a breathing light.

The remaining twelve screens displayed these same system messages in rotation, along with four large characters.

[!! ENDORSEMENT PERIOD !!]

Clearly, in this game, the Imitator had designed distinct functional states for the large screens. They could shift between several different modes, Bidding status, Rule Display status, Headline status (displaying player headlines), depending on the current phase of the game.

Players began looking down at the displays on their forearms. A handful were already tapping through options and stepping onto the stage.

The ring-shaped stage stood a little over a metre high, with steps positioned at regular intervals, allowing players to climb up easily within the 5-minute window.

According to the rules, a player first had to deduct 30,000 minutes of visa time through their arm device before being permitted to step onto the stage as an endorser.

Lu Qi glanced at her own display and found only the bidding options for the screens, no option to become an endorser at all. The rules restricted the endorser role to male players only.

She looked around at the other players wearing the "2" mask, and two of them each shook their heads, no one nodding. The meaning was clear: not considering the endorser role for now.

The two who shook their heads were clearly Qin Cheng and Yao Yuan. Though similar in height, the slightly thinner of the two was obviously Qin Cheng.

This was confirmed shortly after: the other player pointed first at himself and made a "2" gesture, then pointed at his companion and made a "1" gesture. Everyone else understood immediately. This referred to community numbering: Player 1 was Qin Cheng, Player 2 was Yao Yuan.

Qin Cheng then pointed first at the display on his own arm, then toward the large screens now active in bidding mode in the distance. The meaning was clear: he was asking Yao Yuan whether they should bid on a screen right now.

Yao Yuan thought it over, then drew a small circle at his own temple with a finger, a gesture for "thinking it over." The meaning: given the current uncertainty, better to keep observing a while longer before committing to a decision.

The others understood immediately and stopped exchanging gestures, quietly watching how things developed on the floor instead.

Five players chose to take the stage and compete for the endorser role, spontaneously spacing themselves apart from one another.

That wasn't a particularly large number. It seemed many other communities had made the same choice as Community 2, waiting to see how things developed before committing.

Before long, the 5-minute window ended, and no more audience members moved to join the stage.

[!! SPEECH PERIOD !!]

A spotlight fell on one of the players who had taken the stage, and behind him, a 2-minute countdown appeared on the large screen.

Yao Yuan noticed the number on this player's mask read "15."

The player began to speak, his voice amplified through speakers so that every audience member on the floor could hear him clearly.

"As victors of this game, who among us could turn down a bottle of champagne on our triumphant return?

"The rules never spelled out exactly what this 'Special Bonus' actually is. That decision will fall to whichever endorser ultimately wins, choosing from three options.

"But honestly, that hardly matters. There's no way the Imitator is going to show us any genuine generosity by giving us something we actually need in our communities, Type M medication, for instance.

"So no matter what other products end up needing an endorser, cigarettes, tea, coffee, whatever it might be, alcohol will always be the superior choice. It's the most expensive of these categories, it offers the strongest emotional value, it helps ease the tension this game puts us through, and it does none of the lasting damage to our health that some of the others might.

"Support me, and let's crack open a bottle of champagne together once this game is over, to celebrate our victory!"

He finished with a "raising a toast" gesture.

At the same moment, an enthusiastic wave of cheering broke out from the audience floor, with more than a few players clapping vigorously.

This startled a number of players. The venue had been dead silent right up until this moment, and now it had suddenly turned as lively as a concert.

Many players looked down at the displays on their forearms and realised new options had appeared. At the top were still the four individual tabs for checking bidding status on the four screens, unchanged from before.

But the lower section of the screen, previously showing the option to deduct 30,000 minutes and become an endorser, had now transformed into a set of interaction buttons: Scream, Cheer, Whistle, Boo, and so on.

Players still couldn't speak, but could use this display to cheer or whistle, though each use came with a cooldown, preventing unlimited spamming. Of course, players could also clap or jump, and any action or sound made directly with their own bodies remained entirely unrestricted.

Both Yao Yuan and Qin Cheng found themselves glancing back at this player a second time.

It was clear this Community 15 player had walked in with a genuinely sharp strategy. Under normal circumstances, speaking first when the rules of a game were still unclear tended to be a disadvantage, since later speakers could pick apart earlier flaws and attack them, while the earlier speaker had no opportunity to rebut before the round ended.

That had certainly been the case in A Single Word to Settle a Case.

But this Community 15 player had used an airtight speech to preemptively close off the lines of attack any later speaker might have tried, while also seizing the advantage of speaking first to full effect, striking hard and fast.

There was one more thing worth noting: his voice was genuinely pleasant to listen to. With every endorser still masked, that alone was bound to become a significant advantage.