Chapter 759: Heat

The five newest competitors for the Luxury Goods endorser role spoke in turn.

First was a player from Community 9.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Yu Xinming from Community 9.

"The reason I'm telling you my name right now is to show my sincerity.

"Everything I'm about to say is completely true. Otherwise, if I end up confined to the Reflection Room, you'll all have my name to kill me with directly.

"I used to work as a sales associate at a luxury goods counter. My understanding of luxury products goes far beyond the average player's.

"Choosing me as your Luxury Goods endorser is absolutely the right decision.

"No one yet knows exactly what the Special Bonus will look like, but I believe luxury goods are a far better choice than alcohol.

"Because whether it's an exquisite mechanical watch, a beautiful handbag, or a uniquely styled piece of clothing, these things give us lasting emotional value.

"Alcohol, by comparison, is a one-time consumable. Its only real purpose is to numb yourself and escape reality.

"I think you'd all rather see more of your community looking polished, elegant, and beautifully dressed, wouldn't you, rather than drunks hiding from reality through a bottle?"

The audience floor erupted once more into applause and cheers. Lu Qi found it hard to tell whether this was fellow community members supporting him, or genuine enthusiasm from other players in the crowd.

More and more players were joining in the clapping and screaming, and the venue's atmosphere kept climbing higher.

"Everyone's so sharp." Lu Qi found herself genuinely impressed. Though she was still relatively new, having absorbed so much over this stretch of time, she was starting to see the underlying tactics more clearly.

Yu Xinming was, in effect, running a counter-play against the earlier Community 28 player's tactic. If he'd claimed directly to be a former luxury goods salesperson without proof, the audience might not have believed him, since there was no way to verify whether he was lying until the Elimination Period. And even if he ended up confined to the Reflection Room, no one would know his real name, so there'd be no way to threaten his life. After being burned once already, the audience had grown noticeably more cautious.

But now, by voluntarily revealing his own name upfront, Yu Xinming made his claim of being a "luxury goods salesperson" far more credible, and made himself look far more forthright than any of the other endorsers on stage.

Of course, he could still have lied about his name, but there wasn't much upside to that, and there was a real risk of being called out later by an endorser who happened to know him. On the whole, this move worked heavily in his favour.

Based on the rules so far, there were three possible ways an endorser could be eliminated, and whether the bottom or top 50% got cut largely came down to luck. But there was exactly one scenario where elimination was guaranteed off the table: becoming the highest Heat Value endorser within your product category.

This was almost certainly a deliberate backdoor left in by the Imitator, a special reward for standout endorsers.

Yu Xinming's speech served two purposes at once, distinguishing himself from other players competing for the Luxury Goods role, and, as much as possible, attacking the Alcohol category to pull Heat Value away from Jiang Chenyan and the others.

So far, he'd played it well.

The second speaker to follow was a player from Community 13.

Lu Qi had assumed Yu Xinming's speech had effectively shut down any real room for the players who followed, that this round's outcome was already largely settled.

But the moment this Community 13 player opened his mouth, he shocked the audience all over again.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Gao Jialiang from Community 13.

"I'll say this without false modesty: among every player I've encountered so far, my looks are widely acknowledged to be the best.

"If you're curious, support me through to the Unmask phase in the next round and see for yourselves."

His speech was brief, but the moment he finished, the crowd erupted into an even louder wave of applause and cheering.

A number of players began glancing at each other, seemingly trying to confirm something. Many of the second-stage communities had been reorganised from different original regions, which meant a fair number of players in the crowd almost certainly already knew this name, and knew exactly what Gao Jialiang looked like. They could share that information through gestures with fellow community members, letting it ripple outward through the crowd.

The spotlight then shifted to the third endorser, a player from Community 6, who by this point already looked as though he regretted his decision.

Judging by how Yu Xinming and Gao Jialiang had performed, the competition for the Luxury Goods endorser role had become far more brutal, and with lying off the table, the remaining two endorsers had virtually no path to victory. Even as they kept trying to rally support for themselves, their Heat Value visibly lagged far behind.

[!! FRENZY PERIOD !!]

[Keep gazing at the endorser you support to provide them with Heat Value!]

[09:59...]

Pounding background music kicked in again, and the players erupted once more into applause, cheers, and screams. As expected, most audience members clustered in front of Yu Xinming and Gao Jialiang, gazing intently while cheering, jumping, and pressing every interaction button on their forearm displays to draw as much attention to the two of them as possible.

The earlier a supporter locked in as a "devoted fan," the better their odds of claiming that 30,000-minute reward at the final settlement.

Even so, Jiang Chenyan, the Alcohol endorser, was still pulling in substantial Heat Value of his own. His devoted following showed no interest whatsoever in glancing toward Yu Xinming or Gao Jialiang, continuing to give him their undivided support.

Before long, the Heat Value numbers behind the 7 endorsers on stage locked in place.

Gao Jialiang finished at 15,329, Yu Xinming at 12,491, with the remaining three players each under 3,000. Meanwhile, Jiang Chenyan's total had already climbed to 30,174, since his figure combined two rounds' worth of Heat Value alongside the other surviving Alcohol endorser.

Total Heat Value had risen noticeably compared to the previous round, a sign that more and more audience members were joining in. But with more endorsers now available to choose from, any single endorser's per-round total had dropped somewhat, spread thinner across the crowd.

Lu Qi looked genuinely surprised. "Appearance really does carry that much weight."

She was beginning to understand now why the Imitator behind this game had specifically encouraged good-looking male players from each community to participate. Gao Jialiang hadn't even unmasked yet, and his words alone had already been enough to spark most of the audience's curiosity, drawing their eyes toward him almost involuntarily.

Yu Xinming did have some advantage from his professional background, but it wasn't a decisive one. After all, the audience had no real way of confirming whether the mysterious "Special Bonus" actually required specialised knowledge to achieve. If the audience had no other option, a professional background would be a clear edge. But with other options available, that changed everything.