Chapter 11 : For the Sake of “Later”

A probability of one half.

A gamble where the only outcomes were life or death.

Ming Po did not interfere with the result in any way… he did not persuade the others to give up this absurd gamble that used his life as a chip, nor did he look at what they wrote on the mask, much less try to manipulate Fish’s voting result.

When the host announced the result, Ming Po had already closed his eyes.

At that moment, he had already mentally prepared himself to be pierced through by the giant sword.

Death came rushing toward him like a howling gale, yet all he felt was that it resembled the cool night breeze of a summer evening.

Only after Ming Po heard Fish let out a heart-rending scream, only after he heard that thunderous crash and felt the tremor of the ground and the round table… only after the room once again became silent did Ming Po gradually let out a breath, relax his tightly clenched fingers, and open his eyes.

“I survived… How wonderful.”

Ming Po breathed a sigh of relief and murmured softly.

He felt that his back had been soaked through with cold sweat.

Even Ming Po… before that infinitely approaching death, was not without pressure. It was like a large truck roaring past less than ten centimeters in front of him—the feeling of surviving a disaster made him feel so happy, so excited.

It was like wiping his glasses clean. The entire world became bright.

Even Ming Po’s tone softened considerably, and the smile on his face became more sincere. “Mr. Fox, it will be your turn in a moment.”

“Yes.”

Fox’s attitude toward Wolf could almost be described as deeply respectful.

It was completely different from his attitude at the very beginning, when he had reached out and grabbed Wolf’s sleeve.

Raccoon also slowly raised her head. The expression with which she looked at Fox was full of vigilance and hostility.

Just one minute ago, they had tacitly and unitedly eliminated Fish together, yet now they had instantly turned against one another.

Because it was very obvious.

From this moment onward, it would be a life-and-death duel between Fox and Raccoon—

There were still three voters remaining, which meant someone was guaranteed to die this round.

Either one minority would die, or the narrator would die.

And in the current situation, Raccoon was almost certainly dead.

Her only possibility of survival now was to first cooperate with Wolf and Rabbit to send Fox away, then, in the final three-person round, pray that Wolf and Rabbit would soften their hearts and spare her.

At least in Raccoon’s view, that possibility was not zero.

Because Wolf and Rabbit had always been very friendly toward her, and the difference in rewards between two survivors and three survivors should not be very large

Under these circumstances, it could actually be understood as “Wolf and Rabbit using the extra portion of chips they originally could have obtained” in exchange for a trustworthy teammate like her.

As the saying went, adding flowers to brocade was not as good as sending charcoal in the snow—being spared in a situation of absolute disadvantage was precisely a life-saving grace.

If there really was such an opportunity, Raccoon swore that she would definitely find some way to repay this kindness

…And the current problem was, how could she make Wolf believe in her determination?

“You didn’t answer Mr. Fish’s question just now. Can you tell me the answer now?”

Ming Po leaned against the back of his chair, as relaxed and serene as if he were leaning on a pillow while reading a book.

He asked softly, “Why did you choose me in the second round?”

“Of course, it was because…”

Fox lowered his posture extremely far.

He said respectfully and politely, “I was considering ‘the games afterward.’”

And at this moment, the host announced:

“Fourth round, begin.”

At the moment when only Fox could speak, he did not look at anyone else, but focused entirely on Wolf.

Fox rose from his chair and bowed slightly to Wolf.

Afterward, he maintained a standing posture, his back straight as he looked around at the three remaining survivors, then spoke seriously:

“Everyone, allow me to introduce myself again. My name is Chen Bingwen. I am a lawyer who has not been in the profession for long, and I am also a legal consultation livestreamer. At the same time, I am a commercial intelligence consultant.”

…Oh, so that’s how it is.

Ming Po smiled.

He did know this profession—to put it nicely, it was called being a strategist; to put it less nicely, it was an intelligence broker.

Through legal means such as web crawlers and big data models, or through other unspeakable gray channels, they systematically collected all kinds of commercial intelligence, organized it, and sold it to various companies.

The profession itself could be considered legal, but it walked the edge where one could be sent in at any time, just like accounting.

No wonder he knew Fish’s secret.

As an ordinary salaried lawyer, he indeed did not have the qualifications to come into contact with intelligence at that level. But if he had studied legal knowledge to avoid the possibility of breaking the law himself, and incidentally came out to work as a lawyer, then that made much more sense.

“In the second round’s narration, when the narrator Rabbit was besieged by everyone and entered an absolutely disadvantaged position, it was you who stepped forward to help her out.”

Chen Bingwen slowly spoke, saying seriously, “From that moment onward, I knew that the two of you had probably formed some kind of secret alliance. And at that time, in order to muddy the waters, you did not even hesitate to make yourself the center of attention… At that moment, I knew you were a reliable teammate.

—At the same time, I also believe that this was precisely Fish’s most foolish point.

He did not hesitate to betray others repeatedly in order to eliminate as many people as possible… just like what Bear did. However, in this game, there truly existed a route that could allow eleven people to survive.

Since it existed, there must have been some reasoning behind it.

Just as the host said, one category among the titles is ‘Virtue.’ I believe that perhaps it refers to morals, perhaps virtue, perhaps character… it should belong to the domain of ‘reputation’ or ‘persuasiveness.’

I do not know how titles take effect, but since they are ‘titles’ and not ‘abilities’ or ‘items,’ I believe they should at least be visible to others.

Then the same ceasefire agreement, if issued by a player holding a high-level title of ‘Slaughter,’ would have a completely different effect from one issued by a player holding a high-level title of ‘Virtue.’

So I believe that in a game, one should not only consider victory and defeat in that game itself, but should also consider ‘the games afterward.’ If one ruins one’s character too much, it will only hinder one’s popularity and alliances in later games. Unless one intends to quit after this game ends… but just these current chips are probably far from enough.

From what the host implied, once we revive, we should no longer be able to participate in the Deceitful Game. The chips we have already earned will decrease by one each time we use them. So I do not intend to revive… I will continue participating in the games.

Compared with Butterfly and Bear, I believe Rabbit and Wolf are teammates more worth investing in.”

As Chen Bingwen spoke, he looked toward Rabbit and Wolf beside him.

As if deliberately, he did not look toward Raccoon.

Raccoon’s face flushed red. She wanted to say something, but could not make a sound.

“It is also precisely because of this… that I hope you can spare my life.”

Fox bowed to Wolf again. “I am grateful for your kindness and aware of your ability. If we can meet again in future games, I will definitely cooperate with you.”

Those words were truly very sincere.

Chen Bingwen had already tasted danger.

Although this looked like a dead end for Raccoon right now… in truth, it was not.

Or rather, precisely because this was a dead end for Raccoon, Raccoon could only vote the same option as the others and first exile Fox. This was the only way she had any possibility of survival. And under these circumstances, Rabbit, who was restrained by this situation, naturally would not dare change her vote either.

Death was the strongest restraint, far more effective than morality.

As long as the three of them cooperated, Fox was instead certain to die.

And as Raccoon, the final person who could either die or not die, she genuinely had a chance of being spared by Wolf.

The reason was just as Fox had said… because this game was not only played once.

Although Raccoon herself might not have noticed… she actually possessed quite a strong value.

Because she looked extremely nonaggressive.

Unlike Lin Ya, who looked rather fashionable, like an urban white-collar worker or a rich young lady, Raccoon’s appearance belonged to the more common type of “cute” or “quiet.”

Or to put it another way, Lin Ya looked like she had the air of a working adult in society, while Raccoon looked at a glance like a female university student with clear, innocent eyes.

If Wolf spared her, Raccoon would definitely be grateful to Wolf from the bottom of her heart. Afterward, if they appeared in the same game, she would continuously tell others about Wolf’s trustworthiness and mercy.

If a dangerous person like Wolf said those things about himself, no one would ever believe him, because any smart person could taste the danger in him.

But if Raccoon said them, then there was a real possibility that someone would believe her.

There was a method in espionage known as indirect manipulation. That was, one did not directly contact the target oneself, but instead used another person whom the target could trust—such as a friend, colleague, or even family member—to steal the target’s information.

During this process, even the intermediary being manipulated might not know that they had been manipulated.

If Wolf had a proposal that required the support of others, then whether he handed it to someone like “Fox,” who looked clever at a glance, or proposed it himself, neither would be appropriate. It would easily arouse others’ vigilance and suspicion.

Even someone like Rabbit, who looked pure and harmless, would not work. Her acting traces were too heavy and would easily be seen through.

Reality was the best acting.

There was no better way to act like a harmless fool than to genuinely not be very smart.

After saying this, Fox looked toward the host.

“May I ask,” although he did not know whether the host would respond, Fox still asked, “whether we can draft a contract in the name of the organizers? I am willing to hand half of my chips over to Wolf, and promise that whenever we meet in future games, I will absolutely not be the first to betray him.”

“What a pity. There is no such thing.”

The mouth on the cat’s back revealed a mocking smile. “Or rather, ‘promises’ and ‘contracts’ themselves belong to the abilities of Deceivers in the domains of ‘Virtue’ and ‘Balance.’

“…Moreover, this game does not have any organizers.”

The host spoke words that made Ming Po pause slightly.

[What organizers? There are no organizers at all! What nonsense are you spouting!]

Ming Po remembered Butterfly’s earlier words.

When she had been eliminated, she had also looked at Fish with that incomparably absurd expression, as if what he had said was some incomprehensible stupidity.

And now the host had once again emphasized that this game had no organizers.

Could it be

Fox glanced at Wolf, then turned back to look at the host and asked, “May I ask… what does that sentence mean?

If there are no organizers, how were our positions determined? Forgive my bluntness… the difference in advantage between the front positions and the rear positions is too great. Is this…”

The question he asked was also precisely the question Wolf and Raccoon had been looking forward to.

Thus, everyone turned their eyes toward the black cat.

“Hmph, slippery fellow.”

The “mouth” hanging from the black cat’s neck sneered, yet the corners of its mouth rose pleasantly. “Strictly speaking, you should not yet have the authority to know this kind of question, but… forget it. With your aptitude, you would be able to learn this soon anyway.

The Deceitful Game has never had an ‘organizer’ in the strict sense. The entire system is self-cycling.”

Self-cycling?

This strange term left everyone somewhat stunned, but it also gave each of them some inspiration.

It was just that the black cat did not continue speaking, so they did not know whether their guesses were correct.

“As for this game itself… I already said it: [the game is absolutely fair]. Because an unfair game cannot be established. If a game looks unfair, then it either has special hidden rules, or its fairness lies somewhere outside the rules.

The initial state of every game hides some kind of information. For example, if someone is naturally in a disadvantageous position, then they are very likely extremely strong, or possess a talent that makes it easy for them to clear this game. For example, in an asymmetric confrontation game, the one responsible for killing is very likely the one with the highest level in ‘Strength’ or ‘Slaughter.’

And in an initial qualifying match where no one yet has a title or abilities, the arrangement of seats naturally also has rules.

For example… ‘sin.’”

(End of Chapter)