Chapter 4 : I Have a Guaranteed Winning Method

The atmosphere around the table instantly changed after Ming Po said those words!

No one questioned Ming Po’s words. Even Old Bear himself remained silent.

Yet the people suddenly seemed to have thought of something, and they began sizing one another up uneasily.

“Or rather…”

Ming Po said leisurely, “Everyone seated here probably isn’t exactly clean, right?”

“—Bullshit!”

Dog was suddenly enraged. He shot to his feet as if about to beat Ming Po up. “I’ve never killed anyone!”

That tall and thickset body alone carried immense pressure just by standing up.

He was at least over one meter ninety-five, and the bulging muscles on his arms stretched the sleeves of his short-sleeved shirt tight.

When he stood, the huge shadow he cast scared Lin Ya into shrinking her neck.

“It may not necessarily be killing someone.”

Ming Po merely smiled. “It could also be some other kind of wrongdoing

But I think… at the very least, it must be a grave mistake that can only be made up for by obtaining Time Chips and changing the past.”

Once he said this, the atmosphere around the round table became even heavier, even more deathly still.

Even Dog, who had stood up, merely clenched his fists in silence for a while before slowly sitting back down.

Penguin, seated at the eight o’clock position, stared at Ming Po in astonishment.

How can he possibly guess that far?!

Clearly, the only one who had told a story so far was Bear, and only a few people had participated in the discussion. I haven’t even said a single word yet!

Is this mind reading?

Or some kind of superpower?

For a moment, Penguin’s wariness toward “Wolf” had already turned into fear.

“I thought you were going to get up and beat me.”

Ming Po looked at Dog and mocked him. “I actually wanted to see whether you’d be smashed to death the moment you left your seat. Of course, you can try it… Maybe you’ll only be truly executed when it’s confirmed that you’re about to disrupt the game?”

At this point, Dog’s expression immediately changed.

Even through the mask, the fear and lingering dread in his eyes could be seen.

Because he had a reason why he absolutely had to obtain “chips,” and he had no intention of running away at all… Also because he was already used to using violence, and did not think there was anything wrong with it whatsoever.

Thus, he had not realized at all that his behavior might violate the rules.

“You brat…”

Dog’s gaze turned vicious. “Pretty bold, aren’t you? Your turn will come soon…”

Fox frowned and glanced at Ming Po, then looked at Dog, whose violent tendencies were obvious, but in the end, he said nothing.

He realized something… Ming Po trying to anger Dog might not only have been to test “whether he would be executed.” Because if that was really what he wanted, he should have continued angering Dog until Dog truly did something that crossed the line… It would have been impossible for him to say his thoughts aloud directly.

Wouldn’t that make Dog too afraid to move?

But Dog was clearly aggressive, and in this game, he undoubtedly counted as an uncontrollable factor. Since there was a method to eliminate him directly outside the field, then why

…Unless “Wolf” actually wasn’t certain whether violent behavior would be executed!

Because the host had said, “This game has [no additional rules].”

In other words… if violent methods worked, then perhaps one could directly make the others “unable to vote”!

An empty fort strategy… is that it?

As for Ming Po, when he heard Dog’s threat, he could not even be bothered to glance at him.

He looked toward Old Bear and continued, “I think the reason this old gentleman told such an ambiguous story… was probably to grasp the ‘right of interpretation.’”

The so-called “right of interpretation” could be understood as the “final right of explanation.”

Because any scripture, doctrine, or even document or legal code… when they are born and discovered by people, their actual contents have already been fixed.

Yet for such a fixed thing, there can be many different ways to interpret it. Even the same sentence can have completely different meanings.

“This ambiguous story that ‘Bear’ told…”

Ming Po slowly said, “Was precisely so it could be read in different ways.”

“That’s why he asked the host that question!”

Raccoon immediately came to a sudden realization.

[—Do I have to answer?]

The question Bear had asked was actually confirming, “Can I lie?”

Of course he could… because the rules had stated very clearly, “tell their topic,” not “tell their own story,” and even less necessarily “tell a true story”!

In other words, this story could be true, or it could be false.

That bear could be a person, and he was the bear-killer; the bear could also truly be a bear, or the bear could even be him, the “Bear”!

“Then he… which version of the story will he choose in the end?”

Rabbit turned back and asked Ming Po.

“Depends on the situation.”

Ming Po leaned back slightly. “He has to listen to the discussion first and see… how we uncontrollable people with our own thoughts will choose, and what kinds of ideas we have.

—Then, right when time is about to run out, he’ll provide a customized version of the story, deny our views, and try to make us become the ‘minority.’”

“How is that possible?”

Sparrow said in disbelief.

She found it hard to believe… how could this old man, who looked so gentle and easygoing, possess such meticulous scheming?

Using lies to selectively eliminate some innocent people

This was murder, plain and simple!

“You old bastard!”

Hearing Ming Po’s words, Dog immediately raised his head and harshly cursed Bear beside him. “You’re that dishonest? I’ll kill you!”

Yet even as he shouted like this, he still never left his seat, nor did he actually use violence against the silent old man within arm’s reach.

Clearly, Ming Po’s words just now had indeed frightened him, making him truly afraid to leave his seat.

However, at this moment, Dog suddenly spoke up and proposed a ruthless strategy.

It was also the plan he had been calculating for a long time just now.

“This old man can’t be trusted. His thoughts run too deep! If all of us want to live, we have to kill him!”

He said loudly, “Listen up, I have a guaranteed winning method!”

Although Dog was not very smart, he had self-taught himself the way to play this game.

That was to group up and exclude others.

“Everyone, choose red with me!”

Dog said firmly, “As long as all of us choose the same answer, even if a few people have objections, they won’t dare bring them up, because they’ll be worried about whether they’re the ‘minority’!

And as long as all of us choose the same answer, no one except the narrator can possibly die!

Even if one or two people change their votes, it won’t matter at all!”

Under the threat of death, people would keep silent.

This was not bullying that could be endured through courage and resistance… once one was executed, one would die.

When a person died, they would have no chances left!

Forget obtaining chips and resurrecting… even this final opportunity would be gone!

Dog forcefully slapped the button on his right-hand side. “All choose red! All of you, choose it! I’ll watch you choose!”

Even in the details, Dog had his own little calculations.

Why choose red?

Because at the very beginning, everyone had agreed with Bear’s story, so they were all leaning toward blue. But now that it had been exposed that “Bear” was a cunning old man with deep thoughts, they would lean toward the opposite choice.

Moreover, Dog had seen it very clearly… the equally troublesome-looking “Wolf” had chosen “blue.”

This meant that “Wolf” would either obey his call and revise his decision, or directly oppose him.

Contrary to his seemingly reckless appearance, Dog had actually thought one layer deeper in his heart…

Although people would all hate violence, right now, he fundamentally “did not dare leave his seat.” That actually meant his ability to threaten others was very weak.

Moreover, he did not look particularly smart at all; he believed whatever others told him.

No matter how one looked at it, in this kind of “game of brains,” he belonged to the weak.

Compared to “Wolf,” who looked smart and was also aggressive, he was instead the one currently in the weaker position!

When a group of people was mixed together, there would definitely be more weak people than strong people, and more fools than smart people. Because the strong would eliminate strong people who were not strong enough, and smart people would also exclude smart people who were not smart enough. Whether in terms of force or intelligence, only a small handful would remain… This was the so-called law of the jungle.

But this game was called “Death of the Minority.”

That meant this was a game where “the weak execute the strong who do not fit in”!

In the outside world, the strong either had resources or talent. But only here, whether strong or weak, everyone had “one vote.”

If Wolf really decided to clash with him, then he had absolute confidence that he would not lose!

The result, however, was beyond his expectations

Ming Po lazily raised his right hand. “I think Dog is right.”

His unusual words attracted everyone’s gaze.

“For this round… let’s choose red.”

He casually rested his left arm on the armrest, and under everyone’s watching eyes, he raised his right hand and, with an extremely slow motion and a very light tap, pressed the button on the right armrest, letting everyone see this scene clearly.

Just like that, he openly put on an appearance as though he might change his vote at any moment.

As he spoke, he looked around, spread his hands, and seemed somewhat helpless as he said, “Bear only killed someone in his story, and that story may not even be true. But I think… Dog really would kill someone.

After all, we still don’t know whether leaving our seats or attacking others will lead to execution.

If killing others results in execution, then what about tying others up? Or directly breaking their hands and feet so we can’t vote?

If someone doesn’t vote, are they counted as blue or red? Or… are they counted as the true minority?

Haha, just kidding. Anyway, Dog and I have both already chosen red. Do whatever you want.”

At this point, Ming Po laughed loudly and withdrew his left arm.

He said meaningfully, “Speaking of which… How long has it been? There isn’t even an alarm clock on this table. I wonder if five minutes have passed yet…”

Before he had even finished speaking, Sparrow hurriedly followed them and pressed red.

Meanwhile, Lin Ya and Lawyer Chen seemed to realize something and exchanged a glance across Ming Po.

Butterfly at the nine o’clock position sneered and simply maintained her posture with both arms crossed, completely unmoving.

Dog glanced at her and assumed she had already chosen red… he had been staring at Fox and Wolf the whole time earlier and had not paid attention to the people on his side. But now that the general trend was set, who would dare try to stop a chariot with a mantis’s arms?

Bear coldly watched all of this without saying a word. No one could tell what his expression beneath the mask was.

It was as though the one about to be executed was not him at all… He was exceptionally calm.

The others also copied Ming Po’s posture from earlier, placing their left hands on the left armrest while lightly reaching out to tap the button on the right.

Thus, after Ming Po reminded everyone that “time was almost up,” in less than ten seconds, everyone had finished voting.

Lawyer Chen, namely “Fox,” was the last to vote.

His sense of time was very accurate… he could be certain that it had not yet reached the forced end. Therefore, he deliberately had not voted, precisely so he could control the timing of the end of the voting phase.

He looked around and did not choose red.

Instead, he gave a soft laugh and openly pressed blue.

“What are you doing!”

Seeing this, Dog immediately slammed the table and rose.

Fierce in appearance but weak inside, he shouted loudly, “Vote red! Are you looking to die?!”

And at that moment, the host’s cold voice sounded, interrupting their argument.

“—First round over.”

No matter what, all the votes had already been cast.

Dog felt extremely uneasy, but he still glared at “Fox,” hoping to hear news of his elimination

However, the next moment.

The host’s words made his hands and feet turn ice-cold…

“The minority are: Sparrow, Dog, Penguin.

“—[Execution] is about to be carried out.”

(End of Chapter)