Chapter 567: The Impact on the Community

"What is this?"Huang Shengjie was baffled. He instinctively looked toward the veteran players in the community, only to find Deng Xiao looking just as surprised as him.

Lu Bingjun's brow furrowed, "Another situation that never came up in the First Stage.

"Items from a game can actually appear in the community?"

For the veterans who had been through the First Stage, this was clearly not something normal.

Previously, the vending machine in the community had only been updated in one scenario: when the total amount players had contributed to the community development fund reached a certain threshold, new items would be unlocked.

And the newly unlocked items had consistently been things clearly connected to the community as a whole, such as immunity vouchers and the First Player Identity Card.

This situation was different.

The unlocking of these two medications was evidently directly connected to the Pain Game, and nothing like a game item crossing over into the community had ever appeared throughout the entire First Stage.

Lin Sizhi pointed out quietly, "The game rules mentioned it earlier. 'Certain rules in this game may have an effect on the community.' That must be what this refers to."

Huang Shengjie paused and said, "Hmm? Did it? There was something like that?"

Qin Cheng nodded, "Yes."

He read through the item detail notice again carefully, "The two Special Medications most frequently used by players in the Pain Game will be added to the community vending machine.

"And the price will be set according to the average transaction price of those two medications during the game.

"Which means, if most players had held the line and only used Type C and Type M, the medications appearing in the community now would have been Type C and Type M.

"The lower the average transaction price in the game, the lower the medication price in the community.

"In the ideal scenario, Type C and Type M could have become affordable medications for managing the pain that players in the community are dealing with."

Huang Shengjie's brow furrowed, but then he felt a wave of relief, "It's a good thing the game ended early!

"The further into the game it went, the higher the average transaction price for those two medications would have climbed.

"That would have been a real problem."

Deng Xiao said, without much concern, "We don't have to buy them."

The remark was entirely logical, but everyone fell silent.

Lu Bingjun thought for a moment, "Let's all come back to the long table. This is a serious matter and we need to talk through it properly."

The group that had already dispersed came back and sat down again.

Lu Bingjun looked at Qin Cheng, "Dr. Qin, you're the expert here. Why don't you share your thoughts first?"

Qin Cheng did not answer immediately, but after bowing his head in thought for a moment, he quickly organised his thinking.

"This may be worse news than expected.

"Under the current rules, some players in the community will suffer pain on a regular basis.

"Looking at the effectiveness of these medications, the rough order is something like this.

"Special Medication from the Pain Game, above Basic Medication from the Pain Game, which is above Basic Medication from the community.

"The community's medication has some effect in reducing the pain, but compared to the game medications, it barely makes a dent.

"If we had Type C or Type M available, we could consider purchasing and using them directly. Based on the game experience, those two are the safer options.

"As long as they aren't taken in excess, resistance and dependence should both be within manageable limits.

"Type O and Type F are a different matter. Their dangers were already demonstrated in the game.

"So...

"My recommendation is that it's best not to take them.

"I know that's difficult to follow, but that's the only advice I can give."

Qin Cheng's recommendation was clear, but the players looked at each other with a range of expressions.

It was obvious that some advice, even when it appeared correct, was extremely hard to act on.

Everyone knew what was coming.

The agonising pain in the community would continue. Previously, all the players could do was endure it, with at most one basic tablet from the community vending machine to take a small edge off. Without anything else available, enduring it was simply what you did.

But now, everyone knew that Type O and Type F could completely eliminate all pain, with an effectiveness far beyond the community's basic medications.

Under that kind of pain, how many people would actually be able to hold back?

Once or twice was possible. But for a week, two weeks, even a month or two?

Players could purchase these medications from any vending machine, including the one in their own room.

Any player whose resolve was not ironclad could cave at any moment. Once they took it once, the second time would be inevitable, and then would come tolerance, increased dosage, and addiction.

Just as had happened more than once inside the Pain Game.

If a player secretly bought these medications in their own room, there was no way to find out. The vending machines had no function for viewing transaction records.

Qin Cheng continued, "There's one more thing worth noting.

"Both of these medications have a restocking rule.

"Which means any player in our community who participates in a subsequent game can choose to restock, meaning they pay a certain amount of visa time themselves to replenish the supply.

"Restocking only costs half the standard retail price, and when other players purchase the medication, the price difference goes to the player who restocked.

"In other words, it's a way of indirectly selling medication for profit.

"Under the current mechanics, if someone were to restock, it would be very difficult to find out who."

Deng Xiao thought about it and said, "Doesn't it say you can only restock after participating in a game?

"If we notice the quantity of these medications has gone up, we narrow it down to the players who participated in the most recent game.

"Or if we look carefully enough, couldn't unusual visa time movements also reveal something?"

Lu Bingjun shook his head, "The rules only say that players who have participated in a game gain restocking access. There's no mention of a time limit.

"It's quite possible there is no time limit at all.

"Which means a player who participated in one game could hold onto that access and choose to restock two or three games later, which would reduce suspicion against them to a minimum.

"As for checking visa time movements, that would also be largely useless.

"The rules say that both the visa time spent on restocking and the visa time earned through that channel are hidden by default.

"I would guess it works something like this: a player's actual visa time is 50,000. They use some to restock. Their real remaining balance is 40,000. But when queried, it still shows as 50,000.

"Or if they've sold the medication and earned 60,000, it still shows as 50,000.

"If that's the case, even checking would reveal no obvious discrepancy.

"Perhaps in some extreme and demanding circumstances, a leak might appear..."

Lu Bingjun did not continue, but the implication was clear enough.

The kind of extreme and demanding circumstances he had in mind would be something like: after establishing that a player had 50,000 minutes of visa time, forcing them to donate all 50,000 or more to the community fund. If they couldn't, that would indicate hidden spending on restocking. Or if they donated the full 50,000 and still showed no sign of running out, that too would point to hidden reserves.

But it was obvious that if the community truly decided to do this to one of its members, it would be essentially treating that person as a confirmed criminal, which in nature was not far removed from directly stripping them of visa time or even their life.

Under normal community conditions, the vast majority of players would never push things that far.