Chapter 583: Chaos

Li Hui shot a fierce look at Lu Bingjun, then locked his gaze on Xu Guangxin. But in a move that surprised everyone, he did not go after either of them. Instead, he looked toward Wei Hongbing.

"Think more carefully about what this game is actually asking us to do!

"This is a Judgment Game. What matters is the case!

"There are only two grounds for casting a Sudden Death Vote: finding the one with the most serious offence, or finding the one with the highest risk of sudden death. So why is everyone focused exclusively on the second option?

"Doesn't that just amount to players slaughtering each other while the truly guilty one gets away with it?

"All I do is keep irregular hours. I stay up late and wake up late. Who does that hurt? Does that really mean I deserve to die?

"This landlady is clearly suspicious. In two rounds of this game, she hasn't dared expose anything related to her physical condition. She'd rather reveal her profession and the fact that she's always picking fights with tenants.

"So my guess is that the victim was one of this landlady's tenants. Goodness knows what scheme she cooked up, the two of them had some kind of dispute, and it must have been a vicious one.

"That could very well be the direct cause of the victim's death."

Xu Guangxin was the last to speak.

[I often move house or make long commutes due to changes in my work location. (Black)]

He considered for a moment and then said, "Arguments barely make the top ten of contributing factors for sudden cardiac death.

"That kind of argument is more like an accusation in search of a crime. It's not very convincing.

"Much as I genuinely dislike landlords myself, when it comes to problems that weigh on people like me who work for a living, disputes with a landlord don't make the top three.

"The boss, the direct supervisor, colleagues, and clients. Any one of those does more damage to me than a bad landlord.

"Ideally, we should prioritise voting for the player with the most serious offence. Finding the Impostor would be best.

"But without solid evidence, voting recklessly just makes you someone else's weapon.

"Irregular sleep can cause the body to become overstimulated, raising blood pressure and heart rate. It can also lead to inflammatory cascades and metabolic breakdown. If there are hidden underlying conditions, the risk of sudden death increases exponentially.

"All of that is backed by medical data."

Li Hui had chosen not to attack Xu Guangxin, and instead piled on against Wei Hongbing alongside Lu Bingjun. This could be read, in some sense, as a gesture of goodwill toward Xu Guangxin.

But Xu Guangxin clearly had no intention of accepting that goodwill. He continued pressing Li Hui relentlessly.

Both Wei Hongbing and Li Hui looked furious, but there was nothing either of them could do.

Before long, all the inner room players had completed the second round of voting.

Unlike the previous round, this time two blades plunged rapidly from the central platform, each driving into the sectors corresponding to Wei Hongbing and Li Hui respectively.

Both players' expressions changed immediately. They pressed their hands hard against their chests and, within the limits of their restraints, contorted their bodies as much as they could to endure the pain.

Wei Hongbing ground her teeth and glared at Li Hui as though she wanted to tear him apart.

And Li Hui looked incandescent with rage. Whatever reasoning had led him to pull back from attacking Xu Guangxin, it had clearly been a plan that had failed and now brought consequences he hadn't bargained for.

In the Audience Room, seeing the blade fall in front of Wei Hongbing as she braced against the chest pain, Bai Zhilan's brow furrowed faintly.

She showed no extreme reaction, however. This outcome was within the range of what she could accept.

Tang Qing shook his head again with a resigned air, "That idiot Li Hui.

"He always pulls these half-baked clever moves at the worst possible moments.

"If he keeps this up with his head in such a muddle, he's probably going to be the first one to die."

Looking at the outcome, two blades had fallen simultaneously. The only explanation was that Wei Hongbing and Li Hui had ended up in a tie, so both were penalised.

Under the rules, there were two grounds for casting a Sudden Death Vote: believing the player had the most serious offence, or believing they had the highest sudden death risk.

In the first round, the vast majority of players had voted on the second criterion.

But in the second round, Lu Bingjun had successfully shifted the conversation, constructing a scenario in which the victim was Wei Hongbing's tenant who had died of sudden cardiac arrest following an argument.

This had genuinely influenced some players' voting.

It might not have been the truth, but as long as certain players genuinely believed it, the vote could pass the lie detection mechanism.

Bai Zhilan took a sip of tea and collected herself.

"You can tell that your community's Li Hui has some ideas. Just not enough of them.

"Completely outmanoeuvred by Lu Bingjun and Xu Guangxin.

"Community 2's Lu Bingjun spoke first. Yes, he followed Xu Guangxin in stabbing Li Hui in the first round, but since Xu Guangxin moved first, he could only be considered the second most hated.

"If Lu Bingjun had kept hammering Li Hui in the second round, he might have become the primary target of Li Hui's hatred, and Xu Guangxin could have used that to extricate himself from the situation.

"So continuing to attack Li Hui was not the smart move.

"Instead, he attacked our community's Wei Hongbing. It looked like he was making enemies on all sides, but it actually reduced the animosity directed at him from Li Hui's end.

"And as a bonus, he's probably secured the moderator role for the next round."

Tang Qing nodded, then said with helpless exasperation, "Li Hui, that idiot. He had the floor before Xu Guangxin, which actually gave him higher strategic flexibility.

"He had two options.

"The first was to hold a grudge and go after Xu Guangxin directly.

"But he was probably thinking that Xu Guangxin hadn't shown any particularly glaring weakness. A direct counter might just waste his speaking turn.

"Going after Wei Hongbing alongside Lu Bingjun had a higher probability of success.

"So Li Hui chose to attack Wei Hongbing to split the votes away from himself.

"At the same time, he was also hoping Xu Guangxin might do what Lu Bingjun had done, let things go and redirect attention elsewhere, since two consecutive rounds of attacks essentially meant all-out war.

"He just didn't anticipate that Xu Guangxin would ignore the olive branch and keep going after him hard.

"Because this game is played in 'community' units.

"Xu Guangxin and Wei Hongbing are allies."

At that moment, the previously silent Lin Sizhi added, "Perhaps Li Hui also considered that point.

"Wei Hongbing and Xu Guangxin are both from Community 11, and the number of times a community can call for audience assistance is calculated per community.

"One use per community.

"So attacking Wei Hongbing and consuming her assistance opportunity also effectively wastes Xu Guangxin's.

"Just because they're from the same community doesn't necessarily mean Xu Guangxin would help Wei Hongbing. He could just as easily sit back and watch.

"If that had happened, Li Hui would have succeeded."

Bai Zhilan shook her head, "That's exactly why I said he has some ideas, just not enough of them.

"Does he think he's dynamiting fish in a pond? The players from our community are not that kind of easy target."

Tang Qing could only spread his hands. There was nothing he could do.

Only when an inner room player called for assistance could he speak on their behalf.