Chapter 586: The Assistance

The moment those words were spoken, even Li Hui was caught off guard. His eyes went wide, his face a picture of disbelief.

In truth, Li Hui had originally intended to focus his attack on Lu Bingjun or Xu Guangxin. He had only turned to Tang Qing for help because Tang Qing was more articulate and could make a more compelling and persuasive argument, which would increase the chance of success.

He had not expected Tang Qing to have an entirely different target in mind.

But with things already in motion, there was nothing Li Hui could do. The rules of the game were clear: once a player chose to call for audience assistance, their own mouth restraint would not unlock again for that round, which meant they had effectively handed everything over to the other person.

Tang Qing's voice continued through the speaker.

"The vote we are casting is meant to identify the player who bears primary responsibility for the death.

"But there is no clear standard for determining primary responsibility, which makes it easy to get drawn into competing arguments and mutual accusations, a situation where everyone loses.

"So I would like to propose two criteria, and I invite everyone to consider whether they are sound.

"The first criterion is directness: meaning the guilty party's actions led directly to the victim's death, rather than leading there through a long chain of indirect causes and butterfly effects.

"The second criterion is deliberate wrongdoing: meaning the guilty party knew their actions were wrong but chose to do them anyway, rather than acting through genuine ignorance or applying the same standards to themselves.

"If some players meet only one of these criteria while others meet both, then without question it is those who meet both who should bear greater responsibility for this death.

"This is also entirely consistent with the standard that the Gallery has consistently applied to judging guilt.

"Among all the players present, the only one who clearly meets both criteria is Deng Xiao.

"Doesn't anyone find it strange? What reason would a personal trainer have for being selected as a guilty party in this case? Why would the Gallery have determined that he bears responsibility for this death?

"Based on the information from the preparation phase, the victim had a habit of running. His 10-kilometre time was 47 minutes, which is a very good result for an amateur runner.

"It was precisely this result that made him feel confident in his health. That's why he was able to say, '47 minutes. Considerably healthier than you.'

"But in reality, he was already on the edge of sudden cardiac death.

"This might seem contradictory at first glance. How could someone who was sick perform this well? But it's not as strange as it sounds. A person's athletic ability is not entirely tied to their health.

"Ordinary people can't run long distances because their bodies haven't been trained to do so. But being physically capable doesn't mean the heart is healthy.

"This is a common misconception that many people hold: that because you can run long distances, your heart must be healthier than that of someone who doesn't exercise.

"That is wrong.

"Long-distance running produces adaptive changes in the heart, such as thickening of the heart muscle and enlargement of the cardiac chambers. For competitive athletes, this is beneficial. But for an ordinary person who is not getting adequate rest, it can be fatal.

"In other words, the victim, with a heart that was already in poor condition, was forcing himself to train for long-distance running. The dopamine released through exercise, and the apparent improvement in performance, gave him the fatal illusion that he was getting healthier.

"This was the direct trigger for his sudden cardiac death, the final straw.

"So the question is: where did the victim get this idea? And why was Deng Xiao, as a personal trainer, brought into this game as a guilty party?

"The information Deng Xiao has written on his board, except in the first round, has consistently emphasised his physical attributes. Clearly, the other sentence is more dangerous and he did not want to expose it.

"But it is not difficult to guess.

"Deng Xiao, in order to sell more sessions, deliberately instilled incorrect training concepts in his clients. For example, the kind of sales pitch commonly used by personal trainers: faster results.

"That is, exploiting clients' impatience to create the illusion of rapid improvement. It might mean pressuring them to attempt weights in strength training that are far beyond what is appropriate, or setting an excessively aggressive running programme.

"So Deng Xiao's offence meets both criteria: it is direct, and it is deliberate.

"Many people who work overtime and stay up late do suffer from sudden cardiac death, but as a proportion of the total, the numbers are actually very small. It only becomes news when it happens. But an overworked person who then undertakes high-intensity exercise on top of that will almost certainly die of sudden cardiac arrest. That outcome is virtually guaranteed.

"Excessive exercise is the direct trigger for sudden cardiac death.

"Deng Xiao, as a personal trainer who is himself in excellent physical condition, absolutely understands how this works. If he had truly been looking out for the victim, he would never have recommended a so-called fast-track training programme. He should have told the victim to use every available hour for sleep and rest.

"So the answer is clear. Deng Xiao should bear the primary responsibility.

"In this round, pursuant to the game rules, I will compel all players to vote according to the criterion of 'Offence.'"

Once the assistance function was activated, the free speaking time for that round would be taken over in full, and the inner room players would be unable to speak. The audience representative would have the floor entirely.

With twelve minutes of speaking time, Tang Qing had said more than enough, and every word had carried weight.

The moment Deng Xiao heard his own name, his face went ashen. And as the argument continued, his heart sank further and further.

He understood all of this only too well.

Because before the game began, he had already seen the specific details of his own offence.

Although Tang Qing's account contained a degree of rhetorical exaggeration, it was fundamentally accurate.

Deng Xiao had been deliberately avoiding the relevant information on his board precisely to conceal it and avoid drawing other players' attention.

But clearly, to a genuinely perceptive player like Tang Qing, that kind of concealment was meaningless.

And now that Tang Qing had broken it open, the backlash was doubly severe.

Deng Xiao was desperate. He wanted to speak in his own defence, but his mouth restraint would not unlock and he could not produce a sound.

He looked toward Lu Bingjun and received only a helpless look in return.

The other players were already pressing the buttons on their boards to cast their votes.

Under the rules, Li Hui had used Community 7's sole assistance opportunity. Tang Qing had spoken on his behalf, which meant Tang Qing could compel all players to vote using only the 'Offence' criterion.

This meant Lu Bingjun could not fall back on the 'highest sudden death risk' criterion to vote for someone else.

Unable to cast a vote contrary to his genuine beliefs, and if Lu Bingjun genuinely believed Deng Xiao bore primary responsibility for the death, he had no choice. Deng Xiao was the only valid option. All other buttons would be inactive.

Deng Xiao slammed his hand down on Li Hui's button, but it did not light up, which meant the vote was rejected.

He could not genuinely believe Li Hui bore primary responsibility for the victim's death, so the vote would not register as valid.

Deng Xiao pressed more buttons at random, but none of them lit up either. The votes were all invalid.

In the end, the only buttons on the board that had not been pressed were Lu Bingjun's and Deng Xiao's own.