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Chapter 4: Please take a look
“The initialization is complete. The variables are created successfully; the number before starting: 8.”
This statement made An Wujiu feel uncomfortable.
They were clearly living people, but the cold words described them as program variables.
By deliberately counting numbers before starting, it probably implied that after the game started, the number of survivors here might not necessarily be 8.
The holy voice continued: “8 variables are given 8 identities. There is a capitalist who has great wealth, and there is a wanderer who has nothing. The exchangeable value of each identity is different, and the power value it has is also different. For example, the capitalist who survived here has the highest exchangeable value, but the force value is the lowest.”
“In addition, each of you will get completely different abilities, and these abilities may play an unexpected role in this survival battle.”
“Again, taking the example of the capitalist, this role will have the ability to occupy half of the resources of the entire safety bunker.”
Hearing this sentence, An Wujiu immediately realized something.
Yang Ming on the side grinned proudly, “Can I use the reward of the warm-up match that was announced now?”
The holy voice was calm, but every word of the proclamation dictated the fate of these people.
“Of course. Winner of the warm-up competition, Yang Ming, please take a look at each role panel first and choose the role and competition format you want. Everyone else will be randomly assigned by the system except him.”
“This! This… Liu Chengwei yelled in dissatisfaction, but he probably realized that no matter how he protested, it was a fact that Yang Ming had gained a great advantage, and it would be bad for him to offend him, so he swallowed the rest of the swear words back to his stomach, his expression very ugly.
The expressions of the remaining few people were not much better, but there was nothing they could do.
Yang Ming flicked his hands, squeezed from the edge of several people to the middle, straightened his tie, and then told the system that he was ready.
“Okay, I’ll show you the role panel.”
Yang Ming stood upright. The gift box appeared again and was opened in front of him. He stretched out one index finger and slid it into the space. These role panels were invisible to others, so his actions looked extraordinarily funny.
Soon, Yang Ming made a decision and chose the role of the capitalist. No one was surprised when the system made the announcement.
When he turned around, An Wujiu saw a trace of disdain for himself on his face.
“How about Yang-ge? Isn’t he very powerful?” Even Liu Chengwei, who thought he was strong at the beginning, now smiled enthusiastically when facing Yang Ming. The flesh on his face was huddled together, eager to inject some pleasing light into that blind and shriveled eyeball, “What are the other roles?”
Yang Ming snapped his thin fingers as Liu Chengwei did before, with a successful smile on his face, “You will be able to see them when the system randomly assigns them later in a while.”
Zhong Yirou approached Yang Ming with a smile, raised her hand, and lightly squeezed Yang Ming’s shoulder, “Aiya Yang-ge, you’re still keeping it a secret?”
Not only these two, but An Wujiu could feel that almost everyone in the narrow space was staring at Yang Ming, like insects that tend to move toward the light. Even the timid Ueno moved closer to Yang Ming, although he didn’t speak.
His eyes inadvertently fell on the guy named Shen Ti.
Unexpectedly, the other party was so bored that he was playing rock-paper-scissors with his left and right hands. As if he sensed that someone was watching, Shen Ti raised his head and compared the scissors in his left and right hands with the paper.
What a weirdo.
“Then…” Lao Yu hesitated for a long time and couldn’t help but say, “Yang Ming, the next competition format…”
In the small space, Yang Ming was surrounded by everyone. The brief silence was like a blunt knife, slowly cutting through the nerves.
An Wujiu knew that as long as Yang Ming said a word, no matter what role these people held, they would probably go forward for him and stand unswervingly with his team.
Yang Ming smiled; the brilliance in the cloudy eyes made them look like a pair of expensive prosthetic eyes.
“I choose a solo battle.”
Unless a man looks out for himself, Heaven and Earth will destroy him.
If he had chosen a team battle, the winning team would most likely have an average score. Although a stronger alliance could be formed, from Yang Ming’s point of view, he had already chosen a character with great advantages, so leading a team would undoubtedly be doing charity.
The choice of a solo battle had displeased many people, as could be seen from their expressions.
But for An Wujiu, this result might not be a bad thing.
“Now assigning roles to everyone and loading the information.”
In an instant, several blue laser beams appeared in the air, and in the darkness appeared a levitating, constantly rolling green fluorescent font, which was codes.
“Announcing the results of assignments of all variables:
Yang Ming—Capitalist
Wu You—Company Employee
An Wujiu—Intern of the Cyber Security Department
Zhong Yirou—Chairman’s Daughter
Ueno—Researcher
Lao Yu—Wanderer
Liu Chengwei—Robber
Shen Ti—Security Robot.”
Immediately afterward, a virtual character panel appeared in front of each of them, and An Wujiu stared at the information printed line by line by the blue laser in front of his eyes.
[Role: Intern of the Cyber Security Department
Survival value: 4
Health bars: 3
Ability: Choose a player to invade their panel and swap your own red and black lines with the opponent’s; this skill can only be used once.]
“Everyone has obtained their own character information, and next are the real rules of the game.”
After finishing speaking, the heavy and solid steel door in front of them slowly moved away from left to right, revealing a dark corridor without light, like a bottomless well filled with exhausted desires.
“The bunker survival battle will last for five days and four nights. During the day, players will distribute the survival materials by themselves. If there is a disagreement during the distribution process, the players can have a duel①, and no one can refuse the duel. The initiator can verbally initiate or enter the duel threshold by pressing the start button.”
“Please keep in mind that the number of duels per 24 hours is fixed, and the duel threshold will enter a dormant period after the number of duels is exceeded.
The duel is not one-on-one, and other players can choose a camp to join or just sit on the sidelines.
The health bars of all players in the camp would be superimposed on the player who initially initiated or accepted the duel. When two players would fight, the one with the higher health bar would win and get supplies, and the losing party would lose a health bar each.”
“After eleven o’clock in the evening, all players are forced to return to their exclusive rooms to rest. Your rooms are sorted from 1 to 8. From twelve o’clock in the evening to six o’clock in the morning, hypnotic gas will be released forcibly into the bunker, forcing everyone to sleep.
Players who run out of health bars will die. Like in the previous game, when you die in the Holy Altar, you will also be brain-dead in reality. After 9:00 on the fifth day, the final survival value of each character will be settled…”
At this point, Wu You, who had been silent all this time, asked with some doubts: “Settlement?”
An Wujiu also found it strange. The survival value of each role panel was fixed, and during the duel, the survival value wouldn’t be lost, so why would it be settled at the end?
“That’s right. Here I will announce the hidden parameters on the role panel: The black line and the red line②1Authorised adaptation of the game 骇浪求生. The black line is connected to the person you curse, and the red line is connected to the person you have a crush on. This parameter is randomly assigned by the system, and there will be no situation where you curse yourself or have a crush on yourself, and each person may be connected by other people’s red or black lines.”
“No one can see your red and black lines except yourself unless you voluntarily disclose them.
If you survive the game and the person you crush on also survives, you can get the survival value of the crush, and if the person you cursed dies, you can also get his survival value.”
It turned out that this was what red and black meant.
“In the end, the top four players with the highest cumulative survival value will advance to the next round. “
The deep passage suddenly lit up, and the road ahead was illuminated.
“The pilgrimage is starting again; I wish you a pleasant journey. “
Old-style chandeliers were hung on the walls on both sides. The milky yellow light hit the concrete walls. The wallpapers on both sides were full-length murals with a biblical theme, not like the decorations of this century.
As he walked through the corridor, An Wujiu paid attention to the wall. The center of the mural on the right was Jesus, the God that humans believed in the early years, but now Christianity has been reduced to a minority belief. Sitting on both sides of Jesus were the other twelve disciples, each with a different expression.
“The Last Supper.”
Zhong Yirou on the side opened her mouth and said what An Wujiu was thinking, and then she smiled again, “I have a fake, which took a minute to 3D print; it is very noble and elegant.”
An Wujiu nodded. Turning to the side, he saw that guy wearing a mask bending over, holding a magnifying glass that he got from God-knows-where in his hand, and resting it in front of his face to look at the murals, looking very funny.
Zhong Yirou put her hands on her hips and turned to look at the mural on the left. The center of this painting was the Virgin Mary holding the Holy Child, surrounded by pilgrims. She was not familiar with it, and it was beyond her understanding of classical oil paintings. An Wujiu, who had been silent all along, said the name first.
“This is “The Adoration of the Magi“, and it is also Da Vinci’s. “
Shen Ti also turned his head and was still holding the magnifying glass in his hand. The mechanical Guanyin on his face combined with this dumb movement gave him a subtle feeling, but An Wujiu couldn’t describe it.
“How do you know?” Zhong Yirou crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows, “Didn’t you say you lost your memory?”
“I’m…only missing a part of my memory, but it seems…it doesn’t affect my cognition.” The words were a bit long, and An Wujiu could only speak slowly, with some effort, appearing more sincere.
“You mean you just forgot your memory after you came to the Holy Altar?”
An Wujiu was not sure. He shook his head and wanted to continue talking, but he heard Liu Chengwei, who was walking ahead with Yang Ming and the others, roar. He said, “What are you sneaking behind? Why don’t you come over?!”
Under such game rules, they had no choice but to take orders from Yang Ming temporarily.
A group of people walked through the long passage, which was strangely dark. The world they lived in was full of light—the neon lights that never went out all night, the spotlights in the streets that lingered like ghosts, and the light pollution that accumulated even in the most humid and dirty corners.
Humans have a natural fear of unfamiliar things.
Everyone with ulterior motives groped their way to the end of the passage in unusual silence. There was only one extremely smooth black door, and under the light of the wall chandelier, it looked like a mirror reflecting the sea of oil.
“How does this work?” Liu Chengwei jeered from behind.
Wu You held the Rubik’s Cube in his hand and muttered in a low voice: “Only know how to open your mouth and ask…”
Liu Chengwei stretched out his hand in anger and pushed Wu You’s shoulder from behind, “Do you f*cking want to die?!”
With such a push, the Rubik’s Cube in Wu You’s hand fell to the ground, rolled for half a circle, and passed through the black door. From the corners to the complete cube, it was swallowed up, and blue fluorescent data lines appeared on the contact point, spreading through the damaged wall and gradually fading away.
“Let’s go; why are you standing still?” Zhong Yirou walked in toward the black door in high heels, and the others followed. An Wujiu walked at the end.
The scene inside the door was completely different from the deep corridor outside the door. The entire front hall was wide and bright, with an exquisite dome overhead, and various angels and saints symbolizing divine power were carved on the edges, sleeping in the light and shadow. The dome in the middle was a whole gorgeous mural, imprinted with the brilliance of religion. Gilded granite columns, arc-shaped structures, and a confessional-like room—everything here was not like a so-called miniature nuclear bunker but more like a baroque underground church.
Every inch of the ground was covered with dark red plush carpets, and even the sofas were arranged in rows, like rows of chairs for worship.
The strong sense of religion made An Wujiu feel uncomfortable for no reason.
“Everyone.” Yang Ming’s voice broke everyone’s silence at the bunker, “How about we get to know each other’s role panels first?”
He seemed to be discussing it, but his tone didn’t mean it at all. Now that he had the most advantageous character, he had naturally become the most dominant player in the game, and no one else dared to fight against him.
The character panel was called up and displayed at the same time, and everyone’s eyes were on other people’s panels, especially the ability column. An Wujiu was no exception; he wrote down other people’s information as quickly as possible in his mind.
Yang Ming, who got the “Capitalist”, not only had the ability to control half of the survival resources but also had a very exaggerated special function for the red and black lines—he could discover the red and black lines of the “company employee” (Wu You) the following day.
“The role of a capitalist is exactly the same as in reality. To work for him is to sell your personal dignity.”
Zhong Yirou joked. What she got was the identity card of “Rich Family Daughter”, but the daughter of the chairman was a medical student, so her ability was to restore the health bars of others or herself, but there were only two chances, one health bar at a time. If she used all two chances on herself, there would be a reduction of 10,000 points during the settlement.
She turned her head and saw that Ueno got the role of “scientific researcher” in the company, showing a rather envious expression: “I like people who engage in scientific research the most.”
Ueno was stunned for a moment; his cheeks flushed, and he quickly lowered his head. The abilities he acquired also corresponded to the character—after three days of research and development side tasks, he could double his survival resources.
The skills related to resources or health bars were all very important in this survival game. In comparison, the “Employee” card Wu You got was very weak. His ability turned out to be just an opportunity to stay up every other night.
An Wujiu looked at Liu Chengwei on the other side, who was poking the holographic panel projected in front of him with his hand.
The role he got was that of a “Robber” who sneaked into the building and prepared to commit a crime but was caught off guard by the poison gas attack. His ability matched the role very well. He had two chances to steal other people’s resources. The other party could not resist but could only oblige.
And what Lao Yu got was “Wanderer”. The ability matches the name very well. He could freely move to other people’s rooms during the night, from seven o’clock in the evening to five o’clock in the morning.
The last person An Wujiu noticed was Shen Ti, who was sitting cross-legged on the carpet. He was staring at the character panel, and the mechanical mask made it impossible to see his expression.
His role was not very good. It was the “artificial intelligence” in the company; to put it bluntly, it was a security robot. His survival value was the lowest of all, at only 1 point.
Such a setting completely highlighted the arrogance of human beings as creators.
Shen Ti suddenly raised his arms and stretched his waist.
His skills were also somewhat passive—when others attacked him, he could copy the opponent’s skills, but there was only one precious chance.
“Why!”
Liu Chengwei broke the silence roughly, “Why is my survival value only 2 points?”
“Because your role is that of a robber.” Zhong Yirou said with a smile, “But this is also fair. Looking at the parameters of the roles, the regular pattern is very obvious.”
Wu You played Rubik’s Cube with his head down and whispered, “The higher the survival value, the lower the health bar, and the lower the force value.”
“Yes, it’s actually balanced.” Lao Yu nodded, “My survival value is only 3, but my health bar is 6.”
Zhong Yirou nodded and reported himself, “My role is the rich lady, and it’s the opposite of yours. My survival value is 7 points, but my health bar is only 1. Fortunately, I can heal myself; otherwise, it would be too bad. Yang Ming is still better than me, and his survival value is higher than mine, with 8 points, and his health is still 2 bars.” After finishing speaking, she put her arm on the shoulder of Wu You, who was playing Rubik’s Cube with his head down, “The kid has become a social animal before he is an adult, with 4 health bars and a survival value of 5, which is not bad.”
Wu You’s hands playing Rubik’s Cube paused for a second, then continued to spin it expressionlessly.
Zhong Yirou’s beautiful eyes swept over and stared at Ueno, who had been terribly afraid to speak. She jumped in front of him and tilted her head, “Your parameters look beautiful.”
“Survival value is 6, and health bars are also 5. It’s really unbalanced.” She smiled, “You can also copy resources.”
Ueno stammered and explained: “But if the side mission fails…the skill also fails…”
Zhong Yirou shrugged, “This kind of thing should not fail; don’t be nervous. Your overall strength is so strong. Maybe it’ll depend on you when the time comes.”
Hearing this sentence, Yang Ming on the side couldn’t sit still. His eyes glanced at Ueno’s face a few times and finally landed on An Wujiu again.
An Wujiu began to get used to this man’s sarcasm and a little bit of fear in his eyes, but he didn’t understand what made him fearful.
At least the character card he got this time was not very good. The sum of survival value and health bar value was at the bottom of the list of eight people. Whether it was the control of survival resources or a duel with force, he couldn’t possibly gain the upper hand. There was really nothing to be afraid of.
But even if he won the warm-up game and picked the best character, he would definitely be dueled to death at the beginning of the game. No one would’ve chosen his side.
“If you just look at the strength value, I’m the highest.” After listening for a while, Liu Chengwei began to accept the fact that his survival value was low, but he was also proud of his high strength value. He rolled up his sleeves to reveal his strong arms, “I have 7 health bars.”
“No.” Zhong Yirou, who was sitting on the sofa, spoke playfully, pointing her index finger at the mechanical Guanyin, who was sitting cross-legged on the carpet with his back to everyone. He had his head tilted as if meditating.
“Shen Ti is not human. His health bar is full, with 8 in total.”
An Wujiu looked in his direction.
The guy stretched out his right hand with his back to everyone, making a gesture of scissors.
——————–
The author has something to say:
①② This game is a board game—The altered and extended version of 骇浪求生 (similar to The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow). It is mainly about survival duels and the setting of love cards and hate cards. The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow game appears in many novels, so it is generally possible to write by default, but 骇浪求生 is relatively rare, so I deliberately found the production team (wb@智研家) for the authorization of adaptation and extension. Weibo has mentioned the production party and the authorization record. If you are interested, you can play it, but most of the text is different from the game. Because it needs to conform to the style of this article, a major change in the background of the story has been made, and the characters and corresponding abilities that are more in line with the worldview have been recreated. In particular, due to the previous malicious trademark registration problem, the Chinese trademark of 骇浪求生 was pirated and registered (that is, Lifeboat 怒海求生), but in fact, 骇浪求生 is the genuine product.
Adding ①②③ into the text is often not for so-called science popularization or pretending but mainly for labeling. For example, the first two chapters used the beauty contest game, which I especially marked, and the original text also directly stated what the game was and where it came from. However, there will still be people who question it. In fact, there are really many works that use the beauty contest game, whether it is film and television or comic animation, as well as other games such as the Gunslingers game, the Wisdom Pig game, the Prisoner’s Dilemma, and many more. I never said that this was a knowledge point invented by me. I am definitely not worthy. I just hope that everyone can read the label a little bit to avoid misunderstandings.
Happy Chinese Valentine’s Day! I hope everyone will be happy.
For your convenience, I have listed the characters:
- The capitalist of monopoly enterprise: Yang Ming (Survival value: 8, Force value: 2, Ability: 1/2 resources, knowing the red and black lines of employees (Wu You))
- Rich family daughter: Zhong Yirou (Survival value: 7, Force value: 1, Ability: two chances to increase the health bar of others or herself, one bar at a time, 10,000 holy coins will be deducted if she uses it twice on herself.)
- Researcher: Ueno Taisei (Survival value: 6, Force value: 5, Ability: after the completion of the side mission, his own survival resources can be doubled.)
- company employees: Wu You (Survival value: 5, Force value: 4, Ability: Can stay up every other night.)
- Intern of the cyber security department: An Wujiu (Survival value: 4, Force value: 3, Ability: intrusion panel, swap red and black lines between himself and others, only one chance)
- Security AI: Shen Ti (Survival value: 1, Force value: 8, Ability: when others initiate an attack, he can copy the opponent’s skills, only one chance)
- Wanderer: Old Yu (Survival value: 3, Force value: 6, Ability: From 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. the next day, he can freely move to other people’s rooms.)
- Robber taking advantage of the chaos: Liu Chengwei (Survival value: 2, Force value: 7, Ability: there are two chances to plunder other people’s resources in person without any resistance.)
The rules seem complicated, but in fact, they’re not that complicated, as you’ll see later; they just need to be introduced more.
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the hate for capitalism the author has is so palpable lol
i remember i had a whole subject on game theory when i was doing mba and i still remember i used to literally cry and i barely just passed