Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 6

Inside the treehouse, through a video call, Zhou Qian saw with his own eyes Yun Xiangrong and Gao Shan filling out their voting papers.

Both of them had written “Yes” on their papers.

Upon personally witnessing them place the scorecard into the sealed black box, Zhou Qian hung up the group chat with great satisfaction.

The treehouse returned to its quiet state.

Then Zhou Qian took out a blank scorecard and wrote five names on it, along with five scores.

Surprisingly, it turned out:

[Gao Shan: 0 points], [Yun Xiangrong: 10 points];

[Dong Xiang: 30 points], [Qi Liuxing: 30 points];

Lastly, [Zhou Qian: 30 points].

Next, Zhou Qian tapped on the touchscreen, lighting up Qi Liuxing’s avatar. But instead of initiating a private chat with Qi Liuxing, he continued to select Dong Xiang, initiating another three-person group chat.

Zhou Qian’s call request wasn’t immediately answered. It’s possible that the Dong Qi duo were privately chatting. He waited for 5 minutes before the video call was connected.

Upon realizing they were in group chat mode, just like the young couple, both Dong Xiang and Qi Liuxing looked very surprised. They had assumed Zhou Qian would chat with them separately, trying to sow discord and make them betray each other. Unexpectedly, Zhou Qian initiated a group chat.

The screen magnified their astonished expressions. Zhou Qian maintained a standard fake smile, waving at them and holding up his paper.

“…Did you understand what I said earlier? I’m giving each of you 30 points. The two of you are tied for first, and the last one will be Gao Shan with 0 points. I will get him eliminated.”

In front of their mobile screens, Zhu Qiang and Yu Xian kept exclaiming “Holy fuck” in disbelief.

“What does this mean? I don’t get it. Didn’t Qian Ge just about secure his victory after video chatting with the couple? What’s this performance for? Is he testing his teammates?”

“I don’t know. I don’t get it. But wait. The Goddess said once the scorecard enters the black box, the box will be sealed. This is the main reason the couple believes Qian Ge.”

“Right, Qian Ge already dropped the scorecard! His black box should have been sealed! How will he deceive Dong and Qi? He doesn’t know magic!”

Inside the game, Zhou Qian had no idea someone could see him or that his progress would influence someone else’s chance of winning 1 million yuan. He simply negotiated with the two through the screen, using his scorecard.

Dong Xiang, who was beaten badly by Li Dafu, undeniably hated Zhou Qian. His first response to Zhou Qian was, “Fuck off!”

“Fuck you, Zhou Qian! I don’t care about your tricks. I don’t care who you give high or low scores to! Xiao Qi, let’s not bother with these tactics. Just vote no!

“I’ll remind that couple later! Tell them never to trust Zhou Qian! My facial injuries are the best proof! We definitely won’t lose.”

Zhou Qian calmly responded, “Really? Don’t you want my special intel?”

Just as Dong Xiang was about to speak, Qi Liuxing, who had been silent all along, finally spoke. “Why did you… target Gao Shan? This is very strange…”

Zhou Qian simply said, “I don’t know about you two. But I’m from the Spring Hill Mental Asylum. So is Yun Xiangrong. To be blunt, she and I greenlit* Gao Shan.”

*(绿) It’s a slang term that basically means to cuckold someone.

Qi Liuxing: “…”

Dong Xiang looked stunned and then sneered maliciously.

Zhou Qian continued, “You saw it earlier, right? Before entering the treehouse, I spoke a few words to Gao Shan, which visibly upset him, and he wanted to hit me. I simply told him the truth.”

On the mobile screen, Yu Xian and Zhu Qiang were baffled.

Yu Xian: “No way, did Qian Ge really say something like that to Gao Shan?”

Zhu Qiang: “Probably not… No, definitely not! Their group chat seemed harmonious earlier!”

“So, Qian Ge is just bluffing Dong Xiang and Qi Liuxing.”

“Yep. But I really wonder what Zhou Qian said to make Gao Shan want to hit him, yet not turn them into enemies…”

Inside the game.

After some more dramatic discourse among the three, Zhou Qian said, “That’s the situation. Gao Shan knows that Yun Xiangrong greenlit him. And since Yun Xiangrong saw him wanting to hit me, she would guess what I told him. From her perspective, Gao Shan might betray her as well… But I’m the kind of person who dislikes trouble.”

“I’m giving each of you a score of 20. If your ranks are the same, then the type of votes will matter, leading you to betray each other. But instead of talking to the two of you one by one, I might as well just send Gao Shan away.”

At this point, looking at Dong Xiang, a submissive expression appeared on Zhou Qian’s face. “Dong Ge, I know we had some unpleasantness today. But to be fair, if you hadn’t stolen my invitation first, none of the subsequent events would’ve happened, right?”

“Li Da Fu was killed by me. You saw it clearly. That was my side mission. Now that the task is completed, of course I have obtained special intelligence. Think about it, you were the main contributor in killing Li Dafu. Are you really willing to miss out on this special piece of intelligence?”

Zhou Qian smiled helplessly and sincerely said, “Dong Ge, you’re Rank E and even have a Rank D Sword God to help you. I’m just Rank F, and I don’t have any skills. If you wanted to kill me, wouldn’t there be a thousand ways? Why let me die in this petty game?”

The Dong Qi duo were silent for a long time.

The first to relent was Qi Liuxing.

“It’s feasible. Neither of us will lose; plus, we can get additional intelligence. Moreover… you haven’t blackmailed us for coins or props. However—”

Looking at Zhou Qian, Qi Liuxing said, “Open the system trading window, and we’ll trade under system supervision. I want to ensure that you’ll put that scoring paper of yours into…”

Before Qi Liuxing could finish, Zhou Qian had already placed the thin scoring paper into the black box.

Seeing this, Yu Xian and Zhu Qiang were shocked.

Yu Xian: “Am I seeing things? Can Qian Ge really do magic?”

Zhu Qiang: “I have a vague feeling, as if I’m starting to understand something…”

Inside the game, Zhou Qian opened the system control panel and said to the two, “I’ve put the scoring paper in the black box in front of you. This is my sincerity. Now it’s your turn to cast a positive vote for me. As long as you both give me positive votes, I can provide you with special information about this instance.”

But Dong Xiang didn’t immediately agree.

He laughed, his eyes shifting from surprise to malice.

“Okay, Zhou Qian. I can give you a positive vote. However, just intelligence isn’t enough!”

“You started with 300 coins, right? Give 150 to me and Qi Liuxing each. Also, give us all the props you’ve acquired! We can proceed through the trading window!”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qian looked anxious, displeased, and hesitant. He then said with a frown, “I don’t have 300 coins anymore, only 295. I can give them to you. But the props…”

Seeing Zhou Qian showing weakness, Dong Xiang finally vented some frustration with a delighted expression.

But the look he gave Zhou Qian remained malicious. “Killing Li Dafu wasn’t an easy task for you. You must have gotten valuable props! Hand them over! Or no deal!”

“Zhou Qian, you’re asking us now! Act like someone who’s begging! Look sincere! You said earlier that you’re in control of this game, quite capable, huh? Now, kneel. Hahaha…”

After that, Zhou Qian desperately pleaded through the screen, emphasizing his struggles as a new Rank F player, and it was hard for him to get props.

But as Dong Xiang pointed out, the passive one now was Zhou Qian.

He was like a fish on the chopping board, at the mercy of others.

In the end, Zhou Qian, with no other choice, lost 295 coins and all of his [Dalang, it’s medicine time.].

He was left penniless, without any props or skills.

Watching him, Dong Xiang laughed triumphantly.

How could a player like Zhou Qian, without skills, coins, or props, survive in the upcoming plot?

The trading line could directly grab items from a player’s bag and teleport them to another player.

Soon, the Dong Qi duo got the item information on their system panels.

Of course, when seeing the name of the medicine, both couldn’t help but grimace.

But in the end, the two happily divided the three pills.

Qi Liuxing gave two of the pills to Dong Xiang. “The name of this medicine is a bit odd, but it’s useful. It can limit the NPC’s actions. My attack power is high, yours isn’t. You take two, I’ll keep one.”

“You keep all the coins!” Dong Xiang feigned generosity, giving all the coins to Qi Liuxing.

The two profited immensely, while Zhou Qian was left with nothing. His only gain was two more affirmative votes.

However, after a while, Zhou Qian received a notification on his system panel. Raising his wrist, he opened the message to see that Qi Liuxing had transferred 500 gold coins to him, along with a note: [I don’t like taking advantage of others. All I want is to ensure I’m not eliminated. I’m returning the money to you. The extra is for the items we bought from you.]

Upon seeing the message, Zhou Qian didn’t say much. Through a video call, he watched as Qi Liuxing and Dong Xiang each placed an affirmative vote into the ballot box. He took a deep breath and thanked both of them before ending the call.

As soon as the video call ended, Zhou Qian’s obsequiousness and feigned smile vanished. Instead, his face appeared colder, with eyes that shone subtly.

Nothing happened for a long time. It was only after 10 minutes that the voice of the Goddess echoed in everyone’s ears, “There are only 10 minutes left to score. Li Dafu, please hurry up.”

Hurry up and score? What? Li Dafu, who is actually Zhou Qian, hasn’t scored yet?

This was the question in everyone’s mind, except Zhou Qian’s.

With a playful glint in his eyes, Zhou Qian tapped the screen, lighting up the portraits of Qi Liuxing, Dong Xiang, Yun Xiaorong, and Gao Shan. He then made a call. Four shocked faces appeared on the screen, all eyes on Zhou Qian as he showed three pieces of scoring paper to the camera.

On the first sheet, two young couples and Zhou Qian each had 30 points, Qi Liuxing 10 points, and Dong Xiang 0.

On the second, Qi Liuxing, Dong Xiang, and Zhou Qian each had 30 points, Yun Xiaorong 10, and Gao Shan 0.

These were the scores everyone had just seen Zhou Qian put into the ballot box.

The last sheet was blank.

Holding it up, Zhou Qian grinned at the camera. “Let me introduce myself. I’m good at card games and have a fast hand, so I’m a master of deception. When you thought I put the score sheet into the box, I actually didn’t. You can think of it as a bit of magic.”

Seeing their stunned expressions, Zhou Qian’s smile grew wider. “The Goddess never specified the order for placing the score and vote sheets. This gives me a chance to regain control.”

“All four of you gave me affirmative votes, but I haven’t scored yet. Even if I don’t score, you’ve already accepted whatever result I give. Thank you for trusting me!”

With a mischievous smile, Zhou Qian continued, “So now… how should I distribute these 100 points? Let’s go back to the beginning. Bribe me, with game gold or valuable items. I’m open to offers. The game has only 10 minutes left. Please hurry.”

With that, Zhou Qian ended the video.

Watching from their mobile screens, Yu Xian and Zhu Qiang were stunned for a good ten seconds.

“Fuck, Qian Ge is brilliant.”

“He’s more than that! If it were me, I’d have panicked when everyone decided to give negative votes. Apart from waiting for the end, what else could I do?” the other replied.

“Qian Ge not only remained calm but also quickly thought of a solution to make everyone betray one another. He’s something else!”

“Yeah, who would have thought that his real goal wasn’t just to survive but also to extort gold coins and items!”

Being able to quickly assess the personalities and relationships of four teammates, finding the gaps to exploit; crafting a lie about possessing special information, using it to create a prisoner’s dilemma; and finally leveraging his items, gold coins, and supposed information to make one group betray another for scores and survive.

From the Yu Zhu duo, this was already a very high-end strategy. In the face of extreme adversity, Zhou Qian’s wit, courage, observational skills, and willingness to act humbly made all the difference.

Such advanced gameplay was just used by Zhou Qian as a very deceptive feint…

This was almost unbelievable.

Trade everything for one life? Zhou Qian would not be willing.

A Rank F player, without skills, lacking gold, and missing props…

Then he would find a way to earn everything he lacks.

Stuck in the most unfavorable passive situation?

He would take control over everyone from the highest point.

Yu Xian: “His strategies are so deep. When he went to talk privately with Gao Shan and provoked him, he had already planned out every step… I just wonder what he said at that time.”

Zhu Qiang: “Shh, look, someone is calling him!”

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The author has something to say:

The origin of this game is based on a classic economic game theory model called [Pirate Game]. Pirates divide 100 coins, and if the proposal made by one of them is not satisfactory to the other pirates, he will be thrown into the sea to feed sharks. For details, you can search it on Baidu.

However, I’ve made significant changes here, introducing settings like tree houses, dealing with tied votes, and the consequence of receiving a negative vote leading to death, etc. So essentially, it’s entirely different now.

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Kinky Thoughts:

Further elaborating on the Pirate Game, you can go the Wikipedia or read below.

It’s a mathematical game:

There are five rational pirates (in strict order of seniority A, B, C, D and E) who found 100 gold coins. They must decide how to distribute them.

The pirate world’s rules of distribution say that the most senior pirate first proposes a plan of distribution. The pirates, including the proposer, then vote on whether to accept this distribution. If the majority accepts the plan, the coins are disbursed and the game ends. In case of a tie vote, the proposer has the casting vote. If the majority rejects the plan, the proposer is thrown overboard from the pirate ship and dies, and the next most senior pirate makes a new proposal to begin the system again. The process repeats until a plan is accepted or if there is one pirate left.

Pirates base their decisions on four factors. First of all, each pirate wants to survive. Second, given survival, each pirate wants to maximize the number of gold coins he receives. Third, each pirate would prefer to throw another overboard, if all other results would otherwise be equal. And finally, the pirates do not trust each other, and will neither make nor honor any promises between pirates apart from a proposed distribution plan that gives a whole number of gold coins to each pirate.

The results:

To increase the chance of their plan being accepted, one might expect that Pirate A will have to offer the other pirates most of the gold. However, this is far from the theoretical result. When each of the pirates votes, they will not just be thinking about the current proposal, but also other outcomes down the line. In addition, the order of seniority is known in advance so each of them can accurately predict how the others might vote in any scenario. This becomes apparent if we work backwards.

The final possible scenario would have all the pirates except D and E thrown overboard. Since D is senior to E, they have the casting vote; so, D would propose to keep 100 for themself and 0 for E.

If there are three left (C, D and E), C knows that D will offer E 0 in the next round; therefore, C has to offer E one coin in this round to win E’s vote. Therefore, when only three are left the allocation is C:99, D:0, E:1.

If B, C, D and E remain, B can offer 1 to D; because B has the casting vote, only D’s vote is required. Thus, B proposes B:99, C:0, D:1, E:0.

(In the previous round, one might consider proposing B:99, C:0, D:0, E:1, as E knows it won’t be possible to get more coins, if any, if E throws B overboard. But, as each pirate is eager to throw the others overboard, E would prefer to kill B, to get the same amount of gold from C.)

With this knowledge, A can count on C and E’s support for the following allocation, which is the final solution:

A: 98 coins

B: 0 coins

C: 1 coin

D: 0 coins

E: 1 coin

(Note: A:98, B:0, C:0, D:1, E:1 or other variants are not good enough, as D would rather throw A overboard to get the same amount of gold from B.)

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