This was a vast, open space.
At the center stood a circular platform. From it extended nine floating bridges, each leading outward to a small room in the distance.
"Heh… even this is possible?"
After receiving the game's information, valerius laughed.
He could already imagine the chaos that was about to unfold.
"System, begin."
[Attention: The Game Arena has begun.]
[Now selecting players.]
[Yae Miko: It's here—finally!]
[Raiden Ei: Good. I'm ready.]
[Zhu Yuan: It's starting already?]
[Belle: Why do I have a bad feeling about this?]
[Billy: Boss, me too… I feel like today might be the last day of my life.]
[Anby: Dun-dun-dun~ da-da-da~ dun-dun… da-da-da…]
[Silver Wolf: Wow, built-in BGM.]
[Yanqing: No one can defeat me in my own BGM.]
[Yunli: Just dreaming. Watch my greatsword instead.]
[Feixiao: Hasn't this little girl been getting more and more smug lately?]
[Jing Yuan: A bit.]
[Jiaoqiu: General Jing Yuan, cut her down.]
[Jing Yuan: Let General Feixiao handle it. I'm busy.]
Jing Yuan looked miserable.
Cut her down?
With what?
As long as Yunli held her greatsword, even the Lightning Lord would be useless. Zero damage.
[Feixiao: I can't beat her.]
[Yukong: You're being honest for once.]
[Feixiao: What else can I do?]
In truth, Feixiao had already tried.
She really couldn't win.
Yunli couldn't defeat her either, but as long as that sword was in her hands, Feixiao had no way to deal with her.
[Zhu Yuan: Even Feixiao can't win?! She's that strong?!]
[Jane: Did Yunli get some special reward?]
[Dehya: Strength solves everything. Greatsword in hand, never lose.]
[Nicole: Huh????]
[Caesar: That's insane.]
[Asaba Harumasa: Basically invincible.]
Now the ZZZ players truly understood how terrifying rewards could be.
Their interest in the game skyrocketed.
[Selected players: Robin, Sparkle, Aventurine, Yae Miko, Shenhe, Bennett, Zhu Yuan, Billy, No. 11.]
Nine beams of light descended onto the central platform.
"Uh… Bennett got picked?"
valerius sighed.
The moment he saw Bennett, he was already silently mourning for him.
Kid.
This game was not meant for you.
Clap. Clap.
valerius drew everyone's attention.
"This game…" He glanced sympathetically at Bennett.
"…is called: Battle of Fortune."
The moment those words were spoken—
Bennett shuddered.
He was finished.
Several gazes instantly locked onto him.
"Ahem. Don't stare at Bennett. Let me finish the rules first."
"Battle of Fortune: After a series of mini-games, the final two remaining players win."
"Rules:"
"1. All players start with 20 base points. Your points may drop to zero."
"2. In each round, eliminated players gain no points. The survivors split 20 points evenly."
"3. After each round, you may choose to continue or withdraw and leave with your points."
"4. The game continues until only two players remain. Then new rules will be announced."
After a brief pause, valerius continued.
"Now, for the first game."
"It's called Hot Potato."
"See those small rooms behind you? You'll each enter one."
"I'll beat a drum. When it stops, the indicator will point to a room. That player may ask me one question."
"But I won't answer things like 'who's in which room.' And you only get one chance, so think carefully."
"After that, you'll hold an anonymous vote."
"The player with the most votes will have their room drop one level."
"After five rounds, whoever is lowest gets eliminated."
"Wait." Yae Miko raised her hand, eyes narrowing.
"What if multiple people are at the bottom?"
"All eliminated."
Now everyone understood.
This really was pure luck.
"And if only one person is eliminated," someone asked,
"how are the points divided?"
"What about the leftovers?"
valerius replied, "They stay with me and roll over to the next round. Don't worry. I won't take any for myself. The final total will always be 20 points."
Hearing this, everyone nodded.
Not bad.
If two people won…
That meant ten points each.
Unless people withdrew midway.
If too many quit early, the final winners might get nothing.
Yae Miko immediately raised her hand.
"I propose: no one is allowed to quit early."
"Yeah, no running away," Sparkle agreed instantly.
She wanted to play longer.
Aventurine grinned.
"All… or nothing."
A perfect gamble.
Bennett looked pale.
"Huh? We can't give up?"
"You can, if you want," Sparkle said lazily.
"Go ahead. No one expects you to earn points anyway."
On the ZZZ side, the three huddled together.
Billy whispered, "So… do we agree?"
No. 11 shrugged. "Doesn't matter."
Zhu Yuan thought for a moment.
"Let's agree. We don't have a better option."
She saw it clearly.
If everyone supported staying, and they withdrew—
They'd be targeted later.
"Alright. We support no quitting."
In the Livestream
[Yelan: They've all turned into gamblers.]
[Jade: High risk, high reward.]
[Jing Yuan: A classic gambler's dilemma. Lose and want it back. Win and want more.]
[Herta: Good. No one can complain later.]
[Topaz: No need to watch. Aventurine will win.]
[Jean: Too bad Klee wasn't picked…]
Jean sighed.
If Klee had joined, even Aventurine might have struggled.
But instead, it was Bennett.
That was settled.
He'd be out first.
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