Simply put, there are four possible instant death penalties in the game:

The first is when the Sinners acknowledge their crimes; if they plead guilty, they face instant death and cannot offset this penalty with a shelter.

The second is when the Sinners choose to appeal, but other players vote them guilty. In this case, not only will the Sinners face instant death, but other players may also be culpable.

Specifically, either players from the same community or players with the same crime will be affected, depending on whether the number of players with the same crime reaches five.

The third option is dishonest voting. If too many players fail the lie detector test at the end of the game, they will face another instant death penalty.

The fourth option is the 'Final Vote'; at the end of the game, five communities in the Inner Court Players will vote to choose a community, and all members will face instant death.

Except for the instant death resulting from the Sinners admitting guilt, all other instant death penalties can be offset with a shelter.

However, any method to offset an instant death penalty can only be used once.

Just when everyone thought the rules had been fully explained, the introduction on the big screen continued.

[Due to the critical importance of the mechanisms related to sinner trials, which concern the life and death of all players, a 'rehearsal' will take place here.]

[Since this is a 'rehearsal', there won't be any 'collateral punishment', but players should still treat this sinner's crime as real.]

[Apart from this, everything else is consistent with the formal mechanism.]

A brief crime file appeared on the big screen.

[A certain Chen, male, 47 years old.]

[Due to an economic dispute, he killed a salesperson with an axe.]

[Verdict: sentenced to death for murder, but not yet executed.]

[The sinner chose to 'appeal' and will have one minute for a statement.]

Although it's called an appeal, since it's just a rehearsal, nothing happens.

Some players simply use this one minute to ponder strategies in the game.

[The sinner has finished appealing, please complete your vote within three minutes.]

A countdown appeared on the display screens on each player's arm, along with different options.

Players operated on the display screens to complete the voting.

As time ticked by, many players became somewhat impatient until the final result appeared on the big screen.

[Voting result: Guilty.]

[The sinner will face instant death in 10 seconds.]

After waiting for another 10 seconds, the players completed the standard procedure and finished the rehearsal.

Though a bit drawn out, everyone indeed became thoroughly familiar with the related operations and rules.

Before officially entering the second stage, the game allowed for much more thinking time than in the first stage, so players gathered again to discuss strategies.

Li Renshu, after consideration, said, "Since it's confirmed that there are no other rules needing the visa time in the second stage, let's take out all the Gold Coins."

Everyone went to exchange for all the Gold Coins, then moved to the purchased plot to check the specific method for constructing a shelter.

Each plot has a sign for corresponding operations.

To build a shelter, you first need to invest 1 Gold Coin for construction, which must be completed before the next round of the game starts.

This means the plots purchased in this round can only become shelters in the next round.

After construction, an additional 'final payment' is required; it is considered complete once the payment is made.

The situation of the final payment determines the probability of the shelter offsetting the instant death penalty.

If you invest 4 Gold Coins for the final payment, then you construct a 'Normal Shelter' with a 90% chance to offset the instant death penalty.

If you invest 1 Gold Coin for the final payment, then you construct a 'Low-quality Shelter' with only a 50% chance to offset the instant death penalty.

Once constructed, the shelters can be sold in two different ways.

If sold to 'Inner Court Players', a one-on-one transaction can occur at free pricing, using Gold Coins for payment.

If sold to the 'Audience', you operate on the sign to 'list' and price a shelter, allowing the audience to purchase freely.

The audience cannot ascertain which community's shelter they are buying, nor can the Inner Court Players know exactly which audience member bought their shelter.

However, if successfully sold to the audience, the transaction price will be announced on the big screen.

Seeing this, Li Renshu frowned slightly.

"The probabilities and selling prices of the two types of shelters do not quite match, do they?"

Fu Chen didn't immediately understand what she meant: "Why don't they match?"

Li Renshu explained, "Although at first glance, the setup of '2 Gold Coins 50%' and '5 Gold Coins 90%' seems reasonable, the problem is that building a shelter requires considering not only the construction costs but also the cost of purchasing the plot.

"If you include the cost of the plot, the price difference between the two shelters isn't that significant."

She paused slightly and continued,

"Judging from the current situation, Community 15 and us have relatively low costs for buying plots, about 4 to 5 Gold Coins per plot, while other communities have higher costs, approximately 8 or even 10 Gold Coins per plot.

"The price of the plots will only get higher and higher. Let's assume it's 8 Gold Coins as a rule of thumb.

"So the actual cost of a 'Normal Shelter' is 13 Gold Coins, and a 'Low-quality Shelter' is 10 Gold Coins.

"The difference isn't 2 Gold Coins and 5 Gold Coins, but rather 10 Gold Coins and 13 Gold Coins.

"The plot itself is expensive, and building a low-quality shelter also consumes one plot. The '50%' probability is too low; even though the expected value for two low-quality shelters seems fine, luck could cause a significant deviation.

"For the Inner Court Players, building a normal shelter is more cost-effective no matter how you look at it."

Cao Haichuan contemplated earnestly and said, "Then there's only one explanation. These low-quality shelters are meant to be sold to the 'Audience'.

"The rules mention that the audience can't see the details of the shelters. This means they don't know which community is selling these shelters, nor can they distinguish between normal and low-quality shelters.

"This is a loophole deliberately left in the rules."

Zheng Jie looked at the other communities: "In that case, Community 15 is sure to sell low-quality shelters, right?

"Community 12's probability is also high?

"The communities selling low-quality shelters can recoup more funds and will have more advantages in future land purchases. The financial gap will only widen over time.

"But if we sell low-quality shelters, there's a high chance we'll trigger a crime leading to collateral punishment...

"Or maybe we shouldn't sell any shelters at all and keep them all to ourselves?"

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