Zheng Jie anxiously scratched his head, "It's over, it's all over!!"

He was hoping that Lin Sizhi would give a new hint on the big screen, but unfortunately, there was none.

For players like Zheng Jie, this moment in the game was the most uncomfortable.

Because those particularly smart players must have already figured out a way to protect themselves, forming fixed meeting alliances with specific players from other communities.

Take Lu Xinyi, for example. Zheng Jie was quite sure she wouldn't be troubled by this issue.

And those particularly foolish players either didn't realize the danger or had a lot of 'dislikes' themselves, so they weren't that anxious.

Players like Zheng Jie, caught in the middle, had only one feeling at the moment.

The sky was falling.

...

A new round of meetings began, and Zheng Jie walked dejectedly into the meeting room.

This time, he was randomly paired with an ordinary-looking girl who had traces of tears on her face.

She wasn't particularly striking, neither pretty nor ugly.

But Zheng Jie remembered her because he had seen her in the talent show before: this was the girl who claimed she "loses over 1,000 minutes of visa time per hour" and successfully got 3 'likes' by garnering sympathy.

[Community 9 - Xue Qi]

"Hello."

She was visibly nervous.

Just like when he met that panicked lady before, Zheng Jie raised his hands in a gesture and then slowly pressed [I Pay].

"Relax, I'm not a bad person. See, my hands are not on the button below.

"I'll pay the room fee first, okay?"

Xue Qi also pressed [You Pay], sitting down in her seat, looking a bit more composed.

"I know what you're worried about, don't worry, I believe most male players can maintain the bottom line and won't kill indiscriminately and without reason.

"If possible, could we exchange 'likes'?

"Don't worry, not exchanging 'dislikes', I have no intention of harming others either."

Zheng Jie tried to make his voice sound as friendly as possible.

He also knew such an exchange proposal was unlikely to be accepted because for male and female players right now, 'likes' and 'dislikes' were equally important.

Either they became weapons to attack enemies or shields to defend against attacks, so with both resources highly limited, exchanging with the same gender would be safer.

But Zheng Jie had to try.

After all, 'likes' could also protect oneself, and could broadcast, which was equally important to him.

Getting 'dislikes' would be even better, but to avoid raising the other's suspicions, exchanging 'likes' was safer.

Xue Qi kept her head down, not responding.

Zheng Jie couldn't say much more, and could only try to find topics to talk about every minute or two of awkward silence, doing his best to relieve the other's wariness.

Finally, after another awkward silence, the meeting time was up.

Zheng Jie stood up, ready to leave.

"See, we're both safe, aren't we?

"Don't worry, I won't harm you.

"Judging by your look, you haven't found a fixed partner to pair with yet, right?

"If you can trust me, we can keep pairing up and eventually secure 30,000 minutes of visa time and safely exit."

Zheng Jie wasn't expecting much, just making a last-ditch effort.

But to his surprise, Xue Qi looked up, seemingly making a decision, "Okay, you seem like a good person, I'm willing to exchange 'likes' with you.

"If I can confirm I received your 'like', I might consider continuing to meet with you."

Zheng Jie's eyes lit up, "Really? Okay, I'll like you right now.

"I've liked you."

Even though Zheng Jie knew she couldn't see what exactly he pressed and couldn't verify, he still tried to slow his actions as much as possible to gain her trust.

Xue Qi also pressed the button and waved at him, "See you later then."

Zheng Jie quickly nodded, "Uh-huh, see you! Looking forward to our next meeting!"

...

Leaving the meeting room and entering the hallway, Zheng Jie let out a long breath.

Whew, thank goodness!

Although Zhou Rong had previously rejected his invitation, it didn't matter now as he had found a new partner, Xue Qi.

When it comes to matchmaking, failures don't matter as long as there's one success.

The game updated the rules in the second stage, preventing same-gender players from having stable meetings through invitations, only able to invite the opposite gender or match randomly.

But it was precisely this rule that made it impossible for female players like Xue Qi to consistently match with other female players, leading her into the random matching system where he happened to meet her.

Now he could temporarily rest easy and consider how to help other players in the community without worries.

Zheng Jie walked back to the waiting room with a bit of excitement, only to see a striking message appearing on the big screen.

[Current reports: 1]

[Be careful! If reported 3 times, you will face instant death penalty.]

...

Zheng Jie was stunned, his whole body frozen in place.

As much as he didn't want to believe it, there was now only one explanation: Xue Qi not only withheld a like but also reported him.

And Zheng Jie giving a like to Xue Qi meant he had contributed 50% to this report.

Shock was followed by an uncontrollable rage.

"How could she do this!

"It's one thing to scam money, but to take a life!

"No, I was too foolish, making the same mistake again..."

He had already been tricked for a like once before when meeting with Lu Xinyi.

Back then, he repeatedly warned himself not to trust others easily.

But in a moment of carelessness, he fell into the same trap again, even more heavily this time.

A terrifying thought flashed through Zheng Jie's mind.

Kill her!

No grievance or enmity, why frame me? Why can't such a vile person be killed?

But after calming down a bit, Zheng Jie knew he had no chance.

Because Xue Qi would never accept his meeting invitation again, and the possibility of them matching again was minuscule.

Zheng Jie sat dumbfounded in his seat until the talent show on the big screen ended.

[Act 1 received 11 'interesting' votes and earned 1 bonus 'like'.]

[Act 2 received 15 'interesting' votes and earned 1 bonus 'like'.]

Zheng Jie increasingly felt something was wrong.

Although no one had died according to the talent show's outcomes, the shift in voting trends made Zheng Jie realize the opposition between male and female players was intensifying.

The two participants in the talent show were a male and a female, who neither performed any special talents nor made emotionally charged speeches as previously seen.

Yet both steadily received over ten votes, neither fewer than ten nor more than twenty.

This hinted at a terrifying possibility:

The players had started voting for the same-gender participants in the talent show without reason.

The reason was simple; 'interesting' votes collected in multiples of ten would convert into 'likes', becoming the enemy's weapon.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.