When Ming Po woke up, he found himself sitting at a round table, surrounded by pitch-black darkness.
There were only four people at the table.
Directly across from Ming Po sat a tall, thin young man. To Ming Po's left was Lin Ya, wearing a black face mask and ticulously applied makeup. To his right was a short, chubby middle-aged man in a sweater.
Neither the tall, thin young man nor the short, chubby middle-aged man wore a mask, revealing their faces directly.
Ming Po tried to lift his hands, only to discover that everyone's wrists were locked to the armrests of their chairs. He struggled slightly, but the chairs and handcuffs felt anchored into space itself, completely unyielding.
He tried moving his hands and found that his left hand could reach a round button, while his right hand rested on a small nuric keypad.
Ming Po tilted his head slightly, looking down along his arm. He could faintly discern a twelve-key keypad.
The keypad was arranged in four rows and three columns. From top to bottom, the keys read "7, 8, 9", "4, 5, 6", "1, 2, 3", and "Confirm, 0, Pass". Above the keypad was a silver privacy shield similar to those on bank ATMs, preventing anyone else from seeing what keys were pressed.
Everyone, including himself, had an ugly strap tied around their head. Hanging right in the middle of each forehead was an old-fashioned digital clock—the kind with a murky green screen and black digits. The number on everyone's forehead was "60".
The others woke up one after another, but no one spoke. Everyone quietly inspected their equipnt, clearly realizing that this ga was not going to be simple.
This applied to Ming Po, Lin Ya, and the other two n who looked like a fat monk and a skinny monk.
The round table was exceptionally quiet, as if everyone were complete strangers.
If Ming Po hadn't just watched the television broadcast showing those two helping each other survive a death ga, he really would have assud they were strangers who didn't know each other.
Right at that mont, a black cat appeared in the exact center of the table.
Along with the black cat's appearance ca a voice that sounded almost frenzied:
"Welco to the Ga of Deception, my little darlings!"
The hand hanging from the black cat's neck flashed a peace sign, shook slightly, and then clapped in the air toward everyone. "Long ti no see! Did you miss ?"
"You sound like a variety show host," Ming Po muttered.
Lin Ya followed up, saying, "Or a codian at the Spring Festival Gala."
The other two couldn't help but chuckle softly at that.
The tense atmosphere around the round table seed to dissipate briefly because of the banter.
"Don't be nervous, children," Ink's voice echoed with a heavy resonance, sounding as if only his voice had a reverb effect applied to it. "This ga is very safe. At most, only one person will die! It can be considered the most basic ga—and it is said to be one of the original gas created when the Ga of Deception was first established!
"By the way, this is my favorite ga. Because this was the ga I played when I passed the newcor selection trials back then."
Hearing this, Ming Po realized Ink's hint—was this a ga prepared by Wei Gu Qiong Chen?
Unlike the other three who relaxed slightly, Ming Po beca more focused.
"The difficulty of this ga is the lowest level, an [Hour]-level ga. The minimum reward for clearing it is [one hour], and the maximum is [one day]. You will also obtain Deceiver Authority at the level of 'Hour's Red Copper', allowing you to use Ti Chips to alter history!
"So, welco to—"
"—[Passing the Flower Drum]!!"
Lines of blood-red text floated in front of each of the four participants:
[Passing the Flower Drum]
[Multiplayer ga, no faction restrictions, no intruders]
[Difficulty: 1 hour]
[Maximum possible survivors: 4 people]
[This ga contains additional rules]
[Warning: Additional rules may significantly increase the difficulty of the ga!]
"I have hosted this many tis, so let explain the rules!" Ink sounded sowhat excited as he spoke. "Everyone's initial ti is 60 seconds. That is the number on your forehead; that is your starting ti.
"Next, everyone must place a bet, with the upper limit being their own remaining ti. The person who bets the most ti wins and becos the Dealer.
"At the sa ti, everyone's total ti will increase by the amount of ti they bet."
As the black cat said this, a flower suddenly sprouted from the table—a sunflower?
Looking at the sunflower facing him, Ming Po was puzzled at first, but then his expression shifted drastically.
From a specific angle, he saw that the sunflower did not have seeds. Instead, it was packed with countless cold gun barrels!
"The Dealer must use the device under their right hand to set a tir for the [Sunflower]!
"The tir cannot be less than their initial bet, and it cannot exceed their current remaining ti. If the two conflict, the system will force the bet to be the smaller value of the two."
As the black cat spoke, the hand extended and pointed at Ming Po. "Co on, little wolf pup. Demonstrate it for us—set it to thirty seconds, and then press [Confirm] on the bottom left."
Ming Po obediently felt around and pressed the "3" and "0" keys. Since there was no physical feedback, he couldn't be entirely sure if the inputs registered.
Then, Ming Po pressed the [Confirm] button to the left of the "0".
A humming sound echoed, resembling a sci-fi power-up sound. The Sunflower raised its head, and its center lit up.
"Next, press [Pass] on the bottom right."
Ming Po pressed the Pass key.
A rapid ticking sound, like a tir, began to ring out.
The inner and outer rings of the round table suddenly separated. The inner ring where the black cat crouched remained unaffected, but the outer ring holding the Sunflower rotated ninety degrees clockwise, pointing the Sunflower directly at the next person, Lin Ya.
Because the Sunflower moved so quickly, Lin Ya was visibly startled.
At that mont, Ink's voice rang out again. "Press the termination button with your left hand, little rabbit."
Lin Ya hesitated for a mont before gently pressing the button with her left hand.
The button felt loose and was incredibly easy to press down.
The mont she did, the ticking stopped abruptly.
"See? It's that simple," Ink said casually. "If you are cautious enough, nobody has to die."
"—If... we are cautious enough?" the tall, thin young man asked hesitantly.
"Yes," Ink replied. "If the tir runs out before the termination button on the left is pressed, the person pointed at by the Sunflower dies.
"However, if soone presses the termination button early, all the remaining ti on the tir transfers to the person who pressed it, and the Dealer's ti is imdiately reduced by that sa amount. The person who pressed the button then becos the Dealer for the next round—they will set a new tir, click Pass, and rotate the Sunflower. The cycle continues.
"When the Sunflower points at anyone, their accumulated ti will also gradually decrease. Instead of pressing termination, you can choose to press Pass. If you do, the Sunflower will face the next player clockwise, and control will be transferred to them as well.
"See? Quite a simple ga, isn't it?"
Ming Po understood completely.
This was indeed a ga of Passing the Flower Drum.
The only difference was that this particular flower would explode—nothing more.
"What are the victory conditions?" Ming Po asked aloud. "And how does the ga end?"
"The ga ends the mont a single person dies, which is why the maximum death count is capped at one. The danger level is exceptionally low. Therefore, even if you clear it, you can only receive the minimum reward of 1 hour," Ink answered. "Once a person's ti is fully depleted, they are considered to have won. They can remain in the arena to watch the others finish.
"There are no forbidden actions in this ga. Trading is allowed, negotiation is allowed, cheating is allowed, and abilities can be used. The only restriction is that you cannot harm each other directly, and I will not draft contracts for you.
"The last person remaining on the field loses—the sole loser will forfeit all their chips. Twenty-five percent will be distributed to each of the first two players to leave, and fifty percent will go to the third player to leave."
"The third person gets half?" The middle-aged man realized sothing. "Shouldn't the first person to leave get the most?"
"The greater the risk, the greater the reward," Ink chuckled, sitting upright in the middle of the table. The mouth hanging from his neck twisted into a highly malicious smile. "However, I'm going to add an additional rule—"
"If the loser is blown to pieces, then on top of the chips shared by the others, the Dealer will receive an extra reward of 1 day's worth of Ti Chips!"
Hearing this, a chill ran through everyone.
Ming Po narrowed his eyes slightly.
If they only followed the initial rules, this could actually be considered a cooperative ga.
Although the returns would be low, nobody would suffer any losses.
After all, chips could be traded. If they agreed beforehand, they could easily evade the penalty by trading chips.
That was likely why the four people present actually consisted of two pairs who already knew each other.
If soone was about to fall into fourth place, they could simply transfer their chips to their acquaintance ahead of ti.
By doing so, they could completely bypass the penalty.
Whether they could get those chips back afterward was a different story.
But with this additional rule, the situation changed completely.
The base reward for clearing this ga was too low, while the reward for blowing soone up was incredibly high. Though to Ming Po, a reward of "one day" was diocre.
Yet for these people—
They were either the Protector and Monkey, who had just passed their newcor ga, or Lin Ya, who had lost almost all her chips. They desperately needed a chip of a higher tier than their own to trigger a Promotion ga.
This chip of "one day" was undoubtedly an irresistible temptation to them!
Seeing everyone fall back into silence, Ink burst into laughter. "There shouldn't be any other questions, right?
"Now then, let the betting begin, everyone.
"The betting will be a blind bet. Use the keypad under your right hand to enter a number that only you will know."
As Ink's voice faded.
Above the heads of the four individuals, their respective titles materialized:
[Protector]
[Diplomat]
[Frankenstein]
[Monkey]
The expressions of the other three completely shifted the mont they looked at Ming Po!
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