Chapter 525
Pain
Chapter 525 Pain
Unlike the three new players, Qin Cheng, Huang Shengjie, and Lu Qi, Shen Bowen, as a veteran player, had fully experienced the previous stage and therefore had a clear understanding of the meaning behind many of the rules.
The total amount of funds paid by a community can be regarded as the community's development achievements and is basically linked to the community's overall strength.
The more funds are contributed, the stronger the players in the community are, enabling them to reliably earn visa time through the game. It also signifies a higher level of community cohesion, demonstrating that everyone is working together towards a common goal, whether the donations are voluntary or mandatory.
Furthermore, special items can further enhance the strength of the entire community.
Judging from Shen Bowen's description, the community she previously belonged to should be a "mid-tier community," not too weak. At least after learning about the existence of the "immunity ticket," she was able to gather the basic visa time to activate the item.
However, it wasn't particularly strong, and its organization was only average, so it was broken up and reorganized after the first phase ended.
At this point, the second community should qualify as a 'main community'.
The community retained its original nine members. Lu Bingjun and Ye Lin, two core players, donated a significant amount of visa time, and the community fund was activated up to the 600,000 level.
Overall, it's not as good as the original 17th community, but that's normal, because the 17th community was a special case.
In hindsight, the overall strength of Community 17 was significantly stronger in the first phase, with internal strife causing more damage than external threats.
Therefore, it's not surprising that the 17th community is inferior.
However, Lin Sizhi has realized that the current ecosystem of Community 2 has some doubts and is not a stable structure.
From the community rules, the amount of funds, and the core settings of the game, we can see some clues: it seems that something is missing.
New players like Huang Shengjie might not feel it deeply, but for Lin Sizhi, it's practically an open secret.
However, he doesn't plan to do anything for the time being; in this community, his primary identity remains that of an "observer."
……
After the dinner party ended, everyone returned to their own rooms.
Compared to the original 17th community, the gatherings in the 2nd community seem to have taken on a more corporate team-building nature.
As the community leader, Lu Bingjun gave more opening remarks and polite words, while Yao Yuan, Wen Wan, Zheng Chunhua, Zhou Wanlin and other players also stood up in a specific order to toast and give blessings to everyone.
Although there was no mandatory requirement, many players still couldn't help but have a few more drinks in the atmosphere.
Lin Sizhi politely stated that she did not drink, and the others did not say anything more.
Another new member who doesn't drink alcohol is medical student Qin Cheng.
The other players all drank some, including another new player, Lu Qi, who clearly couldn't resist drinking two small glasses of sweet fruit wine, and his cheeks quickly turned red.
Huang Shengjie was probably the one who drank the most. He seemed very satisfied with the food and drinks at the gathering, had a big appetite, and blended in quite well.
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they chatted for a while longer before finally dispersing to rest.
Players were scattered in the lobby and outdoor areas, while others went directly back to their rooms to rest.
……
Lin Sizhi returned to her room, turned on her computer, and found new messages.
Hello, Lin Sizhi.
Welcome to the second phase of the gallery.
[Now, the arcade extends a new game design invitation to all copycats; this time, the theme is 'Pain'.]
[The game types are limited to 'assignment,' 'selection,' and 'elimination.'] [This game invitation will be awarded through a bidding process among all copycats in the current New World. The option that 'expends the most visa processing time' will be selected, provided it 'passes the review.']
The deadline is 8 PM three days from now. You have 72 hours to complete the game design.
Participation will be mandatory in all communities.
Lin Sizhi seemed to be deep in thought. He realized that this game invitation clearly contained some specific information.
After considering several possible guesses, he opened the drawer and took out the game design document.
The item list is quite lenient, almost to the point of being unrestricted.
After all, this game invitation was obtained through a bidding process, and there must be many copycats who have hundreds of thousands of minutes of visa time. After paying such a large amount of visa time, the rules of the game arcade must have been relaxed.
However, there is one piece of information in the item list that is worth noting.
[6. Painkillers with different ingredients and effects: up to 5 categories.]
Lin Sizhi considered for a moment, put the proposal aside, and planned to think it over carefully before starting the design tomorrow.
After all, there are still 72 hours left, which is plenty of time.
……
early morning.
In room 14, Huang Shengjie was startled awake.
He drank quite a bit at the dinner party that evening, but being a young man, he had a high alcohol tolerance and good physical condition, so he quickly fell asleep peacefully after returning to his room.
But in his hazy sleep, Huang Shengjie suddenly felt a sharp pain!
The excruciating pain, which was originally confined to the head, felt as if a drill had brutally penetrated his brain from the back of his head, churning his brain matter and splattering it everywhere.
But soon, the excruciating pain spread rapidly. His spine, heart, back, and even every bone in his body felt as if they were being smashed and ground into powder by a heavy hammer, and every pore seemed to be pierced by a thick steel needle!
Huang Shengjie let out a scream uncontrollably, almost jumping straight up from the bed, crashing to the ground and rolling around in agony.
His forehead hit the corner of the bedside table, but he was completely unaware of the excruciating pain.
Huang Shengjie couldn't understand what was going on, or rather, the intense pain completely occupied his mind, making it impossible for him to think about anything. He could only rely on instinct to fight against this extreme pain.
Huang Shengjie didn't know exactly how long the excruciating pain lasted. When he came to his senses, his pajamas were completely soaked, as if he had just been pulled out of a pool of water.
The room was already a complete mess.
Huang Shengjie slumped on the edge of the bed, panting heavily, and it took him a long time to finally recover.
Then, he suddenly felt a churning in his stomach, stumbled to the bathroom, and vomited into the toilet.
After a long time, Huang Shengjie flushed the toilet, washed his face with cold water at the sink, and looked at himself in the mirror.
Only then did he finally regain his senses.
There was a noticeable bruise on his forehead where he had been hit, but this minor injury was no big deal to him.
"What happened? What exactly happened...?"
I'll be regressing to a one-chapter-per-second update for the next few days. I need to finish writing and revising all the game chapters before I start publishing, so I'll save up some drafts for now.
(End of this chapter)