"Beep——"

A sharp buzzing sound rang out, pulling Cai Zhiyuan back to reality, and he realized he had entered the game arena.

Before he had a chance to examine his surroundings, he first noticed a special mechanism on his face, preventing him from making any sound.

Cai Zhiyuan attempted to reach for it and discovered it was a special circular mechanism that extended to the back of his head.

Aside from this, his body was also restrained in a chair, unable to move, with only his hands free to move.

However, this time the seat wasn't a cold iron chair; it was made of soft leather, making it comfortable even for prolonged sitting.

Cai Zhiyuan looked around and found himself in a room that wasn't particularly spacious, with a gigantic number '4' on the wall.

Besides him, there were four other players.

Each of the five people had a special device in front of them, similar in size to a computer monitor, with a touch screen designed for easy operation, and some shielding around it to prevent others from seeing.

Simultaneously, the five people sat in a circle, with five screens in the center facing each player, visible upon looking up.

At this moment, none of the five players could speak, only able to look at each other.

But each had a name tag on their chest, indicating their community and name for identification.

Cai Zhiyuan read each name tag on everyone's chest.

[Community 1 - Gao Jialiang]

[Community 8 - Yang Hui]

[Community 13 - Kong Yuxin]

[Community 15 - Xu Zhao]

Among them, Yang Hui and Kong Yuxin were the two female players, making the gender ratio in the room 3:2.

There were no other players from Community 17.

This was not good news, as, without the ability to communicate, Cai Zhiyuan couldn't take care of other players from his community.

He could only hope that the rules would change in the second phase of the game to allow communication with players from the same community.

"Our community has a total of five players participating, and there are five players in this room as well.

Apart from that, the number '4' on the wall should represent Room 4.

"Meaning a total of 25 players are participating in this game, with each community's players separated into different rooms.

"The other four players in this room also come from different communities, and while they might have heard of each other, they are unlikely to be very familiar."

At this point, the screen displayed the game rules.

Everyone raised their heads to watch carefully.

[Good morning, players. Welcome to the 'Simple Q&A'.]

[This game involves 25 players from 5 communities, with 14 women and 11 men.]

[The game will proceed in two phases.]

[In the first phase, the five players from each community will play in separate rooms.]

[In the second phase, performance in the first phase will determine player rankings, and rooms will be reassigned, with updated game rules.]

[Here are the basic rules for the first phase of the game:]

[The first phase will comprise five rounds of games, each featuring a 'multiple choice question' on the big screen.]

[Each question has three different options: A, B, and C, with only one correct answer.]

[After seeing the question, each player has 10 minutes to think and respond.]

[During the thinking period, players have two ways to get guidance.]

[1. Unrelated Players' Vote]

[The question will also appear on the community hall screens of 'unrelated players', who have 3 minutes to respond freely.]

[After 3 minutes, the different proportions of these answers will be published for reference in answering the question.]

[2. Player Representative's Advice]

[During the five rounds of the first phase, a player will be selected as the 'Player Representative' for each round.]

[After the question is announced, the 'Player Representative' has 1 minute to speak freely, giving advice to other players.]

[The correct answer will be revealed 10 minutes later.]

[Players will receive rewards or penalties based on 'hidden rules'.]

[Three different factors influence the specific value of individual rewards or penalties, which players must explore for themselves.]

[Additionally, if all players in a room choose the same option, they will receive extra rewards.]

[If the overall player earnings are positive, the Questioner will compensate; if negative, the loss will become the Questioner's gain.]

[The five questions in the first phase are fixed, so the Imitator playing this game will act as the 'Questioner' by default. In the second phase, a player will become the 'Questioner'.]

[At the end of each round, there will be 5 minutes of free speech for group discussion.]

[Any violence or breaches of rules in this game are strictly prohibited and will result in the death penalty.]

[More rules to be explored in the game.]

[The game will officially start in 5 minutes, please prepare!]

The rules on the big screen remained to help players better understand the rules.

Although the rules weren't complicated, the 5-minute thinking time urged everyone to ponder quickly.

Cai Zhiyuan quickly sought key points from the rules.

"The basic gameplay is answering a multiple-choice question, hence the name 'Simple Q&A'. Though there are answers from other players for reference, they might not be correct.

"The specific reward and punishment rules are hidden, with three different influencing factors.

"It's up to oneself to guess what those three might be.

"Players must think from the Imitator's perspective on how to reasonably set three reward or punishment rules based on those options.

"The correctness of answers should be one factor.

"If there's a lie detection mechanism, whether truthful or not might be another.

"Repetition of answers, the number of people choosing the same answer, misleading others to change their answers, and repeatedly choosing the same option might all be possibilities.

"It's crucial to pick the three most likely possibilities from these to decide your strategy."

After swiftly contemplating the rules, Cai Zhiyuan glanced at the other four players.

All remained silent; some were still studying the rules on the big screen, others gauging each other's identity cards.

Cai Zhiyuan quickly recalled the backgrounds of these communities in his mind.

"Community 1 once ran a hustle in the 'Matchmaking Game', and Gao Jialiang was the charming guy then.

"Community 8's Yang Hui participated in the 'Wealth Game' as an actuary, someone our community previously cooperated with.

"Community 13, encountered before in the 'Fertility Judgment'.

"Community 15, the same as Wang Weidong's from the 'Shelter Game', but this player Xu Zhao wasn't involved then.

"Other rooms should also have players from these four communities, although it's unclear who specifically.

"Apart from a slight collaboration basis with Community 8, all other communities can be considered adversaries.

"We in Community 17 clearly advocate win-win cooperation, yet unbeknownst, could we have become the New World's contrarians?"

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.