Chapter 32
Chapter 32
“Very well. Mr. Liang Chen has called a vote naming Chen Nuo as the Mastermind of this game. Everyone who agrees, raise your hand now,” Tina said.
Liang Chen raised his hand first. Then the man in the cap raised his.
Chen Nuo remembered that the man had drawn Number Three, which meant he would be tomorrow’s Featured Player.
When everyone looked at him, the man in the cap explained, “I don’t know whether Chen Nuo is the Mastermind. But tomorrow is my turn, and I’m an ordinary person without a single talent. No matter what event I choose, I’ll end up dead. All I can do is gamble and hope this goddamn game ends as soon as possible!”
His words prompted four more people to raise their hands one after another. Presumably, like Number Three, they had little confidence in their greatest strengths, if they had any strengths at all.
Six people now had their hands raised. Tina had said the Mastermind could not initiate a vote. Since Liang Chen was eligible to call one, he could not be the Mastermind. Among the nineteen people remaining, at least ten had to vote for Chen Nuo to make the vote valid. They needed four more.
When no one else raised a hand, Liang Chen panicked.
“Why has everyone stopped? Doesn’t my analysis make sense? Don’t you think Chen Nuo is genuinely suspicious? I know what you’re thinking. If it isn’t him, we’ll waste one of our votes. But have you considered that the Mastermind must be extremely cunning and won’t reveal a flaw easily? Do you plan to wait until the day you have absolute proof before calling a vote? That day will never come! Chen Nuo is obviously suspicious now. If you don’t vote for him, then sooner or later, you’ll end up like me!”
His argument was persuasive and even carried a certain threat. Two more people raised their hands.
They needed only two more to reach the threshold. At that moment, Che Dongming spoke.
“I suggest you come to your senses. Liang Chen is about to die and is grasping at his last lifeline. He’s trying anything he can, so he called a baseless vote against Chen Nuo. His reasoning was tenuous at best. If Chen Nuo truly were the Mastermind, why would he display his abilities so openly and make himself obvious? Do you really want to vote when the odds are this poor? Don’t forget, we only have three chances in total. If we’re wrong now, we’ll have only two left!”
Liang Chen grew desperate and snapped,
“Aren’t you a doctor? I’m about to die, yet instead of thinking of a way to save me, you’re telling everyone not to vote. You’re pushing me into the fire! Is that what it means to be a doctor who heals the sick and saves lives?”
Che Dongming answered coldly, “I suggest you come to your senses too. Yes, I’m a doctor, but what does this situation have to do with treating the sick or saving the injured? Are you ill and in need of medical care? If I follow you into a reckless vote, I may get even more people killed!”
Chen Nuo had not intended to speak, but he could no longer hold back.
“Liang Chen, during the first contest, I told Lu Qian and Lv Chao that trying everything possible to win is only the instinct to survive, the desire to stay alive. It isn’t directed against anyone, and the same is true with you. I don’t want anyone to die, including you. But that choice isn’t mine. It isn’t up to any of us!
“The rules of this game are what dictated this cruel outcome. Don’t you realize that yet? The organizers of this game, the K Organization, are our common enemy! So why are you targeting me? If I really were the Mastermind, I never would have made myself so conspicuous right at the start and turned myself into everyone’s prime suspect.
“So please think of the others. Don’t waste this Mastermind vote, all right? I’m not the Mastermind. You’re throwing away one of our precious chances for nothing.”
Liang Chen had called the vote out of the same instinct for survival. Faced with death, he had revealed the selfish core of human nature. If there was even the slightest hope of staying alive, he would fight for it. Think of the others? What good would that do him? He refused to believe a word Chen Nuo said. Turning to those who had yet to raise their hands, he shouted,
“Look at him! He’s panicking! He sees that we’re only two votes away from voting him out, so now he’s defending himself! Before, he said we could vote however we wanted and it didn’t matter. Now suddenly he’s saying all this. Can’t you see? He is the Mastermind! Vote him out, and every one of us can go home alive. We won’t have to stay here in fear, being tortured day after day!”
Liang Chen’s words were incendiary. A persuasive speaker even under ordinary circumstances, he had grown sharper still with death closing in. Shu Yanjun, who had been wavering, finally raised his hand.
They needed only one more vote.
Yet at this critical moment, no one else moved.
“What’s wrong? We’re only one vote short! Please, one of you, vote for Chen Nuo! Don’t you want to go home? Do you really want to stay here and risk dying every day?”
Liang Chen begged desperately, but he seemed incapable of persuading anyone else.
“Mr. Liang Chen, you may not force anyone to vote. If no one else wishes to do so, then the result of this vote is already…”
A woman’s voice cut Tina off. “Wait. I vote for Chen Nuo.”
Everyone turned toward the speaker. It was Tang Ying, her right hand raised.
“You think I’m the Mastermind?” Chen Nuo asked.
“Honestly, I don’t know. But I chose to vote because even if we’re wrong and waste one chance, this vote will still mean something,” Tang Ying said.
“How so?”
“Once the vote passes, there are only two possible outcomes. First, you really are the Mastermind. Then everyone wins and the game ends. Second, you aren’t the Mastermind, and we’ve all wasted one Mastermind vote. But even then, the vote will have cleared you of suspicion. You’re intelligent. Anyone who watched the last two contests can see that. From then on, we’ll be able to trust you completely and follow whatever advice and strategies you offer.”
Chen Nuo gave a rueful smile. “In theory, your strategy is flawless. I have no rebuttal. I never expected a beautiful food blogger to be capable of such rational thinking.”
Tang Ying arched one eyebrow. “Do you look down on women, or do you look down on food bloggers?”
“Neither. In fact, I think you’re extremely intelligent too. All right, I’ve said enough. More than half the players have voted now. I believe you can announce the result, can’t you?” Chen Nuo said to Tina.