"Beep——"

A sharp buzzing sound rang out, and Zheng Jie looked around at his surroundings in a daze.

The feeling of participating in a Gallery game for the first time amazed him. One second he was still in the hall, and the next second he had arrived in a completely unfamiliar space.

This looked like an ordinary rest room, very spacious, and from the furnishing and arrangement, it gave an overall comfortable and cozy feeling.

The room had a rest area with sofas and a coffee table, a huge screen on the wall, and a separate open space that was cordoned off.

This open space was somewhat like a miniature stage, with steps below and additional lighting above, though it wasn’t currently lit.

Next to the stage was a conspicuous button, though its specific purpose was unknown.

In the corner of the room were two machines. One looked somewhat like the vending machine in the community, and the other was slightly smaller but also had an operable screen.

There were only two doors in the entire room, one of which was a bathroom.

The other looked like it led to the outside world, but when Zheng Jie tried to turn the handle, it was locked.

Next to this door was also a small display screen, currently showing no information.

"Where are the others?" Zheng Jie panicked.

He had originally thought that the same-community players participating in this game would be together, so he wouldn’t actually need to do anything and could just follow group decisions.

Naturally, veteran player Lawyer Lin would carry them.

But now being suddenly thrown alone into a strange environment left him somewhat at a loss.

Just then, text information suddenly appeared on the big screen, and an emotionless electronic voice simultaneously rang out, beginning the rule introduction.

[Hello, Zheng Jie. Welcome to the "Blind Date Game."]

[This game lasts a total of 8 hours, with all violent behavior strictly prohibited throughout. Currently in the first phase, lasting 4 hours total.]

[Given the lengthy game duration, the vending machine nearby offers food, beverages, and visa time exchange coupons for purchase. Please help yourself.]

[This game has a total of 40 players from 6 communities.]

[Please note: In this game, male and female players have different benefit rules.]

[Male players will receive 30,000 minutes of visa time indiscriminately after the game ends.]

[Female players will have visa time continuously and randomly deducted during the game process, and will receive no visa time reward after the game ends.]

[After the game officially begins, every 10 minutes you must enter the meeting room ahead for a 10-minute meeting with other players.]

[Every hour, you will receive 1 "like" and 1 "dislike."]

[During the 8-hour game duration, you will participate in a total of 24 meetings and accumulate 8 "likes" and 8 "dislikes."]

[The system will randomly match players from other communities to meet with you.]

[Alternatively, you can use the small screen next to the door to invite players you’ve already been matched with for another meeting.]

[After completing a meeting, both players can give each other "likes" or "dislikes" to express their attitudes.]

[The "Data Query Machine" next to the vending machine can query specific data within the game. For specific rules, see the machine’s instruction page.]

[Special attention: The final meeting of the game will conduct a "final selection vote." If the meeting pair are of opposite sexes and mutually give each other likes, both will receive an additional 30,000 minutes of visa time.]

[More rules will be unlocked continuously as the game progresses.]

[The first meeting will begin in 10 minutes. Good luck!]

The rules remained displayed on the big screen for players to memorize.

Additionally, in a prominent position in the room was a special timer showing the current game time and the 10-minute countdown for each waiting period.

Zheng Jie looked at the rule explanation a few more times in confusion and scratched his head.

"Eight hours?? That’s so long.

"There haven’t been games lasting this long before, right?

"But from the rules, it seems very simple?

"Just need to meet with other players and give each other likes?

"No matter what, there are 30,000 visa minutes to take at the end of the game. This is way too easy.

"I could even find a willing opposite-sex player to mutually like each other and get an additional 30,000.

"Is this a newbie benefit?"

Zheng Jie was somewhat puzzled. He hadn’t participated in Gallery games before, but from previous cases, 30,000 minutes of visa time was already considered medium-level earnings from games.

If it could be obtained risk-free, that would be very cost-effective.

After all, even in safe games like "Blood Poker," blood still had to be drawn.

Of course, Zheng Jie wasn’t so quick to let his guard down and was trying hard to think about where the traps in this game might be.

Thinking it over, perhaps some dangerous rules hadn’t been announced yet? After all, this game did say that more rules would be unlocked as the game progressed.

But worrying about those things now was meaningless. It was impossible to guess what specific rules might be updated, so he could only focus on immediate tasks.

During Zheng Jie’s contemplation, the waiting time quickly passed.

[Please enter the meeting room immediately. Exceeding the time limit by 1 minute will result in instant death punishment.]

Zheng Jie hurriedly pushed open the door to the meeting room. Before him was a corridor of moderate length.

Reaching the end of the corridor and pushing through the door, this was a reception room slightly narrower than the previous single room, divided by a central long table into two different spaces, one for each player.

After sitting down, both players had a slanted operational surface in front of them.

At the top of the operational area were three large and conspicuous buttons labeled [I’ll Pay], [Split], and [You Pay], each in different colors, clearly visible to the player sitting across.

At the bottom of the operational area were four very small and inconspicuous buttons.

Two were in unlocked status, labeled [Like] and [Dislike] respectively.

Not only did they have text, but also different icons: a red thumbs up and a black thumbs down, immediately comprehensible.

Next to these two buttons were two more in inactive status, covered with caps that couldn’t be opened.

These buttons were small, arranged compactly, roughly coverable by one hand, and positioned right in the blind spot of the opposite player’s view.

Besides this, the table clearly displayed the meeting room’s related rules. Not too many, just several items, but Zheng Jie hadn’t had time to read them carefully when the door opposite was pushed open.

A young, beautiful, sweet girl with ear-length short hair walked in.

"Hello there!"

The girl greeted Zheng Jie first, briefly looked around, then sat down in the seat across from him.

Although she wasn’t wearing much makeup, her naturally fair complexion under the meeting room’s soft lighting inevitably made Zheng Jie feel somewhat dizzy and flustered.

"H-hello!" Zheng Jie realized he was somewhat stammering after speaking.

The girl smiled, "You look a bit silly. Don’t be nervous. From the rules, this game shouldn’t have too much danger.

"At least for now."

Before Zheng Jie could respond, a system notification sounded in the meeting room.

[Please pay the room usage fee before this meeting ends: 200 minutes of visa time.]

[Press the operation buttons on the table to select payment method.]

[When both parties make the same choice, payment will be made according to the button option.]

[If both parties make different choices, or if any player hasn’t pressed a button when this meeting ends, both will be forcibly deducted 200 minutes of visa time.]

With a "click," the buttons labeled [I’ll Pay], [You Pay], and [Split] popped up, with flashing light effects prompting players to press them quickly.

A timer popped up in the center of the table with a 10-minute countdown.

On the back of both players’ operational panels was also a screen, like name tags, displaying both people’s names and affiliated communities.

The girl saw the words [Community 17 - Zheng Jie] and showed a slightly surprised expression on her face.

Then she smiled and said, "Hello, I’m Lu Xinyi from Community 3. Nice to meet you."