Zheng Jie was instantly struck as if by lightning, opening his mouth somewhat stiffly, "You, hello..."

After arriving at Community 17, he had already learned about some examples of games everyone had previously participated in, especially the "Blood Poker" game. Because the strategies and results of the three groups were all different, Fu Chen considered it excellent teaching material and had explained it to him in detail.

Naturally, Zheng Jie also came to know about Lu Xinyi from Community 3.

Putting himself in their shoes, if he had been in the same situation as Jiang He back then, he really could only have stuck his neck out to be slaughtered, completely helpless.

He had thought the probability of encountering Community 3 players again would be very small, but he never expected such a coincidence.

What was this called?

Meeting a max-level boss right after leaving the newbie village?

Lu Xinyi didn’t seem to mind, casually tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "It seems like you have quite a deep prejudice against me?"

Zheng Jie quickly waved his hands, "No!"

Lu Xinyi glanced over the meeting room rules on the table and suggested, "Let’s first decide on the payment method for the room usage fee, shall we? You look so gentlemanly, surely you wouldn’t be unwilling to pay even 200 minutes of visa time, would you?"

Zheng Jie was somewhat stumped by the question. He looked at the buttons in front of him, his brain momentarily freezing.

His instinct was to want to pay.

But thinking it over, that didn’t seem right either. This wasn’t a real blind date.

This was a life-and-death game in the Gallery! Since visa time was everyone’s life, why should these 200 minutes of visa time all come from him alone?

While he was still struggling with this dilemma, Lu Xinyi had already burst out laughing with a "pfft."

"Can’t you tell when a girl is joking? I’ve already pressed Split, you press it too."

Zheng Jie was somewhat surprised. He looked up and saw that among the three buttons in front of Lu Xinyi, the button representing Split was indeed in a pressed state, with its indicator light on.

Zheng Jie worried there might be a trap, but thinking it over carefully, he felt it couldn’t possibly be a trap.

Lu Xinyi had already pressed the [Split] option, he couldn’t very well press something else, could he?

If he pressed a different button, both he and Lu Xinyi would be charged an additional 100 minutes of visa time. That would be insane, wouldn’t it?

After thinking it over, Zheng Jie still pressed the [Split] button in front of him.

[Lu Xinyi has been deducted 100 minutes of visa time.]

[Zheng Jie has been deducted 100 minutes of visa time.]

[Room usage fee has been paid in full. We wish you both a pleasant meeting!]

Zheng Jie let out a long breath. There was no trap, he had been overthinking.

The room fell quiet again.

Lu Xinyi leaned back in her chair in a very relaxed posture, her right hand supporting her chin, observing Zheng Jie with interest.

"Since we have nothing else to do with the remaining time, how about we chat casually? What was your Community 17’s last judgment game?"

Zheng Jie sat upright in his chair and after clearing his throat a couple of times said, "I can’t tell you that."

Lu Xinyi laughed, "Oh, quite security-conscious, aren’t you? Alright, then let’s not talk about games and community matters. What’s your profession? We can at least chat about that, right?"

Zheng Jie remained very vigilant, "Then why not talk about your profession?"

Lu Xinyi shrugged noncommittally, "That’s fine too, as long as you’re interested. I’m an amateur magician. Sometimes I randomly grab passersby to perform street magic, and sometimes I make teaching videos online."

Her body leaned forward slightly, the corners of her mouth turning up, "Do you believe me?"

...

The ten minutes felt like an eternity to Zheng Jie.

Chatting with such a beautiful girl should have been a pleasant thing, but thinking about Lu Xinyi’s previous performance in "Blood Poker," Zheng Jie always felt a chill down his spine.

He didn’t dare mention anything about Community 17, nor did he dare mention his own profession or experiences, fearing that any inadvertent information might be picked up by Lu Xinyi and turned into a trap for himself.

Although this thinking was somewhat paranoid, Zheng Jie was participating in a Gallery game for the first time after all, so he kept telling himself to be cautious above all.

He absolutely couldn’t drag down the other big brothers and sisters in the community.

Lu Xinyi didn’t seem to mind either, simply chatting with Zheng Jie about some of her own affairs, but obviously, Zheng Jie didn’t dare believe a single word.

After enduring for a long time, the ten minutes finally ended.

As the countdown on the table reached zero, the notification sound rang out again.

[Meeting time has ended. Please exit individually and return to your respective rooms.]

[Before leaving, please don’t forget to rate this meeting.]

The so-called rating referred to giving a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down."

Actually, these two buttons could have been pressed upon entering the meeting room, but considering this was a rather important operation, Zheng Jie had held off until now.

Lu Xinyi placed her right hand on the thumbs-up area and pressed it.

Immediately, she widened her eyes in apparent shock, "We had such a pleasant chat, surely you wouldn’t be unwilling to exchange even a free thumbs-up with me?"

Zheng Jie hesitated for a moment. According to the game rules, he could only receive at most 1 thumbs-up per hour, but he had to conduct three meetings.

If he gave it to Lu Xinyi this round, then for the next two meetings, he wouldn’t have any thumbs-ups left.

Should he give a thumbs-down instead?

That seemed a bit too harsh. Lu Xinyi hadn’t shown him any aggression throughout, had been chatting very friendly, and had even split the room usage fee Split.

The other party also only had one thumbs-up per hour. If she had given one and he didn’t, wouldn’t that make him worse than an animal?

After a brief internal struggle, Zheng Jie cleared his throat twice, "Alright then, let’s exchange thumbs-ups."

With that, he pressed the [Thumbs Up] button.

Lu Xinyi smiled at him, "Well then, a pleasant meeting. Hope we’ll meet again if fate allows?"

...

As soon as Zheng Jie returned to his room, he saw new game rule introductions appear on the big screen again.

[Congratulations on completing your first meeting.]

[The ’Talent Show’ rules will now be updated.]

[One hour after entering the game, that is, during the waiting period before the fourth meeting begins, the ’Talent Show’ activity will commence.]

[From then on, a ’Talent Show’ will be held during each rest period.]

[In the ’Talent Show,’ two players with fewer thumbs-ups will be randomly selected to take the talent show stage for a PK.]

[The two players can take turns performing any content, with each person limited to 1-5 minutes. They can also press the button beside the stage to end their performance early.]

[Other players, as audience members, can vote ’Interesting’ for performances they like.]

[Accumulating 10 ’Interesting’ votes will earn the performer an additional thumbs-up.]

[Accumulating 20 ’Boring’ votes will immediately end the talent show performance.]

[Voting ’Interesting’ or ’Boring’ during talent show activities will not consume any existing resources.]

After hearing the rules, Zheng Jie’s brow furrowed even more tightly.

"Performing shows, 10 ’Interesting’ votes for one ’thumbs-up’? This really is a game that tests personal charisma! First blind dates, now talent shows. Although it doesn’t seem particularly dangerous, I’m neither handsome nor do I have any special talents. I really shouldn’t have come!"

After reading the new rules, Zheng Jie sighed quietly and walked over to the data query machine.