Chapter 601: Chapter 600: Seeking Help
The moment these words were spoken, even Li Hui was surprised.
He widened his eyes, his face full of disbelief.
Originally, Li Hui intended to target Lu Bingjun or Xu Guangxin. The reason for seeking assistance from Tang Qing was merely due to Tang Qing’s better eloquence, capable of delivering more inflammatory speech, thereby increasing the success rate.
Unexpectedly, Tang Qing had a different target.
But now, Li Hui could do nothing. The game’s rules were such that once you choose to seek help from a player in the same community, the player’s mouth mechanism locks, which means entrusting everything to the other party.
Through the loudspeaker, Tang Qing’s voice continued.
"The player we are voting for is the one ’primarily responsible for the death case.’
"However, there’s no clear standard for determining primary responsibility, making it easy to fall into verbal pulls and self-talking; players attacking each other will only harm everyone.
"Thus, I propose two standards for consideration if they are reasonable.
"The first standard is directness. That is, the sinner’s actions directly led to the victim’s death, rather than indirectly through many circles causing death via the butterfly effect.
"The second standard is knowingly wrongdoing. That is, the sinner was aware of the wrongdoing but insisted on doing it, rather than committing it unintentionally or treating himself with the same disregard.
"If some players only meet one criterion while others meet both, there’s no doubt that those meeting both criteria should be held more accountable for this death case.
"This fully aligns with Walkway’s consistent standard for judging ’guilty.’
"Among the present players, only Deng Xiao clearly meets both criteria.
"Doesn’t everyone find it strange? As a fitness coach, why was he chosen as the sinner? Why does Walkway deem him responsible for this death case?
"From the preparation information, the deceased had a habit of running. His 10-kilometer run time was 47 minutes, considered very good for amateurs.
"It was precisely this performance that gave him a good self-feeling, leading to statements like ’47 minutes, much healthier than you.’
"But in reality, he was already on the verge of sudden death.
"At first glance, this might seem contradictory. How can a sick person run such a performance? In fact, it’s not strange, as a person’s exercise capability doesn’t completely correlate with their health status.
"Ordinary people can’t run long distances because their bodies aren’t mobilized. Being capable in exercise doesn’t necessarily mean the heart is healthy.
"This is a common misconception for many: thinking good at long-distance running equates to a healthier heart than ordinary people who do not exercise.
"This is wrong.
"Long-distance running causes adaptive changes to the heart, like myocardial hypertrophy, heart chamber enlargement, which is good for athletes but can be fatal for ordinary people lacking rest.
"In other words, the deceased forced himself to practice long-distance running despite having an unhealthy heart. The dopamine release from running performance improvement gave him the deadly illusion that ’I’m becoming healthier.’
"This was the direct trigger for his sudden death, the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
"Which begs the question: where did the deceased get such ideas? And why was Deng Xiao, as a fitness trainer, pulled into this game as a sinner?
"The information Deng Xiao wrote on the drawing board emphasized his physical condition after the first round, clearly showing the other piece of information was more dangerous, which he dared not reveal.
"This isn’t hard to guess:
"To better sell his courses, Deng Xiao deliberately instilled incorrect exercise concepts in his members, using common fitness coach rhetoric: faster progress.
"That is, exploiting members’ impatience, intentionally creating a fast progress illusion. Maybe it was encouraging recklessly advancing in weight training or making more aggressive running plans.
"Therefore, Deng Xiao’s crime meets both ’directness’ and ’knowingly wrongdoing.’
"Many working overtime might occasionally face sudden death cases, but overall it’s a minimal proportion, turning into big news on rare occasions. However, when these workers engage in high-intensity exercise, sudden death becomes almost inevitable.
"Excessive exercise is the direct trigger for sudden death.
"Deng Xiao, as a fitness coach, trained very well and healthy himself, is certainly aware of the details. If he truly cared for the deceased, he shouldn’t have recommended the so-called ’quick progress training plan’ but advise the deceased to spend all his time asleep and resting instead.
"Hence, the answer is evident: Deng Xiao should bear the primary responsibility."
According to game rules, Tang Qing mandated all players to vote based on ’crime.’
After using the assistance function, this round’s free speech segment was occupied, and Inner Court Players couldn’t speak; the audience sought for help would exclusively own the stage.
The speech time was 12 minutes, so Tang Qing delivered enough and impactful content.
Upon hearing his name, Deng Xiao’s face turned pale, and the more he listened, the colder his heart grew.
He was acutely aware of these matters.
He had already reviewed his specific crimes before the game started.
Although Tang Qing’s words contained some Spring and Autumn Annals Style and exaggerations, centrally they were based on facts.
Initially, Deng Xiao deliberately avoided relevant information on the drawing board, trying to cover up as much as possible, unnoticed by other players.
However, obviously, in eyes of perceptive players like Tang Qing, this cover-up was meaningless.
Instead, it brought doubled backlash as Tang Qing disclosed it.
Deng Xiao was anxious, wanting to defend himself, but his mouth’s mechanism was locked, unable to issue any sound.
He looked to Lu Bingjun, only met with a helpless glance.
Players already began pressing buttons on the drawing board to vote one after another.
According to the rules, Li Hui used Community 7’s only help chance, with Tang Qing speaking. Tang Qing could force all players to vote based on ’crime’ standards.
This meant Lu Bingjun could not vote for others based on the ’highest sudden death risk’ standard.
Without voting against his conscience if Lu Bingjun truly believed Deng Xiao should take primary responsibility for this death case, he had no choice but to vote for Deng Xiao. All other options were invalid.
Deng Xiao forcefully pressed Li Hui’s button, but unfortunately, this time the button didn’t light up, indicating invalid vote.
He couldn’t genuinely believe Li Hui should bear primary responsibility for the deceased’s death, so the contrary vote was ineffective.
Deng Xiao blindly pressed other buttons but still didn’t receive a light or lock, remaining invalid votes.
Eventually, the unpressed buttons left only Lu Bingjun and Deng Xiao himself on the drawing board.
