God's imitator

Chapter 74: The Draft Begins

Looking at Fang Wencong's bottled water, Zheng Jie asked, "Dude, it doesn't look like you bought this water for your blind date, it's for yourself?"

Fang Wencong subconsciously moved the bottled water closer to himself: "Oh, this."

"This bottle is for my own consumption, but I am indeed considering whether to buy one for the female players I meet."

Zheng Jie looked at the bottled water in his hand: "Do I really have to buy it? Doesn't that mean I'll have to spend an extra 50 minutes on visa processing time for each meeting?"

"Including the room fee, it's 250 in total. 20 meetings would take 5000 minutes for the visa application!"

Zheng Jie was also thirsty and wanted to drink water.

Fang Wencong sighed: "What are you saying? It's hard to imagine that you would ask such a question after playing 'Blood Poker'."

"Multiplayer games require active competition, otherwise the profits will definitely be at the bottom."

"Everyone else is giving gifts, but if you don't, you can forget about getting any likes; you won't get any."

"Although the game hasn't explained the specific uses of the 'like' yet, it's definitely a good thing, right? Even if it can't directly change the visa duration, it can probably do so indirectly."

"If it can be exchanged for any points, then the 50 minutes of visa time will be well worth it."

"Besides, if you can find a suitable female player and give each other a thumbs up during the last meeting, you can get an extra 3 minutes of visa time."

"You can't just cram at the last minute for the final meeting, can you? You need to find a suitable candidate beforehand and build rapport, right?"

Zheng Jie nodded: "Yeah, that's true. I know that too, but I just feel a little unwilling."

Fang Wencong shifted to a more comfortable position in the chair: "It's no use being unwilling, that's just how the game is!"

"Speaking of which, I don't know what the female players you've encountered are like. The two I met had terrible tempers. I just asked if we could split the bill, and they started disliking me."

"I had to coax and plead with them to finally appease them, but I don't even know if they actually gave me any in the end."

"That's why I'm being more careful. It's just a game, no need to argue with women. Just let them win, we'll earn more in the end anyway."

……

Ten minutes passed quickly, and Zheng Jie still felt that the conversation was not yet over.

The two of them felt much better after privately complaining about the strange female players they had encountered.

Zheng Jie frankly said, "Brother, thank you for telling me so much, but I really don't have any more likes to exchange. I already gave them to someone else."

Fang Wencong waved his hand dismissively: "It's nothing."

"Besides, you shouldn't exchange likes with men."

Zheng Jie was somewhat puzzled: "If two men trust each other, wouldn't it be safer to exchange likes?"

Fang Wencong said helplessly, "It is indeed more secure, but what's the point of the exchange? The last meeting, where the two men give each other a thumbs up, doesn't give them extra time for the visa!"
"You definitely need to exchange likes with female players beforehand to build mutual trust and goodwill."

"You've already swapped all your likes with the guys. Even if you want to swap with a female player in the last round, they won't believe you."

Zheng Jie suddenly realized: "Ah, that makes sense. Okay, see you later, bro."

……

Back in the waiting room, Zheng Jie had just sat down in the rest area when he saw the image appear on the big screen.

The talent show has begun.

The huge screen was split in two, with a slightly chubby girl who looked a little uneasy on one side and a middle-aged man who looked disheveled and had dark skin on the other.

Judging from the scene around them, they should be in the same waiting room as Zheng Jie, standing in that open space with extra lighting.

At this moment, all the lights came on, and it really did feel like a stage.

The name of a slightly chubby girl appeared on the screen: 【Community 1 - Zhong Yuanyuan】.

"Hello everyone, I'm here to sing you a song..."

The slightly chubby girl started singing, of course, a cappella without any accompaniment. Her voice wasn't particularly beautiful, but her gentle tone still made people feel happy.

As Zheng Jie listened, he continued to ponder the rules of the game.

The slightly chubby girl sang for about three minutes, then bowed shyly to the camera and pressed the button to end the performance.

Each player can perform for a maximum of five minutes, but can also end the performance early.

The audio system on the big screen switched to the other side, and the disheveled middle-aged man began to perform.

[Community 8 - Jiao Hongtao]. He doesn't have any special talents either; he just sings.

Zheng Jie noticed that next to the seats in the best viewing positions on the big screen, there were also two sets of buttons, each labeled "Interesting" and "Boring," corresponding to the two people participating in the talent show on the big screen.

A separate notification reiterates: "Regardless of the choices made during the talent show, no existing resources will be consumed."

In other words, these two buttons can be clicked arbitrarily during each draft, without any restrictions.

However, when it comes to the same person's performance, you can only choose between "interesting" and "boring".

"Such a cute girl, she's just a little chubby, and she didn't get any likes?"

"This game is way too realistic."

Zheng Jie didn't think too much about it and directly clicked "interesting" on the slightly chubby girl who had already finished her performance.

According to the rules, everyone who appears on the talent show stage has the lowest number of likes.

In that case, giving it a like is perfectly fine.

As for this skinny man in his thirties...

The singing was really awful, and Zheng Jie wanted to mute the big screen, but unfortunately, that wasn't an option.

Zheng Jie hesitated. Logically speaking, this guy was also a pitiful person who didn't have any likes, so giving him a like would be a simple matter, but...

Just as he hesitated, the sound system on the large screen was cut off. Although the image was still there, a new notification appeared at the top.

[Performer #2 received more than 20 "boring" comments; the performance was forcibly terminated.]

Performer #1 received a total of 31 "Interesting" comments and an extra "Like".

Performer #2 received a total of 2 "Interesting" comments and an extra "Like".

On screen, the slightly chubby girl, Zhong Yuanyuan, was busy thanking the viewers. Although her voice could not be heard, her joy could still be felt through her body language.

The talent show footage on the big screen was cut off and replaced with a reminder of the game's basic rules.

Zheng Jie sighed. Although these two players both got the chance to participate in the draft, their results were worlds apart.

Suddenly, he remembered something and got up again to go to the query machine.

An hour has passed, and I can finally check the exact number of likes and dislikes on my account.

[Community 17 - Zheng Jie]

Current number of likes: 1

[Current number of dislikes: 2]

[Current number of likes received: 0]

[Currently received 'dislikes': 0]

"This……"

Although Zheng Jie had prepared himself mentally to some extent, he was still very disappointed to see the result.

Since it was already a new hour, the game gave him another "like" and a "dislike".

But he received zero likes and zero dislikes from other players.

That is to say...

Lu Xinyi did not give him a thumbs up.

"I'm so stupid, what was I even expecting..."

Zheng Jie wanted to slap himself twice. He had actually been fantasizing that someone like Lu Xinyi would keep her promise and exchange likes with him.

Clearly, Lu Xinyi made a fake button-pressing motion, but did not actually like the post.

First, she actually clicked the "AA" button, and then gradually made Zheng Jie lower his guard during the subsequent chat. Finally, before leaving, she made a casual feint, a natural performance that completely fooled the naive Zheng Jie.

Zheng Jie had a bit of wishful thinking before, thinking that since Lu Xinyi knew he was a player from Community 17, she might give Attorney Lin some face.
When the game's future is still unclear, is it really necessary to like each other's posts to build a good relationship? Is it really necessary to lie to each other from the very beginning?
It now appears that he is on the second floor, while Lu Xinyi is on the third floor.

For Lu Xinyi, there probably wasn't a single "like" that was easier to get than this one throughout the entire game.

(End of this chapter)