Chapter 530: The Special Exemption Vote |
Lin Sizhi stood up and walked over to the vending machine, completing the process quickly.
Shen Bowen came to the vending machine after him, but after checking the current "Community Development Fund" contribution rankings, she turned and walked back without doing anything.
That behavior prompted Lu Bingjun and Ye Lin to instinctively glance in Lin Sizhi's direction.
Only after no one else stepped forward did Lu Bingjun return to the vending machine to check the final ranking results.
[1. Lu Bingjun: 340,000]
[2. Ye Lin: 220,000]
[3. Lin Sizhi: 170,000]
[4. Yao Yuan: 80,000]
The amount Yao Yuan had contributed had always been that much. He had previously been sitting in third place, with the other players having contributed even less, generally somewhere between thirty and fifty thousand.
The way others looked at Lin Sizhi shifted somewhat. They had guessed that he had a lot of visa time, but had not expected it to be this much.
Donating 170,000 did not mean he only had 170,000.
Because after making the contribution, he still needed to ensure that his remaining visa time would not fall into the bottom seven under any circumstances, meaning he had to keep at least several tens of thousands in reserve.
And the amount he had donated alone was already enough to discourage other players who might have had similar ideas.
Lu Bingjun nodded and said, "In that case, the three confirmed exemption slots go to myself, Ye Lin, and Lawyer Lin.
"We will now vote to determine the final special exemption slot.
"Please vote primarily from the perspective of 'contribution to the community.'"
Yao Yuan distributed paper and pens to everyone and said, "All you need to write is the player number of your chosen player, so there's no need to worry about your handwriting being identified.
"Each person submits one choice only. You may also consider voting for yourself.
"If there is a tie after the first round, we will proceed to a second round."
Everyone wrote a number on their piece of paper, folded it, and handed it to Yao Yuan.
Yao Yuan then shuffled them completely before opening them one by one and reading the votes aloud.
"Player No. 4, Wen Wan."
"Player No. 4, Wen Wan."
"Player No. 3, Deng Xiao."
"Player No. 11, Zhou Wanlin."
"Player No. 1, Qin Cheng."
In the beginning, the number "4" representing Wen Wan appeared twice in a row, which seemed natural enough. Looking at the current division of roles, Wen Wan's position in the community was closest to that of a "housekeeper."
Day-to-day tasks, including organizing the dinner gatherings, were all handled by her.
On top of that, in the course of managing these everyday matters, she naturally grew closer to certain players.
In a vote like this, "visible effort" and "being well-liked" would inevitably give her a certain advantage.
But as more and more slips of paper were opened, the number 1 representing Qin Cheng appeared with increasing frequency.
In the end, Yao Yuan announced the final tally.
"Qin Cheng, 6 votes. Wen Wan, 4 votes. Deng Xiao, 2 votes. Zhou Wanlin, 1 vote. He Qinyun, 1 vote."
Wen Wan flipped through the pile of slips on the long table with a look of disbelief. There were indeed more slips with the number 1 on them.
And because they were just numbers, there was no way to determine who had voted for whom based on handwriting.
Wen Wan's expression stiffened. She looked around at everyone, clearly struggling to accept the result, but at a loss for what to say.
She eventually looked toward Qin Cheng, seemingly hoping he might say something, such as offering this valuable opportunity to her.
A flicker of surprise crossed Qin Cheng's face as well. The result appeared to have caught him somewhat off guard.
But after a brief moment of thought, he stood up and said, "Thank you, everyone.
"I'll make use of the extra time I'm awake and contribute more to the community."
Lu Bingjun smiled and clapped his hands, and the others followed with applause.
"Then the four exemption slots are decided.
"We will hold a new selection every week going forward. So players who didn't make it this time shouldn't be discouraged. Keep at it, there will be plenty more opportunities ahead.
"Yao Yuan.
"Go ahead and draw up the rotation schedule."
Yao Yuan nodded and said, "Sure.
"Aside from the four exempt players, the remaining 10 of us, including myself, will need to take turns sharing the pain.
"According to the rules, the players who bear the pain are randomly selected, so our goal is to rotate players who have already endured the pain out of the bottom seven, and bring in players who haven't yet.
"That means three players currently in the top seven need to step down and replace Deng Xiao, Qin Cheng, and Huang Shengjie.
"So first, Yao Yuan, He Qinyun, and Zhou Wanlin, the three of us will deposit into the special fund to lower our personal visa time and drop into the bottom seven.
"Deng Xiao, your visa time isn't especially low, so you don't need to do anything in particular.
"Qin Cheng and Huang Shengjie, the two of you started with very little visa time, so go ahead and take out a loan of 30,000 minutes from the community development fund first. That'll make it easier to adjust things.
"As for Shen Bowen, you don't need to do anything for now, but if we continue rotating later, you may also need to proactively deposit some visa time to participate in the rotation, just like the rest of us."
Shen Bowen nodded and said, "Alright."
At that moment, Qin Cheng spoke up on his own initiative and said, "I'd like to stay on the bottom seven list for now.
"First, I want to thank everyone for giving me a special exemption slot. I don't plan on giving it up.
"That said, in order to determine exactly how much the painkillers reduce the effect of this pain, I think it's necessary to go through the pain one more time for comparison.
"Since different players have different pain tolerances, it can't be determined through verbal accounts alone.
"After taking the medication and experiencing the pain once more, I'll start making use of my exemption slot."
Lu Bingjun was taken aback for a moment, but nodded shortly after and said, "Understood. That's a lot to ask of you, Dr. Qin."
Yao Yuan then looked toward Zhou Wanlin and said, "In that case, Zhou, you don't need to deposit any visa time for now."
Once the list was finalized, everyone moved quickly.
Yao Yuan and He Qinyun deposited into the "Special Fund" to lower their own visa time, dropping themselves into the bottom seven, which rotated Huang Shengjie and Deng Xiao out.
Huang Shengjie's initial visa time was around 30,000 minutes. After taking out the loan, it became 60,000 minutes, and Yao Yuan and the others also voluntarily compressed their visa time to around 60,000 to make future adjustments easier.
Going forward, depending on how many times each player had endured the pain, this rotation would likely need to be carried out many more times.
Lu Bingjun also visibly let out a long breath. The Second Stage had barely begun, and the challenges that had come up in community building had already given him some cause for concern.
Fortunately, in terms of the outcome, this issue had been resolved in a reasonably satisfactory way.
Though it was also possible that this was only a temporary fix.
Huang Shengjie was clearly very grateful toward the players, including Lu Bingjun and Yao Yuan, and kept expressing his thanks over and over.
For him, the situation now was far better than it had been before.
Wen Wan, on the other hand, was in no position to feel optimistic. Her face was written all over with fear and dread at the thought of the excruciating pain that might be coming her way, but the community's decision had already been passed, and there was nothing she could do.