Was this broken piece of equipment malfunctioning?

Bai Youwei smacked the screen in mild irritation. Thud, thud.

She tapped on the Number 9 key, and a prompt box appeared:

【Confirm vote? — 9】

Bai Youwei stared at this line of text and slowly understood…

The other numbers being unselectable most likely meant that Numbers 1 and 9 were currently tied in votes. To prevent a tied ranking, with only one vote remaining, the player had to choose one of these two numbers.

Bai Youwei thought it over.

Earlier, Xu Fang He had written out nineteen numbers for them to eliminate — Number 9 was not among those numbers, but Number 1 was. This meant there was a high probability that Number 9 belonged to a yellow-eyed player.

So — should she vote for Number 9 now?

Bai Youwei weighed this internally for a moment, then ultimately selected Number 1 and pressed “Confirm.”

She didn’t want the gap between the red, yellow, and blue factions’ numbers to become too large. A gradual, grinding attrition was the only way to force the X-Guest to show their hand…

Bai Youwei left the voting booth. Everyone outside looked over at her.

The last person had finished voting, which meant the results were about to be announced.

The stone orb on the rooftop rotated a full circle. A child’s voice rang out — crisp and bright, carrying a soaring sense of delight—

“Now announcing the eliminated numbers and vote counts for Round One!”

“Number 8, 6 votes.”

“Number 18, 6 votes.”

“Number 19, 6 votes.”

“Number 27, 6 votes.”

“Number 1, 4 votes.”

As the overseer called out each number, one person after another vanished from the crowd!

Two people disappeared from the red-eyed group; two disappeared from the blue-eyed group; the yellow-eyed group lost only one.

The faction headcounts now stood as follows:

Red-eyed: 10 players (including 1 false blue-eye).

Yellow-eyed: 8 players (including 1 false red-eye).

Blue-eyed: 7 players.

Among these, the red-eyed faction still held a certain numerical advantage.

A buzzing murmur rose through the crowd:

“Why so many tied at 6 votes?”

“Those people probably didn’t conceal their numbers well enough and got spotted…”

“If someone spots your number, you naturally become a target. It looks like at least two factions’ votes overlapped, which is why there are so many tied at 6.”

“The next round probably won’t be like this — the numbers that got spotted were mostly all eliminated this round…”

“……”

The stone orb said cheerfully: “Round One voting is over! Everyone may now return to their rooms to rest. Round Two voting begins in 8 hours! Don’t sleep through it~”

Bai Youwei scoffed inwardly.

In a place like this, how could anyone sleep through it? Not being able to sleep at all was far closer to the truth.

The twenty-five remaining players dispersed.

Rather than each returning to their own room, people instinctively gathered at their respective leaders’ quarters to discuss strategy for the next round of voting.

The yellow-eyed faction was no exception.

The atmosphere was heavy, for their position was the most precarious of all three factions.

Going by actual eye color, the yellow-eyed faction truly had only 7 members — the fewest of the three groups!

“It seems we must form an alliance with the blue-eyed team…” Dr. Xu Fang surveyed the group and laid out his analysis carefully. “Their position is also unfavorable — they won’t refuse. Only by allying with them can our vote count outweigh the red-eyes.”

Everyone exchanged glances with one another, and no one spoke.

There were five rounds of voting in total, with the final 5 survivors needing to share the same eye color to clear the game. Yet after only the first round, their numbers had already been whittled down to 7. Four more rounds remained… if they lost even more members in the next round, defeat might truly be sealed.

“Please do not worry.” Xu Fang He’s smile remained as gentle as ever, soothing everyone present. “Trust me — in Round Two, not a single yellow-eye will be eliminated.”

—