Chapter 640: 'Prison Factory' Ends

Yao Yuan paused briefly and continued, "You are the absolute emperor. Peng Xinyuan and Zhou Xiaoying are the bottom-tier foot soldiers. Li Mao is the middle tier. And Wu Xiufang is effectively the general, or the chancellor.

"Wu Xiufang may only have joined in the Second Stage, but based on her performance in this game, she will sooner or later become one of the Gallery's top-tier players.

"You may feel you've treated her well, having promoted her as an exception and given her considerable power and advantages. But for someone like her, those things don't require your patronage. She could earn them through her own ability in any community.

"At the same time, what risk has she had to bear under your system?

"You are the absolute authority. The power you can freely give is power you can freely take away.

"She can displace others, and others can displace her. You promoted her today, and you could promote someone else to replace her tomorrow.

"Any person of real capability would find this kind of environment deeply repugnant, regardless of whether they have personal ambitions.

"If she lacks ambition, she might simply choose to leave.

"If she has ambition, she will not miss an opportunity to kill you and take your place.

"Your system looks perfect on the surface, but in practice it's a complete mess, because it has no room for genuinely talented people.

"Of course, all of this is speculation on my part.

"I just happened to guess correctly."

The muscles in Zhao Heng's face continued to twitch, "On what basis can she replace me?

"On what basis?

"Everything she has, I gave her. Who would support someone like her, a newcomer with no foundation of her own?"

Yao Yuan let out a quiet sigh, "You may think that having five veteran members as your core group gives you a secure foundation.

"But since you chose this kind of system, you should have known it is far more fragile than you imagine.

"The moment the emperor dies, the entire system collapses.

"After everyone returns from this game, at least Zhou Xiaoying, Peng Xinyuan, and Li Mao will become Wu Xiufang's staunch supporters.

"And the moment she raises her voice and offers more lenient terms than you did, the players at the bottom of Community 23 who have been suppressed under you will stand with her as well.

"Once you're dead, your core group is without a leader. Do you genuinely think they can keep the system running on their own?"

Zhao Heng went still. He couldn't find a single word to say.

Yao Yuan turned to leave, "So those without strong political instincts must know their limits. Follow stable, proven systems, and don't act on impulse to build unusual experiments or pursue radical reform.

"Otherwise, even a player with decent game skills can end up dying a senseless death in a simple game.

"Your own words back to you: this is not a strategic failure. It's a political one.

"You planted a very large landmine. It's gone off."

[Community 23's players have failed to donate sufficient Gold Pounds. Zhao Heng will receive an instant-death penalty.]

Zhao Heng fell straight down, like a mountain peak crashing to the earth.

But this kind of death did not inspire any sense of tragedy or regret. It only felt careless, and faintly absurd.

Community 23's immunity voucher had not yet finished its cooldown. Every player who had been part of this plan had known that from the beginning.

Yao Yuan looked back at him for a moment with a complicated expression, then continued on his way to deliver the remaining Contraband.

All the Contraband on the steam train had been fully delivered.

Geng Yuxia entered Community 23's Inspection Room to find it, as expected, completely empty.

Community 2's Inspection Room was the same.

Both sides had chosen to abandon the inspection phase in the final round, but this was not the cooperation that Yao Yuan and Zhao Heng had agreed on. It was an unspoken understanding reached between Yao Yuan and Wu Xiufang.

This meant both communities could deliver all their Contraband into the cell block without obstruction.

The game had now entered its final phase, 'Final Production and Settlement.'

He Qinyun and Li Mao were both busy feeding the large batches of Contraband into the machine, and Gold Pounds poured out in a continuous stream.

Before long, every unit of material that had been brought in had been processed. The cell block door swung open with a heavy click.

He Qinyun and Li Mao each gathered their share of the produced Gold Pounds and left through the cell block exit, making their way back to their respective community lounges.

"All the Gold Pounds are here."

He Qinyun took out a thick stack of notes from her pockets and placed them on the lounge table.

Every unit delivered in Round Three had been Contraband, and the returns were substantial.

The others brought out the Gold Pounds they had earned from earlier production rounds as well, along with whatever remained of their initial starting sum, and piled it all together.

The combined total made for a genuinely striking sight.

"Let's split it equally among everyone. We all worked hard," Yao Yuan said simply.

All the Gold Pounds existed in the form of paper notes, and whoever held them in their hands at settlement would have those counted as their own earnings. This meant they could be freely redistributed before leaving the game.

In communities that practised a stricter reward-for-contribution system, the amounts might have varied based on each player's contribution. But the Community 2 players present clearly had no intention of doing that.

Huang Shengjie winced slightly, "There's so much of it. Without a counting machine, are we really supposed to count every note one by one?

"Actually, probably not necessary. Close enough should be fine."

Yao Yuan considered for a moment, "Here's what I'll do. I'll split it into five portions.

"You all choose first, and I'll take whatever's left."

No one raised any objection to this.

Yao Yuan dealt the Gold Pounds out into five piles as though distributing a deck of cards, then went back and adjusted by feel until the thicknesses were roughly equal.

There would inevitably be slight differences in the exact count, but since Yao Yuan was taking the last portion, it was fair.

Judging by the thickness, each pile was probably around 50,000.

Huang Shengjie suggested, "Sister Wanlin should choose first. I thought she played a really crucial role in Round One."

Zhou Wanlin shook her head, "You go first. You did all the heavy lifting, and you were the one who completed the final step against Zhao Heng. Without you, the plan couldn't have worked."

Yao Yuan cut in, "Alright, let's not stand on ceremony right now.

"I'll settle the order. Shengjie, Zhou Wanlin, He Qinyun, Geng-auntie, and then me."

No one objected further, and each person took a portion.

Huang Shengjie glanced out at the venue, "I wonder how Community 23 is going to divide up their Gold Pounds."

Yao Yuan shook his head, "Hard to say. It depends on what Wu Xiufang has in mind.

"She'll probably use this game's earnings to redistribute the benefits and build Zhou Xiaoying, Peng Xinyuan, and Li Mao into her initial base of support.

"So for those three, jumping to another community may not actually be necessary after all. For them, getting a new community leader is probably far easier to accept than starting over somewhere unfamiliar.

"Community 23 is going to go through some turbulence for a while. But based on what Wu Xiufang showed in this game, reorganising the community shouldn't be too difficult for her."

Huang Shengjie still looked slightly uneasy, "Will Wu Xiufang choose to control the medications? Or will she keep allowing them to circulate freely?"

Yao Yuan was quiet for a moment, "I genuinely can't predict that.

"Once a Pandora's box like the medications is opened, it's very hard to close again.

"What comes next, only time will tell."

Huang Shengjie let out a sigh, "And in the end, we still didn't find a suitable player to bring back."

Everyone waited in quiet. Finally, the settlement results appeared on the large screen.

[Proceeding to final settlement.]

[At the time of his instant-death penalty, Zhao Heng was carrying a total of 40,800 Gold Pounds. These will be added to Community 2's earnings and divided equally among all surviving Community 2 players.]

[Community 2 is declared the victor and will receive an additional bonus of 10,000 Gold Pounds.]

[After accounting for Inspection Room fines and earnings, the final totals for both communities are as follows:]

[Community 2 total Gold Pounds earned: 291,300]

[Community 23 total Gold Pounds earned: 267,400]

[All Gold Pounds held by surviving players will be converted at a rate of 1:2 into visa time and returned to their communities.]

[Game over.]