Chapter 652: 'Jury Game'

A sharp beep sounded.

Lin Sizhi looked around and found himself in a simple private lounge.

The furnishings, however, were very different from previous games. Less a lounge and more a dressing room.

Directly in front of him was a vanity table with a lighted mirror and an assortment of cosmetics.

To his left was a large screen. To his right, a wardrobe and a changing area.

Beyond that, the room had the usual basics: a sofa and a coffee table.

In a prominent place on the coffee table was a 'Character Dossier,' roughly a few pages thick.

The large screen did not immediately display game rules. Instead, it defaulted to a surveillance feed of another space.

The feed showed an expansive chamber, somewhere between a conference hall and a courtroom. At the centre was a circular speaking platform, surrounded by four wide fan-shaped arc tables, all currently unoccupied.

Further back were eight fan-shaped audience sections, arranged in two rows: two seats in the front row and three in the back, with the back row elevated slightly.

In each of the four corners, upper-left, upper-right, lower-left, and lower-right, a single audience representative seat was positioned just in front of the corresponding audience section, offset slightly from the four special arc tables.

The audience sections were already filled with players. Only the four special arc-table positions remained empty.

The players who had entered as audience members were still making sense of their surroundings, sitting quietly and observing.

Then, the game rules began to appear on the large screen in Lin Sizhi's dressing room.

In the main chamber, a small screen on each player's operations console began simultaneously displaying the rules.

[Good morning, players. Welcome to 'Jury Game.']

[Before this game begins, the basic framework rules of the 'Role-Play' game type will be introduced.]

[In a Role-Play Game, players assigned the 'Actor' role must carefully read and memorise the 'Character Dossier' in their dressing room before the game begins, and must strictly portray the designated character in accordance with its contents to deliver a compelling performance for the audience.]

[Story elements explicitly described in the Character Dossier must be strictly followed. Elements not explicitly described may be improvised.]

[Behaviour that contradicts the Character Dossier may result in a warning or other in-game penalties. In the most serious cases, an instant-death penalty will be applied directly. Please take particular care!]

[Other players in the game serve as both 'Audience' and 'Extras.' Depending on the specific game rules, they may be assigned different tasks.]

[The detailed rules of 'Jury Game' are as follows.]

[I. Story Background]

[In a special country founded on a 'Special Jury/Temporary Citizens' Tribunal System' as its basic legal framework, a murder case has occurred.]

[On a yacht in international waters, a newlywed couple was found dead in the sea. Four key suspects were on board: a 'Wealthy Merchant, a Doctor, a Lawyer, and a Detective.']

[The four Actors will each portray one of the four suspects. The audience will portray the jury.]

[The four suspects must persuade the jury, clear their own names, and uncover the truth.]

[II. Professional Privileges]

[Suspects and jury members each hold special rights based on their professions.]

[1. Wealthy Merchant / Detective: Present Evidence.] [The Wealthy Merchant owns the yacht. The Detective secured the scene. Both may access the Evidence Room to retrieve case-relevant evidence and choose the appropriate moment to present it to the jury. Each may present only one piece of evidence per recess.]

[2. Lawyer / Doctor: Provide Professional Explanation.] [As legal or medical professionals, they may use specialised knowledge to persuade the jury, clear their own names, or establish the truth.]

[3. Jury Representative: Help maintain order during proceedings and raise reasonable challenges to suspects at any time.]

[4. Jury Member: Verify Evidence.] [A suspect or Jury Representative may propose 'verification of the authenticity and supplementary information of a piece of evidence or professional explanation.' Any 10 jury members may each pay 500 minutes of visa time to complete the verification, and results will be made public automatically.]

[III. Truth Vote]

[During the trial, suspects and Jury Representatives may unanimously agree to call a 'Recess.']

[During a Recess, the four suspects may return to their respective dressing rooms to re-read the Character Dossier, consider further strategy, or retrieve new evidence from the Evidence Room.]

[Before each Recess, each of the 4 suspects may propose a 'Possibility Analysis' of the case, which will then be put to a full vote.]

[Each of the 4 suspects holds 10 votes. Each of the 4 Jury Representatives holds 5 votes. Each general jury member holds 1 vote. Total: 100 votes.]

[When a Possibility Analysis reaches 60 votes, it will be recognised as the 'Case Truth.']

[The Truth Vote permits insincere votes, but each player may cast a maximum of 3 such votes. Each insincere vote carries a penalty of 5,000 minutes of visa time.]

[IV. Rewards and Penalties]

[1. Curtain Call Vote]

[Once the Case Truth is established, the performance will conclude.]

[All audience members may cast a 'Support Vote' or 'Oppose Vote' for each Actor according to the following criteria.]

[When an Actor's appearance, conduct, inner qualities, and overall presentation are completely consistent with their character, this is considered 'Perfect Portrayal.']

[If an audience member believes the character portrayed is 'Not Guilty' AND the Actor has achieved Perfect Portrayal (both conditions required), they may cast a Support Vote.]

[If an audience member believes the character portrayed is 'Guilty' OR the Actor has not achieved Perfect Portrayal (either condition sufficient), they may cast an Oppose Vote.]

[Insincere votes are not permitted in the Curtain Call Vote.]

[If an Actor receives more than half of all votes as Oppose Votes, they will receive an instant-death penalty before leaving.]

[Regardless of whether the Actor dies, all of their visa time will be divided among the other Actors, with a maximum of 48 hours retained for return to the community.]

[Audience members who cast a Support Vote for the Actor will have all of their visa time divided among those who cast an Oppose Vote, with a maximum of 48 hours retained for return to the community.]

[2. Betting on Actors]

[During each Recess, audience members may place bets on any Actor.]

[Each bet must be a minimum of 1,000 minutes of visa time, and bets may be repeated.]

[Each audience member must place bets totalling at least 30,000 minutes of visa time. Any shortfall will be deducted as a penalty upon leaving.]

[Odds will be calculated as follows, up to a maximum of 4:1.]

[a. The earlier the bet is placed on the Actor, the higher the odds.]

[b. The greater the Actor's share of stage time in the performance, the higher the odds.]

[c. The lower the proportion of total bets placed on the Actor, the higher the odds.]

[If an Actor receives more than half of all votes as Oppose Votes, all audience members who bet on that Actor will lose their entire stake.]

[The performance is about to begin. Actors, please make your final preparations. Audience members, please wait patiently!]

A five-minute countdown appeared on the screen.

Lin Sizhi opened the Character Dossier and fell into thought.

Because beyond the first page, every other page was completely blank, with no content at all.

And the content on the first page was extremely sparse.

[The Wealthy Merchant is a successful entrepreneur who regularly uses his yacht to host events, inviting strangers he has never met to go out to sea through online lottery draws.]

[You are a lawyer. For a certain reason, you boarded this yacht and became entangled in this case.]