God's Imitator

Li Renshu added, ”Besides that, there’s another point worth noting.

”The current rules don’t say at all how gold coins spent during auctions will be handled. Will they be redistributed at the end of the game? Or directly disappear?

”Naturally, we can’t be stingy about gold coins. We need to auction more plots to build shelters, but we also need to be as economical as possible, obtaining plots at lower prices.

”Because the second phase will very likely have other places that cost money.”

Zheng Jie thought for a moment and nodded in realization, ”True, we can’t bid on every block. That would be very wasteful.”

Cao Haichuan added, ”However, we’re second to last in choosing. How exactly to choose still depends on the communities ahead.

”Stay as far as possible from nine-square grids selected by other communities.

”If we must be adjacent to other communities, we should also be adjacent to communities with weaker bidding intentions as much as possible.”

After reaching consensus, everyone came to the console in front of the plaza.

Before the game officially started, each community had to select their respective ’priority development area.’But because time was relatively ample, players from these communities were still thinking and discussing, and hadn’t rushed to make choices.

The community with the least visa time chose the nine-square grid first. The order was Community 12, Community 7, Community 9, Community 17, and Community 15.

Two players from Community 12 first came forward to choose. They selected the G7 nine-square grid, which was the most bottom-right corner nine-square grid of the entire venue.

Li Renshu lowered her voice to ask Zhou Guifen, ”Aunt Zhou, do you know all these players from Community 12?”

Zhou Guifen briefly glanced and also said in a low voice, ”I only recognize two people.”

Li Renshu asked again, ”What about that Chen Guangming who went with Fan Zehui to choose the nine-square grid?”

Zhou Guifen shook her head, ”Don’t know him.”

Chen Guangming looked refined and cultured, wearing gold-rimmed glasses. From the fact that he went with Fan Zehui to choose the nine-square grid, he should have fairly decent influence among these 5 people from Community 12.

Among these 5 people, there were 3 Zhou Guifen didn’t recognize, indicating these three players were very likely newly joined.

Because Community 12 had a very high mortality rate, and newly joined players participated in games fewer times, they were more easily selected by this game.

Previously in ’Conglomerate Nation,’ Community 17 had formed a grudge with Fan Zehui. Seeing him again this time, Zhou Guifen would inevitably feel somewhat awkward.

If they wanted to establish cooperation again, it would probably be difficult but Li Renshu didn’t care much. After all, they could still cooperate with other communities, such as Community 9 or Community 15.

And from the current game rules, there might not be too many opportunities for cooperation between communities. At most, they could discuss not deliberately driving up prices when bidding on nine-square grids.

Next was Community 7. The lead female player was called Jin Cheng. She chose the uppermost left corner, A1 nine-square grid.

Community 7 had only been encountered once, in ’Birth Judgment,’ the community where that domestic violence murderer Fei Xiong belonged.

Although there was some minor conflict, it wasn’t as irreconcilable as with Community 12. If the timing was right, cooperation could still be attempted.

From the choice of nine-square grids, Community 12 chose the bottom-right corner, while Community 7 chose the top-left corner. These were the two most distant nine-square grids.

Clearly, other communities had also reached roughly the same conclusion: in choosing ’priority development areas,’ corner nine-square grids had less competition.

Moreover, Community 12 being the first to choose a corner nine-square grid would also inevitably have some influence on subsequent communities’ choices.

Next was Community 9. The male player who came forward to choose was called Zhang Shichao. He chose another corner: the bottom-left corner, A7.

Having been encountered in both ’Blood Poker’ and ’Blind Date Game,’ Community 9 might be a target worth pursuing.

Soon, it was Community 17’s turn to choose.

Li Renshu had already discussed with Cao Haichuan beforehand. Of course, they chose the last remaining corner: the top-right corner, G1 nine-square grid.

Thus, the four corner nine-square grids of the venue had all been selected.

Finally, it was Community 15’s turn, previously never encountered in games.

The lead player was a middle-aged man who looked somewhat disheveled and scruffy, with stubble. His name was Wang Weidong.

He had been standing in front of the console thinking for a long time.

From the order perspective, Community 15 choosing the nine-square grid last was in the worst position.

Because the four communities ahead would certainly stay far from each other. Which specific corner they chose didn’t make much difference but Community 15 was the last to choose. The four remaining nine-square grids to choose from were all middle nine-square grids. No matter how they chose, they would inevitably be right next to two other communities.

The more crowded it was, the fiercer the competition would be. This was natural.

Players temporarily hadn’t engaged in much cross-community communication.

This might be because some people learned their lesson in ’Conglomerate Nation,’ knowing the time before the game officially started was best used for internal community discussion.

However, Wang Weidong of Community 15 didn’t directly choose a nine-square grid. Instead, he looked at players from other communities and said something unexpected.

”If any community is willing to give me 20 gold coins, I’ll choose the nine-square grid farthest from them.

”This is a very cost-effective deal. Is anyone willing?”

This surprised all the players.

Zhang Shichao from Community 9 frowned, ”You’re the wealthiest community in the entire game, even wealthier than Community 17.

”Yet now you’re asking us for money?”

Wang Weidong spread his hands indifferently, ”What’s so strange about that? Small amounts add up to large sums. The more someone knows how to save money, the more money they’ll have.

”For our community, choosing any of the remaining four nine-square grids is the same. Of course this is voluntary trade, fair dealing.

”So, is anyone willing to spend? If not, I’ll just choose randomly.

”After all, for us, choosing any is the same.”

People from other communities looked at each other with various expressions.

Twenty gold coins wasn’t much, but it wasn’t a small amount either.

Each community had at most 50 free gold coins and 100 exchanged gold coins. And exchanging all of them meant spending all their visa time.

These gold coins could basically be viewed as non-renewable resources. Each one spent was one less.

According to game rules, perhaps they could earn audience members’ gold coins by selling shelters, but that would be in the second phase.

No one knew how much gold coins bidding would specifically cost, nor whether building shelters would require consuming gold coins. Every gold coin had to be carefully calculated.

According to this game’s selection rules, the selected players were all relatively weaker players within their communities, with less visa time and more conservative gaming mentality, so it was difficult to make such a decision.

Li Renshu looked at Cao Haichuan. Both slightly shook their heads.

On one hand, because Community 17 had more visa time, gold coins were more valuable. Giving them away like this wasn’t very cost-effective.

On the other hand, this kind of behavior might provoke hatred from other communities.

After considering, Chen Guangming from Community 12 said, ”We’re somewhat interested, but only willing to offer 10 gold coins.”