They seemed to have discovered the fun in this activity and began harassing people one after another. The Game participants watched the scene before them, their faces turning red with anger. Hu Die even punched the glass in frustration, cursing, “Ugh, that puppet is a pervert!”
As soon as she finished speaking, a notification sounded in her mind: “You have been deducted one reputation point for rude behavior.”
Hu Die: “…Damn.”
The reputation bar above her head, which originally displayed a “0,” now showed a negative one. A red tint began to spread across the previously blank progress bar.
“Even this gets me penalized?” Fatty exclaimed in despair.
As soon as he finished speaking, another notification sounded: “You have been deducted one reputation point for improper language.”
Fatty: “Fxxk.”
Notification: “Deducted two points.”
“Ahhh—” Fatty was on the verge of a breakdown. “What the hell kind of Game is this…”
Now he dared not curse nor kick the door, could only squat in place and silently curse in his heart. Meanwhile, Lin Huai remained in his squatting position (yes, his legs hadn’t fully recovered yet) and casually ran his fingers through his hair.
‘When that woman endured the insults earlier, her reputation value increased by 0.5, and her support votes went up by 1,’ he thought. ‘Heh, so the point of this Game is to turn us into masochists, huh…’
But at the same time, something else caught his attention. When the woman endured the insults, he didn’t hear any system notifications about reputation changes. Yet, when Hu Die and Fatty were penalized for their uncivilized behavior, he clearly heard the system’s reputation notifications.
“Is this a hint?” he wondered.
“Brother Lin,” Lu Xiaotian leaned over. “Did you think of something?”
Lin Huai: “Nope, scram.”
Lu Xiaotian: “…”
A cold notification sounded in his mind: “You have been deducted one reputation point for improper language.”
Lu Xiaotian gave Lin Huai a resentful look but swallowed his anger, not daring to speak up. Just as he was about to crawl away, he heard Lin Huai call out, “Come here, let me see.”
Lu Xiaotian: “See what?”
Lin Huai: “See if your head has turned green.”
Lu Xiaotian obediently crawled over. Sure enough, a hint of green appeared in the progress bar above his head, displaying a pitiful “0.5.”
“Heh…” Lin Huai narrowed his eyes. “I lose one point for cursing, but gain 0.5 for being cursed… This system is like a middleman making a profit off the difference…”
“Brother Lin,” Lu Xiaotian was even more confused. “What are you planning?”
“Well, the system only told me to fill 70% of the progress bar above my head, but it didn’t specify what color to fill it with…” Lin Huai pondered. “In that case, instead of turning green, I might as well turn red…”
Lu Xiaotian: “???”
Lin Huai thought about it and felt his reasoning was sound. Although he couldn’t confirm its validity, if he had to endure being bullied by a bunch of uncivilized people for three months, he might as well turn this museum into a true work of art—by blowing it up. As they say, art is an explosion; if you don’t explode in silence, you’ll perish in silence…
As a civilized person, Lin Huai never exploded casually; he usually let others perish instead…
But speaking of explosions…
Lin Huai suddenly had an epiphany.
If he blew up the museum and the voting boxes, there would be no voting records or rankings. Then… wouldn’t everyone be in the top four?
“I’d rather betray the world than let the world betray me,” Lin Huai resolved, standing up on his newly healed legs. “Now it’s my turn to perform.”
“Wait, wait,” Lu Xiaotian was dumbfounded. “Bro, what did you just think of?”
“I just formulated a two-month plan based on a hypothesis,” Lin Huai said.
“What plan?”
“First, debut as the center, then come out as the center,” Lin Huai glanced at the glass cabinet in front of him. “First and foremost, I’m going to be famous. I’ll become the world’s most famous red explosive gay… Red as in the progress bar, explosive as in blowing up the museum, and gay as in, well, gay.”
“Huh??” Fatty, who was eavesdropping, was baffled. “Old Lin, can you explain more clearly? What are you planning to do?”
“In short,” Lin Huai placed his hand on the glass and took a deep breath.
“I’m going to be the most uncivilized person in the world,” he declared.
Lu Xiaotian and Fatty: “…”
“Bro, calm down,” Fatty said, both amused and exasperated. “Isn’t the point of this Game to fill the progress bar? If you do uncivilized things, wouldn’t that…”
“Who says all red isn’t full? Today, I’m going to be the ultimate villain,” Lin Huai declared loudly.
As soon as he spoke, the system notification sounded again: “You have been deducted one reputation point for improper language.”
The progress bar above his head turned a bit redder, and Lin Huai smiled with joy (and madness).
Then, squatting on the ground and drawing from his experience in novels, he repeatedly insulted the system. After being deducted a full ten points, Fatty finally couldn’t take it anymore.
“Bro, bro, stop, stop,” Fatty pleaded, on the verge of collapse. “Every time you get penalized, I hear your system notification in my head. And after a while, the deductions get smaller, like only 0.01 points… Can you please stop? I’m about to pass out.”
“Yeah…” the white-collar worker nearby also complained. “I didn’t expect you to be so good at spewing insults…”
Lin Huai said, “Wait, let me finish one last insult. System, the grass your girlfriend planted on your head could turn the Sahara into the Greater Khingan Mountains—”
Finally, a long-awaited notification sounded in his mind: “The deduction for uncivilized self-talk has reached five points. Please try a different way to earn points!”
“Ah, okay. I’ve been squatting for too long, my legs are a bit numb…” he muttered. “Let’s think of a way to change positions…”
Everyone watched in stunned silence as Lin Huai went wild in the arena. Meanwhile, a group of high school boys went from glass cabinet to glass cabinet, having fun. The fastest one reached Zhao Jingtian’s display cabinet and, upon seeing the scene before him, suddenly lit up.
“Hey, come over here!” he shouted. “There’s something fun here!”
“What’s so fun?” the others came over.
“It’s not just fun, it’s something special… Oh, this, this!” he widened his eyes.
A group of people chattered and made a ruckus as they gathered around the last cluster.
In the past half-hour journey, they had harassed the prisoners in every room and achieved great laughter. The museum and Dr. Lusiel’s words were indeed true—under the control of the collars and previous treatment plans, these born criminals would not offer any resistance.
“The plan is very successful,” the museum director, the Starry Sky TV station director, and Dr. Lusiel watched their creation with satisfaction in the meeting room. “Hosting this exhibition has brought us a lot of income and traffic.”
Everything that happened in the museum this morning unfolded exactly as they had imagined.
At first, the citizens were still afraid of the potential criminals and dared not approach. Soon, they discovered that the criminals would not fight back or even respond to insults. Some citizens retained some civility and did not attack them, instead voting and leaving quietly after watching. Others gradually got excited and began to hurl harsh words at the potential criminals in the glass cabinets.
Soon, they would find that the potential criminals were nothing to fear, meaning the treatment plan was very effective. Then…
The museum, Starry Sky TV, and Starry Sky Media would gain exposure and make a fortune. Dr. Lusiel and the Romo Sanatorium’s plan would be promoted, bringing fame and fortune. And the Green City Administrator would also celebrate the reduced pressure on the sanatorium.
Everything was good, everything was practical—except for the potential criminals who were being sacrificed.
But they didn’t care about the lives of the potential criminals. As long as the treatment plan worked, the collars they created worked, and the plan could be promoted—why would they care about a few small sacrifices on their path to profit?
Meanwhile, the live broadcast of the exhibition online was gaining momentum. A few assistants were initially watching the live comments with interest, ready to respond at any moment, when one of them suddenly exclaimed.
“Something’s wrong in Corridor Five,” she said. “Look.”
She pointed to Corridor Five, where Lin Huai and the others were. Corridor Five was packed with people, all seemingly gathered around something interesting.
“Should we report this to the director?” one of them asked.
“Let’s handle it ourselves first. Pull up the surveillance footage,” another said.
They pulled up the footage and found that the crowd was mainly gathered around Cabinet 81. A few high school students were gathered around the glass cabinet, their faces red with anger.
“Turn up the volume,” the staff member instructed.
The operator turned up the volume, and the conversation immediately became audible.
“I’m telling you! I’m going to report you to the staff!” the leading high school student was so angry his face was red. He glared at the person in the glass cabinet. “Just you wait!”
The young man inside the glass cabinet, who was standing on his head, rolled his eyes. “Why are you yelling so loudly? If you have the guts, go find the property management!”
“Who do you think you are? You’re just a potential criminal! Do you know who my dad is? My dad is—”
“Shut up, what did your dad do wrong? He raised you and fed you, and now you’re insulting him? Have you thought about the consequences? He worked hard to support the family, and now you’re dragging his name through the mud. Doesn’t your conscience hurt? He’s a decent person, how did he end up with such a disgraceful child like you? Look, even your facial features aren’t united, each doing their own thing.”
“Damn it, you’re pissing me off!”
“Why don’t you look for the reason within yourself? Why do you always push the blame onto others?”
“You #$%^&…”
“You talk so harshly, your boyfriend must have kidney failure, huh?”
“You #$%^&…6!%”
“Don’t be mad, I’ll light some incense for you tonight, okay?”
“%$#^&…”
“Do you know the difference between you and a pile of dog poop? You don’t have a plate.”
“…#$%^&”
“Don’t be mad, anger kills sperm. But don’t worry, judging by your face, even if you’re infertile, you’ll still have plenty of descendants.”
“$%^&…!!!!”
“Let’s go, let’s go, don’t argue with him, let’s go out for a walk to cool down,” one of the high school students pulled the angry student away. “What’s the point of arguing with someone like him?”
“Do you know that while you’re strolling in the sun, children in the Middle East are suffering from war? You don’t care, you only care about yourself,” Lin Huai said with a pained expression. “How can you be so unkind, un-noble, unmerciful, and un-sunny?”
The high school student felt a darkness descend over him. He gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and left the area.
After he left, the crowd gradually dispersed. The operators looked at the scene before them, at a loss. One of them hesitantly spoke up, “Should we… do something about him?”
“Let the director and Dr. Lusiel handle him,” one of the operators said absentmindedly, turning the live broadcast to the front and watching intently. “Haha, this Cabinet 81 is quite amusing.”
“I think he’s asking for death,” another shrugged. “Out of a hundred people, he’s the only one acting up. Can he survive till the end?”
“Keeping him around is good for publicity, look,” a girl moved the mouse to the live broadcast area where Lin Huai was performing. “Many people are saying they’ll come specifically to see him tomorrow.”
As she spoke, she showed the comment section to the other operators.
“Damn, what kind of genius is this Cabinet 81?”
“The museum has found a ghost!! Dr. Lusiel has found a ghost??”
“Has he really undergone treatment? Doesn’t he need medication?”
“Shameless brat dares to bark wildly here!!”
“Lighting incense, haha.”
“OMG hahahaha I don’t know why I feel so refreshed, like I drank VITA Lemon Tea.”
“Get out of here, VITA Lemon Tea shill! Coconut Palm Juice is the real deal!”
“Hands off Coconut Palm Juice, don’t pretend to be anti-fan, thanks, mwah.”
“Hahahahahahaha, I think it’s quite fun.”
“Seeing this video makes me shake with anger, in the hot weather, I’m covered in cold sweat, my hands and feet are icy, what’s wrong with Green City, filled with such arrogant potential criminals, tears are uncontrollably streaming down!”
“This troll is perfect for working at a construction site, carrying steel beams.”
“+1, I want to see him carrying steel beams at a construction site.”
“Angry dude trolling online.”
“Haha, Brother 81 is truly a unique drama queen.”
“Anyone going to the museum tomorrow? Let’s meet up, I want to see the famous troll.”
“+1, let’s go together.”
“I live in District 9, anyone want to go with me?”
The Green City netizens quickly pushed the related comments to the top, and “How to Evaluate Green City’s Cabinet 81” became a hot topic on GreenHoo.
However, since it was only the first day, there were only a few responses. The latest response came from a film and TV section respondent, who wrote:
“Thanks for the invitation, just got off the plane in the capital. I thought you were talking about a terrible old-century movie called ‘Beijing 81.'”
“Nowadays, even potential criminals can buy trending topics? Do entertainment companies have no bottom line? The domestic scene is a mess, foreign car exhaust smells sweeter!”
However, Lin Huai, who had been battling all day, had no idea about the storm he had caused on Green City’s internet. He didn’t know that his video of trolling was about to be turned into a looped parody online, nor did he know that he had gained the nickname “Incense Brother.” It was now closing time, and he lay on the sofa, looking at the red progress bar above his head, which had soared to 25, and smiled with the expression of “I’m famous.”
On the other side, Fatty weakly crawled over. “Bro, your combat power today was insane, truly the ultimate villain! My head is pounding with the sound of your notifications. Amazing! Truly amazing!”
He gave a thumbs up.
“Don’t get angry when others are angry, it’s not worth getting sick over. If I die from anger, who would be happy? Besides, it’s a waste of energy and effort. Life is like a play, we gather because of fate. When I regain my superpowers, I’ll throw them all into the sea,” Lin Huai said. “Amitabha, in daily life, I’m actually quite gentle…”
“But will this method really work?” Fatty worried. “Look—you don’t have a single vote, while Zhao Jingtian already has several.”
“You don’t understand. Enduring in silence won’t attract die-hard fans. Without die-hard fans, no one will campaign, create data, or clean up keywords for me,” Lin Huai said. “Once I attract fans with my unique talent, they’ll work hard to make me debut as the center and walk the flower path, then I’ll sell my tragic story to solidify the fanbase…”
“Wait, why are you so skilled at this!! How many times have you practiced this outside!!”
“Cabinet 81,” a voice called out nearby. “Come out.”
A bright flashlight shone into Cabinet 81, directly hitting Lin Huai’s face. He raised his hand to block it, complaining, “Don’t shoot from this angle, it makes my face look big, I’ll lose fans…”
Fatty: “You’re really into this role, huh.”
“Shh,” Lin Huai shook his finger. “The real villain has come for me.”
The glass door opened, and two fierce guards stepped forward to grab Lin Huai. Lin Huai shook them off, stuffed his hands into his pockets, and lazily yawned. “Don’t touch me, I’ll walk on my own, heh.”
With that, he walked between the two guards and left the corridor.
