novelraw Chapter 138: Vote-Off!
Chapter 138: Vote-Off!
【Oh? What’s this, you want to leave?】
The Slime turned its head, voice tinged with amusement, and spoke to the person who had just asked.
“Y-yes! Worst case, I lose something—I’ll bet on it!”
The speaker had two stars on him, looking like he’d just been dragged out of the ocean—completely soaked.
He was simply scared stiff.
He hadn’t played many games total. Those two stars came from the Ladder of Life game with Lu Ce, where he earned them by placing high.
He had absolutely no desire to keep playing. This game had scared him to his core.
In here, it was either insanely powerful lunatics, skeletons scarier than ghosts, or scheming top-tier players.
It was filled with madness, death, pain—and now that the game had finally ended, he couldn’t take any more.
Last time he had no stars and was too afraid to exit. Now, with two stars, he didn’t want to stay even a second longer.【Oh? You want to leave?】 the Slime asked.
“Y-yeah yeah yeah.....”
Before he could even finish the last “yeah,” the floor vanished beneath his feet, and he dropped down.
Whether or not he had time to use his Exit Token—nobody knew.
【The exit I mentioned earlier was for the previous segment.】
【As for now, I haven’t said anything yet. Why is everyone so impatient?】
【Anyone else want to leave right now?】
Not a single person spoke up. The Slime’s sudden personality shift and cruel methods stunned everyone into silence.
Of course, someone it couldn’t intimidate was never planning to leave anyway.
......
【Alright, no one speaking up—haha—but honestly, I can tell most of you are already getting bored.】
【If you want to leave, fine by me. I’m too lazy to stop you. But before we end the game, there’s one final little segment.】
【Let’s play it together.】
As it spoke, it waved its hand, and five beams of light descended from the sky, enveloping five people on the scene.
Because of how brutally it had done the “zero-frame starter” move earlier, four of them immediately pulled out their Exit Tokens—nearly bailing on the spot.
But this time, things were different from before.
【Relax, we’re already in the next phase now.】
The Slime continued, and everyone’s eyes sharpened. Among the five light beams—“Sin” was one of those caught in the light.
Also caught was Li Wei, the one previously said to be “under protection” by the Slime.
【Alright, like I said at the very start—if you’re truly here to play, then even if you lose in this game, that doesn’t mean it’s all bad.】
【I stand by my words. You five are the players who “spent” the most stars in the previous games.】
【Those willing to take risks in the game—even if they fail—are respectable players. So in the next phase, you are protected. You won’t be chosen in the vote.】
Lu Ce didn’t react much to that. He glanced around. No need to explain his case—he’d lost 725 stars, not to mention others before that.
Li Wei started with five stars, now had zero—he just had to arm-wrestle with Lu Ce, and lost in a hilariously tragic way.
The other three—either longtime unluckies, reckless high-stake gamblers, or folks who just went too far.
Each of them wore expressions of surprise—none of them expected to get a bonus like this.
Lu Ce, however, frowned, looked up at the lights, and the Purple Mask showed a very displeased expression. (︶^︶)
The Slime caught on instantly, quickly waved a hand to turn the light covering Lu Ce into purple, and fawningly said:
【How’s this? Your light is unique in the entire venue!】
“Mm.” Lu Ce nodded with satisfaction.
Seeing the big boss was pleased, the Slime let out a breath of relief and continued:
【Alright, next comes the game rules—listen up, everyone. It’s a very simple game.】
【Voting!】
【How’s that? Pretty simple, right?】
【No minigame, no bet—in just a few seconds, each of you will see a number appear above your head.】
【Then, each of you will submit a number—your vote—for the person you find the most boring and annoying in this game.】
【After all, this is a joyful casino. Anyone who brings down the vibe doesn’t belong here.】
【......】
Before the Slime even finished its sentence, nearly everyone turned their eyes toward “Sin.”
Their meaning was practically written across their faces.
【Hey hey hey, did you all forget what I just said?】
【Those five—because they spent the most stars—are protected in this round of voting. No numbers will appear over their heads.】
【Of course, they still get to vote.】
【Once all votes are tallied, the five players with the most votes... hehe, might have to say goodbye. The sea is waiting for you.】
The Slime grinned nastily, then looked at everyone.
【Got the rules?】
【Countdown: five minutes. Begin!】
The moment the game began, based on each player’s current star count, a number appeared over each person’s head.
Well now—it was clear at a glance who had many stars and who had few.
It all happened too fast. As the game-start sound dropped, Xie Antong was completely numb.
What kind of wild plot twist was this?
Who the h*ll would come up with rules like these? Well, okay, the Slime wasn’t human anyway.
But this kind of vote—it didn’t match the name of the game at all. Ocean Casino...?
Voting out the five most disliked people—honestly, who had personal grudges at this point? Especially when “Sin” was under protection.
Everyone here was a competitor from the same phase—there weren’t deep connections—so who would they vote out?
The answer was obvious.
They’d definitely vote out the players with the most stars!
Let’s not forget, her 15 stars were mostly won from these same people...
The numbers were oh-so-helpfully arranged by star count. That big glowing “1” floated above her head, like it was afraid people wouldn’t notice.
Xie Antong realized at least a dozen people had turned their gaze toward her—and without hiding it, started writing down a number.
Five minutes.
In a moment like this, the All-Seeing Eye was utterly useless. She couldn’t think of any way to escape this.
Blankly, she took out her Exit Token.