The most difficult part of this game lies in the fact that surviving a round does not necessarily mean you are an expert, nor does victory bring any reward. On the contrary, those who survived the previous round might not remember the details of the next one at all. There is no fixed law of strength or weakness.
Even though the people who have survived till now generally have decent memories, the difficulty varies between each level, and everyone has levels they remember less clearly. These levels are their weaknesses, already destined at this point.
Therefore, the best choice is to let all those who can clearly recall the content of their weak levels die in earlier ones. That way, even if what you write is poor, as your competitors are also poor, you might be able to survive.
But this is not card-playing, or rather, the cards are all in the mind. Without the Mind Reading Technique, no one can tell who excels at which round. And if your weak level has too many experts, you are undoubtedly doomed.
This elegant woman proposed a mediocre solution—opt for a completely blind selection, forcibly erasing everyone's weak levels, leaving life or death purely to luck.
Those with only one weak level disagreed, and naturally, those who couldn't remember the details of the next two or three levels were more willing to adopt this method. But currently, everyone is a black box, with no one knowing how much the others remember, so the situation is at a stalemate, with no one willing to make a move.
"Let's do this," Shiller suddenly spoke up, "I'll turn my Immunity Right into a slip of paper and toss it into the draw box. How about that?"
"But you only have immunity for this round," someone else spoke up.
"But at least it can ensure your safety in this round," Shiller replied.
Whispers erupted throughout the restaurant, clearly, this was the chip that could completely tip the scales.
Those present were all successful individuals. Though not strictly elitist, most successful people did have significant abilities; sheer mediocrities couldn't reach this tier. Even those who fled in terror had considerable willpower. The mental contamination from Cthulhu's mythos creatures was everywhere; surviving even a second longer meant exceeding countless others.
They immediately realized that even just the Immunity Right for this round was incredibly tempting, especially for those who were unclear about this level, which actually includes most people because the second level was notoriously awkward, with almost no one feeling confident.
This level was a weakness for many, and several felt that if they could only survive this round, they wouldn't need to worry about the subsequent ones. If there was a chance to draw the Immunity Right, they were willing to gamble.
Some people thought deeper. Doctor Sophocles claimed to know the correct answer. If he were to participate in the draw, he would also put his answer into the box, meaning there would essentially be two chances at the Immunity Right, significantly increasing the odds of drawing it.
People had to weigh whether their chances of writing down the correct answers were higher than their chances of drawing the right slip in the lottery, especially for this peculiar second level. Many were already leaning towards the lottery, especially with two Immunity Rights, and many internally agreed to this method.
Of course, a very few who were confident in the second level, although also interested in the Immunity Right, didn't think they would end up among the last 20 by writing. On the contrary, they felt the draw might bring bad luck; they shook their heads, indicating they would not participate.
Such individuals were too few, countable on One Hand. The others, whether they had calculated the odds, were certain of their own or others' abilities, or simply wanted to follow the herd, chose to participate, tallying up to 67 people.
That is to say, there was about a one-third chance of ending up in the last 20, and about a one in thirty chance of drawing the Immunity Right.
This probability seemed dangerous, but most were accustomed to being in high positions. They understood that this was already quite a favorable probability. If 20 people had to be eliminated, then it was just their bad luck.
Shiller asked the chef for a box, a very bold move that once again garnered sideways glances from others, but the chef seemed not to mind and quickly had a waiter fetch a plain cardboard box from the kitchen. After sealing it, he used scissors to make a hole large enough to fit a hand through.
Everyone began to write furiously, adding more content to what they had written before, then rolled up their slips of paper. Shiller left his seat to collect the slips from everyone, having them drop their papers into the box.
After everyone had finished, Shiller vigorously shook the box to ensure all the slips were thoroughly mixed. During this time, the others also finished writing their level priorities. This time, the slips were handed over to the woman who suggested the draw.
The woman began reading off the names for the priority of this level. Many had ranked this level very highly, resulting in several ties. They resorted to a simple game of hands to decide on an order and began the drawing.
Previously, Big Beard had won; he approached without any special gesture, reached in to draw, and opened his slip. He seemed to sigh in relief because, even though the specific content was not visible, most could see that it was densely written, definitely better than some that had only two lines.
Some wondered in their hearts whether he was so lucky as to have directly drawn the slip that Doctor Sophocles had written, but Big Beard controlled his expression well, revealing nothing unusual.