The players fell into silence.
Total elimination — and in this place, elimination was equivalent to death.
And now Lin Ye was asking the Organizer to eliminate all of them. Was that even allowed?
Every gaze in the room snapped to the Host Mask Man at once.
His face was hidden behind the mask, but the shift in his aura was unmistakable to any player paying attention.
Displeased. Furious.
That was the energy radiating off the Host Mask Man right now, and every single player could feel it.
Lin Ye felt increasingly certain his guess was correct.
The Organizer held considerable authority, but they were still bound by rules. They could conceal information, manipulate players into all manner of actions — but they could not, in any substantive sense, compel them.
Lin Ye thought back over every move the Host Mask Man had made since his first appearance. The most telling behavior was that recurring demand for applause — each time demanding that the players react, that they acknowledge and affirm him, escalating until the response was loud and enthusiastic.
If at first it seemed like nothing more than a man amusing himself, Lin Ye now saw it for what it really was: a manipulation tactic. A few simple, repeated interactions to establish dominance, gradually conditioning the players to accept his demands and comply with his direction.
Originally, the Host Mask Man had been well on his way to succeeding. But now, with Lin Ye openly challenging him, that technique had been exposed.
The players would not be so easily fooled or pressured again.
"Sir, are you truly certain you wish to be eliminated?"
A single sentence. The atmosphere went taut.
"I refuse to participate in a project — 'Cuisine' — that has no semblance of fairness. If you have the guts to eliminate me, then go ahead!"
Lin Ye's reply was airtight. He gave the Host no opening.
The Mask Man cursed Lin Ye's cunning inwardly.
Where exactly had it gone wrong? How was any of this being seen through?
After a moment, a thought came to him — Lin Ye was simply the kind of person who would do exactly this sort of thing. He had projected his own logic outward, suspected that the Host might pull a similar move, and through that suspicion had caught on to the problem buried in the fourth project: Cuisine.
The Veteran players who had survived this long really were cautious to a fault. There was no tricking them, no leading them by the nose.
Newcomers were so much easier to work with.
The Host Mask Man found himself genuinely longing for the innocent simplicity of new players.
"Sir, please don't cause a scene. If you refuse to participate, you won't be able to return."
"Staying here with food and drink — that's not so bad, is it."
His objective was to secure a top-three finish.
If all the players refused the fourth project, Cuisine, everyone would end up with a score of zero. But when it came to cumulative scores, he would still be ranked first. There was absolutely no problem with that.
As for being eliminated for refusing to participate — the Host's very reaction told Lin Ye that the Organizer simply couldn't do it.
Even the other Veteran and Newcomer players were beginning to sense the same thing.
"Very well. Since the guest has made up his mind, I won't press further. Other guests, please proceed as normal."
"I'm not participating either,"
Cold Frost immediately stepped to Lin Ye's side.
"I refuse to participate."
She stood with Lin Ye, through and through.
She understood clearly: to win, she had to stand beside Lin Ye. No wavering.
"Nor will I,"
Next came Erina Nakiri, as expected.
As a fellow member of Group 26, she had no other real choice.
This round was Cuisine, yes — but she was under no illusions that it would be as simple as just cooking. Without Lin Ye and Cold Frost, she would have no chance of clearing this round.
"As members of the same group, we stand and fall together."
That was the answer the three members of Group 26 gave.
"Then..."
Seeing the other players still hesitating, the Host Mask Man laughed inside. He had half-expected these players to unite decisively.
Apparently, he'd been overthinking it.
With this many people, how could they possibly reach a consensus in such a short time? They hadn't discussed this beforehand or agreed on anything.
He had been overthinking it.
"I'm not participating either,"
Veteran player Tanaka spoke up.
Whatever happened, he felt he had to take a stand. Besides, he thought Lin Ye was right — if he didn't side with Lin Ye now, nothing good would come of it.
From start to finish, every call Lin Ye had made was correct. On that basis alone, Tanaka decided to gamble.
"I also refuse to participate,"
It was Veteran player Coco — the one who had, early on, proactively reached out to Lin Ye alongside Tanaka, hoping to forge a cooperative relationship.
At the time, the two sides hadn't established a formal alliance, but there had at least been a friendly exchange and a mutual understanding to help each other when the need arose.
And now was exactly such a moment.
Shortly after, the Newcomers from their respective groups added their voices as well.
More and more players declared their refusal. They were anxious, uneasy — but they'd made their choice.
The Host Mask Man frowned slightly. The situation was tilting in an awkward direction, but it wasn't a disaster — only three groups, after all. The majority of players still didn't dare.
The other groups' players all looked to their group leaders. Veteran players and Newcomers alike — they were all waiting for someone to decide.
People tend to follow the crowd.
Right now, they were just one push away.
"Trust the Organizer, or trust me?"
Lin Ye spoke up suddenly. He turned to face all the players.
This was a life-or-death decision, and the players wrestled with it.
"Respected guests, please believe that our Organizer will evaluate every dish you prepare with complete fairness and impartiality. Not a single point of bias. You have our word."
The words were flowery, earnest, and delivered with great sincerity.
"Were you fair and impartial to every group in the first three rounds?"
Lin Ye smiled as he looked at the Host Mask Man.
Unless the Organizer had been acting with complete fairness from the very beginning, nothing they said now would carry any weight. If the Host said yes — the players had all seen the previous rounds for themselves and could judge accordingly. If he said no — if the previous rounds hadn't been fair — then what possible guarantee was there for fairness in the fourth round, Cuisine?
It was a dead end either way.
"The rules for each of the four Gourmet Sports Meet projects are different. For the fourth project, Cuisine, the judges will absolutely be committed to fairness and impartiality — treating every group equally."
But the Host Mask Man noticed that Lin Ye smiled at that — a smile that filled him with a deepening sense of dread.
What was wrong with what he just said?
There wasn't anything wrong. He had thought it through carefully before opening his mouth.
"The rules are different. Each of the four projects operates under its own rules. It looks like my guess was right — the rules that govern what the Organizer can and cannot do also differ between projects."
Host Mask Man: ???
His heart lurched.
His own words had just confirmed Lin Ye's suspicion.
"I refuse."
"I refuse to participate as well."
The Veteran players' voices of refusal followed immediately. They had made their judgment.
The Host Mask Man had fallen deeper into the trap of "the more you say, the more you expose."
The Veteran players had already seen it.
The fact that the rules differed between projects was enough to set their imaginations running.
And the most critical point was this: if the Organizer truly could handle players who refused Cuisine before the project officially began, they wouldn't have been dragging this out until now.
In the second project, Brisk Walking, players who failed were dismembered on the spot by Organizer staff — without a moment's hesitation.
So this wasn't a case of the Organizer not wanting to make an example of someone. They simply couldn't.
And if they couldn't, then the path forward was simple.
As players, they needed to unite and fight for their best possible outcome.
Given the judging criteria the Organizer had set for the fourth project, they had absolutely no chance of passing as things stood.
To have any chance of surviving, they had to gamble — right now.
With the Veteran players' lead, the remaining players followed one by one.
In the end, every single player chose to refuse the Cuisine showdown.
The reason was simple: they did not trust the judges appointed by the Organizer, and they firmly believed those judges would score in ways that grossly violated any principle of fairness.
The Host Mask Man, representative of the Organizer, was grinding his teeth in silent fury.
It was all that man's fault.
But... there was still a chance.
The Mask Man fixed his gaze on Lin Ye and spoke slowly. "Are you all certain you want to do this? If you forfeit, you will permanently lose the right to clear the instance and leave this place."
Every word came through clearly. The players heard him. Most said nothing, but the majority of their eyes had drifted to Lin Ye, waiting for his answer.
"What we're forfeiting is an unfair competition,"
That was Lin Ye's reply.
"If you want us to participate in the fourth project, Cuisine, you'll need to provide a fair environment."
"I can guarantee that."
"Ha. Do you even believe that yourself, Host?"
"Of course."
Truly shameless.
"Setting aside the first two projects for a moment — in the third project, why did your Organizer collect such a massive stockpile of red vegetables and fruits? Only red produce, nothing else. Don't tell me you picked them beforehand. Fruit and vegetables that fresh? They had to have been just harvested. I'm not buying it."
In that moment, Lin Ye dropped the bombshell.
The players finally understood how Lin Ye had managed to find so many red ingredients in the final twenty minutes.
He had raided the Organizer's stockroom.
And this was direct evidence.
Of course, the players had already sensed the Organizer was targeting Lin Ye. But sending people to collect every single red ingredient in order to sabotage him — that was blatant, egregious misconduct. No other player could have held up under that kind of pressure.
"So your Organizer serving as judges means there will never be a single shred of fairness."
"..."
Facing the situation as it now stood, the Host Mask Man grew desperate.
If this dragged on any longer, his side would be the one paying the price.
"The consequences of refusing are not something you can bear."
"Then let me bear them."
"..."
There was nothing left to say.
The Host Mask Man knew that any attempt to use threats or intimidation to force the players into compliance was now essentially impossible.
Unless he could actually deliver a punishing consequence.
"Fine,"
The Host Mask Man waved his hand.
Two staff members, as if on cue, began advancing toward Lin Ye step by step.
They were enormous — hulking, muscle-bound, radiating raw power. Their thick arms looked capable of tearing anything apart.
Thud...
Thud, thud...
Their heavy footsteps fell with a steady, oppressive rhythm.
They walked forward and planted themselves in front of Lin Ye, staring down at him.
Cold Frost moved to step in front of Lin Ye, but he caught her hand and held her back. She quietly retreated behind him — though her right hand had already closed around the hilt of her sword.
If it came to it, she would draw in an instant.
Two Organizer staff. Big and intimidating as they were, it meant nothing. She would cut them down in a single stroke.
"Sir, this is your final chance."
"Then come. If any player is going to be eliminated by the Organizer before the project officially begins, let it start with me."
Lin Ye was completely open about it.
He knew this was the Organizer's last desperate play. Once it failed, the Host would lose all power to intimidate. This was the final standoff between the two sides.
Lin Ye paid absolutely no attention to the two hulking Mask Men. His calm eyes were fixed entirely on the Host Mask Man.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Ten seconds passed. Not a single thing happened.
Silence — but on the players' side, victorious smiles were already beginning to show.
Everyone knew. The outcome of this standoff belonged to the players.
The Organizer had lost.
"It seems the Host has no way to deal with me. No way to eliminate me. So — get lost."
The bark came sharp and sudden. Lin Ye glared, and in that instant the hulking Mask Men reflexively took a step back.
That reaction drew involuntary laughter from more than a few players.
These were Organizer staff who had seemed powerful and imposing — massive, masked brutes — and they'd just flinched from a single shout. It was embarrassing. They had none of the authority their size was supposed to command.
"Very good,"
Lin Ye watched the two staff members' reaction with a satisfied nod. "Since the Host has nothing more to say, I'll be taking the floor."
Without waiting for the Host Mask Man to agree or object, Lin Ye continued, "The judges for the fourth project, Cuisine, will be selected from among us players."
Just as everyone expected.
Compared to Organizer staff, players were obviously far more trustworthy. At the very least, they wouldn't hand out zeros across the board or target specific individuals.
Sure, there was a chance of biased scoring in favor of one's own group or allies — but that was so much better than the outright malice of the Organizer that it barely warranted comparison.
"Absolutely not."
The Host Mask Man shouted his rebuttal immediately. "We will not hand all judge slots over to you."
"Oh?"
Lin Ye drew the syllable out with a grin. "So it turns out players can serve as judges after all."
And there it was.
The Host Mask Man had just let it slip: players could be judges. He had never mentioned this before — clearly, he knew the rule existed and had been exploiting his control over it to keep the scoring power for himself. Unfortunately for him, Lin Ye had guessed it and successfully bluffed it out of him.
"He's unbelievable, Zero!"
"Long live Zero!"
"If it weren't for Zero, we'd never have known we could be judges ourselves."
"The Organizer has no shame — calling that fair and impartial. Truly shameless."
The players erupted in cheers for Lin Ye.
They had come so close. Without Lin Ye, they would have silently accepted an Organizer-appointed judging panel, and under the Organizer's deliberate low-scoring, they would have paid a catastrophic price.
Even the Veteran players couldn't help but admire him.
They might have suspected something was off — but having the guts to act on it, to probe it, to stake everything on a direct confrontation with the Organizer? That took a kind of nerve that most of them simply didn't have.
Following the rules was one of the foundational principles of the Strange Game. Faced with the Organizer, their default instinct was to comply — not to imagine that the Organizer itself was the problem.
But through this experience, the Veteran players realized that the Organizer could be flawed too — that it would deliberately hide information and set traps to manipulate players.
In future instances of a similar nature, they would need to be far more careful and vigilant, to avoid falling into the same kind of mistake.
Cold Frost found herself growing more and more curious about how Lin Ye had seen through all of this.
And Erina Nakiri's fascination with Lin Ye deepened further still — along with a renewed wave of gratitude for the stroke of luck that had placed her in the same group as him, once again by some accidental twist of fate. Without it, she suspected she would have fallen long before reaching this point.
Amid the players' cheers, the Host Mask Man's displeasure was something every player could now feel radiating off him in waves.
The more miserable the Organizer's side felt, the happier the players were.
After a moment, the Host Mask Man held up three fingers.
"Three slots. You may nominate three players to serve as judges."
Three out of seven?
To many players, that already sounded workable — but it wasn't a majority, and quite a few were uneasy about it. Nobody knew what the passing score was. Nobody could be sure.
"What's the passing score for the Cuisine judging? How many points does a group need to avoid elimination?"
A Veteran player asked — though they knew Lin Ye wouldn't have overlooked something this critical. They just wanted it on the table.
Based on the Host Mask Man's behavior so far, the Host could use language to mislead and guide — but he could not outright lie. Otherwise he would have been spinning falsehoods from the start, deceiving the players with every breath. That was undoubtedly another rule built into this instance. Therefore, the Organizer could not lie about the scores.
"Eight points."
Eight was the passing threshold.
That meant they needed at least four judge slots.
"Groups with eight points or above will qualify?"
The Host Mask Man nodded, then let out a quiet sigh and continued, "I'll give you four judge slots."
Four player judges.
Under normal circumstances, every player would obviously give two points. That would guarantee every group hit the passing score of eight — no risk of elimination.
Of course, there was always the possibility of one player judge targeting another group with a low score — but if that happened, most players felt they'd just have to accept it.
Besides, with four players now holding judge slots, the Organizer's remaining judges surely wouldn't all give zeros anymore. They'd have to score based on actual performance.
The Veteran players found this acceptable.
With the current allocation, the most likely target for malicious scoring from a player judge would be Lin Ye.
The seeds of division had been planted.
After all, all the players were not of one mind.
"Four slots works for me."
"With four slots, we can make sure everyone passes."
"Everyone passes? Not necessarily — who's to say some player judge won't hand out zeros and play favorites? Four isn't safe enough. Six would be."
"Six player judges? Dream on. The Host will never agree to that."
Many players felt four was sufficient and that pushing further was pointless — they didn't think more negotiation would succeed. Others felt they had to squeeze out as many slots as possible. The Organizer might target them, but player judges were no saints either. Who could guarantee all four would give two points? Nobody.
"This is our maximum concession,"
The Host Mask Man said flatly.
His deflated air made it look as though he had sacrificed something enormous.
The players around them murmured and stirred. Many seemed on the verge of pushing Lin Ye to just accept the deal — but the decision still rested with Lin Ye. Every other Veteran player in the room, even those who might have wanted to represent the group, knew they didn't have the standing.
All the credit for forcing the Organizer to concede four judge slots belonged to Lin Ye. Without him, they wouldn't have gotten a single slot, let alone four.
Lin Ye's eyes grew pensive.
He was thinking — were there any traps remaining?
Under the current slot allocation the Host had offered, while there was some risk on the players' side, as long as all four player judges gave two points, every group would hit the passing score. That was manageable.
There was a possibility of a player judge betraying the others — that was real.
But that wasn't what he was focused on right now.
What he was focused on was the Organizer's side.
Would this cunning, underhanded Host truly be willing to give up a guaranteed victory and hand out eight hundred Strange Coins as the prize?
The moment Lin Ye considered this, he became certain the Host had no intention of letting it go.
The two previous bets had stacked the prize to seven hundred additional Strange Coins — all of it resting on the Host's head. If a player actually achieved first place and walked away with eight hundred Strange Coins, the Host's fate would be grim indeed.
So whatever concession the Host was making now, it still wouldn't change the outcome.
The moment they agreed, the players' side would lose — completely and inevitably. Every last one of them would be eliminated. No exceptions, no possibilities.
"Guest, time is limited. Don't let this drag on any further — continued delays work against your side as well," the Host Mask Man said. "Strange erosion — you should be aware that this instance has a fixed total runtime. Once that time limit is exceeded, you will begin to face the corrosion of Strange energy."
And being corroded by Strange energy brought negative effects on the body. Once the erosion reached a certain degree, a person would transform into a monster — losing even their sanity in the end.
"Zero, four slots is already pretty good,"
"The other side isn't going to give up any more."
"The judges we pick will be reliable — they'll all give two points, guaranteed, so everyone passes and nobody gets eliminated."
"Let Zero choose the judges."
They understood Lin Ye's concern — that their player judges might not be reliable. In that case, the solution was simple: pick the reliable ones themselves.
Prompted by the Host's warning, more and more Newcomers were growing anxious.
'Strange erosion' — just the name sounded like nothing good. None of them wanted anything to do with it.
In the first project, Rice Bucket, a few players had turned into monsters and died after eating the food — that was one manifestation of Strange erosion. The Newcomers most certainly did not want any part of it.
Faced with the other players urging him forward, Lin Ye only grew calmer.
He became more certain by the second that there was a trap buried in all of this.
If they agreed, the players were finished.
He went back through everything the Host Mask Man had said.
After a full thirty seconds, something snapped into place.
If it was that — then it all made sense.
"Host, you're really sure you're giving us four slots?"
"Yes. Four slots for your side. That's more than enough. If any player judge scores low, that's your players' own choice — it has nothing to do with us."
"How about this."
Every eye in the room locked onto Lin Ye.
"Give your Organizer three slots. The rest of the judge positions — all of them — will be filled by players."
What's the difference?
Many of the Newcomers thought this instinctively.
But the Veteran players' eyes went wide. They understood the possibility Lin Ye was pointing to.
If Lin Ye had guessed right, then... it was terrifying.
There was still one lingering question though: as long as the players secured four judges who all gave two points each — totaling eight — didn't that guarantee everyone passed anyway?
At that moment, the Host Mask Man fell silent.
He was half-wondering if Lin Ye could read minds. How else could he keep guessing this accurately? Yet another trap had been uncovered.
This was a detail they had hidden from the very beginning — and still it had been found.
His mood had sunk to rock bottom.
Getting one over on this man — getting all the players killed — was beginning to feel like an impossible task.
"Guest, there's no difference between that and giving your side four slots."
"There is a difference. The total number of judges isn't necessarily seven. The upper limit on judges shouldn't be seven, should it?"
Lin Ye said, "The number of judges could be seven — but it could also be more. Eight, nine, ten."
"No, wait,"
Lin Ye immediately corrected himself. "The number of judges should be nine. That would make the maximum possible score fourteen points."
"Huh?"
A player voiced their confusion.
"Why nine judges? And why would the maximum score be fourteen? Shouldn't it be eighteen?"
Many players were puzzled, thinking Lin Ye might have miscalculated.
The Veteran players didn't think Lin Ye had misspoken — maybe some judges were barred from scoring? Their eyes widened.
And then a player made the connection.
Cold Frost's voice rang out: "Eliminate the highest score and the lowest score. After discarding those two judges' marks, the maximum total is only fourteen."
The moment she said it, everyone understood.
"Wait,"
A panicked voice broke in.
"If that's the case, even with four player judges, we can't guarantee we'll hit the eight-point passing score!"
After all, one of the highest two-point scores would be discarded.
In that instant, it hit everyone at once. Cold sweat broke out on foreheads and down people's backs.
If they hadn't caught this —
The only outcome waiting for them would have been elimination.
They had nearly been played by the Host Mask Man again. They had almost believed every word of it.
If they had walked into the scoring full of confidence and hope, only to end up with six points — below eight — and watched themselves get eliminated one by one... the plunge from hope to despair would have been enough to break a person completely.
"That damn Host — deceiving us over and over again."
"Never trust a word the Host says. We can only rely on Zero."
"Zero — Zero is incredible."
"From now on I trust Zero one hundred percent."
They had nearly been trapped and killed — again. If Lin Ye hadn't had the clarity to spot the trap, they would all be lining up for the slaughter right now.
"Host, do you have anything else to say?"
The Host Mask Man shook his head. "No."
"Not going to defend yourself?"
"Would it do any good?"
With every last trap exposed, nothing he said would earn a shred of trust anymore.
There was no point in struggling. The Host Mask Man stopped trying to argue.
"In that case, the number and arrangement of judges will be decided by us."
"We require at least three slots on our side. The remaining... six slots can be arranged by you."
That sentence also confirmed Lin Ye's guess.
In that moment, the players were deeply grateful to have someone like Lin Ye among them — sharp-minded, careful, always thinking one step ahead.
Without him, they truly would have only found out they'd been caught in a trap once they were already dead.
"Understood. Is there anything else you haven't told us? Say it all now. Stop making me guess."
"Nothing."
There was probably still something — but at this point, Lin Ye had run out of ways to deduce what else might be hidden. The clues and information available, and his own analysis, could only take him this far.
In truth, every deduction he had made rested on the single premise that the Organizer was trying to get all of them killed. Without that starting point, he likely wouldn't have arrived at most of these conclusions.
"I'm curious how you guessed all of this."
"Eight hundred Strange Coins,"
Lin Ye explained. "You're the one responsible for this. If a player actually takes first place and walks away with eight hundred Strange Coins, your fate won't be a pleasant one."
"So you concluded I would find a way to eliminate every player."
"Of course. It's the cleanest, most legitimate solution — fully within the rules."
He had worked backward from motivation.
"If the prize had stayed at the original one hundred Strange Coins, would you have figured this out?"
The Host Mask Man pressed further. He genuinely wanted to know what would have happened under different circumstances.
"The probability would have been much lower. It's hard to reason your way to 'the Organizer doesn't want to give out a hundred Strange Coins' — unless I already knew something like 'players who are all eliminated mean the coins go back to you' or 'no player has ever cleared the previous two Gourmet Sports Meets.'"
Either of those hypotheticals would have put Lin Ye on the right track.
The Host Mask Man let out a helpless sigh.
Even that had been thought through.
"The previous two runs did indeed have no players clear the instance."
The players were stunned.
Why hadn't any of them thought of that?
Was this just the gap between one person and another?
They felt like the difference wasn't just person-to-person — it felt bigger than the gap between a human and a dog.
This was brutal.
For Newcomers like them to make it out alive, it would be a miracle among miracles.
At this point, the judge slot allocation was settled.
The players would arrange six judges among themselves.
At the same time, new arrangements for the judging process were drawn up to ensure the highest possible fairness and impartiality.
To all of this, the Host simply lay back and agreed. He consented to everything.
All the will to fight had drained out of him. He had lost the will to live.
Once everything was settled, it was time to select the ingredients.
Lin Ye saw through it immediately.
The ingredients. Something was wrong with the ingredients.
...
...
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