Trembling At A High Altitude

"I protest! The number of hunters and prey is obviously unfair; I'm not familiar with any of them, and the result of the election is no different from what was prearranged. This isn't a normal performance! This is a trap!"

Someone began to protest to the director.

It wasn't Li Teng who was protesting, but Liu Hui.

She had just joined the cast last scene and, due to her somewhat aloof character, she hadn't blended in with these people.

She had witnessed how in the last scene, these six people had banded together to trap and kill a newcomer.

She hadn't expected them to divide the groups in this manner this time.

Liu Hui also realized that the director Yuan Qiang intended to deliberately trap and kill the show-off Li Teng.

She didn't object to that point; she despised show-offs too, but six against two, being divided into groups through an election, was clearly designed to make her and the show-off a team. How was this different from sending her off to die?

Of course, she had to protest.

"Your protest is invalid," Yuan Qiang rejected Liu Hui's protest.

Liu Hui had a point.

This time, director Yuan Qiang aimed to trap and kill Li Teng.

The reason was simple.

Yuan Qiang had never gotten along with Liu Shiyuan. Many people in their circle of directors knew about Liu Shiyuan's perverse nature, and there were also rumors that Liu Shiyuan used a BUG to cultivate actors, leading to more of his actors achieving success compared to their own, making him look exceptionally brilliant and overshadowing them.

Initially, Yuan Qiang didn't believe that the Film and Television City could make such a huge mistake, nor that Liu Shiyuan used BUG; he just thought Liu Shiyuan was perverse, and if he wasn't as competent as him, there was nothing to complain about.

However, with the hacking incident, the truth of Liu Shiyuan using a BUG to cultivate the show-off was publicly disclosed, infuriating their group of directors.

Unfortunately, after the show-off Li Teng was dealt with, he was assigned under Yuan Qiang.

He swore to eliminate this menace and trap and kill the show-off.

For this, he personally designed the "Snowfield Hunter" confrontation script together with the screenwriter.

However, designing a confrontation script had to consider factors such as reasonability and balance; otherwise, it wouldn't even pass the automatic system review, let alone manual review.

Using the limit of balance, he tried to place Li Teng alone in one group, into the Prey Group, letting the other seven people form the Hunter Group to hunt down Li Teng. He had tried, but the script could not pass the system's automatic review because of balance issues.

Hence, he had to arrange a sacrificial lamb to be in the same group as Li Teng to satisfy the minimum requirements of extreme balance in the script.

Under these circumstances, he armed the other six people to the teeth and increased the difficulty of Li Teng's escape to a level that even he himself found perverse.

If even this didn't trap and kill the show-off, he felt he might as well not continue in the director's circle.

As for the actor Liu Hui, there were rumors that her father was the biggest show-off in the Film and Television City, using cheats to become a Best Actor in just under a year.

So, if the show-off's daughter got implicated, it couldn't really be said to be unjust.

...

"The script is set to last one week and will take place inside a Time Bubble," Yuan Qiang continued his explanation of the script.

Scheduling a week for the journey from Point A to Point B seemed to be advantageous for the Prey Group, since the more time they had, the more leisurely they could move.

However, it was a necessary evil to ensure balance in the most extreme scenarios.

With the Hunters fully prepared, Yuan Qiang did not see it as a significant issue. After all, the Hunters were lying in wait while the Prey had to traverse through terrains covered with snow-laden forests, mountains, towns, etc. Giving them more time was meaningless. If the Prey dawdled too much in the snow, the concern would no longer be just failing to reach the destination, but possibly starving or freezing to death in a blizzard.

"Since it's the Hunter, of course, they will be given Weapons. The arsenal includes a sniper rifle, an assault rifle, a shotgun, two pistols, and a portable rocket-propelled grenade launcher."

"The specific distribution and arrangements will be managed by the members of the Hunter Group."

"Each member of the Prey Group will be issued with a dagger."

"Between Points A and B, there will be many NPC soldiers and civilians."

"During combat performances, killing NPC soldiers is permitted, but for every civilian NPC mistakenly killed, ten points will be deducted with no upper limit."

"Between Points A and B is a Point C, which I have marked on your initial map. The area between Point A and Point C is the zone where the NPCs of the Prey Group's faction are located, and the area between Point C and Point B is where the NPCs of the Hunter's faction are spread out."

"Point C is a neutral zone."

"The six Hunters are only allowed to operate between Point C and Point B, where they can set up ambushes to block and hunt."

"As per the general rules of competitive performances, dying during the show will result in a penalty of 1000 points and immediate disqualification!"

"If the Prey fails to reach Point B within the designated time, they will also be penalized 1000 points and immediately disqualified!"

Yuan Qiang looked up from the script and paused, taking a sip of water from his cup. He had ensured maximum safety for the Hunters within the constraints of the script getting approved. Armed with hot weapons, they were in a position of advantage, hunting down two Preys struggling through the blizzard.

The Film and Television City had also eliminated the possibility of cheating with external aids. Under these circumstances, if his six crew members still failed to kill Li Teng, who only had a dagger, there wasn't much he could say.

Of course, in his opinion, without his cheats, Li Teng had reverted to being an average person and there was nothing to worry about.

In the real world, once cheaters lost their cheats, they often became even worse than ordinary players. This isn't difficult to understand because their reliance on cheats meant they never bothered to hone their actual skills.

"What if the Prey successfully reaches Point B within the specified time? What penalty will the Hunters face?" Li Teng asked curiously. This rule seemed disproportionately unfair; if the Prey dies, they are out, if they don't reach the designated spot, they are out, but what if they do reach it?

"This is a competitive performance, where the victorious side will receive double the bonus points, and the losing side will lose double the points. Everyone who survives will still receive the normal salary for the performance. If the Prey reaches the designated spot within the allotted time, then the double penalty points deducted from any dead Hunters will be awarded to the two members of the Prey," Yuan Qiang answered Li Teng with a long-winded explanation.

"Who are they trying to fool with this rule? They are not even considering the balance in the competition?" Liu Hui was livid upon hearing Yuan Qiang's response.

Although it was difficult for the Prey to complete the challenge, if they did, there should at least be some semblance of balance, right?

If the Prey gets killed, that's a 1000 point deduction; if the Prey doesn't make it through, that's another 1000 points. But if the Prey does make it, it simply means the dead Hunters give up the points they were already set to lose as a reward for the Prey. How on earth could that be considered balanced?

Cheating someone shouldn't be done like this, should it?