163 Cooperate or Betray? (2/2)

”What do you mean? I don't understand what you are talking about,” Linri acted like he was innocent.

”Didn't you say there you were going to betray and turn this into a game of chicken!?”

”Oh, I am the most cowardly person in the world. Even a chicken would be an understatement in describing me. I am so scared that I might have a heart attack right this second,” Linri said sarcastically.

”You!” Jason said while grinding his teeth. His face was so red that you could mistake him for a tomato.

”Me? What? Is it my fault that you guys were idiotic enough to believe what I said?” Linri stopped acting like an idiot and said seriously.

Jason did not reply, he was so angry that he wasn't able to think straight. If he wasn't afraid of the collar on his neck, he would have jumped there and beaten the shit out of this guy.

”Okay, let's do this one more time. I am betting 3 on betrayal. Does anyone care to humour the little old me?” Linri declared his move one more time, cornering them again.

This time they weren't even able to make any guesses about his move. What if he really did bet 3 on betrayal? Then they would have to keep betting 1 on betray, but, if he were to do the same thing again, he would win!

”Hey, how about we make a deal?” said Ryan.

”What kind of deal?” Linri replied back. From his tone, it was pretty obvious that he was uninterested.

”You want to win and go to the next round right?”

”Duh!”

”Then bet 1 on cooperate. Everyone here will bet 1 on betrayal and, with that, you would get 20 antidotes. Just enough to win the game and go into the next round. We would still have 1 antidote left at the start of the next round and we would play our own game afterwards.”

Linri looked surprised at first before he looked at the kid like he was looking at an idiot.

”Did you really just suggest that?”

”Yeah! We all want you to get out of here. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to cooperate and gain antidotes. Isn't that right?” Majority of the other players nodded their heads.

Linri just slapped his own face. He couldn't believe that he was playing this game with a bunch of idiots. At least in the club, the game was fun. Since their lives weren't on the line, the players could think clearly and make smart moves.

”So let me get this straight! You want me to bet 1 on cooperating so that I would advance to the next round and you guys would cooperate after you guys only have a single antidote left. Is that right?”

”Yes!”

”Dude, can't you even make a simple calculation? What did I say just 5 minutes ago? In order to win the game, you have to bet at least 2 on each round! Otherwise, you won't have enough to pay the antidote fine for the next round. Even if you cooperate and no one betrays, you would only have 2 and you would lose 1 of them next round, returning you back to square one. How the heck are you supposed to win the game in that position? The only way would be to betray and, if everyone else does the same, it would be game over for everyone.”

Ryan looked like he swallowed something sour. He didn't like the fact that Linri outed him just like this. He wanted to get rid of him and betray the others, gaining their antidotes. Most of them would be too panicked to notice this loophole in cooperation and would be too scared to betray. Even if there was someone smart enough to betray just like him, at that point they could just make an agreement amongst each other.

”Then what do you suppose we do?” Ryan asked.

”Simple, you just have to die. I am keeping my vote of 3 for betrayal. If anyone has the guts, they can try what I did last round, but don't forget: if there is even a single other person thinking the same, you would instantly die. Not seeing the next round. At this point, my win is guaranteed, so decide amongst each other,” Linri said and then he started to pick his ear. He really didn't care what they would decide on doing. Currently, his victory was assured, but he wanted something more than that. He wanted them to die so that he would be the sole winner. If they also advanced to the next round, there was a chance that they could be competitors and he didn't want to take the risk. The fewer people there were advancing to the next round, the faster this event would end… also he needed to make sure that Snow was paying attention to him at all times, otherwise the thing with Hayato might not work. Linri was sure that, if he decided to kill all of them in here, Snow wouldn't be able to take her eyes off of him. He didn't know the reason why, but for some reason this was what she wanted. Seeing the students kill each other.

”How about we choose a sacrifice?” Rina said breaking the silence in the room.

Even Linri stopped picking his ear and paid attention to her. Sacrifice, is it? This was something that didn't happen in the club, but he could see where she was going with it. A little smile appeared on Linri's lips. Suddenly this game became all the more interesting.