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Gu Mian also took a ballot from ballot box number 1166, but she didn't "completely eliminate" them.

Those who advance have earned their votes through hard work. Gu Mian only collected a portion of the votes, so those who are eligible can still advance, but their rankings will be lower.

This is also the main reason why the teacher who killed the teacher was not affected.

Soon Gu Mian brought Mr. Green to the open-air restaurant on the deck.

A long table, long enough for fifty people to sit and eat on both sides, was placed in the middle of the deck.

The upper class thoughtfully put each person's number on the chairs next to the long table, and they arranged seating for the contestants.

Gu Mian's position was very conspicuous and special; it was at the end of the long table facing the short end, just like the seat of the head of the family in a TV drama.

To his left and right were seats numbered 1166 and 1095, which Gu Mian knew was assigned according to the audience popularity ranking.

1166 and 1095 ranked second and third respectively on the popularity chart.

Everyone lined up in order of their ranking, and Gu Mian noticed that 1117, representing Mr. Green, was more than half a table away from her.

A few people were already seated at the long table, as if they had been waiting there for a long time.

Everyone clearly recognized Gu Mian. When they saw Gu Mian arrive, they all stood up and nodded to her, as if Gu Mian were the teacher who had come to give a lesson, and they were the students waiting to learn.

Mr. Green looked like he'd seen a ghost. Among these people were those who had chased after him and Gu Mian with bloodshot eyes that morning, but after only half a day, they had changed their demeanor and now seemed extremely respectful to Gu Mian.

Of course, their greetings were only directed at Gu Mian, and Mr. Green, who came with Gu Mian, was completely ignored.

Mr. Green was shocked and felt deeply wronged.

“The lower class here is the best at judging people by their status,” Mr. Green whispered to Gu Mian with a smirk. “They know you’re the most popular with the upper class, so they assume you’re the highest-ranking person here.”

The camera followed each contestant, capturing every expression on their faces.

Gu Mian and Mr. Green took their seats.

After a while, people gradually arrived, including number 1166 who had broken his leg.

He limped onto the deck, leaning on a cane. He almost overturned the chair when he sat down, but luckily someone below him helped him up so he wouldn't fall.

Some people were late because they got lost, and they apologized repeatedly, saying it to the people at the table and then to the camera and the follow-me camera.

Although there were some minor hiccups along the way, everyone was able to have dinner in the end.

The food was served by a robot dog, the little black one.

The upper class would certainly not want to do the work of serving dishes for the lower class; they would use robot dogs instead.

I wonder who invented this robot dog. It can conduct street happiness surveys, sort packages, and even serve food.

The table was much taller than the robot dogs, so they couldn't reach the tabletop while carrying the dishes, but the dogs had their own intelligence.

Two robotic dogs are stacked on top of each other like a human pyramid. The bottom dog lies down first, and the other dog holds a plate and steps on its back.

Once the dog holding the plate on top has stood still, the dogs below can slowly stand up.

This way, the dog can stretch out its arm and bring the food to the table.

One by one, the dogs methodically brought the food to the table, with a corresponding plate in front of each person, covered with a plate lid.

The plate in front of Gu Mian had the number 1118 written on it, and the other people's plates also had corresponding numbers on them.

Although everyone was gathered together, they still ate their own food.

Gu Mian noticed that the plate in front of him was much larger than the plates of the people on either side of him, so much so that the mechanical dog serving him the food almost lost its balance and fell over.

No one was the first to lift the lid; they all turned their attention to Gu Mian, as if they would only dare to lift it after Gu Mian did.

Inferior people are very good at adapting to their environment and will evolve a set of reasonable rules based on that environment.

The upper class allocated rooms and restaurant seats to contestants based on popularity rankings, and the contestants treated these rankings as gospel, following suit and prioritizing those with high popularity in everything.

To prevent everyone from starving, Gu Mian first lifted the lid of her enormous plate.

It was quite a feast. There was half a leg of lamb drizzled with honey, a whole turkey, as well as vegetable salad, cream pudding, and other dishes.

Gu Mian originally thought that the upper class might play some tricks on their food, serving them some unpalatable food or things that were simply inedible.

He was even prepared to lift the lid and find a bomb inside—if that were the case, people wouldn't be able to look forward to tomorrow's show, as a bomb could send all fifty contestants to their deaths.

The audience was clearly looking forward to tomorrow's show and did not skimp on their food. On the contrary, they prepared a very lavish meal, probably so that the children would have enough energy to create more entertainment value tomorrow.

However, the food served to the contestants was not exactly the same.

Food portions are also allocated according to popularity ranking; the higher the popularity ranking, the more lavish the dinner.

Gu Mian saw that although the food at 1166 and 1095 on both sides was also plentiful, it was still inferior to her own.

By the time it reached Mr. Green's plate, there was only half a turkey and a plate of vegetable leaves left.

At the very end of the table, the person's plate contained only a chicken leg and a few roasted potatoes. Even with just these, it was a delicacy that the lower classes had never tasted before.

Gu Mian guessed that the upper class treated the contestants differently in order to make them feel that it was unfair and to stage another good show of infighting.

However, they clearly overlooked the servility of the lower classes. Everyone was in high spirits and naturally began to eat the food that was allocated according to their ranking.

The upper-class viewers sitting in front of the screen didn't see the scenes they wanted and exclaimed that this was the most boring part of the entire variety show.

At this moment, Chu Changge and 007 were also watching the live broadcast from the cruise ship on the screen.

They returned to Crazy Game City.

Although they have upper-class identity cards, they are not truly upper-class after all. They have no houses to live in in the residential area and can only return to the game city at night.

After returning to the arcade, the two went to the bookstore and watched the cruise ship live on TV.

The bookstore owner was already numb to the arrival of the two men. At this moment, he was blankly wiping the counter with a rag, waiting for them to finish watching the live broadcast and leave.

"The second and third stages of the variety show will run consecutively tomorrow. If all goes well, we can leave here tomorrow," 007 said, looking at the screen.

Because the audience has a strong preference for Gu Mian, he gets the most screen time.

The bookstore owner was afraid to look at the screen, fearing that if he looked any longer, someone inside would jump out and slap him.

Hearing 007's words, his eyes lit up, and he pricked up his ears to listen secretly.

007 continued, "I probably won't be back after I leave tomorrow. I need to take Mingliang with me to the variety show."

"He seems to want to stay here." Chu Changge pushed up his glasses. For Chu Changge, it didn't matter whether he left with Mingliang or not. Of course, it would be better if he didn't, so he would have one less burden.

007 expressed understanding: "It's normal to want to stay. There's no danger, no need to enter dungeons, and no need to worry about food. But he doesn't understand that he's being treated well now because Gu Mian is still here. I dare say that if he stayed here, he would be thrown out of the game city as soon as Gu Mian left, or become a lower-class person, or starve to death on the roadside."

She paused for a moment before continuing, "Let him watch tomorrow's program, let him see the plight of the lower classes, and then see if he's willing to become a lower class and stay here."

It's hard to say whether it's better to become a lower-class person or stay in the real world and enter a dungeon.

Everyone has their own choices. If Mingliang still doesn't want to return to the real world after watching the show tomorrow, they won't force him.

As they spoke, the contestants on the screen had already finished eating.

Most people licked their plates cleaner than their faces. It was the first time they had ever eaten such good food. Even though they were stuffed, the contestants still tried their best to stuff the last bit of food on their plates into their mouths, and they showed satisfied smiles after finishing.

This self-torture-like way of eating satisfied the audience; in fact, they most wanted to see Gu Mian eat like this.

Gu Mian barely touched the food in front of her, which greatly disappointed the viewers in front of the screen, but they became excited again when they thought about tomorrow's program.

To 007's surprise, after dinner, the production team launched a mysterious vote among the contestants—fifty contestants anonymously voted to determine the reverse order of their appearances on tomorrow's variety show; the more votes a contestant received, the later they would appear.

The person who receives the most votes will be the last one to appear.

The earlier a player appears in the order of appearance, the greater their advantage.

Of course, the entire voting process was handled by the robotic dog. After the votes were cast, the production team kept the results a secret, not announcing them immediately, but rather planning to reveal them on stage the following day. (End of Chapter)