I am a demonic cultivator, not a capitalist with a conscience.

Chapter 37 A Strange Genius
What can you do in one minute?
You might get a silent look in return, or a soft apology.

But for Luo Tong now, that one minute is his moment to shine.

Having gotten all the answers right, he now possesses a sharp flying sword, a superhuman physique, and invincible strength.

The little female ghost, the big female ghost, and the old female ghost who just chased after him will all become his sword's victims, dying under his invincible Soul-Severing Flying Sword!

Humans are born to give all things to humanity, and humanity uses foul mouths to defy fate, killing, killing, killing, killing, killing, killing!

Now, he's going to use his own power to smash this damn world to pieces!

Luo Tong, now in a frenzy, let out a wild laugh and charged towards the brick-wielding brat with his flying sword, then sent the boy off the battlefield with a single strike.

Then, fueled by his fighting spirit, he continued to hunt down other non-player characters, eliminating them one by one with his weapon.

After one minute, still wanting more, he rushed to another supply point and entered another one-minute period after opening the supplies there.

"Extinguish! Extinguish! Today I'm going to go on a killing spree! I'm going to defy the heavens! Keep supplying me, I want to keep answering questions!"

In the office, Chen Yu and the three men with glasses looked at Luo Tong, who was immersed in a dream, and the atmosphere became a little awkward for a moment.

Lost in his dream, Luo sometimes laughed heartily, sometimes contorted his face into a ferocious expression, sometimes danced wildly, and sometimes wept bitterly.

What was supposed to be a dream of intellectual competition seemed to have been turned into something else entirely, leaving the three bespectacled individuals wondering what was going on inside.

Chen Yu looked at his skill panel and felt that he had gained a deeper understanding of skills.

[A certain cultivator contributed 50 points of positive emotion by killing the female imp.]

[A certain cultivator contributed 30 points of positive emotion by killing the old female ghost.]

[A cultivator finished answering the questions and drew the perfect Xuanyuan Sword, dominating the battlefield and contributing 20 points of positive emotion.]

[A certain cultivator has reached the maximum amount of positive emotions they can contribute.]

After enjoying himself a few times, Luo Tong's positive emotions had reached their limit, but negative emotions were still slowly accumulating.

Although the accumulated amount wasn't as large as positive emotions, its slow and steady accumulation eventually surpassed the total amount of positive emotions, allowing Chen Yu to grasp a pattern:
Positive emotions should be fully released at once, while negative emotions should be released gradually.

In other words, the goal is to sustainably exhaust resources and then deliver a massive, overwhelming thrill to the player. This maximizes the release of negative emotions, minimizes positive emotions, and keeps the dream world highly attractive.

This approach aligns with the emotional pull and flow theory in games, allowing Chen Yu to realize that he can use game theory to create dreams.

Seeing that it was almost time, Chen Yu had Glasses call Luo Tong to wake up.

Luo Tong, who had just regained consciousness, was still a little dazed, but his gaze immediately sharpened when he saw the short man.

Grabbing a ruler from the side, he pointed at the short man and sneered, "Damn little brat, how dare you show your face in front of me! Today I will act on behalf of Heaven and subdue you, you monster! Now take off your clothes and apologize obediently, and I might give you a quick death!"

The short guy simply grabbed a stool and gave him a hard blow.

Hearing the crisp sound of the impact, Chen Yu's pupils contracted sharply, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Someone could die!"

"No, it won't happen," the bespectacled man said calmly. "We used this method to stay alert during the college entrance exam. It even helped me recover from occasional bouts of mental instability."

"Playing this fancy game?"

"We can't afford espresso capsules, so we usually use physical methods to stay awake."

"Let's call a doctor! I'll pay for the medical expenses, and we can also get our brains checked." "Boss, please don't spend money on us! Our brains aren't even worth as much as the medicine the doctor can use!"

"I'll say it again, can you stop being so humble? Hurry up and spend the money!"

Just as Chen Yu and Glasses were arguing about whether to go to the hospital, Luo Tong finally sat up shakily, rubbing his head and saying, "That felt good! The old method still works. I was too engrossed in playing just now, killing those little female ghosts was so much fun."

Glasses hesitated for a moment, then asked, puzzled, "Isn't it a dream about answering questions?"

“It’s a dream about answering questions,” Luo Tong explained.

Then, he hesitated, gesturing in the air for a long time, and said with a troubled expression, "But, it's not your average quiz dream. It's special, the gameplay is unique, and it's really satisfying to get all the answers right, but sometimes the satisfaction can get a little too much and then you'll feel really bad."

"You better be referring to the answers. So, what exactly is going on?"

"You guys haven't started playing yet?"

"Yeah, you're just going crazy."

"Then you'd better hurry, this dream is really exciting. Mr. Chen, I have a few questions. I always get all the questions right, but why are the prizes different each time?"

"Different score levels correspond to different random weapon pools, and the rewards are different each time. This makes the quiz more random and exciting to play."

"Indeed, but it's quite frustrating to not get what you want, and occasionally getting junk items is also very unpleasant."

"That's what true randomness is all about."

For dream architects, true randomness is a terrible setting.

With a large sample size, true randomness makes many extreme cases more likely to occur, such as getting ten correct answers and still only getting a used tissue.

The frustration of constantly missing with probabilistic weapons while landing critical hits on the female imp in front of you can make you question the meaning of life.

But that's exactly what Chen Yu did!
He wants to exploit negative emotions!

Each truly random encounter is a hidden harvest, and the sustainable exploitation is vividly demonstrated in these subtle settings. Moreover, the more players lose, the more they want to play, thus depleting their positive mana and generating a large amount of negative emotions.

In the end, the player gained magic power, acquired negative emotions, and reduced the risk of being persecuted later. A world where no one was hurt was perfectly achieved, and the feeling was simply wonderful.

While Chen Yu was marveling at his own genius, the three bespectacled individuals had already entered the dream with some skepticism, and then became flushed within the dream.

"You damned little brats! I...I...I'm going to kill you all!"

"Kill...kill..."

"Answer the questions! Answer the questions!"

The three were unlucky; they were killed by the female imp as soon as they entered. After they died, they had to watch their bodies being used as weapons until their durability was depleted and then thrown aside.

Although the dream world was depicted in a cartoonish style, presenting such cruelty in a humorous way, the three individuals involved felt deeply insulted and vowed never to back down until they had killed these creatures.

Seeing the three of them so excited, Luo Tong asked incredulously, "President Chen, was that how I was just now?"

"Yes, isn't it cute?" Chen Yu said with satisfaction.

Luo Tong looked at President Chen with puzzlement, and couldn't help but sigh: Geniuses are indeed all strange.

(End of this chapter)