Yes, everyone’s head had an audience expectation value floating above it.
Wen Xishu was at 10.
The brat kid was 10.
The bald spider man was 18.
The chef was 10.
The gentle young man was 10.
The timid man with sneaky eyes was at 10.
The man feigning ignorance was at 22.
Wen Xishu quickly noticed one thing--
The higher the number, the more the audience anticipated their stories.
"What...what does this number mean?" the Snake-tongued Woman asked Wen Xishu instinctively.
Wen Xishu thought for a moment and said:
"Everyone should have noticed...the bullet comments that only you can see."
"Do you mean...the bullet comments we see aren’t the same?" the Snake-tongued Woman asked.
Wen Xishu nodded:
"You can share the most conspicuous bullet comment you see, and I guess others haven’t seen it."
The Snake-tongued Woman thought for a moment, then read the most conspicuous bullet comment in the middle:
"These buns are really big..."
Wen Xishu’s first reaction was very strange...Wasn’t the chef the fat guy? Besides, the chef didn’t look like a buns master, buns? What buns?
But soon, he saw the bald spider man looking at the Snake-tongued Woman’s chest...
Wen Xishu got it, oh, those buns. They certainly were big.
This made everyone certain that their bullet comments did not include this one, though most people couldn’t remember every bullet comment like Wen Xishu could.
But since Wen Xishu said it was the most conspicuous bullet comment, if others saw it too, they wouldn’t miss it.
"Hm, young man you’re right, it seems like we can only see our own bullet comments. But what the hell is this expectation value?" The chef spoke.
Wen Xishu didn’t answer directly but first asked a question:
"Everyone, to answer this question, I need to ask you...why are you here."
The brat kid answered first:
"An uncle wearing a mask asked me if I wanted to make life more interesting!"
"I said yes...and then I came."
The Snake-tongued Woman said:
"Oh? I think the same, I had a client... also wearing a mask, who asked if I wanted to make big money, of course I did, so... I suddenly came."
The man feigning ignorance just laughed foolishly.
The next to speak was the bald spider man:
"He asked me if I wanted to change my fate. Yeah, the masked man you all mentioned."
This was getting interesting.
This masked man...is he a character to appear later? Or is he among the seven of us?
The gentle young man said:
"I was originally attending my wife’s funeral... I also met the masked man, and he asked me if I wanted to see my wife again...so I came."
The chef’s answer was similar:
"He said he could let me make the finest food, the best food, so I came, oh yeah, he was also wearing a mask."
The sneaky-eyed man didn’t speak.
Wen Xishu said:
"In that case, let me share my guess."
"First of all, based on everyone’s attire, we should all be from the same era, right?"
The chef, Snake-tongued Woman, brat kid, sneaky-eyed man, gentle young man, bald spider man, and the man feigning ignorance...
These people were all dressed very modernly.
A few people nodded.
Wen Xishu continued:
"So, everyone shouldn’t be unfamiliar with the things we see, meaning the bullet comments. At the same time, we also have expectation values..."
"The word ’expectation’, I think everyone’s understanding is the same, so the answer is simple, a group of unseen people...are watching our performance."
"The more exciting our performance, the higher their anticipation, and consequently, the higher our expectation values..."
Wen Xishu paused and then shared his guess:
"The higher the expectation value...I believe the higher the chance of surviving."
Wen Xishu’s expectation value had risen from 10 to 15.
[Oh oh oh, an analyst?]
[Could he be the brains of the group?]
[No no no, people who start off babbling like this usually die early, I bet his story is boring.]
More bullet comments started scrolling by.
Wen Xishu ignored these bullet comments.
However, due to his previous performance, it was obvious–his expectation value had increased.
At that moment, a statue of a knight holding a longsword at the front of the castle suddenly illuminated.
"Welcome to the Castle Story Night." The voice sounded like a somewhat heavy synthesized electronic voice, commonly used in films and TV shows, like–"Hello Henry, I want to play a game with you."
"Each of you has a rich story. Next, I will enjoy your stories. You have one minute to tell your first story."
"You must have noticed the bullet comments you can see, those are from our lovely audience."
"Most of the time the comments are just their meaningless remarks, but you’d better not ignore some of them..."
"Because, perhaps the bullet comments will tell you what kind of story they like."
"Additionally, the theme of this story night is—Evil. Please tell the evil deeds you have done."
"I hope your stories are interesting enough. And I also hope that you remain intriguing because once your expectation value drops to zero, you will die."
"The game is about to begin, good luck."
As the voice faded, eight knights holding large swords suddenly approached Wen Xishu and the others.
The sneaky-eyed man screamed in fright:
"What are these monsters!! I want to go back! I want to go back!"
His reaction increased his expectation value. Though the others were also afraid, they seemed to gradually accept the situation.