Qin Cheng nodded: "Although Lawyer Lin is an experienced player, he is a new member of this Community and lacks political roots. Being the first to clearly express opposition carries the risk of making enemies within the Community.

"As an experienced player, is it possible that he doesn’t understand these basic social rules and unwritten norms?

"So, there must be a reason behind his unusual behavior."

Huang Shengjie thought for a moment: "... Before, I thought that although he and Shen Bowen are experienced players, since the original Community has been dismantled and reorganized, their strength might be relatively weak, so they wouldn’t necessarily be very strong."

Qin Cheng shook his head: "The reality might be exactly the opposite.

"Think carefully, is it easier to survive in a Community with unity and many strong players, or in a loosely scattered, weak Community?

"Lawyer Lin and Shen Bowen are surely not simple players.

"Instead, some players from the original Community 2 might not have significant abilities themselves, and have survived under the protection of stronger players."

Huang Shengjie frowned: "So... Lu Bingjun seems to be normally advancing the agenda, but actually carries a probing malice from the start.

"As the leader of the meeting, choosing to openly discuss the issue without allocating sufficient time for discussion is to take advantage of others’ ’reluctance to speak against it in public,’ to steer the meeting in a direction more favorable to him.

"From Lawyer Lin’s perspective, this is a blatant violation of his rights boundaries, so he immediately fought back hard to prevent Lu Bingjun from having the illusion that ’everyone is a pushover.’

Huang Shengjie seemed to understand some things, but still couldn’t fully accept this conclusion.

"But Brother Lu is clearly acting in our best interests... If no one objects, wouldn’t he also be among the group sharing the ’pain’?"

Qin Cheng was silent for a moment: "If Lu Bingjun’s final plan includes him rotating into the bottom seven members, sharing some probability with us, then I will acknowledge him as a selfless Community manager.

"But I think the more likely scenario is:

"In the final plan, he will definitely find a way to exempt himself. He might use some seemingly reasonable excuses, but the result will inevitably be so.

"Of course, perhaps it’s not entirely unacceptable for a Community leader to enjoy some privileges, but for such people, I still naturally remain alert.

"I just hope it’s my own dark suspicion, thinking too badly of others."

Huang Shengjie fell silent, still thinking that Qin Cheng might be overthinking it, but within a few hours, this speculation could be verified.

——Just need to see what the actual proposal Lu Bingjun presents is like.

...

Soon, Lu Bingjun and Yao Yuan separately discussed with other players and initially summarized opinions.

The conversation between Lu Bingjun, Lin Sizhi, and Qin Cheng clearly took longer.

Then, the two of them also brought in Ye Lin to finalize the content of the proposal.

Everyone sat back down at the long table.

Lu Bingjun exhaled deeply: "Thank you all for waiting.

"We have listened to everyone’s opinions thoroughly and produced a draft of the proposal.

"Indeed, there are some players in the Community who are unwilling to share the pain, and to maintain the vitality and competitiveness of the Community, players who contribute more should certainly receive some incentives and privileges.

"So, after our discussion, we have decided on this preliminary plan:

"Among the 14 players in the Community, select 4 who most need encouragement by ’some method,’ ensuring they can always be among the ’top 7 with more visa time,’ not needing to share the ’pain’ penalty.

"As for the remaining 10 players, adjust their carried visa time through the establishment of a new fund to ensure that all pain penalties are shared by these 10 players.

"According to the rules, selecting players to bear the pain will have some randomness, so when a player is selected consecutively, adjust their visa time to move them into the top 7 for later avoidance."

Yao Yuan added: "Actually, it’s about making 3 of the ’top seven players’ share the pain, while the other 4 remain unchanged based on the original rules."

Lu Bingjun nodded: "So, what needs to be discussed and confirmed now is whether the number of ’four exempted players’ is appropriate, whether it should be more or less, and on what standards these ’exempted players’ should be selected."

Everyone looked at each other and then began to express their opinions.

Fitness coach Deng Xiao nodded: "I think 4 exempt spots are not too many and are acceptable."

No one else expressed clear opposition either.

The number ’4’ is considered a middle number between ’1~7.’

If only one or two players could enjoy exemption, most players would directly presume it’s either Lu Bingjun or Ye Lin, not thinking they have a chance to obtain such exemption right, thus, it wouldn’t serve as motivation.

If it’s 5 or 6 players enjoying exemption, it seems not much different from the original rules, and the latter 7 players wouldn’t feel accommodated by the proposal.

So after this number was proposed, it didn’t attract much opposition.

Lu Bingjun continued: "Then next, we need to discuss how these four spots will be decided."

Yao Yuan picked up the conversation: "I think, first, we should openly state that the reason for establishing or retaining these four ’pain penalty exemption’ spots is not to create favoritism, but to preserve the overall strength of our Community.

"Because there are always strong and weak players, and the strong can help everyone earn more visa time in the game and ensure everyone’s safety.

"Pain could distract and impact thinking, so we must ensure the minds of a few strong players remain clear as possible to avoid making wrong decisions that could result in greater losses for the Community.

"Although I am also among the seven with more visa time, I’m very aware that I’m not important to that extent, so I voluntarily join the ’sharing the pain’ list."

Huang Shengjie was visibly stunned, and Yao Yuan’s statement surprised him greatly.

Although they only met a day ago, Huang Shengjie could sense that Yao Yuan played a ’hardworking middle manager’ role in the Community, contributing to both Community proposals and the Community fund. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Huang Shengjie thought Yao Yuan might be someone who likes to contribute but didn’t expect him to willingly share even the painful stuff.

From another perspective, since he’s willingly sharing the pain, those who contribute less than him might feel even more embarrassed to refuse directly.