Chapter 376: The Third Proposition Revealed!

Accompanied by enthusiastic applause, Zhang Yiwen walked onto the stage.

"Audience members, I am the program's general director, Zhang Yiwen. Welcome to the third episode of 'Simulated Crime'."

While Zhang Yiwen was greeting the audience, two etiquette ladies wearing cheongsams were already standing at the side of the stage, holding trays.

The trays were covered with deep red velvet cloth; the surface was smooth, and one could not see what was placed underneath.

After facing the audience, Zhang Yiwen walked over to the etiquette lady's tray and, without any extra buildup, reached out and lifted the velvet cloth.

Inside a transparent acrylic box, a stack of proposition cards was neatly arranged; every card was the same size and color, with only the numbers on the back being different.

He casually drew one from the box, then flipped it over and took a look.

After knowing the proposition, Zhang Yiwen did not immediately read the content on the card, but instead deliberately lowered his hand holding the card and, pretending to be very conflicted, said:

"This time's proposition is very interesting, and it has also exceeded everyone's expectations. It is not a conventional crime proposition, but the room for the contestants to maneuver is truly vast. I am already looking forward to their performance..."

Zhang Yiwen's words directly piqued the curiosity of the audience in the live stream:

【Holy crap, this looks pretty interesting!】

【Director Zhang, can you stop keeping us in suspense!】

【Exactly, exactly! It's like this every time!】

【What on earth is it!】

【I knew it, you definitely wouldn't say it so quickly, so I went to the bathroom first!】

【Haha, you really are a veteran who knows him well!】

The stage lights dimmed by one degree.

The ring of golden light strips on the edge of the dome slowly extinguished, replaced by a spotlight that fell from the center of the ceiling and shone on Zhang Yiwen.

"Everyone, the proposition for the third episode of 'Simulated Crime' is—"

Zhang Yiwen had just opened his mouth before stopping again.

At this moment, everyone's heart was in their throat.

But Zhang Yiwen still did not reveal the answer immediately: "Before officially revealing the answer, I must tell you all that you must prepare yourselves mentally, because this proposition is very likely to be vastly different from what you expected before..."

【Damn it, can you hurry up!】

【Yeah, hurry up and announce it!】

【Holy crap, don't torture people like this!】

【So looking forward to it!】

【Director Zhang is really too hateful, haha!】

【If you keep doing this, I'm going to turn off the stream right now!】

Seeing that the buildup was sufficient, Zhang Yiwen no longer played mysterious and directly flipped the card over.

The next second.

On the large screen behind him, these two characters appeared out of thin air:

Forgery!

Upon seeing this word, the barrage in the entire live stream seemed to be ignited at this instant, exploding with a boom.

【Forgery!!!】

【This scope is way too broad!】

【Forgery of what? Signatures? Documents? Art pieces?】

【The freedom of this topic is way too high!】

【This is interesting, it'll depend on the contestants' imagination!】

Zhang Yiwen did not wait for the wave of barrage to pass and continued to speak:

"The time span for this episode of the competition remains one month. Counting from this very moment today, the competition ends at ten o'clock in the morning thirty days from now. If during this period, all three contestants are captured by the Pursuit Team, the competition will terminate early."

"As with the previous two episodes, the amount involved in the case remains the sole standard for judging the results of this competition. When the competition ends, the contestant (regardless of whether they were caught or not) with the highest total amount involved in the case through the crime proposition will be the winner. I will emphasize here—it refers to the amount that has already been liquidated and entered into the contestant's personal controllable account or equivalent physical assets. Unliquidated forgeries will not be counted toward the score."

On the large screen, the rules and clauses appeared one by one.

"Second, to ensure the fairness and practicality of the competition, the Program Team will provide each participating contestant with a starting capital of 500 Huaxia Yuan. This capital is issued in cash and has already been placed in the drawers of each contestant's preparation room; please collect it yourselves."

【500 bucks?】

【The starting capital for forgery is only 500 bucks??】

【How is this supposed to be played?】

【What can you do with 500 bucks!】

"Third."

Zhang Yiwen's voice remained steady: "The trigger condition for the Pursuit Team's actions: only when the contestants have obtained their first illegal gain through forgery can the Pursuit Team initiate pursuit actions against that contestant. Before this, the Pursuit Team must not conduct any form of tracking, monitoring, or positioning of the contestants."

The barrage exploded for another round.

【So that means the contestants are safe until they get their hands on money?】

【They gave the contestants a preparation period!】

【Earn the first pot of gold before starting to run for your life, this setting is reasonable!】

【Holy crap, it is actually a bit interesting!】

【I feel like the proposition for this episode is so hard!】

【I don't have any ideas even now!】

When Zhang Yiwen said this, he turned his head and glanced at Xiao Sa.

Xiao Sa understood and took over the conversation: "Thank you, Director Zhang Yiwen, for revealing the proposition for us. Next, each contestant will receive a detailed rule explanation document in their respective preparation rooms, and the countdown officially begins now."

The screen switched.

The layout of the live stream changed instantly—the main screen was cut into three parts: on the left was the preparation room for contestant No. 32, in the middle was the preparation room for contestant No. 59, and on the right was Chu Chen's preparation room.

All three camera feeds showed what the contestants were doing.

Contestant No. 32, that young woman, stood up the moment Zhang Yiwen finished speaking.

Her movements were swift; she pulled open the drawer, grabbed the envelope containing 500 yuan, and rushed out of the preparation room, looking as if she already had a plan in mind.

Immediately after, Contestant No. 59 also moved at the same time.

But he was not in a hurry to take the money; instead, he first picked up the blank notebook on the table, opened it to the first page, and wrote down a few words with a pen: antiques, tickets, seals...

He was likely planning his next course of action.

At this moment, the viewers in the livestream were also fiercely discussing the words he had written on the paper!

【Antiques should be the easiest to forge, right? Buy a fake, copy the forgery, and then sell it; that's how you get money!】

【Forging tickets isn't realistic, is it?】

【Seals aren't very useful either, right? Unless you're forging official documents!】

【Forging antiques should be the most practical one!】

【Right, as long as you sell them, you can accumulate the criminal amount!】

Both contestants had begun their respective actions.

Only Chu Chen remained sitting in his chair, not moving.

It wasn't that he didn't want to move, but because the system had just issued a Main Quest.

At this moment, he was communicating with the system using his consciousness, opening the newly issued system quest, and then browsing through it carefully:

【Quest Name】: Perfect Reproduction

【Quest Time Limit】: 30 days!

【Quest Type】: Main Quest!

【Quest Content】:

1. Successfully replicate the latest 100-dollar banknote issued by the Federal Reserve System of the United States of America, and profit 10 billion dollars through circulation channels.

2. During the quest period, obtain 10 billion Shock Value!

【Quest Reward】: Super Gift Package!

【Failure Penalty】: Shock Value reset to zero!