But the key is to make people laugh.
With just 30 seconds to go, Mitchell seemed to have an idea and immediately said,
"There’s a black man selling brand-name handbags on the street. A lady customer comes over and says, ’These must be fake, otherwise why would you be selling them here?’
The black man says, ’How could they be fake? Look, check out this video!’
The lady, upon hearing this, looks at the video the black man shows her, which displays the black man shopping in an actual brand store, making a zero-dollar purchase."
After this joke was told, there was dead silence.
No one laughed, not a single person.
"It can’t be, how can no one laugh? I made this one up myself. I know, surely some of you laughed but held it in, trying to get me eliminated?"
Seeing that no one laughed, Mitchell’s face showed utter disbelief, and he could not accept the reality and shouted loudly.
"Quiet." Mu Rufeng looked at Mitchell and rebuked him.
Under Mu Rufeng’s intimidation, Mitchell had to shut his mouth, but he was visibly trembling.
This was indeed a case of ’a steal gone wrong ends in a loss;’ he was eliminated in the first round. Even with the Login Bracelet, he had already lost an arm previously, so this essentially meant he’d lost both arms now.
"All games here are fair and just, I won’t favor anyone, whether you laugh or not, your facial expressions don’t count."
Mu Rufeng said and raised his hand to snap his fingers.
Suddenly, a two-dimensional emoticon face appeared above everyone’s head.
Most of these emoticons wore dull, expressionless looks.
But there were two with a laughing expression.
"The emoticons above your heads will show your truest emotions after hearing the joke."
"It seems you are in luck, Maria and Ali laughed," Mu Rufeng said indifferently.
"Haha, perfect, I knew it, there had to be someone," Mitchell instantly relaxed.
With that, he survived the first round of the death game.
At the same time, the completion notification for the first stage of the task also appeared in his mind.
"Tsk tsk tsk, someone actually laughed at that lousy joke," a Contractor commented in amazement.
"Heh, can’t help it, after all, I really encountered that on the street last year," Ali said with a chuckle and a shake of her head.
"What a coincidence, I encountered it too," Maria looked at Ali and laughed as well.
With that statement, everyone was speechless. It turned out it wasn’t the joke that was funny; they had actually experienced it, and hearing it now had brought an involuntary smile.
They could control their facial expressions, but not their inner emotions.
"Number two, Dodger." Mu Rufeng said indifferently.
Hearing this, Dodger seemed to have his joke ready, so he immediately said,
"A boss asks his employee, ’Do you believe people can be reborn after death?’
The employee answers, ’Boss, I believe in resurrection after death.’
’Oh, that’s good.’ The boss nods, then points to an old man standing nearby and says, ’You took a day off yesterday for your grandmother’s funeral, now, she’s come to see you.’"
The joke falls into silence.
Dodger immediately looks at the emoticons above everyone’s heads. One second, two seconds, three seconds pass, and no one laughs.
"What an unfunny joke, Mr. Dodger, I’m sorry, but you are eliminated," Mu Rufeng looks at Dodger.
"Damn it, how can that joke not be funny? I laughed for a good long time when I heard it," Dodger’s eyes reddened, completely unable to understand why this happened.
"Sit down and listen to the jokes!" Mu Rufeng ordered, and a billow of black fog rose from beneath his feet and bound him to his chair, rendering him unable to move.
He couldn’t be eliminated just yet; after all, they needed to wait until everyone had heard the jokes to make a fair judgment.
Even for the sake of fairness, Mu Rufeng erased part of Dodger’s memory about his elimination to allow him to listen to the jokes in the most normal, initial state.
"Number three, begin."
Number three was a Caucasian named Dori.
Dori didn’t speak immediately but pondered repeatedly until the last minute when he said:
"A man with a failing marriage seeks advice from a marriage expert. The expert asked him many questions without finding a problem.
Finally, the expert asks, ’Do you ever see your wife’s face when you kiss?’
’She looked very angry.’
The expert felt he identified the issue and said, ’That’s where your problem lies. Kissing is an exchange of emotions for two people, psychologically speaking... But under what circumstances did you see her angry face?’
’Oh, she was looking through the window...’"
Everyone’s facial expressions remain unchanged.
But their emoticon faces above their heads changed.
One, two, three, five, five people’s emoticons laughed.
"Haha, this one’s good," Mu Rufeng suddenly burst into laughter.
Including Mu Rufeng, that’s six people who laughed.
"Passed, next, number three."
As time passed, it quickly came down to the last person, number thirty, telling a joke.
Cary pondered for a moment before starting,
"A team of scientists arrives in Antarctica and encounters a group of penguins.
One scientist asks a penguin, ’What do you do every day?’
Penguin number one replies, ’Eat, sleep, beat up Dodger.’
He then asks another, ’What do you do every day?’
Penguin number two also replies, ’Eat, sleep, beat up Dodger.’
He asked many penguins, and they all answered, ’Eat, sleep, beat up Dodger.’
Later, he came across a small penguin and asked it, ’Little one, what do you do every day?’
The small penguin said, ’Eat and sleep.’ The scientist was puzzled and asked, ’Why don’t you beat up Dodger?’
The small penguin replied, ’Because I am Dodger.’"