"Friendship has no hierarchy, nor should it be treated differently. In the past, to witness friendship, we let the guests freely form teams on the show,"
the host said with a smile,
"It is often said that first impressions matter, and people who seem incompatible at first rarely become friends. Therefore, we used to respect the guests’ choices to the greatest extent."
"But friendships formed by personal choice may be tainted with other emotions. How can they be called true friendships?"
"Two individuals who meet unexpectedly, live together unexpectedly, and go through hardships and happiness unexpectedly until they confirm that the other is a true partner—this series of changes should be random, involuntary, and accompanied by the wonderful sensation of ups and downs!"
"Thus, every guest here today will have a friend genuinely arranged by fate,"
two strangers, with different experiences and emotions, will spark what kind of friendship, a prospect I believe all our audience friends are eagerly anticipating with me!"
A cheer surged in from outside the venue, and the host excitedly clapped hands, highly satisfied with the lively atmosphere they had created.
However, it was not so wonderful for those inside Friendship Park, especially for those participants who had come in pairs. Apart from feeling angry and helpless, there was more fear. Some, who found it hard to accept, even ran to the edge of the square, shouting that they wanted to quit the show.
The cheering and clapping stopped, followed by occasional laughter. The host looked down at them with an unchanged smile and said,
"Friendship Park will only reopen when a new friendship is born."
Those who wanted to flee seemed to understand the game quite well. Someone loudly spoke of "insider information," saying that the survival rate for the show "You’re Okay, I’m Okay" was actually very low, and that this time they had suddenly loosened the registration requirements, clearly a trick to lure people in to be killed.
But these sounds were neither painful nor itchy to the host and the audience since ordinary people did not have the ability to destroy Friendship Park, and players with such ability had to complete the instance.
"I know many friends are familiar with the rules of ’You’re Okay, I’m Okay,’ but for the sake of our new friends who are about to join, let me repeat the details of the show,"
the host began to introduce the gameplay.
"Each guest will be randomly matched with a partner for the game,"
the two will form temporary allies and complete the upcoming tri-color competition. "If a teammate dies, that’s okay. After all, you never know who might leave first on the path of friendship. The surviving guests will automatically be matched with others whose teammates have died in the following competition."
"Friendship can be about mutual company, as well as competition. Therefore, in the tri-color competition, each guest will have one chance to choose from black, white, and yellow balls. The black ball represents choosing a dangerous task for your teammate, the white ball a less dangerous task, and the yellow ball means choosing the same task as the other party."
"Please note that these three colors of the balls represent danger levels of 75%, 25%, and 50%, respectively. When teammates choose balls of different colors, the one who has picked the higher danger level will complete the Friendship Adventure task that round. If they choose balls of the same color, one of them will be randomly selected to complete a task within the corresponding danger level range, and they will switch the next round."
"However, if both sides choose the yellow ball, they will get an extra survey on their willingness to complete the adventure task together. If the survey result is yes, they can complete a white ball task together. If either side vetoes, the task will revert to a yellow ball task, and one person will be chosen at random to complete it."
"Additionally, no matter whether teammates change or not, each guest’s choice of task danger level in the tri-color competition will not be less than the first choice."
"The choice time for the competition is three minutes, and the time to complete the adventure task is not fixed,"
the host paused here, "Hearing this, I believe everyone will be curious, what happens if there is a bye or if a teammate is late in returning and cannot be matched with a new one?"
He shook his head, expressing regret,
"If that happens, we can only apologize to that guest. You will miss the opportunity to build a friendship this round and can only watch others’ friendships alone."
"However, do not worry too much if you encounter such a situation, for we can derive friendship from many people."
"Admittedly, the sincerity of friendship cannot be measured by data. However, to demonstrate fairness, we will evaluate the show’s guests based on the genuine features of friendship voted by the citizens of Sea World. When someone acquires deep friendship, their name will appear in the sky above Friendship Park, witnessed by all present!"
Cheers erupted outside again, and the host was slightly excited,
"The exhilarating moment is coming soon. Now, please, all guests write your names on the projection screen. If you wish not to reveal it, the ’You’re Okay, I’m Okay’ show will replace it with a number."
No sooner had the gameplay been announced than the projection screen appeared in front of everyone, a curved display with a row of scrolling numbers above it that appeared to be unconfirmed codes.
Xu Huo wrote "Yucong" on it, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Xiao Xianglin writing "Xiao Yong."
Xiao Xianglin, aware of his gaze, didn’t feel embarrassed and whispered,
"Brother, it’s more reliable to use a real name. Who makes friends under a fake name?"
Xu Huo smiled and nodded but did not fuss over it like the others.
He looked around and saw You Si, female gamer Zhuang Mengtian, amputee gamer Gan Yi, and the meditating gamer Sha Jia, as well as the bronze-skinned gamer Pu Donghai.
They were all "acquaintances" from the same vehicle, reacting differently after glancing at one another.
Zhuang Mengtian gave him a cold look, Gan Yi nodded with a smile, and You Si, along with Sha Jia, were much friendlier.
"...think of something!" someone was arguing not far away; it was the man who had mocked the lesbian couple on the bus. He was furiously addressing his companion,
"I wasn’t told about any rule changes before coming here!"
His companion was a seemingly honest middle-aged man, frowning,
"We can only hope that the person we match with later will be easy to talk to."
"How could that be!" The man instinctively quieted down after receiving a stern look from his honest companion who then closed his mouth.
"Isn’t the way to gain friendship to agree on a task difficulty and safely pass the challenges together?" Xiao Xianglin asked, perplexed,
"What’s the benefit of killing your teammate?"
Most players were in the clouds and mist, but there were more insiders than just those two. Soon, someone extracted the reason by pressing for answers; it turned out that the show had limited slots for passersby, and at the end, those who obtained friendship would have a scoring ranking, with only those on the ranking being eligible for legal residency in Sea World.
"There are three hundred and eighty-one people here, mostly ordinary folks. How many pairs does Sea World want to select?"