Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

More and more people began to whisper among themselves in the audience.

Is this really the level of skill expected of the number one player?

He beat Contra in just five minutes, according to the leaderboard.

And now? I haven't even played half of it in twenty minutes.

When half an hour had passed and the players were starting to get bored, Zhu Youxing simply called off Gao Shanmu's challenge.

"Thank you very much for the performances of the three players. Now, let's welcome the three Tetris winners, Tomoe Ohno..."

The third-place finisher in Tetris also ran up excitedly.

Then, Zhu Youxing had the three of them play an exhibition match once again.

This was an easy task for Tomoe Ohno and the other player.

But for Takasugi, it was three consecutive mental tortures.

This is so painful!

This time, Tetris won't give Takasugi much time to wait.

Because in Tetris, the falling blocks get faster over time.

Ono Tomoe and another player maintained their speeds at level 15 for 13 seconds and level 14 for 2 seconds, respectively.

As for Takasugi, it was defeated at speed level 12.

Previously, Takasugi's cheating method in Tetris involved directly tampering with the game's data.

After all, Tetris itself is not complicated to make. If it weren't for game development patents, an ordinary programmer could easily make it, and therefore it would be easy to crack.

But now, in front of everyone, he has no way to cheat.

It wasn't until this moment that he finally realized something was wrong.

Offstage, the voices of doubt grew louder and louder.

"Is that Takasugi really number one? He doesn't seem like it at all!"

“That’s right, he doesn’t look like someone who can break records at all.”

"But how do you explain why he's ranked so high on the list?"

"I don't know, does anyone here know about this?"

The people below the stage looked at each other in disbelief; they were beginning to doubt that Takasugi could win first place.

They don't even have the ability to be in the top 1%, let alone first place.

Many players think that they could do the same, and even be better than him.

"Mr. Takasugi, your skills don't seem to be very good. Why is that? You had excellent results in the challenge."

Just then, the sweet and beautiful female host's voice rang out from the stage.

There's no need for Zhu Youxing to address the questions raised by those who are stirring up trouble; that would be too low-class.

Just now, the people in the audience communicated with the host, and the host understood the whole story.

That Takasugi is just a clown, and the goal now is simply to kill this clown.

When a host really starts to make sarcastic remarks, he really doesn't hold back at all.

After a few words, Takasugi became somewhat dazed.

At this moment, Takeyusei smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Alright, it seems that Mr. Takasugi is not feeling well. Let's just finish the award ceremony quickly and invite the three winners of Metrorod to the stage for another exhibition match."

Are you coming again?!

Takasugi completely broke down; he couldn't hold on any longer.

Everyone stared silently at Takasugi.

The players who had previously looked at Takasugi with admiration now had strange expressions.

"Excuse me, everyone, we have just received some new information, which may be a bit sudden."

Just then, the sweet-looking host walked onto the stage again, bowed slightly to the players apologetically, and then took out a piece of paper.

"Just now, after inspection by engineers from Yusei Electronics Entertainment, it was discovered that the data of a challenge game machine located in Adachi Ward had been tampered with. This tampering allows players to complete challenges by cheating, which is extremely malicious and could even be considered fraud. Therefore, we immediately called the police and properly preserved the evidence to ensure that the fingerprints left on it would not be destroyed. The awards ceremony may be temporarily suspended and will be held at a later date after the truth is revealed."

"What? Cheating? You can cheat in video games?"

"Hehe, that just shows your ignorance. Of course you can cheat in video games. Video games are also a kind of program. Any programmer who knows how to write programs can have the ability to cheat."

"How could something like this happen? This is definitely a scam, but who could have done it?"

Just as someone raised a question, almost the next second, everyone looked at Takasugi, who was standing on the stage in a daze.

Why do I have this feeling... that guy is very likely to have cheated?

Chapter 193 Ultimate Social Death

No one knows for sure whether Takasugi cheated or not, but judging from his performance in the exhibition match from the beginning, he is obviously the most likely candidate.

Moreover, his results were truly outrageous; he dominated first place in all four games with incredibly impressive scores.

On stage, the host continued apologetically, "We are very sorry, players. We did not expect such an error to occur midway. Therefore, as compensation, all players who came to the event will receive an additional 500 yen game voucher, which can be used to purchase any game at a discount."

The amount of money wasn't much, but it won the hearts of the people.

This made people even more disgusted with cheaters.

The host continued, "We haven't been able to find out who the cheater is yet, but if they are willing to come forward, they might be able to avoid jail time due to their confession. So if this player sees this, we hope they will come forward."

When Takasugi heard that the police had been called and evidence had been preserved, his mind was already buzzing and he couldn't hear anything else.

Scam?

How could my actions be considered fraud?

He had never thought about such a thing.

I just wanted to make some money.

How could this be?

If he had known this would happen, he wouldn't have done these things.

Am I going to go to jail?

But once you go to jail, you will be forever labeled as a criminal after you are released.

Finding any job will become incredibly difficult in the future, and at that point, he will truly have nowhere left to turn.

But in the blink of an eye, the host said there was still room for maneuver; if he confessed voluntarily, he could avoid going to jail.

He acted impulsively, as if grasping at a straw.

"I'm sorry! I cheated, I'm really sorry."

Offstage and on the awards stage, apart from the staff who had known about it and Zhu Youxing and the others, everyone else remained silent.

Especially Tomoe Ohno.

He stared wide-eyed, looking somewhat incredulous.

He had just thought this man named Takasugi was very respectable.

But not long after, it turned out he was a cheater?

In a panic, Takasugi stood up and bowed repeatedly to Takeyusei, Ono Tomoe, and the players below the stage, apologizing and begging for forgiveness.

Now he just hopes he won't go to jail.

Zhu Youxing and the others appeared quite indifferent at this moment.

“We never tolerate cheaters, because it undermines trust between players and mocks the hard work of those who put in effort. So, Mr. Takasugi, your confession may be considered by the police as evidence that you can be treated leniently, but we reserve the right to pursue the case. Now, if you have any self-respect, please leave.”

"Get down there, you bastard! You've let us down!"

"You bastard! You're a disgrace to Adachi Ward!"

"Don't tell me this guy is from Adachi Ward. I don't know him at all. He must have come from another region to avoid being recognized."

Several players in the audience, who appeared to be in high spirits, started shouting loudly.

Of course, those who spoke first were just stirring up trouble.

But the effect was outstanding, immediately making players realize that cheating in video games could be classified as a heinous crime.

Even if this behavior doesn't yet reach the level of legal sanctions, it will certainly be despised by countless people.

As media, we were naturally delighted with this award ceremony, which was full of twists and turns.

This is much more exciting than a typical awards ceremony.

The winner turned out to be a cheater who made a huge fool of himself in front of everyone. We must film him as ugly as possible and make him a laughingstock so that we can increase the readership of our newspaper and magazine.

In fact, there is no effective way to punish Takasugi's cheating behavior in Japan.

Japan's anti-unfair competition laws did not include any penalties for video games until after 2000.

For example, creating hacked systems, tampering with save files and game data, etc.

At most, it's just a fraud charge.

However, scaring this guy is not a problem, and it is indeed possible to file a lawsuit for fraud.

Takasugi's death at the company easily made him the target of everyone's gossip.

Many people use this as a typical example, realizing that cheating in video games is like taking banned substances in the Olympics—both are absolutely prohibited methods.

Moreover, if someone were to actually take the risk, the power of an individual would absolutely be crushed by a large company.

The tall cedar is a very obvious example.

The awards ceremony resumed after Takasugi slunk away in disgrace.

This time, it's just the beginning.

Meanwhile, the fourth-place players who hadn't yet received their awards were pleasantly surprised to discover that they were actually in third place.

It turns out this was planned long ago.