God's Imitator

Both fell silent as they heard footsteps behind them.

”Officer Cao, Lawyer Lin.

”What are you talking about?”

Fu Chen sat down in an empty seat nearby.

”Ha, couldn’t sleep, so I was just chatting with Lawyer Lin about the case.”

Cao Haichuan lit another cigarette. He turned his face to look at Fu Chen, and after confirming he was alone, said, ”We were just discussing why the ’King’s Judgment’ game included a ’Farmer’s Walk’ segment.”

Obviously, as a criminal investigator, Cao Haichuan also had extremely high sensitivity. This kind of discussion about case details wasn’t something he’d chat about with just anyone.

If someone other than Fu Chen had come, he might have already ended the topic.

Among the 12 people in the community, although everyone had known each other for the same amount of time, the trust between them still varied in closeness.

Just like Su Xiucen and Ding Wenqiang, as the two oldest people in the community, naturally had a closer relationship than anyone else.For Cao Haichuan, Fu Chen, Lin Sizhi, and Li Renshu were people he relatively trusted, so he was willing to simply share some of his views.

Of course, he could also choose not to share with anyone and think it through alone, which would be absolutely safe.

But everyone’s abilities are limited. Only by pooling wisdom and efforts can each person’s talents be fully utilized.

Players versus God’s Imitators was inherently an unbalanced confrontation. The God’s Imitators had too great an advantage.

If players chose to fight alone, they had no chance of winning.

Cao Haichuan was naturally very clear about this, so many of his speculations ultimately had to be shared with people he trusted more.

Fu Chen obviously hadn’t thought so much and followed Cao Haichuan’s lead, saying, ”The ’Farmer’s Walk’? Wasn’t this topic already discussed before?

”This preliminary game segment was some kind of hint from the game designer.

”It hinted that in this game, there was actually a way for five people to work together and clear it.

”Of course, besides that, I think it also has some other implications. For example, the player walking in front pressing the button each time would cause the next phase’s time to shorten.

”This is a bit like big data algorithm exploitation in food delivery, using the fastest rider to set standards, forming a kind of involution mechanism.

”This also relates to this game’s judgment theme: letting people other than Uncle Ding also experience the horror of being dominated by big data algorithms and involution.

”At the same time, this is also a test for the first player: if he waited until the countdown was almost over before pressing the button, all players could get relatively ample game time, which would also be equivalent to breaking the involution environment in some sense.

”Oh, and also, kings in the original world were ’those who labor with their minds rule over those who labor with their strength,’ but the Farmer’s Walk game conversely selected the most physically capable person to become king, opposite to reality.

”All these explanations make sense, right?”

Cao Haichuan nodded, ”Mm, indeed so. Then do you think this game is fair?”

Fu Chen was stunned, ”How did we get back to fairness again? Didn’t Brother Wang say that none of these judgment games are absolutely fair?”

Lin Sizhi accurately understood Cao Haichuan’s meaning, ”Judgment games indeed don’t have absolute fairness.

”But this game is particularly unfair.

”Officer Cao’s meaning is that this game actually only had one outcome: Uncle Ding winning.”

Fu Chen was momentarily confused, ”Huh?”

He frowned and fell into thought.

”That can’t be right, can it?

”Farmer’s Walk is a game requiring physical fitness. It’s normal that Cai Zhiyuan and Brother Wang couldn’t beat Uncle Ding.

”But Zhang Peng and Gao Zhankui, those two guys, wouldn’t necessarily lose to Uncle Ding in physical fitness, right?

”I remember according to your description, Officer Cao, Zhang Peng was an unemployed delinquent, but he had robbed and beaten Uncle Ding before; and Gao Zhankui was a delivery station manager with a fierce face and sturdy build.

”Their physical fitness shouldn’t be worse than Uncle Ding’s.”

Cao Haichuan shook his head slightly, ”But in reality, in the ’Farmer’s Walk’ game, Uncle Ding had very obvious advantages.”

Fu Chen was puzzled, ”Why?”

Cao Haichuan explained, ”Because of the characteristics of the ’Farmer’s Walk’ game. It’s not about selecting the strongest person.

”Farmer’s Walk requires carrying a load equal to one’s own body weight, so actually, the lower the body fat percentage, the greater the advantage.

”Although Gao Zhankui had the greatest strength, he was both tall and fat. Being tall means the load has to be carried higher, being fat means the load is heavier.

”So he couldn’t beat Uncle Ding.

”Furthermore, Farmer’s Walk is actually a kind of specialized training. People who have practiced it versus those who haven’t will show vastly different performance.

”Zhang Peng might be fierce in fights, but he had no experience with long-term physical labor. Whether it’s the force application methods for carrying and lifting, or the muscular endurance for long-term heavy physical labor, or the tolerance for pain and heavy pressure, he had none of these.

”And Uncle Ding, as a courier who mainly delivered large packages, perfectly met all the requirements of the ’Farmer’s Walk’ game.”

Fu Chen had a realization, ”Oh? So that’s how it is.”

Cao Haichuan exhaled a puff of smoke and continued:

”Now think about it, the designer of this game could definitely see these five people’s profiles, right? Even if they didn’t know specific height and weight, they could probably see photos. Even if they couldn’t see photos, they should at least know ages and occupations.

”Courier, delivery station manager, unemployed drifter, private company owner, programmer.

”With these five occupations laid out, according to the Farmer’s Walk game rules, nine out of ten people would guess the courier would win. After all, the courier is the only profession related to ’moving things, carrying things.’

”So, after the game designer finished designing this, couldn’t they guess who would win?”

Fu Chen was somewhat puzzled, ”So what if they could guess? Does it make a difference to them who wins?”

Cao Haichuan asked back, ”If it makes no difference, why not just randomly select someone to be king? Why bother with the pretense of a preliminary game segment for selection?

”Or simply directly stipulate that Uncle Ding becomes king as soon as he enters, that would also be straightforward.”

Fu Chen understood.

Obviously, the design of the Farmer’s Walk game segment was somewhat self-contradictory in terms of design philosophy.

On the surface, its main purpose seemed to be selecting the most suitable person to be king, with hints about player cooperation or other implications being secondary purposes. But this selection process gave no chance to the other four people. Even if this game were played a hundred times, it would always be Ding Wenqiang who won.

On the surface it seemed to rely on physical fitness, giving Zhang Peng and Gao Zhankui chances too. But analyzing the details revealed it wasn’t entirely about physical fitness, cleverly eliminating both Zhang Peng and Gao Zhankui.

Lin Sizhi thought for a moment, ”Officer Cao, you mean that this Farmer’s Walk game segment predetermined Uncle Ding to become king.

”As for all those other things, they’re just packaging, sleight of hand to conceal this real purpose.”

Fu Chen frowned deeply, ”Wait, I’m getting confused.

”This reasoning is built on a premise: that the game’s designer has extremely strong purposefulness. But what if this premise is just overthinking?

”Okay, even if this premise holds, I still don’t understand what significance there would be for the game’s designer in predetermining Uncle Ding as king.

”Could they predict the future and know that Uncle Ding becoming king meant certain death?”

Cao Haichuan exhaled a puff of smoke, ”Hard to say.

”Let’s boldly hypothesize now. Among these five people, who do you think would have the highest death probability as king?

”Lawyer Lin, I think you’re very good at reading people. Analyze it.”

After serious consideration, Lin Sizhi analyzed each person in turn.

”First, I think Cai Zhiyuan definitely wouldn’t die. He’s a very rational person. Whatever he does, he first considers probabilities. If he were arranging the prisoners, he’d definitely treat all four people equally, punishing them very evenly.

”Moreover, if someone reminded him, he himself entering a cell is also possible.

”For example, he could still choose to actively enter Cell 1.

”Wang Yongxin is hard to say. Although he always says he’s a selfish person, relatively speaking, he generally wouldn’t act impulsively or hold particularly strong grudges.

”As a businessman, he would only consider choices that maximize benefits.

”So I think he might throw Gao Zhankui or Zhang Peng into Cell 3, forcing them to deduct visa time or smash their fingers. He’d go easy on Uncle Ding and Cai Zhiyuan.”

Fu Chen interjected, ”But the cells in this game have very strong symbolic meaning, almost strongly bound to these people’s crimes. Each person has a cell that corresponds to them best.

”Under these circumstances, if the cells were randomly assigned, wouldn’t the mechanism for judging the king be triggered quickly?”

Lin Sizhi shook his head slightly, ”No, actually the allocation of these cells can be changed. It’s not an absolute one-to-one correspondence.