God's Imitator

At this point, the game had returned to square one, with only two possibilities remaining.

50% in the last chamber of the gun.

50% not in the gun.

But from the game mechanism perspective, Lin Sizhi actually no longer needed to consider these. He just needed to shoot the mannequin directly.

Because it was just a mannequin, not a real living person.

Regardless of whether there was a bullet in the last chamber or not, as long as he shot the mannequin, he could absolutely ensure his own safety.

But conversely, the cost and risk of shooting himself with this shot also instantly maxed out, becoming infinitely high and utterly meaningless.

”As long as I shoot the mannequin across from me once, everything will be over. That’s what you thought from the beginning, right?

”Or did you think I would underestimate you and still choose to shoot myself with the last shot, so you put the bullet in the last chamber?

”So the final choice actually has nothing to do with you. It only depends on me.”You believe this method can kill me 100%, but what it kills isn’t my body, but my spirit.

”If with the first shot I chose to shoot the mannequin, then there might be no essential difference between me and Wei Xinjian.

”If with the last shot I choose to shoot the mannequin, for an ordinary person, this would already meet a decent moral standard. But for a God’s Imitator who judges others, it’s far from enough.

”I would realize from the bottom of my heart that I’m just so-so, completely the same kind of person as you.

”No matter how smart, no matter how strong, as long as I can’t overcome the fear of death, I’ll forever just be a pawn of the Gallery.

”We’ll forever just be clumsy imitators, never able to transform into gods.

”If you believe everything I’ve shown is real, not putting on an act, not faking it, then you’ll definitely put this bullet in the last shot.

”Because I must use this shot to prove myself.

”In that case, congratulations, you can successfully kill me and become the strongest in the entire Gallery.

”But if you believe everything I’ve shown is fake, just some kind of acting, and my inner essence is no different from others, then you’ll put this bullet in the mannequin’s pocket.

”Then when I fire this shot at the mannequin, the empty shot will shatter all the false images I created before, and you’ll successfully prove I’m the same kind of person as you.

”We’ll both survive the game and become ambitious schemers ruling the Gallery together.

”So this game is actually an invitation you’ve extended to me.

”But I’m sorry, I decline your invitation.

”Regardless of the result, I’ll shoot myself with this shot.

”When I first came here, I was already prepared for this.”

Lin Sizhi maintained this position. He thought about many things, but before the countdown ended, he ultimately still pulled the trigger.

From the feeling, this trigger seemed heavier than all the previous ones. The first time he applied force, he didn’t even manage to properly cock the hammer.

It made one instinctively have the illusion that ”the live round is here.”

However, Lin Sizhi still quickly pulled hard.

”Click.”

Empty chamber.

Time seemed to freeze. Lin Sizhi had no extra expression, neither happy nor sad.

Successive ”click” sounds rang out. All the mechanisms on his body had been unlocked, but Lin Sizhi didn’t immediately stand up.

He looked at the mask on the mannequin’s face across from him and was silent for a long time.

Finally, he stood up and reached his hand into the pocket of the mannequin’s jacket.

Sure enough, there was a live round inside.

All the arrangements were actually completely identical to the initial ”Redemption Roulette.”

But the meaning hidden behind the two games had a world of difference.

After considering for a moment, Lin Sizhi stuffed this live round into a chamber of the gun’s cylinder, then quickly spun the cylinder and with a flick of his hand let the cylinder settle into place.

This way, no one would know exactly where this bullet was.

Lin Sizhi placed the silver revolver in the mannequin’s right hand and left it there.

With a ”bang,” the red safety exit in the warehouse opened.

Lin Sizhi stepped up the stairs and walked out step by step.

...

[The God’s Imitator who designed this game suffered a death threat and made a choice beyond the player’s expectations.]

[The player will suffer immediate death penalty.]

Hearing the broadcast sound, shock appeared on the faces of all five players including Huang Ming.

Only now did they belatedly realize this wasn’t the only Special Game. Somewhere in the Gallery, another game was taking place.

And that game obviously had a direct relationship with Cai Zhiyuan.

No wonder he ultimately chose this prison cell.

Cai Zhiyuan wasn’t entrusting his life to fate, but was incomparably certain he could definitely control his own fate.

But obviously, he lost.

Everyone looked uniformly at Cai Zhiyuan, but what surprised them even more was that Cai Zhiyuan had almost no reaction to this result, as if the one about to suffer immediate death penalty wasn’t him but some unrelated passerby.

And from Cai Zhiyuan’s expression, he seemed to have already anticipated this possibility.

To be precise, when the rules confirmed the ‘Super Authority Player’ was Fu Yujun, he had already understood many details of this game and considered this possibility in advance.

But only when the game rules truly confirmed it did he finally accept this outcome.

”So you really fired six shots at yourself?

”This indeed was the only possibility I couldn’t anticipate or accept before designing this game.

”But now, I seem to understand a bit.

”The last tiny bit of difference between us two is the difference in mentality.

”Or perhaps this is actually the greatest difference?

”You actually truly attempted to become a god, while I only wanted to be the strongest God’s Imitator.”

Cai Zhiyuan saw the game scene in ‘Simple Roulette.’

Fu Yujun’s expression was somewhat complex. Up to now, there were still too many things in this game he didn’t understand. Perhaps they could only be explained through detailed post-game review.

But at this moment, he truly didn’t want to see Cai Zhiyuan suffer immediate death penalty.

”Didn’t your community already activate the Death Exemption Ticket? Hasn’t the cooldown finished?”

Cai Zhiyuan smiled, ”This is a ’Special Game’ targeted with 1 million minutes of visa time spent. The death exemption ticket doesn’t take effect.”

Fu Yujun was silent for a moment, then asked, ”Then... do you have any last words? If I encounter players from Community 17 in future games, I can relay them.”

After brief thought, Cai Zhiyuan shook his head.

”No need. There’s someone in our community who knows me inside and out. What I want to say, he should know clearly.

”Moreover, for people like us, life and death have never been the most important.”

Fu Yujun asked, ”Then what’s important? Winning or losing?”

Cai Zhiyuan shook his head, ”What’s important is confirming ’who I am,’ ’who I want to become,’ and completing it at any cost.

”Compared to this goal, life and death, winning or losing, or anything else, are all unimportant.

”Only people like this can become the strongest in the ’Gallery.’

”And all people who care about life and death and winning or losing, no matter how smart they are, in the end are just marionettes in the hands of God’s Imitators.”

Huang Ming didn’t understand at first. He instinctively wanted to ask more, but suddenly thought of a sentence in the game rules.

[This is a test of will and conviction. Finding ”who I am” is finding the key to clearing the game.]

He originally thought this sentence, spoken in the God’s Imitator’s tone, was asking everyone to guess the God’s Imitator’s true identity.

But now it seemed this sentence was actually a double entendre.

It could be understood as ”guess who the God’s Imitator is,” and could also be understood as ”determine who you yourself are.”

Different perceptions of oneself would ultimately determine the choices made in this game and lead to different fates.

If Cai Zhiyuan truly believed from the bottom of his heart that he was a ”Hermit,” he could survive in ”Hermit Judgment.”

But he was never a ”Hermit,” but an ”ambitious schemer” disguised as a hermit.

Cai Zhiyuan shifted to a more comfortable position in the chair, crossed his hands and placed them on his chest, and took one last look at the game scene that put him to death.

”Good luck to you all.”

Then his head dropped down, as if falling into eternal contemplation.

[Game over.]