God's Imitator

Huang Shengjie was still slightly confused, ”But Qian Li and Zhang Yuan had an arrangement with the Doctor to cut off all contact between the Doctor and the other patients.

”The Doctor had stopped meeting with us entirely.

”So if you wanted to see the Doctor again, wouldn’t you also be...”

Lin Sizhi shook his head and said, ”If I want to meet with the Doctor, I can do so at any time.

”As I said, those who are purely motivated by money tend to tailor their behaviour to whoever they’re dealing with.

”The Doctor on the right side didn’t believe Qian Li and Zhang Yuan would be able to extract Medical Points from me, so of course they wanted to maintain their cooperation with me in order to earn additional returns.

”And because of the division of roles between Qian Li and Zhang Yuan, most of the early profits were flowing to Qian Li and the Doctor on the left side.

”It was only in the latter half of the game, roughly around now, when you finally ran out of patience and tried Zhang Yuan’s Type F, that the Doctor on the right side would begin earning substantial returns.

”That was also one of the reasons they chose to keep cooperating with me.”

Zhang Yuan looked at Lin Sizhi with a somewhat unusual expression and said, with a trace of admiration, ”Simple enough to describe. Actually doing it is another matter entirely.”Accomplishing this required convincing a Doctor, within one round of meeting, through words and manner alone, that you were someone of sufficient ability who would never fall for another player’s trap.

And then maintaining that impression in every subsequent meeting.

Lin Sizhi was undoubtedly capable of this. Most other players would be hard pressed to make the same strategy work.

Huang Shengjie’s remaining questions had all been answered, and he naturally followed the thread of reasoning to its conclusion.

”So, according to your original plan, once the three of us were all addicted to the medication, you would have dramatically raised the prices of the two types, and then drained all of our Medical Points.

”After that, you would have forced us to take on debt, converting visa time to Medical Points at a 2:1 or even 4:1 ratio.

”And those earnings would have been distributed among every player in the entire chain, until the game ended.”

Neither Zhang Yuan nor Qian Li said anything, but their silence was as good as confirmation.

That had indeed been the plan, though by chance an unexpected variable had appeared.

Lin Sizhi had happened to be placed in the other VIP Patient room.

Everyone fell silent.

Huang Shengjie’s head was beginning to ache, ”So that’s how it works.

”The veteran players have far too many layers to their schemes. This game is terribly unfair to new players.”

Zhou Xiaoying’s expression was also visibly indignant.

Qian Li spread her hands and said, ”I’m sorry, but, welcome to the Gallery.”

The three who had been played truly had nothing to say in response. In a life-or-death game like this, scheming and outsmarting each other was simply how things worked. Criticising other players on moral grounds was pointless.

All one could do was blame oneself for not being sharp enough.

The round was almost over.

Lin Sizhi looked at Qian Li and Zhang Yuan and said, ”Between the two of you, you must have Type M medication as well.

”Let’s each put in a bottle and split it between these three.”

Qian Li paused and said, ”What? We have to give some as well?”

Lin Sizhi nodded and said, ”You’ve put them through quite enough. The least you can do is offer a little compensation.”

Zhang Yuan frowned slightly, ”Could it be that you don’t actually have enough Type M yourself?”

Lin Sizhi smiled and said, ”What do you think?”

Zhang Yuan let out a quiet sigh and took a sealed bottle of Type M from his pocket.

Qian Li and Lin Sizhi each produced a bottle as well.

Zhou Xiaoying made to head for the trading machine, but Lin Sizhi gestured for her to sit back down.

”Take them directly. Don’t use the trading machine. We want to avoid cross-infection.”

Qian Li and Zhang Yuan passed their bottles of Type M to Zhou Xiaoying and Du Peng respectively, their faces wearing expressions of clear reluctance, though they ultimately yielded.

Lin Sizhi handed his bottle to Huang Shengjie, then stood up, ”Starting from the next round, we can begin doing something more worthwhile.”

Back in his room, Huang Shengjie quickly tore open the seal on the Type M bottle and took out a tablet, holding it in his hand.

He knew he was still Infected. The next round would bring two separate types of pain.

First, the Special Pain mandated by the game’s rules, and immediately after, the withdrawal pain from the Type O’s side effects.

As Lin Sizhi had said, there was only one approach available right now.

Use Type M to suppress the Special Pain. For the withdrawal pain, take no medication at all. Endure it.

Because Type M was not a perfect medication either. While its side effects and addiction risk were smaller than the others, they were not zero.

Before long, the Special Pain came again. Huang Shengjie immediately swallowed the tablet.

He had been prepared to take a second if the pain wasn’t fully suppressed, but the pain disappeared completely.

Having experienced Type O, the pain relief from Type M felt far less extraordinary, a vague sense of something being slightly missing.

But perhaps that was itself a sign that it was safer.

Huang Shengjie let out a long breath and screwed the cap back onto the bottle.

It seemed clear from the game’s mechanics that although the different types of medication were similar in composition, they were still treated as distinct drugs. The effectiveness of one type waning did not cause the effectiveness of another to wane as well.

”Is this the Imitator’s mercy?

”No. Wait. That might also be a trap.

”If Lawyer Lin hadn’t appeared, what if I had taken Type F instead of Type M?

”Then I’d have been addicted to two drugs at once.”

The thought made Huang Shengjie feel a chill running through him even now.

If he had truly chosen to trust Zhang Yuan, bought the Type F, and taken it, the effects might have been fine at first. But after a few more rounds, it would almost certainly have produced the same tolerance decay and addiction.

Potentially with both Type O and Type F addiction at the same time.

By that point, he would have been completely at their mercy, beyond anyone’s help.

Fortunately, although Lin Sizhi had appeared a little late, it had not been too late.

Before long, the seventeenth round began and the door opened.

The crawling, ant-like withdrawal pain returned, stronger than before, and it lingered for a long time.

Huang Shengjie could only push through it, shuffling slowly into the Lounge and dropping into the nearest folding chair.

Zhou Xiaoying asked with concern, ”How are you? Are you alright?”

Huang Shengjie nodded and said, ”Fine. Actually, I feel much better.”

Zhou Xiaoying looked doubtful, but Huang Shengjie was telling the truth.

His body felt worse, but his state of mind had improved considerably.

Before, Huang Shengjie had not known how to break free from the situation. It had seemed as though there were several paths available, but none of them actually led anywhere. That sense of pain and hopelessness had been far worse than any physical suffering.

Now that Lin Sizhi had told him the only correct answer was simply to endure the pain, it had become something Huang Shengjie could accept.

But it was clear Zhou Xiaoying had made a different choice.

She had not endured the pain, and that certainly did not mean the addictive effect had vanished.

Huang Shengjie asked with a trace of worry, ”Did you take Type O again?”