God's Imitator

Lin Sizhi set down his teacup, ”I lean toward this being the truth.

”Because of the second half: ’my appetite is huge.’

”This is offered as evidence of ’not being tired,’ and since A said it, B would likely have some way to verify it.

”This conversation may have taken place in the morning or during a lunch break. Whether they were about to eat, in the middle of eating, or had just finished, A would probably have been showing B how much they were eating.

”For the statement to be persuasive, A would genuinely have to eat noticeably more than usual.

”If A were not truly in some kind of heightened, energised state, it’s unlikely they would simply force themselves to eat beyond their normal capacity just to make a point.

”So A was probably genuinely very hungry, in some kind of excited physiological state, which means ’not being tired’ is also very likely true.”

Bai Zhilan was pensive, ”That doesn’t sound like a good sign.”

Tang Qing nodded, ”This sounds like a prolonged state of sympathetic nervous system activation.

”In that state, the body continuously produces adrenaline and cortisol, which creates a temporary sense of wellbeing.”But in reality, it’s a serious drain on the body and increases health risks considerably.

”Of course, individual physical condition varies. It’s hard to say how long A has been in this state. If they’re young and it hasn’t been going on too long, there probably wouldn’t be too serious a consequence.

”But there is another possibility.”

All three fell silent, and each pressed their button.

The ’other possibility’ Tang Qing had mentioned was almost certainly the only possibility.

Because this was a Judgment Game, and Judgment Games almost certainly involved people who had died.

Both sentences seen so far were unremarkable on their own, but appearing in a Judgment Game, they almost certainly pointed toward the worst possible outcome.

The sentence on the large screen received a ’√’ and gradually faded. New content appeared.

[How come this gum has no flavour.]

Bai Zhilan was momentarily at a loss, ”Is this really a puzzle? That seems a little absurd.

”Taken at face value, is it about impaired taste?

”From what I know, chewing gum almost always has a fairly strong flavour, whether mint or fruit. That’s what makes it useful for ’freshening breath.’

”So,

”If someone can’t even taste gum, the only explanation is that their sense of taste is impaired.

”It could be from long-term consumption of very strong flavours that has damaged the mouth, or it could be that after chewing the gum for a while, they feel the flavour faded faster than expected, which led to this remark.

”But, that doesn’t seem to prove very much.”

Tang Qing’s brow also furrowed, ”Yes. I don’t think that’s the correct answer.

”There should be other information hidden in this sentence that we can’t arrive at from the literal reading alone.

”Are we missing something?”

Lin Sizhi took a sip of tea and looked at the other two, ”If we have no leads, let’s just skip it and move on.

”Continuing to think about it is unlikely to get us anywhere. Better to push the game forward quickly.

”After all, the other players are waiting for us to get through this part.”

Tang Qing considered briefly, ”Yes, that’s reasonable.”

Bai Zhilan frowned, ”Wait, are we giving up that quickly? Maybe we could think for ten more minutes?

”This is a Judgment Game. It could determine whether certain players live or die. Being careful doesn’t seem unreasonable.”

Tang Qing sighed, ”None of the three of us are unintelligent. If any of us were going to find a direction, we would have found one by now.

”If we’re genuinely at a complete loss, ten more minutes won’t change the result.

”Either way, that’s two votes to pass versus one. Do you want to keep insisting? I don’t really mind either way.”

As he finished speaking, Tang Qing had already pressed his button first.

Bai Zhilan deliberated for a moment, but thinking it over, she acknowledged that Tang Qing had a point. Stubbornly persisting without any lead to go on was unlikely to help.

So somewhat reluctantly, she pressed her button too.

She knew that when this sentence disappeared, it would almost certainly not receive a ’√.’ There was information she had failed to identify, which might have some effect on how the game proceeded.

But there was truly no direction to pursue.

The sentence on the large screen, however, did not disappear.

Tang Qing looked at Lin Sizhi with mild surprise.

Lin Sizhi, who had been the first to suggest skipping, had not pressed his button.

”In real life, chewing gum, whether regular or sugar-free, would rarely be described as having no flavour.

”Because even sugar-free gum contains sweetener substitutes. When you first chew it, it tastes noticeably sweet, and the mint or fruit flavour is present in full.

”But there is one type of gum that genuinely fits the description of having ’no flavour.’

”Nicotine replacement gum.”

Bai Zhilan’s eyes widened slightly with surprise, ”Hmm? Something like that exists?”

Lin Sizhi nodded, ”Yes.

”Regular gum is for cleaning teeth and freshening breath. But nicotine replacement gum’s primary purpose is none of those things. It’s mainly used for nicotine replacement therapy.

”For heavy smokers, quitting is extremely difficult, because you face both physiological and psychological withdrawal.

”The physiological side involves nicotine dependence, which triggers withdrawal symptoms. The psychological side involves the habitual impulse to smoke that gets triggered by specific times of day or specific situations.

”So nicotine replacement therapy works by introducing a small amount of nicotine to ease the withdrawal response, helping the person quit smoking.

”Many smokers also use various other methods to address the habitual, psychological side. For instance, they might eat lollipops, snack on things, chew on strips of carrot, or play with a fidget spinner, to keep their mouth and hands occupied as a substitute for the habitual act of smoking.

”Nicotine replacement gum works on this principle.

”The way you use it is different from ordinary gum. You mostly just keep it tucked in your cheek and only chew it briefly every so often.

”The chewing action helps with the psychological dependence, while the nicotine addresses the physical.

”To control the rate at which nicotine is released, the formulation is different from ordinary gum, so the flavour really is noticeably weaker.

”On top of that, long-term smokers tend to have less sensitive taste buds overall, which means they perceive flavour less strongly to begin with.

”So the most logical interpretation is this.

”The person saying this is a smoker. They’re attempting to use gum to quit smoking, but after trying it, they find the flavour is far milder than ordinary gum.

”Hence the remark.”

Bai Zhilan looked at him with mild astonishment, her eyes slightly wider than before, ”Impressive. Do you smoke?”

Lin Sizhi shook his head, ”I’ve just happened to come across some incidental information at various points.”

Tang Qing also began to applaud, ”Well done. I think that’s the correct answer to the third puzzle.”

But Bai Zhilan had already realised something. She looked at Lin Sizhi, then at Tang Qing.

”You already knew the answer but deliberately didn’t say anything, didn’t you?”