God's Imitator

After the first two rounds, the players in the third round were noticeably faster at copying their chosen sentences onto the boards.

They had grown familiar with the game and could more accurately assess how dangerous each of the two sentences on their board was, making it easier to choose the relatively safer option.

Lu Bingjun had indeed been selected as moderator, and quickly arranged the speaking order.

Before long, writing time ended.

The six inner room players each flipped their boards to display them.

The blonde-streaked Li Hui realised his mouth restraint had unlocked. Lu Bingjun had placed him first.

[I am not enthusiastic about sharing my hobbies with friends. (Red)]

But he made no mention of what was written on his board. Without any hesitation, he directed his attack straight at Xu Guangxin.

”Don’t get confused, everyone. Working a job does far more damage to a person than staying up late!

”All I do is keep irregular hours. I sleep when I’m tired. My total daily sleep is completely adequate!”As for people who work overtime, can they say the same?

”No matter how disordered your schedule is, as long as you’re not working, I’ve never seen anyone die of sudden cardiac arrest from it. Meanwhile, workers dropping dead at their desks happens all the time!

”Think about it carefully. A person who endures relentless overwork and constant oppression on one side, and a person with no job who lives freely and wakes up naturally every day on the other. Which one is more likely to die suddenly? It’s obvious!”

Clearly, after Xu Guangxin’s refusal to spare him in the previous round, the two had become bitter enemies.

Even a patient man has his limits, and after being stabbed twice in consecutive rounds, Li Hui seemed to have made up his mind: whatever happened from here, he and Xu Guangxin were going to fight to the end.

Xu Guangxin was next to speak.

Many had expected him to keep hammering Li Hui, but his tone was surprisingly calm.

Xu Guangxin pointed to his board.

[Before coming to this new world, I had to swallow my anger most of the time just to get by. (Black)]

”Before coming here, I was just a social outcast. An office worker who couldn’t afford to quit. Someone who got pushed around and never fought back.

”But the new world changed me.

”I decided to live differently.

”If my actions have hurt anyone, I apologise. But that’s how life used to treat me too.”

Unexpectedly, Xu Guangxin chose not to attack anyone in this round. He adopted a purely defensive stance.

Lu Bingjun had placed Wei Hongbing third.

[Community 11 - Wei Hongbing (Female): I dislike people from out of town. (Black)]

She glanced at the board on Lu Bingjun’s chest, then let out a cold laugh.

[Community 2 - Lu Bingjun: I consider it the employee’s own problem if they die from overwork. (Black)]

”Everyone, I ask you, is this not the direct cause of someone being worked to death?

”Is that a thing a human being would say?

”If being a landlord who occasionally argues with tenants means I should bear full responsibility for a death, then what does that make you, this kind of throwback exploiter?

”Look at the identities among the six of us: boss, senior executive, landlord, personal trainer, office worker, and unemployed person.

”Think carefully about who poses the greatest harm and who should bear the primary responsibility for the victim’s death.

”Without question, it’s the boss and the senior executive. Are you not the ones who oppress working people?

”With those two identities already here, does anyone seriously think it comes down to a small-time landlord like me?”

In the previous round, Lu Bingjun’s attack on Wei Hongbing had clearly built up significant animosity. So even though he had not yet spoken this round, Wei Hongbing had decided to strike first and direct her attack at him.

Shi Guoliang was placed fourth.

In the two previous rounds, his statements had been very brief and entirely non-aggressive.

But this time, in an unexpected turn, he began to defend Lu Bingjun.

[Community 7 - Shi Guoliang: My company does not produce pre-packaged food. (Black)]

”A person has many roles in society. Why are you so certain that Shi Guoliang and Lu Bingjun were necessarily the victim’s superiors?

”The two of us don’t even know each other.

”We may both be connected to the victim, but that connection isn’t necessarily direct.

”As for what my relationship to the victim actually is, I genuinely don’t know right now. I cannot think of any case of an employee dying, let alone dying from sudden cardiac arrest, in my company.

”Given the benefits and conditions at my company, if an employee actually died that way, it would have been a significant public matter. I would certainly have known about it and would have paid compensation out of basic human consideration.

”If the victim was simply not one of my employees, your argument falls apart entirely.

”And as for you, being a landlord is nothing to be modest about.

”When workers suffer under a boss or executive, at least they still get paid. When they suffer under a landlord, they hand over what little savings they have.

”Consider what you wrote on your board: as a local, you dislike outsiders.

”Who the victim hated more, that I genuinely cannot say.”

His primary aim was clearly not to defend Lu Bingjun, but to deflect responsibility from himself.

Even so, he did objectively take some of the pressure off Lu Bingjun in the process.

Deng Xiao’s turn came.

[Community 2 - Deng Xiao: Whenever I feel intense discomfort during exercise, I immediately stop to rest. (Red)]

He hesitated briefly, but made up his mind quickly and also directed his attack at Wei Hongbing.

”Anyone who has ever rented a place knows how infuriating an unreasonable landlord can be.

”One ordeal like that takes ten years off your life. I’m not exaggerating in the slightest.

”And why do we office workers not dare to quit our jobs?

”Is it because the company or the boss restricts us? Of course not. There’s nothing in any employment contract that binds you. You can quit anytime you want.

”What actually stops workers from quitting is rent!

”If rent weren’t a concern, quitting a job just means going home and being an extra pair of chopsticks at the dinner table.

”It’s rent that suffocates us, rent that makes quitting unthinkable!

”I’ve also heard that certain landlords, the moment they see salaries at major companies go up, immediately raise their rent by the same amount.

”Workers exhaust themselves, manage to squeeze a salary and a bonus out of their boss, then turn around and hand every bit of it straight to the landlord.

”Who do you think is more deserving of resentment?”

As moderator, Lu Bingjun had naturally placed himself last.

[Community 2 - Lu Bingjun: I consider it the employee’s own problem if they die from overwork. (Black)]

”When it comes to employees dying from overwork, I feel deep sympathy.

”But I do genuinely believe that is their own problem.

”I’m barely considered management now, but I worked my way up from the very bottom.

”When companies assign tasks, they cannot always calibrate the workload perfectly. There’s often some flexibility.

”For employees, if the workload you’re given clearly exceeds what’s reasonable, you can object. You can make the case. You can explain the situation to your supervisor.

”I think most managers, in order to ensure work gets done on time, wouldn’t place all their hopes on a single employee anyway.

”And even in the most extreme circumstances, for the sake of your own health, you can transfer jobs or quit.

”If I died from overwork, I would hold myself fully responsible. We do not live in an era where you starve if you stop working.

”Even if you quit your job, you can always find something to eat. Starvation is not the outcome.

”But if a landlord confiscates a tenant’s deposit on any excuse they like, then someone in poverty genuinely has nowhere to go but the street.”