God's Imitator

Zhou Xiaoying hesitated slightly. It was obviously somewhat inappropriate to be sharing information about her community.

But she and Huang Shengjie were both new players, and they had been through the Pain Game together. The foundation of trust between them was actually not bad, and was in many ways stronger than what she shared with some of the more distant players in Community 23 whom she barely knew.

Given that Huang Shengjie had already shown his goodwill first, Zhou Xiaoying’s guard visibly relaxed.

”Our community did also buy out all the medications.

”Everything is distributed by our community leader based on performance in the games.

”Players who performed well get a larger share, and can sell it on freely. Players who performed poorly get less, but not nothing.

”If you ration carefully, it just about covers what you need.

”Some players who can’t bear the severe pain in the community occasionally take a tablet or two.”

Huang Shengjie’s expression grew serious, ”What’s the name of your community’s leader?”

Zhou Xiaoying, still looking down, said, ”Zhao Heng.”Huang Shengjie was visibly angry, ”Can’t you see what’s happening? This Zhao Heng is clearly trying to use those medications to control all of you.

”He buys everything and distributes everything himself, which means none of you can afford to defy him.

”And what’s even more vicious is that he’s letting players who aren’t yet addicted use the special medications to manage the severe pain in the community. That is genuinely malicious.

”Because our community has already found out that even just the basic painkillers are enough to get through it, regardless of gender or age.

”And once you’re addicted, I know exactly what that feels like, and it is far more frequent and far worse than anything the community pain inflicts.

”The community’s severe pain only hits a randomly selected player every few days, and it’s just pain, nothing else. No side effects so far.

”But withdrawal from the medications is relentless. It never lets up.

”Every player who was pushed into using the special medications to manage the community pain is going to regret it.”

Zhou Xiaoying fell quiet, ”I know, but what can anyone do about it?”

Huang Shengjie blinked, ”Hmm?”

Zhou Xiaoying gave a bitter smile, ”Is that really such a hard thing to figure out?

”I already know he’s going to keep raising the price of the medications, slowly bleeding visa time out of us like a blunt knife dragging across flesh, then use motions to redistribute that visa time in ways that benefit him, until everyone in the community has become his slave.

”He might even deliberately cut off the supply at some point, forcing us back into that pain, so we have no choice but to submit completely.

”But what are we supposed to do about it? Our community’s situation is very particular. He’s already got an almost total grip on the whole community. We have no way to resist.

”If there were actually a way out, who would willingly let themselves be used like this?

”But I can’t see one. I genuinely don’t know how.”

Huang Shengjie went still. He only now realised just how vastly different the internal dynamics of each community could be, in some cases differing more widely than the gap between human society and the animal world.

From what Zhou Xiaoying described, Community 23 was closer to a community where one voice ruled, with the leader holding absolute authority and control.

Huang Shengjie asked, ”Was your community newly formed at the start of the Second Stage?”

Zhou Xiaoying shook her head, ”No. The six veteran players in the community, Zhao Heng included, are all holdovers from the First Stage. They just had their community number changed and were reorganised when the Second Stage began.

”The rest of us are either new players who only joined in the Second Stage, or players who were on the fringes of weaker communities in the First Stage.

”We don’t trust each other, and we can’t organise.”

Huang Shengjie’s brow furrowed, ”Of course.

”Zhao Heng has his own core group and controls nearly all the resources in the community. Without a strong enough player among the new members to step up and rally people, there’s no realistic hope of any resistance succeeding.

”So, would you consider coming to our community?”

Zhou Xiaoying blinked, ”What?”

Huang Shengjie explained, ”Our community has one open slot right now, and we can poach a player from a game.

”I do have to be honest with you: I still need to discuss it with my other community members. And the vacancy we have is for a male player, so you don’t fully meet the criteria we had in mind.

”But I think under the right conditions, I can convince them.”

Zhou Xiaoying looked puzzled, ”What conditions?”

Huang Shengjie said, his tone serious, ”Help us win this game.

”Setting aside the two players inside the prison, we’re effectively in a three-versus-three situation right now, with each role perfectly matched: Distributor, Inspector, Patroller. No one can cover two positions at once.

”Which means you, as the Patroller, could work with me to deliver Contraband into our community’s prison and earn an absolutely extraordinary amount of returns.

”Think about it. If we each end up bringing back a hundred thousand minutes of visa time or more, and you played a critical role in making that happen, what possible reason would our community have to turn you away?

”And once you’re in our community, in a completely different environment, I’m confident you’d be able to do exactly what I did and break free from the withdrawal pain entirely.

”So, what do you think? Consider it?”

Zhou Xiaoying seemed drawn by the idea, but she quickly shook her head, ”I can’t just take your word for it like that.

”What if I help you and then you go back on your word?

”If I end up being forced to return to Community 23 after all, how do I explain that to everyone else? They won’t tolerate a traitor.”

Huang Shengjie said quickly, ”You don’t need to worry about that. The Gallery’s underlying rules anticipated exactly this kind of situation.

”I looked into it specifically beforehand. The way poaching works is this.

”The entire process takes place completely behind the scenes: I first get the agreement of the other Community 2 players in this game, and then I extend the invitation to you. Once all of them verbally confirm, it takes effect.

”At that point, the commitment to accept you as a member is locked in at the level of the game’s mechanics. Meaning our community cannot back out.”

He paused briefly and continued, ”I know this is a significant decision for you and deserves careful thought. There’s no rush, because I also need time to convince the others.

”Fortunately, this game runs for a long time, and there’s nothing particularly pressing to do during the rest periods.

”I’ll go and sound out the other players first and work on convincing them. Once I’m ready, I’ll send you the invitation.

”Once you’re one hundred percent certain you’re in our community, then you can start helping me deliver the Contraband.

”Until the game ends, your status is still that of a Community 23 player, which means you can keep wearing Community 23’s Inspector Armband and move freely through the mist.

”In short, as long as the two of us reach an agreement, we can completely decide this match between us. This is an absolutely perfect, guaranteed winning strategy.”

Zhou Xiaoying’s expression was conflicted. She seemed to be caught in the grip of considerable indecision.

But she still could not bring herself to commit on the spot. She looked at Huang Shengjie and finally said, ”I... let me think about it a little more. Go work on convincing your community members first. After all, everyone has to agree for this to work, don’t they? Even one person saying no would be enough to kill the whole thing.”

Huang Shengjie nodded, ”Right, don’t worry. I’ll do everything I can.”