God's Imitator

Lin Sizhi gave a slight shake of his head, ”That said, it wouldn’t be fair to compare game ratings along just that one dimension.

”The two games have different objectives and different rules.

”Each has its own merits, and neither is definitively superior.

”Relatively speaking, the design intent behind the ‘Jury Game’ was fairly balanced. While it did target the weaker roles, it wasn’t designed to put anyone in an inescapable situation.

”That game was more about competition between players, with the Imitator serving as a somewhat unfair referee.

”The ‘King’s Judgment’ is a different matter entirely. It wasn’t about competition between players. The Imitator stepped in directly to set the board and engineer a specific outcome.

”So the degree to which a game targets players is a measure of the Imitator’s malice, not a complete measure of their actual ability.”

Lu Bingjun gave a nod, ”That’s exactly what I was going to say.

”I think the ‘King’s Judgment’ illustrates very clearly the essential nature of a Judgment Game, which is to target an offender’s character and the darker parts of their nature.

”Given Ding Wenqiang’s personality, the game’s rules appeared on the surface to leave him a number of ways to survive, but he could only ever walk toward the one path that led to his death.”That kind of subtle construction is something we genuinely hadn’t seen anywhere in our entire region before.

”It’s no surprise the two regions turned out so differently.”

Shen Bowen asked, her tone thoughtful, ”In the end, was the Imitator ever found?”

Lin Sizhi gave a noncommittal look, ”I don’t think this is the right moment to answer that question.

”Even revealing whether or not they were found could influence how people are thinking about it.”

Lu Bingjun gave a nod, ”Yes. Let’s leave the answer to the ‘King’s Judgment’ for when Lawyer Lin feels the time is right to reveal it.

”I agree with that approach. Whether or not there’s a definitive answer, sharing it now would be squandering a valuable learning opportunity.

”Reading the answer directly and working your way toward a conclusion through careful thought are two very different experiences in terms of what they actually give you.

”For an A-tier game, perhaps that level of caution isn’t necessary. But for an S-tier game, no amount of care is excessive.”

He paused briefly and looked around the room, ”Is there anyone else who wants to speak freely? If not, we’ll follow the motion and go around the table starting from my right, moving counterclockwise.

”Try to reach one minute each. If you fall short, that’s fine too. It’s a good opportunity to test how the new rule actually works.

”Players who have already spoken are free to contribute again if they’d like.”

No one had thought to bring a timer, so each player would have to estimate when their minute was up based on their own sense of time.

There were timers available for purchase at the vending machine, but Lu Bingjun and Yao Yuan seemed to want to test whether the community rules would activate automatically, deducting visa time from any player who failed to reach the one-minute threshold.

By the seating order, the first player to Lu Bingjun’s right was Lin Sizhi, followed by He Qinyun. So He Qinyun spoke first.

”I think the audience members are highly suspicious.

”In this game, the audience could send messages to exert a degree of influence over the King’s behaviour, and even potentially direct it. That would be an ideal position for the Imitator.

”The audience slots were open for voluntary sign-up, so as long as the Imitator was willing to do so, they could almost guarantee getting in.”

Shen Bowen, seated to He Qinyun’s right, thought for a moment and then said, ”The game contained various mechanisms, including the farmer’s walking mechanism and the mechanisms inside each cell.

”With that in mind, I think the Imitator may have a background in science or engineering.

”There are many ways to design a game, and someone with a technical mindset might instinctively gravitate toward mechanical solutions, and would also be better placed to design them in a way that actually holds together.”

Both of them, knowing from the outset that they needed to fill a minute, had stretched their contributions out somewhat. When the substance ran dry, repeating key points and adjusting pacing were both options.

The players who followed quietly adopted the same approach.

Zhang Yan thought for a moment, ”The Imitator is among the audience, and yet ends up shooting themselves in the foot?

”That doesn’t feel like the kind of mistake an Imitator capable of designing an S-tier game would make.

”An S-tier Imitator probably has goals beyond simply earning visa time. This game may have been about testing certain mechanisms, or about playing with people’s psychology.

”Besides, the Imitator already earns income from the game itself. There’s no need to take an audience slot just to earn a second cut.”

Ye Lin considered for a moment, ”I don’t think we need to over-mystify an S-tier Imitator.

”That’s not to say they aren’t dangerous, but we should keep the timing in mind.

”This was only the second game of the first stage. Even the strongest Imitator would be unlikely to produce something perfect from the very beginning. There were probably a fair number of chance factors in why this game turned out the way it did.

”On balance, I think the more likely possibility is that the Imitator was the unrelated sixth person from outside the original community.”

Both Ye Lin and Qin Cheng had already spoken earlier, but they each added a further point now.

Wen Wan looked a little uncertain, ”Even if it’s an S-tier Imitator, this was still only the second game. They can’t have had much visa time at that stage.

”What if they felt the income from the Imitator role wasn’t enough? Taking an audience slot to earn an extra cut doesn’t seem unreasonable.

”No one ever has too much visa time.”

Geng Yuxia noticed it was suddenly her turn and looked a little flustered, but steadied herself and said, ”I was thinking, should we all be doing more physical exercise going forward?

”Carrying things like in this game, it’s a bit like carrying a shoulder pole. That really is hard. What if we ended up in something like that? Players who aren’t in good shape would be in a real bind.

”It’s not impossible for an Imitator to borrow the idea.

”You young ones would probably be fine, but at my age, I honestly don’t know what I’d do.”

Zhou Wanlin nodded in agreement, ”Auntie has a point. We really should be exercising more.

”There were physical challenges in the ‘Prison Factory’ as well, and players with better fitness definitely had an advantage there.

”The community does have a gym, and people can run outside too. We should all be more active going forward. Maybe someone could organise a regular exercise time together.

”It’s a shame Deng Xiao is gone. He could have given us some guidance.”

Zheng Chunhua raised his head a little uncertainly and looked around the room, ”I think the Imitator behind the ‘King’s Judgment’ was probably someone with relatively high social standing, someone fairly successful.

”Not necessarily at Wang Yongxin’s level, but probably not far off. They may also have had some background in psychology or something similar.

”I think my own mentality is somewhat similar to Ding Wenqiang’s. Or perhaps people of our type tend to have certain things in common.

”But you can never recognise that kind of character flaw in yourself. It takes someone from a different position to see it clearly.”