God's Imitator

Yao Yuan paused for a moment and continued explaining, "If the help function is used too early, it could easily be wasted.

"Because all player information is gradually revealed as the game progresses.

"The Audience, as observers, can indeed view the game’s content more objectively and comprehensively, but they’re not omniscient, so the information they get isn’t necessarily more than that of the average player.

"Community 7 is a case in point: they actually wasted this opportunity to seek help.

"Tang Qing should be one of the core players of Community 7, and with more time to think and observe, perhaps more information could have been gathered.

"However, Wei Hongbing’s death made Li Hui panic, and since Shi Guoliang and Li Hui couldn’t reach any cooperation, Li Hui hurriedly used the help opportunity.

"The information at that time was not enough to support Tang Qing in finding the Disguiser, so breaking out from a higher dimension wasn’t possible.

"Therefore, his speech just became an ’enhanced version of the Sinners’ speech,’ which means it could only defend the Sinners of his community by attacking other players.

"After thinking it over, Tang Qing chose to attack Deng Xiao, who had been overlooked before but was a very suitable target.

"In the short term, this strategy indeed worked, as Deng Xiao was attacked and gave Li Hui a brief respite.

"But from the perspective of post-game analysis, it was like drinking poison to quench thirst. Because afterward, Brother Lu immediately seized on Li Hui’s loophole for revenge, and Li Hui couldn’t survive.

"But Tang Qing was powerless in this situation; he might have foreseen such an outcome, but after Li Hui sought help, he didn’t have a choice but to proceed.

"He couldn’t just say nothing, after all.

"Our community is the same: if the help function is used too early without sufficient evidence, Lawyer Lin might not realize Xu Guangxin is the real Disguiser, which would lead to a speech like Tang Qing’s.

"And even if Lawyer Lin later found the Disguiser, the only chance to seek help would have been used, and he couldn’t speak again.

"Even if, stepping back, Lawyer Lin has a sharp enough intuition to detect Xu Guangxin’s unusual behavior without enough evidence, how would he convince other players to vote?

"Without offering strong enough evidence, it could backfire instead.

"Of course, using it too late and missing a crucial window when the timing is right would also be a mistake.

"But no matter what, players inside the game cannot accurately judge whether the ’Audience’ of their community has grasped enough key information to turn the tide, so hesitation over whether to use the help function is inevitable.

"If you think players should disregard everything and use their valuable chance early to seek help from Lawyer Lin, it just shows you’re certain Lawyer Lin knew the truth from the beginning. In that case, who else could he be but the Imitator who designed this game?

"To be honest, the truly perfect window to use the help opportunity is during the writing phase of the sixth round of the game.

"But Deng Xiao sought help in the seventh round.

"It was just one round after the perfect timing, which isn’t all that unreasonable.

"During the writing phase, players not only have to consider what content to transcribe on the board but also whether to seek help, a slight hesitation could cost that opportunity.

"Analyzing this issue with hindsight after the game is pointless."

Lu Qi lowered his head somewhat sheepishly: "Sorry, I just asked casually, I didn’t think too much about it."

Yao Yuan nodded, "It’s okay, as a newcomer, it’s understandable to ask some stupid questions, and everyone is quite tolerant.

"Since it’s a free discussion during the post-game review, everyone is welcome to speak freely.

"However, I also have to remind everyone that words spoken without thought can be taken to heart by listeners. For your own sake and the community’s, it’s worth thinking over certain statements before speaking them."

The group fell into silence, clearly indicating that this topic should not continue further.

Yao Yuan’s stance was clear: overly critiquing a player’s performance during the game might wrongly appeal to motives, interpreting compelled mistakes as intentional malicious behavior, thereby damaging community friendship and stability.

Yao Yuan’s explanation obviously didn’t convince everyone.

Was the perfect window really only the writing time of the sixth game round?

What about the fifth round? Seeking help before Xu Guangxin would mean the speaking time for the fifth round would be occupied by Lin Si.

Lin Si’s speech may not be the same as Bai Zilan’s, so would the situation unfold differently?

But given what Yao Yuan already stated, it wasn’t appropriate to argue over what seemed like a minor issue.

So most players fell into silence.

However, at this moment, Lu Bingjun spoke up.

"Actually, I have a rough idea of Deng Xiao’s thoughts.

"He might have overestimated his physical condition and simultaneously wanted to hold on a bit longer to buy us more time.

"I checked his voting records."

As soon as Lu Bingjun finished speaking, the query results appeared on the big screen.

Everyone was a bit surprised, but they quickly realized that Lu Bingjun had likely queried it using the vending machine in his room during the break.

The query had already consumed the corresponding authentication time, so it could be viewed at any time without additional cost.

The records clearly showed the sentences Deng Xiao chose to transcribe, the lie detector results, and voting situation for each game round. However, the records were quite succinct and didn’t include his spoken content.

It was clear he had queried the basic version of the game records.

A more complex version of the records would have been too expensive, and as someone who experienced the game firsthand, Lu Bingjun didn’t see a need to spend that unnecessary money.

Among the multitude of information, one piece was quite eye-catching.

The fourth game round, which was when Li Hui sought help from Tang Qing, and Tang Qing accused Deng Xiao.

Deng Xiao cast his Sudden Death Ticket for Lu Bingjun.

Many people’s expressions seemed hard to describe, the display of this record brought a kind of awkward exposure of the deceased’s privacy.

But Lu Bingjun’s expression remained serious, "Don’t misunderstand, I didn’t query this record to cast blame or lay the responsibility on Deng Xiao.

"At the time, Tang Qing accused Deng Xiao of committing a crime and restricted all players to vote according to the crime standards. With other players’ crimes not fully revealed, Deng Xiao likely had no way but to choose between me and himself for the Sudden Death Ticket.

"He probably could only make a choice between the two of us.

"I believe his decision was correct.

"If I could communicate, I would have also chosen to let him vote for me.

"Because we are allies from the same community, in such a situation, I should unconditionally split the vote with him, sharing the risk.

"However, perhaps for this very reason, he felt a bit guilty toward me, or he believed he could hold on for more rounds. So he hesitated all the way, ultimately deciding to delay the help-seeking.

"I chose to respect his decision then."