God's Imitator

Zheng Chunhua appeared somewhat uncomfortable, unsure whether it was because he seldom spoke in such settings or because the topic this time made him a bit nervous.

Nevertheless, he was a teacher with a good foundation, so after a simple adjustment, he quickly recounted his experiences in the Reflection Room.

"Before entering the Reflection Room, there is a long corridor, with two doors at the end. When I entered, the door on the left was open by default, leading into the Reflection Room.

"The space in the Reflection Room is very large, how should I put it, it’s somewhat like a miniature version of the space outside.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Similarly, it’s a regular hexadecagon space, with sixteen screens, displaying content identical to the screens outside, only much smaller in size.

"Oh, right, let me first explain the specific rules inside the Reflection Room."

Zheng Chunhua paused slightly, then continued:

"The Reflection Room can decide the ambiguous parts not explained in the game rules, such as which standard will be used for elimination in each round, when the questioning phase appears, and exactly which people will be selected during the death vote at the end of the game, and so on.

"In the Reflection Room, only 5 players can have ’voting rights,’ and these 5 players must come from different communities, selected according to the order they enter the Reflection Room.

"The game’s initial ’elimination standard’ is fixed in the order of ’Standard One → Standard Two → Standard Three,’ with no questioning phase.

"Later, once there are 5 players in the Reflection Room, these contents can be freely changed.

"Each of the 5 players has a console, where they can propose plans, such as selecting a certain standard for elimination, and then having other players vote on it.

"If a proposal receives 3 out of 5 votes, it is considered passed.

"If a proposal is vetoed, the proposer temporarily loses their authorization and can only vote, not propose.

"Of course, this situation basically never occurred in the game, because the five of us always discussed everything beforehand."

Yao Yuan asked, "So what about the players who later entered the Reflection Room?"

Zheng Chunhua was a bit surprised, "Were there more players entering the Reflection Room later? I don’t know, from beginning to end, there were only five of us here."

Yao Yuan nodded slightly, "Hmm... then it should be that there’s a special structure inside the Reflection Room.

"You mentioned that at the beginning there was a long corridor with two doors at the end; this should be used for player selection.

"Players who meet the conditions can enter the left side; otherwise, they can only enter the right side.

"The right side should purely be solitary confinement."

Lu Bingjun looked at Zheng Chunhua meaningfully, "I see.

"However, I’m curious, according to Qin Cheng, you two went on stage together to compete for the spokesperson of cigarette-related products. Later, you made some ambiguous comments which led to you being locked in the Reflection Room.

"Qin Cheng didn’t mention the details.

"It sounds like there are two possibilities:

"Either you tried to get by with ambiguous words, and if the insincere review mechanism was lenient, you could smoothly stay as the spokesperson to cover for Qin Cheng;

"Or you deliberately lied at the time to enter the review room on your own initiative.

"Other community players also made similar coverings when entering the review room."

At this point, Lu Qi interjected, "Brother Lu, I’ve actually always had a question.

"Why did the players who initially entered the Reflection Room all use some form of covering? Either deliberately telling ambiguous lies or pretending to lose their temper and throw their masks on stage."

Lu Bingjun said, "Of course, to avoid other players discovering the hidden mechanism as much as possible.

"Though now we know that only 5 players in the Reflection Room have decisive roles and must belong to different communities, players on the field didn’t know this exact rule at the time.

"Besides, the hidden mechanism in the Reflection Room is also directly related to strategies on the field.

"So, for those smarter players, being able to quietly enter the Reflection Room was undoubtedly the best situation.

"If noticed by other players too early, it could cause a rush or interfere with the external plans of their own community."

Lu Qi nodded in realization, "I see."

Lu Bingjun then looked at Zheng Chunhua again, "Old Zheng, out of the two scenarios I mentioned earlier, which one describes you?"

Zheng Chunhua was visibly taken aback, he thought for a moment, "Neither of them.

"At the time, it was like this, I was waiting under the stage for two rounds of games, not knowing what to do.

"As the third game began, when it was confirmed to involve cigarette-related products, Qin Cheng nudged me, then pointed to the stage and then to the Reflection Room.

"I hesitated for a moment, but Qin Cheng nodded again to indicate confirmation.

"So I understood, he wanted me to enter the Reflection Room.

"I just followed him up to the stage in a muddled state.

"While the previous player was speaking, I was considering this. Since the previous player lied to get in, I thought I might as well lie.

"It was only after actually entering the Reflection Room that I understood the reason."

Lu Bingjun said meaningfully, "Oh... I see."

If Qin Cheng hadn’t communicated this with Lu Bingjun in advance, it might have turned into an eternal mystery.

Qin Cheng’s account was that Zheng Chunhua had willingly sought to enter the Reflection Room, consulted him, and he nodded.

Meanwhile, Zheng Chunhua’s account was that Qin Cheng arranged for him to enter the Reflection Room.

The key difference lies in who took the initiative.

If considered from the angle of ’Zheng Chunhua is the Imitator,’ the motive becomes very substantial:

Zheng Chunhua realized that the Reflection Room was essentially a space for testing ’Imitator thinking,’ so entering it voluntarily would increase suspicion of being the Imitator.

Hence, he chose to shift responsibility onto Qin Cheng.

Qin Cheng was the lead player in this game and was eager to elevate his prestige through it. Zheng Chunhua entering the Reflection Room was a crucial step in winning the game, so Qin Cheng had no reason to refuse this credit.

Even if he knew Zheng Chunhua was lying, Qin Cheng wouldn’t expose it, as it was beneficial to him.

In this way, Zheng Chunhua once again distanced himself from suspicion, effectively hiding himself in the game, maintaining his ’bystander player’ persona.

Qin Cheng wouldn’t expose him on the spot, and later on, he most likely would not mention it to maintain his own image. Even if the matter was brought up again privately much later due to other circumstances, the credibility would significantly drop.

From this perspective, Zheng Chunhua’s plan was quite perfect.

But he couldn’t have anticipated that Qin Cheng had just discussed this matter with Lu Bingjun.

Lu Bingjun cast a glance at Qin Cheng, but Qin Cheng said nothing and had no excess expression.

This was indeed a flaw, but just this alone was still not enough, far from enough.

Previously, Qin Cheng had told Lu Bingjun privately that he would only make the final identification and conclusion to avoid alarming the opponent prematurely or arousing unnecessary suspicion, while Lu Bingjun would handle all the groundwork.

Thus, after a brief moment of consideration, Lu Bingjun said, "The core puzzle of this game is clearly the ’Reflection Room.’

"The feature of this game is that it provides no direct clues about ’Reflection Room control over the game,’ leaving it entirely to the players to guess.

"Whether guessed early or late, guessed correctly or incorrectly, this directly determines the game strategy and the final outcome for our side.

"This also happens to be an excellent opportunity to test the learning outcomes of our community.

"Old Zheng, I want you to take the lead this time in making conjectures and breakdowns, focusing on how to roughly guess the hidden framework of the game’s rules without possessing any specific information."