God's Imitator

Huang Shengjie lowered his head and pondered, "From the grouping we discussed earlier, Wei Changfeng, Lu Bingjun, and Ye Lin each have two staunch supporters.

"And Wen Wan, Sister Wanlin, and Aunt Geng are essentially fence-sitters, choosing to align with different groups based on the situation.

"But generally speaking, Wen Wan is clearly closer to Lu Bingjun, and logically, when faced with a problem, her first reaction should be to seek help from Lu Bingjun.

"I remember...

"When we initially determined the pain exemption candidate, Lu Bingjun imposed a ’special exemption slot’ decided by vote. At that time, Wen Wan also seemed very eager for that spot and frequently looked to him.

"But in the end, that slot was given to you.

"Perhaps it’s like this: Wen Wan was initially inclined towards Lu Bingjun, but after repeatedly being disappointed by him, she decided to abandon him and choose Ye Lin instead?

"After all, Ye Lin is also an experienced player, has a certain trust foundation, and they are both women."

Qin Cheng shook his head slightly, "There might be some influence, but merely this shouldn’t cause her to make such impulsive decisions in a life-and-death game.

"Let me tell you something.

"Previously, Lu Bingjun privately tried to recruit me and promised to build the community centered around five people.

"Guess who those five are?"

Huang Shengjie thought for a while, "Hmm... since he tried to recruit you, there must be a spot for you. So, Lu Bingjun, Yao Yuan, Lawyer Lin, you, these four are definite.

"And who’s the fifth?

"Ye Lin? Shen Bowen? It’s really hard to choose.

"It couldn’t be me, right?"

Qin Cheng was silent for a moment, "Neither, it’s Wen Wan."

Huang Shengjie couldn’t quite understand, "Ah? What does this mean?"

Qin Cheng didn’t answer directly, "Lu Bingjun must have his reasons for this arrangement. It’s hard to speculate, but at least one thing is certain: the relationship between Wen Wan and Lu Bingjun is not as simple as it appears in the community.

"In fact, during prior discussions of proposals, Wen Wan did have several occasions where she directly communicated or collaborated with Lu Bingjun. She could also be considered a loyal supporter of his. It should not be just a matter of a ’special exemption slot’ causing them to fall apart.

"Even though Wen Wan is really afraid of pain.

"In reality, after that slot was decided, Wen Wan did speak up for Lu Bingjun, indicating that the issue wasn’t with that."

Huang Shengjie frowned in thought, "If Sister Yelin really is the imitator, getting rid of Wen Wan would mean eliminating a key figure in Lu Bingjun’s power structure. From this perspective, Sister Yelin’s suspicion might be greater?

"But this still doesn’t explain why Wen Wan would actively choose Sister Yelin.

"The only explanation is...

"Some rifts have occurred between Wen Wan and Lu Bingjun, to the extent that she suddenly became completely distrustful of him.

"Similarly, she no longer trusts those who seem close to Lu Bingjun in the community.

"Preferring to turn to Ye Lin for help.

"In my view, Lawyer Lin is an absolutely independent person. He cannot be controlled by Lu Bingjun.

"But... Wen Wan might not see it that way.

"From Wen Wan’s perspective, the relationship between Lawyer Lin and Lu Bingjun can be summarized by these couple of things:

"In ’One Word Breaks the Prison,’ Yao Yuan gave the chance to enter the game to Lawyer Lin, who entered the game as part of the audience and saved Lu Bingjun but not Deng Xiao.

"After that, Lu Bingjun probably had private interactions or deals with Lawyer Lin.

"For example, the open discussion of the ’King’s Judgment’ information is the result of such private dealings.

"Furthermore, Lu Bingjun certainly paid Lawyer Lin certain information as compensation or promised some benefits.

"That’s what is on the surface; what lies beneath is unknown.

"So in Wen Wan’s view, Lawyer Lin is most likely deeply tied to Lu Bingjun in terms of interests.

"Letting Lawyer Lin into the game, or letting Lu Bingjun into the game, might in her view have no essential difference.

"Even if not truly helping her, there could even be a risk of leading her astray, making strength meaningless."

Upon hearing this, Huang Shengjie’s furrowed brow gradually relaxed, "In this way, it seems to make sense.

"If Wen Wan’s selection criterion is ’eliminate all players too closely connected to Lu Bingjun,’ then this result would emerge.

"Because, in her perspective, Lawyer Lin, Yao Yuan, and you are all likely highly bound to Lu Bingjun, leading to a lack of trust.

"Conversely, Ye Lin might be slightly less capable than Lawyer Lin but, in Wen Wan’s eyes, is someone absolutely not controlled by Lu Bingjun.

"Initially, no one expected this to be an S-Class game.

"After all, ’Jury Game’ just got the S-Class status; the probability of two S-Class games occurring consecutively is almost zero—based on first-stage experience.

"If it’s just a general B-Class or A-Class game, Ye Lin should be adequate to handle it.

"As for other players...

"He Qinyun and Uncle Zheng have not shown very strong capabilities, and they are Ye Lin’s staunch supporters, better to go directly to Ye Lin than them.

"And Shen Bowen is a new player; although he hasn’t shown clear interest relationships with Lu Bingjun, often he is obviously self-interested, and Wen Wan lacks a trust foundation with him.

"So... in the ordinary audience, she chose Ye Lin and me.

"But why is the ’Audience Representative’ Lu Qi and not Zhou Wanlin?

"Then it can only be said, Wen Wan doesn’t absolutely trust Zhou Wanlin either.

"There must be some information only Wen Wan knows, driving her to make such a decision."

Qin Cheng nodded, "That’s what I wanted to say.

"From Wen Wan’s selection: she believes Lu Bingjun poses a danger to her, and Ye Lin is the person most likely to save her in the community.

"Her thinking might be right, or wrong.

"Perhaps Lu Bingjun did something that genuinely scared her, or maybe she was incited and misled by Ye Lin, making wrong judgments about Lu Bingjun.

"But no matter how, this is likely her genuine thought."

Huang Shengjie reached another equally shocking conclusion for himself, "So, could the imitator also be Lu Bingjun?"

Qin Cheng considered for a moment, "That’s hard to say, but I’m more inclined to think the imitator must be one of Lu Bingjun or Ye Lin, or someone actually under their control.

"Which means the imitator has already rooted themselves in our community’s political structure.

"Therefore, to eliminate this imitator, we must first impact our community’s political structure, essentially making extreme decisions like severing ties."

Huang Shengjie furrowed his brow tightly, "But if the imitator is really Lu Bingjun, and he controls the community’s power to kill, isn’t that completely unsolvable?"

Qin Cheng didn’t answer directly, simply stating, "I don’t believe there’s an absolutely perfect and unsolvable layout; power doesn’t have eternal owners."

Both fell into silence for a long time.

Qin Cheng let out a long sigh, "Of course, you can choose not to consider these things either.

"If you truly can’t make a decision, just follow your heart."

Huang Shengjie remained silent for a long while before nodding, "Alright."

Qin Cheng stood up, "It’s already late; let’s go back to our rooms and rest early."