God's Imitator

Chen Yumei’s face was covered by a mask, so no expression of surprise could be seen, but there was clearly a trace of it in her voice.

"Community 7, where Tang Qing is?"

Yao Yuan likewise didn’t give any definitive answer, but just guessing this much was enough for him to show his strength to Chen Yumei.

After thinking for another moment, Chen Yumei finally said, "Seven.

"We’ve decided to end the game with seven Spokespersons remaining."

Yao Yuan nodded. "More or less what I estimated; that’s not surprising.

"Then, out of the remaining two Spokespersons, we want one first.

"That’s to prevent you from going back on the deal."

Chen Yumei immediately shook her head. "No way! We can carve out some slots from one of the Spokespersons for you, let some of your players enter the top ten in heat, but there’s no way we’re directly giving you a Spokesperson."

Yao Yuan didn’t back down at all. "I never haggle.

"These are Chips I’m asking for on behalf of three Communities together. You only have two options: either accept them and let the game end smoothly according to the original plan; or refuse, and then we just keep dragging this out.

"You should be very clear that, under this game’s mechanics, it’s not easy to end the game cleanly. As long as we choose to sabotage, you’ll have to be ready for a war of attrition.

"We don’t want to see that outcome; in the end both sides will suffer huge losses.

"But we’re not going to give up what’s necessary for us.

"How you handle it is up to you to think through."

Chen Yumei stared at Yao Yuan, thinking for a long time, seemingly weighing and reweighing.

But after pondering for quite a while, she still finally nodded.

"Whether Community 7, where you and Tang Qing are, is really in an ’alliance relationship’ with you—I still need to verify that further.

"If it’s true, I can agree to your terms.

"When the time is right, before the new Spokesperson goes on stage, I’ll notify you one round in advance."

Yao Yuan nodded, but before Chen Yumei left, he added, "Can you make decisions on behalf of Community 15 and Community 17?"

Chen Yumei didn’t answer; she simply turned and left.

Yao Yuan fell into serious thought again, as if trying to extract additional information hidden in Chen Yumei’s reactions.

Then he turned once more to Lu Qi and the others. "I’m heading out. You keep doing what you’ve been doing: watch Qin Cheng closely.

"If anything unexpected happens, send one player to where Community 7 or Community 24 is located to find me."

The four of them each nodded.

Lu Qi couldn’t shake a sense of unease. As an Agent player, Yao Yuan had been running around nonstop, yet she herself couldn’t do anything, nor was she able to help.

But judging from the situation now, Yao Yuan clearly already had a complete plan.

The rest of them could only stick to their own roles and finish the tasks previously assigned.

...

[Seventh round of the game begins!]

[The endorsed product for this round is: dessert products in the Community.]

[If the Spokesperson for this product is not eliminated in the final round of the game, and gains the highest heat among all Spokespersons, ’desserts in the Community will receive a special buff.’]

[Players who intend to become the ’Dessert Spokesperson’, please go on stage within 5 minutes.]

Unlike previous rounds, during the full five minutes, not a single player went on stage.

For the first time, the Audience’s main venue returned to the silence and dead calm of when the game had just begun.

Obviously, the vast majority of Communities had already realized a basic fact: in this game, there are already players who’ve found a way to control how Spokespersons are selected and eliminated. At this point, choosing to go on stage is utterly pointless.

Because the plot of the previous round would repeat endlessly: the new Spokespersons would be accurately culled down to a single player by the ’third elimination criterion’, and then the last player would be knocked out in the ’questioning segment’, leaving no survivors.

All Spokespersons who go on stage would unconditionally lose 30,000 minutes of visa time.

Even if they could gain a bit of heat from the Audience’s gaze, it would never exceed 3,000, which is completely not worth it.

This round’s endorsed product is ’desserts’, not exactly something that must be fought for.

So the players all chose to wait and watch.

Since no new Spokesperson went on stage, the game flow very intelligently skipped the speech phase.

[!!! Frenzy Time !!!]

[Please keep staring at the Spokesperson you support to provide them with ’heat value’!]

[09:59...]

Shen Qingyun and the players of Community 24 chose to gaze at Qin Cheng, providing him with heat. This was part of the cooperation previously agreed on with Yao Yuan.

First, the players of Community 24 would unreservedly provide heat for Qin Cheng. In return, Yao Yuan would do his best in a later round to secure a Spokesperson slot for them.

Or at least fight to get the Audience from their Community into the top ten in heat for some later Spokesperson, thereby reducing their losses.

From the structure of the deal, Community 24’s players would definitely gain more, but they had to pay upfront and faced the risk of being freeloaded on.

The reason Shen Qingyun agreed to such terms was mainly based on two points.

First, Community 2 had a fairly good reputation from the Pain Game, which had left a strong impression on Shen Qingyun.

Second, Community 24 was not really a strong Community. They couldn’t think of any better strategy in this game and could only accept the olive branch Yao Yuan extended.

Soon, Frenzy Time ended and the game entered the elimination phase.

This time, it was still based on the first criterion: the 50% of Spokespersons with the lowest heat were eliminated.

The tea Spokesperson from Community 9 was finally eliminated as well, leaving just five Spokespersons on stage—and from the current situation, this number would very likely remain stable.

Alcohol Spokesperson: Jiang Chenyan.

Luxury Spokesperson: Gao Jialiang.

Tobacco Spokesperson: Qin Cheng.

Drug Spokesperson: Hu Yingxu.

Tea Spokesperson: Tang Qing.

Yao Yuan once more returned to the area where Community 24 was located.

"I just finished negotiations with the Agent from Community 18, and shared information with the Agent from Community 7.

"Before the game ends, there should be one Spokesperson slot available. When that time comes, you’ll select a player to go on stage as a Spokesperson, and you’ll be able to minimize your losses.

"However, right now I can’t guarantee that their promise is 100% reliable, but broadly speaking, it should be fine.

"From here on, you don’t need to deliberately do anything. Just wait patiently."

Shen Qingyun realized that during this period, Yao Yuan must have done quite a lot, but she had no idea what exactly could be done.

She hadn’t even fully figured out some of the key suspicious points.

"If you have the time, could you maybe explain briefly what’s really going on?

"For example... why don’t the Audience adopt a mutually beneficial, win–win approach?

"Like that coffee Spokesperson said before being eliminated: having more categories of endorsed products is something that benefits all players, with no downside.

"And another thing I don’t quite get is how these players are even being organized in the first place."