God's Imitator

Wei Changfeng paused for a moment and continued explaining:

"Assuming the 30 rounds of games end, to minimize the damage from the mechanism to the players, we should control the total number of times 'punishments' are received in each round as much as possible.

'Repentance content appears,' 'busting,' or 'losing' will each record a 'punishment' once.

"Losing is unavoidable, although there's this special case called a 'draw,' the probability is extremely low and can't be controlled manually.

"Although everyone busting can achieve a draw, avoiding the punishment for 'losing,' it would trigger other penalties, which is not worth it.

"But all six of us can choose not to repent and not to take cards.

"Initially, there are two cards, which can't exceed 21 points. Not taking cards won't result in busting.

"And if we only accumulate punishments by losing, in each round, three players on one side each suffer a punishment once.

"Averaging out, each player suffering 15 punishments can last until the game ends.

"There are six locks on the mechanism, which means it stops the third time it rotates to the thigh area.

"The truly dangerous mechanism in the game is at the neck, but since the standard set by the Imitator is '30 rounds,' then the neck mechanism, when activated the second time, is unlikely to be lethal.

"It's likely not until the third or even fourth time that there is a risk of death.

"All in all... I think we should first try this cooperative approach in the Judgment game, as it's the only possibility for everyone to survive.

"What do you think?"

Zheng Qingyun nodded: "Hmm, it's a good plan, I agree.

"But there are still some details that aren't very clear.

"Since everyone can only rely on the initial two cards to compare points, there will be a huge element of luck.

"What if one side keeps winning while the other keeps losing, what then?"

Wei Changfeng had obviously considered this issue and quickly provided a solution: "It's simple, when there's a significant win-loss difference between the two sides, the losing side can have any player 'take a card' once, and that's it.

"The leading side doesn't take cards and can 'indicate' to reduce their points. This way, the player taking the card will have a significant advantage and is likely to win.

"Once the win-loss gap is approximately even, return to the previous rhythm."

Zheng Qingyun bowed his head in thought for a moment: "Only allow taking a card once?

"Hmm, that makes sense.

"Because each time you take a card, you must repent, and repentance will also trigger a punishment. If you take three cards, even if you win, you'll be punished three times, which is no different from losing directly.

"Moreover, taking multiple cards increases the risk of busting and also accumulates punishments."

Wei Changfeng nodded: "True, since we're in a cooperative relationship now, everyone shares the punishment count.

"If the losing side takes too many cards, it's equivalent to wasting additional chances, which is unnecessary."

Zheng Qingyun considered it for a moment: "Hmm, no more problems for me."

He didn't seek the opinions of the other two players, as he was obviously in a core position among the three, with a strong voice.

After quickly reaching a consensus, the game officially began.

Wei Changfeng saw the machine in front of him start to operate, beginning to shuffle the cards.

Though there was frosted glass separating them, the situation inside could still be faintly seen. The sound of the machine running, the cards shuffling and landing on the table overlapped, somewhat pleasing to the ear.

But in the Judgment game, it resembled more of a cruel death rhythm.

The entire shuffling process lasted exactly one minute.

Eventually, all the cards stacked into a pile, and then two by two, they were dealt to the players along the miniature slide.

The machine dealt the cards clockwise; the player to the right of Zheng Qingyun from Community 6 was considered the initial number 1 position. After dealing with the three players from Community 6, it was then dealt to Xu Yili, Gao Teng, and Wei Changfeng respectively.

Each person's cards were one face-up and one face-down, with the face-up card on top, so during the sliding process, you could see everyone's face-up card.

In normal play, you could use the face-up cards in others' hands to determine the general point range, but overall, this strategy is quite limited, relying more on luck.

And now that both sides have reached a cooperative agreement, it doesn't matter whether to look at the cards or not.

"Stand."

"Stand."

The three players on Zheng Qingyun's side quickly all announced stand, meaning they abided by the agreement.

Of course, Wei Changfeng had no reason to breach the agreement for the sake of the initial win, as doing so would be shortsighted and meaningless.

The three from Community 2 also each chose to stand.

After that, everyone revealed their cards, and the system broadcasted.

[Community 2 wins, the highest point is 17 points.]

The three players on the opposite side almost simultaneously made noises, Zheng Qingyun grunted, and the other two players instinctively gasped.

Due to the table's blockage and the mechanism's constraint, Wei Changfeng couldn't see precisely how the opponent's ankle injuries were, but judging from their reactions, it should be alright.

Indeed, the three players from Community 6 weren't seriously injured, only slowly oozing blood from their ankles.

The instinctive gasps from the two players were mainly due to a lack of appropriate mental preparation, plus the punishment was applied with extra intense pain.

They quickly calmed down and continued to advance the game process.

"Gao Teng."

Wei Changfeng handed his two cards to Gao Teng, but Gao Teng kept his head down, unaware of this, so Wei Changfeng quietly reminded him.

Gao Teng took a deep breath, making an effort to calm himself, then received the cards from both Wei Changfeng and Xu Yili, placing them with his own cards into the disposal slot.

The sound of a slight mechanism operation was heard, with both sides' cards being swallowed by the machine.

But immediately, another broadcast resonated.

[Card face damage detected, replacing playing cards.]

This sound made Gao Teng a bit startled; he instantly widened his eyes, filled with hostility, toward Zheng Qingyun on the opposite side.

But Zheng Qingyun also visibly stared at this side with intense vigilance: "What are you doing? Trying to cheat?"

Wei Changfeng gently tapped the table: "Alright, Gao Teng, calm down.

"It was me."

Gao Teng was momentarily stunned, watching as Wei Changfeng raised his right hand, with a very noticeable playing card fragment clamped between his index and middle fingers, roughly a quarter of an entire playing card.

Zheng Qingyun also quickly calmed down, instantly grasping the intent.

Wei Changfeng explained: "I heard there's a very common card cheating method, called 'sweating,' which is essentially marking the playing cards.

"It could be a bent corner, a scratch, or some other mark, I don't understand the details, but this method certainly exists.

"The rules of this game clearly have a loophole, as playing cards aren't replaced every round.

"If anyone among us managed to cheat by sweating, that wouldn't be good."