God's Imitator

Huang Shengjie was a little surprised: "Isn’t that basically the same thing?"

Yao Yuan shook his head: "There’s actually a difference.

"But... that difference is hard to describe precisely. Try to grasp it on your own."

Huang Shengjie frowned tightly. He could vaguely tell from the literal meanings that the two terms were somewhat different, but he really couldn’t clearly articulate it.

After a moment, Lin Sizhi added: "We can actually simplify it like this:

"There are two kinds of so‑called ’trust’. One is ’value judgment’, which can also be seen as ’strategic trust’. The other is ’moral orientation’, which can also be seen as ’ethical trust’.

"The ’trust’ we’re discussing now is actually more inclined toward ’moral orientation / ethical trust’.

"And ’long‑termism’ is a particular way of thinking: from the perspective of real‑world interests, it prioritizes long‑term gains over short‑term returns.

"The two are indeed connected to some extent: trust is the cornerstone of long‑termism, and long‑termism in turn feeds back into trust.

"In this game, most of the Audience are actually using a ’long‑termist’ lens: bringing the M‑class drug back to the Community can solve a lot of problems and, in the long run, yields extremely high overall benefits for the whole Community.

"But Zeng Yiming saw through this precisely, which is why he deliberately chose the ’short‑term perspective’. He doesn’t care whether the M‑class drug is brought back to the Community; he only cares about making one million in this round.

"The total payoff of short‑termism is definitely inferior to long‑termism, but in local segments, within a short window of time, the payoff is higher—and it also disrupts long‑termist cooperation.

"If this game only destroyed ’trust’, then that would just be moral backsliding. If next time people had enough shared interests, they could still build cooperation.

"But now, since ’long‑termism’ itself has been destroyed as well, then even if people have sufficient common interests next time, they may still not be able to cooperate."

Qin Cheng added: "So after this game, for most players...

"Whether from the ’moral dimension’ or the ’interest dimension’, they shouldn’t be thinking about ’trust’ and ’cooperation’ anymore.

"Only betrayal remains."

Huang Shengjie asked: "Lawyer Lin, from your point of view, is there any way to crack a game like this?"

Lin Sizhi shook his head slightly: "From a God’s‑eye view there might be a few, but from a Sinners’ perspective there’s almost none.

"Because a game like this is designed specifically to target a Sinners’ character weaknesses. The Audience can give advice, but the ways they’re allowed to do so are often strictly constrained by the Imitator.

"If a Sinners player wants to survive, he has to fight against his own instincts. That’s not an easy thing to do.

"Because the vast majority of people actually don’t change or grow very much. So you can also understand Judgment‑type games as a kind of ’tribulation crossing’."

Huang Shengjie nodded in sudden realization: "A tribulation... If you fail to cross it, you die; if you cross it, you become a better person."

Lin Sizhi corrected him: "Not necessarily better, but definitely a completely different person.

"Because some Sinners’ crimes and weaknesses may be bound up with the most precious part of their humanity."

Another stretch of silence.

Zhou Wanlin sighed: "Lawyer Lin, I can kind of feel how your Community must have felt when you were reviewing ’King’s Judgment’ back then.

"Just like this game: even if you take it apart afterward and think of some theoretically feasible ways to break it, still...

"Mostly you’re just helpless, with a deep sense of powerlessness.

"If the Imitator can truly operate at this level, then under the current Walkway mechanism, it’s completely unsolvable, isn’t it?

"He can kill whoever he wants.

"After all, a game of this caliber is guaranteed to be selected once it’s submitted."

Qin Cheng thought for a moment: "It’s not quite that exaggerated, since the prerequisite is still that he has to see specific Sinners files."

So far, the players hadn’t gone into much detail in discussing this game. If they wanted to keep nitpicking, there was actually a lot more that could be analyzed in greater depth.

But most of the people present already realized that such behavior would be largely meaningless.

Because the rules of this game aren’t particularly complex, yet when targeted at particular players it approaches being unsolvable.

Lu Bingjun took a deep breath, as if making up his mind even more firmly.

"So in practice, we no longer have any choice.

"If this Imitator really is in our Community, we have to do everything we can to kill him.

"And... the Community Trial Rules have almost become the only feasible method."

He paused briefly, then went on:

"Many people may still have absolutely no idea what a top‑tier Imitator of this level really is. I have to say a bit more here to help everyone grasp the situation.

"In short, he’s practically invincible within the games.

"As long as he sees the file of any player in our Community, he can design a Judgment Game or an elimination game against them, with a very high probability of being selected and achieving his goal.

"Not only that, when conditions allow, he can use a Sinners player as a fulcrum and exploit the game rules to kill off some players from our Community or other Communities along the way.

"Although in previous games there have been cases where an Imitator was killed during the game, from what we saw in ’Trust Marketplace’ the Imitator can choose not to enter a game—or, after entering, bear no risk of death.

"Of course, right now we have no idea what the specific rules are in this regard: which games the Imitator must enter, and which he can skip?

"It seems related to game type, but it’s hard to find a clear standard.

"So we can’t pin our hopes on finding and killing the Imitator inside a game.

"Since this Imitator can stay perfectly safe and uninvolved in a game like ’Trust Marketplace’, then he’ll definitely keep using similar methods when he kills people in the future.

"He’s not on the same level as an ordinary Imitator like Xu Yiheng.

"Of course, the Imitator is also a player. He may still have to enter games as a player, or even be forcibly selected as a Sinners.

"But as long as no other Imitator deliberately targets him, even if he enters a game he’ll still be largely safe.

"Given the games he’s designed, his grasp of rules and his insight into human nature are far beyond that of ordinary players.

"Even if his on‑the‑spot reactions are somewhat lacking and he can’t exhibit his full game‑designing prowess when solving other games, he can at least show sixty to seventy percent of it.

"That’s already enough to keep him completely out of danger.

"So the conclusion is...

"We can only drag him out in the Community and kill him."

Lu Bingjun swept his gaze around the room: "’Repentance Poker’, ’One Word Breaks the Prison’, ’Jury Game’, ’Trust Marketplace’...

"The very existence of these four games means we can no longer indulge in any wishful thinking.

"We have to complete the vote on the Community Trial Rules this week.

"Whether it passes or not, this proposal absolutely cannot be postponed any further."

The tone of this last sentence wasn’t particularly impassioned or resolute; it carried more of a heavy, helpless resignation.

Yao Yuan suggested: "Let’s end today’s discussion here. We started the review right away without a break, so everyone must be exhausted.

"The proposal is urgent, but we still have seven days."

Seeing no one else speak, Lu Bingjun nodded: "Alright, we’ll stop here for today. Get some rest. We’ll continue tomorrow."

A few players still hadn’t met the speaking‑time requirement set in the Community rules, but everyone was weighed down with worry and in no mood to quibble.

Soon, the players dispersed.