God's Imitator

The subsequent dealing of cards surprisingly matched Zheng Qingyun's predictions; they began to win consecutively.

The score went from 4:2 to 4:6.

[Community 6 wins, the highest point is 19 points.]

The player to Zheng Qingyun's right was a bit surprised as he flipped through his hidden card, which happened to be a 10-point card.

With the open card's 9 points, this was already quite close to 21 points, so winning was natural.

Zheng Qingyun's previously tense expression relaxed as he let out a sigh and looked at Wei Changfeng: "I told you, luck fluctuates."

"If I had chosen to draw cards earlier, I would have wasted 4 penalty chances now."

"Luckily, we are players who can stay calm."

Wei Changfeng nodded: "Yes, let's continue."

...

...

Lin Sizhi continued, "After that, I won four consecutive rounds, and the score changed to 6:4."

"What would you do at this point? Start drawing cards?"

Qin Cheng's expression was slightly conflicted, but he ultimately said, "I shouldn't say anything."

"Because earlier, you were trailing by 2 rounds, but you proactively suggested not to draw, because it was a normal fluctuation of luck."

"And as you said, the gap was indeed closed."

"Now it's my turn to be 2 rounds behind, so it wouldn't be appropriate to suggest drawing cards now; rather, I should wait and see."

"If I trust you, I would choose to follow your earlier suggestion: pull the win count to 4 rounds and then start drawing cards."

"If I don't trust you much, at least wait until the win count widens to 3 rounds before drawing cards."

Lin Sizhi nodded: "The next game you won, bringing the score back to 6:5."

Qin Cheng promptly said: "This somewhat increases my trust in you. For now, luck seems fair; there doesn't appear to be any trickery."

Lin Sizhi continued: "But after that, I won two more consecutive rounds, making it 8:5."

"Lu Qi, at this point, what would you do?"

Lu Qi was suddenly called out and hesitated: "I... I should probably wait another round."

"At 6:5, our luck was about the same. Later, you won two consecutive rounds, possibly just luck being on your side."

"Such fluctuations in luck should also be normal, right?"

"Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, start drawing cards once the win count increases by 4."

"So maybe watch one more round?

"If I win this round and the score becomes 8:6, that would be completely acceptable, just keep playing."

"But if you win this round and the score becomes 9:5, that's a bit suspicious, I would need to start drawing cards."

Qin Cheng pondered for a moment: "Then you would be fooled, easily letting the opponent get another win."

Lu Qi looked shocked: "Huh? How could that be? Why am I sure the opponent will win?"

"Is the opponent cheating? But I can't think of any way they could cheat?"

Huang Shengjie was also confused: "Yeah, it doesn't seem reasonable."

"Every round, we use new cards, and the dealing, shuffling, and changing of cards are done by the machine; how could tricks be done here?"

"It can't really be magic, right?"

Shen Bowen had realized something: "If they can change the cards without touching the machine, that's not magic but witchcraft."

"The only explanation is... there's a problem with the machine."

"Could it be that one of the opponent's three players is the game's designer, an Imitator?"

"They might have embedded some special backdoor in the machine, which, once activated, gives themselves bigger points?"

"But that doesn't quite make sense because, from the previous games, any mechanism in Walkway, even if there's a backdoor, requires some specific method to be activated; you can't control it with sheer will, right?"

"If specific operations are required to achieve this, those actions themselves should also raise suspicion, not wait this long to be discovered."

Everyone temporarily fell into a stalemate.

Lin Sizhi spoke: "Since we can't see the situation on-site, we lack certain information, and the truth is likely hidden within these missing pieces."

"I guess this machine must have been intentionally designed."

"Its method of shuffling and the way it changes cards should have problems."

"This is a rule trap set by the Imitator right from the start."

"If on-site, by analyzing the suits and points of hands in previous rounds, perhaps we could confirm this quicker."

This surprised Lu Bingjun and Ye Lin.

Lu Bingjun nodded: "Indeed, when we reviewed before, by repeatedly comparing the suits and points of all players' cards in previous rounds, we confirmed this."

"For this, we purchased all player game records, with much of the expenses coming from Ye Lin and me out of pocket."

"It's a pity; if we'd thought of this earlier, perhaps the money could have been saved for Community's fund."

Ye Lin also felt regretful: "That was indeed quite significant for visa time."

Huang Shengjie was genuinely angry: "So, they really were cheating?"

"Are these Community 6 players beasts?"

"A good collaborative strategy untouched, but instead they resort to cheating?"

"What's the point? Once the win gap reaches to 4 or more rounds, it will always be discovered, right?"

"Is it just to get ahead by 4 wins?"

"Short-sight has its limits!"

Qin Cheng shook his head slightly: "No, it's not that simple."

"I can roughly understand Zheng Qingyun's mindset and reasons; he's actually not short-sighted but has his own considerations."

...

...

Round 13 of the game.

[Community 6 wins, the highest point is 20 points.]

Zheng Qingyun revealed his hand, a pair of 10s.

"Oh, finally it's my turn to have some good luck."

Zheng Qingyun seemed quite happy; earlier, even though Community 6 had a small winning streak, the larger points were with the other two players, and his luck was consistently bad.

But this time, getting 20 points was indeed worth celebrating.

Xu Yili had prepared herself psychologically, but when the pain hit, she couldn't help but groan.

Wei Changfeng and Gao Teng did not make any sound.

At this point, the score was 8:5, Community 6 had overtaken and led by 3 wins.

The mechanism on Wei Changfeng's body had completed an entire cycle and was back at his knee.

During the first cycle, when the mechanism activated at the neck area, even Wei Changfeng was a bit tense, not daring to move.

If a blade cuts the neck, any mishap touching a major artery means certain death.

Luckily, after the intense pain ended, Wei Changfeng felt around and discovered the blade only made a very shallow cut at the back-side of the neck, not serious.

Estimating the severity, if the collaborative strategy continues smoothly, they should persist through 30 rounds and all survive.

In the second cycle activation, the wound's length, depth, and pain intensity all increased but were still bearable.

Wei Changfeng's tolerance for pain was stronger than the average person, so he made no sound.

Gao Teng, being paralyzed from the waist down, had no feeling, so the mechanism's punishment at his ankles, knees, and thighs went unnoticed.

Wei Changfeng glanced at Zheng Qingyun, his gaze now carried some unfriendly content, but he still tried his best to speak calmly: "Starting from the next round, we will start drawing cards, is that okay?"

Zheng Qingyun sharply noticed something off in Wei Changfeng's look and quickly nodded: "Of course, no problem."

Just then, Gao Teng, who had been silently lowering his head, suddenly lifted it, staring fiercely at Zheng Qingyun.

"You cheated.

"Didn't you?"