God's Imitator

This time the thinking time left to the players isn’t short, they have 10 minutes.

All the players are each lost in thought, pondering the game rules and the possible strategies they might take.

Of course, they can’t communicate with each other or discuss group strategy, because no one is allowed to talk.

A few players are trying to use hand gestures to let players from the same Community know their intentions, like pointing to the stage first, or pointing to the big screen first, to express "fight for the Spokesperson role" or "fight for the Media Representative" respectively.

But they can only convey very rough ideas, and can’t discuss more details.

Lu Qi glanced at the others, especially the two players who were suspected to be Qin Cheng and Yao Yuan; both of them had their heads lowered, seriously thinking about strategy.

So she didn’t dare disturb them, and could only try to sort through the rules on her own.

Very soon, the 10-minute thinking time ended.

New system prompts continued to appear on the big screens around them.

[First round of the game begins!]

[The endorsed product for this round is: "Alcoholic Beverages".]

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

[Players who intend to become the "Alcoholic Beverages Spokesperson", please get on stage within 5 minutes.]

[The four big screens that are currently flashing will enter "auction state". Please use the touchscreen on your arm to bid; the player with the highest bid will become the "Media Representative" for that screen.]

Lu Qi took a look and saw that the four big screens entering auction state happened to be right behind her, slowly flashing like breathing lights.

On the other twelve big screens, those several lines of system prompts were being displayed in a ring, along with four large characters.

[!! Spokesperson Time !!]

It was obvious that in this game, the Imitator had done some fine-grained design of the functions of the big screens.

The big screens could have several different states, like "auction state", "rules display state", "advertisement state (showing player ads)", switching according to the specific situation of the game.

The players all lowered their heads to check the displays on their arms.

A few players were already tapping on them, then started heading for the stage.

The ring-shaped stage around them was about a meter high, with steps at regular intervals to help players easily get on stage within the 5-minute window.

According to the game rules, a player must first use the device on their arm to pay 30,000 minutes of visa time, and only then can they get on stage to become a Spokesperson.

But when Lu Qi looked down at her own display, she saw only options for bidding on the big screens, and no option for becoming a Spokesperson.

Because the rules restricted the Spokesperson role to male players only.

Lu Qi turned to look at the other players wearing masks marked "2"; two of them each shook their heads, and no one nodded.

The meaning was very clear: for now they weren’t considering becoming Spokespersons.

Obviously, the two who shook their heads were Qin Cheng and Yao Yuan; though they were similar in height, the slightly thinner one was clearly Qin Cheng.

This was quickly confirmed: the other player first pointed at himself, made a "2" gesture with his fingers, then pointed at the other and made a "1" gesture.

The others instantly understood.

He was talking about Community numbers: Player 1 was Qin Cheng, Player 2 was Yao Yuan.

Qin Cheng then pointed at the display on his own arm, and then at the distant big screens that had entered auction state.

The meaning was clear: he was asking Yao Yuan whether they should bid on a big screen right now.

Yao Yuan thought for a moment, drew a circle near his temple with his finger, making a "thinking" gesture.

The meaning was: given the current situation, let’s observe and think a bit more; no rush to decide.

The group quickly got the idea, stopped communicating by gesture, and silently focused on how things were developing on the field.

Five players chose to get on stage to compete for the Spokesperson role, and spontaneously adjusted the distances between one another.

This number wasn’t large; clearly many Communities had made the same choice as Community 2, opting to watch and wait before the situation became clearer.

Soon, the 5 minutes ended, and no more Audience members got on stage.

[!! Speaking Time !!]

A beam of spotlight fell on one of the players who had gone on stage, and on the big screen behind him a two-minute countdown appeared.

Yao Yuan noticed that the number on his mask was "15".

The player opened his mouth, and his voice was amplified through the speakers so that all the Audience present could hear him clearly.

"As the winner of the game, who can refuse a bottle of champagne when they make their triumphant return?

"The game rules don’t explain in detail what this so-called ’special buff’ actually is; in the end one Spokesperson will make a three-way choice.

"But that’s completely beside the point, because the Imitator is absolutely not going to show great mercy and provide us with something we truly need in the Community. For example, M-class drugs.

"So no matter what the other products needing endorsement are—maybe cigarettes, tea leaves, coffee, or something else—alcohol is always the best choice, because among these categories it’s the priciest, it gives us the most emotional value, helps relax our nerves strained by the game, and won’t cause us health damage.

"Support me, and when this game ends let’s open a bottle of champagne together and celebrate our victory!"

With that, the player made a "raising a glass" gesture.

At the same time, a wave of enthusiastic cheering rose from below the stage, and many people clapped hard.

This startled quite a few players, because previously the entire game venue had clearly been silent, yet now it suddenly got lively like a concert scene.

Many players looked at the displays on their forearms and only then realized that extra information had appeared.

At the very top there were still four separate tabs; tapping them allowed you to check the bidding status of the four big screens.

Those contents were already there before and hadn’t changed.

But the lower part of the screen, which had originally been the interface for paying 30,000 minutes of visa time to become a Spokesperson, had now turned into a set of interaction buttons.

Things like "Scream", "Cheer", "Whistle", "Boo", and so on.

While players couldn’t speak, they could use this screen to cheer or whistle, with each usage having a cooldown and not being spammable.

Of course, players could also choose to clap or jump; actions and sounds made with their own bodies weren’t restricted.

Yao Yuan and Qin Cheng both couldn’t help glancing twice at this player.

Clearly, this player from Community 15 had a very clear game strategy.

By common reasoning, when the game rules are still unclear, being the first to speak is a bit of a disadvantage.

Because players who speak later can look for loopholes in the earlier speeches and attack them, while the earlier speakers have no chance to rebut until this round of the game ends.

Just like in the "One Word Breaks the Prison" situation.

But this player from Community 15 used a flawless speech to cut off the likely attack angles of later speakers in advance, and at the same time showed a strong opening performance, pushing the advantage of speaking first to its limit.

There was another crucial point: his voice sounded very pleasant.

At a time when none of the Spokespersons can remove their masks yet, this is undoubtedly a huge bonus.