God's Imitator

Meanwhile, in the audience section of Community 3.

Cheng Wen sat in the front row, trying to lean forward: "Sister Lu! Can we trust the information they’re talking about?

"I don’t quite understand what we’re supposed to be doing now..."

Lu Xinyi, while thoughtfully listening to the actors’ speeches at the podium, spared some effort to provide a simple explanation.

"You can think of this place as a movie set, a stage play, or a script-killing venue, where we are both the audience and extras.

"The story takes place in a parallel world with a completely different judicial system.

"That means, instead of a judge and prosecutor determining guilt, there’s a ’special juror/temporary citizen tribunal system’ that serves as the foundational legal system.

"This seems to have adapted some aspects of the jury system from certain Western countries, and made corresponding changes according to the game rules.

"Four suspects and four jury representatives, these eight people jointly propel the judgment process.

"The suspects must clear their names and prove their innocence, while the jury representatives act like public prosecutors or inspectors, questioning them."

Cheng Wen murmured quietly: "Suspects judging themselves? There’s little chance of fairness then..."

Lu Xinyi smiled indifferently: "This arrangement is likely deliberate to enhance the narrative and strategy of the game.

"Many crime novels have similar ’self-justification’ scenes, which greatly adds to the suspense.

"These four suspects surely have personal motives and will try every means to exonerate themselves.

"That’s why there is a need for the jury, or shall we call it a citizen tribunal.

"Whether they can escape guilt mainly depends on whether we can make the correct judgment.

"This round of speeches and evidence likely doesn’t need verification.

"Because none of these four individuals are fools, and no one would dare give false information to mislead the audience right from the start, since the risk far outweighs the benefit.

"They don’t know what specific content is written on each other’s ’character settings,’ so they must probe through the first round of the game, inevitably adopting a defensive strategy.

"Even if they intend to deceive or mislead the audience, it should be after the first recess."

Curiously, Cheng Wen asked: "So what’s considered defensive, and what’s offensive?"

Lu Xinyi explained, "Trying to limit the topic to oneself, and distancing oneself from any connection, even if defending.

"Guiding the topic towards others, implying someone else is the culprit through evidence or rhetoric, constitutes as offensive.

"In this game, the actors have only one way to earn visa time, and that’s by killing other actors and splitting their visa time.

"As long as they prove the characters played by other actors are ’guilty’ in this case, they can achieve that.

"However, launching an attack recklessly without clear evidence chains could backfire.

"Therefore, they would likely choose to probe first, then analyze the case with the existing evidence, gradually steering it in a favorable direction for themselves."

Cheng Wen nodded: "Oh, I got it.

"According to the rules, only the ’Detective’ and ’wealthy merchant’ can provide evidence, while the ’Lawyer’ and ’Doctor’ cannot provide evidence and can only give specific explanations based on professional knowledge.

"Therefore, the initiative is actually in the hands of the ’Detective’ and ’wealthy merchant.’

"The evidence they presented thus far proves nothing and contains no legal or medical content, so the ’Doctor’ Feng Yuguang chose to say just a few words and skip over it.

"It’s like players in script-killing games with little setting information; since speaking more leads to more mistakes, it’s better to speak as little as possible.

"Lawyer Lin should do likewise; it’s the safest approach.

"But speaking of that, why is Lawyer Lin in Community 2? I’ve been wanting to ask since earlier!"

Lu Xinyi shook her head: "How would I know.

"Didn’t you see that even Wang Yongxin is confused? He’s been staring at Lin Sizhi since earlier.

"He probably wants to ask but can’t do so.

"Because the actors must diligently play their roles, without showing ’out of character’ behavior, and certainly cannot talk about topics unrelated to the performance.

"So... it’s likely we won’t get an answer in this game."

Lu Xinyi and the others were aware of Wang Yongxin leaving Community 17.

Because at the end of the ’Tarot Game,’ Area A was the first to exit, and Lu Xinyi clearly saw the ’↓Emperor’ left in the venue.

However, Lin Sizhi indeed left through Area A and returned to Community 17 at that time, no doubt about it.

As for why he is participating in the game as a Community 2 player now, remains unknown.

...

Lin Sizhi came to the podium and slightly bowed to the crowd.

"Respectful Jurors, I believe it’s possible this newlywed couple committed suicide in a pact.

"This is my ’possibility analysis’ based on the current situation, and I ask everyone to thoughtfully consider this possibility."

Once these words were spoken, the previously extremely quiet Judicial Court experienced slight commotion, with many jurors instinctively expressing surprise.

Were this a film work, perhaps a judge would heavily strike the gavel now, demanding everyone maintain silence.

But in the context of this performance, no judge was present.

Lin Sizhi ignored the reactions and continued: "Though common wisdom reasons that a newlywed couple should be at the happiest time of their lives, not inclined to take their own lives, the possibility of a third-party perpetrator is low given the current situation.

"If the couple didn’t agree to a suicide pact, only two possibilities remain:

"The first is one party intentionally murdered the other, in which case, only one should have drowned and died;

"The second is someone on the boat simultaneously murdered the couple, but in such a case, it should be difficult to do so without alerting anyone; just one person’s loud shout could wake other people on the boat, making it hard not to find witnesses.

"This differs from the known information.

"From the photo, the woman’s gaze seems a bit erratic, and although her face holds a smile, there seems to be a hidden worry or sadness behind it.

"If one spouse had an incurable disease, or suffered from a significant mental illness, or if both faced immense pressure from family or society... these might lead to such a tragic suicide pact.

"This is my inference based on the existing information; of course, I cannot be sure it is the truth of the case, leaving it to all respectful jurors to jointly make the judgment."