God's Imitator

On stage, the inquiry round has already begun.

According to the game rules, the ’inquiry round’ does not occur at a fixed time, but when it does, it will eliminate some spokespersons.

Moreover, even the spokesperson ranked first for similar product popularity can be eliminated, which is obviously more dangerous than regular elimination.

The ’inquiry round’ targets a type of product spokesperson; for this round, it’s the ’drug category’.

Then, they’ll decide on the number of inquiries based on the remaining ’drug category spokespersons’ on stage.

This means everyone must undergo an inquiry once.

The players questioning are other product spokespersons, with the inquiry order arranged by popularity from high to low.

It’s an extra speaking opportunity for spokespersons.

But for the spokespersons being questioned, it’s a high-risk situation as the audience can deduct their visa time through staring, then lower their popularity value to 0 and eliminate them.

A spotlight falls on Jiang Chenyan, with a 2-minute countdown appearing on the big screen behind him.

The default player to answer his question is Hu Yingxu, the most popular ’drug category’ spokesperson from Community 17.

"Even though our community leans more towards controlling drugs, I support your viewpoint.

"My question is: Do you have enough confidence to persist until the end and become the sole ’drug category’ spokesperson?"

Jiang Chenyan ended the inquiry prematurely.

Hu Yingxu quickly took over, his answer even shorter than Jiang Chenyan’s inquiry content: "Yes, I will definitely win.

"The appearance of this inquiry round is the answer to my question."

Their speaking time was far less than 2 minutes, but statements can end early.

Then, the spotlight moves to Gao Jialiang.

He seems puzzled at the moment, as he has never been known for wisdom. Naturally, he doesn’t understand why the inquiry rounds of the previous two were so short, nor does he know what exactly to ask.

The majority of the spokespersons who appeared are the core of the community’s game, inherently capable of adapting on the spot and making decisions as representatives of teams.

But Gao Jialiang is different.

Even in Community 13, he is not a core player. He chose to appear for his excellent appearance, basically serving as a vase.

The player making decisions for the entire Community 13 is someone else, not hard to guess: very likely the agent of Community 13 at the time.

But during the game, it’s nearly impossible for a spokesperson on stage to communicate with the agent off stage, so Gao Jialiang can’t get advice and has to improvise.

Fortunately, he’s not on the questioned side.

Based on popularity matching, the player he questions is currently the second place ’drug category’ spokesperson, originally fifth place, from Community 5.

The popularity is very low, just over 4000.

He shared the same attitude with Zhao Chong from Community 24, promising the audience that if he could gain benefits from drug category products, he would choose M-class drugs as much as possible or eliminate the side effects of O-class and F-class drugs.

After pondering for a moment, Gao Jialiang asked, "You make it sound good, but why should we trust you?

"Players from Community 24 were able to make such promises because they performed convincingly in the ’Pain Game’, but your Community 5 did not.

"How can we determine whether you’re really looking to improve drugs or just trying to profit for yourself?

"Once you truly choose benefits and change your mind, it’s too late, and we have no way to restrain you!

"So, I don’t trust a word you say."

This Community 5 drug category spokesperson tried to make his tone sound sincere enough:

"I’ve already expressed my stance earlier in the election round, and if I’m lying, I’ll be sent to the Reflection Room!

"I wasn’t sent there, indicating that what I said is true, so please trust me!

"No matter what, among players wanting to become drug category spokespersons, I’m already the most reliable choice.

"This Community 17’s Hu Yingxu openly expressed wanting drugs to worsen, yet he gained higher popularity! Why?

"I still believe the majority of players present have a sense of justice.

"His popularity was highest earlier only because many just players didn’t participate in the staring round, and our organization lost to those sinister players.

"But now, the extra elimination in the inquiry round is an excellent opportunity. Everyone can still unite and eliminate him!"

Shen Qingyun below the stage was slightly surprised, as this Community 5 spokesperson answered comprehensively better than she expected.

Gao Jialiang’s question wasn’t really good; he chose to question motives but forgot the Community 5 player’s statements passed the Lie Detection Mechanism.

And the Community 5 player seized this point, cleaning his suspicions as much as possible, clearly positioning himself unconditionally on the side of drug control communities.

Moreover, he keenly realized that Zhao Chong’s elimination from Community 24 is an excellent opportunity for him.

Because Zhao Chong gained a notable amount of popularity too, losing to Hu Yingxu due to vote splitting by other spokespersons.

If at this point the Community 5 player can gain Zhao Chong’s support votes, there’s a chance to defeat Hu Yingxu.

As long as Hu Yingxu is eliminated through the inquiry round’s game mechanism, he can still become the first ranked drug category spokesperson, achieving a comeback.

It’s Qin Cheng’s turn, the ’Tobacco Spokesperson’. He pondered briefly, then looked at the last ’drug category’ spokesperson, who comes from Community 6.

"We are also a community controlling drugs, so we will support you as much as possible.

"Supporting both you and the Community 5 player isn’t contradictory since the inquiry round eliminates through staring.

"But I have a question: Which area of Community 6 are you from? Do you know a player named Ma Boheng?"

This spokesperson was also surprised, fell silent for a moment before saying, "He’s dead, died in the first stage.

"He died from excessive bleeding and wound infection; at the time our community didn’t have a doctor and couldn’t provide correct treatment."

[End of inquiry!]

[If you want to eliminate a player, then reduce their popularity value through ’staring’. (Only applies to questioned ’drug category spokespersons’.)]

Special BGM plays, a 10-minute countdown appears on the big screen, and the audience members make different choices individually.

Most spokespersons participating in the inquiry didn’t really use up the 2-minute speaking time, so the entire inquiry round took less time than expected.

But evidently, they all achieved their own goals: either gained information they cared about or conveyed their attitude to the audience.

Qin Cheng’s question surprised many audience members because while he stated his stance, he also slipped in a personal question.

Most players on site didn’t know Ma Boheng, so they’re unaware of the past between Community 2 and Community 6.

However, this doesn’t matter to other players, so they quickly moved past this small episode.

The audience below the stage behaved differently; some turned their gaze toward certain spokespersons on stage, while others bowed their heads or looked elsewhere.