God's Imitator

The game is about to start, and this is as far as Wen Wan could analyze.

However, just when she was about to leave the venue, a new message appeared on the big screen.

[Audience from the same community sends you a suggestion: ’Confess early if the crime is minor.’ Please think carefully about the meaning and make a decision.]

Wen Wan was stunned.

"Confess early if the crime is minor??

"Does this mean I should confess to the crime voluntarily?

"Then what’s the point of the Guess the Number round?

"Who sent the suggestion?

"Ye Lin? It should be Ye Lin... If it is Ye Lin, then there might be some information behind this suggestion that I don’t know about.

"Think again."

Wen Wan’s first reaction was confusion, but since the game had already started, she had no time to ponder the deeper meaning behind those four words and could only walk into the official game venue with curiosity.

The doors of the other rest rooms also opened with a "bang."

Wen Wan looked around; this time, the game venue was roughly rectangular, with the five sinners’ rest rooms lined up, and Wen Wan’s rest room was on the far right.

In front of the five rest rooms, there was a ’Pharmacy Room’ for each.

The five ’Pharmacy Rooms’ had obvious differences in appearance, and different production stages were noted on the plaques at the front.

They were: ’1. Soaking,’ ’2. Washing,’ ’3. Temperature Control,’ ’4. Processing,’ and ’5. Sorting.’

They were connected by conveyer belts, forming a special assembly line.

According to the game rules, the five sinner players should each enter a different Pharmacy Room and complete different production stages.

Once the entire process is completed, painkillers will be produced and sold to the audience.

And on a further wall, there was a big screen. At this moment, the contents related to the ’Preparation of the Drug’ rules were displayed.

[The first sinner who ’exposes the crime’ will become the ’Director of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing’ and lead the production process: can arrange any player to enter any Pharmacy Room and adjust at will midway.]

[However, there are three points to note:]

[1. All sinner players must enter the Pharmacy Rooms.]

[2. Each Pharmacy Room can hold only one player.]

[3. Players’ actions in the Pharmacy Rooms are completely free and must not be interfered with.]

[During the entire production process, each Pharmacy Room has different functions, and the sinner players will suffer different penalties in them, so please consider carefully!]

[Countdown to returning to the resting room - 14:59]

From the countdown, it seems that every 15 minutes, sinner players can return to the rest rooms once.

Apart from what was on the big screen, there were also related notice boards at the entrance of each Pharmacy Room, introducing the specifics.

However, at this time, none of the five sinners went to look at the notice boards, but instead, all looked at each other with distrustful eyes.

Wen Wan first noticed a middle-aged woman who looked about the same age as Geng Yuxia in the community, but a bit more prosperous in appearance, seeming amiable and kind-hearted.

[Community 1 - Zhao Xiuying (Vendor)]

The other three male players looked overall older. One was a well-dressed middle-aged man whose movements had a polite air about them, which distinctly differed from the other two male players.

[Community 8 - Zeng Yiming (Store Manager)]

The other two male players looked older and both had darker skin, seeming to do manual labor work.

[Community 12 - He Qing (Installer)]

[Community 24 - Liang Guicheng (Fruit Farmer)]

Though both did manual labor, Liang Guicheng appeared more weathered, with dark, wrinkled skin, and seemed more taciturn.

However, what Wen Wan was more concerned about was not their appearances, but the community numbers.

"Community 12 and Community 24...

"These seem to be where Chen Guangming and that Dr. Shen are respectively."

Though the number of communities significantly increased after entering the second stage, and the situation in many communities was unclear, some communities were notably infamous.

For example, Community 12 was notorious because of Chen Guangming, so any player who knew this would become wary upon seeing the number of Community 12.

Whereas Community 24 had a much better reputation because Dr. Shen had left a deep impression on the players in the Pain Game.

In addition to that, Wen Wan’s caution was not only based on stereotypes but also on the objective game mechanics.

When sinners enter the game, they can choose one ’Absolutely Trustworthy Audience Representative’ and two ’Relatively Trustworthy Audience Members,’ and among these players, there may be those in power in the community or players with similar mindsets.

These players can then, in turn, provide suggestions to sinner players.

This is a brutally eliminative game, and Chen Guangming might’s have already entered the game as a normal player.

Thus, Wen Wan instinctively wanted to keep a distance from He Qing (Installer) of Community 12.

Other players had similar tendencies to varying degrees.

And He Qing seemed entirely focused on the notice boards of the Pharmacy Rooms in front of him. He first took a brief look at the notice board of the Pharmacy Room right in front of him and then said to the other three players:

"The rules say that all five of us must enter the Pharmacy Rooms, and each room can only have one person.

"Why don’t we each choose a Pharmacy Room first?

"Although we don’t know who will become the ’Director of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing,’ it’s no harm in choosing a Pharmacy Room first."

None of the other players spoke, making the atmosphere a little awkward.

Wen Wan furrowed her brow slightly and said, "What’s the point of choosing now? Even if someone is chosen as ’Director of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing,’ it’s unlikely they’d let us choose the Pharmacy Room ourselves.

"Moreover, the penalties in the Pharmacy Rooms vary in severity, and everyone sure wants to enter the one with the lighter penalties. How will we choose then?"

He Qing disagreed, saying, "There’s no help for it, we’re not doing anything now.

"Look, the doors to these Pharmacy Rooms won’t open at all now; we must select a ’Director of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing’ before we can start producing drugs normally.

"And the game will only end when we’ve produced 10 batches of drugs.

"Waiting for the first player to expose their crime and become the Director might take forever."

No one responded.

Feeling a little sheepish, He Qing went to each Pharmacy Room and checked the specifics on the notice boards.

Seizing the opportunity, Wen Wan hurried over to the middle-aged woman, Zhao Xiuying (Vendor), and deliberately lowered her voice, saying,

"Aunt, shall we cooperate?"

Zhao Xiuying seemed a bit confused at the moment, not knowing what to do. Hearing Wen Wan’s suggestion, her eyes lit up, and she replied, "How do we cooperate?"

Wen Wan explained, "You should have information on two players on your side, right?

"Let’s exchange information and promise each other not to disclose the information to others, and that’s cooperation."