God's Imitator

"The contraband is too heavy. Bringing too little is pointless; bringing too much will severely slow me down.

"If the opponent’s inspector turns out to be an athlete, then it’s going to be trouble.

"Better to leave it behind and adopt a defensive strategy."

Huang Shengjie quickly made up his mind. He ignored the raw materials on the conveyer belts, donned the Inspector’s Sleeve Badge, and briskly walked into the fog.

Before leaving, he saw Zhou Wanlin quickly manipulating the control panel next to the miniature train, likely setting up a loading and unloading program.

According to the signboard, transporting materials via train must go through specific procedures, and if arranged improperly, half could get sent back.

But Huang Shengjie clearly had no time to study the train issue. Just as Zhou Wanlin said, each person handling their duties is the most efficient approach.

Huang Shengjie’s immediate task was to locate the opponent’s ’inspector’ and keep a close watch on them, ensuring the other community couldn’t gain additional profit through smuggling.

Huang Shengjie sprinted in the foggy outer field, passing by circular ’safe zones’ on the ground every so often.

After leaving the raw material warehouse, he chose to run towards the left, heading for his community’s overpass direction.

From the map, the opposing prison cell is in the upper left, while his prison cell is in the lower right.

If the opposing community’s inspector intends to pass materials into the prison, they must go through the upper left area of the prison building to deliver to the cell of Community 23.

Both communities’ cells are closer to their warehouses, so Huang Shengjie must run at full speed to intercept the opponent’s inspector.

Nearing the center of the left field, close to Safe Zone 7, Huang Shengjie stopped to catch his breath and wondered if he might have made a mistake.

"Strange, why don’t I see anyone?

"Could it be I just missed the opponent’s inspector?

"It’s possible: if the opponent is also using a defensive strategy, they might prioritize guarding our community’s cell.

"In other words, I’m in the left half, they’re in the right half, which is quite awkward."

Huang Shengjie looked at the iron window.

These windows are extremely narrow, nearly two meters off the ground, meaning Huang Shengjie must stand on tiptoe, reaching up high to push the raw materials through the bars.

"Cough! Cough!"

Huang Shengjie stood outside the iron window, giving two heavy coughs.

He knew it was the cell of Community 23, filled with rival players, but still wanted to see if it’s possible to communicate through the window, maybe trick some information out.

But he quickly realized it was pointless because the mechanical roar from inside the prison’s factory drowned out all other sounds.

Even shouting loudly outside wouldn’t let the players inside the prison hear.

"Players role-playing prisoners in this environment for three and a half hours—what a punishment indeed..."

Just as Huang Shengjie hesitated whether to go to the other side of the field to find the inspector from Community 23, he suddenly saw a shadow darting out from the corner of the wall ahead.

Zhou Xiaoying, with an ’inspector’ badge hanging at her chest, held three portions of raw materials in each hand, shuffling forward in tiny steps.

The two met eyes briefly, both stunned.

Zhou Xiaoying’s face instantly changed, and she quickly turned to run, the heavy raw materials making her resemble a wobbling hen, looking rather comical.

"Hey, wait!" Huang Shengjie shouted hastily.

But Zhou Xiaoying’s small steps became even quicker.

Huang Shengjie, taking two quick strides, easily closed the distance between them.

However, Zhou Xiaoying had already managed to retreat to Safe Zone 5, standing there in a bit of a panic, saying, "Don’t come over! I’m already in the safe zone, entering here would violate the rules!"

Huang Shengjie quickly raised a hand, signaling her to calm down.

"Zhou Xiaoying! Remember, we’ve met in the ’Pain Game’."

Zhou Xiaoying remained anxious: "I know! But don’t come over! We’re in opposing states in this game!"

Huang Shengjie felt a mix of laughter and frustration at such a situation, which was quite unexpected.

Earlier on the overpass, he’d caught a distant glimpse of three players on the other overpass but could only see blurry figures, unable to identify them due to the distance.

Now he realized he and Zhou Xiaoying happened to serve as inspectors for Community 2 and Community 23 respectively, directly opposing each other in the game, embodying a feeling of ’partners in misfortune’ and ’rookie pecking’.

However, upon reflection, it seemed reasonable.

The selection mechanism for this game was quite unfriendly.

One round of screening before entering the game, another inside, effectively picking out the three weakest and least skilled players from the community.

Zhou Xiaoying, being young, was the best among the weaklings, assigned the inspector role.

Previously, Huang Shengjie had interacted with her in the ’Pain Game’, not exactly dumb but far from clever.

Considering the situation earlier, Zhou Xiaoying didn’t need to warn Huang Shengjie and should’ve said nothing.

Because if Huang Shengjie entered the safe zone, it would trigger ’minor violation,’ consuming their community’s precious chances.

Clearly, Zhou Xiaoying was more panicked than Huang Shengjie, temporarily brain-freezing in tension, leading to her unintended speech.

Huang Shengjie looked at the raw materials in Zhou Xiaoying’s hands, suggesting, "Why don’t you put them down? They’re heavy, aren’t you tired?"

Zhou Xiaoying hesitated for a moment, then quickly placed the raw materials on the ground, rubbing her fingers, which were marked and bleeding from the weight.

She seemed to have some thoughts, but upon looking at Huang Shengjie, she realized she could hardly do anything.

In the current state, if Huang Shengjie enters the safe zone, it would trigger ’minor violation,’ so she no longer needs to worry for now.

However, if she leaves the safe zone with the raw materials, Huang Shengjie could easily catch her; just a touch would be a minor violation on her part.

If Zhou Xiaoying leaves without the raw materials, Huang Shengjie wouldn’t violate anything by touching her.

Yet the moment Zhou Xiaoying goes far, Huang Shengjie could take the raw materials himself, delivering them to Community 2’s cell.

Therefore, Zhou Xiaoying faced a dilemma, and this was precisely Huang Shengjie’s planned strategy.

With such heavy materials, between two inspector players with similar levels of fitness, the one carrying things couldn’t outrun the unburdened one.

Initially, Huang Shengjie didn’t know what kind of player the opponent would appoint as an inspector; logically, they’d likely pick the strongest in terms of fitness among the three players.

If that was true, then Huang Shengjie bringing raw materials himself might lead to a disadvantage.

Instead, not carrying anything and purely adopting a defensive strategy by keeping tabs on the opponent’s inspector made for a more flexible response.

However, seeing the opposing inspector was Zhou Xiaoying, he realized he’d overthought it.