God's Imitator

Zhang Yan furrowed his brows: "Perhaps everyone’s first impression is that the imitator is in our community?

"But after hearing the entire process of the game, I am more inclined to believe... this imitator is most likely in Community 8.

"Because to achieve such a specific result, several conditions must be met simultaneously, none of which can be omitted.

"I briefly considered the other possibilities for the three key stages of this game:

"The first stage: What if Zeng Yiming is rather timid and only starts producing fake drugs in later batches, or doesn’t dare to devise such a plan at all?

"The second stage: What if Liang Guicheng or any other sinner exposes the previous player’s fake coin very early on?

"The third stage: What if an audience member suddenly discovers the fake drug much earlier?

"This is a chain where any break in the link would lead to a completely different result.

"The final success rate is the product of the success rate of each stage, which is not a very high probability.

"Of course, during Ye Lin’s broadcast, there was an initial explanation: the sinners did not expose the previous player’s fake coin due to their character flaws; and the special selection mechanism of the audience representatives influenced the inspection results, misleading the general audience.

"So, for the latter two stages, let’s assume they are reasonable.

"After all, the imitator cannot always calculate at 100%. A plan only needs to ensure a success rate of more than half to make him decide to implement it.

"Even if it fails, the imitator won’t face any outside consequences, so their making certain risky moves is understandable.

"But the key is that the stage concerning Zeng Yiming is completely uncontrollable, unless the imitator is sufficiently familiar with Zeng Yiming, and even hinted, signaled, or misled him within the community.

"Thus, I think the possibility of the imitator coming from Community 8 is greater, and he is hidden within the audience list entering the game from Community 8.

"Because in this way, he can not only kill Zeng Yiming, but also earn clean visa time through the audience identity, and can wash away his suspicion as the imitator within the community, achieving multiple goals at once."

Qin Cheng suddenly thought of something: "By the way, Lawyer Lin, it’s been a while since we recapped ’King’s Judgment’, can you reveal a bit of information?

"I guess, ’King’s Judgment’ should be a crime committed by acquaintances within the community, right?"

Lin Sizhi nodded: "Yes."

Zhang Yan felt more confident about his view: "That makes it even more plausible."

Huang Shengjie found it somewhat odd: "Isn’t it? Why do I feel a bit conflicted?

"Are you saying the imitator was inspired by ’King’s Judgment’ to create this game?

"I initially thought so too, but how can this imitator exist in both our community and Community 8 simultaneously?

"Currently, there is absolutely no way of cross-community communication, and we and Community 8 were not in the same area at the beginning, and have had very little interaction since.

"If he’s in our community and influenced by ’King’s Judgment’, then he can’t manipulate Zeng Yiming; conversely, if he’s manipulating Zeng Yiming, he shouldn’t know about ’King’s Judgment’."

Zhang Yan shook his head: "I don’t think it’s contradictory.

"Why would you think we’re the only community that has the information on ’King’s Judgment’?

"In the first stage, all detailed rules of the game are shared among communities in the same area.

"This means that once entering the second stage, Community 8 had players from the same area as Lawyer Lin, they could fully possibly know the rules of ’King’s Judgment’.

"Note, it doesn’t need to be the same community, just the same area."

Huang Shengjie thought for a moment: "Oh, true.

"I just felt like we had just shared the information of ’King’s Judgment’, and then such a highly similar game appeared, which seems a bit..."

Zhang Yan nodded: "It’s indeed a point of suspicion, but I don’t think it can be considered conclusive evidence.

"If this imitator is in our community, he might not dare to stand out so openly faced with everyone, right? And how could he calculate Zeng Yiming’s actions?

"Players from other communities might also share, and even the imitator could have realized it by himself, leading to a collision of creativity.

"In general, I am more inclined to believe it’s a crime committed by acquaintances."

Everyone fell silent.

Obviously, Zhang Yan’s theory indeed had some merit, and such an important matter, no other player dared to assert it as right or wrong.

Lin Sizhi shook his head slightly: "On this point, I have a somewhat different view."

Everyone perked up their ears, listening attentively.

Obviously, Lin Sizhi had more authority on the matter than anyone present.

Lin Sizhi explained: "The fundamental reason lies in the different selection mechanisms for advantageous identities in these two games.

"The selection mechanism of ’King’s Judgment’ certainly screens out Ding Wenqiang, but the selection mechanism of ’Trust Marketplace’ is different: it doesn’t screen out a specific player, but instead screens out a certain category of players.

"In other words, assuming the one screened is not Zeng Yiming but He Qing, it indicates He Qing better meets the screening criteria needed by the imitator than Zeng Yiming and would still behave the same way."

This statement was somewhat brain-bending, and everyone lowered their heads, lost in thought.

Shen Bowen seemed to understand somewhat: "Indeed...

"This game seemingly has no selection mechanism, so we naturally think Zeng Yiming becoming the ’Director of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing’ was a random result.

"But upon closer inspection, we realize that this game does have an implicit selection mechanism.

"To start drug production quickly, of the five players, one player must confess fastest.

"And he likely possesses these traits: first, he must be smart and decisive, at least above the average among players.

"Because the audience’s suggestion is only five words, the sinner player cannot have wishful thinking or hesitate after receiving the suggestion, but must promptly act decisively.

"Moreover, he must immediately understand the implication and devise an execution strategy, ensuring that in case of deviation in this strategy, he can use certain means to correct it.

"Wen Wan dared not execute this suggestion decisively because she thought she couldn’t accomplish all the above: confessing is simple, but ensuring stable execution of the strategy upon obtaining advantageous identity, and self-correcting upon deviation, is difficult.

"Generally, it’s not strong enough, so she is troubled.

"And Zeng Yiming is the strongest, smartest, and most decisive among the five.

"Second, he must be sensitive to numbers, skilled at Guess the Number.

"Because players do not know their specific crime number, they have to estimate through other players’ information.

"If unable to estimate for a long time, other players might suspect him of deliberately miscalculating, severely affecting the collective players’ trust.

"In that case, the prestige gained from confessing would be greatly reduced.

"Third, he has to be proficient in understanding human nature, possess enough leadership, and be able to predict and correct other players’ behaviors, ensuring that after becoming the ’Director of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing’, he can uphold this venture.

"Therefore, according to this hidden standard of selection...

"The final selection will produce only two types of people.

"Great goodness or great evil, hardly any third possibility.

"Considering the original crimes of these sinners... which possibility is bigger is self-evident."