God's Imitator

Lu Bingjun expressed gravely: "Hmm... there’s some truth to that."

"But there’s a question. The previous ’Community Trial Proposal’ was passed with a high vote approval."

"Although I’m not clear about the specific distribution of votes, I feel that Ye Lin and her supporters seemed to have voted in favor."

"This point also puzzles me a bit."

Qin Cheng said: "I’ve thought about the reasons, and there are two possibilities:

"First, Ye Lin had just manipulated the Imitator to kill Wen Wan, showing an attack posture, so to reduce suspicion and avoid drawing attention, she made a concession on this proposal first."

"After all, from her perspective, even if this proposal is truly passed, it’s unlikely to be used in the short term."

"Second, if Ye Lin successfully snatches the First Player position from you, then this proposal can be utilized by her."

"As long as she’s certain she’s secured enough votes, she wouldn’t worry about this proposal posing a threat to her."

"So, the voting pattern this time does not clear Ye Lin of suspicion."

Lu Bingjun nodded slightly: "Hmm... but this is pure motive analysis."

Qin Cheng continued: "It’s pure motive analysis, but I believe this kind of analysis is rather more reliable."

"If we’re dealing with a typical Imitator, it’s simple, catching his mistakes in the Community or game suffices, without needing such a big fuss."

"But what we’re facing is an extremely cunning, extremely dangerous Imitator, who hasn’t been identified until now, and many players in the Community don’t even believe he really exists, which already proves he possesses extremely powerful disguise abilities."

"In this situation, players who seem least like the Imitator are more likely to be the Imitator. Motive then becomes the most reliable, least prone to deviations."

"In terms of motive, players on Ye Lin’s side have the most clear motive."

"Moreover, I believe Ye Lin did not truly exert herself in the ’Trust Marketplace.’

"It’s very likely she told Wen Wan something in advance, which led to Wen Wan choosing her in the game, but she deliberately held back in the game, pretending to ’put in effort.’"

Lu Bingjun asked in confusion: "Even so, you should suspect Ye Lin, why suspect Zheng Chunhua?"

Qin Cheng explained: "Actually, initially my suspicion was indeed more on Ye Lin."

"Among Ye Lin, Uncle Zheng, and He Qinyun, Ye Lin is the most capable, while the other two players perform poorly."

"So, it’s difficult to associate them with the identity of the Imitator, since even a mediocre-performing S-Class Imitator in the game should be far better than ordinary players, especially outstanding in post-game analysis."

"But I’ve also mentioned before, because what we’re dealing with is an Imitator extremely adept at concealing themselves, so reliance on mental inertia to discern isn’t feasible."

"In fact, Ye Lin’s direct role as the game’s core high-profile behavior doesn’t match the portrait of this Imitator."

"Of course, what really made me ascertain this was... Uncle Zheng’s demonstration of Imitator thinking in the game."

"Actually, I had slight suspicions earlier during the ’Prison Factory.’

"In that game, Shen Bowen was outside leading, while Uncle Zheng and I were inside the prison, with me making more decisions."

"I actually wanted to test Uncle Zheng’s understanding of the rules, but he acted clueless."

"At that time, I found it odd. Uncle Zheng is a teacher, a veteran player surviving to the second phase, even with luck involved, he shouldn’t perform worse than a typical new player, should he?"

"But at that time, I couldn’t continue testing further, as I couldn’t let the game fail, I had no choice but to lead the direction of the game."

"However, the situation was different in the ’Endorsed Game’, in this game, a mechanism was introduced to test Imitator thinking, namely the ’Reflection Room’ and the corresponding hidden rules."

"This game strictly required participating players to be 3 men and 4 women, only male players could take the stage and become spokespersons, and only spokespersons could enter the Reflection Room."

"From the configuration at that time, evidently Yao Yuan brother serving as agent was more reliable, thus me becoming the spokesperson, and Uncle Zheng entering the Reflection Room was the optimal personnel configuration."

"But the problem was, before going on stage, we simply couldn’t speak, nor could we communicate."

"Entering the Reflection Room is actually highly time-sensitive, although the post-game analysis hasn’t been done yet, and I’m not yet clear about the specific rules in the Reflection Room, but it can roughly be determined: only the first few players entering the Reflection Room can enact the hidden rules."

"Entering late renders it completely meaningless."

"Yet the key issue lies here."

"I took the stage during the third round of the game, judging by later events, this counted as choosing a crucial game phase, neither early nor late."

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"The latest opportunity should be Tang Qing taking the stage during the fifth round of the game."

"I was originally ready, if Uncle Zheng continued with no action, I’d remind him later to enter the Reflection Room."

"It could be done in the fourth or fifth round, there’s still relevant time."

"Moreover, after becoming the spokesperson, I could freely speak, although I couldn’t broadcast speeches to the entire audience, sparing some time to talk with Community players offstage was possible."

"Jiang Chenyan and the others also used this method to maintain communication with Community players."

"In the end, Uncle Zheng chose to take the stage in the third round together with me, and actively disseminated false information to enter the Reflection Room."

Lu Bingjun’s expression instantly became much more serious. He pondered for a moment, then pursued: "How did he decide to enter? Tell me in detail.

"Didn’t make any inquiries with you or Yao Yuan beforehand? Went directly on stage?"

Qin Cheng thought for a moment: "If you have to say, it wasn’t completely absent.

"At the start of the third round game, I was preparing to take the stage. Uncle Zheng poked me, then pointed towards the ’Reflection Room.’

"Then I nodded.

"That was all our communication, nothing else."

Lu Bingjun furrowed his brow, falling into contemplation.

At this time, everyone hadn’t conducted post-game analysis yet, so Lu Bingjun couldn’t concretely know what transpired in the game.

But he had examined the game rules and could make a rough prediction on the game process, hence could somewhat infer the scene depicted by Qin Cheng.

"This way... it’s indeed very suspicious.

"If it’s top players like Jiang Chenyan, Tang Qing, Lawyer Lin exhibiting Imitator thinking in the game, it’s still not conclusive, as they are strong players who would intentionally undergo such training and attempts to enhance game winning chances."

"But if an ordinary player who usually performs mediocrely in the game often uses an Imitator perspective to approach problems, then it’s very problematic..."

Lu Bingjun looked up at Qin Cheng: "However, what do you plan to do?

"Although this point is indeed very suspicious, solely using this reason to accuse Zheng Chunhua seems far from sufficient.

"Community Trial Rules have the design of ’Countercharge,’ if the charge fails, there’s enormous risk.

"At worst, one could suffer negative consequences themselves."