God's Imitator

Qin Cheng continued, "Why did Gao Teng act this way?

"It might be a complex result of intertwining reasons, but each reason must be dark and vile.

"Gao Teng himself is a person filled with inner darkness and is negative and cynical about life.

"He once lost everything to gambling, becoming crippled. Without the New World, he might have died like a rat in the sewer in reality.

"But the opportunity presented by the New World abruptly interrupted his process of giving up on life.

"It was Wei Changfeng and Xu Yili who used extreme kindness and tolerance to continually pull him up from the abyss, trying to help him find the meaning of living on.

"For Wei Changfeng and Xu Yili, their decision was made without any rational thought; it was purely instinctive behavior.

"If they had thought rationally, they should have considered the story of the farmer and the snake.

"They felt Gao Teng was not inherently bad and pitied his background, so they treated him like a brother.

"And in the process, they discovered some positive traits in Gao Teng, such as his sharp mind and adeptness at using rules.

"Gao Teng’s performance in the game improved, and the three worked seamlessly together, which further strengthened Wei Changfeng and Xu Yili’s thoughts.

"But for Gao Teng, such experiences might have felt more like torture.

"Because he saw the bright spots in Wei Changfeng and Xu Yili, like warm sunlight trying to dispel the darkness in his heart. But this sunlight also severely burned him.

"Perhaps, if Gao Teng could find enough blemishes on Wei Changfeng and Xu Yili, it would be better; he could more easily reconcile with himself.

"Suppose Wei Changfeng indeed were a despicable person; maybe Gao Teng would instead coexist with him in another form.

"Yet, searching again and again, Gao Teng only found more sunshine and warmth, which further highlighted the vileness deep within him.

"In summary, Gao Teng’s mindset should be of two types:

"The first mindset is that great grace is like great hatred.

"Because Wei Changfeng and Xu Yili have given him too many favors, and these favors are ones he can never repay, it burdens him with a heavy moral debt.

"This debt can only be cleared with their deaths.

"Only with those two dead can debts disappear with their deaths.

"The second mindset is jealousy.

"He is jealous of Wei Changfeng for being capable, cheerful, and possessing a charismatic leadership; he envies Wei Changfeng and Xu Yili’s genuine love, trusting and supporting each other even in the dire New World.

"Gao Teng wonders, why can’t someone with such happiness be himself?

"The contents about Wei Changfeng and Xu Yili in the Repentance Poker are false, but most of the content about Gao Teng is true.

"So, if speaking from Gao Teng’s perspective about his motive, it might be like this:

"Wei Changfeng, you are the kindest person to me in this world; you are kind, strong, gentle, and charismatic; even knowing my dark heart and vile past, you insist on pulling me up and letting me live well in the New World, even trying to heal me into a good person.

"But I can’t do it.

"I should be grateful to you, but I only have hatred for you.

"I hate you for naturally possessing everything I don’t; I hate you for remaining optimistic and sunny in this dreadful place; I hate you for being physically sound, admired and liked by everyone; I hate you for having such a bright heart without blemish.

"I also hate myself for being so dark, so vile; I hate that I can’t live in daylight like you; I hate that no matter how I persuade myself, it only deepens my hatred for you.

"I tried reconciliation, tried gratitude, but I couldn’t; only hatred for you and myself keeps growing deeper.

"I tried to convince myself that I should be grateful to you rather than hate, but I failed.

"So, I accepted all the hatred, including for you and myself.

"Now, I will use this hatred to completely destroy you."

Ye Lin seemed drained of all energy, slumped down in the chair somewhat despondently.

"Gao Teng, that beast..."

The other veteran players from Community 2 also displayed extreme pain or difficulty in accepting expressions.

Initially deceived by the Repentance Poker records, Wei Changfeng’s leadership image completely collapsed, each person’s cognition underwent painful reshaping.

But now, Wei Changfeng’s image had reversed again.

It turns out he was still the revered community leader, and everything was Gao Teng repaying kindness with enmity.

This made those who originally liked Wei Changfeng feel deep sorrow.

Huang Shengjie suddenly realized a problem and hurried to ask, "But according to your deduction, isn’t the ’Repentance Poker’ game not made by Gao Teng?

"Then the person who killed Wei Changfeng and Xu Yili was Gao Teng; it has nothing to do with the current players in the community?"

Qin Cheng shook his head, "Of course not."

"I tend to believe that the ’Repentance Poker’ game was not entirely completed by Gao Teng himself.

"Does everyone remember the ’Pain Game’? After the imitator who designed the game died, the game immediately ended.

"But ’Repentance Poker’ is different; after Gao Teng’s death, the game did not end but proceeded to the final stages.

"So, could there be such a possibility?

"Gao Teng was aware of everything or had some sort of understanding, but he was not the imitator who submitted the game.

"Another imitator in the community collaborated with him."

Everyone appeared surprised.

Shen Bowen furrowed his brows and said, "You mean Gao Teng and another imitator ran a black market operation?

"They jointly completed the design of ’Repentance Poker,’ but another imitator submitted it, while Gao Teng personally ensured the game proceeded according to plan.

"But wouldn’t this violate the principle of fairness? Would the Walkway allow such a situation to occur?"

Everyone glanced at each other, finding it difficult to give a definitive answer.

Huang Shengjie sought help by looking at Lin Sizhi, "Lawyer Lin, did your community experience a similar situation before?"

This is the benefit of possessing ’information asymmetry’: certain specific informational discrepancies can greatly influence the direction of key analyses.

Lin Sizhi pondered for a moment and said, "The game ends if the imitator who designed it dies; this should be an established rule.

"During the first phase of the game, I encountered this situation more than once.

"The behavior of ’running a black market’ would theoretically be targeted by the Walkway, but this is not an ironclad law; it is a flexible invisible rule.

"Simply speaking: the worse the behavior of running a black market, the stronger the Walkway’s targeting, but the Walkway won’t directly step in and prefers using the ’matching mechanism’ within the established rules to exact punishment.

"However, this punishment is limited to ’the death of the main culprit of the black market operation’; accomplices usually aren’t severely pursued.

"If the main culprit of the black market operation planned for suicide from the beginning, perhaps the Walkway wouldn’t see the need for subsequent punishment.

"Moreover, the Walkway enjoys seeing conspiracies that showcase the evil in human nature. The characteristics of ’Repentance Poker’ might lead the Walkway to relax its standards—though the game score could be deducted."