God's Imitator

"More votes?

"Have you already guessed which type of votes will be more numerous?"

Huang Shengjie was a bit surprised, as Lin Sizhi’s implication was clear yet perplexing to him.

Because his original guess was that the two types of votes would be close.

Lu Bingjun and Wen Wan could each only stably control three or four votes, while the Community was filled with a lot of swing votes, which could be swayed at the last moment in either direction.

The two must have privately worked hard in the past few days, yet the last 8 hours today could still witness significant changes.

Huang Shengjie hoped Lin Sizhi would give more hints, but clearly, Lin Sizhi showed no signs of further explanation, simply reading and pondering silently.

Huang Shengjie didn’t feel it was right to ask further, so he turned gloomily towards the floor-to-ceiling window, continuing to consider the matter in his own way.

It felt a bit like reflecting on one’s mistakes.

"According to Lawyer Lin, this time the voting pattern will be clearer than I imagined, so he can be sure he’s voting for the more numerous type.

"Then for me, the key is to guess who can win.

"Only a slight advantage turns into a huge advantage.

"Brother Lu will get an overwhelming number of votes?

"No, no, no, that’s absolutely impossible."

Huang Shengjie got up to fetch paper and pen, ready to use the dumbest method: counting votes.

"Brother Lu, Yao Yuan, and Qin Cheng are 100% confirmed support votes, Sister Yelin, Uncle Zheng, He Qinyun, and me are 100% confirmed opposition votes.

"Lawyer Lin will vote for the side with more people, let’s not bother with him for now.

"This leaves Zhang Yan, Shen Bowen, Aunt Geng, Sister Wanlin, and Lu Qi.

"The last three are standard day-time people, they may not have very clear ideas and their positions might waver and change.

"But... perhaps precisely because they are all day-time people, could they align on their votes? Vote the same way?

"Zhang Yan and Shen Bowen are both veteran players, and they should know what they want, merely surrendering to Brother Lu’s proposal due to trends is unlikely.

"I think... even if unspoken, they should mind such blatant disruption to the Community’s environment.

"After all, during the entire first phase, their Community hasn’t tried this kind of thing.

"Moreover, Zhang Yan doesn’t accept drug proliferation in the Community, he would rather leave voluntarily; he is actually thoughtful and brave, and under non-anonymous voting, it would be surprising if he dared not cast even one opposition vote, right?

"Surely he will vote.

"Then, if Sister Yelin successfully secures Zhang Yan and Shen Bowen’s votes, she can leverage them to influence the three day-time people’s votes, and the advantageous situation becomes apparent.

"Of course, the three day-time people’s votes might not be entirely secured, with possible anomalies in one vote, but the advantage remains substantial.

"If Lawyer Lin thinks similarly, then his vote could be added, reaching 9~10 votes, creating a overwhelming advantage...

"Moreover, following this logic, Sister Yelin’s advantage goes beyond this.

"The Community’s rule is ’non-anonymous voting’, a method that considerably affects player attitudes itself.

"In the case of ’non-anonymous’, would players be more inclined to ’agree’ or ’reject’?

"Clearly ’reject’.

"もちろん,『模仿犯の脅威』という点も考慮する必要があります.

"But no one knows the truth, so it depends not on whether ’Imitator is in Community 2’, but whether ’players are willing to believe the Imitator is in Community 2’.

"For the average player... likely reluctant to believe it.

"After all, ordinary people tend to choose simpler, easier paths.

"’Persecution complex’ and ’wishful thinking to deceive oneself’, the latter seems to be more frequent.

"In summary...

"Sister Yelin should win with a large margin, and the proposal won’t pass."

Huang Shengjie felt his conclusion was overly optimistic, so he reconsidered several times.

But the more he thought, the more he felt it had to be so.

Unconsciously, over an hour had passed.

The pages of the book in Lin Sizhi’s hand had moved forward quite a bit; he lifted his head to look at Huang Shengjie: "Instead of guessing aimlessly, why not use this time to secure votes?"

Huang Shengjie paused: "Securing votes?"

Lin Sizhi nodded: "Of course, Lu Bingjun has already said to encourage everyone to discuss in any small groups during this period."

Huang Shengjie hesitantly nodded: "Hm... makes sense."

Though he said so, he didn’t immediately get up to act.

There might not be any particularly clear reason, more like a collection of many subtle reasons.

For instance: Huang Shengjie hadn’t previously engaged in similar vote solicitation, making him somewhat unaccustomed and unsure of where exactly to start;

Although Huang Shengjie is internally inclined to cast an opposition vote, if others cast support votes, he wouldn’t feel unable to accept it, lacking strong motivation to persuade others to change their minds;

On the opposition side, Ye Lin surely had made thorough efforts, with those she could persuade she surely had, and for those she couldn’t, Huang Shengjie’s further attempts would be pointless.

Yet after careful consideration, Huang Shengjie realized his mindset might be wrong.

Even if he could only secure one vote, even if it doesn’t change the final result, it’s still valuable.

However, players were already dispersed into various corners of the Community, creating a problem regarding where to start securing votes.

Huang Shengjie quickly narrowed down two priority candidates.

Zhang Yan and Zhou Wanlin.

According to Huang Shengjie’s judgment, Zhang Yan inherently should be a firm ’opposition vote’ supporter, recently joining Community 2 without those complicated interpersonal relationships.

If he made up his mind to cast an opposition vote, it could reassure Huang Shengjie; if he decided to cast a support vote, then persuading him should be easier compared to others.

Meanwhile, Zhou Wanlin appeared to be the core among the three day-time people, having previously cooperated well with Huang Shengjie in the ’Prison Factory’, having a solid mutual trust foundation.

Securing Zhou Wanlin’s opposition vote might help influence Geng Yuxia’s and Zheng Chunhua’s attitudes.

As for other candidates, they could be determined after talking with these two.

At this thought, Huang Shengjie immediately stood up.

...

Ten minutes later, Huang Shengjie found Zhang Yan in the gym.

Since Zhang Yan joined the Community, he essentially went to the gym every day for simple exercise, although not timed, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the evening.

Huang Shengjie originally thought that today’s special occasion would mean Zhang Yan would wait until after voting to exercise, so he prioritized searching other areas first.

Ultimately, he did find him in the gym.

"Brother Zhang, do you have a moment?" Huang Shengjie noted nobody else was in the gym, a good opportunity.

Zhang Yan had just completed a set of movements and wiped sweat from his forehead: "I do. Do you want to ask about the vote?"

Huang Shengjie promptly nodded: "Yes."

Zhang Yan hesitated little: "I’ll cast an opposition vote."