God's Imitator

After the inquiry ended, the game continued according to the usual process.

[Round 5 of the game begins!]

[The endorsed product for this round is: Tea products within the Community.]

[If the spokesperson for this product is not eliminated in the final round and achieves the highest popularity among all spokespersons, the ’tea products within the Community will receive a special boost’.]

[Players interested in becoming the ’Tea Spokesperson’ please take the stage within 5 minutes.]

This time, the broadcast did not show any bidding prompts for the advertisement screens because all 16 screens had already been successfully auctioned and claimed.

The audience was unable to determine which community had successfully bid for these large screens, only knowing that their final purchase prices consistently stabilized around 20,000 minutes of visa time.

The prices for the last few large screens even slightly increased, with the highest reaching 23,000.

This forced many audience members who originally hoped to get a bargain at the end to reluctantly give up.

It was apparent that in such scenarios, any player who engaged in rational thinking and sincerely calculated costs and benefits was likely to lose to those who bid recklessly.

As the new round of the game began, new advertisements also started appearing on the big screens one after another.

[For the medication of the Community! Hu Yingxu!]

[Support Jiang Chenyan!]

[Cosmetics! Clothes! Luxury watches! Gao Jialiang!]

Lu Qi noticed that Community 17, where Hu Yingxu was located, was aggressively strengthening its competition over billboards, changing the situation on the field once again.

At this moment, Hu Yingxu occupied the most billboards, a total of 8, reaching half in the entire venue.

Gao Jialiang closely followed with 4 billboards.

In contrast, Jiang Chenyan, who had a strong momentum initially, now only occupied 2 billboards, seemingly being suppressed by Hu Yingxu to some extent.

There were 2 billboards temporarily displaying no content.

Although Qin Cheng was still persisting on stage as a spokesperson, he had no billboards for the ’tobacco products’ he endorsed, and his popularity was not high.

Lu Qi highly suspected that Yao Yuan, as the ’Agent’, hadn’t even attempted to place advertisements, so there wasn’t much that could be done.

As the fifth round of the game began, another group of players eager to compete as spokespersons took the stage, totaling 4 people.

Perhaps because the medication category had exhausted the audience’s enthusiasm for becoming a spokesperson, this time fewer players took the stage.

The first to speak was a player from Community 7.

"Hello everyone, I am Tang Qing from Community 7.

"Coincidentally, I really have some research on tea: I have systematically studied tea ceremonies and tasted the majority of teas both domestically and internationally.

"I believe among the players present, there probably isn’t anyone who understands tea better than me.

"Unlike tobacco and alcohol, tea itself does not carry any carcinogenic risks; instead, it’s rich in polyphenols, amino acids, and other beneficial elements which can prolong life, delay aging, and protect cardiovascular health.

"Drinking alcohol initially excites and then numbs, with long-term dependence potentially leading to mental disorders; although smoking may temporarily relieve stress, it essentially is a vicious cycle of nicotine addiction.

"Only tea can awaken the mind while maintaining a peaceful mindset, and tea ceremonies in themselves are a form of spiritual cultivation and introspection.

"If everyone doesn’t want to change the status quo of medications, why let the medication category spokesperson ultimately win? Wouldn’t that waste a special boost?

"Instead, why not let tea products secure the final boost, and I will make the best choice for everyone!"

On the stage, the spokespersons for tea products spoke one after another.

Meanwhile, in the area belonging to Community 2, Lu Qi was pondering another question.

"Strange, exactly how many different types of endorsement products are there?

"So far, the categories of alcohol, luxury goods, tobacco, medication, and tea have already appeared.

"But according to the types of goods in the Community vending machines, there are still many remaining categories.

"For example, cakes? Desserts? Ice cream? Coffee?

"Even affordable clothes and shoes, shouldn’t they also count? After all, only the expensive ones fall into the ’luxury goods’ category, while standard clothes should be classified elsewhere, right?

"Thinking this way, doesn’t this actually mean that the game can have a dozen or so categories available for endorsement?

"If each round of endorsement takes 30 minutes, wouldn’t the game last eight to nine hours?

According to the game rules, the game ends when the ’number of spokespersons remains unchanged for two consecutive rounds’, but now it seems this is a difficult goal to achieve, right?

"Every round seems to activate a new endorsement, surely there will be players taking the stage to become new spokespersons.

"Moreover, inquiries will also occur within the game, eliminating some spokespersons.

"It’s no wonder some players have already gone to the resting area."

Many players have already realized this game will be a long-haul battle, likely lasting eight or nine hours or even longer.

Lu Qi also took some time to go to the resting room.

The interiors were simple, equipped with vending machines, a sofa and a tea table, and a bathroom.

The vending machine’s goods were entirely consistent with those within the Community, with no price difference, so players didn’t have to go hungry over price concerns.

Each resting room allowed only one person to enter, and it was possible to unlock the mask and remove it to eat, but before leaving, the mask had to be worn again, or the door would not unlock.

Naturally, players could not use the resting room mechanism to communicate with one another.

Overall, the quantity of resting rooms was adequate, generally enough, since the game was ongoing non-stop, players could only visit during relatively unimportant times, and most dared not linger too long.

Returning to the main venue, the game continued.

The ensuing events seemed to unfold similarly to before, as all players vying for ’tea products spokesperson’ finished their speeches, and the audience, through gazing, provided popularity points, proceeding to the elimination stage.

Tang Qing smoothly became the popularity leader for ’tea products’, yet the popularity gained this round was only 9862, distinctly lower than the popularity leaders from previous rounds.

The popularity for other spokespersons was falling even more notably.

Clearly, as the number of spokespersons increased, each category’s top spokesperson accumulated a relatively fixed fan base, with these individuals likely sticking with their chosen spokesperson throughout.

Thus, the later endorsers were able to gather less popularity, given that the audience had already largely been divided.

Yet, popularity only declined, not disappeared.

According to the game rules, each spokesperson’s ’top ten audience in popularity’ could receive a visa time reward, without duplicate awards, and with equal popularity contributions, players from the same community as the spokesperson were prioritized.

So, even if some players initially chose to support Jiang Chenyan, they might change their minds midway through.

For instance, if uncertain about being in the top ten of popularity contributions, or due to unexpected gaze interruptions, selecting a newly ascended spokesperson for support became a natural choice.

The popularity values of these spokespersons were still slowly changing, with Hu Yingxu’s popularity showing signs of surpassing both Gao Jialiang and Jiang Chenyan.