God's Imitator

During the preparation time before the official start of the game, almost all the audience were talking in whispers about the game content.

Huang Shengjie, Qin Cheng, and Lu Qi were assigned to the back row of the Community 2 audience seats.

"This time the game rules are simpler than ’Prison Factory,’ but... a bit too vague, aren’t they?

"Basically, four actors perform according to a script, play a detective game, and after finding the real culprit, the audience receives rewards based on voting and betting.

"Is that about right?

"Even though the overall gameplay is clear, there’s hardly any detail in the rules. How exactly are the actors supposed to perform?

"Luckily I wasn’t chosen as an actor; otherwise, I’d be at a loss..."

Huang Shengjie imagined himself in the situation of the four actors on the stage, feeling a bit worried.

Ye Lin and Zhang Yan were assigned to the front row of the audience, slightly turned back, joining the discussion.

Ye Lin lowered her head in thought, quickly analyzing her strategy.

"Rather than a performance, it’s more like ’Script Kill.’

"The rules mention that each actor will receive their character’s ’setting book,’ notice it’s a ’setting book’ and not a ’script.’

"The rules also emphasize that if the ’setting book’ includes fixed plots, they must be followed; if not, actors are free to improvise.

"But clearly, the ’setting book’ must have a lot of blanks because too many fixed plots would confine the character’s logic and leave no room for improvisation, which would take away the strategic aspect of the game.

"Impromptu performance on parts not mentioned in the ’setting book’ and shifting blame onto others might be the core strategy of this game."

Qin Cheng nodded frequently: "Mm, I think so too.

"Sister Ye Lin, you’re a former streamer, you should be quite skilled at this kind of gameplay, right? If you were to play a role, you’d probably do well."

Ye Lin slightly shook her head: "It’s hard to say because we can’t determine the intensity of the game just yet.

"Did you notice anything? When the rules were introduced on the screen, the prop display of the ’setting book’ seemed only a few pages thick."

Huang Shengjie looked puzzled: "A few pages thick? So what?"

Ye Lin explained: "If in the rule introduction video, the ’setting book’ is mainly symbolic prop display, it would appear as a ’thick book.’

"Whether it’s the setting book in ’Script Kill’ or a script in a movie, that’s usually the image.

"Since the ’setting book’ prop display in this game is only a few pages thick, it likely reflects the real thickness in the game."

Huang Shengjie was still confused: "Mm, makes some sense, and then?

"According to the previous analysis, this is just a setting book, only containing a small amount of plot, so the thickness is completely normal, right?"

Ye Lin explained: "The thickness is normal, but the preparation time isn’t.

"The game only gives actors 5 minutes of preparation time.

"Moreover, this includes the time for understanding the game rules."

Qin Cheng nodded: "Mm, for actors, the first thing is definitely to understand the basic rules and think of initial strategies, so even for experienced players, the actual time to read the script might be only 2 to 3 minutes.

"If the setting book is several pages long, at the normal reading speed, they simply won’t have time to read all the content."

Huang Shengjie added: "That’s why the rules mention that the game can have several ’adjournments,’ during which actors can go back and continue reading the setting book."

Qin Cheng reminded: "So important is the time before the first adjournment.

"During this stage, the four actors still have to perform normally, but without having read all the content in the setting book, they can easily make mistakes.

"If they show behaviors that contradict the setting book, it might trigger violations or create risks for the final voting.

"However, if they keep silent, it’s like being slaughtered or against the character design.

"It seems like a situation of dilemma."

Ye Lin sat upright again, facing the stage directly at the center.

"There’s no need to worry too much; most players selected to participate in this game are capable of being community core members, so this shouldn’t be too difficult for them."

...

minutes quickly passed.

The doors at the back of the Community 2, Community 4, Community 7, and Community 16 audience seats opened with a "bang," and four players walked down the steps along the aisles between the audience seats to sit at their respective circular long tables.

According to the floor plan of the venue, Lin Sizhi’s position was at the bottom.

He looked at the ’Detective’ sitting directly opposite him and then glanced counterclockwise around the entire scene.

[Detective - Community 7 - Tang Qing]

[Jury Representative - Community 18 - Chen Yumei]

[Doctor - Community 16 - Feng Yuguang]

[Jury Representative - Community 23 - Wu Xiufang]

[Lawyer - Community 2 - Lin Sizhi]

[Jury Representative - Community 3 - Lu Xinyi]

[Wealthy Merchant - Community 4 - Wang Yongxin]

[Jury Representative - Community 11 - Bai Zilan]

In the area behind these people were the corresponding community audience seats, where five players sat, also responsible for playing ordinary jurors.

Among them, there were quite a few familiar faces.

[Performance begins!]

...

The entire courtroom quickly quieted down, and all players naturally entered the performance state.

Though the audience were just extras and had no assessment criteria, they were also playing ’Jurors’ and naturally influenced by the atmosphere.

After a brief silence, Bai Zilan from Community 11 was the first to come to the podium.

She was not an ’actor’ and had no designated lounge, so she couldn’t change costumes, appearing in a similar image to what was seen in ’One Word Breaks the Prison’ before.

However, Bai Zilan still tried to showcase a mature and stable posture, with a completely different demeanor from before.

"Respected jurors, today we will uncover the truth of a case in this courtroom. As a jury representative, I will do my best to interrogate the suspects, and work with you all to exonerate the innocent and bring the real culprit to justice.

"Considering many jurors present are not yet clear about the full picture of the case, I suggest we first have the four suspects state what they know about the case here."

She paused slightly and, seeing no objections, turned to Tang Qing and said in a consultative tone: "So, let’s start with the detective, shall we?"

In terms of the specific process of the game, the rules did not particularly limit speech order, speech length, or timing of adjournments, leaving it to the players to decide.

Therefore, Bai Zilan took the initiative to claim the role of the ’host’ of this trial.

This identity could also be claimed by the other three players playing jury representatives, but they were clearly not so inclined.

As Bai Zilan exited, ’Detective’ Tang Qing rose from his seat and stepped onto the podium.