God's Imitator

Qin Cheng considered for a moment and said, "To understand this issue clearly, we must first roughly judge what kind of community ecology those that don’t control drugs might have.

"Even in communities that similarly don’t control drugs, the extent of drug proliferation should vary.

"For now, let’s simply divide these communities into two categories: ’Light Proliferation’ communities and ’Heavy Proliferation’ communities.

"What do you think the daily drug consumption of these two types of communities is? According to the current replenishment quotas, can they ’self-sustain’?"

Huang Shengjie realized that when Qin Cheng chaired a meeting, he was noticeably different from Lu Bingjun.

In most cases, Lu Bingjun would deliberately control other players’ speeches, such as letting Yao Yuan control the pace of the meeting; interrupting quickly if some players’ speeches took the wrong direction; or even possibly not setting up a free speech session and ending the meeting early.

But Qin Cheng was different. He seemed to have no intention of controlling speeches in the meeting and even encouraged other players to speak freely.

This might be a difference in leadership styles between the two.

Of course, it could also be that Qin Cheng’s method of control was more sophisticated, and Huang Shengjie didn’t notice it.

But in any case, Qin Cheng’s style indeed had immediate effects. Other players’ enthusiasm for participating in community topics and voicing their opinions significantly increased.

Shen Bowen silently calculated the current replenishment quota situation again, "I think, currently, each community should still be able to ’self-sustain.’"

"My deduction is based on phenomena observed in the game.

"After the ’Pain Game,’ most communities showed signs of drug addiction. But until now, we have never seen players unable to continue the game due to withdrawal pain.

"Drugs can’t be brought into the game, and the longest game duration could even reach four or five hours.

"Therefore... the onset cycle of drug addiction shouldn’t be too short.

"In the short term, both kinds of communities should be enough.

"But as time progresses, depending on the manner of drug intake, the addiction levels of players might start to differ.

"By then, the Light Proliferation communities might barely manage, but Heavy Proliferation communities will not be enough at all.

"That’s my prediction."

Qin Cheng bowed his head, pondered for a moment, and said, "Hmm, that makes sense too.

"However, my view is slightly different.

"We indeed haven’t witnessed a situation in the game where a player experienced a drug craving, but this doesn’t necessarily mean the addiction cycle is long.

"A more likely scenario is...

"To avoid this situation, they might default to taking the drug before entering the game, regardless of whether their addiction has kicked in or not.

"Moreover, I even suspect that these individuals might choose to take their medication at a fixed time before sleeping."

Shen Bowen was taken aback — indeed, this was something she hadn’t considered much before.

Qin Cheng continued to explain, "We can’t use normal people’s thinking to guess at the psychology of drug addicts.

"Suppose now I’m a drug addict and about to enter a game of life and death. Based on previous experience, my addiction might randomly appear within 24 to 36 hours.

"It’s been over ten hours since I last took a drug.

"I don’t know when the addiction will occur specifically, nor do I know how long this game will last.

"So, the most sensible approach now would be to take the drug directly.

"Because I cannot endure the consequences of an unexpected situation."

Shen Bowen fell into thought, then nodded, "Indeed."

The scenario Qin Cheng described is his assumption, but if a drug addict were to truly encounter it, they would likely make the choice he predicted.

If a player experiences a drug craving during the game, they will be unable to think, unable to act, becoming completely incapacitated and at the mercy of others.

They might lose all gains, or even possibly die.

That, of course, is unacceptable.

Taking drugs in advance might worsen addiction, but just taking them a few hours early isn’t a big deal for players who are accustomed to taking medication.

Similarly, they might also choose to take drugs directly before sleeping.

Since there might be Community Pain or withdrawal pain during sleep, which could ruin their rest and sleep.

Of course, players with stronger self-control might choose to take drugs only after being woken up by the pain.

But the problem is, this experience would be very unpleasant.

Players addicted to drugs inherently have less self-control; they might take a few pills to a dozen weekly, and at these volumes, withholding a daily pill before bed is a meaningless act.

Once accustomed to taking pills, the drug amount will inevitably increase.

It could mean taking them more frequently, or taking two or three pills together.

Moreover, the drug itself provides strong sensory stimulation to the players — the more they use, the more they rely on it.

Qin Cheng continued, "Moreover, since the Walkway offers these drugs, it cannot be so kind as to let the players just have enough to consume.

"Therefore, my prediction is somewhat more pessimistic than yours:

"Perhaps in the Light Proliferation communities, drugs might be barely sufficient for now, but community leaders can always artificially create scarcity, making them insufficient;

"As for the Heavy Proliferation communities, they are very likely already in a prolonged state of insufficiency.

"Since the replenishment quota per time is capped at 100 bottles, this situation will only get worse over time.

"It might even lead to ’incapacitated players’ who cannot partake in normal activities due to real difficulty accessing drugs. Handling these players might also become a challenge for many communities."

Everyone remained silent for a while; such a prediction was harsh and required some time to digest.

Zhang Yan spoke up, "I agree with such speculation.

"I can provide some corroboration from the situation in Community 16.

"Though I’m unsure of the current situation, before I left, Community 16 should be considered a ’Light Proliferation’ community.

"At that time, Feng Yuguang, the doctor, couldn’t propose a ban on drugs, and the community leader lacked the courage, leaving the entire community in a laissez-faire state.

"Everyone freely replenished and purchased drugs.

"On the surface, this seemed like a fair solution, but it triggered a series of problems.

"Because the limit on drug purchases is capped, even when they can satisfy demand through average distribution, some players still secretly buy them up.

"On the first night, all the drugs were sold out.

"Those who realized they couldn’t buy any after waking up were furious, leading to a big quarrel in the community, but no one admitted to buying them up.

"Moreover, the drug prices themselves weren’t too high, and players had other expenses, making it hard to track each player’s every purchase.

"Or it could have been that it wasn’t a single person but rather two or three working together to buy it all.

"So, although there were suspects, it was impossible to pin it down.

"Thankfully, initially, everyone’s addiction wasn’t severe, and players with good relationships could share some pills, thus barely making it through until the end of the second game."