God's Imitator

Huang Shengjie didn’t strongly express his stance, after all, the person who least wanted the proposal to pass in this community was definitely not him.

It could even be said that even if the proposal passed, Huang Shengjie felt it wasn’t unacceptable, so naturally, there was no need to go all out.

Of course, he also didn’t believe he had the power to sway the vote with eloquence alone; it was enough to remain true to himself.

One must admit, canvassing was even more exhausting than participating in the game, and by around three in the afternoon, Huang Shengjie was feeling quite drained.

It wasn’t physical fatigue, but more the dryness of the mouth and mental exhaustion.

He returned to his room for a short rest and came back just before the voting was about to start.

Lu Bingjun also returned to the hall and said to everyone, "Then, as we decided earlier: Lawyer Lin, Ye Lin, and Shengjie, you three go to submit the first two proposals first."

None of the three declined; they simply took turns holding the proposals and lined up to enter the Community Management Office.

The others waited outside in silence.

Soon, it was Huang Shengjie’s turn.

Under everyone’s gaze, he inexplicably felt a bit nervous, even though this was a straightforward task.

The Community Management Office was a standalone structure in an outdoor area, a simple space with no function other than submitting proposals and voting.

Huang Shengjie had entered here before for voting purposes, but it was his first time submitting a proposal.

The door behind him closed automatically and locked from the inside.

The screen on the wall displayed a 15-minute countdown.

For submitting proposals, the default time allowed was 15 minutes, and one could leave early.

If the time expired, one would have to leave the office and re-enter.

Overall, there were not many restrictions on the act of submitting a proposal in terms of the mechanism.

Under the large screen, Huang Shengjie pressed the ’Submit Proposal’ button. The screen displayed a prompt, allowing players to submit their proposal via voice, typing, or handwritten notes.

Holding the proposal distributed earlier by Lu Bingjun, after quickly scanning to ensure there were no issues, Huang Shengjie took a deep breath and read it from start to finish.

Quickly, the content was smoothly input onto the large screen where Huang Shengjie could reconfirm and make any adjustments and modifications.

After confirming everything was correct, Huang Shengjie pressed the ’Confirm Submission’ button.

However, immediately information appeared on the screen.

[The proposal conflicts with the community’s basic rules and is rejected.]

It didn’t specify which rule was violated, but it couldn’t be passed.

Feeling resigned, Huang Shengjie took out his second proposal and attempted to submit it again.

The same message appeared, indicating it was not approved.

It was as expected: the community would not confirm the real identity of an Imitator in any form, even after the player’s death.

Huang Shengjie let out a sigh; although disappointed by the outcome, at least it meant no one could make small moves at this stage; the third proposal was the only option.

Players could only decide whether it passed, and further optimization of its content was nearly impossible.

"In that case, it’ll all depend on the final vote."

Huang Shengjie left the Community Management Office, shaking his head at the waiting players outside.

"It’s indeed no good.

"The first two proposals conflicted with the community’s basic rules and were rejected."

Lin Sizhi and Ye Lin had already given the same response.

Nobody said anything further, instead watching as Lu Bingjun entered the Community Management Office.

Moments later, an announcement came over the community broadcast.

[A proposal has been submitted, and the community has approved it.]

[Within the next 1 hour, all members are asked to enter the ’Community Management Office’ or to vote anonymously on their personal computers.]

[If the proposal garners more than half the support, it will be enacted as a basic rule.]

[Proposal content: Addition of the ’Community Trial Rules.’]

The group compared the subsequent proposal content with the version they held; there was no difference, completely identical.

Lu Bingjun evidently wasn’t going to play such simple and poor word games, as it was pointless.

Huang Shengjie’s feelings became more complicated.

"I can’t believe it actually passed..."

He had originally hoped for a somewhat optimistic case, where the community’s basic rules would prohibit players from voting away another player’s life within the community, leading this proposal to be rejected.

But now it seemed he had overthought it.

Although the community’s basic rules disallowed players from taking harmful actions against other players, like murder, kidnapping, coercion, or poisoning, these clearly belonged to the category of ’vigilante justice.’

As long as players followed the proposal through the trial rules and executed a player via the community’s formal judgment process, it did not conflict with the basic rules.

Because there had already been ample discussion and thought, within the hour, players went into the office one by one to vote without any lengthy hesitation.

Huang Shengjie was among the first to enter the office to cast his opposition vote, then returned to the hall to silently await the final voting results.

[Voting has concluded.]

[The following are the results of the anonymous vote.]

[In favor: 11 votes]

[Opposed: 3 votes]

[The ’Community Trial Rules’ are established.]

Upon hearing the results, Huang Shengjie was noticeably stunned, even wondering if he’d heard incorrectly.

But the voting results also appeared on the screen at the same time.

Huang Shengjie looked closely and indeed saw no mistake; there were only 3 opposing votes.

While the votes in favor were as many as 11.

Even excluding the influence of the First Player Identity Card held by Lu Bingjun, the real vote count was also 10 to 3, with the supporting votes achieving an overwhelming victory.

Moreover, the number of opposing votes was even less than the number of people Huang Shengjie tried to canvass and question.

"There’s my vote among them, meaning besides me, only two other people voted against it...

"Ye Lin, He Qinyun, Uncle Zheng, Zhang Yan, Zhou Wanlin, Lu Qi, Shen Bowen...

"Who could it be?

"But most people here had told me they were more inclined to vote against it!

"Did someone lie to me, or in the time leading up to the vote, someone else approached them and convinced them to change their minds?"

Huang Shengjie’s mind was blank, unable to make sense of what was happening, as he looked around in confusion.

Suddenly, everything before him felt unfamiliar, as if he had never truly understood this place.

Lu Bingjun’s face held not much joy, more like a sense of relief now that the dust had settled.

"In any case, this is the end result of everyone’s vote, a step recognized by most and one that must be taken.

"But there’s no need for everyone to worry. As the proposal content states: This is a rule that can only be enacted under extremely special scenarios, and acts more like a deterrent against the Imitator, quite possibly never coming into effect until the end of the second stage.

"It simply grants us an additional tool to deal with the Imitator in extreme special circumstances."