God's Imitator

Lu Bingjun paused slightly, and continued, "We can’t obtain firsthand information about the game from the participants’ narratives; we can only make rough inferences through the game rules and the recorded experiences.

"The game’s prototype is the common ’Blackjack,’ but it’s been simplified significantly.

"It’s played between two sides, each with three players, and as a 3V3 format for a maximum of 30 rounds.

"The game uses a deck without the jokers, where cards from 2 to 10 represent their respective point values, JQK represent 10 points, and A can be either 1 point or 11 points, decided by the player.

"In the game, all shuffling and dealing of cards are done by machines.

"There’s no distinction between ’dealer’ and ’player’; in each round, the first player to deal rotates in a clockwise direction.

"Each player initially receives 2 cards, one face-up card and one face-down card (only visible to themselves).

"Once everyone has their cards, they will follow this order to either ’hit’ or ’stand’.

"’Hit’ means requesting another card from the deck. The cards obtained are defaulted to be face-down — visible only to oneself.

"The goal is to make the sum of your card points not exceed 21 but as high as possible.

"If you believe your total points are almost sufficient, you may choose to ’stand’, meaning no new cards are taken.

"If you think your points are still safe, you can continue choosing ’hit’.

"However, if hitting causes your card total to exceed 21, it results in a ’bust’, at which point a clear system prompt is given.

"A ’bust’ state is directly considered a loss, smaller than all other point totals.

"After all six players have ’stood’, everyone reveals their cards for a ’high card takes it all’.

"The player with the largest point total is declared the winner on their side."

Lu Bingjun paused slightly, giving Huang Shengjie the chance to ask a brief question.

"So that means if one of the three players has the highest point total, they win the game? The other two points, whether large or small, or even all ’bust’, don’t matter at all?"

Lu Bingjun nodded: "Yes, as long as one person has the largest point total, it’s counted as a win.

"If both sides’ players have the same largest point total, then the second-largest players are compared; if they’re the same too, then the smallest players are compared.

"If this still doesn’t decide the winner — for example, if the largest point totals are equal and other players all ’bust’—it’s considered a draw, with no penalty.

"These are the basic game rules, essentially a highly simplified version of ’Blackjack’, with no additional rules like blackjack, insurance, or doubling, making it easy to understand.

"However, there are two critical derivative rules on this basis.

"First, every time a player ’hits’, they must make a ’confession’, which means revealing a ’secret their side needs to atone for’.

"After the player confesses, the opposing three players must react to the confession by selecting one of two options: ’shocked’ or ’indifferent’.

"This reaction is subject to an insincere judgment and affects the player’s card points when comparing totals at the end of the round.

"[Indifferent = increase by 4 points].

"[Shocked = deduction of 12 points].

"[Insincere Indifferent = increase by 12 points].

"[Insincere Shocked = deduction of 4 points].

"Points can be reduced to a minimum of 0 and increased to a maximum of a bust. If it’s already a bust before the point change, it’s not affected.

"When multiple results are present, the opposing player confirms which specific result takes effect, but at most only one may take effect."

Lu Bingjun clearly realized potential confusion here, so he paused deliberately.

Qin Cheng asked thoughtfully, "This penalty takes effect after everyone has chosen ’stand’, during the comparison of points, right?

"In other words, you can’t hit after the penalty takes effect to improve your point total.

"If facing a ’deduction of 4 points’ penalty, even if originally 21 points, it’ll be judged as 17 points with no way to save it.

"If our side can trigger multiple results for the other side, we can gauge and infer their exact point totals by their choice and reaction, then enforce the result most disadvantageous to them."

Lu Bingjun nodded: "Yes, that’s exactly how you understand it.

"Second, all players are restrained by specific devices locking them, with special rings on their ankles, knees, thighs, waist, chest, and neck — a total of 6.

"These rings not only fix their bodies but also impose special penalties.

"’Confession content appearing’, ’busting’, ’losing a hand’, will each be recorded as a ’penalty’.

"If you lose a hand, all three players of your community tally a ’penalty’.

"During ’penalty’ settlement, bodily harm is imposed in sequence from the rings, from bottom to top — the inside of the rings deploys blades, cutting specified lengths, specified depths on the body, accompanied by additional pain.

"For instance, if a player receives 3 ’penalties’ in the first round, the rings on their ankles, knees, thighs would be activated sequentially, inflicting damage and severe pain.

"If another 2 ’penalties’ in the second round, punishment continues from the waist and chest.

"Once the neck position rings activate, it returns to the ankles. But by then, the extent enhances, meaning cutting length and depth increase, pain also intensifies.

"The game doesn’t specify the exact number of ’penalties’ leading to life-threatening situations, but it’s evident players may die from two scenarios:

"The game lasting too long, causing excessive blood loss, shock, and consequently death;

"Or, upon reaching neck position penalties, blade injuries to major arteries result in instant death.

"The game’s end conditions are:

"All three players on one side dying, or completing a total of 30 rounds.

"If someone dies, deceased player’s 50% visa time will be divided among survivors from the opposing community.

"If no deaths occur, the community with fewer wins is considered the loser. For every 5 additional wins, the losers lose 20% of their total carried visa time, 10% of which compensates the winners.

"Maximum loss of 100%, maximum compensation of 50%."

Huang Shengjie instinctively asked, "What about the rest of the visa time? Does the Imitator take it all?"

Lu Bingjun nodded: "Probably, the rules don’t mention it.

"In conclusion, these are all the rules of this game.

"After entering the second stage, all previous rule records are cleared, so certain memory details might be a little vague.

"Ye Lin, do you have anything to add?"

Ye Lin thought for a moment: "The apparent rules are basically these; regarding the hidden rules we discussed back then, let’s not reveal them for now, as we’ll need to deduce from the start anyway."

Qin Cheng was somewhat surprised: "Is that it? Considering it’s a Judgment Game, are there no specific sins mentioned for the Sinners in the game rules?"