God's Imitator

The 5 minutes of thinking time passed in a flash.

The first question appeared on the large screen.

[Which of the following works does not belong to ”Theatre of the Absurd”? ( )]

[A. Beckett’s ”Waiting for Godot”]

[B. Ionesco’s ”Rhinoceros”]

[C. Kafka’s ”The Metamorphosis”]

Cai Zhiyuan looked down at the operable screen in front of him, where the corresponding information had already appeared.

The central area displayed these three different options. After clicking and going through a second confirmation, the answer could be selected.

It was worth noting that below the options were three different circular small lights, somewhat like traffic lights, except they were all currently in a gray state. It was temporarily unclear what their specific purpose was.

On the left side appeared a pie chart showing the number of people choosing each of the three different answers, along with a 3-minute countdown.This represented the answers given by uninvolved players from other communities. As more and more answers were given, the pie chart kept changing.

Cai Zhiyuan quickly scanned the three different options and fell into thought.

This was a literature question with a certain degree of professionalism. It wasn’t too difficult, but it wasn’t simple either.

The difficulty was slightly higher than expected.

Just as the other players were all considering the content of the question, the facial mechanism on Kong Yuxin from Community 13 temporarily unlocked, which meant she could speak.

According to the game rules, there would be a total of 5 questions in the first phase, and each time one player would be selected as the ’player representative’ who could speak freely for 1 minute.

Kong Yuxin looked somewhat nervous and spoke haltingly, ”Choose C! For this question, choose C!

”I majored in foreign literature during my undergraduate studies, so I happen to know the answer to this question.

”’Waiting for Godot’ and ’Rhinoceros’, um, these two options are both representative works of the Theatre of the Absurd.

”But ’The Metamorphosis’ is not. Its main plot is about the protagonist turning into a bedbug, which triggers changes in social status and, and a series of plot developments. Although the story also has some absurd elements, it doesn’t belong to... the Theatre of the Absurd.

”I suggest everyone choose option C together, because as the game rules also mentioned, when everyone chooses the same option, there will be an extra reward.

”Although there are other reward and punishment rules in the game, they’re all in a hidden state, and ’all members choosing the same answer’ is the only clear reward.”

Whether it was due to nervousness or some other reason, Kong Yuxin didn’t speak particularly fluently, stuttering along. The 1 minute was very short, so she didn’t provide much more information.

The mechanism on her mouth locked again, and the room returned to silence.

The other four players had various expressions. Although some people were clearly moving their fingers to operate on the touchscreen, they most likely hadn’t locked in their answers.

After another 2 minutes, the pie chart on the left stopped changing and displayed the results from uninvolved players from other communities.

[A. Beckett’s ”Waiting for Godot”, 17.4%]

[B. Ionesco’s ”Rhinoceros”, 45.8%]

[C. Kafka’s ”The Metamorphosis”, 36.8%]

Obviously, the players who chose ”Waiting for Godot” were the fewest, because this work had very high name recognition.

In the communities, players could discuss with each other, so as long as one player had heard of ”Waiting for Godot”, then the entire community probably wouldn’t choose this option.

This result made the players present hesitate again.

If judging from the answers of uninvolved players from other communities, they should choose B.

But according to Kong Yuxin’s statement, they should choose C.

These two answers were indeed quite close.

The uninvolved community players had no interest relationship with the players in the venue, so the possibility of deliberately deceiving people was very low. However, the problem was they didn’t necessarily have relevant professional knowledge, and the answers given by most players weren’t necessarily correct.

But the suggestion given by Kong Yuxin as the ’player representative’ also had obvious problems.

Setting aside her halting speech and obviously guilty state, just the information she revealed had at least three loopholes.

Cai Zhiyuan fell into contemplation.

”First, undergraduate universities don’t have a ’foreign literature’ major. There’s only ’Chinese Language and Literature’, which doesn’t make specialized subdivisions for foreign literature.

”Second, ’The Metamorphosis’ is a very famous work, but the protagonist doesn’t turn into a bedbug, but rather a beetle.

”Finally, after the protagonist of ’The Metamorphosis’ transforms, he shouldn’t have left his family. It’s mainly about changes in family status rather than social status. Of course, this could also be explained using the broad sense of ’changes in social status’.”

During the answering period, all players couldn’t communicate freely and couldn’t see each other’s specific options.

After considering, Cai Zhiyuan selected [C. Kafka’s ”The Metamorphosis”], then submitted his answer.

The countdown ended, and the large screen announced the final result.

[The correct answer to this question is: C. Kafka’s ”The Metamorphosis”]

[The net earnings of the five players in this room are: -7000 minutes of visa time.]

[The question setter will receive 7000 minutes of visa time earnings.]

On Cai Zhiyuan’s screen, his earnings for this round of the game were also displayed: 7000 minutes of visa time.

Not only that, Cai Zhiyuan also noticed that the three traffic light-like light effects originally below the options had also changed as his personal earnings were updated.

Originally three gray circular light effects, they had now become ’green’, ’green’, and ’gray’.

A series of ”click” sounds rang out as the mechanisms on everyone’s faces automatically opened.

After each round of the game, there would be 5 minutes of free speech time.

Xu Zhao from Community 15 looked somewhat displeased and stared at Kong Yuxin with some hostility, ”Great, great, great. Playing tricks on the very first question, are we?”

Kong Yuxin from Community 13 looked completely innocent, ”What tricks?

”Didn’t I tell you the correct answer? Why didn’t you choose it?

”If you had all chosen it, all five of us would have received extra rewards. The net earnings couldn’t possibly be negative.”

Xu Zhao’s expression became even more unpleasant, ”Correct answer? Your explanation was complete nonsense!

”What undergraduate has a foreign literature major?

”Moreover, anyone with a bit of culture knows that the protagonist Gregor in ’The Metamorphosis’ turns into a beetle, not a bedbug!

”If you really studied this major, how could you possibly make such an absurdly basic mistake?”

Kong Yuxin didn’t get angry and still explained with a somewhat innocent expression, ”Chinese Language and Literature also requires studying foreign literature. Is there a problem?

”Besides, whether he turns into a beetle or a bedbug doesn’t change the core of the story.

”I very sincerely told you the correct answer. If you don’t believe me, fine, but how can you turn around and blame me?”

Xu Zhao’s expression changed several times. Obviously, he was quite angry but the deed was done, and he could only choose to swallow this bitter pill.

Cai Zhiyuan couldn’t help but take a couple more looks at Kong Yuxin.

Obviously, Kong Yuxin most likely knew the correct answer from the start.

She deliberately inserted three seemingly plausible errors into her speech. This was a dual strategy.

If the players were simple-minded and easily trusting of others, following Kong Yuxin’s suggestion and choosing C, the correct answer, they would trust her more. This could strengthen their willingness to cooperate.

But if they were more suspicious players, after noticing these errors, they would most likely avoid option C, which would also help eliminate opponents for her.

Moreover, based on the players’ reactions, one could roughly see these people’s personalities and thinking patterns, providing reference for subsequent strategies.