God's Imitator

Zheng Jie asked, ”What does ’subjected to a death threat’ mean?”

Lin Sizhi explained, ”It means exactly what it says.

”In the ’Simple Roulette’ game, the setting from ’Redemption Roulette’ was actually carried over, so if I fired four or more shots at the mannequin, I could die from severe cranial injury. The current medical conditions in the community wouldn’t be able to save me.

”In other words, as long as there’s a death risk within the game mechanism, it counts.

”You can’t say that just because a player perfectly clears the game, the game mechanism has no threat.

”Of course, when I wrote the rules related to the ’Submit to Fate’ cell, I didn’t know what kind of Special Game Cai Zhiyuan would use against me, so I couldn’t predict whether he would actually die from this rule.”

Zheng Jie thought for a moment, ”But firing several shots in a row at the mannequin, that possibility is very low, right?”

Wei Yinzhang shook his head, ”Not necessarily. It depends on the choice the player makes on the first shot.

”Because the player knows that the God’s Imitator who designed this game also studied the rules and concluded that ’the first shot is safest,’ so the probability of the God’s Imitator placing the live round in the first shot is highest.

”In that case, the player might choose to fire the first shot at the mannequin.”But this falls into the same vortex. After the first shot is blank, they’ll uncontrollably think that perhaps the live round is in the second shot.

”Because firing the first shot at the mannequin will also completely ignite the player’s will to survive.

”The player will be overwhelmed by survival instinct. After multiple layers of strategic thinking, this game might actually return to its original state.

”So this game could still result in the worst-case scenario:

”Firing several consecutive shots at the mannequin, then being crushed to death by the mechanism.”

Wei Yinzhang paused slightly and added, ”Of course, this is only the case for other players. A player like Lawyer Lin definitely wouldn’t fire several consecutive shots at the mannequin.

”Even if deciding to shoot the mannequin, he would only shoot specific chambers.

”But for Cai Zhiyuan, this possibility was like winning five million in the lottery. Although the probability is extremely low, it was the outcome he most wanted to see: destroying Lawyer Lin both physically and mentally.

”So he very likely treated this possibility as an inconsequential five-million-dollar lottery ticket. Although he knew the probability was low and insufficient to affect the main strategy, there was no harm in taking a chance.”

Zheng Jie raised his hand and said, ”But if that’s the case, I’m even more confused.

”Cai Zhiyuan definitely knew that the possibility of Lawyer Lin shooting the mannequin four times was almost nonexistent. Treating it as a lottery ticket makes sense, but it certainly couldn’t affect the main strategy.

”He ultimately chose to put the bullet in the mannequin’s pocket, which means the gun would definitely have blanks.

”Lawyer Lin couldn’t possibly be crushed to death by the mechanism, so in this game, wouldn’t Lawyer Lin inevitably survive?

”No matter what, putting the bullet in the gun, whether in the first shot, the last shot, or any shot in between, would be the reasonable choice, right?”

Wei Yinzhang was somewhat helpless, ”You’re nesting dolls again.”

Zheng Jie was stunned, ”Huh? I’m nesting dolls again?”

Wei Yinzhang explained, ”What you said is indeed valid, but this is the inference you gave after knowing the conclusion that ’Lawyer Lin will definitely fire all six shots at himself.’

”What if Lawyer Lin thought one layer deeper and fired the last shot at the mannequin?

”Then what if Cai Zhiyuan thought one layer deeper and replaced the last shot with a blank?

”This is standard nesting dolls. Thinking about the problem this way is meaningless.

”Let’s return to the level where Lawyer Lin and Cai Zhiyuan are and think about it:

”For players of their caliber, beliefs are above life and death, so the ultimate winner of this game depends on whose beliefs prevail.

”After that comes who lives and who dies.

”Let’s use the last shot as an example:

”If Cai Zhiyuan put the bullet in this shot, there would be two situations:

”First, Lawyer Lin chooses to shoot the mannequin with the last shot, and the live round fires.

”Then, was Lawyer Lin’s heart interrogated? You could stubbornly insist it was, after all, as long as Lawyer Lin shot the mannequin it counts. But actually, this wouldn’t achieve any heart-interrogating effect at all.

”If you put the live round in the last shot, and then Lawyer Lin predicted your action and shot the mannequin with the last shot, what kind of heart interrogation is that?

”That would mean the game designer lost completely on both the belief level and the mechanism level, a total defeat. This would be unacceptable to Cai Zhiyuan.

”Second, Lawyer Lin chooses to shoot himself with the last shot and dies in the game.

”But in that case, Lawyer Lin would essentially use his life to prove his philosophy. According to the rules of ’Hermit’s Judgment,’ Cai Zhiyuan would still die, and moreover, he would still have completely lost on the level of beliefs.

”Of course, Cai Zhiyuan couldn’t have known in advance that he would encounter such rules in ’Hermit’s Judgment,’ but even if Lawyer Lin hadn’t launched a ’Special Game’ against him and Cai Zhiyuan hadn’t died, this result would still be unacceptable to Cai Zhiyuan.

”Because he only killed Lawyer Lin’s body, not Lawyer Lin’s beliefs. Instead, his own beliefs would have collapsed.

”If we use ’deicide’ as a metaphor, the act of ’deicide’ also comes in two types:

”The first is to exploit the god’s divinity, using every despicable behavior without exception, admitting oneself to be a gutter rat, only to achieve the result of ’deicide.’

”The second is to honorably pull the god down from their divine throne, shattering their godhood. While one cannot become a true god oneself, one proves that there are no gods in this world, and that one is the strongest person in a godless world.

”Cai Zhiyuan was clearly the latter. He wanted to commit deicide but absolutely did not consider himself a gutter rat.”

Wei Yinzhang paused slightly and continued, ”Putting the bullet in any shot wouldn’t truly verify whose beliefs were superior.

”Because only by having Lawyer Lin fire blanks at the mannequin would it count as shattering Lawyer Lin’s beliefs.

”Conversely, only by having Lawyer Lin fire all six shots at himself would it count as shattering Cai Zhiyuan’s beliefs.

”Zheng Jie, your thinking has two serious errors:

”First, you preset the incorrect premise that ’Lawyer Lin will definitely fire all six shots at himself,’ which is equivalent to solving the problem with the answer already known.

”Second, you placed ’physical life and death’ above ’the victory or defeat of beliefs.’ Your mind is full of thoughts that killing Lawyer Lin physically would be enough. You haven’t considered anything else.

”A player like you simply couldn’t reach the step of using a ’Special Game’ to duel with Lawyer Lin.”

Lawyer Lin nodded, ”Some people might develop the mistaken understanding that I would fire all six shots at myself in any situation.

”That’s of course impossible.

”Only in Cai Zhiyuan’s game would I do this.

”If it were another God’s Imitator who designed this game, even if the rules were completely identical, I would employ other strategies.

”And even if I lost, it wouldn’t affect my beliefs.

”Because not just anyone has the qualification to interrogate me.”