God's Imitator

The voice in the broadcast continued.

”This accusation may not succeed, but I still hope everyone will cast a verification vote wherever possible. Even if we don’t reach twenty, it can still extend the time I have to speak.

”Because I’ll use the remaining time to share the full course of events across Zone D with everyone.

”Even if my accusation turns out to be wrong, it can still serve the purpose of sharing information.

”The more players who keep making accusations, the more certain we are to eventually flush out the Imitator hiding in the dark!”

Huang Shengjie was taken aback. He had not expected the player making this accusation to be Qin Cheng.

Of course, the broadcast system had processed the voice, so even with the player identifying themselves, Huang Shengjie could not confirm with certainty that it was truly Qin Cheng.

There was always the possibility of someone else using the name.

But in terms of tone, manner of speaking, and what he knew of Qin Cheng, Huang Shengjie felt the probability was high.

Qin Cheng then gave a rough account of the course of events in Zone D.His time was extended to two minutes, which meant at least five players had genuinely cast verification votes for him, including Huang Shengjie among them.

But it was still not enough to trigger the system’s verification mechanism.

Huang Shengjie felt a genuine pang of regret.

”Listening to that, this Feng Yuguang really does seem suspicious.

”His attitude directly shaped Uncle Zheng’s thinking, and ultimately led to the entire Zone D collapse.

”What a shame. Just a few more votes would have done it.

”Yes, there’s a chance the accusation could be wrong. But this game doesn’t have a wrongful-execution mechanic. As long as enough players are willing to spend Medical Points, even just stacking repeated accusations could eventually pile the Imitator to death.

”Sigh.”

Huang Shengjie went to the vending machine and considered who to call.

He already knew the positions of the other players from his community. For a call, the obvious priorities were Ye Lin, Qin Cheng, and Zheng Chunhua.

After thinking it through, he tried to call Ye Lin, but the machine screen displayed a prompt.

[This player is not in their room. Function unavailable.]

Huang Shengjie thought for a moment and tried Qin Cheng instead.

The call connected.

”Hello? Qin Cheng! Tell me everything about your game experience so far. Focus on the details, and be quick!”

Qin Cheng sounded a little surprised, ”Shengjie? Didn’t I just go through all of that during the accusation?”

Huang Shengjie pressed quickly, ”I need details. More details. Don’t ask me why. I’m not even sure whether this information will come in useful, but just tell me first.”

Qin Cheng thought for a moment, ”Alright. I’ll be as thorough as I can. Listen carefully.”

Twentieth round. Everyone returned to the Lounge.

Qian Li settled into a folding chair and said, ”I made a call to Bai Zhilan.

”But, she didn’t have any additional information to offer.

”As Sales, she was handling Zones A and D.

”Zone A was being guarded by Shen Qingyun, and nothing was getting through.

”Bai Zhilan tried to communicate with the VIP Patient and Doctor through the courtyard windows, but it didn’t get anywhere.

”As for Zone D, it was roughly in line with what the player said during the accusation.”

Qian Li gave a brief account of Bai Zhilan’s experience.

”Of course, I’ve only been in the 11th Community for a short time, so she wasn’t necessarily being fully honest with me.

”Either way, nothing useful came of it.”

Du Peng looked around at everyone, ”I contacted Li Haoqiang, a player from my community who’s in Zone D.

”What he said was more or less consistent with what we already know.

”Though, he actually thinks Qin Cheng is the Imitator.

”The player who made the accusation in the broadcast, that is.

”Li Haoqiang thinks he’s the pot calling the kettle black.”

Huang Shengjie’s brow immediately furrowed, ”What nonsense is that!”

Du Peng quickly waved his hands, ”That’s what he said. Don’t look at me!”

Huang Shengjie stood up, ”Don’t look at you? You’re deliberately saying this in front of everyone here. What’s the point of that? Are you trying to stir things up? Or just disrupt us?”

Zhang Yuan said, ”Enough. Back to the matter at hand.”

Huang Shengjie shot Du Peng a sharp look and sat back down, ”I spoke to Qin Cheng.”

He gave a rough summary of what Qin Cheng had shared.

”In any case, Qin Cheng is absolutely not the Imitator.”

Zhang Yuan bowed his head in thought, ”It all sounds like perfectly ordinary game experience. Nothing that stands out as particularly unusual.”

Everyone fell into silence again.

But just then, another broadcast came through.

[A player has chosen to spend all Medical Points to accuse an Imitator.]

[Accusation begins.]

The players who had been sitting in silence each looked up and listened carefully.

The voice had been processed as before, but the urgency and desperation behind it came through unmistakably.

”I accuse Zone A Reviewer Shen Qingyun of being the Imitator!

”Because her behaviour makes absolutely no sense!

”On the surface, she looks admirable and noble, a Reviewer who kept harmful medication out of Zone A for the benefit of its players. But why would she?

”This is the Gallery, where no one’s life is guaranteed beyond the next game. We could die at any moment.

”Let’s be honest. Whether other people live or die, whether drugs have side effects, why should she care?

”Doing this gains her nothing. Not a single minute of visa time. So why?

”There’s only one explanation. She is the Imitator who designed this game.

”Because the Imitator earns enormous returns through the game itself, so they have absolutely no need to care about these petty gains.

”By behaving this way, she clears herself of suspicion and ensures her identity as the Imitator is never exposed.

”So please, everyone, join me in accusing her!”

The accusation speech was not long, but the broadcast was not cut off.

Huang Shengjie instinctively looked at Lin Sizhi, ”Really? Is Shen Qingyun the Imitator?”

Lin Sizhi gave a slight shake of his head.

Qian Li was quiet for a moment and said, ”Even so, that argument is very persuasive.”

The seconds ticked by. Finally, the broadcast came again.

[More than half of all players have chosen to verify. The system will automatically check the Imitator’s identity.]

[Verification not confirmed. Shen Qingyun is not the Imitator of this game.]

From the broadcast, the accusing player’s voice carried absolute despair.

”Not the Imitator? How is that possible? Something must have gone wrong.

”If she’s not the Imitator, then what is she doing all of this for?

”What is she doing it for?!”

The voice cut off abruptly.

The players had voted faster than ever before, and within five minutes the system’s verification mechanism had been triggered.

It had only produced the wrong result.

Huang Shengjie was stunned, ”What? You’re saying more than half the players voted to verify?

”What is wrong with people...

”Why would they vote for that? Biting the hand that feeds them?”

None of the six players in the Lounge had cast a verification vote, which meant the voting rate among players in other zones had been extraordinarily high.

Zhang Yuan let out a sigh, ”The result isn’t surprising.

”The Zone A players might be the ones who resent her most of all.

”As for players in other zones, they also had plenty of reasons to vote.

”Some might have genuinely envied Zone A players for being protected from the drugs by their Reviewer, and voted out of spite. Others might have genuinely believed, as the accuser suggested, that her behaviour made absolutely no sense and really did look like what an Imitator would do.

”The one thing to be grateful for is that this game has no wrongful-execution mechanic.

”Otherwise, that conscientious Reviewer would already be dead.”