God's Imitator

Lin Sizhi paused briefly and continued, ”And the reason Xu Guangxin has not ended the game is for one very simple and blunt purpose.

”He wants to kill as many players in this game as possible.

”What his specific motivation is, whether revenge or earning visa time, is not easy to guess. But his actions have consistently worked toward achieving that goal.

”When the other players were all inclined to protect themselves, Xu Guangxin was the first to go on the offensive, accelerating the pace of the game from the very start. Then, once the other players began attacking each other, Xu Guangxin switched to a defensive stance, reducing his own profile to a degree.

”As the Impostor, he can end the game at any moment. No matter how chaotic things get, it poses no real threat to him.

”There is also one critically important point. The Impostor can view other players’ votes in real time, which means he can exercise a degree of vote manipulation.

”The result of the last round was one vote each for all five players. That is clearly suspicious.

”Because the voting in that round was quite open. Players could vote under either ’Offence’ or ’Health.’ And for Communities 2 and 7, the obvious best move was to vote against each other, since one death in the opposing group means one fewer Sudden Death Vote to deal with in subsequent rounds.

”Under those conditions, excluding Xu Guangxin’s vote, the only possible vote distributions are 2-0-2-0, 2-0-1-1, or 1-1-1-1.

”With that being the case, no matter who Xu Guangxin voted for, as long as he voted for anyone else, a five-way tie of 1-1-1-1-1 would have been impossible.”So the answer is that Xu Guangxin voted for himself.

”As the Impostor, he can view everyone else’s votes in real time. A four-way tie carries a degree of chance, but the moment he saw that distribution, he immediately recognised it as an extraordinary opportunity and voted for himself without hesitation.

”Because only by doing that could he ensure all players endured chest pain simultaneously, dramatically increasing the probability that several of them would die of sudden cardiac arrest.

”It’s clear that the two penalties in this game stack with each other: cardiac blockage accumulates gradually, while chest pain is both an immediate penalty and one whose damage scales with the existing blockage, and which in turn worsens the blockage further.

”The same bout of chest pain, for a player like Xu Guangxin who has accumulated very little blockage, is not yet fatal. But for the other players, that is no longer the case.

”In every previous round, Xu Guangxin also used his one vote to balance the distribution, working toward a state in which three players are simultaneously on the brink of death.

”Because the Impostor can bypass all lie detection mechanisms, which means not only can he freely alter the lie detection results on the sentences he copies onto his board, he can also vote for anyone he chooses without restriction.

”The reason I said you should have called for assistance sooner is that Xu Guangxin is now in the process of closing the net.

”But if you vote correctly, you may still be able to recover something.

”This time I will place no restriction on voting criteria, because limiting it to either criterion would not guarantee that your votes would necessarily fall on Xu Guangxin.

”All I can do is hope you make the right choices yourselves.”

Xu Guangxin’s expression remained completely unchanged, as though nothing had affected him in the slightest.

But every other player was now staring at him.

Deng Xiao was deeply regretful. He wished he had called for Lin Sizhi’s assistance far sooner.

If the truth about Xu Guangxin being the Impostor had been revealed earlier, votes could have been concentrated on him much sooner.

As the Impostor, with no threat to his own life, he would never choose to end the game voluntarily.

But conversely, the moment the Impostor felt their life was genuinely in danger, they would stop the game immediately.

At that point, everyone could be saved.

Deng Xiao pressed the button without hesitation and cast a Sudden Death Vote for Xu Guangxin.

”This round, four Sudden Death Votes plus one round of chest pain should be enough to threaten him.

”He might not die, but he certainly won’t dare let the game continue, because another round would kill him for certain.

”As long as he chooses to end the game, this is over.”

Xu Guangxin also completed his vote through his board. No one knew who he had voted for, but it was only one vote regardless of the target, so it made no material difference.

On the platform, the blade corresponding to Xu Guangxin’s sector plunged downward, driving in hard.

Xu Guangxin’s face drained white instantly, but instead of simply clutching at his chest and enduring it as the others had done, he made a laboured effort to lift his head and look at the other players, as though confirming something.

Lu Bingjun’s expression changed sharply. He wanted to call out Deng Xiao’s name, but could not speak.

Deng Xiao noticed Lu Bingjun’s unusual expression, but before he could make sense of what it meant, his vision went dark and his head fell forward.

Li Hui also clutched at his chest in disbelief, struggling with two desperate convulsions before his body slumped sideways.

Xu Guangxin continued staring fixedly at Shi Guoliang. But his brow furrowed slightly.

Shi Guoliang was in terrible shape. Without saying a word, he braced himself rigidly, arms pressing hard against the armrests of his chair.

But he did not die.

Before anyone had quite noticed, a new round had begun.

The game had still not ended.

Xu Guangxin was selected as moderator.

Technically, it had been Deng Xiao who had been the first to attack another player in the previous round, but since Deng Xiao was now dead, the moderator role had passed to the next person who had attacked first, which was Xu Guangxin.

But what surprised everyone was that Xu Guangxin placed himself first in the speaking order.

He looked at Shi Guoliang, forcing back the discomfort, ”You’re not feeling well right now, are you?

”It turns out that those of you who were successful in the conventional world, people of wealth who have occupied such an enormous share of resources, are the perfect illustration of holding a position you never deserved.

”The moment the rules change even slightly, the moment a different game is played, you can only be trampled underfoot like wild dogs by people like me, the ’failures.’

”Of course, I’m not speaking about everyone here.

”In the Gallery, I’ve met some very sharp wealthy people who, even after the rules changed, were quick to reassert themselves.

”But you are different.

”What you’ve taken such pride in, your career and your achievements, were nothing more than the shameless theft of society’s wealth through luck and backroom dealings, taken and kept for yourself.

”So now your true nature is showing. This is where you actually belong.

”Just like that unemployed layabout with the dyed hair. And that lady from our community who did nothing but collect rent and argue her whole life.

”You are fundamentally the same kind of people: parasites with nothing to offer this world. Without you, the world would only be better.”

With three players already dead, the moderator’s speaking time had extended to eight minutes.

Xu Guangxin showed no sign of stopping. He used no particularly foul language, but every word landed like a genuine blow.

It was clear that Shi Guoliang was struggling to maintain control of himself, doing everything he could not to listen, not to think.

But he could not stop listening. Even when he tried to cover his ears, Xu Guangxin’s voice came through the speakers and pierced the gaps clearly.

Shi Guoliang’s face flushed dark red. Finally, reaching the absolute limit of what he could endure, he pointed at Xu Guangxin with trembling fury, desperately waiting for the moment his restraint would unlock so he could unleash everything at once.

But before it did, Shi Guoliang’s movement abruptly froze. The flushed colour that had filled his face drained away rapidly.

He pressed his hand against his chest with fading strength, then slowly, slowly, tilted sideways.

These words had been the final straw.

Xu Guangxin let out a long breath. At the same moment, the system broadcast came through.

In the Audience Room, Tang Qing quietly let out a sigh.

”Well. That was a bit hard to carry.

”There’s going to be some difficult conversations when we get back to the community.”

He listened to the final system broadcast in silence, finished his tea, and then relaxed slightly into his seat, ”Though, in fairness, I didn’t play my best in this game either.”

Bai Zhilan looked at Tang Qing and Lin Sizhi, ”Until next time.”

[Condition for settlement triggered: an inner room player has died, and the Impostor has chosen to end the game.]

[All surviving inner room players will have their hearts healed, and will equally share 300% of the visa time carried by all deceased players as a reward.]

[Audience representatives will additionally receive 40% of their inner room community members’ total earnings as personal income.]

[Game over!]