God's Imitator

Huang Shengjie put himself in the position briefly: even if he tried to conceal it deliberately, there would be no way to completely hide it if he and Lu Qi were developing a closer relationship right now.

It was like being in a school class. If two people started spending too much time together, everyone found out eventually. A perfect cover was almost never possible.

And since Ye Lin was willing to say this openly, she most likely expected to get the same answer from the other veteran players as well.

Ye Lin continued, ”My view is that ‘Remorse Poker’ was designed by an Imitator from another community.

”And everything we’ve reasoned from that point is, at its core, a misreading built on assumption.

”The Imitator’s original intention was simple: earn more visa time.

”They looked at the files for Zheng Qingyun and Gao Teng, saw an opportunity to set a trap, and designed a game around it.

”I don’t think this Imitator anticipated how the second half of the game would unfold, or how it would end.

”When they first designed it, they probably only calculated as far as Zheng Qingyun using the machine to cheat and Gao Teng turning on him.

”But they didn’t need to predict the whole thing, because the rules of the game would inevitably push the outcome toward catastrophe.”Under that kind of mechanism, one side had to be completely wiped out before it could end. Either way, whoever it was, the Imitator would collect enough visa time.

”And looking at how the game actually played out, both sides came very close. A slight shift in either direction and it would have been Community 6 that was wiped out.

”How could an Imitator be certain it would be our side that was eliminated rather than Community 6? As I said earlier, even if an Imitator could predict how both players would behave, the specific content of each confession and the actual card totals drawn remain uncontrollable.

”To claim an Imitator could predict each step of the confessions and the precise sequence of hands? I simply don’t believe that. Anyone capable of that wouldn’t be human. They’d be a god. And if an Imitator like that existed, there would be no point in us resisting at all. We might as well accept our fate.”

Ye Lin paused briefly and summarised, ”So from start to finish, the whole thing is actually quite straightforward. An Imitator designed a game targeting two offenders and added four open slots for voluntary participants. The players those two offenders brought in happened to be carrying a great many secrets of their own, which made the process extraordinarily brutal.

”But the Imitator didn’t need to engineer that outcome, and couldn’t have engineered it even if they tried.

”Because the more intricate a plan, the more easily it falls apart.

”In short: an Imitator from another community designed this game. The initial setup was genuinely well done, and did succeed in igniting conflict between the two sides. What happened after that was the result of luck compounding the situation until it reached a catastrophic conclusion.

”But the effect on our community was enormous. We’ve become deeply shaken, almost jumping at shadows.”

Huang Shengjie frowned, turned it over, and then found himself thinking Ye Lin’s explanation actually made a great deal of sense.

”So, is it possible that Brother Lu simply overreacted?”

Ye Lin shook her head, ”That’s one possibility.

”But there’s another. That it was deliberate.

”As I said before, expanding the scope of authority is the ultimate goal, and finding the Imitator and eliminating the threat is only the justification.

”Lu Bingjun has recognised this as an exceptional opportunity.

”So whether or not a hidden Imitator actually exists in this community is essentially beside the point. What matters is what he can do by using the idea of one.

”He can expand the scope of authority within the community.

”And once that boundary expands, he will find a way to bring it under his control.

”It may take time, but once the first step is taken, it will almost certainly be impossible to go back. The only direction is forward.

”Think about what we would have to do to address the threat of this Imitator.

”We would need to contribute far more of our visa time into the community fund.

”Every player would be required to speak during debriefs and discussions, which means the right to silence is gone.

”And to hunt down an Imitator within the community, we would inevitably start watching each other, living in suspicion, and eventually reporting and exposing one another.

”Some people would pass information to Lu Bingjun privately. He said we could also go to Ye Lin or Lawyer Lin, but as the visible head of the community, he will inevitably be the one most players turn to.

”On top of all that, he intends to propose an extreme motion: that a player suspected of being the Imitator can be expelled from the community, or even put to death, by community vote.

”And even though it’s a full vote, voting is something that can be influenced to a degree.

”Power would concentrate. Our individual interests would erode.”

Huang Shengjie felt a strange sensation, as though his mind was struggling to keep up.

Lu Bingjun and Ye Lin had reached completely opposite conclusions, pointing toward two entirely different directions for the community.

The worst part was that choosing wrongly between the two carried severe consequences.

If Lu Bingjun’s reading was wrong, the community’s internal environment would be seriously damaged.

If Ye Lin’s reading was wrong, the Imitator could continue operating without any real constraint.

Huang Shengjie asked, ”So, Sister Ye Lin, assuming your version of things is correct, what do you plan to do?

”Vote to reject Brother Lu’s proposal?

”That does seem viable. The vote is anonymous, and as long as more than half oppose it, no motion can pass regardless.”

Ye Lin nodded, ”Yes. I hope you’ll vote firmly against any motion that expands the community’s scope of authority.

”Of course, I understand that the right to vote is the most fundamental right each player has in this community. My trying to influence how you vote could itself be seen as an infringement of that right.

”I can’t compel you to vote any particular way, and neither can anyone else here.

”I’m only trying to lay out these considerations as clearly as I can. How you ultimately vote is entirely your own decision.”

Huang Shengjie thought it over for a long moment, ”Understood.

”Sister Ye Lin, I’m genuinely grateful you took the time to walk me through all of this. I still can’t say with confidence which version of events reflects the truth, but either way, hearing both sides is the only way to avoid being led in one direction without realising it.

”I’ll think carefully about it.”

The following afternoon.

Everyone gathered in the hall again to continue working through the community’s existing agenda.

Before the formal discussion began, however, each player made their way in turn to the vending machine and donated visa time to the community fund.

The last large-scale donation had been after ‘A Single Word to Settle a Case’, when Lu Bingjun had contributed his entire in-game earnings, roughly 410,000 minutes of visa time, and used them to unlock a new item.

The ‘Prison Factory’ and the ‘Jury Game’ had both yielded strong earnings overall.

Because shifts in the visa time rankings affected which players were subject to the community’s pain rotation, after each game the players would deposit surplus visa time into the Community Special Fund to adjust the rankings and in turn adjust which players experienced pain within the community.

These adjustments were usually relatively minor.

But with visa time across the whole community having grown substantially, a full community-wide donation was needed to recalibrate everything properly.

It was also an opportunity to build up the Community Development Fund further, and to see whether any new items could be unlocked.