God's Imitator

Zeng Yiming, the restaurant manager, paid no attention to the obvious provocation. He simply looked toward Wen Wan and Zhao Xiuying and continued his explanation.

”In this game, the five of us offender players each hold two specific pieces of information: the last digit and the crime details of the two players who follow us in sequence.

”So naturally, people’s instinct is to read this as a game of attack and defence around numbers, protecting your own while trying to guess everyone else’s, exposing their crimes and putting them in danger.

”But that’s clearly a dead end.

”If we split into a group of one against four, the lone player will have their number guessed quickly and their crime exposed. But they won’t die immediately. Instead, they’ll gain the advantaged role of Production Director. And they’ll almost certainly be seething with resentment, which they’ll use to assign the other four to the wrong Production Rooms out of spite.

”The game cannot possibly proceed smoothly from that point.

”If we split into two against three, the situation becomes even worse.

”With each side holding a portion of the information, neither side will expose the other quickly, which means production can’t begin either.

”Both sides will keep guessing at each other’s numbers, the game stalls indefinitely, and eventually everyone’s crimes get exposed one after another. Everyone goes down together.

”Only then could production begin, but with five people’s relationships having completely broken down, the production tasks couldn’t possibly be completed properly, and that would lead to an equally dire outcome.”He Qing, the installer, let out a cold laugh and said dismissively, ”So by your reasoning, this game has no solution at all. Every path leads to death.

”One against four doesn’t work. Two against three doesn’t work either. What, are you expecting all five of us to just agree not to guess anyone’s numbers?

”Sure, technically if none of us ever guesses, no one’s crime gets exposed. But isn’t that completely unrealistic?

”Because if no one’s crime gets exposed, no one becomes Production Director, which means production can never begin, and the game can never end.

”Someone will eventually start guessing behind everyone’s back, and sooner or later some poor fool will get their number guessed.

”At that point, they’ll still become Production Director full of resentment, and still take it out on the other four by assigning them to the wrong rooms, just like you said.

”Isn’t that a perfect vicious cycle?”

Zeng Yiming explained, ”Which is precisely why we need to address that problem right now.

”The solution is simple: one person steps forward and confesses voluntarily, and takes on the role of Production Director willingly.”

He Qing stared at him, eyes wide, ”What? Do you even hear what you’re saying? Have you been drinking?”

The other three players also looked visibly taken aback.

The solution itself wasn’t difficult to think of, but no one had ever genuinely entertained it, because no one was willing to be the one to make that sacrifice. The idea hadn’t even seemed worth considering.

But Zeng Yiming clearly wasn’t about to give up. He pressed on, trying to bring the others around.

”Under this game’s mechanics, confessing voluntarily is actually the smartest choice.

”We face two trials. The Second Trial doesn’t involve a new vote. It simply reuses the outcome of the First Trial.

”So to improve your chances of surviving, you want to minimise the number of Guilty votes at the First Trial.

”And based on what we know from previous Judgment Game experiences, confessing before your crime has been fully exposed is one of the most effective ways to win over the undecided voters.

”After all, the idea that voluntary confession should result in a lighter sentence is an instinct rooted in the thinking of most players.

”And a player who confesses voluntarily isn’t going to take on the Production Director role seething with hatred. They’re more likely to assign the other offenders to the Production Rooms reasonably and fairly.

”If we can complete the production process properly and produce more painkillers, we earn more Sympathy Votes from the audience, which can offset the Guilty votes.

”That way, everyone makes it home safely.

”Let’s not forget, this is an Elimination-type game with a Judgment element built in. If we can’t cooperate, the death toll is almost certainly going to be very high.

”What I’m describing is the safest approach, and the one most likely to succeed.”

Wen Wan understood Zeng Yiming’s reasoning quickly. It aligned clearly with the advice Ye Lin had sent her, ’Crime light, confess early.’

If one of the five stepped forward and confessed voluntarily, while the other four kept their crimes concealed, everyone could survive, and no one would have anything to complain about.

But there were two problems.

First, the person who confessed would have to give up a Death Exemption Ticket.

Second, that person’s crime couldn’t be too serious. It couldn’t be something fundamentally indefensible.

Wen Wan hesitated. She felt she probably met both conditions, at least marginally, which meant that in theory she could be the one to take this step.

Yes, a Death Exemption Ticket would be used up. But if she could genuinely secure a lower Guilty vote count at the First Trial, the Second Trial near the end of the game would actually be safer.

‘A Single Word to Settle a Case’ had been the textbook example of what happened when this kind of move was avoided: every community refused to use a Death Exemption Ticket, and the result had been catastrophic.

Even so, making that decision immediately was very difficult.

He Qing frowned deeply, ”When you boil it down, someone still has to take the hit and benefit everyone else for nothing.

”The person who confesses voluntarily is essentially burning a Death Exemption Ticket to do everyone a favour.

”Let me be clear right now: our community doesn’t have a Death Exemption Ticket. So that rules me out.”

Zeng Yiming said, ”That doesn’t matter. According to the rules, you can borrow one in advance.

”Meaning even if your community leader wouldn’t agree to use the Ticket for you, you can pre-borrow the next one without needing anyone’s approval.

”I’d guess this was a deliberate design choice by the Imitator who made this game, specifically to make the rules roughly fair for all five of us.

”So whether you have a Death Exemption Ticket or not isn’t really the obstacle.”

He Qing bristled visibly, ”Either way, I am not using a Death Exemption Ticket.

”You make it all sound so reasonable. Why don’t you do it yourself?”

Wen Wan could guess why He Qing was reacting this way. Community 12 had a very particular dynamic. The Death Exemption Ticket there would be firmly in Chen Guangming’s hands. The only situation in which that ticket might be used was if Chen Guangming’s own life were directly at risk. No other player would be deemed worth using it on.

The visa time cost of purchasing one was only part of it. More importantly, once a Death Exemption Ticket was spent, it entered a long cooldown, and if another crisis arose during that cooldown, there would be nothing to fall back on.

Chen Guangming would almost never spend that on someone else.

He Qing also didn’t dare pre-borrow the next one, because doing so would result in retaliation from Chen Guangming once he returned to the community, and that was likely to end very badly.

But the situation now looked uncomfortably similar to what had unfolded in ‘A Single Word to Settle a Case’: using one Death Exemption Ticket would genuinely be best for everyone, and yet the question remained, why should it have to be mine?

It was an almost impossible problem to resolve.

Just as Wen Wan’s hesitation was deepening, Zeng Yiming spoke.

”I can confess.”

At these words, all four of the other players turned to stare at him in open disbelief.