God's Imitator

Lu Qi looked visibly nervous. She closed her eyes and turned her hand around inside the machine several times before pulling out a bottle at random.

She twisted off the cap, tore open the seal, and tipped the tablets into her palm for close inspection.

They were the same plain white tablets as before.

None of the other players could zoom in through the large screen, so only Lu Qi herself could actually see the fine detail on the tablets.

A moment later, her expression shifted into clear surprise. She held them up in her palm again, checking them over more than once.

Finally, facing the two buttons in front of her, Pass Inspection and Fail Inspection, she pressed Pass Inspection.

Huang Shengjie stared at the screen, ”Why would she react like that?

”The only explanation is that this really is Type M medication, and it’s got the corresponding molecular formula stamped on it.”

Ye Lin said, ”C17N03.”

Huang Shengjie nodded, ”Yes, exactly that.

”Our community bans the circulation of all medication, so if there’s anything that would make Lu Qi see real value in something, it would have to be Type M.

”But how could she be certain it actually works? She’s never taken Type M before.”

Ye Lin considered for a moment, ”She probably isn’t certain.

”She’s only confirmed that the appearance and the molecular formula printed on it look correct.

”As for whether it’s actually effective, she has no way to test that either, since she’s never taken it herself.

”According to the rules, whether an Audience Representative marks something Pass or Fail is entirely a matter of personal judgment. There’s no sincerity check involved.

”I don’t think we can rule out the possibility that something’s wrong with this batch.

”At any stage of production, a fake coin could have been used, and if that happened, whatever property that stage was supposed to add to the medication would simply be missing.

”We should wait and see how the other Audience Representatives’ inspections go.”

Sure enough, the large screen soon began showing the other Audience Representatives conducting their inspections in turn.

Their behaviour was broadly similar: each took out a bottle, examined it carefully, and made a judgment call.

Before long, a few players went further, tipping a single tablet out and chewing it directly, then closing their eyes to gauge the effect.

After a pause, presumably once they’d felt something, they pressed Pass.

In the end, 3 of the 8 Audience Representatives had taken the medication directly.

The rest examined it closely or crushed it apart, each doing their best in their own way to test it thoroughly.

The final result was that every single Audience Representative marked their sample as Pass.

The 3 who had actually taken the medication and still marked it Pass gave every other audience member a real shot of confidence.

Huang Shengjie couldn’t help feeling energised, ”This really does look like genuine, reliable Type M medication.

”We still can’t say for certain what the yield rate is, but the effectiveness itself seems confirmed.

”Though, come to think of it, Sister Ye Lin, I don’t recognise a single one of these Audience Representatives. Do you know any of them?”

Ye Lin shook her head, ”No, I don’t.

”That’s not surprising though. We’ve encountered players from Communities 8, 12, and 24 before during the Pain Game, but that was only ever a subset of their community.

”And in this game, the selection rule required the offender to choose the player they trust most. Someone like that is probably similar to Lu Qi, someone without much visibility in their own community and limited participation in games.

”So it makes sense we wouldn’t recognise them. Just as they probably don’t recognise Lu Qi either.”

Huang Shengjie nodded, ”True enough.

”So, looking at how they all reacted, I think we can be fairly confident this really is Type M.

”Would the Imitator and the Gallery really be this generous, letting players bring something this valuable and rare back to their communities?”

Ye Lin thought it over, ”According to the rules, which type of medication actually gets produced depends entirely on the offenders’ own effort.

”Type M is the best possible outcome, but any small mistake at any stage could shift it toward a different type.

”If Type M weren’t a possible outcome at all, the medication produced wouldn’t sell well no matter what, and the whole game would lose a lot of its playability.

”So it’s not really an act of generosity, more a matter of design.”

Huang Shengjie thought for a moment, then asked, ”Could anything slip through the inspection unnoticed, though? The Representatives only sampled 8 bottles randomly, but there are 360 in this batch.”

Ye Lin gave a slight shake of her head, ”As far as the inspection process itself goes, I don’t think that’s much of a concern.

”If even one of the 8 sampled bottles had failed, that would be a real problem. The expected pass rate across the whole batch could drop as low as fifty percent or even lower.

”But if all 8 passed, then even in the worst case, the overall pass rate across the batch should still be around seventy percent.

”So there’s no need to worry too much.”

Huang Shengjie blinked, ”Wait, how do you get fifty and seventy percent out of that?”

Ye Lin explained, ”I came across a similar calculation once before, so I have some memory of it.

”Either way, since this is a random sample that can’t be falsified, the batch as a whole should be reasonably reliable.

”What concerns me more is the five players inside and the stages they’re each responsible for.

”After all, the rules did say they could use fake coins to cut corners. The room would only appear to be functioning normally, but wouldn’t actually add the corresponding property to the medication.

”Do you think they can be trusted?”

Huang Shengjie considered this carefully, ”I’d say, largely, yes.

”Because this game actually has a built-in system of circular oversight.

”Every sound inside the game floor is picked up. Earlier, when Wen Wan and that stall owner auntie were whispering to each other, we as the audience heard every word clearly.

”So it would be genuinely difficult for them to coordinate secretly.

”Under the rules, each player is monitored by the one after them in sequence. If someone gets caught out and exposed, the audience would turn against them, and they’d lose access to Sympathy Votes. So the player before them almost certainly wouldn’t want to take that risk.

”Especially not in the earlier batches.

”So, my read is that this batch is entirely genuine Type M medication. Other possibilities can’t be ruled out entirely, but they seem unlikely.”

Ye Lin gave a small nod, ”Let’s see how the other players respond, then.

”If this really is authentic Type M, this price is an absolute bargain.”

Huang Shengjie and Ye Lin went back and forth weighing every small possibility, because whether this medication was genuine or not carried enormous weight, not only for how this game would unfold, but quite possibly for the direction of the entire Gallery for some time to come.

For now, though, the situation looked promising, with no major red flags in sight, and all they could do was keep watching.