God's imitator

Chapter 240 The Red Thread of the Corridor

Lin Sizhi paused slightly, then changed to a more easily understood way of saying it:
"The corridor is just a matter of changing a few rules and letting a few smart players in. It's like the emperor is 'granting death' to you. If you know what's good for you, you'll commit suicide and the emperor will spare your entire family."

"If it is not dignified for the emperor to order your death, then the emperor will help your entire family to live a dignified life."

"If the arcade gives copycats a decent living and lets players kill them, then the players in the same community who play with them might be able to escape with their lives."

"But if copycats and other players from the same community insist on going against the arcade, then it's hard to say what kind of monsters and demons will be matched into the arcade next time."

"The idea of ​​opening a black market store is not something only we could have come up with. There must be more than just one or two communities where copycats have been exposed."

"But so far, the only real case of a community that actually had a black market shop was Community No. 1, and it was demolished at the time."

Do you think this is a coincidence?

"As Wei Yinzhang said before, the corridor is subject to subjective will."

"Who gave you the courage to provoke an existence that possesses both subjective will and supernatural power?"

Xu Tong was stunned: "But isn't it also a provocation for us to discuss the rules regarding copycat offenses so openly..."

Wei Yinzhang shook his head: "No, that doesn't count, otherwise I wouldn't have told you this information."

"I thought about these issues repeatedly before deciding to reveal my identity, and I only told you because I felt the risks were manageable."

“The corridor has subjective will, and many rules are not explicitly stated, but that does not mean that the rules do not exist.”

Lee In-sook nodded: "Yes, before the 'Blind Date Game' started, the amusement park also broadcasted a message about killing copycats in the game."

"The claim in the arcade is that these two rules have existed for a long time, but most players have not discovered them."

"That's why the arcade made a special announcement to remind people."

"We can also speculate that there are actually many rules in the arcade, but the arcade will only reveal a small part of them when necessary."

"The rest can only be guessed."

"Understanding the intentions behind the corridors is also an essential skill for survival in the new world."

Wei Yinzhang continued:
"I think it's okay to do some things within the rules, or even slightly touch some gray areas; but doing things outside the rules is absolutely unacceptable, and touching the forbidden zone will definitely lead to certain death."

"My judgment is that there is only one real no-go zone for copycats and players to cooperate: the fairness of the game."

“I’m telling you now how copycats accept invitations and design games, or explaining games that have already ended, and none of that will affect the fairness of the next game.”

"However, if I reveal the rules to you in advance, or run a black market, or if everyone designs the game together, it will affect the fairness of the game later, which is definitely crossing the line."

"Of course, the severity of different behaviors will certainly vary."

"For example, suppose the next game is a trial game targeting Dr. Zheng, I, as the copycat, could have three completely different ways of being dealt with:"
"The first approach is to see the invitation and immediately tell everyone, so that we can design the game together, and then tell Dr. Zheng the details of the game."

"In this way, Dr. Zheng is absolutely safe in this game and it is impossible for him to be successfully tried."

"This is undoubtedly the worst kind, which is equivalent to repeatedly jumping back and forth on the red line of the corridor."

"The second method is to not tell anyone, but to create a trial game myself, but to reduce the difficulty of the trial game so that Dr. Zheng is more likely to pass."

"Such behavior is perfectly permissible according to the rules and there will be no problem."

"But my plan would have a much lower chance of being selected, and even if I lowered the difficulty and left a backdoor, Dr. Zheng might not be able to find a way to crack it in the game. So it's not absolutely safe."

"The third approach I suggested to Dr. Zheng was to be careful lately and think carefully about whether he had done anything wrong."

"This behavior might be considered slightly against the rules, but it shouldn't be serious."

"I might use the second or third method depending on the situation, but I definitely wouldn't dare use the first method, and I advise everyone not to have that idea either."

"Especially since the situation in the 17th community is currently good, with a mortality rate below average, there's no need to court disaster." Lin Sizhi and Wei Yinzhang's statements carried considerable weight.

Running a "black market" shop is definitely a natural thought for most players, because playing this way can ensure their safety to the greatest extent and also gain a lot of visa time from the game.

If successful, the new world will become a place with a very low mortality rate and, most of the time, a very safe place.

This desire for security is a deep-seated human instinct.

However, after some analysis, everyone realized that the risks of doing so were definitely very high; otherwise, the arcade should be a place where "black shops are everywhere."

Because the identity of a copycat is not particularly rare.

After all, judging from the number of games in the first batch and the number of games Wei Yinzhang accepted, the number of community numbers encountered by the 17th community is currently no more than 20, while the number of copycats is likely to be more than 20.

This means that, on average, each community has at least one copycat offender, or even more.

Simply revealing one's identity as a copycat does not seem to have any serious consequences at present.

However, the act of "running a black market shop" is extremely rare, which can only mean that there is a huge gap and a cruel filtering mechanism between "exposing one's identity" and "running a black market shop".

If the 17th community opens a black market, it's hard to say what will happen to others, but Wei Yinzhang will most likely die.

Because the arcade can not only force new rules into the game, but also match the strongest players together to play the game of "catching copycats".

Winning once or twice by luck is possible, but it will most likely provoke the arcade to launch a heavy attack.

At that point, there might truly be no dignity left to speak of.

If she doesn't run a black market shop and ensures Wei Yinzhang's safety, she can continue to provide information to the community as a copycat.

Even if she didn't design any games, she would still have great value.

For example, she could reveal the type of game to be played next in advance, or hint that certain people might be put on trial.

For example, one could probe the corridor's tone, using the information sent by the corridor to the copycat to determine the direction of the game's development.

These are all tangible benefits.

Such behavior is not too egregious. Even if it is a violation, one can stop immediately after being warned by the arcade, so it will not have too serious consequences.

If Wei Yinzhang dies, the players in Community 17 will no longer be able to obtain this information, which is a great loss.

We can't exactly pin our hopes on finding another copycat in the game, can we?
In communities already in despair, where everyone has little time left on their visas and the mortality rate is high, opening a black market shop to gamble might be somewhat reasonable.

However, Community 17 is clearly far from that situation, with a lower mortality rate and higher remaining visa time compared to other communities.

It would be truly unfair if they were all shut down for running a shady business.

Lee In-sook nodded: "Yes, I completely agree with that statement."

"We definitely can't run a shady business, and it's best not to do things like designing games for copycats."

"We must do everything we can to ensure the safety of Yin Zhang, our only son, and use copycat criminals to determine the wind direction of the corridor and obtain some additional information. This is the long-term solution."

"Alright, that's all for today's debriefing. Everyone has worked hard, go back and get some rest."

Everyone stood up and returned to their rooms.

Wang Yongxin gave Wei Yinzhang a meaningful look, his feelings somewhat complicated.

　I'm sorry, I know the updates will be slow, and I'm more anxious than anyone else, but there's nothing I can do. If it were my old genre, writing seven or eight thousand words a day wouldn't be difficult, but writing each chapter of this book is like undergoing a tribulation. Most of my time isn't spent writing words, but constantly thinking about rules, making outlines, and then scrapping and rebuilding everything. So, just being able to keep updating is already my best effort. If my thoughts and writing flow smoothly, I'll update more, but if not, I can only update twice a week. I'm very sorry, and I hope everyone can understand.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)