God's imitator

Chapter 82 Panic
"what??"

The large amount of text information made Zheng Jie panic instantly. He quickly walked to the big screen and read through all the new rules from beginning to end.

Then, he felt his hands and feet were ice cold, and he almost stopped breathing.

Whistleblowing and murder!

This means that players with a large number of "likes" or "dislikes" can launch an attack on him in the meeting room.

Once an attack is successful, such as being reported three times, or unfortunately encountering a player with a "step" count higher than 5, the player will die directly in the game.

Zheng Jie found it hard to believe that death in this game could come so suddenly and so casually!

You should know that in a trial game like "King's Trial," criminals are at least somewhat prepared to die from traps, but they have to endure physical torture at least two or three times before they die.

But in this game, there's not even much room for struggle.

By killing someone, one can steal one-tenth of the victim's remaining visa time.

Currently, among players, the shortest visa duration is less than a month, while the longest is three to five months.

To put it another way, if you really encounter a "fat sheep" whose visa processing time reaches two or three hundred thousand yuan, you can lose two or three hundred thousand yuan of visa processing time by taking advantage of them.

Furthermore, there is no limit to the number of kills in the game, which means that as long as other players have enough likes and dislikes, they can get many kills in a row.

What about players like Zheng Jie who don't have many likes or dislikes?
It seems we can only be at the mercy of others and leave it to fate.

Zheng Jie had thought that likes and dislikes would play a role in the game, but he didn't expect them to play this role.

If he had seen the rules of the game beforehand, he might have adopted a completely different strategy in the first four hours. But now, it's clearly too late for regrets.

How many "likes" and "dislikes" does everyone have right now?

Zheng Jie really wanted to figure this out, but this data would never be shown to the players.

"Attorney Lin might be able to come up with a solution, but the problem is, how do I get to see Attorney Lin?"
"This game has already updated the rules for killing, but it doesn't even allow community players to send voice messages. Isn't that going too far?"
"The copycat who designed this game is absolutely insane!"

Zheng Jie was extremely anxious, and his isolation and helplessness further exacerbated his anxiety.

If the four players in Community 17 can communicate with each other, discuss countermeasures, and execute team strategies, Zheng Jie's sense of security will be significantly enhanced.

Unfortunately, the game did not implement that mechanism.

Zheng Jie paced anxiously around the room.

Suddenly, he thought of something and quickly went to the data query machine.

"The prerequisite for murder is to consume 'likes' or 'dislikes'! So, I can check a player's 'like-dislike ratio' in the previous 4 hours, and then check the current 'like-dislike ratio'. If there is a relatively large consumption of 'dislikes', wouldn't that prove that he is the murderer?"
"I'll broadcast this data then, and other players will naturally try to kill him!"

Zheng Jie was very excited; he felt that he had found a glimmer of hope in his desperate situation.

However, upon seeing the rule prompts, he was met with another setback.

[Note: Data related to changes in the number of "likes" and "dislikes" for individual players will not be available for query.]

Zheng Jie immediately deflated.

This rule has existed since the very beginning.

The Copycat game was designed from the outset to eliminate this loophole, ensuring that players would not be allowed to identify the killer in such an easy way.

Zheng Jie could certainly check the changes in the ratio of "likes" and "dislikes" among group players, but that would involve too many variables, making it impossible to pinpoint a specific player and potentially causing even greater chaos.

This game is like a cold slaughterhouse, leaving players no way to survive.

……

Before we knew it, the 10-minute break was over.

[Players must enter the meeting room immediately; failure to do so will result in instant death.]

When Zheng Jie first saw this sentence four hours ago, he didn't have much of a reaction; he just thought it was a bit nonsensical.

But seeing it now evokes a sense of despair, like being surrounded by tigers in front and wolves behind.

I had no choice but to bite the bullet and push open the door to the room, then walk down the corridor to the meeting room.

When Zheng Jie saw a woman in her forties trembling as she pushed open the door to the reception room, he subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, this aunt seems kind and gentle, so there shouldn't be any danger.

Moreover, Zheng Jie realized that this aunt looked familiar; she seemed to be the one who performed bel canto singing when she participated in the talent show competition with that handsome guy.

[Community 12 - Zhou Guifen]

However, before he could even speak, he saw Aunt Zhou curled up in the corner of the room, waving her hands repeatedly: "Young man, no, don't kill me..."

Zheng Jie said helplessly, "Auntie, do I look that much like a murderer?"

"Don't be nervous, sit down first. I've seen you on the talent show; you sang very well."

Zhou Guifen was still very nervous, her whole body trembling: "Then how about I sing it for you now? Please don't kill me..."

Zheng Jie was at a loss for words. Clearly, the aunt had been terrified when she first saw the rules and had, to some extent, lost her composure.

"Auntie, you're overthinking it. I neither liked nor disliked anything, so how could I kill you?"

"Please sit down first, or people will think I'm going to do something to you."

Zhou Guifen then sat down in her seat with some skepticism.

But then she jumped up nervously, pointing at Zheng Jie: "Put your hand up here! Don't sneak your hand down there!"

Zheng Jie had no choice but to make a gesture of surrender: "Is this okay?"

"Shall I pay for the room first? Look carefully, I've pressed the button."

Zheng Jie pressed the "I'll pay" button, and then placed both hands where the aunt could see them.

Zhou Guifen calmed down a bit and let out a long breath after pressing the "You Pay" button.

"I'm sorry, young man, I was so scared. You don't look like a bad guy, but... who knows? You are a man after all."

Zheng Jie frowned: "Auntie, I don't like what you're saying. What do you mean by 'I'm a man after all'? You're making it sound like all men are murderers."

Zhou Guifen quickly waved her hand: "No, no, no, young man, you misunderstood. That's not what I meant."

"I mean, isn't that how the game works?"
"In the first four hours, who received the most 'downvotes'? Is there any need to say?"

"The more people 'step on' someone, the more likely they are to kill someone, isn't that right?"

Zheng Jie was taken aback; it seemed that what the aunt said actually made some sense.

He hadn't realized this before because he was also a male player, and to some extent, he overlooked a fact:
After the first four hours of gameplay, the number of "likes" and "dislikes" players currently possess will inevitably show a fairly obvious gender characteristic.

Because male players tend to use "likes" to show their sincerity and win the other party's trust, with the ultimate goal of establishing a stable matchmaking relationship, they are the relatively proactive party;
Female players tend to use "dislikes" to threaten the other party into giving up benefits, preferring to save their "likes" rather than give them away easily.

In other words, female players are naturally more likely to get "likes," while male players are naturally more likely to get "dislikes."

Male players teaming up and female players mutually criticizing each other is an overly idealistic strategy, almost impossible to implement if all communication is completely cut off.

The specific method of murder can also differ depending on whether someone "likes" or "dislikes" their post.

Two "likes" are awarded for each report, but the character will only be killed after being reported three times.

The "step" attack involves 5 stones at a time, and once a murder is initiated, the victim dies within 10 seconds, with absolutely no buffer time.

Therefore, this aunt felt terrified and scared when she met a male player, even if she didn't know whether he had 5 stamps.

Of course, Zheng Jie also faces the risk of being "reported" when facing female players. But since being reported only results in death after three attempts, the psychological pressure isn't that great.

"Alright, Auntie, since we're both good people, there's no need to be afraid. Let's just chat casually and go through the motions."

Zheng Jie thought for a moment and said, "Auntie, how about we exchange likes? If you'd like, we can also exchange likes during our last meeting and get 3 minutes of visa time together."

The aunt shook her head vigorously: "No! Don't put your hand there!"
"This is good. Let's stay like this, no one should touch the buttons, and we'll just wait for the meeting to end."

Zheng Jie was speechless, but still nodded: "Okay."

He thought his aunt's behavior was a bit stupid. After all, if he really wanted to kill someone, it would just be a matter of pressing a button, and his aunt couldn't restrain him in any way.

This practice of "keeping both people's hands out of sight" is purely a psychological comfort.

But Zheng Jie didn't dare to provoke her. What if the aunt thought he was going to do something and then lost control of her emotions and pressed the "report" button?

Zheng Jie knew that this aunt definitely had at least two "likes".

So, the two of them stood there with their hands out of each other's sight, staring at each other for ten minutes, before finally leaving.

……

The fact that Zheng Jie returned safely after their first meeting after the rules of killing were activated put his mind at ease.

However, as soon as he returned to the rest area, he heard a new system notification on the big screen.

From now on, all drafts will have the following new rules:

[After accumulating 20 "boredom" moments, the talent show performance will immediately end, and the performer will also suffer an instant death penalty.]

Zheng Jie was shocked. His eyes widened, and he could hardly believe that the rule was real.

Can mere boredom really lead to murder?
The copycat who designed this game must be incredibly depraved!
In the last four hours of this game, killing rules are practically everywhere!
Are they really leaving players absolutely no way out?

Now he can only pray that everyone pays attention to the new rules on the big screen and doesn't accidentally click "boring" on someone, as they had done in the first four hours, otherwise things will get complicated.

(End of this chapter)