God's Imitator

Chapter 497: Lantern Verification

Sun De waited somewhat expectantly for Cai Zhiyuan to give him feedback, but Cai Zhiyuan hesitated.Because he also had to consider the possibility of entering this prison cell himself.

Cai Zhiyuan knew that if there was a ‘Super Authority Player’ in this game, there was an extremely high probability it would be himself.

The "Hermit identity," just like the "King identity," was a trap. He had indeed considered giving it up, but under Song Xiao's threat, at the last moment he still succumbed to instinct and was forced to take this advantageous identity.

This was probably all within the expectations of the God's Imitator who designed this game.

At this point, the situation was actually somewhat unfavorable for Cai Zhiyuan, but obtaining the advantageous identity also meant he held greater initiative.

He could actively choose the safest prison cell to enter.

From the verification result, Prison Cell 1 was safe for "non-Super Authority Players" like Sun De.

But for Cai Zhiyuan himself, it wasn't necessarily so.

After considering for a moment, he looked at Cui Yifeng from Community 19, "You, come over here."

Cui Yifeng was somewhat puzzled but still stood in front of Prison Cell 1.

Cai Zhiyuan used the lantern to verify him as well.

According to the game rules, the "Hermit's" staff could force players into prison cells and could only be used once, but the lantern had no restrictions and could be used unlimited times.

The result of the lantern's vibration was even more subtle than the last time, almost imperceptible.

According to the rules, the lantern couldn't verify the "Hermit" himself, and the results would automatically exclude the influence of the ‘Super Authority Player’ identity.

In other words, assuming both Sun De and Cui Yifeng weren't Super Authority Players, entering this prison cell would be safe for both of them, with Cui Yifeng being the safest.

If they were Super Authority Players, that would be another matter, and the lantern's results couldn't be used as reference.

As for why Cui Yifeng would be safer, the rules had actually already mentioned it.

[Players directly related to the prison cell's content will have their danger level significantly reduced when entering the corresponding prison cell.]

[Conversely, it may also be significantly increased.]

Prison Cell 1 mapped to the game ‘King’s Judgment,’ and Cui Yifeng was Spectator Number 1 in ‘King’s Judgment.’

Then, Cai Zhiyuan himself was also a player in ‘King’s Judgment.’ If he entered Prison Cell 1, would it also be safer?

If he himself wasn't the Super Authority Player, the answer was beyond doubt. According to the game rules, it would definitely be safe.

But the Super Authority Player was a variable that had to be considered.

Cai Zhiyuan could choose to take a gamble and enter Prison Cell 1 himself, repeating the punishment from ‘King’s Judgment.’

But the consequences of doing so completely depended on whether the God's Imitator who designed this game wanted to plant a trap targeting him in this prison cell.

Because in this prison cell, "the force required to push the crossbar" and "the intensity of the electric shock" were always two unknown variables.

Such data couldn't be found out even in post-game review sessions. This was a privilege granted to God's Imitators by the Gallery.

As long as the God's Imitator who designed this game set Cai Zhiyuan as the ‘Super Authority Player’ and greatly increased these two values, then Cai Zhiyuan would walk right into the trap.

He had once been a beneficiary of this privilege, but now, he had ultimately become a victim of this privilege.

...

Finally, Cai Zhiyuan made a decision, "Sun De, you go in."

He still eliminated the possibility of "entering Prison Cell 1 himself."

Sun De was very happy. Although Cai Zhiyuan had taken quite some time to make this decision, just as he said before, judge by actions not by heart. From the result, he was satisfied.

Sun De entered Prison Cell 1 "Running Oneself Ragged," and Cai Zhiyuan personally closed the iron door of the prison cell.

"Click!"

Watching Sun De work hard to push the contraption, Cai Zhiyuan felt somewhat dazed.

He seemed to vaguely see himself in ‘King’s Judgment.’

Sun De had to push continuously for 15 minutes. Cai Zhiyuan didn't watch for too long because he had already confirmed the safety through the lantern, and the possibility of Sun De being the Super Authority Player was minimal.

Since there was no problem at the start, there would most likely be no problem afterward either.

Cai Zhiyuan could feel the gazes other players cast at him, more or less carrying complex meanings.

Because Cai Zhiyuan had given up a clearly optimal plan in the rules: directly have these players enter the prison cells corresponding to the games they had experienced.

The rules had already clearly stated that if arranged this way, the risk of the prison cells would decrease.

According to the correspondence, Sun De should correspond to Prison Cell 2 "Scattering a Fortune."

Arranging Cui Yifeng into Prison Cell 1 and Sun De into Prison Cell 2, both would be absolutely safe.

But obviously, Cai Zhiyuan had his own ideas and plans.

On the surface, Sun De didn't want to enter Prison Cell 2, so Cai Zhiyuan satisfied his wish.

He looked at the other players again, "You all choose prison cells too.

"I already have a prison cell I want to enter in mind. As long as the cells you choose don't conflict with the one I want, I'll do my best to satisfy you all.

"Of course, there probably won't be any conflicts.

"If multiple players choose the same prison cell, I'll distribute it as much as possible on a 'first come, first served' basis."

Seven players, six prison cells. There would definitely be one player who wouldn't enter a prison cell.

If someone believed they absolutely weren't the ‘Super Authority Player,’ then not entering a prison cell was safest.

But if more than one player thought this way, there wouldn't be enough people to enter the earlier prison cells.

So Cai Zhiyuan proposed the "first come, first served" plan. Just like Sun De and Cui Yifeng, both entering Prison Cell 1 would be safe, but Sun De proposed it first, so Sun De would be satisfied first.

This way, other players would all be more proactive, making it easier to achieve the goal of "filling all 6 prison cells."

Fu Yujun had obviously also been thinking about game strategy. Among these players, he should be the highest level after Cai Zhiyuan.

"So, what was your verification result earlier?

"Was Cui Yifeng's vibration more subtle?"

Cai Zhiyuan hesitated slightly but ultimately nodded, "Yes."

Obviously, Fu Yujun had also noticed that rule.

[Players directly related to the prison cell's content will have their danger level significantly reduced when entering the corresponding prison cell.]

Since Cui Yifeng was Spectator Number 1 in the original ‘King’s Judgment,’ then according to the game rules, he was directly related to the content of Prison Cell 1 and should be safer than Sun De.

The reason Cai Zhiyuan hesitated was because he hadn't quite decided whether to truthfully reveal this point, as it involved the "Hermit's" lantern mechanism. But after consideration, he concluded that lying about this issue had little meaning, so he ultimately admitted it.

Moreover, Fu Yujun himself was the one among the other players in this game who had the relatively closest relationship with Cai Zhiyuan.

Fu Yujun didn't know Cai Zhiyuan, but just knowing he was a member of Community 17 was enough to establish some goodwill.