God's Imitator

Chapter 508: The Layout

Wei Yinzhang thought for a moment and said, "What you mean is that Wang Weidong found a secondary optimal solution outside of the 'Heart-Piercing Question,' so if Cai Zhiyuan were to deliberately underperform, there would be a high probability that he would lose too much visa time."If that happened, his return to the community would cause the structure of the five-person group to completely collapse, and Boss Wang would undeniably gain far more influence.

"Moreover, because there is a possibility that the 'Heart-Piercing Question' could be exploited by other players, Cai Zhiyuan must position himself as the 'question setter' to be absolutely safe.

"So he no longer had the option to 'underperform while still winning,' and had no choice but to go all out and perform perfectly."

Wei Yinzhang paused briefly and added, "But Wang Weidong's appearance was actually a result of the game selection rules you set up.

"After all, while forcibly sending three players in, you also gave each community two open participation slots, which would inevitably allow stronger players to lead the way."

Lin Sizhi did not deny this and continued, "Cai Zhiyuan has been deliberately concealing his true level of ability all along.

"At the very beginning, he only reviewed past games without participating, maintaining his presence in the community while shaping himself into the image of someone who is wise only in hindsight.

"So in the eyes of many, even if his analyses were thorough and well-reasoned, he still fell noticeably short compared to pragmatists like Boss Wang.

"He kept his presence known in the community while always making others instinctively underestimate him.

"His two subsequent standout moments, 'Conglomerate Nation' and 'Simple Q&A,' were also concealed by him as much as possible.

"In 'Conglomerate Nation,' everyone assumed he was simply cooperating with me, and in 'Simple Q&A,' everyone assumed it was merely a coincidence that the game happened to fall within his advantage as an algorithm programmer.

"But I confirmed during those two games that Cai Zhiyuan is actually a stronger player than Wang Yongxin.

"If we are purely comparing strategies within the games, perhaps the question of who is stronger between the two could still be debated, since different strategies carry their own advantages in different games.

"But if we factor in the maneuvering outside the games, political awareness, and the ability to conceal oneself, Cai Zhiyuan is clearly stronger than Wang Yongxin.

"That is precisely why Boss Wang has been unable to get his way in this community."

Li Renshu asked, "Based on what Yinzhang said, the 'question' mechanic you designed in 'Simple Q&A' was also part of the test?"

Lin Sizhi nodded. "In a way, yes.

"In the design of 'Simple Q&A,' the 'Heart-Piercing Question' was inherently one of the strategies that could be adopted.

"Whether Cai Zhiyuan would use it, and how he would use it, could reveal his true level of ability.

"If he lacked that kind of awareness and another community's stronger player used it first, then he may have already exposed his secret during 'Simple Q&A,' just like Wang Weidong did, burying an enormous hidden threat within himself that could not be eliminated.

"If he had that awareness but only adopted a defensive strategy, failing to make good use of it, that would suggest his level is not actually as high as I thought, or that his survival instinct is stronger than I imagined.

"Cai Zhiyuan ultimately chose to become the question setter because the 'question setter' position was, ironically, the safest one, since he would not need to answer those questions himself and would not have to worry about being investigated afterward.

"But the very act of choosing the 'question setter' position also revealed something in itself."

Wei Yinzhang said, "So, in reality, at that point the two of you had already more or less confirmed that the other was the second S-rank Imitator.

"But from 'Simple Q&A' to now, less than a month has passed.

"Was it the 'Special Game' rule that the Gallery suddenly updated that changed your plans?

"If that rule had not appeared, perhaps the two of you would have continued to maintain your disguises within the community for much longer."

Lin Sizhi shook his head. "The appearance of the 'Special Rule' was indeed a triggering factor.

"Cai Zhiyuan and I both submitted design proposals to 'target and eliminate the other' the very moment that rule appeared.

"Because the emergence of that rule was essentially telling the Imitators that it was time to 'compare accumulation' and 'compare speed.'

"If one had not managed to accumulate 1,000,000 minutes of visa time beforehand, and could not design a sufficiently threatening game within an extremely short window, then one could only sit back and take the hits.

"So the two of us understood very clearly that the other would strike first, and we could only strike first ourselves as well.

"But even without that rule appearing, Cai Zhiyuan's maneuvering within the community had already been completed.

"Eliminating me was only one suitable opportunity away.

"The Gallery always leaves opportunities for those who are prepared."

Zheng Jie looked utterly confused and said, "Huh? What? I had absolutely no sense that any so-called maneuvering was going on?"

Wei Yinzhang said, "I think I understand roughly.

"Cai Zhiyuan used the 'Tarot Game' to send Wang Yongxin away.

"He’s actually the biggest obstacle and variable in the community, aside from Lawyer Lin.

"After sending him away, as long as he could eliminate Lawyer Lin through the 'Special Game,' Cai Zhiyuan could smoothly take control of the entire community."

She looked toward Li Jiang and Yang Hui and said, "So the two of you, on the surface, appeared to have stepped into Zone A in order to ensure the survival of players from the same community, but in reality, you must have both received hints and authorization from Cai Zhiyuan, right?"

Li Jiang nodded very straightforwardly in confirmation.

"Yes. My mask in the 'Tarot Game' was '↑The Sun.'

"Early on in the game, I encountered Cai Zhiyuan, and he extended an olive branch to me."

Yang Hui considered for a moment and also nodded. "I did not directly encounter Cai Zhiyuan during the game, but he found me through a fellow player from our community.

"I had a solid foundation of cooperation with Cai Zhiyuan from 'Simple Q&A,' so I accepted his suggestion right away.

"In truth, Cai Zhiyuan did not necessarily need it to be the two of us who entered Community 17.

"He simply wanted the players from Community 13 and Community 8 to concentrate their Wealth Vouchers onto a single player as much as possible, ensuring an absolute advantage.

"Then have the player with the highest wealth value enter Community 17.

"Li Jiang and I originally had a good reputation within our communities, and our wealth values during the first phase were relatively high as well, which is why we ended up being the final choices."

Zheng Jie suddenly realized something and said, "Wait, hold on.

"Wei-jie, you just said Cai Zhiyuan sent Boss Wang away through the 'Tarot Game'?

"Boss Wang was truly manipulated into leaving?

"But in our previous reviews, that was supposed to be impossible!

"In terms of the ability to earn Wealth Vouchers, Boss Wang is definitely strong enough, so how could he possibly have been squeezed out?

"That kind of possibility is very low, isn't it?"