God's imitator

Chapter 90 Bluffing
Zheng Jie became even more anxious.

"What exactly is Attorney Lin thinking? Looking at these statistics, he's probably almost run out of likes, right?"

"Does it look like they're looking for someone, the culprit who instigated the players to commit revenge killings?"

"But so many people have broadcast this message, what's the difference between this and looking for a needle in a haystack?"
"Could the people he's looking for be Gao Jialiang and Fang Wencong from Community 1? Otherwise, why would he have checked three pieces of information about Gao Jialiang?"

"But you can't tell anything from this."

"Even if it really is Gao Jialiang or Fang Wencong, we most likely won't be able to kill them."

"These two people must have already found a fixed matchmaking partner in the game through some method."

"Once such a fixed pairing is formed, no one else can be matched with them. Even if there are 'likes' and 'dislikes,' it is impossible to kill them."

"In the final round, they can kill their regular partners to gain visa time. Isn't that unsolvable?"

Zheng Jie scratched his head in frustration, feeling that with his intelligence, he was no longer qualified to think about the current situation.

All I can do is try my best to keep myself alive.

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

Zheng Jie opened the door and quickly walked through the corridor toward the meeting room.

……

Stop right there!

“My hand is on the murder button. One more step and I’ll kill you.”

The other person was startled by Zheng Jie's voice as soon as they entered the room.

This was a woman he had never met before, but it didn't matter to Zheng Jie, because whether he knew her or not, whether she was male or female, he couldn't trust her now.

Stand with your back to me against the wall, hands behind your head.

"I don't want to kill you. As long as you wait patiently for ten minutes, neither of us will be in any danger."

Zheng Jie lowered his voice, trying to sound fierce and dangerous.

In fact, his body was trembling slightly.

The woman quickly stood facing the corner, covering her head with her hands: "I understand! I'll do as you say, please don't be impulsive!"

Zheng Jie nodded: "Very good."

"Let me tell you, before the game ends, I will give you a 'smack'. You don't need to give me anything, and you can't go near the control panel."

A woman's panicked voice came from the other end of the room: "Okay, okay, as long as you don't kill me, I'll do whatever you say."

"What about the room fee?"

Zheng Jie: "Just let them deduct money."

The woman quickly replied, "I can pay for everything."

Zheng Jie shook his head: "No need! You pay the whole amount, or we'll each deduct 200 if it's late, it's the same."

The woman stopped insisting: "Okay, fine."

……

After the meeting, Zheng Jie returned to the lounge.

Seeing that the number of times the defendant sent the document was still 2, without any change, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He lived another lifetime.

This method proved to be effective.

According to the game mechanics, the "murder" action takes effect within 10 seconds. In other words, if a player has enough "dislikes" or "likes," they can launch a counterattack within 10 seconds of being "murdered," before dying.

Although on the surface this is a rule that encourages mutual destruction, in practice it actually increases the room for maneuver for players.

If pressing the 'murder' button will kill the other person instantly, then it becomes a game of pure speed, and whoever presses it faster will survive.

There will be no room for mutual trust between players.

However, allowing 10 seconds means that if one side presses "murder," the other side will have ample time to retaliate, which makes both sides more rational.

With Zheng Jie having already secured the "murder" button, as long as he hasn't actually pressed it, the other side is unlikely to provoke him further, allowing both sides to leave safely.

Zheng Jie can also take this opportunity to use up his "likes" and "dislikes" to prevent himself from having too much visa time deducted when he leaves.

Giving "likes" to male players and "dislikes" to female players will not significantly harm the current situation.

Zheng Jie felt his back was soaked with cold sweat, and his legs were a little weak. Such a bluff seems simple, but in practice, it involves enormous psychological pressure, more tiring than fighting.

However, as soon as Zheng Jie sat down, he saw that three more names on the leaderboard were slowly crossed out with red lines.

There is one 9th community and two 12th communities, and judging from their names, they are all male.

There are 35 players remaining.

Zheng Jie felt a little short of breath, and just then, a new broadcast came on.

[Jiao Hongtao from Community 8 broadcast a data message to all players.]

[Of the players who have died so far, 60% died because they were reported by female players.]

It finally started.

Zheng Jie had already guessed that when the two female players died, it wasn't that the men weren't at risk of death, but rather that many people hadn't yet gathered enough people to report them three times.

The game has now been going on for 6 hours, and there have been 6 meetings since the rules for killing were updated.

Deaths caused by "whistleblowing" began to occur in large numbers.

This data is extremely damaging to male players who have already been reported and have enough "trampling" on them.

In fact, adopting a bluffing strategy like Zheng Jie's can effectively increase the survival rate.

The problem is that players can't communicate, so even if they have such strategies, they can't share them.

As for broadcasting, it can only broadcast proportional data, not anything else.

Attorney Lin's data did indeed remind Zheng Jie, but that was because they both belonged to the 17th community and had a certain degree of mutual trust and understanding.

Other players, unless they've never heard of the concept of "bluffing" beforehand or are a little slow-witted, will completely misunderstand it.

Of course, if you really want to tell other male players about this "deterrence" method, there are two ways, but they are rather reluctant.

The first method is to randomly match players, inform the players they meet, and then have them pass on the message to other players, thus spreading the word slowly.

The problem is that the players who meet may not help pass on the message, and the efficiency is too low; there simply isn't enough time.

The second method is to hold a talent show, informing all players on the talent show stage.

The problem is that the game's draft starts in the second hour, with three rounds per hour, for a total of only 21 rounds.

With two players per draft, most players can only take the stage once.

Zheng Jie has already performed on stage, so it's unlikely he'll be selected again.

Of the remaining players, only those with a high number of likes can participate in the talent show.

In Community 17, it's Lin Sizhi and Yang Yuting.

They received a lot of praise from the beginning, so they haven't participated in any talent shows yet.

"Now we can only hope that when Brother Lin holds the talent show, he can spread this method as widely as possible and save more people..."

……

……

Soon, the final meeting of the sixth hour came to an end.

Zheng Jie watched the other party walk out of the meeting room and let out a long sigh of relief.

As long as I don't encounter a madman, I'm likely to be safe until the final meeting.

Back in the lounge, Zheng Jie returned to his seat with mixed feelings. There were still two hours left in the game, with six meetings remaining.

He glanced at the big screen, and his heart skipped a beat again.

Three more names were crossed out.

[Community 1 - Fang Wencong]

[Community 9 - Xiao Zhiyu]

[Community 12 - Zhao Duo]

It didn't take long.

[Zhang Shichao from Community 9 broadcasts a data message to all players.]

Of all male players, 65% have already been reported.

(End of this chapter)