Zheng Jie suddenly felt a sense of enlightenment.

"Exactly! How could Gao Jialiang have known in advance that 'dislikes' would also become a specific resource!

"Even if he had some vague suspicion, it couldn't be so firm as to practice it at the first opportunity, right?"

Now he understood why Lin Sizhi was hinting at investigating the like-dislike ratio of some players.

Because the stronger the player, the more they tend to receive likes rather than dislikes.

For instance, Lu Xinyi was like this.

Players like them, as long as they want more likes, have ways to achieve it.

Whether through personal charm or purchasing them, as long as they establish consistent meeting partners, they can reliably gain 'likes'.

Since they can gain more likes, it indicates that, in the eyes of others, they are charming and agreeable individuals, decreasing the likelihood of getting 'dislikes'.

Because likes and dislikes represent two extremes of attitude, in a zero-sum relationship.

Of course, this like-dislike ratio must be strictly limited to the first 4 hours, because in the following 4 hours everyone would realize that 'dislikes' are also a resource for killing, leading to reciprocal disliking that distorts data.

In the first 4 hours of 12 meetings, a scenario of 10 likes and 1 dislike is normal, and 7 likes and 0 dislikes is also normal.

The latter might be because the person the player met had already given likes to someone else, so they couldn't give another even if they wanted to.

But a scenario of 6 likes and 5 dislikes is absolutely abnormal.

Unless the player, upon discovering the other party had not given a 'like', actively solicits a 'dislike'.

Moreover, 'meetings' and 'auditions' are different.

In the case of auditions, actively soliciting 'dislikes' might be somewhat understandable, after all, it can be explained by "bad publicity is still publicity";

But in the context of meetings, which are more akin to dating, would any normal person universally solicit 'dislikes'? That defies typical behavioral logic.

Thinking about it now, the fact that Gao Jialiang took to the audition stage so early indicates that he, like Zheng Jie, hadn't received a 'like' from either of the first two meetings, is that plausible?

Not receiving one the second time could be because the other party had already cast theirs, but on the first encounter, with any female player, would a handsome guy like him really not receive one?

The only reason could be:

Gao Jialiang deliberately collected more dislikes in the early stage to be first on the audition stage to get the additional 3 likes from the audition.

This strategy has an additional advantage: 4 hours later when the killing rules update, auditions become dangerous. Players who participated early are safer.

On the big screen, Lin Sizhi did not stop but continued speaking.

"Of course, Gao Jialiang could argue that he had a flash of insight, guessed that 'dislikes' might come into play in the last 4 hours of the game, and hence sought them when he couldn't get 'likes'.

"Then how would you explain Fang Wencong's data?"

As Lin Sizhi spoke, two more sets of data were broadcasted.

[In the first 4 hours, the number of 'likes' Fang Wencong from Community 1 received through meetings, as a proportion of total 'likes' and 'dislikes' obtained, is: '11%'.]

[In the first 4 hours, the proportion of times Fang Wencong from Community 1 pressed the pay button first when entering the meeting room is: '100%'.]

"Fang Wencong always pressed the pay button without any negotiation, as for what he specifically pressed, everyone can roughly guess.

"After all, his 'like' percentage out of the 'total likes and dislikes' is merely 11%, which similarly indicates he is actively seeking dislikes.

"'1/9=11%'. In other words, in 12 meetings, he received 1 like and 8 dislikes.

"I was once matched with him; his attitude was good, he even offered a bottle of mineral water, saying it was for the female player he was meeting.

"A player like him, even if a bit small and not handsome, surely wouldn't receive so many 'dislikes', right?

"Most female players, even if they dislike someone, wouldn't deliberately press 'dislike', it's a resource earned only once an hour. If it's ordinary dislike, they'd probably just leave without rating.

"Therefore, I guess he behaves with vastly different attitudes towards male and female players, and that bottle of mineral water probably didn't serve the purpose he claimed.

"Considering the incident with a female player at the audition having water stains on her chest, I suspect Fang Wencong's mineral water was mostly likely poured onto the female players he met.

"This isn't violent behavior, it doesn't violate rules, but it virtually guarantees a 'dislike'.

"For most players, 'likes' are easily given, while 'dislikes' are not. Players consciously seeking dislikes, unless the other party actually lacks a dislike to give, are bound to achieve their goal."

Zheng Jie thought for a moment. Indeed, from the first half of his game experience, 'likes' were easily given to friendly players, while 'dislikes' were only given to particularly unpleasant ones.

Most players should have more 'dislikes' than 'likes' leftover, especially in the early stages of the game.

Thus, seeking dislikes is much easier than seeking likes.

Lin Sizhi continued:

"Of course, I don't think Fang Wencong splashes water on everyone, that would be too obvious.

"I guess he mostly presses the 'You Pay' button first, tries to provoke verbal disputes, and if the other person is good-tempered and doesn't press dislike even then, he would splash water to force a dislike.

"I can't verify the exact behaviors of Gao Jialiang and Fang Wencong, but female players matched with them can recall carefully if this is indeed what happened.

"If in this game there was only one player who realized the importance of actively seeking dislikes in the first 4 hours, I would lean towards him likely being 'God's Imitator', with a small chance of being an innocent player with a sudden intuition.

"But now, the only two players realizing they need to actively seek 'dislikes' in the first 4 hours both appear in Community 1, is this just a coincidence?

"Given that players in the same community can't communicate with one another upon entering the game, the only conclusion is:

"They had known the game's rules ahead of time before entering the game.

"The identities of the two male players who initially killed Zeng Siya and Liu Lin have naturally been determined.

"It was those two.

"Although other male players might have collected five stamps early or had a motive for murder due to being scammed, they likely couldn't break through their psychological barriers so quickly.

"In fact, in many subsequent meetings, there haven't been any more murders targeting female players.

"The third female player to die was Zhao Duo, occurring more than an hour after the previous two female players' deaths."

Zheng Jie couldn't help but exclaim, "That's right!"

In fact, he had already met the messy uncle Jiao Hongtao during the meeting when those two female players died.

Jiao Hongtao had been scammed out of his visa time and received many stamps, and had even threatened revenge during the meeting.

During that meeting, although two female players died, Jiao Hongtao was meeting with Zheng Jie and couldn't have been the murderer.

After that, a long time passed without any female player being murdered again.

This means that even though Jiao Hongtao had such an idea, he was still going through a psychological struggle and didn't act immediately, instead using some of his stamps to send data.

Of course, Zheng Jie wasn't sure if Zhao Duo's death was the work of Jiao Hongtao.

But regardless, this all corroborates Lin Sizhi's statement: the deaths of the first two female players were abnormal.

It seemed more like a premeditated act.

On the big screen, Lin Sizhi continued:

"I think many people might be wondering if there is a 'God's Imitator' stirring things up in this game. But as of now, there isn't anyone who overtly fits the 'Game Designer' profile.

"The conflicts and harms between players also appear to be a natural decline, spontaneous behavior by players, without interference from an external force.

"But now everyone should understand: the reason we can't pinpoint a prime suspect is because in this game, 'God's Imitator' is not operating alone.

"She turned her community into a 'black shop,' revealing the game rules to the players within the same community before entering the game, and assigned specific tasks.

"She distributed the tasks of murder, incitement, and broadcasting data among different players.

"Moreover, whenever players from Community 1 were matched with female players from other communities, they consistently incited them to express hatred against male players during the selection.

"Some other communities, seeking profit, also abetted this chaos.

"The real victims in all this are the players who can't see through the situation.

"Zhao Duo was like that. Her thoughtless remarks during the selection were incited by other female players, which brought her fatal trouble, while the true culprit stayed out of it."

Lin Sizhi paused slightly, then continued, "So, why do I think Gao Jialiang is not the imitator but merely an accomplice?

"The reason is simple: I think the imitator, personally participating in the game and having absolute dominance within the community, would play the 'safest' role, taking the least risk.

"Zhong Yuanyuan is the safest in the entire Community 1. She didn't actively seek stamps, didn't send broadcasts, and didn't commit murder.

"The other three took on different tasks.

"If Community 1 is truly a black shop, then even if Zhong Yuanyuan was forced into the game due to a lack of visa time, the imitator would definitely assign her specific tasks, such as sending inciting broadcasts.

"It's impossible for her to win by doing nothing.

"Only the imitator themselves could have such a privilege.

"Therefore, I believe the imitator who designed this game is Zhong Yuanyuan.

"Of course, I might be wrong.

"There are other possibilities, such as Zhong Yuanyuan being innocent, and the imitator being among the other three members of Community 1.

"But even if I'm wrong, it doesn't matter. As long as in the next selection or meeting, everyone also kills the other players from Community 1.

"I've finished speaking, her fate is for you to decide."

As Lin Sizhi finished speaking, the 5-minute countdown for the selection had also just ended.

The audio system switched to Zhong Yuanyuan.

She had turned ghostly pale from fright and didn't react immediately when the audio system switched to her.

Zhong Yuanyuan remained frozen for a few seconds before hurriedly speaking to defend herself.

"Everyone, listen to me, there's absolutely no such thing, I have no idea what he's talking abo…"

However, before she could finish, her voice was cut off abruptly.

[Performer No. 2 has received over 20 'Boring' votes, performance forcibly terminated.]

[Performer No. 2, Zhong Yuanyuan, will face immediate death penalty.]

Zhong Yuanyuan felt a sharp pain on her wrist, looking in disbelief as a black line crawled up her artery, then suddenly everything spun and she fell in front of the selection camera.

[Performer No. 1 has received 26 'Interesting' votes, gaining an additional 2 'Likes.']

[Performer No. 2 received 0 'Interesting' votes, and gained 0 'Likes.']

[The 'God's Imitator' who designed this game is dead, and the game will conclude early.]

[All surviving players will equally share the imitator's entire visa time.]

[Game over.]

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