Huang Shengjie asked, "Is it possible someone is lying among us?
"Although being caught has severe consequences, making an accusation itself costs 20,000 minutes of visa time, which is not a small amount either.
"What if a community wants to play under the cover of darkness?"
Zhou Wanlin thought for a moment, "Hmm… There is such a possibility, so perhaps we can come up with a questioning question?
"According to the game rules, questions must be answered truthfully.
"If someone is lying, we can directly accuse them; if they're not lying, it also verifies our suspicions."
Meanwhile, as everyone was discussing, the broadcast sounded again.
[Community 10 has chosen to question Community 5's Actor 'Zhang Lijuan'.]
[Players involved, please be ready.]
A moment later, the voice of the female player from Community 10 was heard in the broadcast.
"My question is: In your Setting Book, did Gong Zheng's mother play a decisive role in all major life decisions like schooling, buying a house, and marriage? And the decisions she made far exceeded those made by anyone else, including Gong Zheng himself."
The screen displayed Zhang Lijuan in the actor's dressing room.
Compared to Fu Yujun, who was questioned earlier, her expression was evidently more panicked, and she didn't seem completely prepared.
But at this moment, she must strictly answer according to the content of the Setting Book; any concealment or mistakes will be judged as a violation.
Zhang Lijuan nervously flipped through the Setting Book again but didn't have much time left for her answer.
Ultimately, she could only say helplessly, "Yes. Gong Zheng's mother is the decisive person in everything; there are no other roles in my Setting Book that have a greater impact than her."
Evidently, the players from Community 10 got the result they wanted, and a moment later, the broadcast sounded again across the hall.
[Community 10 has chosen to ask the entire audience a question.]
[Once answered, each audience member must provide a definitive 'Yes' or 'No' answer.]
[The answer will be included in the community's overall score, so please consider carefully!]
"Our community's question is: In the process of reprimanding Gong Zheng, is there any intention by the professor Fu Yujun portrayed to suppress or exploit the situation?
"If you believe his criticism of Gong Zheng was entirely selfless, professionally conducted, and he provided all the help he could, then choose 'No'.
"If you think he intended to suppress Gong Zheng to cultivate him as a workhorse, and many criticisms were purposefully nitpicking, then choose 'Yes'."
The questioning still has only a 5-minute countdown.
Huang Shengjie was slightly surprised, realizing that Community 10 and Community 5 adopted different strategies.
These two communities seemed to be up against each other in the game, with a clear sense of confrontation.
They chose to question each other, and both immediately asked questions after questioning.
Through questioning, Community 5 proved that 'the professor's criticism of Gong Zheng is consistent,' and hoped to imply to other players that the professor's criticisms of Gong Zheng are abnormal and are acting in unison.
And thus to shift the reason for Gong Zheng's suicidal thoughts to society, that is, the professor, the supervisor, the mediator, distancing the family factors where the mother is involved.
But Community 10 chose to expose this, by framing the question to Community 5, making it clear that it is the mother who is the true decision-maker.
And naturally, it also corroborated that family factors are the most significant reason for Gong Zheng's decision to commit suicide.
The question from Community 10 was also one that only they knew the clear answer to.
This question was so absolute that if Professor portrayed by Fu Yujun carried any selfish motives throughout Gong Zheng's journey from university to PhD graduation, the answer has to be 'Yes.'
Therefore, the question turned into 'Do you trust Community 10 or not?'
Huang Shengjie furrowed his brow: "But… isn't the reasoning by Community 10 still somewhat insufficient?
"Even if Zhang Lijuan admitted that the mother played the most critical decision-making role in Gong Zheng's various major life decisions, does that decision-making necessarily have more negative effects?
"Could it also have more positive effects?"
Zhou Wanlin pondered for a while: "But there is a 'degree' problem here.
"Since Gong Zheng decided to commit suicide, his life must have faced irremediable major blows.
"If the mother's decision-making had more positive effects, then how significant would external pressure have to be for him to think of suicide?
"Such a plot seems somewhat too far-fetched.
"So I am more inclined to agree with Community 10's speculation that Gong Zheng's mother is not innocent throughout the process.
"Moreover, the fact that Community 5 pretended to 'reveal the truth' before asking questions is very strange; even if they are not 'Special Players', what reason would they have to alert other communities of the truth?
"This is an utterly meaningless act for them.
"So they must be deliberately misleading, trying to shift the focus from 'family' to 'society'."
Qin Cheng had already made a choice: "Regardless of the specific situation, I am inclined to choose 'No' for this question.
"I tend to believe that the professor portrayed by Fu Yujun indeed genuinely wanted to nurture and promote Gong Zheng without any extra selfish motives."
Zhou Wanlin and Huang Shengjie each thought for a moment and eventually also chose 'No'.
Still, as before, the answer to the question was not revealed and must wait for the game to end.
The machine made a 'beep beep beep' alert sound, and this time, Community 10 initiated a call with them.
Qin Cheng waited for a moment and chose to answer.
"What option did you choose?" the other party asked.
Qin Cheng truthfully responded, "We all chose 'No'."
The other party appreciated: "Hmm, a wise choice. We've been trying to speculate the truth:
"It seems that Gong Zheng's mother might have a disorder similar to NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) or personality disorder, or perhaps a traditional authoritarian parental kind of obsession, exercising intense control over Gong Zheng's life, putting immense pressure and influence on him in every way.
"At the same time, the social pressures to buy a house and raise a family compounded, placing a heavy burden on Gong Zheng, ultimately causing the risk of house foreclosure or other financial pressures, leading to a collapse of middle-class living conditions.
"Thus, Gong Zheng despairingly thought of suicide.
"As for the two main responsible parties, the first must be Gong Zheng's mother, while the second can only be among the supervisor, mediator, or lover.
"We guessed it was the lover, but unfortunately, it was wrong.
"If you agree with this speculation, you can also try guessing; our two communities could share the guess attempts, reducing the cost of guessing."
Qin Cheng pondered over the suggestion and asked: "On the speculation interface, there are three different fields to fill, namely 'the truth' and 'the list of the two responsible parties'.
"Will the system clearly indicate the correct one among these three?"
The other party was silent for a moment: "No.
"If it did, guessing would be too easy, wouldn't it?
"Players can choose to guess the responsible parties first, and after confirming the two responsible parties, infer the truth in reverse."
Qin Cheng said: "But without a clear indication, how do you ensure that what you guessed is indeed the truth?
"If the truth itself is wrong, trying the responsible parties repeatedly is meaningless."