Qin Cheng corrected, "Those locked out aren’t necessarily the core of their community. In the first phase, they were likely assigned to different areas than other communities in this game, so little was exposed. Voting might not accurately identify their community core.
"But Sister Wanlin, you’re right that they are indeed formidable opponents.
"Because the locked-out player must have an extremely high accuracy rate to achieve this total score.
"Also, the one who initially found Community 5 and devised strategies against us and Community 10 was likely Community 17.
"This strategy requires execution by three ordinary audience members in the lounge.
"This means Community 17 entered the game with at least three high-level players.
"It now seems that Community 17 was nearly invincible from the start: whether or not their plans succeeded, they could ensure a top-two finish for themselves.
"If their plan succeeded, they would be first, with Community 10 at the bottom;
"If their plan failed, they’d still be second, with Community 5 at the bottom."
Zhou Wanlin then looked at the scores of other communities: "We helped Community 10 a bit; they were supposed to be at the bottom, but now they’ve reached third place successfully.
"Even though the reward is small, everyone is safe.
"Unexpectedly, Community 11 couldn’t figure out the truth. Hmm... that was somewhat expected.
"Bai Zilan is an actor, and Xu Guangxin was locked out as a VIP audience, with both game cores entirely restricted.
"Among the remaining, it’s unlikely they could gather a game core of the same level.
"The game mechanics this time are indeed very targeted, and they couldn’t have anticipated needing at least three game cores before entering.
"Community 5 being at the bottom is also understandable, as they’re the weakest.
"But... Community 12 is somewhat surprising."
Huang Shengjie nodded in agreement, "Yes, I thought Chen Guangming would definitely crash this time.
"Community 12 is a typical one-man rule by Chen Guangming, and logically, he’s probably the absolute core, with other players being average.
"This game feels like it’s targeting Chen Guangming.
"Judging by the selection mechanism, the actor was chosen from the ’Real Estate Agent’ profession, making it very likely Chen Guangming would be chosen. If he was selected as an actor, he might die regardless of whether he’s first from the bottom or second.
"Moreover, their community’s Immunity Coupon was likely forcibly preemited in the ’Trust Marketplace,’ and hasn’t recovered yet.
"As a result, Chen Guangming deliberately chose Li Kan as a ’Stand,’ thus avoiding being selected as an actor himself.
"But that’s not all; this game also has the ’VIP Audience’ mechanism, and unsurprisingly, Chen Guangming was locked out. This means the actual execution of Community 12’s group strategy was undertaken by his puppets.
"I thought Community 12 might collapse, but it didn’t.
"Their performance wasn’t strong, with a low accuracy rate in answering questions.
"But at least Community 12’s other players executed the group strategy decently; they not only understood Community 17’s intent and designated us and Community 10 as main enemies, but also managed not to give themselves away in calls with Community 11, so that Community 11’s ordinary players couldn’t figure out the truth.
"This shows Chen Guangming indeed has his own methods for community building, keeping the community stable under his indirect control even when temporarily losing direct control.
"Most importantly, Li Kan’s performance in the third act earned extra points, surpassing Community 5, putting Community 5 at the bottom.
"From entire team extinction to just Li Kan’s misfortune.
"Chen Guangming successfully dodged a bullet.
"But I wonder if, given Community 12’s Immunity Coupon, Chen Guangming would use it to save Li Kan?
"He probably would, right? After all, that’s his stand-in and quite valuable."
Qin Cheng slightly shook his head, "Not necessarily, because the Immunity Coupon is limited to one use, leading to a three-week vacuum period once used.
"Yet stand-ins can often be recruited by profession.
"The Immunity Coupon is more precious than a stand-in."
After the total scores and truth were announced, the waiting time was longer than expected.
Clearly, this was intentionally left by the Imitator to give the community at the bottom ample time to consider using their Immunity Coupon.
[Instant Death Penalty imposed on 6 players.]
[Community 5 used 1 Immunity Coupon, saving one player from death.]
[Community 12 had 4 ordinary audience players each deducted 100,000 minutes of visa time.]
[Community 11’s actor player was deducted 100,000 minutes of visa time, while 4 audience players each lost 50,000 minutes of visa time.]
[A total of 700,000 minutes of visa time entered the total prize pool.]
[Community 10’s actor and audience each received 10,000 minutes of visa time.]
[Community 17’s actors and audience shared 40% of the ’total prize pool’, each receiving 56,000 minutes of visa time.]
[Community 2’s actors and audience shared 60% of the ’total prize pool’, each receiving 84,000 minutes of visa time.]
Zhou Wanlin remarked, "Chen Guangming and the other three audience from Community 12 were deducted 100,000 minutes of visa time each; this should be a substantial loss for them, right?
"In previous games, Community 12 had good gains; although Chen Guangming sold out teammates, he is indeed skilled at making money."
Huang Shengjie nodded in agreement, "Mm, this time Chen Guangming indeed stepped into a big pit.
"The concept of ’VIP Audience’ is a first-time occurrence, directly locking down a community’s core, greatly weakening such one-man-rule communities at once."
Qin Cheng nodded, "Mm, perhaps more Imitators will mimic such a design in the future.
"After all, by the second phase, players capable of surviving see their strength grow gradually, and core players in each community are now quite stable.
"In such a scenario, restricting a community’s game core through game mechanics can indeed have unexpected effects. It presents a new challenge for these one-man-led communities.
"But looking at it from another perspective, Chen Guangming should be thankful.
"Had he not chosen Li Kan as a stand-in, he would likely have been selected as the actor.
Huang Shengjie lamented, "Only feels slightly regrettable; I’ve never so eagerly anticipated a player dying in the game as I have for Chen Guangming.
"Someone like him, his mere existence, makes one sleepless and anxious."
Qin Cheng remained expressionless, "Can’t be helped; players like him aren’t easy to kill.
"But after this game ends, perhaps Chen Guangming will have to consider whether to adjust the ecology of Community 12.
"If he sticks with one-man rule and solo leading, encountering similar games again might not bring him such good fortune. Stand-ins and Immunity Coupons can’t guarantee his safety every time.
"But if he wishes to adjust the ecology, it might lead to community unrest and unstable power.
"Conflict within a place like Community 12 could prove more severe than those in Community 23 and us."
The three fell silent, as everything settled down, allowing for a brief respite.
Huang Shengjie looked at the medicine in his pocket; originally they brought these medicines just in case, yet there was no chance to use them under this game’s mechanics.
But perhaps that’s a good thing.
[Fu Yujun was accepted by Community 2, becoming the new player number 4 of Community 2.]
[Game Over.]