Chapter 661: Jealousy

Cheng Wen looked somewhat shocked, "How did she just accept 'murder for insurance' as the truth? Aren't there still a lot of unresolved issues?

"Does she know Tang Qing personally?"

Lu Xinyi let out a quiet sigh, "Chen Yumei was a player from our region. I've been wasting time on debriefs."

Cheng Wen blinked, then looked slightly embarrassed, "Oh, I'm sorry Sister Xinyi, I remember now. She just had such a minimal presence back then.

"But that makes it even stranger. If she doesn't know Tang Qing, why is she backing him so firmly?"

Lu Xinyi explained, "The main reason Tang Qing put forward the 'murder for insurance' theory is probably that he found the policies and related evidence in the Evidence Room.

"But that's clearly not the only reason.

"Look carefully. All four Jury Representatives are female players."

Cheng Wen blinked, then his expression shifted, "Oh! Sister Xinyi, you're saying the 'murder for insurance' narrative is actually more likely to resonate with women emotionally?

"So even if Tang Qing could see several possible directions from the Evidence Room or Character Dossier, he went with this one decisively.

"Because all four Jury Representatives are women, and their stance directly influences the five jury members in their respective communities. So even with some gaps in the argument, they would still tend to agree out of emotional sympathy.

"That's what Chen Yumei is doing.

"She might be driven by emotion, fully identifying with the woman in the story, or she might simply believe this is the strategy with the best chance of winning.

"Either way, she committed to a side without hesitation."

In Community 2's audience section, Ye Lin was watching Tang Qing with a thoughtful expression.

"Bai Zhilan and Tang Qing are both very active in this game. Tang Qing especially.

"Perhaps it's because 'A Single Word to Settle a Case' was a significant loss for him, which shook his standing in the community to some degree. He may be eager to reclaim ground in this one."

Qin Cheng thought for a moment, "Do you remember, during the debrief, Lawyer Lin mentioned that Tang Qing seemed dissatisfied with his performance in 'A Single Word to Settle a Case.'

"He felt he'd been playing with too many rookies for too long and thought his level had dropped.

"There are a lot of strong players in this game. He may also want to go all out in this kind of environment and prove himself again.

"Whatever strategy he's using, as long as he can dominate the proceedings with so many strong players involved and ultimately defeat Lawyer Lin, it would likely do a great deal for his confidence.

"He's clearly smart, and he has the advantageous role. The pressure he's creating is real."

Huang Shengjie looked between the two of them, "So what is that forged policy actually about?"

Ye Lin and Qin Cheng looked at each other, then each offered their interpretation.

"It's to exploit the wife's jealousy."

"A tool to trick the wife into willingly signing the policies."

A brief quiet fell, and then Bai Zhilan came to the speaking platform, took the forged policy, and read through it carefully for a moment, then gave a quiet sigh.

"I think I've worked it out.

"The existence of this third-party policy explains the question we were wondering about earlier: why the wife would have signed those large insurance policies."

She paused briefly and continued, "Under normal circumstances, if a husband suddenly produced multiple large insurance policies for his wife to sign, and listed himself openly as the beneficiary, any woman of ordinary intelligence would become suspicious.

"She would never sign willingly, and the policies could never take effect.

"Beyond that, she might also sense his malicious intent, divorce him immediately and distance herself, ensuring her own safety.

"But if the husband used the wife's jealousy, this plan could very plausibly succeed.

"Clearly the husband was handsome and likely quite charismatic. He was probably surrounded by admirers at all times. In that situation, the wife may have felt insecure and worried about him being unfaithful.

"The husband exploited exactly that, making it appear accidental that the wife came across this policy for his ex-wife.

"Clearly the husband had been briefly married before.

"The ex-wife is still alive and well today, which the current wife would have known.

"So after seeing this forged policy, a woman in the grip of new love wouldn't think of 'murder for insurance.' Instead, the jealousy would make her indignant: why would you spend so much money on insurance for your ex-wife but not for me? And why were you hiding it from me?"

"'If someone else has it, I need it too.' This is a very common feeling among women in new love.

"So the husband could easily feign reluctance, and under the wife's persistent pressure, agree to buy the insurance policies. This way the wife would sign of her own free will, without a trace of suspicion.

"One more thing: the beneficiary listed on all these policies is the legal heir, not the husband himself.

"If the husband had listed himself as beneficiary, it would immediately raise the wife's suspicions.

"So I believe the husband deliberately used 'legal heir' as the beneficiary, and may even have arranged a mutual insurance swap, having the wife also take him out as her insured, with identical policies in both directions.

"Although this would reduce his actual payout, it would eliminate the wife's suspicion to the greatest possible extent."

Tang Qing's expression showed a look of sudden realisation, followed by an expression of wry helplessness, "I see. Women really do understand women best."

Bai Zhilan was thoughtful, "In that case, the possibility of 'murder for insurance' does seem increasingly plausible."

Community 3's audience section.

Cheng Wen looked worried, "Sister Xinyi, something's wrong. The truth feels like it's converging more and more on 'murder for insurance.'

"Every piece of evidence Tang Qing produces is targeted and specific. His Character Dossier must have given him the relevant background, which is why he's been able to find such precise evidence.

"But Brother Lin's dossier probably has none of this. What if the Imitator who designed this game gave Brother Lin a blank dossier on purpose, like some murder mystery scenarios do?

"Brother Lin's position is getting dangerous.

"I've just fully worked it out now: there are only four suspects. To earn anything, you need another suspect to be found guilty.

"Tang Qing wants to earn visa time. He'd certainly never target Wang-zong first, because Wang-zong also controls the right to submit evidence. A direct clash between them would most likely be mutually destructive. So in practice they're in a very cooperative relationship.

"That means to earn anything, he can only go after Brother Lin or Feng Yuguang.

"Feng Yuguang looks like the weaker option. Tang Qing probably plans to deal with Brother Lin first and then take care of him on the side.

"And Brother Lin presumably carries a lot of visa time. Taking him down would be the most profitable move.

"So the whole game is basically a trap.

"Brother Lin is stuck between options now. If he says nothing, next round Tang Qing will probably present evidence that damages him directly and smear him as an accomplice while he's at it.

"But if Brother Lin tries to argue back, I genuinely can't think of any grounds for rebuttal right now.

"Because all the evidence has been verified. That locks the information in at the level of the game's rules. Claiming these verified pieces of evidence are false would obviously not work. It would just make his position even worse.

"What should he do, Sister Xinyi? Are you going to say something on his behalf?

"You haven't said a single word since the game started."