Chapter 679: A Perfect Collaboration

Lin Sizhi paused briefly and continued, "Let's go back to the very beginning of the game. The first piece of evidence Wang Yongxin submitted was the ring.

"Its verifiable information was simply: this ring belongs to the wife of the newlywed couple.

"At first glance, this appeared to be a completely uninformative piece of evidence. Most people couldn't even be bothered to verify it. Of course, even if they had verified it right at the start, no one would have seen what might be hidden within it.

"The important part was the physical appearance.

"If the wife came from an ordinary working background or had relatively modest spending habits, the ring could be interpreted as a 'diamond ring,' something the wife had deliberately left on the ship, which could then open up multiple different narrative directions.

"But if the wife was relatively wealthy and accustomed to luxury, the ring could be interpreted as an 'everyday band,' and the wife leaving it on the ship could open up a different set of directions.

"Giving it different interpretations at different points in the game could, to some degree, influence which way the story developed.

"So what we were both doing in the period before the first Recess was, in essence, briefly confirming each other's inclinations.

"He used the ring to offer several possibilities. My proposal of 'mutual suicide' was choosing one of those possibilities and its natural extensions, and from there he would produce follow-up evidence to coordinate with me."

Huang Shengjie's expression lit up with understanding, "I see! So before the first Recess, you two had already aligned your thinking, and then you each took on different responsibilities and worked together to set a trap for Tang Qing?

"Lawyer Lin, your task was to pretend you didn't know about the hidden mechanics, and throughout the whole game to only weaken Tang Qing's reasoning through apparently passive legal explanations, while progressively closing off his possible routes and steering him into a specific trap.

"And Wang Yongxin's task was to keep producing particular pieces of evidence, each of which looked at first glance entirely favourable to Tang Qing, giving him the illusion that he was winning. But in reality, every single one had buried details favourable to you, just waiting for you to detonate them at the right moment.

"I thought of this earlier: even if the Lawyer role hadn't been you, but someone else, Wang Yongxin's strategy would still have worked, because it was essentially a guaranteed win regardless.

"If the Lawyer understood what he was doing and responded accordingly, he would carry it through.

"But if the Lawyer was like Feng Yuguang, completely clueless, Wang Yongxin wouldn't have bothered revealing the hidden conditions in those props. He would have just gone along with Tang Qing's momentum until the game ended.

"And if he sensed Tang Qing was thinking about betraying him, he could also selectively surface one of those hidden details as a warning to Tang Qing, or simply betray Tang Qing outright first.

"It looks passive, but it's actually the strategy with the maximum control."

Yao Yuan added, "But to execute a strategy like this, there's one very important prerequisite: both parties need to be sufficiently sensitive to specific pieces of information and detail.

"For instance, knowing the difference between an everyday band and a diamond ring. Knowing the Lion King Card's specific appearance and its real-world asset threshold. Knowing certain legal provisions. Even having some knowledge of pharmacology.

"Wang Yongxin submitting psychiatric medication as evidence to take care of Feng Yuguang, Lawyer Lin recognising the gold card's actual real-world prototype from its appearance alone, all of this required specific knowledge to pull off.

"For an ordinary player, this kind of coordination would be very difficult to replicate."

Huang Shengjie thought of something new, "Actually, how did Wang Yongxin know that Lawyer Lin would have the knowledge about the Lion King Card?"

Lin Sizhi shook his head, "He probably wasn't certain.

"The Lion King Card is a real thing in the real world, and it's actually fairly well known. Wang Yongxin used the real-world card as the model for his prop, but this also served as a kind of test for me.

"We had been in the same community but had never directly faced each other in a game.

"So he probably also wanted to use this opportunity to personally gauge the level of challenge I would present.

"If I lacked the relevant knowledge and couldn't identify the card, it would have shown that my knowledge base had certain specific gaps.

"Knowledge depth, and especially cross-disciplinary knowledge, is also part of a player's overall ability."

Qin Cheng considered this, "In that sense, Wang Yongxin is genuinely impressive.

"It's not particularly surprising that he would know about the Lion King Card, given that based on this game's selection criteria, his real-world occupation is that of an actual wealthy businessman. But being able to name specific psychiatric medications in detail despite having no medical background isn't easy.

"Even though diazepam and olanzapine are relatively well-known among psychiatric medications, the vast majority of players without a medical background wouldn't know them.

"Without that knowledge, Feng Yuguang could never have been set up the way he was."

Lu Qi raised her hand tentatively, "But under the evidence-generating rules, couldn't Wang Yongxin have just specified 'some kind of psychiatric medication' without naming one specifically?

"He could have claimed he didn't recognise the drug himself and let Feng Yuguang explain it."

Qin Cheng shook his head, "That probably wouldn't have been reliable enough.

"We don't know the exact rules for customising evidence, but by reasonable inference, the more specific the keywords, the better the result.

"If Wang Yongxin had generated a drug he didn't know clearly himself, things could have gone wrong.

"Because Feng Yuguang is a professional doctor. If he had seen an unfamiliar drug, or one that was extremely obscure, he might have sensed something was off.

"It was precisely because diazepam and olanzapine matched exactly what exists in the real world that Feng Yuguang had no suspicion at all. He assumed it was a genuine prop from within the story and gave a straightforward professional explanation. He never even thought to deliberately give a misleading answer as a probe.

"A different drug might not have produced the same result."

Lu Bingjun added, "The same is true of Lawyer Lin. In theory, a lawyer who has handled many cases would have a broader knowledge base than most players. But the specific details of the Lion King Card wouldn't be something every lawyer would know.

"And yet that one small detail directly determined the direction the entire game took."

Huang Shengjie frowned and raised a new concern, "But what if Wang Yongxin had turned it against you and deliberately specified that the card wasn't a void card? In other words, what if he had set a trap for you at that key moment?

"Even with the strong mutual trust you've built, if he had actually done that, Lawyer Lin, you would have lost completely, wouldn't you?"

Lin Sizhi nodded, "Yes.

"But I judged he would not do something that foolish.

"Because in this game, the penalty is only a standard instant-death penalty, and an immunity voucher prevents the death entirely. So there was no way for him to actually kill me. Losing a game or giving up all of my visa time is not something I'd consider unacceptable.

"Turning a reliable ally into an irreversible enemy. He would have known very well what doing that means."