Chapter 691: What Came Before

Lu Qi pressed further, "But what if Zheng Qingyun had other cheating methods? You can never trust what a cheat says."

Qin Cheng considered for a moment, then shook his head slightly, "There probably weren't other methods available.

"Because Zheng Qingyun couldn't possibly have memorised every card in the deck.

"The cheating method he used only worked because of the cooperation arrangement. With everyone taking only two cards, every round had a fixed twelve-card total, and the Imitator had specifically built the dealing mechanism to exploit exactly that.

"That's what allowed him to accurately position specific cards so they'd come to his side in a later round.

"If someone took one extra card, making every round a fixed thirteen cards, he might still have been able to manipulate things to a degree, ensuring high cards went to his three players.

"But if both sides played normally, the number of cards actually used each round would vary, and that precise predictable correspondence would break down completely.

"Within the rules of the game, there shouldn't be any other viable cheating method.

"Even given his history, from a rational standpoint, cooperation was still the optimal strategy at this point.

"Thirty rounds is simply too many. If you played it straight, the penalty counts per round would escalate dramatically, and there could be a bloodbath.

"If it were me, I'd do the same: expose Zheng Qingyun's trick, apply a degree of pressure, but ultimately continue the cooperation under conditions of heightened vigilance."

Huang Shengjie looked at Lin Sizhi, "Lawyer Lin, do you think there were any other ways to cheat within the rules?"

Lin Sizhi gave a slight shake of his head, "Probably not."

Shen Bowen thought for a moment, "What if you didn't expose it? Would there have been a better approach? Like turning the mechanism to your own advantage somehow?"

Qin Cheng gave this a token moment of consideration, but clearly hadn't changed his view, "Whether to expose it or not probably doesn't matter much. The key issue is that only Zheng Qingyun could use this cheating method. No one else could.

"Because only Zheng Qingyun could reliably memorise the cards, calculate the round cycles, and swap the return order without anyone noticing.

"Our community's three players had no such ability."

Huang Shengjie looked at Lu Bingjun, "So, did both sides manage to rebuild the cooperation?"

He immediately realised he was probably asking something with an obvious answer, given where everything had clearly ended up.

Lu Bingjun shook his head, "No."

Silence fell over the room again.

Lin Sizhi added, "Wei Changfeng should have been a mature and rational player. He wouldn't have acted on pure impulse.

"Zheng Qingyun, as a cheat, would certainly have had a strong capacity for wishful thinking, but cheats also tend to be among the most calculating and self-preserving types. Being caught in a deception wouldn't simply send him into a rage where he'd fight to the death.

"If it had only been those two, the cooperation probably could have continued.

"But the others were a variable.

"Don't forget, this is a Judgment Game. And the disabled Player 12, Gao Teng, was also one of the accused.

"The Imitator almost certainly knew both men's offences, and their character weaknesses.

"Deliberately hiding a cheating method in the machine: Zheng Qingyun discovered it early, while Gao Teng discovered it later.

"Which suggests Gao Teng was probably not a professional cheat or professional card player.

"So what might Gao Teng's offence have been? And what approach did the Imitator take to target him?

"The machine the Imitator designed probably wasn't a backdoor opened for Zheng Qingyun's benefit alone. It was most likely a carefully constructed trap aimed at exploiting the character weaknesses of both accused men simultaneously."

Lu Bingjun gave a nod, "Your reading is correct.

"In the four rounds that followed, in each round, Wei Changfeng, Gao Teng, and Xu Yili took turns confessing something small.

"Who went was determined by who had the lowest total.

"None of these were anything that could really be called an offence. But Zheng Qingyun's side did honour their agreement, selecting the Insincere Shocked option every time.

"That meant every player's hand was reduced by 4 points.

"Taking one extra card, with the opposing side all taking a 4 point deduction, gave our community's three players a meaningful advantage.

"There was still some risk, but the luck held, and all three won their rounds in the end.

"The score became 8 round wins to 9, with our side now holding a one round win lead.

"At that point, they should have stopped hitting.

"But Gao Teng didn't stop."

Qin Cheng's brow furrowed, "Brother Lu, could you tell us more about Gao Teng?

"He was disabled. What was the cause of his disability? What was he like as a person?

"Before this game, had he shown any behaviour connected to gambling?"

Lu Bingjun let out a sigh, "Let me start from the beginning then.

"Wei Changfeng, Gao Teng, and Xu Yili were among the original players in Community 2 when it first formed.

"Wei Changfeng was two years older than me, Xu Yili was the same age as me, and Gao Teng was probably around twenty-seven.

"When we first arrived in the community, everyone was surprised, because Gao Teng used a wheelchair.

"At that time we had only just arrived and hadn't been through many games yet. We had no sense of how other communities looked, so we didn't think too much of it. Looking back now, a player with a physical disability in the community was genuinely unusual.

"The first impression Gao Teng made on all of us was of someone extremely quiet, even withdrawn. You might even say quietly despairing of things.

"When we first learned we would have to enter dangerous games with our lives on the line, everyone else's reaction fell into one of two categories.

"Either they were like Wei Changfeng: steady and calm, reassuring the people around them. Or they were like Wen Wan: immediately in a complete panic from the moment they heard it."

Wen Wan was suddenly brought up by name and looked faintly uncomfortable.

Lu Bingjun continued, "Wen Wan, I'm not criticising you at all, please don't take it that way.

"My point is that both reactions were completely normal.

"But Gao Teng was different. He had no reaction whatsoever.

"Not calm, not panicked. He was in more of a state of complete indifference, as though whether he lived or died was a matter of total insignificance.

"Our first game was a distribution-type game, 'Tile Poker.' Looking back now it seems quite safe, but entering that first group assignment was still somewhat chaotic.

"We had twelve players to divide into three groups. Wei Changfeng, myself, and Ye Lin naturally took on the role of leaders for each group, picking their teams.

"There was no obvious outward display of it, but most of the community was not particularly keen to be grouped with Gao Teng.

"There were really only two reasons.

"First, he was physically disabled. Before entering a game we had no way of knowing what the rules might require. If there was any physical component, having him along could be a pure liability.

"Second, in the brief time we'd spent together in the community before that first game, Gao Teng had been extremely withdrawn. He showed no response to the goodwill others extended to him, and had barely said a word.

"In the end it was Wei Changfeng who made the call, taking Gao Teng into his own group. That grouping more or less became the fixed arrangement from then on."

Lu Bingjun paused briefly and continued, "'Tile Poker' ended well. In hindsight, none of the three groups came away with particularly high earnings, but everyone performed above the average line.

"After that, we gradually settled into life in that strange place.

"The three-person team of Wei Changfeng, Gao Teng, and Xu Yili was consistently the most stable across all the games. Wei Changfeng and Xu Yili were clearly drawn to each other, and they became our community's first couple, and as far as I know its only one.

"Both of them cared deeply for Gao Teng, treating him essentially like a younger brother.

"As for Gao Teng himself, he gradually started speaking more within the community.

"Over time we came to realise that Gao Teng was actually a very capable player. His eye for detail was unusually sharp.

"The three of them complemented each other well in games.

"Wei Changfeng handled the bigger picture, naturally decisive and strong at making calls.

"Xu Yili was meticulous and had good social instincts, providing excellent support.

"And Gao Teng had a quick mind, regularly catching small inconsistencies that others missed. When things came to a crisis, he never wavered.

"That combination was what allowed them to win the overwhelming majority of their games.

"As for anything connected to gambling, there were some traces.

"Gao Teng had a reaction to anything related to gambling that was almost like a trigger response."