God's Imitator-Chapter 476: Marginalized

"What’s wrong?" Han Mengying could sense that Qi Fan was showing clear signs of panic and anxiety, even with the mask covering him.

Qi Fan didn’t even sit down in his seat: "Not a single ’Blood Pack’ has extended an invitation to me.

"The invitations I sent proactively also received no response at all.

"I originally thought that since this plan was just beginning to wrap up officially, our coordination with the ’Blood Pack’ would be quite chaotic, and it was normal for some players to miss out or not match within one or two rounds.

"But then I thought again, and realized something was wrong.

"So I quickly invited you first, to report to you."

Han Mengying nodded silently: "Hmm, you did the right thing.

"More than one ’Blood Pack’ sent me game invitations normally. If I hadn’t waited for you, and you hadn’t come looking for me actively, I might have been kept in the dark until the game ended.

"This definitely isn’t a coincidence.

"Sit down first, let me think..." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Only then did Qi Fan sit down, but Han Mengying’s reaction also proved that what he feared had likely happened.

The game had just begun, and since he and Han Mengying didn’t need to actually play, as Han Mengying said, their only option was to think carefully about what had gone wrong, and if there was any way to fix it.

But he also knew that after entering the second stage, the game in theory had entered garbage time, and even if there was a problem, the possibility of remedying it was negligible.

...

Han Mengying was also anxious, but she forced herself to think seriously about the situation.

"First of all, there is indeed a possibility: the plan isn’t flawed, these ’Blood Packs’ are simply players of poor skill, maybe they got the list wrong or sent the wrong invitations, causing mismatches and Qi Fan not being assigned to the corresponding ’Blood Pack’.

"If that’s the case, then it doesn’t matter.

"But in a game of this intensity, the possibility of such a rookie mistake is almost negligible.

"In such situations, people naturally have wishful thinking, unable to accept the consequences of another possibility, ultimately deceiving themselves and persisting...

"I won’t make that mistake.

"So, there’s only one explanation: the ’Blood Packs’ have changed sides.

"They still sent me invitations normally, pretending the plan was proceeding as usual, but didn’t send an invitation to Qi Fan—the same is likely true for others in our Community.

"If I hadn’t deliberately waited until the end, and had accepted invitations directly, then until the game ended, I wouldn’t have realized others were left with nothing...

"The problem now is, there’s no way the ’Blood Packs’ decided to change sides on their own.

"They are a group of very weak players, with no organization or execution.

"This behavior must be instructed by someone behind the scenes.

"Is it Lin Sizhi? Lu Xinyi? Or Wang Yongxin, Cai Zhiyuan?

"They might have the capability, but...

"They haven’t made a big public attempt to control players from the Edge Community, even if they contacted some privately, it couldn’t be to this extent.

"Because the number of game rounds is limited, if they had executed the same strategy as us on a large scale, there’s no reason we wouldn’t know.

"So... the only explanation is that Wang Weidong has changed sides.

"In the division of labor in our Community, we mainly work to convert traitors and gather intelligence, while the ’Wheel of Fate’ and ’Priestess’ primarily control the ’Blood Packs’.

"If Wang Weidong has changed sides, in theory, he could indeed control these Blood Packs to turn against us.

"However... Wang Weidong has no reason to change sides.

"Since there are 10 ’Blood Packs’ in total, and they can absorb at most half of them, the remaining ’Blood Packs’ have to go to another Community.

"If Wang Weidong chose to betray us, he would have to go cooperate with Community 17 or Community 3.

"But the problem is, in terms of community values and the basis of cooperation, Wang Weidong has no reason to betray us and choose them.

"Community 15, especially Wang Weidong, has always been in bitter conflict with Community 17, and kept distant from Community 3.

"The possibility of Wang Weidong scheming against us indeed exists, but it still shouldn’t be the main possibility...

"Then there’s only one explanation.

"Wang Weidong doesn’t know either.

"He’s actually lost control over the Community, been stripped of power...

"As absurd as this conclusion is, and as incomprehensible as it seems that a player of his level would be stripped of power, after ruling out all other factors, this is the only possibility.

"The only possibility..."

Han Mengying was a bit shocked by her own conclusion.

Because she knew perfectly well what level of player Wang Weidong was, and being ’stripped of power’, ’losing control over the Community’ shouldn’t happen to someone of his level.

Even if there were too many strong players in the Community, making integration difficult, it shouldn’t blow up in such a critical game.

Regardless, nothing is absolute, and if something went wrong with the plan this time leading to a collapse, then this is the only explanation.

Thinking of this, Han Mengying looked up at Qi Fan: "After this game ends, continue to send invitations to the Blood Packs as per the original plan.

"If they accept later, maybe it was really just a blunder.

"If they don’t accept later, match with other players in our Community, to see if they’re also encountering the same situation.

"I’ll send a match invitation to the ’Demon’."

Qi Fan was stunned for a moment: "But, isn’t the most likely situation in this round that the ’Demon’ has rebelled?"

Han Mengying explained: "If he doesn’t accept my invitation, it means he has rebelled, and the situation might not be too bad.

"If he accepts my invitation... then that’s the worst-case scenario."

...

...

After entering the second stage, time seemed to pass faster.

For He Xiaojun, the game strategy in the second stage instead became simple.

The ’Pope’ rejected Huang Ming’s invitation, so it could basically be confirmed that he was the Community’s traitor.

Huang Ming and the ’World’ took turns matching with He Xiaojun, giving him the highest amount of Wealth Coupons, while the one left without a match continued to look for Dr. Shen.

After ruling out the ’Priestess’ as the wrong option, they successfully found Dr. Shen on the second attempt.

In this way, the situation became clear.

The three players took turns matching with He Xiaojun, giving him the highest profit.

While one player delivered the profit, the other two players matched with each other, sharing the Wealth Coupons, or roughly redistributing the Wealth Coupons.

In this way, it ensured the safety of all Community members, while also letting each player gain some wealth.