Chapter 565: Chapter 565: The First Time the Door Opens

"Is it over?"

Huang Shengjie suddenly came to his senses and looked at the screen of the vending machine in front of him: he hadn’t managed to press the ’Verify’ button in time either.

Of course, Huang Shengjie hoped that after pressing the ’Verify’ button, the verification would be successful, the Imitator would be killed, and the game would end with a return to the Community.

But reason constantly reminded him: blindly pressing the ’Verify’ button is meaningless; he must consider the likelihood that other players would press the button.

Only 20 players choosing ’Verify’ would be meaningful.

Clearly, this player’s statement couldn’t persuade enough people, even if Huang Shengjie pressed to verify, it would just be a waste of medical points.

"Only one minute, no delay, means not even five ’Verify’ buttons were pressed."

The hope that had originally ignited in Huang Shengjie’s heart was quickly extinguished.

If I have to say, this player’s identification wasn’t entirely unfounded; Chen Guangming’s ability to obtain information and manipulate the game’s direction was clearly stronger than that of ordinary players, which can be viewed as a characteristic of the Imitator’s behavior.

But realistically, such an accusation alone couldn’t possibly convince the vast majority of players.

Even without professional knowledge, Chen Guangming might still achieve all this because auditors in Zone C and Zone D might possess the necessary knowledge and choose to collude with him and share information.

...

The room became quiet again, and the 15th round game had already begun.

While considering whether to vote, Huang Shengjie missed the time to enter the rest room, so he simply sat back down on the sofa and continued thinking.

"Although this accusation didn’t succeed, for me, it also means gaining new information.

"Turns out, the reason Zone C turned into its current state is because of this guy named Chen Guangming causing trouble?

"He must have convinced our Zone C’s auditors during their first meeting, and the auditors then convinced the two doctors...

"All the players with special identities in Zone C have malicious intent, and not a single person stands out to stop this situation...

"The O-type drugs sold by Qian Li are indeed some kind of addictive special medications, absolutely mustn’t take them anymore.

"Damn, am I really this unfortunate?

"Ugh... it’s starting again..."

The withdrawal pain appeared once more.

This pain is different from the pain within the game rules; it won’t always appear in the last two minutes of each round, but might appear at any time.

Now it has developed to appearing twice or even three times per round.

Just endured through it, wanting to rest a bit, but the pain quickly returns again, and this feeling is even more despairing.

Huang Shengjie took out the bottle containing O-type drugs again but after considering, he put it back.

"No, can’t take it.

"Now it’s necessary to take two pills at a time to completely eliminate the special pain, must practice temperance.

"Must endure the withdrawal pain."

But clearly, this endurance is getting harder and harder.

Finally, Huang Shengjie stood up again and returned to the vending machine, finding a kind of product within it.

Strong liquor.

Among all the food and drinks, there are also several bottles of alcohol of different strengths and sizes.

Originally, Huang Shengjie didn’t understand why the Imitator included strong liquor in the product list of the vending machine; after all, which player would drink alcohol during the game?

But now he suddenly understood, perhaps in such pain, alcohol could exist as some kind of anesthetic, at least making him feel better when he didn’t want to take the medicine.

...

The 16th round game.

In the rest room, doors leading to various patient rooms gradually opened.

Zhou Xiaoying walked out of the room, tremblingly took two pills from the bottle and threw them into her mouth, then unscrewed the bottle of mineral water and swallowed them.

But after seeing Huang Shengjie, she paused: "What, what are you doing?"

Huang Shengjie looked very poor, the strong liquor made his pale face turn sickly red, hair messy, forehead dotted with fine beads of sweat.

Seeing the bottle of liquor in Huang Shengjie’s hand made Zhou Xiaoying instantly understand something.

"What are you doing, trying to anesthetize yourself with alcohol?

"This won’t work at all, right?

"I think you should just take the medicine honestly; don’t let the suffering you endure be in vain, and the side effects unmissed, and ruin your body."

Huang Shengjie shook his head: "No, can’t take medicine anymore...

"You guys must’ve heard the accusing broadcast, right?

"Our Zone C is already in a fallen state, all medications have addictive properties.

"The O-type and F-type drugs in your hands, they’re the same."

Qian Li sighed: "Then what can we do?

"The doctors only sell us these two types of medicine.

"I have no choice but to pick the relatively less harmful O-type."

Zhang Yuan looked somewhat helplessly at the liquor bottle in Huang Shengjie’s hand: "Aside from the medication issue, what you’re doing won’t work.

"Have some common sense.

"Drinking large amounts of strong liquor can’t solve drug addiction; instead, it’s likely it will compound alcohol addiction, finally turning into dual dependence.

"Not to mention, alcohol itself also damages your body.

"It’s normal if you don’t trust me, but in a game like this, random ideas aren’t child’s play."

Zhou Xiaoying quickly nodded: "Yeah, stop drinking."

Huang Shengjie glanced complicatedly at everyone in the rest room and after hesitating for a moment, said: "I want to try, what if?"

Actually, Huang Shengjie knew in his heart that this method would probably not work and might make his situation worse.

No matter whether eating or drinking, it might completely be a trap deliberately set by the Imitator.

The Imitator is not trying to earn time by selling these things, but rather to gradually break down the players’ psychological defenses with them, weakening their willpower.

And once a player’s willpower crumbles, they can only completely succumb to the medications.

But even knowing this, so what?

Being unable to see a doctor now, even if Huang Shengjie gave up anesthetizing himself with alcohol, he is left with only two paths:

First, trust Qian Li unconditionally, continue to purchase O-type drugs from her, and as the efficacy decreases, be forced to increase the dosage until the game ends.

Second, choose to trust Zhang Yuan, trying the F-type drugs he has to see if the side effects are really lesser.

But are these two options necessarily better?

Huang Shengjie already senses that the outcomes of these two choices probably lead to even worse traps.

In this game, he seems to have many choices, but actually, from the beginning, there were no choices.

Zhang Yuan reached out a bottle of F-type drugs: "Forget it, I’ll give you this bottle for free.

"You can decide whether to buy after trying it.

"Anyway, things won’t get worse, right?"

Huang Shengjie still couldn’t trust Zhang Yuan, but staring at the F-type drugs, which he hadn’t tried before, he fell into hesitation.

However, at this moment, there was another sound of a door opening in the rest room.

...

Everyone was stunned because there were less than a few seconds until the door-opening period ended and these doors would be completely locked.

They all originally thought no player would appear anymore.

But the door of the VIP patient room that had never opened suddenly opened for the first time.

Huang Shengjie turned toward it and soon his face showed a shocked expression.

Because he recognized the player who came out of the room.

"Lawyer Lin?! Were you the patient in that room all along?"