Yang Yuting fell into a long silence, clearly thinking.
Regarding the "five-person group," Li Renshu's explanation was that they didn't want the public discussion to trouble Ding Wenqiang, so they first had a simple "huddle" in private, and only after careful consideration did they make the proposal public for everyone to vote on and discuss.
Although this explanation seemed somewhat reasonable, among the people in the community, probably only Ding Wenqiang and Su Xiucen would believe it without reservation.
The others would, at most, believe half of this explanation.
What's more, the selection of this five-person group was indeed very telling.
Wang Yongxin was highly sensitive, so he was the first to realize this; although Yang Yuting didn't pay much attention at first, now that it was pointed out, she could belatedly recall certain clues from before.
Yang Yuting looked up at Wang Yongxin, "Why did you choose to talk to me about this?"
Wang Yongxin appeared sincere, "Because among the remaining people, I think you're a smart person, so the cost of communication might be lower, and it's more likely you'll share my stance.
"Besides, there are many things I might have to rely on you to accomplish."
Yang Yuting nodded, "You're right, we do share some similar philosophies.
"And...
"You want to use me to rally the remaining people as much as possible? After all, most of them are women."
Wang Yongxin was a bit surprised, seemingly not expecting Yang Yuting to figure it out so quickly, but he soon smiled and nodded, "Exactly, it's just easier talking to smart people."
The so-called "similar philosophies" could be more accurately described as "similar social classes."
Before entering the new world, Wang Yongxin was the boss of a startup, while Yang Yuting was a high-level executive.
To put it plainly, they were both "rich people," or had been in the "decision-making level" or "management" in their companies.
Therefore, even though the two hadn't interacted much before, they would naturally recognize their similar philosophies.
—Just like Ding Wenqiang and Su Xiucen would also have this natural sense of affinity.
Besides the "five-person group," the remaining people were: Jiang He, Wang Yongxin, Qin Yao, Su Xiucen, Xu Tong, Ding Wenqiang, and Yang Yuting.
Since Li Renshu was the only woman in the "five-person group," the vast majority of the remaining 7 people were women.
The only man, Ding Wenqiang, also didn't get along with Wang Yongxin.
So if Wang Yongxin wanted to rally the remaining 7 people to some extent, he had to use Yang Yuting to win over the other women.
Especially the three of them: Xu Tong, Qin Yao, and Jiang He.
It wasn't difficult for Yang Yuting to sort through these issues.
She thought for a moment and asked again, "So what goal are you trying to achieve?
"Overthrow this five-person clique?"
Wang Yongxin shook his head repeatedly, "No, no, no, I'm not trying to create a schism, I'm just seeking 'self-preservation.'
"If the 7 of us continue to be atomized individuals, we'll be at the mercy of others.
"If we can reach some sort of consensus early on and organize ourselves to a certain extent, then each of us will be safer.
"At least when we're in danger of being robbed, we can unite and resist immediately."
Yang Yuting nodded, "Understood, you mean I should try my best to get closer to the others, especially Xu Tong, Qin Yao, and Jiang He.
"If we can similarly form a relatively cohesive small group, then at least on some major issues, we'll have the power to contend and won't have our interests harmed."
Wang Yongxin nodded, "Exactly. In the short term, there's not much we can do, nor do we need to do anything.
"But, it's always necessary to plan ahead."
Yang Yuting asked again, "Why don't you choose to join that five-person clique? With your abilities, you should be able to gain a certain amount of say there.
"After a while, you might even be able to replace some of them, like... Cai Zhiyuan?"
Wang Yongxin shook his head, "It's difficult, this is a rather complex issue.
"The composition of an organization isn't just about ability, it also has to consider division of labor, mutual trust, and who came first.
"From a small company to a large country, will capable people definitely be absorbed into management? It's more likely that they won't be.
"There will always be issues of interest distribution within an organization, if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. A lot of the time it's not that people don't want you at the table, but there are only so many seats, who are you going to push out? So you can only be on the menu.
"All in all, I'm not suited for that place, and they don't welcome me. Otherwise, it's impossible that no one has ever extended an olive branch to me.
"Similarly, the other six people, including you, can no longer enter that small group.
"Because five people is already its limit."
Yang Yuting lowered her head and pondered for a long time again, finally saying, "Alright, then we can reach a preliminary agreement on this issue.
"I will increase my contact with the others.
"If there's any progress later, we'll discuss it immediately."
Wang Yongxin got up, opened the door, and looked outside.
"You go back first, I'll wait a few more minutes to stagger our departure."
Just as Yang Yuting was about to leave, she suddenly thought of something and asked, "One last question.
"During the vote for the community security fund earlier, were you the one who cast the 'no' vote?"
Wang Yongxin looked a bit helpless, "Is my persona that well-established? It wasn't me."
Yang Yuting nodded, "It's fine, I was just asking casually, having a troublemaker in the community always makes me a little uneasy."
Wang Yongxin didn't seem to mind, "Heh, I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing.
"How do you know they're definitely a troublemaker? Maybe they simply didn't like the process by which this proposal was pushed forward, and were too embarrassed to express it publicly.
"Since the community gives each of us an equal right to vote, then casting a 'no' vote is of course every person's freedom.
"Let's forget about it this time, but if next time, and the time after that, every proposal put forward by the five-person group passes unanimously... wouldn't that be even more terrifying?"
...
Lin Sizi returned to his room, first turning on his personal computer to check his remaining visa time.
[297 days - 19 hours 25 minutes]
Seeing this time, Lin Sizi fell silent for a moment.
Because the time had increased by more than a month.
Lin Sizi's initial visa time was 117 days, and the visa time earned from "Blood Poker" this time, after deducting the community security fund, was about 143 days.
Added together, it was about 260 days.
There was only one explanation for the extra 37 days:
A player had died in the game "Blood Poker," and their visa time was transferred by the Gallery to Lin Sizi, the game's designer.
The death rate of "Blood Poker" itself was extremely low, because the only way to die was to get addicted to gambling and draw blood until death.
But obviously, no matter how safe a game was, it couldn't stop some people from repeatedly courting death.
Although from the Gallery's intention, this game was to complete the distribution of visa time and did not encourage excessive casualties, the Gallery wouldn't care about the deaths of individual players like this.
However, this also brought Lin Sizi's remaining visa time to a rather exaggerated number.
Of course, Lin Sizi had already obtained an S-rank evaluation and could freely hide the visa time he earned through his copycat identity, so there was no need to worry about being exposed.
But he still had to earn as much visa time as possible in the games.
On one hand, as the game's designer, he had long left loopholes for himself to acquire a large amount of visa time, which would give him more leeway when facing other games;
On the other hand, this could also hide his identity well.
_S_ome people might think that after becoming a "God's Copycat," one must keep as low a profile as possible and not earn too much visa time in games.
After all, the higher the profile, the more attention one receives, and the more likely one's identity is to be exposed.
But Lin Sizi didn't think so.
Because a God's Copycat will inevitably kill players in the process of designing games.
And as the games progress, players will have more and more visa time, and the visa time obtained after killing a player will also increase.
If one always keeps a low profile and never obtains much visa time in games, then when one needs to spend a large amount of visa time for special strategies in a game, it's actually easier to be exposed.
If one never uses this hidden visa time, it would be a waste of the copycat identity's advantage.
Therefore, creating the impression that "he has a lot of visa time to begin with" is also beneficial for hiding his identity.
In addition, the more visa time Lin Sizi earned, the stronger his presence and the higher his status in this small community group, which would be more conducive to integrating into the core group.
And more conducive to protecting himself.
Just like this morning, Lin Sizi was the only one invited besides the four-person clique, which was clearly directly related to his profession and his performance in the game.
Having had some red wine during the lunch gathering, Lin Sizi now felt a bit drowsy, and he lay on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
...
More than an hour later, Lin Sizi woke up.
He pulled open the curtains, the time was 3:43 PM.
Coming to the study, Lin Sizi found new information on his computer screen.