God's Imitator-Chapter 173: Two Buttons

Passing through the iron door that had just opened and crossing the corridor, he arrived at the first judgment venue.
He Xiaojun noticed that the structure of this judgment game venue was very simple.
It could basically be seen as a purely linear structure. Different venues were connected by corridors, with no forks in the road and nothing to miss.
The first judgment venue looked very spacious.
The setting here was still an abandoned underground warehouse. The ceiling was quite high, with rusty framework structures and beams above. Various abandoned debris was piled around the scene.
In the center of the venue, there were four unconscious people, two men and two women.
He Xiaojun was very surprised because he recognized all four of them.
They were four colleagues from his previous company.
These four people were locked in four mechanism iron chairs, unable to move. Behind the four iron chairs was a special mechanism locked by complex gear structures, inside which a special syringe could vaguely be seen.
That should be the so-called antidote.
Facing the direction of these four people was a judgment platform.
On the judgment platform were only two different buttons, red on the left and blue on the right.
"Beep—"
As He Xiaojun walked into this space, a sharp buzzing sound rang out, and these four people gradually regained consciousness.
They looked around at the scene in terror, their eyes filled with various emotions.
At the same time, the cathode-ray tube television in this judgment room also began broadcasting the relevant rules.
[He Xiaojun, when you were falsely accused, these four people, without knowing the truth, chose to stand on the side of the accuser.]
[Some of them forced you to apologize, some used morality to criticize you, and others chose to comfort and support the accuser.]
[For everyone present at the time, silence might have been unavoidable self-preservation, but becoming accomplices to evil is absolutely an unforgivable sin.]
[On the judgment platform, there are two different buttons.]
[Press the red button, and these four people will receive a clear punishment: they will be electrocuted for 15 seconds while sustaining five penetrating injuries in non-lethal areas.]
[Press the blue button, and these four people will randomly receive one of the following four punishments: electric shock of random duration, fractures in random locations, stab wounds in random locations, or instant death punishment.]
[Among the random punishments, the more severe the punishment, the smaller the probability of it occurring, but it is never zero.]
[Now, please complete your first judgment and choose the ’more appropriate’ verdict for them.]
He Xiaojun naturally remembered this judgment case.
For him, this was the most deeply etched lesson of his life, something he could never forget anyway.
He Xiaojun had originally been just an ordinary office worker, but one day, a female colleague sitting in the workstation opposite suddenly produced a video recording and accused He Xiaojun of making obscene gestures toward her under the office desk.
Actually, he was just scratching an itch.
The colleagues in the office area were in an uproar.
Although most colleagues chose to mediate between them or remain silent, the other party was relentless, and the matter escalated.
These four colleagues played an important role in the further deterioration of the situation.
Some of them advised He Xiaojun to apologize and let the matter rest peacefully.
Some cursed He Xiaojun as a "pervert" and "disgusting."
Others clearly stood on the side of the accuser, saying they would support that female colleague in defending her rights and were willing to provide any help they could.
For the purpose of letting the matter rest, He Xiaojun was forced to record an apology video, which became the first step in his fall into a bottomless abyss.
Originally, He Xiaojun had buried this secret deep in his heart and hadn’t mentioned it to anyone in the community, but he never expected that in this judgment game, all the parties involved in this incident had also participated.
Very obviously, although these people hadn’t been assigned to the same community as He Xiaojun, they had also come to the New World.
After hearing the rules on the television, the four people locked in the iron chairs all panicked.
This was a judgment game that didn’t leave them any room for clever maneuvering.
Their life and death completely depended on He Xiaojun’s single thought.
"Xiao He, no, Brother He, no, big brother! Brother He! Press the red button, please!"
"Right, electric shock, I’m just a bastard, shock me hard, I deserve to be shocked!"
"I’m sorry, really sorry. Xiao He, do you still remember? I even helped you revise proposals. Please, I don’t want to die..."
"Wait, what happens if you don’t press a button? Why not try it?"
"Shut up!"
The four people were in chaos.
As players of the New World, they had all participated in Gallery games and had seen the rules of many judgment games.
The vast majority could quickly realize their current predicament.
In judgment games, you must never think about exploiting loopholes in the game or wonder "what if I don’t press a button." Anyone with such evasive thoughts would definitely die miserably.
For this game, there were only two choices: either the red button or the blue button.
Obviously, the punishment from the blue button would be much more severe.
Setting aside the fact that among the four random punishments was instant death, even random fractures and stab wounds in random locations were absolutely no joke.
Medical conditions in the community were limited, and not every community had a doctor.
No one could be sure whether a simple splint could help a fractured area grow and recover normally, and with stab wounds in random locations, if it hit a vital spot, it would also result in death.
In comparison, the red button was a definite punishment. High-voltage electric shock wouldn’t be fatal, and five penetrating injuries, as long as they were in non-lethal areas, wouldn’t cause major problems.
This kind of injury could be completely resolved with simple bandaging after returning to the community.
He Xiaojun fell into hesitation.
He looked at the blue button, vaguely feeling that in judgment games, any options involving ’randomness’ were often relatively safe choices, because in the Gallery’s view, random punishment meant leaving fate to heaven’s will, which was relatively the least bad form of punishment.
But...
There were after all several situations here that would result in death. Did their crimes really reach the point where they deserved to die?
The game rules said to give them the ’most appropriate’ verdict as much as possible. If they had merely joined in and become accomplices to evil, electric shock plus stab wounds should be about right, shouldn’t it?
If he really chose the blue button and then death occurred, would he himself also be suspected of using the judgment game to vent anger and take revenge?
There was no absolutely correct option between these two buttons. Which button the antidote was hidden behind largely depended on the God’s Imitator’s values.
If the God’s Imitator believed they should give the four people clear punishment roughly matching their crimes, that sinners should take responsibility for their own judgment, then it shouldn’t be left to heaven’s will but should choose the red button. Conversely, they should choose the blue button.
Watching these four people cry bitterly and plead continuously, He Xiaojun also found it hard to make up his mind.
In the end, he still chose to press the red button, giving the four people a definite punishment.
Although it might be wrong, among the four judgments, as long as he made the correct choice any one time, he could obtain the antidote.
This meant that whether the first judgment was correct or incorrect didn’t matter much. It was better to follow his heart’s choice while also trying to figure out what the God’s Imitator’s intentions actually were.
The moment he pressed the button, all the iron chairs lit up with blue light, accompanied by the sizzling sound of electric current!
All four players began shaking violently while emitting muffled screams. Their eyes rolled back uncontrollably, and their entire bodies convulsed violently.
Fifteen seconds was longer than imagined.
The instant the electric shock ended, before the four people had time to catch their breath, long steel spikes extended again from the iron chairs, piercing into their non-lethal areas and emerging through flesh and blood on the other side.
"Ahhh—!!!"
Consecutive screams rang out, making He Xiaojun’s body tremble a bit. Instinctively feeling uncomfortable, he could only lower his head and stare at the judgment platform, trying not to look at the miserable state of these four people.
Finally, the screams gradually subsided. These four people were almost completely soaked in sweat from head to toe, and blood continuously seeped from their wounds.
They said nothing more, just collapsed limply in their chairs, gasping for breath in large gulps.
He Xiaojun waited somewhat anxiously.
Finally, his eyes lit up. The antidote syringe that had been locked by heavy mechanisms slowly rose up. As long as it rose to the top, he could take it away.
He Xiaojun quickly walked down from the judgment platform, wanting to retrieve the antidote.
However, the antidote had only risen halfway when the mechanism suddenly closed, crushing it with a "snap."
The life-saving medicine spilled into the mechanism, not a drop remaining.
He Xiaojun stood there stunned, speechless for a moment.
He waited quietly like this for two minutes. There were no new prompts, no one spoke, leaving only the moans of the four sinners.
He Xiaojun could only dejectedly leave through the exit and head to the next judgment venue.