I'm being held captive by a monster

Chapter 231: How many times have I tested you?

"So, Senior, how are we going to test it this afternoon? Are there any other methods?"

"Of course I have, junior. I will make sure you eat the most desperate, painful, and emotionally unstable human beast!"

Keke patted his chest and said confidently.

Lin Xing'an's eyes lit up, "That would be so delicious..."

He sighed, swallowing his saliva.

"So, Senior, what should we do?"

Lin Xing'an seemed to have whetted his appetite. After taking two mouthfuls of noodles, he still couldn't help but ask.

Seeing how impatient he was, Keke also smiled.

"Junior, we have different methods for dealing with people and animals in different situations."

"Dealing with people and animals is not a one-size-fits-all approach. It depends on the specific situation."

“The easiest way is to bring in people and animals.”

She moved the noodles aside, cleared her throat, and taught Lin Xing'an.

Lin Xing'an, like a student listening attentively, pursed his lips and nodded.

"So, Senior Sister, I've read the information and the parents of the human-beast we're going to see this afternoon are both confused people."

"But after the car accident, she became blind and was recycled. She is now cared for by qualified gluttons who pretend to be her parents."

"If we put this situation into perspective..."

Lin Xing'an frowned, a thoughtful look on his face.

But after thinking about it, I'm still a little confused.

"Junior, the owner of this human-beast suspected her awakening because her blindness was not permanent."

"For confused people, awakening is like a new life."

"Even if it's an ability that has nothing to do with recovery, once it's awakened, it can instantly eliminate some of the damage on the body."

"These include blindness and deafness."

Keke pointed to his eyes.

"So the owner suspected that she had regained her sight, or perhaps awakened."

"So, if you regain your sight and see your family members who took good care of you when you were blind, they will be completely unfamiliar to you..."

"How do you feel about this situation?"

Ke Ke guided Lin Xing'an to think.

"Junior, put yourself in their shoes, and imagine yourself as a human or animal."

She gestured for Lin Xing'an to close his eyes.

"The despair of losing her sight, the pain of recovery, the joy of regaining her sight, and then she saw..."

Koko said softly.

Lin Xing'an also slowly opened his eyes.

"..."

The person in front of him had completely turned into a completely stranger and unfamiliar person without him knowing when.

"...Yes, that's right, that's the feeling. The feeling of humans and animals is hundreds or even thousands of times stronger than yours."

Noticing Lin Xing'an's obvious surprise, Ke Ke nodded affirmatively.

Then, while speaking, he changed back to his original form.

"indeed……"

Lin Xing'an took a deep breath with realization.

"If she regains her sight, she'll see that the parents she trusted are no longer her 'parents'..."

"That emotional gap... is simply indescribable."

he sighed.

But then, he frowned in confusion.

"But Senior, that doesn't make sense..."

"If this human-beast is really like what we analyzed, how could she have kept it secret?"

"It's the first time she sees her eyes again. She'll definitely show that huge emotional difference right away."

Lin Xing'an spread out his hands and said.

Keke nodded.

"Yes, that's why her owner is suspicious of her. Her emotional disparity is revealed through her expression, so her owner suspects she has awakened."

"But...is this just a suspicion?"

Lin Xing'an licked his lips.

"What I mean is...senpai, how can we be sure that the human and the animal are 100% awakened?"

"Or... for example, if a certain human-animal has a very strong psychological quality and keeps pretending to be dead, what should we do?"

"Because if we are 100% certain that humans and animals have awakened, our attempts will definitely not really harm them."

After organizing his words, Lin Xing'an asked again.

This is actually a question that has been buried in his heart since he was a child.

"Very good. The fact that you can ask this question shows that you have already entered the realm of learning."

Keke gave him a thumbs up.

"This is the first and most important lesson that our Siege and Killing Division, or the Tao Ghosts, must learn after entering society."

"The name of this class is - How to Convince Yourself That Humans and Animals Have Awakened."

Keke slowed down his speech and spoke word by word.

"…Convince yourself?"

"Yes, convince yourself."

More and more people came to the cafeteria and the surroundings became noisy.

Ke Ke stood up and motioned Lin Xing'an to follow.

The two returned to the archives.

"Mother is kind, so when she conceived us, she set three basic rules for us and preserved our subjective initiative to the greatest extent possible."

"So, in reality, when it comes to judging whether a human or animal is awake, we don't have a specific objective standard like we do when judging whether they are male or female. We only have 'I feel'."

"Let me give you a classic example that everyone on the committee knows."

Ke Ke found an employee guide she had read when she first started working from the bottom of her desk drawer and handed it to Lin Xing'an.

“That’s the case.”

She flipped straight to the middle page.

"One day, the committee received a report of a suspected awakening of a human-animal relationship. Two colleagues, let's call them A and B, went there immediately."

"They used the most conventional ghost domain heuristics."

"After releasing the ghost realm, A noticed a noticeable change in the human-animal's expression, so A judged and concluded that the human-animal had awakened."

"But B noticed something was wrong at the time when the people and animals' expressions changed."

Koko said, pointing at the employee guide.

"Because humans and animals have an instinctive fear of us. That fear is a feeling. Even if they can't see the changes in the environment with their naked eyes, they will feel it."

"So, normally, humans and animals will realize something is wrong during the formation of the ghost domain, or right after it forms, and their expressions will change."

"But colleague B discovered that this human-animal relationship only became frightened when the ghost realm was fully formed. This doesn't make sense."

Keke paused.

Lin Xing'an also frowned as he looked at the illustrations in the booklet and nodded.

"Because of this, Colleague A and Colleague B had a disagreement."

"Colleague A believes that this human-beast has awakened, but simply didn't show it immediately, so it's harmless."

"Colleague B believes that it's too early to draw a conclusion. He can't convince himself that this human-beast is 100% awake. He wants to try testing it a few more times."

"But at the time, there were limited ways to test humans and animals. Coupled with colleague A's dissuasion and the temptation of delicious human and animal foods, colleague B was finally persuaded."

"The two of them shared the human-beast, and then..."

Keke turned to the next page.

The page depicted the tragic death of two gluttonous ghosts.

"Unfortunately, this human-beast has not awakened."

"He showed extreme fear after his two colleagues released the ghost realm. This was simply because he was mentally ill and had hallucinations."

"Interestingly, in his fantasy, everyone wants to eat him, which is why his owner suspects he's awakened."

Having said that, Ke Ke also smiled helplessly. Lin Xing'an looked at the last page with the picture of his two colleagues who had died tragically, and a trace of palpitations welled up in his heart.

"Oh, junior, this picture is just a random drawing."

"Gao ghosts who died because of violating the three rules set by Mother will be directly 'deleted', so it doesn't seem so tragic."

Koko stood up and said.

Lin Xing'an nodded slowly and flipped forward to read the case again.

"Senior, so... judging whether a human or animal has awakened is entirely up to us."

"If we believe that the existing evidence is sufficient to show that humans and animals have awakened, then we can eat them."

"But the consequence is..."

Lin Xing'an shuddered and said nothing more.

At the same time, he felt a sense of enlightenment in his heart.

No wonder when he was six years old, both Lin Yunchen and Tian Ming used so many high-frequency words to test him in every possible way...

No wonder Xu Zhe is still staring at him until now...

"Yes, the consequence is that if you make a mistake in your judgment, you will die."

Ke Ke said what Lin Xing'an hadn't said.

After taking a glass of water, she spoke again.

"This incident has cast a huge shadow on my colleagues on the committee. Most of them are no longer willing to judge whether humans and animals have awakened."

"After all...what if another mental illness occurs?"

"The committee members have noticed this situation and are taking it very seriously."

"They suspended all activities related to humans and animals and spent a week discussing this issue - how to convince themselves that humans and animals have awakened."

Ke Ke talked about this topic again.

"After discussion, the committee members formulated the 'no more than three attempts' principle, which means that unless there is indisputable and definitive evidence that the human or animal has awakened, each human or animal must be tested at least three times."

"If all three times meet the characteristics of awakened humans and animals, then we can be 100% sure that the humans and animals have awakened."

"As for these three attempts, how to proceed is up to you."

Ke Ke held the cup in his hand and said to Lin Xing'an.

Lin Xing'an pursed his lips and asked, "Senior, what do you mean by 'indisputable and definitive evidence'?"

"There are many, such as home surveillance footage from before Taoyuan appeared, and some humanoids using their abilities directly on you without even trying to hide."

"There are other colleagues whose special abilities are lie detection or something like that. They can expose the disguises of people and animals in an instant. For them, that's a lot of solid evidence."

Ke Ke sat on the table and said while looking at his crossed legs.

Lin Xing'an also thought about it and nodded.

"Those three temptations, for example..."

"The first time I passed through the ghost zone, I found that humans and animals reacted. The second time I passed through the gourmet restaurant, I found that humans and animals also reacted. But the third time I used special means, I found that humans and animals did not react."

"In this case, we still can't be sure that humans and animals have awakened?"

He asked thoughtfully.

"Yes, we must test humans and animals three times and see that they all fully meet the characteristics of awakening before we can be sure."

"Senior, what should we do if we encounter the situation I mentioned?"

"Keep testing until the human or animal reveals a third flaw and is caught."

Keke arrived directly.

But a hint of doubt still appeared on Lin Xing'an's face.

"Senior, if the humans and animals can successfully avoid exposing their flaws, it proves that they already understand the rules."

"In theory, it is entirely possible to avoid a second, third, or even more occurrences."

"Do we have to keep watching him and testing him? Isn't that a bit..."

Lin Xing'an scratched his head.

Ke Ke smiled and patted Lin Xing'an on the shoulder, "Junior brother, the questions you ask are beyond the imagination of most people."

"You're right. Theoretically, humans and animals that successfully avoid the temptation the first time will have a chance of avoiding it the second and third time."

"And our method is very simple. It's nothing special. We just keep testing it, for the fifth, sixth, or even dozens of times, until the human animal can no longer hold on."

"But it's not as troublesome as you think. No human or animal can last that long."

Keke put down his water glass.

"Of course, if you're lazy and want to gamble, if you lose, you'll die. If you win, the committee will expel you."

"In order to regulate behavior, the principle of no more than three things has become unbreakable since it was introduced."

She jumped down from the table and checked the time.

It's already past one in the afternoon.

"Junior, how is it? Do you have any questions?"

"...So, Senior Sister, how exactly are you planning to test Yu Kexin?"

Lin Xing'an asked again.

"The first time I'll test her, I'll transform into her real relative and observe her reaction."

"The second time I'll test her, I'll use bright light and flames to see if she can see."

"The third time, I will pretend to leave and let Yu Kexin think she has passed, but in fact, I will become something she can't notice and be by her side."

Koko said, holding up three fingers.

Lin Xing'an took a breath of cold air.

"Senior, with your method, I feel that as long as Yu Kexin reacts to one, then it can basically be confirmed."

He said with a thumbs up.

Ke Ke smiled modestly and said, "Well, junior, let me change my clothes. You... go out and wait for me for a while?"

"it is good!"

Lin Xing'an drank the water in the cup and closed the door before leaving.

Watching him leave, Keke's face showed a trace of fatigue and pain.

"Director, did you hear me? I'm done."

She pulled her cell phone from her pocket.

It was clearly a call with Xu Zhe, which had lasted nearly three hours, equivalent to the entire morning without hanging up.

"You did very well."

Xu Zhe's voice came.

And Keke closed his eyes.

"Minister, if Lin Xing'an still..."

"Beep beep."

Before Keke could finish her words, the only response she got was the sound of the phone being hung up.

……

……

In the Operations Department office, Xu Zhe nodded to Tang Chen.

"In the following operations, you should emphasize the principle of no more than three times the limit to Lin Xing'an. Do you understand what I mean?"

"clear."

Tang Chen nodded.

Xu Zhe waved his hand.

What Ke Ke just said about the so-called "rule of no more than three times" is false.

The truth is, humans and animals will only be tested twice, not three times.

"Lin Xing'an, this is the nth time I have tested you..."

After Tang Chen left, Xu Zhe called the traitor among the humans and animals.

"Listen carefully. During this time, you need to appropriately express your desire to know how the gluttonous ghosts determine whether humans have awakened."

"This is very important to you humans and animals, and you humans and animals really don't know it."

"Then, in the next few days, or any time next."

"Once, once someone tells you the answer, once you hear something about the rule of three, or a description of a gluttonous ghost testing humans and animals at least three times, tell me immediately."

He rubbed the ring on his finger.

His voice was serious, and he emphasized each word.

(End of this chapter)