Day of Imprisonment

Liang Qiu pondered for a good while before he understood what was going on.

"So that's how it is. Seems… not too difficult!"

His voice was somewhat annoyed.

Perhaps he felt that such a simple question shouldn't have stumped him; he was being utterly useless.

"Although it's not difficult, it still requires calm thinking. But given the situation you were in, it might have been hard to stay calm. So, what's the second question?" Luo Xi had already gotten into the taxi, told the driver the address, and leaned back in her seat, slightly opening a crack in the car window. The cool breeze that came in made her head clearer.

Liang Qiu hurriedly relayed the second question to Luo Xi.

"The second question is kind of like a skit called 'Who is the Ghost?' I have to participate myself, and I completely don't understand what they want to do. I feel like these 'Disaster People' are all sick in the head, so abstract."

Seemingly reminded of some unpleasant memory, Liang Qiu couldn't help but curse.

"Specifically, they place three chairs in the room. Two Disaster People will come out, plus me, making three people in total. We have to randomly play roles. The roles are of two types: 'Human' and 'Ghost'. But you don't know which one you're playing. You have to randomly pick a hat with a 'role name' written on it from five hats, put it on your head. You can't see your own hat, but you can see the roles on other people's hats."

"And what's already known is that among the five hats, three are 'Human' and two are 'Ghost'."

"When the time comes, I and the other two guys wearing hats will sit on the chairs. A referee will ask each person the same question. The question is…"

"The question is, 'Are you a Human or a Ghost,' right?"

"Yes, yes!" Liang Qiu hastily nodded, even though Luo Xi on the other end of the phone couldn't see him: "That's exactly the problem! How would I know if I'm a Human or a Ghost? Because I can't see the word on my own hat!"

"So, after the referee asks everyone the same question, he requires you to say whether you are a Human or a Ghost. But strictly speaking, even if you guess, you could get it right once if you try enough times. Don't tell me the referee also makes you explain the reasoning process?"

"Luo Xi, you guessed it! That's exactly what it is. Even if I guess right, I can't explain the principle. This is just bullying! If I can't pass these two levels, then I can't enter the third question's segment. I really have no idea what to do about this. I can only look for you. If you have no way either, I'm truly hopeless."

Liang Qiu's voice carried a pleading tone.

Indeed, participating in the Disaster Star Game allows one to see family, but if one can't pass the levels, the result of both family and oneself being burned to death cannot be changed.

Experiencing this too many times would break even the toughest man.

"This game is actually very simple, Liang Qiu. You're just unable to think calmly under the circumstances," Luo Xi's words clearly eased Liang Qiu's emotions a bit. He knew that Luo Xi was comforting him.

"Thank you, Luo Xi!"

"You're welcome. Let's talk about this 'Who is the Ghost?' game. In essence, it's a simple mathematical logic reasoning problem. Five options, three people, two ghosts. If only three people are arranged to sit in chairs, then the possible situations are nothing more than three: 1. All three people are Humans; 2. Two people are Humans, one is a Ghost; 3. One person is a Human, two are Ghosts."

Liang Qiu nodded as he listened to Luo Xi's analysis.

That was indeed the case.

"The problem lies in the referee's question. He only asks the person involved, 'Are you a Human or a Ghost?' And the premise of this game is that you can't see whether you have a Ghost or Human on top of your head. So for the three participants, their answers can also only be three types: 1. Don't know; 2. I am a Human; 3. I am a Ghost."

"Seems like that's really the case." Liang Qiu carefully pondered for a moment and clearly understood.

He was clearly not good at analyzing these things. He was good at solving problems with his fists.

"Then let me ask you, since you can't see whether you are a Human or a Ghost, under what circumstances would they say 'Don't know,' and under what circumstances would they be certain 'I am a Human,' or certain 'I am a Ghost?'"

Luo Xi threw a question at Liang Qiu.

Because he needed to use his brain, the latter even slowed down the car.

Otherwise, it would be easy to drive straight into a ditch because of being distracted.

"I can't think of it!" Liang Qiu decided to focus on driving. He didn't want to rack his brain, and since he had already asked Luo Xi for help, he simply didn't need to think about anything. He just needed to listen to Luo Xi's arrangements.

He immediately slowed down the car, then stopped in the emergency lane and turned on the car's hazard lights.

Luo Xi was right. He could only solve this matter himself. Luo Xi could only provide some help in terms of ideas, make some advance predictions and reminders.

"I'll think hard about it." Liang Qiu pondered carefully, then his eyes lit up: "If it were me, my answer must be based on being able to see the 'words' on the heads of the other two people. Similarly, their answers should be the same."

"Yes, the answers from the two people besides you are the key to solving the problem." Luo Xi praised, "In the case of answering 'I don't know,' it corresponds to the first and second of the three possibilities I mentioned earlier, that is, all 3 people are humans, or 2 people are humans and 1 is a ghost. In the first case, what you see each other is 'human,' which means you can determine the identities of the other two people, but you can't determine whether you are a human or a ghost, so you can only answer 'I don't know'; similarly, if 2 people are humans and 1 is a ghost, what you see of the other two people may be 2 humans, or 1 human and 1 ghost. Similarly, in this case, you can't be sure either."

"Then, does that mean only the last situation can be determined? That is, 1 human and 2 ghosts?" Liang Qiu hurriedly asked.

"Not exactly. You need to know that the real player in this game is only you. The others are all supporting roles. Therefore, you must be the last one to answer, and your answer must refer to the answers of the previous two people because they can see whether you are wearing a human or a ghost on your head. If the rules of the game do not allow anyone to lie, then you can indeed know whether you are a human or a ghost through this method. However, you need to figure out this logical relationship yourself. If you still don't know even with this hint, then I can't help you."

Luo Xi explained very clearly.

Hints are hints, guidance is guidance, but Liang Qiu himself has to solve the problem.

Only when he figures out this logical relationship can he answer the third random question.

And Luo Xi had roughly deduced the type of the third question through the first two questions. He would tell Liang Qiu the summarized 'formula' and let Liang Qiu apply it himself.

Even so, Luo Xi wasn't sure whether he could pass the third question.

If Liang Qiu's identity was changed to Ke Lan, Luo Xi was sure that Ke Lan could complete this game without his help.

If it was Fatty Qian, he could also pass the game after these hints.

But for Liang Qiu, Luo Xi really found it hard to predict.

If he had to say a probability, it might only be 50%, or even less.

However, this was the limit of what Luo Xi could do at the moment.

To reiterate, in the scenario, Liang Qiu couldn't call him for help on the spot. Everything depended on himself.

This time, Liang Qiu pondered for a long time.

Luo Xi thought for a while and gave another hint: "You need to use the technique of assumption. Remember, the technique of assumption is a key to solving most logical problems."

"Assumption?" After smoking two cigarettes, Liang Qiu finally understood the key.

"I understand, Luo Xi, I understand! Haha, because the other two people can see me. If the rules say that lying is not allowed, then I can use assumption and the other party's answers to deduce the answer."

"I am either a human or a ghost. Assume I am a ghost, then the other two people can see a ghost and a human. Only in this way can they not be sure whether they are a human or a ghost. The answer they say is a key hint to me."

"Because if one of them answers 'I don't know,' then one of me and the other person must be a human. And since I assume I am a ghost, then the other person must be a human. So, according to this logic, the other person can be sure that he is a human, then he will answer that he is a human. If so, the assumption that I am a ghost can be established. Otherwise, I am not a ghost, but a human."

"That's right, so the key to this question is to assume possibilities and pay attention to the answers of the other two people." Luo Xi also breathed a sigh of relief.

This logical relationship was as simple as 1+1 to him, but teaching something he thought was simple to others was not an easy task.

Mastering knowledge and imparting knowledge are two completely different things.

Fortunately, with guidance and reminders, Liang Qiu solved this problem.

"The most crucial part of the game is the third question. Although I haven't participated in the Calamity Star Game, I can roughly infer the scope of the third question based on your description and the first two questions. Because the final outcome of this game leads to two possibilities: one is that the player fails to pass the game and triggers a disaster; the other is that the player successfully passes the game and prevents the disaster. Therefore, this third question is likely to be a multiple-choice question, and you no longer need to consider the process of answering and making a choice."

"I... I don't understand," Liang Qiu was stunned.

Luo Xi explained in more straightforward terms: "The decisive round's multiple-choice question is either winning or losing. Because I can't know what the specific question is, I can't help you answer it, but I can give you a suggestion."

"What suggestion?" Liang Qiu felt his heart pounding. He was very nervous at this moment.

"Don't think, make a choice based on instinct immediately. In other words, it's luck. If you have cards that can increase your luck value, you can use them at this time."