Chapter 219: Dice, scheming, and trolley puzzles.

"This place ......" said "Bai Anyi," "is a haven for the official shifters, their energy replenishment station ...... is also their farm."

Even the victor of the final race will be at their disposal, sticking out his head, voluntarily surrendering his freedom and wearing a collar.

"Bai Anyi" says, "This program, officially, is called the 'Alien Protection Program'."

Chi Xiaochi laughed: "...... ha, 'protection'."

He looks to the sky, to the false bird tracks, the false clouds.

That falsehood is as beautiful as it is real: "Isn't ...... 'protection'."

Chi Xiaochi figured out a lot of things.

Opposition to aliens isn't always blind opposition.

Every initiative has an element of interest.

From the moment they hide their identities, for whatever reason, Bai Anyi's "aliens" have been labeled by society as "sinners" and "unstable".

They have to make sure that they monitor every alien, because once the secret of "killing each other can raise the level of ability" becomes public, there is no guarantee that the aliens will not kill each other for the sake of profit.

Therefore, in order to protect the personal safety of the "law-abiding" aliens, the relevant departments need to detain these "unstable" aliens, and "reasonably" utilize the law of evolution to screen out the "illegal and useless" aliens, and provide "feed" for the police force, and give them three survival quotas, so as to implement the elite policy, and strengthen the strength of the Alien Police Force. The authorities need to detain these "unstable" aliens, "reasonably" utilize the evolutionary law, screen out the illegal and useless aliens, provide "feed" for the police force, and give three survival quotas, so as to implement the elite policy, and increase the strength of the aliens police force, in order to better safeguard the existing social order, and to protect the obedient aliens and the normal human beings.

As for gambling with the lives of these "aliens", it is just one of the side businesses of maximizing profits.

Seeing the look on Chi Xiaochi's face, "Bai Anyi" knew that digesting the news would not be easy.

Even he smoked half a snatched cigarette at the computer screen when he saw the plan.

Even if they succeeded in escaping, they would be reduced to rebels who threatened the stability of society and would be wanted for a lifetime, unless they could escape to a country that offered asylum to the aberrants and live out their lives in anonymity.

But if one compromises the rules, fights for one's life, gives up one's freedom, and actively chooses to stick one's head in a collar, then what is Bai Anyi's perseverance in the first place?

For a while, even "Bai Anyi" didn't know what to choose.

He's not a person, he's just a shadow that exists because of Bai Anyi.

What would Bai Anyi want to do?

Chi Xiaochi sat on the oasis and listened quietly to a gust of wind.

In the meantime, Lou Ying was half-kneeling behind him, doing nothing but holding his shoulders vaguely.

His heart was quiet and his expression was the same.

"Bai Anyi watched the pair curiously from the sidelines, finding the aura between them subtle, not tense, but rather peaceful.

After sitting there for four or five minutes, Chi Xiaochi stood up, followed by Lou Ying.

Chi Xiaochi: "Let's go."

"Bai Anyi": "Where to?"

Chi Xiaochi: "Solving Problems."

"Bai Anyi" was half amazed at his crispness, half curious as to what he'd thought of in the few minutes he'd been here, "How do we fix it?"

Chi Xiaochi: "Murder."

"Bai Anyi":"...... Are you going to follow the rules and get in the game?"

Chi Xiaochi : "No. It's utilizing the rules."

"I can't imagine how you're going to utilize the rules in a trolley puzzle like this," Bai Anyi admits.

There are many versions of the so-called "trolley problem".

Roughly, it refers to a train that is speeding along and can't be stopped, and is about to pass a switch. The switch is divided into two tracks, with only one child playing on one, and five children playing in groups on the other track where the train is scheduled to travel.

The protagonist facing this dilemma holds in his hand a trigger gate that will determine life and death.

With no time to dodge, which way should he pull the trigger gate?

Once born, this conundrum sparked a heated debate.

What exactly should be the solution?

Is it better to honor most lives and give up on that one child? Or to believe that any life has equal value and simply not pull the trigger and leave it to fate?

Extending this to the situation at hand, the analogy can be drawn as to whether freedom should be sacrificed for self-help, against principle, or whether life should be sacrificed for freedom, in strict adherence to principle.

Chi Xiaochi asked rhetorically, "What do you think about that?"

"Bai Anyi" says: "That's not the version I heard. Of the two switchbacks, the one with one child playing on it is a track that has long been semi-abandoned; the one with five children playing on it is a track that is clearly marked 'in use'. In other words, the five children are breaking the rules; the one child who is following the rules is at risk of being run over. Ask, in this situation, what choice do you have to make?"

Chi Xiaochi nodded without making a superfluous comment, "Well, I've heard that version."

Lou Ying said, "I have heard another version. That one kid was a good kid with good character and good academics; and those five kids were known punks with bad character and very poor academics. Again, the question is, what are you going to choose in this situation?"

Chi Xiaochi fell silent.

Both "Bai Anyi" and Lou Ying are waiting to see what answer Chi Xiaochi will give.

But instead of answering directly, Chi Xiaochi pursed her lips, "...... So, do you guys see it?"

Lou Ying mused.

"Bai Anyi" raises an eyebrow, "What do you see?"

"The person who made the questions is intentionally piling conditions on top of each other." Chi Xiaochi said, "He's intentionally inducing the respondent to bump those five kids."

"Bai Anyi": "......"

It seems like ...... does.

"It's like an application problem you did in elementary school, where all the conditions are laid out clearly, with the ultimate goal of getting you to come up with that one and only answer at the end. That's what the questioner wants us to do."

Chi Xiaochi says, "This kind of topic, which is deliberately stacked with conditions, makes no sense at all. Because conditions are infinite and can be piled on indefinitely. Suppose those five people are all vicious murderers? Suppose if those five people do not die, a global tsunami will occur the next day and millions of people will die; or simply suppose that the existence of those five people will lead to the destruction of the earth? Are you going to crash? If you don't bump it, I can pile on countless more 'hypotheses' until I break through your bottom line and induce you to pick the one the questioner wants."

"It's the same choice we face. Assuming that there is harm in hiding the identity of a shifter, and assuming that the public disclosure of a shifter's secrets will lead to a major social disruption, it makes sense to imprison and execute shifters who don't listen. ...... This is the conclusion of the institution's founders based on the conditions."

"And in such cases we are induced. Either we save ourselves by killing, or we free ourselves by committing suicide, or we are killed by someone else, because that's the rule, and it's the result of all sorts of conditions piled on top of each other. But I want to try if there is a fourth way to go."

"Bai Anyi": "What is the fourth way?"

Chi Xiaochi opened the warehouse and swiped the screen to find the card, "I'll solve whoever came up with this bogeyman question. That's what I call, 'solving problems'."

"Bai Anyi" puts itself in Bai Anyi's shoes and asks, "What if, in the process, you were required to kill someone? Do you think that's what Bai Anyi wants?"

"Bai Anyi, since he chose to come back, it's already clear what he wants. --He wants to live." Chi Xiaochi says, "Living itself, is an extremely utilitarian thing. And utilitarian means that it cannot be achieved without sacrificing something."

He said, "There are some things that Bai Anyi may know better than you do. Those who have died once should know that if you want to look up at the stars in peace, you have to walk through the thorny ground on the ground."

"Bai Anyi" said, "Mr. Pragmatist, you should know that when you say 'solve a problem', you are talking about solving a whole organization, or even a whole country."

"I know." Chi Xiaochi said, "That's why I need help."

"So? Our next target for action?"

Chi Xiaochi said, "Go back to D20 and pull in new teammates."

"Bai Anyi" is getting more and more interested: "Where did ...... get his teammates? Is it someone you know?"

Chi Xiaochi rummaged through the warehouse for cards that could instantly move and said, "Just seen it. But when I save his life, we'll be teammates."

"Bai Anyi" is confused: "...... huh?"

What happened in the hour he was gone?

It was Lou Ying who explained for Chi Xiaochi, "We were waiting for you to come back when we realized that there were contestants coming in from outside the forest to rest their feet."

"You borrowed their bodies and went to their world, it's impossible to fool them. When they find out the crew is dead, they'll definitely check who's been in the D20 area. The worst, and most likely possibility, Xiaochi said, is that you'll be found out as soon as you get out, and someone might already be checking. So, Xiaochi didn't warn the alien who entered by mistake ......"

"Bai Anyi" came to his senses.

He thought he was pretty much bottomless until he met Chi Xiaochi.

Chi Xiaochi interjected, "To put it bluntly, I'm just trying to get someone on my back."

"Bai Anyi": "Aren't you afraid to involve that man?"

"My brother has deactivated his collar's poison injection. He won't die immediately at least." Chi Xiaochi said, "It's almost time. Let's move to save him right now."

"Bai Anyi": "......"

So Chi Xiaochi wasn't regurgitating the information he'd gotten, but rather calculating how to save the alien who'd been dragged into this for no reason?

"Go early and the fight may not have happened yet; go late and it will be too late." Chi Xiaochi said, "As long as I saved his life, the likelihood of him choosing to join us is greater than 70 percent, and it's worth a try."

"You're not afraid he's a 'catfish'?"

Chi Xiaochi removed a card, held the glowing poker-like object between her index and middle fingers, and squinted at him faintly.

"'Catfish' aim to kill, always try to do it. It's up to you to be alert enough." Chi Xiaochi smiles, "It's up to you."

"Bai Anyi" watched Chi Xiaochi's back and suddenly asked without thinking, "...... What have you been through?"

He still doesn't believe that Chi Xiaochi came from normal human society.

A normal social background shouldn't give birth to a freak like Chi Xiaochi.

Chi Xiaochi turned her back to him and spoke calmly, "It's not worth mentioning."

"Taking the liberty of asking. Are both your parents still alive?"

Chi Xiaochi, who has dealt with similar questions many times from journalists, answered, "Both parents are alive and well and are not divorced."

"Do they beat you?"

"Are you Lu Yu." Chi Xiaochi said a cold stunt, but he amused himself by pursing his lips, "They don't hit me ...... rarely. At most, they ignore me."

"Classmates?"

"It's all okay."

"Haven't run into any schoolyard bullies?"

"Met, a small group. Later I told one of the participants that no matter what bullying I got, whether he did it or not, in the end I would just put the blame on him: I couldn't beat up five of them, I could always beat up one of him. After he got beat up by me a few times, they stopped looking for me."

"Workplace bullying?"

"I'm in the movie business. Started out pretty well and had some connections, and the cast was basically full of people I knew and always courted me."

"Is work stressful?"

"Not much. It's not that hard for me to act."

"Will you get scolded?"

"Often. That's why I occasionally call out marketing numbers to relieve my boredom."

After answering so many questions, Chi Xiaochi smiled, "Reporter Bai, is the interview over?"

"Bai Anyi" came to the conclusion, "You really are a freak."

Chi Xiaochi gave a noncommittal nod, "Thanks for the compliment."

Thinking that Chi Xiaochi must have experienced something else, "Bai Anyi" questioned Lou Ying with his eyes.

Lou Ying shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either.

But he knew that Chi Xiaochi had traveled through thirteen full years of thorny ground as a man who once loved to look up at the stars.

In the end, it just turned into a few light-hearted laughs under his breath.

As Chi Xiaochi was picking through the available cards to put them in the reserve slot, "Bai Anyi" approached Lou Ying: "Aren't you a friend of his?"

"A friend isn't meant to know everything about him." Lou Ying was godlike, "I just need to know what he wants me to know and believe it."

He added, "...... And can I correct you a little bit?"

"Bai Anyi": "Correct what?"

Lou Ying: "I'm his boyfriend."

Chi Xiaochi, who had been so steady just a moment ago, almost teleported them to the N20 area, which was the opposite of D20, when his hand shook.

After realizing the teleportation without any danger, it was surprising to see the devastation after re-entering the destination.

A huge sinkhole had been blasted into the edge of the woods, and at the bottom of it lay a bloody corpse, dressed like them, but with clean soles.

...... should be someone sent by the agency.

"The agency's people might be outraged by the loss of a squad, but they'd never send too many in order not to draw attention to themselves." Chi Xiaochi flashed the odds table displayed on the screen of his wristwatch. "Because I've observed, this person called Wei XVI, the odds aren't low, and there should be people involved in gambling watching him. The people from the organization wouldn't dare to move too much."

"Bai Anyi" looked over at his wristwatch and let out a soft chuckle.

Bai Anyi's name was literally at the bottom of the payout list, with very high odds, but no one was asking for it.

However, one digital account with no username actually bought a hundred bets for Bai Anyi.

Although "Bai Anyi" thought that it might be a rich man casting a wide net to catch fish, he still made a mental note of the nine-digit ID.

They chased them deeper into the dense forest.

In order to avoid revealing his strength, "Bai Anyi" had already entered Chi Xiaochi's body.

The location of the battle was constantly changing, as evidenced by the sound of gunfire that was constantly reorienting itself.

Chi Xiaochi couldn't run, so he simply fell on Lou Ying's back and carried him forward, approaching the center of the battle.

From a distance, they saw two men.

The pursuer's right arm made a teeth-grinding mechanical turning sound as the gun clicked and twisted, the hot, soft barrel gradually expanding and thickening into the shape of a Bazooka.

"Chirp-boom..."

Tongues of fire erupted from the muzzle of the gun, while the person who flashed away in front of him, nimbly moved between the dense branches and leaves, his body was like a chameleon, pale green, mixing with the surrounding green leaves.

However, three huge trees side by side suffered under the impact of Bazooka's airwaves, and he stumbled, flopping and hanging on to a slightly shorter branch, his forehead immediately stained with the dark brown color of the tree trunk.

The leaves hit Wei XVI's back bullet-like.

He let go and rolled down the tree, his clenched right hand loosening and tossing up something.

...... It was the same 24 sided dice that he had previously held in his mouth as hard candy in the car.

While the dice were still tumbling in mid-air, he caught them in his left hand, opened his palm, and scanned them hastily.

When he saw it clearly, Wei XVI changed color and cursed, not daring to have the slightest slackness, clutching the dice and running to the deeper forest.

Strangely, his hand did not change color again as it touched the trees on one side.

The man who had pursued him was close enough, and intended to make up another shot.

As the muzzle began to glow red and gather energy, the barrel, which was prancing and exuding heat due to overheating, was actually tied in a knot in the air.

By the time the pursuers realized it, it was too late.

The ...... shell exploded with a loud bang.

The power of the Bazooka was extraordinary, and Chi Xiaochi watched as the man was shattered to cinders by his own projectile right in front of him.

Lou Ying, who caused all this to happen, grabbed a tarp that had been prepared and swung it in the air over Chi Xiaochi, blocking a wave of blood from raining down.

Lou Ying, on the other hand, gritted his teeth, swallowed a wave of acid, and rushed through a field of corpses, taking a stand in a spot that was clean and didn't smell like blood.

Chi Xiaochi jumped off Lou Ying and raised his voice, "Come out. I know you're hiding behind the tree."

Wei sixteen from behind a tree poked out a half head to, when he saw the person in front of him, immediately on the eyebrows of joy, regardless of the fact that just lifted the life-threatening situation, the words thickened doubled: "Small glasses? I remember you called white ...... white what? We took a car to come, you remember me. I was across the street from you, and also struck up a conversation with you--"

Chi Xiaochi: "Yes. I remember. You are Wei XVI."

Wei XVI jumped out from behind the tree and straightened his disheveled hair, "Thank you, thank you, if you're one step late, I'll be hiccuped and finished."

"You're welcome."

Chi Xiaochi meant what he said.

As Chi Xiaochi expected, facing these two people who "saved his life", Wei XVI took the initiative to propose a team without him even asking.

"Just in time." He cheerfully, "I was thinking of forming a three-man squad. No more, no less, just three people, and then live together, I didn't expect what I thought would come. This masked buddy, hello, you screwed that barrel just now, didn't you? You're so fucking handsome. If you were a woman, I'd kiss you. What kind of powers do you have? I didn't see you when I parked the car just now. Do you two know each other?"

Lou Ying, faced with a barrage of questions from him, one not answered, asked instead, "What are your powers?"

He and Chi Xiaochi had both seen his movements earlier and had guessed his powers.

But a trial run is still necessary.

Wei XVI smacked his lips, "Well ...... if I were to say, it would be 'luck'."

"Luck?"

"My luck hasn't been very good since I was a kid, and the drinks haven't even drawn 'one more bottle'." Wei XVI flashed the 24-sided dice in his palm, "All my good luck, it's on there."

24-sided dice, on each side, labeled with an ability.

On the side facing Chi Xiaochi, the word "chameleon" is written in small letters.

...... It happens to be the skill Wei XVI used when he escaped from the tree just now.

"The duration of each psychic ability is five minutes, and you can only shake it ten times a day." Wei XVI said, "The next day there will be an update to the powers shown on each side of the dice, and there will usually be three to five blank sides."

With the experience he just had, Wei XVI must have treated them as real partners, and bamboo-handedly told them all about his supernormal abilities, "Luckily, there are you guys. Just now I shook a blank surface out and almost went straight to meet Marx to sing the Internationale."

After talking about himself, Wei XVI looked at them eagerly, "What about you guys? What are your supernormal abilities?"