Humanity and Rationality

"When was the last time you made a choice?"

"What is the thing you are most unwilling to face?"

"Blood-black nothingness begins weaving a web, cells connecting again and again, connecting to the main trunk."

The questions turned into lines of poetry once more, and Sun Hang repeated them accordingly:

"Blood-black nothingness begins weaving a web, cells connecting again and again, connecting to the main trunk."

"What was the most terrifying thing you have ever dreamed of? Connecting to the main trunk."

The electronic synthesized voice began repeating the poetic lines, appending them to the ends of the questions. Sun Hang began repeating those recurring verses and words as well.

"Connecting to the main trunk."

"Connected."

"Connected."

"Do you believe humans are your kind? Cells."

"Cells."

"Under what circumstances did you last experience intense emotional fluctuations? Connected."

"Connected."

"What does survival mean to you? Connected."

"Connected."

"And so, against the backdrop of darkness,"

"And so, against the backdrop of darkness," Sun Hang repeated.

"There appeared a white column of water, a fountain spraying high into the air."

"There appeared a white column of water, a fountain spraying high into the air."

"Do you think you are no longer human?"

"Do you often feel hungry?"

"Have you ever considered the meaning of your own existence?"

"What does your ideal partner of the opposite sex look like?"

"Have you ever felt unbearable hunger??"

The electronic synthesized voice fired off five questions in a row, followed immediately by another poetic line twenty-one characters long.

"Through the smoke, I glimpsed a tall, white fountain, then woke with a start."

"I glimpsed through..."

Before Sun Hang could finish repeating the line, the electronic synthesized voice interrupted him. "Test complete."

"That's it?" Sun Hang was slightly taken aback. The room's lights had already returned to normal, and the surreal sensation of floating through outer space vanished in an instant.

It was as though gravity had pulled him back to Earth's surface. Fresh air flooded his alveoli, and his blood began flowing once more.

The door opened, but the person who entered was not one of the staff in heavy protective suits. It was the woman who had previously stood beside the old man in the wheelchair.

"Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Yang Qi, and I'm a doctoral student at the Tianfu City Anomaly Research Institute." As she spoke, she walked over and peeled the electrode pads off Sun Hang's body.

"So should I call you Dr. Yang?" Sun Hang asked casually.

"I haven't received my doctorate yet... though I've already been here for seven whole years." Yang Qi sighed. "I've seen many people infected with the Anomalization Virus, but only a tiny number of them became Anomaly Hunters... Most of them, in the end, all..."

She paused, then looked into Sun Hang's eyes. "The assessment isn't over yet. There's one final question... This question is different from the previous ones. You must give a clear answer."

"What question?"

"Suppose you become an Anomaly Hunter and encounter an anomaly during a mission that is many times more powerful than the intelligence reports described. You cannot destroy it using your own strength alone. At that moment, your connection to Investigation Bureau headquarters is severed by some mysterious force. You cannot report this intelligence, nor can you request reinforcements."

Yang Qi continued, "You try many things, but every attempt fails. In your despair, you discover a way to destroy the anomaly..."

"What way?"

"I won't go into exactly how it works, because that isn't important. In short, an opportunity to destroy the anomaly lies before you, but the price is using a nearby village as bait to lure the anomaly there."

"Have the villagers been evacuated?"

"No. The villagers haven't received any notification... Under normal circumstances, investigators' and hunters' operational plans are top secret. Other than military units or Peacekeepers assigned to cooperate with you, no one will know about your operation," Yang Qi said.

"If the anomaly is lured into the village, how many casualties will there be?"

"Everyone in the village will die. No exceptions."

"What are the chances of successfully destroying the anomaly?"

"One hundred percent," Yang Qi said. "You don't need to consider probability, and you don't need to think of any other methods. This is a very simple multiple-choice question. Sacrifice several hundred villagers in exchange for the opportunity to eliminate a powerful anomaly. You only need to make your choice."

"I don't think I'd ever run into something like this. The conditions you gave are far too idealized." Sun Hang shrugged. "If you ask me, most likely all the villagers would be slaughtered first, and only then would we find out that this so-called opportunity is completely fucking useless... How could there be such a cheap deal in the world—sacrifice a few hundred people, and you get to take down a boss-level monster."

"So you think this trade is 'worth it' too, right?" Yang Qi met Sun Hang's gaze. "So what is your choice?"

"Is this meant to test my moral bottom line?"

"You can see it that way. As a hunter operating independently, Humanity and Rationality—choose one. Which do you choose?"

"Let me think it over." Sun Hang waved a hand and looked away.

This woman's gaze was far too sharp. Meeting her eyes always made Sun Hang feel uncomfortable.

"This is the only chance to destroy the anomaly. If you miss it, not only will you die, but it will also lead to an even greater disaster... By then, far more than a few hundred people will die." Yang Qi's tone was full of suggestion. "Even if you choose not to sacrifice those hundreds of people, they still won't survive. After the anomaly kills you, a small village this close by will have no chance of escaping disaster... The moment the anomaly appeared here, the fate of those hundreds of people was already sealed."

"In other words, their only possible ending is death?"

"Yes. This isn't a trolley problem. It's not as though switching the tracks to the other side will save these people." Yang Qi emphasized it once again.

"So in previous hunting operations, when you encountered similar situations, how did you handle them?" Sun Hang countered. "Would you pay any price to destroy an anomaly? Even if that price... included civilians?"

"A better way to put it is that we choose to 'minimize the damage,'" Yang Qi said.

"I think I understand what that means."

"So, your choice is...?" Yang Qi stood up and stepped back half a pace, her eyes burning.