The drenched Crowman stood before him, and Lin Yu spoke again.
"Examiner, I have a question... After you ask a question, are we allowed to ask you anything we want?"
For some reason, Crowman seemed pleased to hear Lin Yu's question and flapped his wings twice.
"Caw-caw, of course! That's how I provide 'hints'—if you ask the right question, I'll tell you the corresponding 'hint'!"
"I knew it!"
Lin Yu understood.
This question made him even more certain of his theory—the "answer" Crowman provided definitely wasn't meaningless!
When Crowman had casually answered about the margin of error just now, Lin Yu had formed a hypothesis.
Suppose...
The final answer wasn't some "specific" amount of time. In that case, the margin of error truly wouldn't matter!
But to verify this theory, Lin Yu needed to keep asking questions.
At that moment, the people in the corner also noticed what Lin Yu was doing.
Uncle Tie looked at Lin Yu while holding the stopwatch.
"Nine Waters, what are you doing?"
The enthusiastic veteran uncle asked again.
"Just verifying a few theories. You should keep working, Uncle... We might still need to use the results you calculate later."
Lin Yu waved his hand as he spoke.
Number Eight glanced at Lin Yu and opened his mouth, apparently intending to say something.
But after considering the strength of Lin Yu's profession, "Soldier," and the revolver he had drawn at the beginning, Number Eight ultimately didn't criticize Lin Yu's actions.
Lin Yu looked back at Crowman.
"Then I have three questions... First, Examiner, are the four doors around us related to the 'Dilemma Question' from the first room?"
Crowman turned his head to the side and aimed his single side-facing eye at Lin Yu, as if carefully examining him.
After a while, Crowman turned his head back and said, "Caw-caw, yes. The final Dilemma Question is for you to choose one door from all the doors in the room. Behind it is the entrance leading to the next room."
As Crowman spoke, Lin Yu narrowed his eyes.
"Then, Mr. Examiner, what's behind the wrong doors?"
Crowman chuckled softly. "Caw-caw, an endless void, of course. Falling in means certain death... Caw-caw, but isn't it a little early to ask about the 'Dilemma Question'? You haven't answered the first question yet!"
"But are these things really unrelated to the first question?" Lin Yu said, looking at the drain beneath his feet. "Mr. Examiner, you seem quite skilled at misleading and deceiving people by telling only half the truth."
At that, Lin Yu grinned.
"For my third question, you may choose any one of the following to answer."
"Does the 'room' you referred to mean this enclosed space we're currently in, made up of four walls, a ceiling, and a floor, or does it refer broadly to the 'first room' of this game?"
"Do these drains lead to the same empty space as the 'wrong' doors?"
"Do the 'empty spaces' you mentioned count as part of the 'first room'?"
Lin Yu fired off his questions one after another.
Crowman chuckled softly.
"Caw-caw... You're quite impressive, Player. I can answer all of the questions above."
"Caw-caw, the answers are all the same—yes, just as you guessed."
As Crowman spoke, Lin Yu looked toward the four people huddled in the corner of the room.
"Hey, you can stop fiddling with your utility knife and the water level over there... The answer is already obvious."
He shouted, and the four people looked at him blankly.
The splashing water was rather loud.
So although they had heard Lin Yu asking Crowman some questions, they hadn't heard exactly what he was asking.
Just then, the four of them had finished measuring the time as well. Uncle Tie pressed the stopwatch and led them over.
"Nine Waters, we've finished calculating the result too—the water level rises fifteen centimeters in roughly two minutes and forty seconds. In other words, the estimated time should be around fifty-three minutes and twenty seconds... We can call it fifty-five minutes."
Although Lin Yu had made some strange remarks earlier, Uncle Tie still followed his own rhythm and announced the unified conclusion reached after the four of them had measured and calculated.
Lin Yu shook his head and denied Uncle Tie once again.
"No, Uncle Tie. Rather than a matter of measurement and calculation, this is a 'Word Trap'!"
As he spoke, Lin Yu laid out all his previous reasoning and questions, telling Uncle Tie and the other three everything.
After hearing Lin Yu's words, an incredulous expression appeared on Number Eight's face.
"What? It was actually like this?! Doesn't that mean we almost got tricked into dying?!"
He spoke in complete disbelief.
April helplessly reminded her boyfriend again, "Hey, this is only a 'Reward and Punishment Question.' Even if we answer incorrectly, we won't die immediately! We'll just receive some 'punishment'!"
As April spoke, Number Eight chuckled foolishly.
"Oh, oh, so that's how it is?"
His eyes shone with clear, unadulterated stupidity.
However, April and Number Eight had clearly both accepted Lin Yu's explanation.
After hearing Lin Yu's analysis, Uncle Tie also nodded slightly, showing some agreement.
"Now that you put it that way, your idea does seem much more reasonable..."
"And with Crowman's answer as corroborating evidence, it's practically certain that it should be..."
Lin Yu nodded and picked up where Uncle Tie left off. "That's right. The answer is that, at the current drainage and water-inflow rates, no matter how much time passes, 'this room' can never be filled!"
Lin Yu spoke with certainty.
After all, the scope of "this room" actually included the "endless void" Crowman had mentioned. It wasn't this house, whose volume was only 162 square meters!
And when Lin Yu's words reached them...
Although the other three had already expressed their belief, only Bu Wang looked at Lin Yu suspiciously.
"Really? Nine Waters... You're not lying to us, are you?"
Lin Yu looked helplessly at the thieving young girl who had inexplicably begun doubting him again.
"Why would I lie to you? This is a cooperative game!"
Bu Wang shook her head.
"I don't know. But what if... I mean, hypothetically, what if you're a deranged, petty person who holds a grudge against me and wants to torture me by deliberately giving the wrong answer?"
As Bu Wang spoke, Lin Yu was nearly angered into laughter.
"Your imagination is pretty impressive. If I wanted to torture you, would I really need to go to all that trouble for so little benefit?"
Lin Yu drew his revolver and aimed it at Bu Wang's knee.
"I could fire two shots into your leg. Wouldn't that work better than any 'punishment'?"
Before you continue