Reward? Punishment? The Second Question!

Lin Yu's attitude changed at once after Bu Wang pulled out her pistol.

The young woman pushed up her sunglasses and gave an awkward laugh.

"Ah, Brother Nine Waters, I was just voicing a casual doubt... It really was mostly a joke."

"Actually, I basically accept your answer. It's just that after all that effort for nothing, I couldn't help feeling a little unwilling to let it go!"

As Bu Wang spoke, she made an inviting gesture.

"Let's go with your answer."

Lin Yu put away his pistol and looked at Crowman.

"Good, then... our answer is: 'No matter how long it takes, this room will never be filled with water.'"

He spoke calmly, and Crowman looked toward the other four.

"Do you agree with this answer?"

The other four nodded.

"We agree!"

"Agreed!"

The four spoke almost in unison. Of them, Bu Wang, who had questioned the answer moments ago, sounded the most resolute.

Upon hearing this, Crowman flapped his wings again.

"Caw-caw—the answer is correct! Congratulations, you've earned a reward! I'll eliminate one door from the incorrect options!"

As Crowman spoke, he turned around and touched with his wing the door he had emerged from. Then—the green door vanished!

Crowman turned back and spoke again.

"Caw-caw, there's a second reward—"

It waved its wings, and then...

A new black square suddenly appeared in the exact center of the ceiling!

The square split open in the middle, revealing two black trapdoors that opened. Then...

An even greater torrent of water gushed out through the trapdoors.

For a moment, all five players present were stunned.

They had naturally assumed that once the first question ended, the outlets would stop releasing water again, and the water accumulated in the room would be drained away.

But not only had the water not stopped flowing—it had gained another outlet from the ceiling. The amount of water was practically equal to the combined output of the remaining ten outlets!

The water level began rising much faster!

In that case, the roughly "fifty-five minutes" they had estimated for the room to be filled with water after answering the first question had not been meaningless after all.

Because now... it was easy for them to calculate that they had less than half an hour of survival time before the room was filled with water!

Considering that answering the previous question had wasted nearly five minutes...

They now had less than fifteen minutes left.

Before long, the water in the room had risen past their waists.

"What kind of reward is this?! This is a punishment!"

Uncle Tie couldn't hold back his anger.

Crowman laughed.

"Caw, this is indeed a punishment... Although you answered the first question correctly, I had to give you a reward—but you took too long to answer, so I'll give you a punishment as well. With this limitation, you should answer the next question faster!"

Crowman laughed, and Uncle Tie's expression grew even darker.

Number Eight also looked displeased.

"How can you do this?! You never said we had to answer quickly!"

He looked toward everyone and said quietly, "How about I use my ability to make it shut these outlets? At least let me close the biggest one above our heads!"

At that, Uncle Tie and April were somewhat tempted.

Lin Yu frowned and prepared to stop him.

But Bu Wang spoke first.

"No need. I don't think you should use your ability here—this is only the first room."

"At least wait until we're stumped by the second or third question in the first room and genuinely can't figure out the answer. Then using your ability to buy us some time would be better."

Bu Wang spoke playfully, then added, "Oh, surely none of you can't swim, right?"

As Bu Wang spoke, Number Eight and April both shook their heads.

"We took swimming as an elective together at university."

April spoke up.

Uncle Tie laughed as well. "I can swim too. I've loved swimming since I was young."

Lin Yu nodded.

He could swim as well. Although he was not particularly good at it, floating in still water like this would not be difficult.

Bu Wang's thought just now was essentially the same as his own.

The young woman had persuaded everyone on his behalf, making Lin Yu view this "thief" in a somewhat better light.

"All right, in any case, let's stop wasting time," Lin Yu said, looking at Crowman. "Since you don't like wasting time either... tell us your second question."

Hearing Lin Yu's question, Crowman spread its feathers and floated on the water.

"Caw-caw, then here comes the second 'reward and punishment question'..."

"Now that the water flow has increased, you already know that you don't have much time left. So suppose I'm going to assign three tasks to the five of you."

"These three tasks are 'decipher the safe's combination,' 'find the padlock key,' and 'turn the switch to close the black trapdoors.'"

As Crowman spoke, a projection of a safe appeared on the wall around them.

Seeing Uncle Tie and Number Eight's eager gazes, Crowman called out twice.

"Caw-caw, an interruption first—these are all merely 'hypothetical' tasks. You don't actually need to do them, so the trapdoors cannot really be closed."

Crowman reminded them, dispelling Number Eight and Uncle Tie's unrealistic fantasies.

"Suppose deciphering the safe's combination takes ten minutes, finding the padlock key takes twelve minutes, and turning the switch to close the black trapdoors takes fifteen minutes."

"Deciphering the safe's combination requires one person."

"Finding the padlock key requires three people."

"Turning the switch requires two people."

"So—can you ensure that no one drowns before the trapdoors are closed?"

Crowman asked, and Number Eight spoke instinctively.

"Why is this another elementary-school math problem?!"

This was an even more classic elementary-school problem than draining a swimming pool—the time-allocation problem!

Brushing your teeth and making breakfast while boiling water in order to "save time"... It was still the type of problem engraved in the DNA of everyone who had studied elementary-school math.

But...

This time, no one actually thought of it as an elementary-school math problem.

After all, they had already learned their lesson from the previous question!

Even Number Eight, who had blurted it out instinctively, quickly realized this and looked toward Lin Yu.

"Nine Waters, is this question essentially another 'word trap' question?"

Lin Yu shook his head.

"I'm not sure for now, but judging from our experience with the previous question, that possibility is fairly high."

Bu Wang nodded and said:

"But... we can't assume that it's definitely a 'word trap' question. After all, the game might deliberately do the opposite!"

"It could use our habitual way of thinking to make us believe this question also contains a word trap—but in reality, it might truly be an ordinary elementary-school math problem. That possibility isn't out of the question either."