How Many Ghosts Were There?

The female voice from within the Red Cloak said:

"Suppose there are fifty hunters in Salt Well Town. They are all students from Duoyu Academy with the strongest logical reasoning abilities. Each of them has a child, but the hunters are solitary by nature and never communicate with any of the other forty-nine hunters.

One day, the academy dean sends them a message telling them there are ghosts in the town, among their children. However, the hunters can only determine whether other hunters' children are ghosts and cannot tell whether their own child is a ghost. During the day, they can visit other hunters' homes and observe whether their children are ghosts, but they cannot shoot the other hunters' children. At night, after returning home, they must decide whether to shoot their own child.

The dean requires that if they know their own child is a ghost, they must immediately shoot them dead that very night. They are not allowed to disobey.

So, after the fifty hunters learn that there are ghosts in town.

On the first night, no hunters fire their guns;

On the second night, no hunters fire their guns either;

By the third night, five gunshots ring out in town.

How many ghosts are there in town? Explain why."

After finishing her question, the Red Cloak floated in the air and waited for Cheng Shaofeng's answer.

After hearing it, Cheng Shaofeng had only one symbol in his mind:

(;`)?

Hunters? Children? Ghosts? (×)

An old man, subway, phone! (√)

Why did he have absolutely no clue???

They could not see whether their own child was a ghost, and they could not shoot other people's children even if they were ghosts. So why would they shoot?

Why did no one shoot during the first two days? Why did they shoot on the third day?

And why were there five shots?

Ah! My head is a complete mess!!!

After the corner of Cheng Shaofeng's mouth twitched a few times, he forced himself to remain calm and said:

"Could you repeat the question?"

The Red Cloak repeated the question. Cheng Shaofeng memorized it all, but his mind was still a complete mess.

The format of the question reminded him of a classic question he had once seen on a forum: A bear falls from a height of twenty meters and takes two seconds. Is the bear male or female?

This was way too ridiculous!

Cheng Shaofeng stood there thinking for a long time, yet he could not find the trick to the question.

Then an idea struck him, and he called Zero in his mind. "Zero, do you know the answer to this question?"

Zero replied, "Master, this question is not in Zero's database. Unable to answer."

Damn it! You couldn't even solve a reasoning question, yet you called yourself artificial intelligence?

Useless!

If Cheng Shaofeng did not want to be trapped here by a Red-clothed Ghost and wait for death, he had to solve this question with his own brain.

The Red Cloak before him was clearly far more powerful than he could comprehend. With the current strength of him and the few players, they had no chance of fighting her. Once he was trapped here, the day the base's energy ran out would be the anniversary of his death.

Cheng Shaofeng calmed down and began considering every detail in the question.

There are four prerequisites: 1. The hunters are all smart people with extremely strong logical reasoning abilities; 2. The hunters do not communicate with one another at all; 3. The hunters can only see whether other people's children are ghosts; 4. The hunters can only shoot their own children.

The result is that the first two nights are peaceful, while five shots are fired on the third night. The question asks how many ghosts are in town.

So the key to this question is...

It is...

Damn it, why do I feel like this question is missing a condition?!

The corner of Cheng Shaofeng's mouth twitched as the resentment of a poor student surged out of him.

He remembered another time, back in high school, during a major exam. A top student had suddenly raised his hand. "Teacher! Question thirteen is wrong. It's missing a condition!"

After looking over the question for a while, the teacher nodded. "Mm, this question is indeed wrong. Everyone can skip this question for now."

At the time, Cheng Shaofeng had stared at the answer he had already calculated and fallen into deep thought.

Now the situation was reversed. He felt that a condition was missing, but... the ghost had stated the question twice, and all the information was here. He could only answer based on the result.

Seeing Cheng Shaofeng deep in thought, the Red Cloak also floated quietly in the air and waited.

Ten minutes later, sweat was practically dripping from Cheng Shaofeng's forehead.

The Red Cloak urged him, "Have you figured it out? Even students from your Duoyu Academy can't answer this kind of question? Hehehe~ I used to rather like your academy."

"Since you can't figure it out... then stay here and keep me company. I'll let you leave whenever you solve it."

The Red Cloak spread open, and streams of black mist poured out, about to seize Cheng Shaofeng.

"Wait!"

Cheng Shaofeng stretched out a hand before him, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

"I've solved it!"

The black mist stopped in midair.

"Oh? Then tell me the answer, quickly!"

She sounded extremely urgent, with undisguised delight in her voice.

Cheng Shaofeng nodded and went over his reasoning again.

The key to solving this question isn't all those prerequisites, but the result! Five shots were fired! Since the hunters can only shoot their own children, five shots on the third night should mean five hunters fired! And since the hunters have perfect logical reasoning abilities, they must have a way to know how many ghosts are in town. So on the third night, the hunters deduced that there were five ghosts and fired together. Although I can't understand how the hunters deduced it, this is the most reasonable explanation based on the result.

With his logical ability, Cheng Shaofeng felt this was the only explanation that could answer the question.

Yet vaguely, he felt that the question might not be so simple.

"There are a total of..."

Just as he was about to give the answer, the door behind him opened.

Forgiveness Hat and Xiao Xiao pushed the door open and rushed in.

"Lord! We're here to save you!"

"Evil demons and foul spirits, begone!"

The two charged at the Red Cloak with Wolf Tooth Clubs raised.

Cheng Shaofeng: ()

"Don't—"

Ten seconds later.

Cheng Shaofeng looked at the two struggling in midair, dragged up by black mist, and covered his eyes.

"Don't be impulsive. We're just having a friendly discussion." (Chinese)

Cheng Shaofeng seamlessly switched to the wasteland language. "Um... Miss Red, please put them down. They're prospective students of our Duoyu Academy, following me out here for training."

"Oh? No wonder they were able to walk out of my Phantasmal Illusion. Your academy has recruited two more good seedlings, especially this little girl. She has the potential to become a professor." The Red Cloak put them down.

Then she urgently asked, "So what exactly is the answer to this question?"

Cheng Shaofeng looked at the two players he had carefully selected, then remembered his own ordinary twenty-plus years of life and smiled.

"This question... isn't difficult. I can tell you the answer directly, but that wouldn't be very interesting. Why not use this opportunity to test my two prospective students with this question? Let's see whether they can give the correct answer and let you witness just how capable our academy's prospective students are. What do you think?"

The Red-clothed Ghost said, "Interesting. I've already waited ten years, so I don't mind waiting a little longer. Is Duoyu Academy, which claims to use technology to suppress every energy system in the world, truly as miraculous as the legends say? If even your prospective students can solve my question, you will earn my respect."

"Are you an idiot?" (Chinese)

The Red-clothed Ghost asked, "What does that mean?"

"Oh, it's a phrase in my hometown's language. It means... deal. You don't understand? Didn't you communicate with my prospective students earlier?"

The Red-clothed Ghost chuckled. "Hehe~ That wasn't me communicating with you. It was Phantasmal Energy causing you to experience illusions. Everyone's illusion is different, and even I cannot control them. Of course... if you are willing to open your mind and let me enter your brain, perhaps we can communicate directly through consciousness."

"That won't be necessary!"

Cheng Shaofeng politely refused.

Once he learned that the Red-clothed Ghost could not understand them, Cheng Shaofeng felt a little more at ease.

He repeated the Red-clothed Ghost's question in Chinese to the two confused people beside him.

"This is the Red-clothed Ghost's final test for us. If you can answer it... you can obtain great rewards, as well as a limited base Title,"

"If you fail... I'll be imprisoned here. When that happens, the two of you should return to the base, contact the other three soldiers, and find a way to break this town's curse. I'll issue Zero an order: when you die, immediately activate the Clone revival procedure. All soldiers must make sure the Clone Production Pod has sufficient materials so that you can be revived.

It's just that without me by your side, you won't be able to store your body data. After death, you'll have to start over. When the Clone Production Pod's resources exceed the amount needed for all five of you to revive, I'll awaken more soldiers. You must lead the new soldiers and find a way to break this place! Rescue me! Otherwise, once the time comes, the Calamity Base will disappear, and you will also fall into permanent slumber. Do you understand?!"

Cheng Shaofeng had already prepared for the worst.

Forgiveness Hat was startled.

An NPC could be imprisoned? They would fall into permanent slumber? Wasn't that an Account Ban?

Was this world's plot... really this intense?

Xiao Xiao also revealed an incredulous expression. "Is this a story route choice? Two storylines... leading down different paths?"

Forgiveness Hat looked grave. "Looks like it. If we succeed, we'll get rewards. If we fail, then without the Base Lord's support, we won't be able to store experience. We'll have to start over every time we die, and clearing the wilderness will become incredibly difficult for all players. Plus, we'll become hostile to the Red-clothed Ghost in front of us, and everyone's main quest will turn into 'Rescue the Lord.' This is absolutely a terrible world line!"

Xiao Xiao also said, "Without the Lord, the base's development will stagnate, and we won't be able to receive quests anymore. That's too terrifying. We have to save him!"

The two exchanged a glance, raised their left fists in unison, and thumped their chests.

"Lord! We'll definitely solve it!"

Forgiveness Hat said, "For the Calamity Base!"

Xiao Xiao said, "For the limited Title!"

I wrote a bit too much today, almost six thousand words. I've put in plenty of effort here, so shouldn't I get some votes to encourage me?

Feel free to guess too—just how many ghosts were there?