How many ghosts are there?

The female voice from within the Red Cloak said:

"Suppose there are 50 hunters in Salt Well Town, and they are all students with the highest logical ability from Duoyu Academy. Each hunter raises a child, but the hunters are all solitary and will not communicate with the other 49 hunters in any way.

One day, the Dean of the Academy sent a message telling them there was a ghost in town, right among their children. However, the hunters can only discover if other hunters' children are ghosts, and cannot determine if their own child is a ghost. They can visit other hunters' homes during the day to observe if their children are ghosts, but they cannot shoot at other hunters' children. After returning home at night, they decide whether to shoot and kill their own child.

The Dean demanded that if they knew their child was a ghost, they must immediately execute them that night, and they could not disobey.

So, after the 50 hunters learned that there was a ghost in town.

On the first night, no hunter fired a shot;

On the second night, no hunter fired a shot;

By the third night, there were 5 gunshots in town.

Please tell me, how many ghosts are there in town? And explain why."

After the Red Cloak finished speaking, it floated in the air, awaiting Cheng Shaofeng's answer.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Shaofeng's mind was filled with a single symbol:

(;`)?

Hunters? Children? Ghosts? (×)

Old man, subway, mobile phone! (√)

Why can't I figure this out at all???

Can't see if his own child is a ghost, and can't shoot at other children who are ghosts, so why would they shoot?

Why didn't they shoot on the first two days? Why shoot on the third day?

And why were there 5 shots?

'Ah! My head is so messed up!!!'

Cheng Shaofeng's lips twitched a few times before he forced himself to remain calm and said:

"Can you repeat the question?"

The Red Cloak repeated the question, and Cheng Shaofeng committed it to memory. His mind, however, remained a complete mess.

The format of this question reminded him of a classic question from a popular online forum: A bear falls from a height of 20 meters and takes 2 seconds to hit the ground. What is the gender of the bear?

This is too absurd!

Cheng Shaofeng pondered on the spot for a long time but couldn't find the trick to the question.

A sudden inspiration struck him, and he summoned Zero in his consciousness: "Zero, do you know the answer to this question?"

Zero: "Master, this question is not in Zero's database, so I cannot answer."

Damn it! Can't even solve a logic puzzle, and it calls itself artificial intelligence?

Useless!

If Cheng Shaofeng didn't want to be trapped here and die by a ghost in a red cloak, he had to solve this problem with his own mind.

The Red Cloak ghost before him was clearly far beyond his comprehension. With his and the few players' current strength, they were no match for it. Once he was trapped here, when the base's energy ran out, that would be his death anniversary.

Cheng Shaofeng calmed himself down and began to ponder every detail of the question.

'There are 4 preconditions: 1. The hunters are all intelligent people with strong logical abilities; 2. The hunters have no communication with each other; 3. The hunters can only see if other people's children are ghosts; 4. The hunters can only shoot at their own children.'

'The result is that the first two nights were peaceful, and 5 shots were fired on the third night. The question is 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 conditions!'

Cheng Shaofeng's lips twitched, and a surge of resentment from a poor student erupted.

He remembered when he was in high school, during a crucial exam, a top student suddenly raised their hand: "Teacher! Question 13 is wrong, it's missing a condition!"

The teacher looked at the exam paper for a while and nodded: "Yes, this question is indeed flawed. Everyone, don't worry about this question for now."

Cheng Shaofeng, looking at his already calculated answer, fell into deep thought.

The current situation was the opposite. He felt that conditions were missing, but... the ghost had repeated the question twice, and all the content was here. He could only answer the result.

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

After 10 minutes, sweat was about to stream down 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 quite like your academy."

"Since you can't figure it out... then you can stay here with me. You can leave when you solve it."

The Red Cloak opened, and streams of black mist surged out, about to capture Cheng Shaofeng.

"Wait!"

Cheng Shaofeng raised a hand to block in front of him, a slight smile on his lips.

"I've solved this problem!"

The black mist remained suspended in mid-air.

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

The voice sounded extremely urgent, laced with undisguised joy.

Cheng Shaofeng nodded and reviewed his reasoning once more.

'The key to solving this problem isn't the numerous preconditions, but the result! Five shots were fired! Since hunters can only shoot their own children, and five shots were fired on the third night, it must be that all five hunters fired! As hunters with perfect logical reasoning abilities, they would definitely have a way to know how many ghosts were in town. Therefore, on the third night, the hunters deduced there were five ghosts through their abilities and all fired their weapons. Although I can't understand how the hunters figured it out, this is the most reasonable explanation based on the outcome.'

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

Yet, he had a faint feeling that the problem might not be so simple.

"There are a total of..."

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

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

"Lord! We've come to save you!"

"Evil spirits, begone!"

The two charged towards the Red Cloak, brandishing their maces.

Cheng Shaofeng: (O_O)

"Don't..."

Ten seconds later.

Cheng Shaofeng glanced at the two struggling figures being pulled into mid-air by the black mist and covered his eyes.

"You two, don't be rash. We were just having a friendly discussion about a problem." (Chinese)

Cheng Shaofeng seamlessly switched to the Wasteland language: "Uh, Sister Hong, could you please let them down? They are prospective students from our Duoyu Academy, out for training with me."

"Oh? No wonder they could walk out of my Phantasmal Illusion. Your academy has recruited two good seedlings, especially this little girl; she has the potential to be a professor." The Red Cloak lowered the two.

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

Cheng Shaofeng looked at the two players he had carefully selected and then recalled his own ordinary twenty-plus years, letting out a laugh.

"This question... isn't difficult. I can tell you the answer directly, but that wouldn't be very interesting. How about we use this opportunity to test my two prospective students with this question and see if they can answer it correctly, so you can witness the capabilities of our academy's prospective students? What do you say?"

Red Ghost: "Interesting. I've waited for 10 years, so I don't mind waiting a little longer. Is Duoyu Academy, which claims to suppress all energy systems in the world with technology, truly as magical as the legends say? If your prospective students can solve my question, then you will earn my respect."

"Are you an idiot?" (Chinese)

Red Ghost: "What do you mean?"

"Oh, it's a dialect from my hometown, meaning... it's a deal. Don't you understand? You were able to communicate with my prospective students earlier."

The Red Ghost let out a light chuckle: "Heh~ I wasn't communicating with you; it was the ethereal energy creating illusions for you. Each person's illusion is different, and even I cannot control it. Of course... if you're willing to open your mind and let me enter your consciousness, perhaps we can communicate directly through our minds."

"That won't be necessary!"

Cheng Shaofeng politely refused.

Knowing that the Red Ghost couldn't understand their words, Cheng Shaofeng felt a little relieved.

He repeated the Red Ghost's question to the two stunned individuals beside him in Chinese.

"This is the final test from the Red Ghost. If you can answer it... you will receive great rewards and a base-exclusive title."

"If you fail... I will be imprisoned here. At that time, you two should return to the base and contact the other three soldiers to find a way to break this town. I will issue instructions to Zero. When you die, the resurrection clone program will be activated directly. All soldiers must ensure the raw materials for the Clone Production Pod are sufficient, so you can be resurrected. However, without me by your side, you cannot store body data. Upon death, you will have to start over. When the resources in the [Clone Production Pod] exceed the usage needs for your five resurrections, I will awaken more soldiers. You must find a way to break through this place with the new soldiers! Rescue me! Otherwise, when the time is up, Calamity Base will disappear, and you will fall into eternal slumber. Do you hear me!"

Cheng Shaofeng had already prepared for the worst.

Forgiveness Hat was startled.

NPCs can be imprisoned? They will fall into eternal slumber? Isn't that like being banned from the game?

Is the plot of this world this exciting?

Xiao Xiao also showed an expression of disbelief: "Is this a plot choice? Two different plot paths leading to different outcomes?"

Forgiveness Hat said with a solemn expression: "It seems so. If we succeed, we get rewards. If we fail, without the base lord's help, we won't be able to store experience. One death means starting from scratch. All players' progression will be extremely difficult, and we will become hostile to the Red Ghost in front of us. Everyone's main quest will become 'Rescue the Lord.' This is definitely a very bad timeline!"

Xiao Xiao also added, "Without the lord, base development will stagnate, and we'll never receive quests again. It's too terrifying, we must save him!"

The two exchanged glances, then simultaneously raised their left fists and pounded their chests.

"Lord! We will definitely solve it!"

Forgiveness Hat: "For Calamity Base!"

Xiao Xiao: "For the exclusive title!"

I wrote quite a bit today, nearly 6,000 characters. It's full of sincerity, so why not give me some votes for encouragement?

Why don't you all try to guess, how many ghosts are there really?