Quiet.
The Town Chief's house was exceptionally quiet.
The three of them were thinking while the Red-clothed Ghost waited. Clearly, compared to killing them, she wanted the answer to this question more.
Xiao Xiao said softly, "Could there be five ghosts? After all, five shots were fired. No matter how you reason it out, that number can't change."
Cheng Shaofeng was delighted. If he did not have to maintain the Lord's dignity, he would have high-fived Xiao Xiao and said, "Great minds think alike."
Forgiveness Hat decisively shook his head.
"No. It's also possible that one shot did not kill a child, so the hunter fired again. After all, the question never said a hunter could definitely kill a ghost with one shot. We can't add conditions ourselves. Besides, judging by the situation, this doesn't seem like a question with such a simple answer."
Xiao Xiao looked somewhat frustrated and tilted her head as she continued thinking.
Cheng Shaofeng was startled as well!
Forgiveness Hat had a point! Cheng Shaofeng had made the conventional assumption that one shot could kill one ghost, adding a condition to the question. That was obviously wrong. From a logical standpoint, it was far from rigorous.
Good thing I didn't say it just now. Otherwise, I'd be stuck playing imprisonment play with this female ghost. I don't want to be an undead rider.
Forgiveness Hat had some ideas, but not enough to solve the question.
Suddenly, Xiao Xiao's eyes lit up!
She glanced at Cheng Shaofeng and the Red-clothed Ghost, then quietly leaned close to Forgiveness Hat's ear and said something.
"Brother Hat, if we can't figure it out, we can go out and ask someone for help. I heard there's someone called Shadow Night God on your forum who's pretty good at logical reasoning?"
Forgiveness Hat was delighted when he heard that.
"That's right! How did I forget about that? This game is just too realistic. It feels like I've transmigrated."
"Xiao Xiao, hold me steady!"
Forgiveness Hat sat down, propped his chin on his hand, and struck the classic Thinker pose.
He closed his eyes.
He took off his helmet and opened his phone.
"Shadow Night God is out of the question. He's not even as reliable as Kogoro Mouri when he isn't unconscious."
Forgiveness Hat pulled up the phone number of his high school classmate, Feng Yi, and called it.
"Officer Feng! This is urgent! Help me look at a logic puzzle, quick!"
Ten minutes later.
Forgiveness Hat opened his eyes in the wasteland.
He stood up, looked at the Red-clothed Ghost floating in the air, smiled confidently, and patted Xiao Xiao on the shoulder. "Don't worry. It's settled."
Then he said to Cheng Shaofeng, "Lord, watch this!"
"I know the answer to this question! There are three ghosts!"
Seeing Forgiveness Hat begin his performance, Cheng Shaofeng directly acted as their translator.
Red-clothed Ghost: "Why?"
Knowing the answer was meaningless. There were only a few numbers, so anyone could guess one. What mattered was why that answer was correct.
Forgiveness Hat paced three steps to the left and three to the right. "The key to this question lies in those fifty exceptionally intelligent hunters. Once they are intelligent enough, they will know the most correct course of action, and they will also know that every other intelligent person will definitely act the same way."
"Let's first assume there is one ghost in town. During the day on the first day, after the hunter with a ghost in his home goes around and sees that the other forty-nine households are normal, he will naturally know that the ghost is in his own home. That night, he will shoot and kill his own child. So, when there is one ghost in town, gunfire will ring out on the first night."
"Then what if there are two ghosts? The hunters from the two homes with ghosts will each make a round and see forty-eight normal homes and one home with a ghost. Their first reaction will be that the hunter they saw has a ghost in his home. Based on the previous reasoning, they will think that hunter will shoot on the first night, so they will not shoot. Both hunters with ghosts in their homes will think this way, so no one will shoot on the first night. By the day of the second day, the two hunters will know there is more than one ghost in town. But each of them only saw one, which means the other one is in his own home. Therefore, on the second night, both hunters with ghosts in their homes will choose to fire."
The Red-clothed Ghost asked, "Then why wouldn't the other hunters suspect that there was a ghost in their own homes? When they see no gunfire on the first night, wouldn't they think there might be one in their homes on the second day?"
Forgiveness Hat smiled. "Haha! First, we need to know that all fifty hunters are exceptionally intelligent. From the perspective of the forty-eight hunters whose homes have no ghosts, they see forty-seven normal households and two households with ghosts. Based on the previous reasoning, they know that when there are two ghosts, those two hunters will not fire on the first night and will fire simultaneously on the second night. So when they see two ghosts, they are waiting for the gunshots on the second night."
"Now then, what if there is no gunfire on the second night? Those hunters who see forty-eight normal households and two ghost households outside will realize that there are more than two ghosts in town. There are three! The other one is in their own home! So on the third night, those hunters will shoot and kill their own children!"
"In other words, when there are three ghosts in town, the hunters will fire on the third night. As for the other normal hunter households, from their perspective, when they see three ghosts outside, they will know from the previous two rounds of reasoning that the first and second nights will be peaceful, and gunfire will only ring out on the third night. If it doesn't, then there must be a fourth ghost in their own home."
"And so on. However many ghosts there are, the hunters will fire on that numbered night!"
"The number of ghosts depends on when the shots are fired, not how many shots are fired! It could be that some hunters need two shots to kill a ghost, or something like that."
"So! The answer to this question is that there are three ghosts in town!"
The Red-clothed Ghost floating in the room froze, then excitedly shouted into the air:
"Right! That's it! The answer is three ghosts! The reason is—"
After the Red-clothed Ghost repeated Forgiveness Hat's answer, four silver-white energy chains binding her emerged from the surrounding air.
Crack, crack~
As if some mechanism had been triggered, the four chains shattered into pieces and fell to the ground, vanishing into nothingness. Only a transparent crystal ball remained on the floor.
The Red-clothed Ghost let out a piercing laugh.
"Hiahiahia~ I finally solved this question! It's been ten years! Do you know how I spent those ten years sealed away?! I didn't dare rest for a single day! My family had been illiterate drifters for generations. After I became a ghost, no one dared teach me anything either. Yet you locked me in here with some damn logic puzzle. Aren't you trying to take my ghostly life?!
Hahaha! You freaks from Duoyu Academy! You never expected it, did you? Ten years later, your own students have set me free! Hiahiahia!!!"
The Red-clothed Ghost in the middle broke free of her restraints, passed straight through the house, and flew into the sky.
Cheng Shaofeng: (°-°)
Forgiveness Hat: (°-°)
Xiao Xiao: (°-°)
All three were completely dumbfounded.
Forgiveness Hat looked at the Lord. That line had not been translated, so he whispered to Xiao Xiao, "Although I can't understand what this Red-clothed Ghost is saying, it looks like there's more to her storyline."
Xiao Xiao said, "We helped her escape. Do we get a reward?"
Cheng Shaofeng listened to what the Red-clothed Ghost had just said, his mouth falling open.
At that moment, there was only one phrase in his mind: For fuck's sake!
This Red-clothed Ghost had been sealed here by someone from Duoyu Academy! He had just pretended to be from Duoyu Academy and acted all impressive. Wasn't he taking the blame for someone else?!
"You two can put the reward aside for now. We'll talk after we get back. We might have run into even bigger trouble!"
Cheng Shaofeng turned and prepared to slip away, with the other two hurriedly following him.
"Where do you think you're going, you freaks from Duoyu Academy?"
A stunning woman in red stood with one hand against the Town Chief's doorframe, looking at Cheng Shaofeng and the other two with a faint, teasing smile.
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