The night in Prison 18 was as quiet as ever.
When Qing Chen returned to the training area, Li Shutong was standing steadily on top of the horizontal bar, calmly looking at the e-reader containing the Outer World chess endgames that Lin Xiaoxiao had helped him to extract.
Upon seeing Qing Chen coming back, this teacher spoke with a smile, “Looking at your face, it seems like you’ve met a trouble?”
Qing Chen threw the USB flash drive in his hand to Lin Xiaoxiao, and then said to Li Shutong, “This is all the classical music scores I could find in the Outer World, it should be enough for another chance to trade with teacher.”
“Oh?” Li Shutong’s interest was piqued. “Then what do you wish to obtain from me this time? Helping you get through this difficulty?”
Qing Chen shook his head, “I’ve said before, I will undertake my own road, so teacher should just consider this trading opportunity as something you owe me for now.”
Li Shutong leaped off the horizontal bar, his body floating down from the air like a weightless feather, not even making the slightest sound as he landed on the ground.
He gracefully smiled and said, “I rarely owe anyone in this life – the feeling of owing someone is something I’m truly not used to. You should hurry up and think of what you need, and let me complete the exchange so I can feel better.”
“Did the teacher ever owe anyone else?” asked Qing Chen curiously.
“I did,” Li Shutong chuckled, “But that person hates me to the bones now, it won’t be good to meet again. I can only repay what I owe in the next life.”
Qing Chen felt there was a deep story in it.
He heard Li Shutong continue speaking, “I can see you’ve bumped into a big problem this time, but I won’t help you. I won’t do it even if you wanted to use this chance to exchange for my help. You’re clear-headed enough not to ask me for help, it proves that I didn’t judge you wrongly.”
Qing Chen understood that assisting him to gain a foothold, and expand his foundation and wings in the Outer World were things Li Shutong didn’t mind doing.
But once he encountered real danger, the man would not take care of it.
Lin Xiaoxiao muttered on the side, “Boss, if you really won’t worry about it, I’ll see whether or not you’ll be sad when he died in the Outer World.”
Li Shutong smiled, “There’s a type of falcon called the Qingshan Falcon in this world. When they become adults, even floating ships will not be able to handle them. But they are very timid when young, not daring to take flight by themselves. There are seven hatchlings in every batch, and when it’s time for them to mature, the adult Qingshan Falcons will grab all seven of their chicks to the edge of a cliff and push them down one by one.”
“Those who spread their wings will live, and those who continue to shirk will fall and die at the bottom of the cliff. At the average, Qingshan Falcons need to breed two batches of hatchlings for a single survivor to emerge,” Li Shutong continued, “But the one who survives will become the ruler of the sky the moment it’s able to fly.”
Qing Chen was intrigued. “There’s no Qingshan Falcon in the Outer World, is it very powerful?”
“Of course,” Li Shutong recalled, “Without the protection of a first-class floating ship, human beings won’t dare to provoke them. I accidentally entered their territory when I did my third life-and-death challenge many years ago and was chased by one of the Qingshan Falcons for more than fifteen kilometers. I almost died there.”
When Qing Chen thought about a person like Li Shutong being chased to the point of fleeing in disarray when he was young, he felt it was really amazing…
At this time, Li Shutong suddenly said, “Aside from superhuman, forbidden lands can also form after the deaths of other exceptional creatures. For example, after a Qingshan Falcon dies, the plants around its corpse will become stronger and even develop offensive abilities, because these powerful plants would in turn need more nutrients.”
“Is there a way to suppress the corruption?” Qing Chen asked, “This situation is like an increasing entropy. If forbidden lands are allowed to spread, then in a few hundred years, would there be no land left for humans to inhabit?”
Increasing entropy, using the forbidden lands of the Inner World as an example, meant that the area would never naturally decrease, instead increasing in a constant but irregular manner.
Until the day it engulfed the whole world.
The Taboo Tribunal was unable to eliminate it; they could only constrain the rate of its spread.
“There is no way to suppress it,” said Li Shutong, “This might be the principle of the purification of the earth. Maybe one day giant creatures such as dinosaurs will reappear. Birds of prey like Qingshan Falcons are similar to Pterosaurs from ancient times. At that time, the earth was different from how it is now.”
“How would humans do?” asked Qing Chen.
“At that time, perhaps only superhumans can continue to survive,” Li Shutong chuckled, “Humans always think they’re the rulers of the earth, but this world will tell you through time that there’s no such thing as a true ruler. Do you want to go on a trip? I'll take you to see the real forbidden land.”
Qing Chen shook his head, “Wait ‘til next time, teacher. These two days I have to think about how to handle things when I return.”
Lin Xiaoxiao could clearly see an unexpected look of regret on Li Shutong’s face.
But he heard Li Shutong speak, “Have you figured out how to deal with it?”
Qing Chen thought about it and said, “Murder.”
“Then do you know how to kill?” Li Shutong asked.
“I don't know, but I can learn,” replied Qing Chen.
Both Lin Xiaoxiao and Ye Wan sighed – the conversation between these two people was really clear-cut and straightforward.
Qing Chen said, “I thought of a way, that is to have Ye Wan train me these two days to let me remember all kinds of fighting skills and the reactions the enemy would make when we fight so I could take the lead in battles. But later I found that while the method is feasible, there’s not enough time.”
“It's like playing chess, right,” Li Shutong fell into thought. Exhaustive search, or brute force search, was a type of problem-solving technique.
When someone made a move, you had to think of all possible ways to deal with it, as well as all the possibilities of the opponent’s next step, and then choose the most optimal solution.
The way Qing Chen played chess was to remember all the possible developments of the game, such that the moment his opponent made a move, he already knew all the required steps to respond to it.
Ye Wan explained, “With the breathing technique, plus your continuous practice, your physical quality has reached the basic level of a soldier. But if your opponent is equipped with mechanical limbs, you still have no clear edge over them.”
“Is my physique adequate?” Qing Chen asked.
“It is,” Ye Wan replied, “But can your reflex keep up? What I’m saying is, when your brain has already processed all the possibilities, can you instantly pick the most optimal choice and make your body do the corresponding action?”
This time, Li Shutong interjected, “There are many bones in the human body. 29 bones comprising the skull, 51 trunk bones including 26 vertebrae, 64 upper limb bones, and 62 lower extremity bones.”
“The human body also has 12 large joints and 210 small joints. It has about 639 muscles, composed of approximately 6 billion muscle fibers,” Li Shutong said, “The human body has way more possibilities than chess, so don’t try to master the exhaustive method within two days. In reality, just one move is enough to kill a person.”
Qing Chen listened to Li Shutong who resumed talking. “Ye Wan, you only need to teach him one move, and then tell him the possible ways the enemy would counter, it will be much simpler this way.”
Ye Wan pondered, “Boss, will one move be enough?”
Li Shutong smiled, “Enough, after all… life is very fragile.”
Qing Chen thought about it and said, “Two nights may not be enough.”
Li Shutong simply waved his hand indifferently, “Then just lock all the other prisoners in their cells and only allow them to come out during mealtime. Have them scram off for the rest of the time. In this way, you can also train during the day.”
Qing Chen was stunned on the spot. Despite stating that he would not help, his teacher still moved and involved so many people just for him.
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