Yang Wei nearly burst out cursing on the spot. What is this dumb question? Why are there so many rules here? The question looked simple at first glance, but if one were to start thinking about the specifics, there were so many factors to consider that it could blow one’s mind.
He spent a while attempting to work out a solution before eventually giving up and moving on to the next question.
‘There are 100 people on an island. 5 of them have red eyes and 95 of them have blue eyes. This island has three weird rules:
‘1) They are not allowed to look into mirrors or any other reflective surfaces, so they aren’t able to determine their own eye colors;
‘2) They can’t tell others what their eye colors are;
‘3) Once a person realizes that he has red eyes, he would have to commit suicide that very night.
‘One day, an adventurer arrived on the island. Oblivious to the rules, while he was partying with everyone else, he accidentally let it slip that “Some of you have red eyes”.
‘Assuming that everyone on the island is smart and capable of logical deduction, what do you think will happen on the island afterward?’[5]
Yang Wei’s eyes lit up. This question was much easier than the ones before. He grabbed his brush right away and began jotting down his answer.
…
…
…
Just like that, with bouts of smiles and bouts of stress, he went through the questions one by one. Eventually, he realized that he was only able to solve a few of them.
By this time, a huge crowd had formed outside the classroom. Classes had already ended, but to everyone’s astonishment, none of the students from the most mischievous Yellow class had left yet. Out of curiosity, the students from the other classes decided to head over to take a look. It didn’t take long for news of the bet between Zu An and Yang Wei to spread around the entire academy, drawing in massive crowds.
If it was only a simple duel between Zu An and Yang Wei, the proud prodigies of the Sky class wouldn’t have bothered. However, the presence of Shang Liuyu changed things.
Shang Liuyu was the most popular teacher in Brightmoon Academy. Her classes were always packed to the brim, and her students were always incredibly focused. Their eyes were simply too caught up in appreciating her beauty to be distracted by anything else.
Some of the students came to watch the drama, but the majority flocked over to ogle Shang Liuyu. However, it didn’t take them long to be drawn to Zu An’s questions.
What was interesting about Zu An’s questions was that they were very easily understood. Most of them felt that the questions were easily doable, and they naturally began to discuss the possible solutions with one another. Even the prodigies of the Sky class, who were usually only interested in cultivation, began making their own calculations too.
“Brother-in-law, you’re the best!”
Chu Huanzhao wasn’t one to miss a commotion, and she seemed oddly proud about the situation. It was almost as if she was the one in the limelight right now. She didn’t question her feelings; she put them down to a shared sense of glory with a fellow Chu clan member.
The adorable Ji Xiaoxi was also standing amidst the crowd, poring over the questions with interest. The slight frown on her face did little to mar her beauty. How are these questions supposed to be solved? Should I go back and ask my father about them? Ah, but father isn’t interested in this kind of thing. He only fancies those perverted magazines he has stowed in his room. He seems to have gotten a new book recently, and he’s being very secretive over it. He doesn’t even allow me to come close to it. Hmph…
Pei Mianman, dressed in a black cloak that concealed her proud figure, was also watching the spectacle. Her lips inched up into an amused smile. This fellow sure is an interesting one. Chu Chuyan does have a sharp eye for people. Should I find an opportunity to nab him over to my side? It should be interesting to take her stuff away from her…
Hiding at the very back of the crowd was Zheng Dan, who was feeling particularly flustered. The reports she had browsed through depicted Zu An to be a good-for-nothing, and she had put his big win at the Silverhook Casino down to an incredible bit of luck. She hadn’t expected Zu An to be this skilled in arithmetic.
It looks like it wasn’t just luck at play at the Silverhook Casino. I reckon that even Yang Wei will be done in by him. I sure do wonder who was the one who sent Yang Wei after him, though.
Still, I should probably proceed carefully from now on, lest my honey trap backfires on me.
After what seemed like forever, Shang Liuyu issued a reminder to the embattled arithmetic teacher. “Teacher Yang, time is already up.”
Yang Wei wiped off the sweat on his face. “Give me a while more, I’m just about finished.”
All along, he had been the one to see students struggling to solve his questions under the time limit. Who knew he would be put in the same position one day?
However, with so many spectators, he couldn’t bring himself to shamelessly drag things out for too long. He made a few final strokes with his brush, then put it down and said, “I’m done.”
To be honest, he had no confidence in all but two of the answers he had written down. However, he still felt he was in with a chance. At the very least, he should be able to get ten questions correct.
He was relieved that he hadn’t declared arrogantly that he would get all twenty questions right. If so, it would already be all over for him. As long as he could get ten questions correct, he would be able to salvage some of his pride. After all, everyone here knew just how difficult the questions were.
“How is it? I managed to at least get ten of them right, didn’t I?” Waiting calmly as Zu An checked his answers, Yang Wei slipped his sweat-soaked handkerchief back into his pocket, a triumphant smile emerging on his lips.
He was confident that no one in the entire Brightmoon City would be able to fare better than him on the test—well, except for Zu An the pervert, anyway.
“As expected of Teacher Yang, he managed to answer all of the questions!”
“Wow, that’s really impressive. I don’t even know how to answer a single question at all.”
“Teacher Yang is not our arithmetic teacher for nothing. How can he hold his own without possessing some skill?”
“Still, I must say that the questions Zu An came up with are truly tough. His proficiency in arithmetic is at least on par with Teacher Yang.”
“I reckon it’s just Teacher Yang going easy on him. There’s no reason for him to take a student so seriously, after all.”
…
Yang Wei’s back slowly straightened with pride as he savored the commentary coming from the surrounding students. It seemed he had managed to build up quite some prestige for himself over the years. He patted his chest and turned to glance at Shang Liuyu, relieved that he had at least managed to salvage his reputation in front of her.
However, Shang Liuyu wasn’t looking at him at all. Her eyes were fixed intently on Zu An, curious as to what the results would be.
Zu An finally broke his silence. “Is this the level you’re at? It looks like I’ve overestimated you. You didn’t even manage to get a single question correct!”
The classroom erupted in chaos.
“What?” Yang Wei swore that he was hearing things. There’s no way I could have gotten everything wrong! He glared at Zu An in aggravation as he hollered furiously, “Lies! How dare you slander me!”
You have successfully trolled Yang Wei for 1024 Rage points!
He had been feeling good about himself just a second ago, but now, practically everyone in the academy heard the announcement that he hadn’t gotten a single question correct. This sudden nosedive his emotions took was simply too great for him to bear!
1. The Impossible Puzzle, first published in 1969. The name of the puzzle was coined by Martin Garnder in his formulation of it in 1979. There have been several formulations of this puzzle since.
2. This is the famous Monty Hall Problem.
3. This is the Pirate Game, a simple puzzle in Game Theory.
4. The only reference to this puzzle I can find is online at http://perplexus.info/show.php?pid=3759&cid=29062
5. This is one of the formulations for the Blue-Eyed Islanders Problem.