The metal gate stopped moving, and the air fell silent. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info According to the rules, the "race" should have started by now, but it hasn't really started yet. Is it true that the rules that the glasses girl interprets? Is it true that only half of the people will survive? So, will everyone around us be enemies? I don't think anyone but the glasses girl really understands the will of the gods, and everyone has no real sense of this cruel competition. What's more, there are also those murderous metal cylinders in the front cloister.

The suffocating silence was finally broken, and the man in black was the first to run out. Everyone looked at his back, and I was even in the mood to observe his running posture. The man in black is nearly 1.9 meters tall and very big, I think it's at least twice as big as me. At the same time, his running body was incredibly light. As if it were a spring, his body jumped forward, and I watched for a while before I realized that it was running. With the first person to run out, many people also followed the man in black. No one dares to fall behind in such a place where life is at stake.

My remaining memories began to fill my brain. Was it about 10 years ago or how long ago? When I was a high school student, my teacher used to warn us in a cold tone. In the unified entrance examination, every score is crucial. Because there may be hundreds of people with the same score on the exam, they can fill an entire playground if they stand in line. Just being one more point than others may affect the fate of the student in the future. I smiled wryly, am I back to that time? Every step from now on is crucial. Perhaps the distance between this step is the difference between life and death.

I also wanted to move forward, but found Riko standing calmly aside. No, not only Riko was standing in place, but Mr. Yamada, who should have rushed away, also seemed to have stopped his steps. Many of the people who had been trying to move forward also stopped. I looked at Mr. Yamada's face, and Mr. Yamada, who didn't care about what he did, seemed hesitant now. He was looking at the doctor, because the doctor wasn't running forward either. If the doctor's foot injury is serious, then he may not be able to win if he tries to run, so he gives up hope? No, the doctor's face is still calm, and he seems to have his own plans. Looking at the doctor's posture, I suddenly felt like my legs were sinking like lead. There are not a few people who think the same way as me, and in fact, only one in five actually follow the figure of the man in black and run out.

"Why didn't everyone run away?"

"Because it has to be chosen carefully. Riko said, "Do you remember the rule of the rules?' The migration is absolute, and the steps that have been sold must not be reversed. ’”

"This seems to be the fourth rule ......"

It dawned on me.

"In other words, as long as you cross the threshold, you can only move forward and not go back......"

"That's right. As long as the threshold is crossed, then everyone can only move forward and not retreat. In other words, once you cross the threshold, you can't step out again. "For example, if you finish the questions in advance and check to make sure that you have done everything correctly, you will hesitate to turn in the papers in advance. Because you understand that once you hand in the paper, you can't get it back. Basically, humans have an instinctive fear of this 'irreversible' thing. ”

"I think if you are really sure that you can get it all right, you will still choose to submit your papers early. Besides, what's the point of running backwards? How can anyone go backwards in such a race to the death of life?"

"I don't know what the point of that is. I don't understand why the gods deliberately state this. Riko said frankly, "Maybe it's just some kind of rhetorical device, or maybe it's a quirk of the gods." I remember playing a game where in an update changed the damage of a skill from 140 to 140.000. Personally, though, I think any of the gods' rules are meaningful. So it's better to be cautious before you start the race. What's more, most people haven't started running yet. So now we just need to run a little faster than half of the people here. ”

It doesn't seem to change much from half to a little over half (five eighths to be exact), but doesn't that mean people won't run forever? Seeing that the people around me didn't move, I didn't have to move. As long as everyone submits blank papers in the exam, no one will score below the average. As long as everyone is poor, we have achieved complete social equality. I instinctively felt that this was wrong, negative.

"That's why the gods set a time limit, and we have to get to the end before dusk. But this rule can also be subtly circumvented......" Riko said, "Now that the man in black and a group of people have successfully run away, as long as they reach the finish line at the allotted time, those of us who haven't started yet may be counted as the same score." Maybe everyone will survive. ”

"Can the rules cheat like this!" I was dumbfounded.

"Sulfona, have you forgotten? It is made clear in the first sentence of the rule. 'The scales of black and white always swing, giving equal weight to wisdom and strength. This means that both wisdom and physical strength are important in this trial. The man in black is very confident in his physical strength, and he feels that he can easily surpass anyone, so in fact, he has a high probability of passing this trial. The Medic didn't have that much physical strength and was wounded, but he could use his wits to complete the trial. ”

"...... resourcefulness?"

"That's right. The current strategy of doctors is to ensure that no more than half of the people cross the starting line – that is, the threshold of the metal gate – of the entire population. In this way, the last half of the people will be divided, and everyone may be able to clear the customs. ”

"Why isn't it that everyone is on the same score, so everyone can't clear the level?" I asked.

"It's possible, but the doctor can only gamble. Riko said, "If we really run, we might both be able to overtake the doctor easily, and maybe only the girl with glasses will be able to talk to the doctor." In this way, the doctor is almost certain to die. But if more than half of them are in the same ranking, maybe he still has a chance to survive. ”

"But everyone except the doctor and the glasses girl are not injured, so why should we stay at the starting line according to the doctor's wishes? I could have run to the middle half, but I was erased because I believed that there was a bug in the rules, which is too bad. ”

"But we don't know what the gods will judge in the end. From the point of view of probability theory, you should choose the option with the highest expectations. However, the will of the gods is a completely unknowable event that cannot be transcendentally determined, and at this time, people will judge more with emotion than with reason. Do you want to compete to the death, or you don't know how to run for hours and you won't necessarily win in the end - or do you want to believe in the bug the doctor found and take a gamble?"

I was silent. At the beginning, everyone had already done it subconsciously. All those who were confident in their physical strength, who felt that they could run for long periods of time and easily beat everyone else, followed the man in black. But I couldn't do it, because I was a weak woman who was not good at sports or competition, and I wanted to stay away from the muscle soreness and respiratory pain caused by running for a long time. So I subconsciously chose to escape: so many people didn't move anyway, they weren't in a hurry, why should I remember to compete?

For many years, the country has always promoted peace, believing that education should bring happiness to children and improve their basic qualities. With this in mind, we try to avoid competition and do not publish our rankings after the exam. So I also subconsciously avoided the competition. This is not a rational thought, but a choice made entirely by instinct and experience.

"But...... It's like Riko-san, you said. I adjusted my state and said, "Now you still have a chance to move forward again......"

"But the earlier you stride, the longer you need to run. Riko shook her head and said, "Generally speaking, everyone's ranking after ten minutes of running and everyone's ranking after twenty minutes of running will not change much. If you can run for 20 minutes, why run for 10 minutes?"

"There's some truth to what you're saying. "I'm at least slower than the boys, so I have to run for twenty minutes when they run ten minutes, so I have to start early." ”

"If you leave early, they'll leave early. This game is a competition of physical strength, and it is not something that you can solve by starting early and flying first. Riko shook her head, "Actually, for girls like us, the shorter the run, the better it is for us. The distance between us in the sprint is not more than 10 meters, and if someone falls or some other accident happens, a vulnerable group like us may win. If it is a long-distance run, even if the man in black sits on the ground and sleeps for an hour, we may not be able to outrun him. ”

"Are you talking about a tortoise-hare race?"

Riko patted me on the head.

"Are you still in the mood to tell jokes?"

But after saying this, Riko herself laughed. Looking at her bright smile, the anxiety that kept overflowing in my heart gradually dissipated. I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm myself. Riko's words make a lot of sense, and it is true that the shorter the run, the better it is for us. If we are forced to run for a long time, we may even get injured or even go into shock. A girl like me, who hasn't exercised much for a long time, might die before the trial is over if she suddenly forces herself to do high-intensity exercise.

But......

"So what if somebody starts running a minute before it's over? There's no difference between running for a minute and running for 10 seconds. Some people who think they are physically fit may start running at that time. I asked, "Or the moment before it ends, someone suddenly crossed the threshold." If there are enough of them, it won't be long before those of us who stay behind the threshold are miserable?"

"You have a lot of point, but there's a key point. "You don't know when this game will end. Do you remember the rules about the end of the game?"

"That seems to be the last rule that the glasses girl said......"

"That's right. Riko retold the rules with her admirable memory, "'At the moment when the first person completes the migration, the judges will naturally reflect their inner order. This means that the race will be over when the men in black finish their run. But those of us who haven't started yet don't know when the man in black will finish. ”

I glanced ahead, and the figure of the man in black could still be seen clearly, but if I ran for a few more minutes, he would come across a corner, and the corridor behind the curve was unknown to us.