Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 1687 - 30: [First Trial: River Quiz]
Universe’s "Source Point," Black Water Domain.
The waves slapped the standing door, star sand fell on people’s shoulders. They walked shoulder to shoulder, head to head, following Su Ming’an through the door.
The Source Point, silent for millions of years, welcomed such a big group of tourists for the first time in such a lively way.
After passing through the door, Su Ming’an’s surroundings suddenly became calm, the people disappeared, and he stood alone between the dark waters, surrounded by silence.
The water surface rippled with new patterns, the solid feeling under his feet vanished, replaced by countless intersecting river channels extending, branching, and weaving in the void, forming a maze without walls.
Just moments ago, facing the first question, he chose [D·Mirror Gate: Everyone is their own winner]
Not knowing what this question tested, but not encountering any punishment, Su Ming’an surveyed the surroundings; passing through the door led to a single-player challenge.
...
"Ding!"
[Welcome, variable (Su Ming’an), to the first major challenge: River Answering.]
[Please answer each of the following questions honestly.]
...
Su Ming’an looked up.
...
[Q: Among all the variables, who do you hope will survive with you?]
...
Does that imply only three can survive?
Su Ming’an thought for a bit, then said, "Lu and Chen Yuhang."
Subsequently, the scene in front started to fluctuate, the river split into two.
The left path showed the figure of a blue-haired man and a boy.
The right path showed the figures of over a million strangers.
...
[If only one of the two can survive, please choose one of the paths.]
...
...Playing this game?
Su Ming’an stood still, arms crossed, unmoving.
He has always disliked the Trolley Problem, believing the best way to solve it is to resolve the questioner, hence he had no intention of choosing.
The countdown slid past like sand, he remained indifferent until the grains ran out, and his form seemed to suddenly become transparent.
Then, a voice emerged from his bosom:
"Oh dear... not choosing won’t do, let me pick for you."
With a "whoosh," the left path disappeared, leaving only the right path.
The Sword Spirit in Lunxue’s form drifted out, eyes still vacant: "Go on, you still have to choose."
Su Ming’an didn’t expect it could emerge: "You actually..."
In the next moment, the Sword Spirit shrank back, looking fatigued and uninviting disturbance.
Su Ming’an paused momentarily and walked over.
At the next fork, new rivers formed.
On the river appeared three figures, some rescued earlier. Among them, a child grew up to become a serial killer twenty years later. Another, an elderly person bedridden, had long become a vegetable draining their children’s savings, breaking their family. Another, a woman became an exhausted mother, her child died young, plunging her into severe depression with multiple suicide attempts.
The cold voice sounded again:
...
[The three people you just saved triggered more pain or caused other deaths in the follow-up timelines.]
[Now please answer: Do you regret the choice made at the first level?]
[Note: Your answer will affect the subsequent difficulty generation logic.]
Su Ming’an looked at those three figures.
... No, I didn’t choose, the Sword Spirit picked them.
He remained silent; unexpectedly the black water beneath began to collapse gradually.
"No regrets," he said.
[Reason?]
"The Sword Spirit chose them," he replied honestly.
Silence filled the surrounding.
Su Ming’an continued waiting, but everything remained motionless, as if not answering would keep him trapped there endlessly.
Su Ming’an thought for a bit and spoke: "First, information asymmetry, I couldn’t foresee these outcomes when making a choice. Judging decisions beforehand with hindsight information holds no meaning. Second, a murderer’s crimes should be his own responsibility, not simply attributed to being saved as a child and thus growing up to kill. The burden on an elderly person and the mother is a societal issue, why should the savior feel guilty? Shouldn’t the focus be on saving numerous people, why focus on the misfortune of the saved ones?"
"Third—"
"My decision basis is to save more lives under the current information conditions. I cannot abandon those I can certainly save now due to potential bad future events. Otherwise, any rescue action loses its significance."
"If you want to test whether I would stop doing good things because they might cause bad consequences—the answer is no. That would be swallowing your food whole out of fear."
The space fell silent for a few seconds.
[Then, if someone you know upholds the belief of replacing good deeds with evil ones, for good outcomes instead of bad ones, do you think they are correct?]
"Who are you?" he asked.
No reply.
The Xiao Love in his pocket lazily said: "It’s just a self-generated soul-searching question based on your experience; there’s no consciousness on the other end, if you don’t answer, you’ll stay trapped here."
Su Ming’an paused in silence and briefly replied: "Conceptual conflict, how to talk about correctness."
A river path appeared again in front of him.
He flowed along with the river, the scene changed again, he stood before a control console. The console had two buttons, red and blue. There were two floating transparent cages in the void.
But the cages were shrouded in thick mist, completely obscuring the view of who was inside.
...
[In the two cages, the left holds a person crucial to you, the right holds ten strangers.]
[Press the red button, the left cage falls, the person inside dies. Press the blue button, the right cage falls, and the people inside die.]
[Do nothing, both cages will simultaneously be destroyed.]
[You have thirty seconds.]
...
Su Ming’an’s fingers hovered over the button, paused for a moment, and pressed the blue button.
The right cage was instantly pulled into the abyss below by invisible forces. The fog dissipated—inside was empty.
The mist also dispersed over the left cage, revealing Lu’s figure inside, which then faded away.
...
[The right cage is empty. You sacrificed non-existent people and saved your crucial person.]
[Now please answer, when you pressed the button, what choice did you think you were making?]
...
"I was just making a choice," Su Ming’an replied.
...
[But the left cage is empty. You didn’t sacrifice any actual person.]
[Do you feel fortunate?]
...
"Indeed," Su Ming’an said calmly, "My intent was genuine, and when I pressed the blue button, I was prepared to sacrifice others, knowing those crucial to me can eventually save far more than their current numbers."
...
[Is it then, a sense that you determine the importance of saving people by numbers?]
...
"I want both sides to survive, but I am an idealist, not a fantasist. If I must choose, I cannot do nothing," Su Ming’an said, "Rationally speaking, if the world can’t be saved, the lives saved now are meaningless."
...
[Is it then, a sense that you are willing to sacrifice ten innocent people for the ultimate goal?]
...
"Your premise is wrong. Firstly, I will not face such a choice. Secondly, even if I did..." Su Ming’an paused, shaking his head, "Moral evaluation should be based on the current intentions and information, not presumptions by numbers. Someone once told me, I should think ’I saved one person’, not ’I killed ten people’."
The next moment, the scene before him changed again.
Su Ming’an found himself standing on a narrow bridge. Tied in the middle of the bridge was a stranger, a middle-aged man, blindfolded, mouth gagged, trembling with fear.
Beneath the bridge was a deep abyss. At the other end of the bridge, five people were running in panic towards this side, behind them, a purple-black tide was rushing in. If the tide isn’t stopped, those five will certainly die, and the person tied in the middle of the bridge was exactly blocking the only place where the interception gate could be lowered.
To turn the winch and lower the gate to block the tide, the person in the middle of the bridge must be pushed into the abyss first.
A voice echoed:
[You have two options:]
[A. Act personally, push the person in the middle of the bridge into the abyss, and then turn the winch to lower the gate, saving the five in the distance.]
[B. Do not intervene, watch the tide engulf the five. The person in the middle of the bridge might survive.]
[You have twenty seconds. Time until the tide reaches: nineteen seconds.]
Su Ming’an walked towards the middle of the bridge.
Fifteen seconds.
He came to the person who was tied. The other seemed to sense someone approaching, trembling more, letting out a whimpering sound.
Su Ming’an reached out, placing his hand on the person’s shoulder.
The touch was real, the body heat was real, the body trembled, breathing was rapid.
As if this really was a person in fear, wanting to survive.
Ten seconds.
The five in the distance had already run close, their terrified faces clearly visible. The tide was ten meters behind them, the shrill sound deafening.
Five seconds.
Su Ming’an suddenly exerted force, grabbing the ropes binding the person, using all his strength to fling them aside!
The bound person was thrown to the outside of the bridge’s railing, suspended in mid-air, temporarily avoiding the trajectory where the gate would fall. Su Ming’an himself lunged at the winch, turning it—
"Boom!"
The heavy metal gate fell from above the bridge, at the last moment before the tide engulfed, smashed heavily onto the bridge, forming a shield. The purple-black tide crashed on the gate, firmly held back.
The five people collapsed on the other side of the gate, narrowly saved, gasping for air.
Su Ming’an released the winch, looking outside the bridge. The person he flung out was hanging on a rope, swinging in terror. He went over, laboriously pulling the person up, untying the ropes, pulling off the blindfold.
It was an ordinary, pale middle-aged man, looking up at him with fear and gratitude.
"Tha... thank you..." the person stammered.
Su Ming’an said nothing.
...
[Choice completed. You have saved six people simultaneously.]
[Do you think this was a ’better’ choice?]
...
Su Ming’an said, "Yes."
...
[Even if you might have been pulled down with them? By lunging out, your death might have led to all six dying, with none surviving, would you still accept that?]
...
"I have abandoned the conservative choice and stepped onto a radical path, then why not be brave?" Su Ming’an said, "If I had been rigidly moving along countless times before, then stepping out might be the method to go further. If I only ever chose absolutely safe and optimal choices, I would have long become a machine that only calculates gains and losses. A machine cannot complete this game; the game requires humans to play."
The space fell into a long silence.
Then, all the tracks, bridges, and cages began to dissipate.
...
"Ding dong!"
[Q&A ends, you have passed the first major stage: River Answering.]
[You have obtained a Star.]
...
Su Ming’an opened his hand, a silver star emblem in his palm.
...Silver Star?
His thought moved, and the silver star floated out of his palm.
...
[After collecting thirteen silver stars, you will pass the trial.]
...
...Thirteen, are there as many stages as this? Is it corresponding to the thirteen disciples at the Last Supper?
Su Ming’an thought once more, and the silver star returned to his palm.
He walked a few steps forward, black water surging endlessly. Unknowingly, a figure slowly appeared beside him.
"Oh? It seems this stage is just us," Najasha looked around, showing a crazy yet joyous look, "Just the two of us..."
Su Ming’an glanced around, seeing only the void and the Star Sea. This stage seemed meant for pairs, unexpectedly, among millions, he ended up paired with this madman, truly a fateful encounter.
Though he wasn’t keen on communicating with this person, Su Ming’an still needed to ask: "What trial did you go through just now?"
Najasha appeared quite mad, yet obediently answered:
"A voice asked me a bunch of strange questions... I suspect it was testing honesty. My answers were bizarre, but there was no punishment."
...Bizarre.
Su Ming’an silently stepped back half a pace.
They were amidst black water, in front of them only two buttons.
...
"Ding dong!"
[Welcome, to the second major stage: Prisoner’s Dilemma.]
[In front of you are two buttons, one labeled "Forgiveness", the other "Betrayal".]
[If both choose "Forgiveness", you pass directly.]
[If both choose "Betrayal", you both enter a high mortality rate extra stage, only by passing can you proceed.]
[If choices are inconsistent, the one who chooses "Forgiveness" falls into near-death, after death all abilities return to the one who chooses "Betrayal".]
[You have six minutes to discuss.]
...
"Oh..." Najasha smiled slightly.
"Prisoner’s Dilemma," Su Ming’an understood instantly.
In the standard Prisoner’s Dilemma, when both sides lack communication and there is only one chance to play, "Betrayal" is theoretically the advantageous strategy. Here, discussion is allowed, meaning cooperation can be attempted. The question is, will Najasha abide?
Najasha tilted her head, her long hair against the black water seemed like jellyfish tentacles: "This game sounds interesting."
She licked her lips, staring straight at Su Ming’an.
