Chapter 4636

"... In summary, Professor, this is a very simple game-theory puzzle. However, the problem is that we might be the first to arrive, so this means we might need to give more blood." Bruce paced in front of the device, "At least we have to let them see that we have tried our best to sacrifice and want to complete this goal. Otherwise, they might not donate blood at all; the key lies in building trust..."

"You're right," Schiller nodded and said, "But I have an opinion. Do you want to hear the short version or the complete version?"

"Uh, what's the difference?"

"The difference is whether we talk while walking or walk after we finish talking."

"Walk?" Bruce said with some surprise, "Where to?"

"The next level," Schiller said.

"But..." Bruce turned his head to look at the mechanism, "Are we not playing this level?"

"That's what I'm about to talk about."

"Then I want to hear both versions; we'll talk right here," Bruce looked around and said, "I can't find any reason not to play this level. Although, as you predicted before, being the first to arrive might not be good. But without knowing what that mechanism does, if this level fails, the consequences might be terrifying."

"The short reason is that, regardless of the reason, if I let you draw blood again, all our mutual friends will definitely lock us both in a mental hospital together; there is no other possibility."

Bruce never expected this reason. He opened his mouth and said: "But it's not you drawing my blood."

"Then they will also think that I didn't stop you," Schiller said, "Don't you know how much psychological trauma the past events left on them? They are simply guarding against it strictly."

"But it shouldn't spread out..."

"It's not just the two of us participating in this game; other players will definitely discuss this segment after they go out. How are you going to hide it from the Justice League?"

Bruce wanted to say something else, but Schiller interrupted him and said: "And no matter how much blood we give, this game cannot be played."

Bruce's movements paused for a moment. He seemed to have deduced it again in his mind and said: "No way? If according to my assumption, this can be completely successful."

"Look, the groups that arrived first, like us, must be both smart and have a spirit of sacrifice; otherwise, it would be impossible to arrive first. Such people can think of the key and are willing to give more blood."

"And the people who arrive later are either not that smart or don't have such good relationships, which is why they are held back by various mechanisms and arrive later. However, they see that there is already so much blood, so they don't need to give too much themselves; then, for the sake of the game's victory, they will definitely be willing."

"If you ask me, this level designer designed it very cleverly. The smart people who arrive first can think through the whole process and will feel there is hope for completion, and coupled with personality reasons, they won't be stingy with sacrifice. Those who come later might not be able to think it through, but seeing that it's almost finished, they feel that sacrificing a little bit is nothing. The two sides cooperate with each other, and although the process might be relatively difficult, it can eventually be completed."

"If viewed solely from the perspective of game theory, that is indeed the case," Schiller said, "But unfortunately, there is more to this world than behavioral analysis and logic. Emotion is a link that must be considered, which will add countless variables to all game theories, just like you can't predict whether someone will get anxious while playing chess and smash the opponent to death with the chessboard."

Schiller sighed softly and said: "If this were a single-player dungeon and the number of villains did not exceed half, then it would be possible to achieve. But the biggest problem is that this is a two-player dungeon."

"In terms of evolutionary and sociological theory, everything humans rely on for survival is subject to use-it-or-lose-it on the road of evolution. Humans will not do things that consume energy but cannot generate any benefits."

"Emotional communication seems to consume a lot of energy without any practical benefits, but in reality, it can strengthen the connections of gregarious animals, making them more united and stronger in group nature."

"The gregarious nature of humans makes them more prone to emotional fluctuations when facing their own kind than ever before, which is used to open the door to emotional communication and establish deeper connections with their own kind. This is a human instinct."

"Emotional thinking is always belittled, and outputting emotions before logic when encountering things is always criticized. However, since humans appeared so many years ago, they have never made any progress in this regard, which proves that this instinct is unbreakable and almost unchangeable."

"Speaking of the current situation, in the case of two-person groups, the probability of emotional thinking and emotional output is too high. Even if one knows rationally that the game is played this way and doing so can lead to victory, the actual operation is not that ideal at all."

"Some people will feel angry and decide to let these bullshit rules go to hell; some people will feel sad and feel that they must not let their friends make this sacrifice; some people will feel heartache and feel that rather than having so much blood drawn, it's better to let the game fail, and at worst, just start another round."

"In this case, the number of situations where variables might occur will definitely be greater than the number of situations where the game is played according to the rules. You can also deduce according to the model I mentioned; even if you assume with a medium probability, the blood eventually falling into the container will definitely not be enough."

Bruce frowned deeply, seemingly judging through what Schiller said. He said: "But the requirements might not be that high, right?"

"After experiencing the previous levels, what else are you expecting?" Schiller said, "Moreover, the probability you deduced needs to be reduced by another layer. The only contestants we know besides us are Anatoly and Lucifer. I can tell you clearly that no matter where they are ranked, they won't give a single drop."

"Why is that?" Bruce was very puzzled, "I can understand emotional breakdown, and accidents might be possible. But that doctor doesn't look like..."

What Bruce wanted to say was naturally "doesn't look like such a selfish person." In fact, just based on the deeds he knew, Anatoly was very full of the spirit of sacrifice; otherwise, why would he sacrifice himself to bomb Cat Getan?

Don't look at the fact that he didn't die in the end, but the risk was very high; I'm afraid he didn't dare to say he wouldn't die 100% when he did it himself. He must have been prepared to sacrifice. Why would such a person be unwilling to donate blood?

Schiller stared fixedly at Bruce. Bruce felt his back go cold from being stared at. He just opened his mouth to ask, and Schiller said: "The environment you grew up in has influenced you more deeply than I imagined."

"What, Professor?"

"That's not sacrifice," Schiller said, "Everything we have done throughout the level is not sacrifice."

"Then what is it?"

"... Exploitation," Anatoly helped Lucifer tidy his feathers and said in a low voice, "Self-dedication to let people live a better life is called sacrifice. Having to accept these things yourself to save others from pain and death is called exploitation."

"I still don't quite understand the difference," Lucifer lay on the ground because the passage he just climbed up was really too narrow, his wings were somewhat scraped, and he was also exhausted, so the first thing he did when he arrived in this hall was to lie down and rest.

"Lucifer, I think you have long realized how many excessive things you have done. So you must have thought about why we two can still be friends. Is it really just because I sympathize with you?"

"Isn't it?" Lucifer asked hesitantly.

"Although I always say that you only know how to conjure things out of thin air and don't know how to obtain anything through your own efforts, I don't hate this point. I have also enjoyed many conveniences you brought, and I am still at ease. This is because you didn't obtain these by harming others; you created them out of thin air."

"In other words, whether it's me or you, while enjoying these conveniences, we didn't harm others. Even the bar you conjured couldn't steal other people's customers because of poor management. Although you obtained a lot, you didn't exploit anyone. I repeatedly mentioned this mainly based on my worry about my friend's lack of self-care ability, not because I really hate it."

Lucifer still seemed somewhat bewildered. Anatoly changed his posture, sat cross-legged on the ground, and continued: "Those Soviet soldiers you saw were heroes who sacrificed voluntarily; there is no problem with that. But at the same time, they were also victims exploited by the invaders, which is equally important."

"To defend their homeland and let their loved ones live a better life, they voluntarily stepped onto the battlefield and dedicated their lives; this is called sacrifice. However, also to prevent their loved ones from being harmed by the invaders, they had no choice but to endure all this; this is called exploitation."

"People often always see the former and praise how heroic and fearless they are. But we must also understand the latter; without evil invaders and unjust wars, they wouldn't have had to endure all this."

"Or rather, every sacrifice in this world has such two sides. Just like Batman, he voluntarily stood up to maintain justice and peace in the dark city, a hero with a spirit of sacrifice. But similarly, the darkness of Cat Getan forced him to bear pain for many people, and he was also being exploited."

After tidying Lucifer's feathers, Anatoly stood up. Lucifer felt much better after resting in place for a while and climbed up from the ground. The two stood in front of the huge machine.

"I admire everyone who donated blood here," Anatoly said, "They were very smart, guessed the whole game-theory process, and at the same time had a considerable spirit of sacrifice, leaving enough space for us."

"But I also sympathize with them because they had no choice. To prevent those who came later from bleeding dry, they chose to almost drain themselves. This caused serious damage to their health and is a kind of extremely terrible exploitation."

"I'm afraid I will never be able to compromise on such things—we have to help them," Anatoly said softly. He looked up at this huge machine, and his expression made Lucifer somewhat fearful; he even took a step back and wrapped himself up with his wings again.

"Let's see what this mechanism actually does," Anatoly stared at the scale and said, "If someone is really watching here, then he'd better be prepared with his blood."