Chapter 387: Darwin

"Huh? How did you know that?"

The Crimson Racer was momentarily stunned. He could understand Master Pi Fu saying this place was a replica of a 1990s office building in a developed Western country,

after all, those bulky computers, gray carpet, and beige wallpaper were quite recognizable.

But pinpointing the time and place as somewhere in English-speaking Canada on a summer day after 1992 was beyond his comprehension.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Li Cheng took out the electronic pet egg and released Hui Yu while saying casually, "The clock on the wall and the small alarm clock on the employee's desk are exactly one hour ahead of the clock in the corner of the storage room covered in cobwebs, which means this region observes daylight saving time,

where clocks are set forward one hour in summer to help people adjust to a suitable schedule.

Countries around the world that observe daylight saving time include Britain, France, Germany, Finland, Greece, the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, and so on. Our country also briefly used it for a short period.

Considering that the vast majority of computers in the office cubicles use American English keyboards with a QWERTY layout, we can further narrow down the range and lock it to English-speaking Canada."

The words came out in one fluent breath, and the atmosphere on the floor stalled for a moment.

The Crimson Racer had personally witnessed Li Cheng's heaven-defying performance during the battery escort mission, and nodded in conviction,

while Bai Ma Mu Bei folded his arms across his chest with great interest. "Many countries use QWERTY-layout American English keyboards—the United States, Canada, New Zealand—and they all observe daylight saving time.

How do you determine this is Canada, not the United States or New Zealand?"

"Because these keyboards have been adapted for bilingual use."

Li Cheng tapped the desk and said casually, "On the? key, there's an extra French character.

On the \ key, there's an extra French character.

French keyboards in France use an AZERTY layout.

And these keyboards, while retaining the QWERTY American English layout, also have French adaptations, so this can only be English-speaking Canada—

Canada's official languages are English and French, with French native speakers far fewer than English speakers, but still more than one-fifth of the population. Adapting isn't strange."

Seeing the leopard spots to deduce the whole beast, a single leaf heralding autumn—if the occasion weren't inappropriate, Bai Ma Mu Bei would have wanted to clap and exclaim in admiration. "Last question—how do you know this is after 1992?"

"The computers."

Li Cheng patted the machine case and said lightly, "These few computer hosts are Apple Macintosh Quadra 950s, released in '92, equipped with Motorola 68040 processors and six expansion slots, with maximum memory expandable to 256 MB, priced at seven thousand US dollars."

The Crimson Racer exclaimed in surprise, "You know them like the back of your hand—what a hardcore Apple fanboy."

"I've always been an Apple fanboy."

Li Cheng, secretly gathering information through his information-integration glasses, slapped his chest and even started singing, "We love the Republic of China masters, we love Xu Zhimo, Zhang Ailing, Hu Shizhi"

Holy shit, this is what an Apple fanboy is?

And the 'masters' you cited as examples are way too perverted,

what a gathering of degenerates.

Fu Ding Draws Dragon and the Crimson Racer seemed to put on their masks of agony,

while Bai Ma Mu Bei, who hailed from Romania and had no idea what Hu Shizhi was, said thoughtfully, "Now that we know the time and place, what next?"

Before Li Cheng could answer, a sudden change occurred.

A white man in his forties wearing a brown suit materialized out of thin air, completely ignoring the four players right beside him, and walked on his own to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Fu Ding Draws Dragon's pupils contracted, and the two door gods beside him immediately shielded him behind them,

Bai Ma Mu Bei also frowned, gripping the chain on the stone coffin with one hand, ready to lift the coffin and smash it into someone.

An evil spirit?

Doesn't seem like it—the spirit detection device showed no response.

An illusion?

Doesn't seem like it either—the man had a clear shadow under the light.

The white man who had appeared out of thin air, as if he were in another world and couldn't see the players, faced the air, smiled silently and said something, then suddenly slammed into the floor-to-ceiling window.

Thud!

The floor-to-ceiling window let out a dull sound but remained completely unmoved.

The suited man seemed quite pleased, stepped back several paces, charged forward, and slammed into the window again.

This time, the glass still didn't shatter, but the window frame was knocked loose by the impact.

The suited man, along with the entire intact window and window frame, fell out of the building and crashed toward the ground.

"He jumped himself?!?"

The Crimson Racer stared in dumbfounded shock, let Abandoned World Monkey grab his hand, and he himself carefully stepped to the window edge and peered down.

Black flocculent material drifted in the air, and the white man had already fallen from the high-rise and vanished.

This sudden scene left everyone completely baffled,

Hui Yu racked his brain for a moment, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration and struck his palm. "I get it now—this is the supplement to *Shonen Jump*, *Seinen Jump*!"

Is there also a special issue called *You Jump, I Jump*?

You two really are birds of a feather.

The others muttered their complaints inwardly,

but Li Cheng, after a brief moment of thought, narrowed his eyes and said, "Gary Hoy, a Canadian from Toronto, born in '55 of the last century, formerly a senior partner at the Holden Day Wilson law firm."

"You know this too?"

The Crimson Racer couldn't believe it—this was beyond the scope of deduction, wasn't it!

"It's not deduction. There's really such a person in the real world."

Li Cheng said, "Gary Hoy was a well-known corporate and securities law expert in Toronto, and had also obtained an engineering degree. He served as a senior partner at the Wilson firm on the 24th floor of the Toronto-Dominion Centre bank building.

When receiving interns, he would always demonstrate slamming his body into the floor-to-ceiling window, using the window's indestructibility to prove that the law firm, like the window, stands unshaken.

Until July 9, 1993, when he, as usual, slammed into the window in front of the interns. The glass didn't shatter, but the window frame came loose, carrying him straight down from the 24th floor.

This not only caused the Wilson firm's reputation to be ruined and led to its closure a few years later, but Gary Hoy himself, due to his absurd manner of death, earned a place in the top ten of all Darwin Awards."

Just so you understand, the Darwin Award is specifically given to 'individuals who, through their own stupidity, self-destruct and make profound contributions to human evolution (Darwin's theory).'

The crimson rider said, stunned, "There's really an award like that? Falling to your death by crashing through a window only gets you into the top ten? There are even better ones?"

Li Cheng raised an eyebrow. "Of course there is. Like a lifeguard drowning at a gathering of two hundred lifeguards;

a teenager playing Russian roulette who used a semi-automatic pistol instead of a revolver, and the moment he pulled the trigger, died on the spot;

a young man in Mexico who used a shotgun to shoot a cactus, only to be crushed to death by the broken cactus falling down;

the world is vast and full of wonders; there's no bizarre way to die you can't imagine, only no genius who can't pull it off."

Fu Ding Hua Long found it especially cringeworthy. "Why does it sound like you actually admire them?"

"I do admire them, of course. The original intention of the Darwin Award is to thank these individuals who leave valuable lessons for posterity and remind people to pay attention to safety in work and life."

Li Cheng said matter-of-factly, "Don't you think that's cool? As a fellow player exploring the boundaries of human survival, I think that's awesome!

If I got to choose my own way to die, I'd lean toward landing on the surface of a star when the sun cools at night."

Casually spouting far-fetched talk, Li Cheng stepped out of the floor, hooked a crack in the wall with one hand, and hung outside it. He said to Bai Ma Mu Bei and the others, "Personal suggestion—leave this building while you can. I've got a bad feeling."

(End of chapter)