Chapter 172: Li Zhitong's Hindsight

My name is Li Zhitong.

Before I died, the reason... well, coming to Hell means I am guilty. Right and wrong no longer truly matter to me.

Hell is a place...

...where the wicked torture the wicked.

It took me a long time to deduce how lies are Judged in Hell.

There are two types: subjective and objective.

Objective: If you are a man but claim to be a woman, it contradicts objective facts, which means you are lying.

Subjective: If you have a sister, but I don't know you have one, and you claim you don't have a sister, then I can only make a subjective Judgment on this unknown information.

I Judge you.

If the Judgment fails, you are not lying, and at the same time, my Judgment command, "You lied," becomes my own lie.

Simply put.

Subjective Judgment is a gamble. If I win, you lied; if I lose, I lied.

But there is a catch. You have a sister, but I don't know whether you do or not. When you say you don't have a sister, and I echo that you don't have a sister, my statement does not count as a lie.

An Unknown Lie is not a lie.

It is somewhat similar to a Deceiver's Tongue, but there is a clear distinction.

After all, this relies on the unknown, whereas a Deceiver's Tongue relies on all information pointing toward the truth.

The unknown inevitably extends into new problems.

Namely, objective existence.

For example, Qiu Yinong used the Wheel of Time in the subway to trick everyone into a lie.

Logically, since no one had any memory of her using the Wheel of Time at that moment, even if they said something contrary to the facts, it should have been treated as an Unknown Lie and not considered a real lie.

This involves a scenario where the objective and subjective contradict each other, and the principle of objectivity takes precedence.

I didn't have the memory of Qiu Yinong using the Wheel of Time, but she undeniably used it right in front of me. Therefore, the unknown became known, and an Unknown Lie Judgment turned into a known lie Judgment.

Of course, I deduced this very early on; I'm merely using the shift from unknown to known caused by Qiu Yinong's Skill as an example.

A Deceiver's Tongue is different. Let's return to the example of me having a sister but claiming I don't.

A Deceiver's Tongue lies in the intersection of objective and subjective.

Simply stating that I don't have a sister isn't enough to form a Deceiver's Tongue. I must also objectively mislead others into believing I don't have one.

For instance, if I show you a family portrait featuring only my parents and me, without my sister in the photo, and then state that I don't have a sister, a Deceiver's Tongue is formed.

All of the above mechanics, rules, and lie Judgments require Players to deduce everything themselves.

No one will tell you these things, because if you knew these mechanics and rules, it would be a disaster for me.

However, as more and more Players figure out the mechanics and rules, baiting out a lie becomes incredibly difficult.

Thus, Hell birthed the Mental Cultivation Method (or so I've heard).

By constantly interacting with Three-Star Players across various Instances, I managed to coax information out of them bit by bit. As these pieces accumulated, I gradually learned the prerequisites for Heart Cultivation.

There are four prerequisites for Heart Cultivation:

First: Enlightenment.

This is a bit broad, but enlightenment essentially means breaking the shackles of the mind.

Chen Ran mentioned history just now, so let's use the Ming Dynasty as an example. There are many theories regarding its downfall, such as the Donglin faction, the Little Ice Age, and so on.

But the true, fundamental reason is singular: its lifespan had simply reached its end.

Every feudal dynasty failed to escape the curse of a three-hundred-year lifespan.

Following this line of thought, you quickly realize that "land consolidation" was the true culprit.

In its early stages, a dynasty typically implements favorable policies, encouraging commoners to reclaim wastelands and promoting agriculture. A large number of landlords die due to war or other causes, leaving the land in the hands of the commoners at the dawn of the empire.

However, as time passes, the land held by commoners falls into the hands of new landlords. These landlords oppress the people until they can no longer survive. This sparks rebellions, dealing a fatal blow to the feudal dynasty, paving the way for noble families and aristocrats to step in and seize the world.

So...

Natural disasters and the like are never the primary cause of a dynasty's downfall.

Working backward from the concept of "land consolidation," you will notice that every dynasty faced peasant uprisings in its twilight years.

Qin Dynasty: The Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprising.

Han Dynasty: The Yellow Turban Rebellion.

Sui Dynasty: The Wagang Army uprising.

Tang Dynasty: The Huang Chao Rebellion.

Ming Dynasty: The Li Zicheng Rebellion.

Suddenly, the collapse of feudal dynasties becomes crystal clear, doesn't it?

Enlightenment is about shattering your original mindset and seeking the root cause, making many previously incomprehensible problems suddenly clear and vivid in your mind.

Second: Causality.

The second prerequisite for Heart Cultivation is the ability to clearly discern causality.

There are two types of causality.

The first is predetermined causality.

This is easy to understand:

The Bullet you fire at the age of ten strikes you precisely between the eyebrows at the age of twenty.

The second is Derived Causality.

This is harder to grasp. Simply put, the Bullet you fire at age ten leads to you being struck and killed by a car at age twenty.

To put it even more simply, it is the Butterfly Effect.

A "cause" unintentionally planted by you or someone else leads to some poor soul inexplicably suffering the "effect."

For example, you casually spit on the ground today, and that action results in someone thousands of miles away being struck and killed by a car. That is Derived Causality.

You spit, someone glances at you, and that glance alters their subsequent behavior. This change then radiates outward from them like increasing entropy, eventually resulting in the inexplicable death of someone thousands of miles away.

Whether it is predetermined causality or Derived Causality, as long as you perceive it and comprehend its underlying logic, your mind can achieve a certain level of sublimation.

To put it bluntly, it boils down to one word: caution.

You will consciously pay attention to cause and effect, causing your actions and demeanor to become much more cautious.

Third: The Hidden Dragon.

Actually, I saw a relevant post about this on the Tianya Forum years ago.

Simply put, would you hold a grudge against an ant? No. You wouldn't even spare it a second glance.

This is the mindset of someone in a superior position.

But in Hell, it translates to endurance. You must compress your emotions, enhance your psychological tolerance, and then release it all in a concentrated burst.

This release usually involves eliminating the person who forced you to compress your emotions. First, subject them to heart-killing, and then kill them.

Fourth: Foresight.

This is a Heart Cultivation prerequisite I only just learned about. Chen Ran already explained it quite clearly, so I won't dwell on it.

To summarize.

The prerequisites for Heart Cultivation are:

Enlightenment: clarity of thought.

Causality: clarity of caution.

The Hidden Dragon: clarity of endurance.

Foresight: clarity of change.

Only by meeting these four conditions can one practice the Mental Cultivation Method within the alliance.

I should be at the stage of clarity of endurance. Clarity of change requires a massive reservoir of knowledge, a level I simply haven't reached yet.

My opponent is Chen Ran.

He has already achieved clarity of thought, caution, and change. Otherwise, how could a One-Star Player like him survive this long?

As for clarity of endurance?

There is some ambiguity here. Chen Ran's conduct doesn't seem like that of someone who endures, but his underlying behavioral logic strictly adheres to the style of the School of Military Momentum. This makes it difficult to judge whether he has achieved clarity of endurance.

However, I noticed that at the very beginning of this Instance, Chen Ran played it safe, deliberately lowering his presence. Once he realized he was being targeted, he shifted to a high-profile approach, initiated his heart-killing tactics, and finally resorted to murder.

"Any last words?"

Qiu Yinong has killed many people, but whenever Chen Ran kills, he always seems to ask this question.

I have reason to suspect that he has already reached the stage of clarity of endurance.

In other words, Chen Ran had already completed the transformation necessary for Heart Cultivation before he even died.

This also explains why a mere One-Star Player could repeatedly evade the traps laid by Three-Star Players.

A true Dragon-Snake Transformation. All he lacks is a Mental Cultivation Method. If I want to defeat him, my only option is to leverage my vastly superior experience with Infighting within Instances to forcibly elevate myself to...

...the stage of clarity of change!

The history within the Instances is still history, and in this regard, I am stronger than him.

I can use my Infighting experience to foresee the direction of this current game.

First: I noticed a problem with Qiu Yinong's words.

"Alas, there is no room for me to contribute in this game."

That statement could turn into a Future Lie at any moment, simply because our previous Future Lie did not restrict her ability to use Skills. This means...

...she can use a Skill at any time to alter the course of our game.

Once she uses a Skill.

"Alas, there is no room for me to contribute in this game."

That sentence would become a lie.

"I lied."

This statement would be the true lie, which also serves as the command for her Skill.

It's strange. Why would she speak both a lie and a Future Lie?

'Wait!'

'I think I've been fooled!'

Qiu Yinong had already used the Wheel of Time on the subway earlier, and Chen Ran just used the Eternal Kingdom.

That is to say, Qiu Yinong's Wheel of Time has already been broken by Chen Ran.

The vanished timeline was superimposed onto Qiu Yinong. This means that the very moment Chen Ran activated the Eternal Kingdom...

...she had already lied!

At that time, she and Chen Ran must have been panicking inside. If anyone saw through it, Qiu Yinong would have undeniably died, but they cooperated flawlessly.

Chen Ran used the Eternal Kingdom, and Qiu Yinong immediately killed Zhang Meili and the other two, successfully diverting everyone's attention.

Moreover, looking at the situation, even if the three Three-Star Players knew she had lied, they wouldn't Judge her. After all, she still held value.

Therefore, the person Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong truly wanted to deceive was actually me.

I was successfully distracted by them and failed to deduce this layer of truth, allowing Qiu Yinong to escape disaster?!

I didn't have to face my current predicament. I could have just directly killed Qiu Yinong and secured a flawless victory, yet I missed that opportunity?

'Lunatics!'

I thought Chen Ran was the only lunatic here, but to my surprise, Qiu Yinong is one as well!

She actually dared to take such a risk?

As expected, birds of a feather flock together. Those who team up with lunatics...

...are naturally lunatics themselves!

(From a god's-eye view, when Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong used Morse Code to transmit information, it was highly likely Chen Ran asking if Qiu Yinong dared to take a gamble, along with them hashing out the details.)

'Ahhhhh!'

'I've been completely played?!'

'Calm down!'

'Calm down!'

'Calm down!'

Let's see if there's any chance to remedy this.

"Alas, there is no room for me to contribute in this game."

"I lied."

Right, what was the Future Lie the six of us just established?

"Qiu Yinong will provide a lie. After she states her lie, the others cannot Judge the lie she told previously. At the same time, everyone has a one-minute window to use their Skills. After one minute, except for Qiu Yinong, the other five cannot touch their respective Liar-Slayers unless someone lies after this one-minute mark."