Chapter 98: A Miss Is As Good As a Mile

Chen Ran walked out of the Secret Room's main door.

The others checked the time. Barely ten minutes had passed, and he had already cleared the [Hard] difficulty?

"What did this Escape Room Game test?" Geng Hao asked out of curiosity.

"The two conflicting theories on whether an AI can develop self-awareness," Chen Ran replied casually.

Hearing this, Qiu Yinong's interest was piqued. She had run a gaming company before her death and knew quite a bit about artificial intelligence.

"In that case, Liu Xing is doomed," she noted. "Coming out this quickly means you chose the simplest explanation, the Chinese Room Argument. In this controversial theory, AI is merely a transporter of text and images, completely lacking any understanding of their meaning. This falls under Materialism, while the second conflicting theory leans toward Idealism."

Chen Ran nodded, found a random place to sit, and closed his eyes to rest.

Geng Hao only half-understood and turned his gaze toward the Young Heiress.

Lin Jiabei pondered for a moment before explaining, "The so-called Chinese Room Argument involves placing someone who knows English, but not Chinese, inside a locked room. On their desk is a Chinese-English dictionary. Then, someone on the outside hands them a paper filled with Chinese characters and asks them to translate it."

"As a result, the person outside believes the person inside understands Chinese. In reality, the person inside has no clue. It is just like an AI, simply transporting information like text and images from the internet. Therefore, this theory argues that AI is nothing more than a search system devoid of self-awareness."

Put that way, Geng Hao understood. AI was like a transport vehicle moving an item from point A to point B, completely lacking any so-called self-awareness.

"Then what about Idealism?" Geng Hao continued asking.

...

Inside the Secret Room, Liu Xing was drenched in sweat. The blistering heat was making it nearly impossible for him to think rationally.

'What is the second conflicting ideology?'

'Since it involves programming, it must be related to computers or software code.'

'The second piece of paper did not state exactly which book the key is hidden in.'

'By the same logic, the first piece of paper likely didn't specify which book the key was hidden in either.'

'Then...'

'What information did Chen Ran use to find the first key?'

At that thought, Liu Xing suddenly turned his head to look at the Four Divine Beast Bronze Statues.

'According to mythology, the correct positions of the four divine beasts are: Azure Dragon in the East, White Tiger in the West, Vermilion Bird in the South, and Black Tortoise in the North.'

'Which means...'

'The original command was: Correct, Correct, Correct, Correct!'

'But, at the very beginning, the positional command for the Divine Beast Bronze Statues was: Incorrect, Incorrect, Incorrect, Correct.'

'Correct, Correct, Correct, Correct.'

'Incorrect, Incorrect, Incorrect, Correct.'

'The result is still: Incorrect, Incorrect, Incorrect, Correct.'

'The book where Chen Ran found the key wasn't the first book on the first shelf, so this deduction can be discarded.'

'At the very beginning, it was: White Tiger in the East, Vermilion Bird in the West, Azure Dragon in the South, and Black Tortoise in the North.'

'If the mythical divine beasts corresponding to East, West, South, and North are arranged as 1, 2, 3, and 4, then the initial Bronze Statues in the Secret Room were: East 2, West 3, South 1, North 4.'

Having reached this conclusion.

Liu Xing looked at the bookshelf in front of him. Straight ahead was East.

'East 2: The second bookshelf.'

Thus, he walked over to the second bookshelf, turned around, and faced West.

'West in mythology belongs to the White Tiger. Azure Dragon on the left, White Tiger on the right, so...'

'West 3: The third tier of the right-side bookshelf.'

'However, it is not specified whether that means the third tier from the top down, or the third tier from the bottom up.'

'Then, based on North being up and South being down.'

'South 1: That would mean... the very bottom, the first tier of the bookshelf.'

'North 4: Since North has the correct divine beast alignment, therefore...'

'North 4: The correct book is the fourth one!'

'East 2, West 3, South 1, North 4 means: the second bookshelf, on the right side, the bottom tier, the fourth book.'

Figuring this out, Liu Xing hurriedly located the book in that exact position. To his delight, he realized that this was precisely the book Chen Ran had used earlier to...

Find the key!

'It seems my deduction is flawless. As long as I follow Chen Ran's method, I can find the second key.'

'Damn it, trying to kill me? You underestimate Veteran Players way too much!'

'Every single day, newcomers arrive in The 18th Level. Those who manage to survive are the elite among elites. We wouldn't be called Veteran Players if we died this easily!'

Fired up with determination, Liu Xing quickly checked the current positions of the four bronze statues.

'Right now it is: Azure Dragon in the East, Black Tortoise in the West, Vermilion Bird in the South, White Tiger in the North.'

'East 1, West 4, South 3, North 2.'

'East 1: The first bookshelf.'

'West 4: The fourth side of the bookshelves. Since each bookshelf only has a left and right side, the fourth side would be...'

'The right side of the second bookshelf!'

'South 3: The third tier from the bottom up!'

'North 2: The second book.'

'The correct answer is: the second book on the third tier from the bottom, on the right side of the second row of bookshelves.'

Perhaps even Liu Xing himself did not realize that, under such blistering heat, his deductions were riddled with holes.

For example, East and West being correct while North and South were wrong, as well as the instruction on the paper telling him to use the second hypothesis to find the corresponding key, among other details.

But for a man who was on the verge of being roasted alive, he could no longer afford to care about all that. He was like a drowning man—even if there was only a single piece of straw floating on the surface, he would desperately cling to it.

And so, tragedy struck.

When he pulled out the book, not only did he fail to find the corresponding key inside, but all the bookshelves suddenly lit up. They turned a glowing red, resembling rows of burning hot iron brands.

Thick smoke instantly billowed through the Secret Room. The books on the shelves caught fire, and in a matter of moments, the area was transformed into a sea of flames.

Thick smoke instantly billowed through the Secret Room. The books on the shelves caught fire, and in a matter of moments, the area was transformed into a sea of flames.

However, due to the rapid consumption of oxygen, the fire slowly began to die down.

Clink!

Because the books had burned away, a key dropped down from the shelves.

Staring at the key not too far away, Liu Xing lunged toward it like a madman in the oxygen-deprived room, but...

The floor began to glow, turning a searing red. The entire Secret Room became a massive furnace, instantly melting his shoes, incinerating his clothes, searing away his hair and skin, and liquefying his very bones...

In his final moments before death, he stared fixedly at the key just a short distance away, his heart filled with bitter indignation.

'I was just a little bit away! Ahhhhh!'

A miss is as good as a mile. He had no idea that his entire deduction was completely wrong, and that the key had only dropped because the books had burned away.

Perhaps, this was the true heart-killing nature of a [Hard] Escape Room Game.

...

In the third Secret Room.

Hearing Lin Jiabei's explanation, Geng Hao couldn't help but nod.

'Whether AI can develop consciousness... from the perspective of Idealism, when a person is learning to drive, they don't understand the exact underlying principles behind every single action they take. According to the Chinese Room Argument, does that mean humans can't develop self-awareness either? But humans clearly do possess consciousness, so on what grounds can you claim that an AI, ignorant of the deeper meaning of text and images, cannot develop self-awareness?'

'The reason there are two conflicting theories is due to the limitations of our era. With current technology, there is simply no way to prove whether AI can develop consciousness or not.'

Just as Geng Hao finished his lamenting thoughts, he noticed the text on the Escape Room Game's main door change.

[Chen Ran: 9 minutes and 59 seconds.]

[Liu Xing: Dead.]

A wave of desolate sorrow washed over Geng Hao, making him shudder uncontrollably.

However, reality would not grind to a halt just because of personal emotions. The game had to continue.

Dragging Liu Xing's corpse out, Lin Jiabei ripped the Chest Plate from the body and tossed it to Chen Ran.

The next moment, on the long table, the magic-cube-sized Dice...

Began to spin once more!