TDU Chapter 303
Chapter 303 True or False?
"Don't you think it's a bit strange?" Yun Yao whispered to Chen Junnan.
"What’s up?"
"Aren’t all of Terrestrial Snake’s questions just binary choices?" Yun Yao said thoughtfully. "It’s strange—something as clear-cut as {right and wrong}, yet he relies on {popular consensus}..."
"Simple as day," Chen Junnan said, waving a hand. "That old creep, Terrestrial Snake’s, questions aren’t truly {binary-choices}—he’ll be asking things that have no definite answer."
"No definite answer...?"
"He droned on about the rules but conveniently skipped over what counts as {right} or {wrong}. So surviving has nothing to do with answering correctly." Chen Junnan smiled at Yun Yao. "Superstar, with us split up, I might not be able to protect you."
Yun Yao nodded, appearing unconcerned. "Just focus on protecting yourself. If you can help it, try not to kill me off too early, alright?"
"Kill you off early...? Dammit... what kind of bullshit is that?" Chen Junnan shot a displeased glance at Yun Yao. "Are we secretly arch-nemeses or what?"
"I..." Yun Yao remarked cautiously, "I just can’t fully trust you."
"If you all understand the rules, please feel free to choose your room," Terrestrial Snake added after a moment of thought. "Oh, and I encourage those who know each other to become neighbors."
Yun Yao paused, slightly taken aback, then turned to Chen Junnan. "In that case, let’s try not to stay together. I’ll find a room on the other side."
"Why are you so cautious of him?" Chen Junnan chuckled. "Don’t worry, just be my neighbor."
"But—"
"No 'but’s,'" Chen Junnan said, adjusting his hair with a smirk. "You don’t know me yet. Those tricks won’t fool me. That dirty old man can say whatever he wants. Feast your eyes on this young master’s dashing suave. And when you go back, be sure to tell Ole Qi all about it."
"Dashing suave...?" Yun Yao gave him a puzzled look. "Are you sure?"
"Sure as the most certain sure," Chen Junnan nodded, then opened the door to his room. "Superstar, make yourself at home in the east-side neighboring room."
Chen Junnan settled into a chair upon entering and stared at the screen before him. It looked like a tablet, flanked by a green button on the left and a red button on the right, representing {True} and {False} respectively.
Yun Yao lingered for a moment before stepping into the room on Chen Junnan’s right. The others soon followed suit, selecting rooms one after another.
Noticing his door hadn’t fully closed, Chen Junnan looked up to see the woman in the white dress directly across from him. However, due to the angle of the other rooms, it was hard to tell who was settled where.
Terrestrial Snake nodded, then pulled the handle beside the podium, causing all twelve doors to close at once.
"Please familiarize yourselves with the facilities in your rooms. The game will begin in five minutes."
Chen Junnan rose and approached the door, attempting to push it open, only to find it firmly stuck, as though locked by some mechanism.
He belatedly noticed that his impulsive nature remained unchanged. Had he known better, he’d have held off entering until last. Other than Yun Yao and the woman in white, he was clueless about everyone else’s room choices.
"Looks like I'll have to take it one step at a time," Chen Junnan muttered, leaning back in his room. "For this young master's motto has always been {We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it}."
…
A few minutes later, four words slowly lit up on the screen before Chen Junnan:
{Let the game commence.}
‘Starting already…?’
The room was unnervingly quiet. Chen Junnan stood and tapped the wall, discovering it was reinforced—likely solid iron beneath a thin paint layer, designed either for soundproofing or to prevent escape.
He struck the ground with his foot and found the floor to be even more rudimentary in construction—virtually forged from iron, bearing a substantial hardness beneath his step.
Just as Chen Junnan was staring absentmindedly at the floor, the phone in the corner suddenly rang out—loud and jarring.
{Brring-brring——!!}
Chen Junnan was startled—the sudden ringing of the phone in such a silent room had truly given him a fright. He took a deep breath and picked up the receiver.
On the other end was Yun Yao.
"Chen Junnan?"
"Ah yes, t‘is young master, I. What can I do for you?"
Hearing his voice, Yun Yao let out a sigh of relief. "There’s only one button on this phone. The fact that I managed to reach you feels downright magical."
"Haha, is that so?" Chen Junnan chuckled and glanced at his own phone, realizing there really was only one button on it. "So, what shall we chat about? Should we start by exchanging ages?"
"Focus," Yun Yao said sternly. "A question appeared on my screen just now."
"Oh?" Chen Junnan raised his brow with interest. "What’s the question?"
"The question was: {Are you female}?"
"…Huh?" Chen Junnan was momentarily stunned. "Are these really {trivia} questions?"
"I’m not certain either," Yun Yao replied. "But I answered honestly. Now it’s your turn—then pass the question to the next person."
With that, she hung up.
Chen Junnan walked over to the screen, which now displayed the words: {Call received. Please answer.}
‘Am I female…?’
He mulled it over for a moment, hand hovering over the {False} button. After a few seconds of hesitation, he decisively pressed the left-side button — {True}.
So what if this young master answered wrong?
"Today, this young master identifies as a woman. Who knows, maybe that perverted old snake will lend a hand when I need it."
The screen gradually lit up with the words: {Answer Submitted}.
Rising to his feet, Chen Junnan walked to the corner, picked up the phone, and pressed the single button. A man answered shortly after.
"Hello...?"
"Listen up," Chen Junnan said. "The question is: {Are you female}?"
"Huh?" The man was stunned. "Th-That question’s—"
"Kay, question delivered. I’m hanging up." Chen Junnan ended the call and returned to his seat, deep in thought.
There were currently twelve participants in total—seven men and five women.
If everyone answered truthfully, following the popular consensus, the final answer should be {False}.
But… has reality ever been that simple?
Minutes ticked by, and soon everyone seemed to have responded. The screen blinked, revealing a message that brought a smirk to Chen Junnan’s face.
"The verdict for this round—{True}."
"Seriously?" Chen Junnan laughed "This place is crawling with freaks!"
No sooner had he spoken than a loud clatter of chains rang out overhead. Chen Junnan jerked his head up. The ceiling was shrouded in darkness, but something enormous stirred above.
{Clank—clank—}
With a faint tremor through the room, the chains’ rattling finally quieted.
Chen Junnan’s eyes locked on the ceiling, yet he couldn’t discern what was above. Resigned, he redirected his attention to the screen.
It was now displaying the second question—this time, it was his turn to pass it along.
{Once you’ve read the question, kindly use the telephone to relay it to the next participant: In 1918, Jewish physicist Albert Einstein officially published the theory of special relativity, in which he first equated the gravitational field to the curvature of spacetime. Is this statement correct?}
"Dammit!" Chen Junnan swore, "Terrestrial Snake! You motherdam-er! Are yah kiddin’ me?!"
TL Note: Disclaimer, I’m not sure if I translated the format of the second question correctly—which honestly doesn’t matter since the ‘correct’ answer will be based on popular consensus. But for those who want to know, the answer is {false}. Albert Einstein published the theory of special relativity in 1905 and the idea that gravity is related to the curvature of spacetime comes from Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which he published in 1915. Not that we needed to know this because it’s just Terrestrial Snake being a dick to our young master.
PR Note: Dang, Pure is a low key genius over here.
TL: Lol no, just took a bit of googling
