Chapter 142: Truth Machine
This was the most bizarre stand battle Li Qing had ever witnessed since he traveled through time.
Although it was clearly a battle between stand-ins, both sides acted like contestants on a variety show on TV, sitting here and competing with each other in their knowledge reserves.
From the movement of celestial bodies to the trajectory of ocean currents, the history and literature of the East and the West, and the geographical environment of the world...
Adam and Fugo asked each other questions, each one more tricky and bizarre than the last, making the people around them feel overwhelmed.
Before we knew it, this strange question-and-answer challenge had reached its seventh round:
" Briefly explain what is the time dilation effect in special relativity?"
"This... let me think about it... In the theory of relativity, the scales of space and time change as the speed of the observer changes."
"That's correct."
"Pannakoda Fugo, please ask your question. The time limit is one minute."
Fugo's name appeared on the screen again, but Fugo, who had just successfully answered the seventh question, was already sweating profusely:
Why does this bespectacled uncle opposite seem to know everything?
At the beginning, Fugo was somewhat confident about this challenge:
Because human knowledge has developed to such an extent, its content has become so rich that it cannot be carried by a single human brain.
There is no omniscient and omnipotent person in the world. A person can only have a better understanding of his or her own professional field and can only have heard of other knowledge.
The same thing happened to Adam.
Indeed, his knowledge of most subjects was superficial, at the level of having read popular science books.
Most of the questions he asked Fugo were popular science knowledge that ordinary people could understand through self-study. They were not so professional that they required academic masters to answer them.
But the problem is that this guy has "heard" too much.
Like most of the children of wealthy families, Fugo's major in college was actually law, which was more inclined towards the humanities.
What embarrassed Fugo was that Adam seemed to have knowledge that was just as good as his in the area where he was best.
There was no other way. Fugo could only give up the idea of using his strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses, and then try his best to ask the other party questions about all the little-known facts in various fields that he knew.
But until now, Adam had no questions that he couldn't answer.
At the same time, the questions Adam asked him became more and more unfamiliar and tricky, making him increasingly unable to resist.
“Damn it…”
"Who would want to learn so much useless scientific knowledge if they have nothing better to do?"
Fugo grabbed his hair tightly, his expression extremely gloomy:
"We can't go on like this..."
"If I want to win, I have to at least come up with a question that he can't answer!"
At this moment, the countdown on the three-dimensional light screen was passing by second by second, silently urging Fugo to make a decision quickly.
"Why, can't you think of a suitable question?"
Adam urged in his leisurely tone, adding fuel to the fire.
"I…"
Fugo held his breath tightly, and finally asked a question:
“Please answer: How far is the end of the universe?”
As soon as the words fell...
The heavy book titled "Do You Know?" suddenly began to tremble violently in mid-air.
The beam of light projected from the open pages of the book suddenly became a hundred times stronger, and the chain connected to Fugo's brain began to slowly pull outward, as if it would drag his soul out of his body in the next second.
The stereoscopic screen then displayed the following
"There are violations in asking questions."
"Pannacoda Fugo, challenge failed."
"What?"
Fugo's face turned extremely pale.
The feeling of having the soul pulled out is not painful at all, but it can make people feel a kind of terror from the depths of their souls.
"What are you doing!"
"Isn't it a fair challenge?"
Feeling his body instantly turning cold, Fugo tried to concentrate his gradually blurry mind and roared unwillingly:
"You clearly didn't answer my question, so why do you consider me a failure?!"
"this…"
Adam was stunned for a moment, then he couldn't help laughing:
"Hahahaha, because you broke the rules!"
“Asking a question that you don’t know the correct answer to will result in a direct failure.”
“Nonsense!”
Fugo's soul seemed to be pulled out of his body.
The ethereal spirit body with golden light all over its body appeared in front of everyone.
He could no longer control his body, but just like his "soul clone" could speak, this did not affect Fugo's ability to speak directly with his soul:
“Who said I didn’t know the answer?”
“I know the answer to this question.”
"According to scientists' speculation, the diameter of the universe is finite, with a maximum diameter of 156 billion light years."
"The so-called end of the universe is 78 billion light years away from the center of the universe!"
"oh?"
Adam's expression remained unchanged after hearing Fugo's angry explanation:
"The answer is there."
"But are you sure that the knowledge you stumbled across in a third-rate popular science book is necessarily the correct answer?"
"Can mere humans really predict the future of the universe so accurately and precisely?"
"What you said is just the prediction of scientists. This answer may not be correct!"
Fugo's soul had been completely pulled out of his body.
He felt like a cockroach on the floor that accidentally encountered a vacuum cleaner and was being pulled into the open "book" by a strong suction force:
"asshole!"
"Do you know more about physics and mathematics than those scientists?"
"Their prediction is 156 billion light years. Why do you say this answer is incorrect?!"
"hehe…"
Adam pointed to the glowing book floating in front of him:
"Don't get me wrong."
"The challenge is absolutely fair. I am just a contestant and I do not have the authority to act as a referee."
"It is not me who makes the judgment, but my substitute, the book called "Do You Know?"
"To tell you the truth—"
His voice became extremely excited:
“This book is actually a truth machine.”
“It knows the answer to every question in the world and makes judgments based on that one true correct answer.”
"If the answer you believe in is wrong, even if it's unintentional, it will directly judge you as a foul failure."
"So..."
“When asking questions, never ask overly grand questions about the universe, time, and space.”
Adam showed a very cunning smile:
"These questions are beyond the ability of modern humans to answer."
"If we use our mortal brains to arbitrarily define the truth of the universe, the end result will only be that humans will be bitten by their own arrogance."
After hearing these words, Fugo's resentment still did not subside:
"No...why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"
"This is a scam, this is a scam, you are such a shady rat, I won't..."
Before the angry voice could spread in the air...
Just like someone suddenly pressed the flush button on the toilet, Fugo's soul was suddenly drawn into a turbulent vortex of light.
The vortex swallowed up his soul in an instant, and swept this defenseless soul back into the open book.
Finally, the vortex stopped and the light dissipated.
On the open pages of the book suspended in mid-air, the silhouette of Fugo's soul faintly emerged.
There is no way to stop...
Everyone could only watch helplessly as their companions' souls were sucked away by the strange book and turned into a lifeless, sleeping silhouette within the book.
And Li Qing took a closer look:
In that thick book, there is more than just the silhouette of Fugo.
There are four soul silhouettes on just one page, and from a distance it looks like a thick card collection album.
"Ha ha."
Adam said somewhat boastfully, "Did you notice that?"
"They are all challengers who lost to me because of their lack of knowledge. Of course, they are also my favorite collections."
“Appreciating the blank expressions of their ignorant souls on the pages of books is my favorite way to relax after boring technical work every day!”
"Asshole!" Naranja rushed forward in anger and grabbed Adam by the collar: "Let Fugo out quickly, or I will..."
"Kill me?"
Adam said calmly:
"I said, violence cannot solve the problem."
"Your friend's soul has now merged with this book called [Do You Know]."
"If you kill me, his soul will disappear from this world along with my double."
"If you don't believe me, you can try it yourself."
When he said this, there was no trace of guilt or lying in his voice.
Narancia increased the strength of his hands and even grabbed Adam's neck directly, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.
But this violence and injury did not make him feel any pain at all. Instead, he revealed a fanatical emotion: "Go ahead! This barbaric behavior cannot defeat me. I will die with the pride of the wise man and the soul of your friend!"
"Mad...you mad!"
Faced with Adam, who was as fearless as a dead pig, Narancia was at a loss as to what to do:
"So what do you want? What do you have to do to release Fugo?"
“It’s very simple.”
Adam spread his hands:
"Beat me. Beat me in the quiz challenge."
"The challenge is absolutely fair. As long as I fail the challenge and die, the souls of others will be liberated."
