The second round of the language test passed by everyone with a narrow escape. Of course, this "everyone" no longer included Qi Muhuan.
Ke Xun checked his pulse and found that he was still alive, but he couldn't be sure whether gagging Qi Muhuan was just a punishment or would eventually take his life. However, everyone was clearly too preoccupied to worry about him now, because the third round quickly followed the second.
In this round, the restrictions on words were further increased, with "和," "不," and "是" being added.
Everyone's nerves were stretched to the limit. Even Mu Yiran and Shao Ling stopped saying anything extra, carefully considering each word they uttered. As for the others, they had already started reciting names.
Despite this, Deng Lin was still penalized 10 seconds for violating the rules because one of the names he recited was Lu He.
After that, everyone persevered for several more rounds, and commonly used words such as "有," "的," "了," "要," and "到" were added to the list of restricted words.
After everyone finished reciting the names of people they knew or were familiar with, they began reciting the names of characters from books, movies, and television shows, even book titles, cartoon titles, and movie titles. The group struggled under these stringent rules.
After several rounds, the girl with long hair, the girl with long hair, Dong Yao, Luo Yi, and Wei Dong all made mistakes, each losing 10 or even 20 seconds. Dong Yao, who had already lost 20 seconds, made another mistake and became the second person to be punished.
Like Qi Muhuan, Dong Yao's upper and lower lips were tightly sealed with shredded flesh, eventually becoming a single piece of flesh on her face. Her delicate makeup was washed away by her tears, forming a grotesque mask on her face. Dong Yao cried her heart out, collapsing to the ground, and everyone was powerless to help.
The test continued. This time, even Ke Xun, Zhu Haowen, Fang Fei, and even Qin Ci made mistakes—or rather, their vocabulary and language skills dwindled.
There are over 100,000 Chinese characters, but only 5,000 to 7,000 are used in daily life. Thinking of different combinations of characters within 10 to 30 seconds seems easy, but it's actually quite difficult, especially after such a long period of intense mental strain, which inevitably leads to a decline in attention, concentration, and mental capacity.
For the first time, everyone realized how difficult it was to use language under such rigid and strict rules.
People always say that language and writing are the most beautiful creations of humankind.
But where is the beauty now?
Why are we so rigidly limiting it, avoiding it, and "harmonizing" it? Why not let it be free? Why not let it create more and better spiritual enjoyment?
Humans created writing, yet some people are both averse to it and trying to kill it.
The long and painful language ordeal finally ended after an unknown amount of time. The veteran members, relying on their past experience in painting, withstood the pressure at the most dangerous moment. The remaining three newcomers, guided by the veterans, also barely managed to hold on. When the timer on the screen finally stopped, everyone collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.
Dong Yao, whose mouth had been gagged, had also been knocked unconscious by Ke Xun to prevent her from running around in panic and endangering others. She was now lying quietly next to Qi Muhuan.
When the final round ended, all the text and images on the big screen disappeared, replaced by the dice that had appeared on the screen at the beginning.
"Does this mean... we have to keep rolling the dice?" Wei Dong looked at the screen weakly.
"Don't touch it…" Luo Jing waved his hand, exhausted. "Let's rest first. My head is about to explode. I have absolutely no energy left to think…"
Shao Ling looked at Mu Yiran and Qin Ci, then at Ke Xun, Zhu Haowen, and Fang Fei. Seeing that everyone's eyes conveyed the same meaning, he said, "Then let's not trigger that die for now. Everyone, let's rest and sort out a clue about the whole thing. We can't keep spinning the die endlessly and getting stuck in this crazy test."
"But I think only by constantly spinning the die can we possibly find the clue to the signature," Zhu Haowen said. "This should be related to the 'Does God roll dice?' that was shown on the screen earlier."
"You're right," Shao Ling said, "but I highly suspect that there will be even more difficult tests waiting for us after the dice are rolled. Through this so-called language test, it's clear that Cheng Shi is still deeply troubled by his son's death. He's poured that resentment into this painting. For example, this harsh and extreme language test is not unrelated to the school's educational system issues that his son complained about to him."
"Then we can speculate that the other numbers on this die may also represent something related to education," Qin Ci said.
"It's also very likely not entirely so," Ke Xun chimed in. "I think Cheng Shi's thinking was chaotic when he painted this picture. Don't forget he's a madman. I feel that his longing for his son outweighs his resentment over his son's death due to the education system. So I think the key to finding the signature isn't the education system, but how he finds his son."
"I agree with Ke Xun," Mu Yiran chimed in. "A madman's logical thinking is incomplete, and this is reflected in the painting, which is likely intricate and chaotic. But even if he was mad, the fragmented memories and cognitions in his mind that were destroyed were accumulated when he was mentally sound. Therefore, a deep analysis of his life, thoughts, and experiences can still help us find clues in his chaotic mental world."
"The problem right now is that we're trapped in this room. If this were a limited-edition painting, the signature could only appear in this room. But right now, the walls, ceiling, and floor are all bare. Obviously, the way to find the signature is to complete tasks, which means we have to keep spinning that die. Only by completing several tasks can we find clues to find the signature," Zhu Haowen said.
"The die is the key," Fang Fei said.
"Does God play dice? That's a nonsensical statement," Deng Lin had to join the discussion of the old members. "It's obviously the ravings of a madman."
"No, it's not madness," Mu Yiran said. "God does not play dice. That's a famous quote by physicist Albert Einstein, intended to oppose the randomness theory of quantum mechanics."
Ke Xun: "…Look at my thirsty little eyes."
Wei Dong: "I'll add my ID number."
Luo Yiran: "Then I'll just have to add my bank card number."
Being stared at by the group of academically challenged men, Mu Yiran suddenly felt a heavy responsibility. Just as he was about to organize his thoughts and change his language to something these three could understand, Zhu Haowen suddenly spoke up: "To put it simply, are all physical phenomena in nature random, or do they follow a regular trajectory like a pre-programmed sequence?
"In the early 20th century, two schools of thought emerged in the physics community. One school was called the 'orthodox school,' which argued that the fundamental nature of the physical world is randomness, or unpredictability."
"The other school of thought, let's call it the 'classical school,' represented by Einstein, believes that there is no true
randomness in the world; all physical phenomena follow laws, are interconnected, and operate according to predetermined trajectories. Therefore, Einstein's statement that 'God does not play dice' means that the Creator does not arbitrarily manage all things by rolling dice to obtain so-called 'random' numbers."
"I understand," Ke Xun nodded. "So, one group believes that everything in the world happens randomly and is unpredictable, while another group, represented by Einstein, believes that everything has its own laws, that everything is pre-programmed, that the 'cause' determines the 'effect,' and that the previous step determines the next step. Right?"
"Right," Zhu Haowen nodded.
"Isn't it obvious? Einstein is right," Wei Dong said. "Everything in the universe must exist according to laws. If everything were random, wouldn't that be chaos? The moon wouldn't revolve around the Earth anymore; today it revolves around Earth, tomorrow around Mars, and the day after tomorrow it's veering between Mercury and Jupiter. Who could stand that?"
"The key point is," Shao Ling also spoke up, "if there were no predetermined laws in the universe, and everything was random and disordered, it would be a fatal disaster for the human physics community."
"How so?" Ke Xun looked at him.
"What is science?" Shao Ling smiled. "Science is the study of exploring the laws of nature, researching the laws governing the changes in all things in the universe. If everything in the universe is random and disordered, then human science will come to an end, and all the crystallization of the thoughts and wisdom of scholars and intellectuals over thousands of years will become worthless. And the study of physics will become meaningless. The end of science and the collapse of physics would be the most desperate disaster for humanity."
"That's right," Wei Dong nodded, "So what's there for those people to argue about? Isn't it obvious whose viewpoint is correct?"
"And in fact," Zhu Haowen also smiled, "the final result of that debate proved that Einstein was wrong."
Wei Dong, Ke Xun, Luo Yi, and even Fang Fei and the three newcomers who had been listening all along, were all astonished upon hearing this.
"Wait, wait, wait," Wei Dong said incredulously, gesturing for a stop. "What did you say—Einstein was wrong? Who made that judgment? Who has the right and reason to make such a judgment?"
"It's a judgment based on facts, proven by countless experiments on quantum phenomena," Zhu Haowen said calmly, looking at him. "In fact, Einstein also acknowledged the randomness of quantum phenomena."
"So… the universe really has no rules?!" Wei Dong covered his face with his hands, his mouth agape in shock, mimicking Munch's "The Scream."
"I don't think it's that absolute," Zhu Haowen said. "Quantum physics studies phenomena in the microscopic physical world, the world of microscopic particles like atoms and electrons. But the matter in the macroscopic world is composed of billions of atoms, which cancel each other out, making it relatively stable and following certain rules."
"Aren't we going off-topic discussing science in a world dominated by supernatural forces?" Luo Jing scratched his head.
"I have a question," Ke Xun suddenly said. "So tell me, is this painting event we encountered random or governed by rules?"