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墨書 Inktalez
Before Jiang He lay two buttons, representing two choices. Pressing the red button would mean Shui Xinlan's death, while pressing the blue button would result in the deaths of one hundred thousand citizens in the square. For Jiang He, this was a dilemma. Before joining the project team, Shui Xinlan had been his only friend, and he did not want anything to happen to her. However, one hundred thousand lives were at stake; if they truly perished, it would be the most severe crime in the history of the nation.
One hundred thousand lives versus one life—what should he choose?
At this moment, Jiang He felt unusually calm, yet this very calmness made him feel like a freak. Perhaps deep down, he believed there was no difference between the death of one hundred thousand people and that of one person; neither could stir any emotion within him. Despite his desire to think like a normal person, he regrettably had yet to find the feelings he had long sought.
Old Shao watched Jiang He with an expressionless face. For a moment, he felt dazed. Jiang He's parents had died in a gas explosion, and Old Shao had been responsible for investigating that case. Back then, Jiang He was just a six-year-old child, and now, twenty years had passed in the blink of an eye.
This might belong to the realm of philosophy, but Old Shao had lived through three twenty-year spans. In just an hour and a half, it would be a new year. This thought filled Old Shao with a sense of nostalgia—a feeling that things had changed while some remained the same. When Old Shao was ten years old, there were as many bad people as good ones; now at sixty, it was still the same.
The world remained unchanged from what Old Shao had seen in his youth.
"It's half past ten," Shi Xu said as he glanced at his watch. "A timed bomb is called a timed bomb because it will explode eventually, even without a remote control. Of course, you still have half an hour to think about it. After half an hour, it won't matter what you consider."
Jiang He stared into Shi Xu's eyes and voiced his suspicion: "While I may not understand radio signals well, I do grasp a simple principle: the farther away something is that you want to control, the more likely it is to go out of control. You are a meticulous person, especially today. I have a sixty percent certainty that Shui Xinlan is actually here in this square with those one hundred thousand people."
A smile crept onto Shi Xu's lips as he replied, "You seem to have a point; you appear to know me well. Why don't you continue?"
Jiang He continued: "Since you've chosen to sit here, it means you're careful enough not to be affected by the explosion. This place is very close to the square, so your bomb must not be too large; it’s likely a directional bomb. The square is quite spacious; if you want to plant a bomb there, you must find somewhere to conceal it—perhaps in the drainage system or sewer!"
Jiang He turned to Old Shao and said, "The fountain in the square or the sewer could be hiding places for the bomb."
Old Shao nodded but did not take action. He spoke up: "Shi Xu, since you want to play this game with us, it should be fair for it to be enjoyable. If we’ve guessed that the bomb is in the sewer, then you've already lost. If you threaten us with one hundred thousand lives and prevent us from alerting anyone, then this game seems impossible to continue."
"Naturally," Shi Xu nodded in agreement. "It's ten thirty-five now; there are still twenty-five minutes left. If you think you can make it in time and want to do something, go ahead. I’ll stick with my simple statement: press the red button and Shui Xinlan dies; press the blue button and one hundred thousand people die—it's that simple."
"Actually, I would like to see what a spectacular sight it would be if a hundred thousand people died together in this square." Shi Xu took a gentle sip of coffee, appearing relaxed and carefree.
Upon hearing Shi Xu's words, Old Shao finally put on his earpiece openly and said, "Xu Yiman, while you are evacuating the crowd, order the demolition team to check all the sewers around the square. The bomb is likely hidden in the drainage channels surrounding the square."
Xu Yiman quickly responded, "I understand. You and Jiang He..."
"It's fine, just focus on your tasks," Old Shao replied.
"Understood," Xu Yiman answered.
Shi Xu waited quietly until Old Shao finished speaking before he spoke up, like an elegant gentleman who didn't want to interrupt others' conversations. "Hmm, very good. What were we talking about again?"
"Shui Xinlan," Jiang He replied.
"Oh." Shi Xu slapped his forehead. "You see, someone with hyperthymesia is different; they can recall many things at any time. I can't do that anymore; I feel like my brain is getting worse. Speaking of Shui Xinlan, her boyfriend is really quite disappointing."
"What do you mean?" Jiang He asked.
Shi Xu replied, "Someone as busy as you naturally wouldn't pay much attention to an ordinary college student, a regular girl's romantic life. Just before the holiday, Shui Xinlan's boyfriend cheated on her and slept with her best friend. Shui Xinlan was heartbroken and decided not to go home this year."
"I didn't know that," Jiang He said. "She's my tenant."
Shi Xu nodded. "Of course you wouldn't know anything. Because you wouldn't notice that every ordinary person has their own unspoken struggles and twists and turns. The world isn't made up of people like us; we are just a minority and an anomaly in this world. This world belongs to countless people like Shui Xinlan."
"Are you really going to kill her?" Old Shao asked.
Shi Xu sipped his steaming coffee lightly. "It's precisely because there are too many people like that in this world that the death of one or two, or even ten thousand, a hundred thousand, doesn't make much of a difference to it. Jiang He, do you agree with my view?"
"No, I don't agree," Jiang He replied firmly.
Shi Xu burst into laughter, pointing at the crowd outside. "Look at those people out there. Ordinary workers doing jobs that countless others could replace. Housewives repeating the same routine of cooking and cleaning every day. Mediocre students who neither excel nor misbehave, just lethargically going through the motions."
"No," Old Shao interjected. "To you, ordinary workers are someone's boyfriends, filling another person's heart. The seemingly dull housewives have their own hobbies and interests. Those mediocre students have close friends."
"What you see is what you are. The lifeless world you perceive is, to me, a beautiful one."
Shi Xu extended a finger and shook it. "No, no, no. You all secretly agree with me; you just don't dare to express it. I can see through your hearts; in reality, you are just like me."
"Jiang He," Shi Xu fixed his gaze on him and said, "tell me, as Shui Xinlan's landlord and a clever detective who notices details others overlook, why can I see that Shui Xinlan has experienced heartbreak while you cannot?"
Jiang He furrowed his brow; this question left him momentarily speechless.
Shi Xu smiled slightly. "Because you don't want to see it, so you don't. It's not that you're deliberately ignoring it; it's that in your subconscious, you've automatically overlooked it. To you, what serious matters could a female college student have besides love? Even if you noticed it, you wouldn't care. Because we are all the same; subconsciously, we don't really care about these people."
"Nonsense," Jiang He countered.
"You can't just shout two powerful words without reason, can you?" Shi Xu laughed as he tapped the table. "Just admit it; there's no need for pretense here. How do you feel about those ordinary people who die in every case? I dare say that deep down, you feel nothing at all."
Shi Xu's eyes were like a machine gun, constantly firing at Old Shao and Jiang He. "Admit it, you feel nothing inside, just like the vast majority of indifferent people in this world. The sympathy and regret you express are merely what you think you should feel in this situation; they are not your genuine thoughts. You have been deceiving yourselves. For us, as beings of absolute rationality, this is quite normal."
After Shi Xu finished speaking, there was a moment of silence among the crowd.
Were Shi Xu's words right or wrong? Old Shao often saw people's sorrow and grief for the innocent lives lost on social media. Yet behind those candles might lie indifferent faces. In this digital age, sadness and regret seemed to be a luxury.
"This is the world you want, isn't it?" Old Shao turned to look at the square.
The people in the square had not dispersed; they were jostling and shouting. Through his earpiece, Old Shao heard remarks like:
"I'm not leaving! Why should I? Why isn't anyone else leaving?"
"Who are you? What's wrong with the police? Can they just chase people away?"
"What's going on? We're still waiting to see the fireworks. Now we can't even set off firecrackers; does that mean we can't watch the fireworks either?"
Turning back, Old Shao looked at Shi Xu's seemingly amused face. In that moment, he suddenly felt that perhaps Shi Xu was right. What exactly is human nature? At sixty years old, Old Shao still did not understand.
"There's still ten minutes left," Shi Xu said. "Stop daydreaming; you have to choose between a hundred thousand people and Shui Xinlan or Jiang He."
Jiang He simply replied, "There are still ten minutes; I think we have time."
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