Chapter 1053: Infinity
"This is the last question." Snake said as he turned to the last page.
It was the longest and most abstract question of all.
The two sat up straight, no longer caring much about the fate of the "word" at this point, simply looking forward to what information the third question would bring.
Snake cleared his throat. "Suppose there is an infinitely large room, with infinitely many monkeys inside, and in front of them are infinitely many typewriters..."
"Little Jin," Chen Junnan turned his head and said, "I know this one. Just study it."
Snake shook his head and continued, "The room owner's goal is to have these monkeys randomly type on the typewriters over an infinite amount of time. Here, we ignore any issues of food, water, or lifespan, until one monkey continuously and uninterruptedly types out a pure English version of *Macbeth*."
"Got it." Chen Junnan nodded.
Kim Wonhoon nodded along beside him, understanding vaguely.
Snake: "When a monkey actually writes *Macbeth*, the room owner can take away this masterpiece and claim that he has discovered a method to turn monkeys into literary giants, thereby gaining endless wealth and power."
"Uh..." Chen Junnan felt the story starting to go off track; he didn't seem to have heard this part before.
Snake shifted the topic at this point. "But here's the problem. Suppose during this infinite time, the owner discovers that the monkeys haven't typed *Macbeth*, but instead have only produced simple English words, like 'APPLE,' and he rewards that monkey, calling it a 'worder.' Naturally, later on, 'sentence-makers' also appeared."
"Great." Chen Junnan sighed. "This question is about to go into territory I don't understand."
Kim Wonhoon looked even more bewildered, his expression more confused than before.
"The owner believes that although humans and monkeys don't share a language, the 'worders' and 'sentence-makers' will guess why they were rewarded. When many 'worders' and 'sentence-makers' gather together, they can string words into sentences and accumulate sentences into passages, and what they create will infinitely approach *Macbeth*."
"And then...?" The two felt like they were listening to an unbelievable story, both of them monkeys being manipulated within it.
"Unfortunately, this matter is beyond the owner's control. For example, if a monkey discovers that typing 'CAT' earns a reward, it will only ever type 'CAT.' Those three letters are the simplest and least error-prone way for that monkey." Snake said. "The room owner seems to have started realizing this problem, so he begins canceling all rewards."
"What the hell..." Chen Junnan blinked. "Wouldn't that drive the monkeys crazy?"
"The monkeys aren't crazy." Snake replied. "They are, after all, monkeys, so they quickly forget all of this and start typing again in cycles. But the owner also finds that if he doesn't give rewards when they type words or sentences, the next time they won't even be able to type those words or sentences. His goal becomes infinitely distant. Although time is infinite, no one wants to wait forever in infinity. So the owner also starts cycling: he issues rewards, then reshuffles again and again."
"In other words... originally, the human trapped the monkeys, but now the monkeys have trapped the human in turn." Chen Junnan said thoughtfully.
"That's what's written in the question." Snake nodded. "After all, if animal rights activists found out about these infinite monkeys, the room owner would face enormous trouble. So he can't let the monkeys go; he has to keep them trapped. Many times it's like this... If you achieve success using animal experiments, you'll win flowers and applause. If you can't achieve success, it's animal cruelty, and you'll face punishment."
"Damn, so this is a realistic scenario?" Chen Junnan asked.
Kim Wonhoon took a deep breath after hearing this and said, "Brother... what's the question in your story?"
"The question is..." Snake looked at the notebook and said, "When the room owner decides to abandon this room... as one of the infinite monkeys, how can you lead all the monkeys to escape from under human control?"
Chen Junnan and Kim Wonhoon were stunned for a moment, feeling that this question seemed to have no definite answer.
Even if they could come up with a plan, Snake would have to judge it based on his own experience.
Before the two could speak, Snake slowly closed the notebook and tossed it onto the table.
"Those are infinite monkeys," Snake said. "Not only do they have infinite lives, but also infinite numbers... Once they are released into human society, won't human society completely collapse? No... even if they are released into a forest, the forest will disappear in an instant..."
Chen Junnan and Kim Wonhoon felt that Snake wasn't really asking a question; he wanted to discuss this ultimate question concerning the "Land of Endings."
A group of scarred, death-defying people with extraordinary abilities—could they really be released back into society?
They were out of place among humans, like infinite monkeys.
If they actually got out, they would be scattered across different time periods, different social strata, and different cities, having an unknown impact on the entire world.
This might be the most tragic question for everyone—they wanted to escape, but no one would welcome their escape.
After escaping with the memories and abilities of the "Land of Endings"... how could they ever return to a normal life?
"So 'escape' really isn't the only path," Chen Junnan said.
"Hmm?" Snake's eyes flickered, pulling back from his faraway thoughts. "Elaborate."
"In your story... besides escaping, the monkeys clearly have a second path." Chen Junnan pointed at the notebook on Snake's desk.
"Such as?"
"Such as flawlessly writing *Macbeth*."
"What..." Snake was taken aback. "Is that also a path...?"
"Though it's far and arduous, it seems like the safest path." Chen Junnan said. "In the scenario you described, once a monkey writes *Macbeth*, all the other monkeys in the story are considered its colleagues, and they too will be adopted and treated well. And the monkey that wrote *Macbeth* will become a shining star, so much so that even the room owner wouldn't dare discard it."
Snake remained silent after hearing this, feeling that this path seemed far too difficult.
"The room owner can tell whether a monkey has written *Macbeth*, which means he knows the content and style of *Macbeth*." Chen Junnan said. "The monkeys can start by learning human language, eventually understand the room owner's goal, and perfectly replicate *Macbeth* according to his instructions."
"Wait a second..." Snake was stunned.
"Brother Snake, don't you think it's easier to have a monkey learn human language in a finite amount of time than to have infinite monkeys typing on keyboards for infinite time?"