Chapter 852: The Effect
"Never able to advance?"
Zhang Qiang's mouth fell open as he heard this.
"What do you mean...?" he asked incredulously. "If a 'Zodiac' can never advance... then why would they choose to become a 'Zodiac' in the first place? What's the logic...? What are they after?"
Aries thought for a moment and said, "For 'absolute safety.' As long as they don't break the rules, no matter how many times they die in the interview room, they'll always revive. That's 'safety.'"
"Absurd... absurd..." Zhang Qiang frowned slightly. "That's putting the cart before the horse... That can't be called 'absolute safety,' can it? It seems like they've found a place to hide themselves... If they're stuck in the room forever... then..."
"Listen to me." Aries glanced at the clock out of the corner of his eye as he spoke. "This entire city is a huge lie. Everyone says that after a 'Zodiac' becomes a 'Heavenly,' they can leave, but the truth is that no one can ever become a 'Heavenly.'"
As soon as he finished speaking, before Qi Xingchen and I could say anything, the Sheep behind him froze for a moment.
"What kind of joke are you playing... Aries..." Sheep said, his voice trembling. "Is what you're saying now another lie to fool us?"
"This one isn't," Qi Xingchen said. "And none of what I'm about to say next will be lies either."
"What do you mean...?" Sheep's eyes flickered. "If you're not lying, then the highest we can reach is 'Earthly,' is that it?"
"Yes." Aries nodded.
Sheep was silent for a long time, then reached out and grabbed Aries's arm. "You left a way out for those two, but what about me...? I don't want to be an 'Earthly' for the rest of my life."
"You, I have my own plans for." Qi Xingchen said. "As long as these two 'Participants' disappear, you'll naturally become an 'Earthly.' When that happens, you can wait for me in the position of 'Earthly.' As long as you live until that day, I'll take you down another path."
Hearing this, Sheep felt something was off. "Wait a minute... Aries, what do you mean 'wait for you'...? After these two disappear, won't you become an 'Earthly' too?"
"No, not now," Aries shook his head. "There are still many things I haven't dealt with. So I can't become an 'Earthly' yet."
"I'm getting confused..." Sheep swallowed. "You're an 'Interviewer' now. After everyone in the room disappears... can you choose not to become an 'Earthly'?"
"Don't ask about that," Aries sighed. "I have a lot to take care of, and time is tight. If you can all agree to this, then this might be the last time we meet here."
"You... wait a minute..." Sheep's expression turned a little tense. "You're not going to sell me out, are you? We killed the Dog together, and now you're going to vanish on me?"
"No, Sheep, listen to me." Aries reached out and placed his hand on Sheep's shoulder, then said softly, "Now I'm giving you my first piece of advice. When you become an 'Earthly,' you must set up your game venue in a very remote, deserted place. Never think about killing people. Try to drag out the time as much as possible."
"Drag out the time...?"
Aries nodded and continued, "If my guess is right, for a long time to come, there won't be any intelligent leaders appearing in this city. Even if someone unexpectedly forms an organization, they won't know the truth of this world. I'm not sure what they'll do. They might start hunting 'Zodiacs' like in other cities. If that happens, your situation will be dangerous. You know... in a place like this, even if the 'Leader' goes mad, the rest might follow him into madness."
"The 'Minnow Effect,'" I blurted out.
"What?" Aries looked at me.
"I... I said it's the 'Minnow Effect,'" I said quietly. "That concept is like a rule or theorem I read somewhere before."
Aries thought for a moment and said, "Interesting. Can you tell me about it?"
"Uh..." I hadn't expected someone like Aries to not know something, so I answered earnestly, "The 'Minnow Effect' says that minnows usually live in groups because they're weak as individuals, and they follow the strongest one as the leader of the school. If a person deliberately cripples a strong minnow, that fish loses its self-control and its movements become chaotic, but the other minnows still blindly follow it, going along with its disorder."
Aries nodded thoughtfully, then murmured to himself, "Right... that's good... that's excellent... Imprinting the name of a short effect into the subconscious is much more convenient to retrieve than complete knowledge..."
"What...?" I didn't quite understand and was momentarily stunned.
"Nothing." Aries stared at me. "Yan..."
"Zhichun," I said.
"Yan Zhichun. Where did you see these rules and theorems?"
"Uh..." I tried to recall. "Basically from all kinds of scattered books—economics, management, psychology, logical thinking, game theory, and so on..."
"Good, I understand." Aries nodded, as if calculating something in his mind.
At that moment, I felt Aries was even more terrifying.
I forced myself to read two books every week, just to keep up with the thinking of the strong, and take note of all the useful knowledge, all so that I would know more and be able to handle more tricky situations.
All those rules and effects from books had given me many insights in life.
But if Aries hadn't read that many books... it could only mean he was different from someone like me, who had to work hard and needed 'knowledge' as a weapon. His thinking was naturally that of a strong person.
I had only understood this truth after I grew up: some people learn from books how others built cars, while others can truly 'build a car behind closed doors.'
The Sheep on the side didn't seem to be listening to our conversation; he just scratched the mask on his face. His expression now was just as incredulous as when I had last seen him.
"Aries, how... how do you know so many secrets about this place?" he asked.
"Don't ask about that." Aries waved his hand to cut him off. "You just need to know... whether it's the 'Zodiac's' final mission 'Kill 3,600 people' or the 'Participant's' final mission 'Collect 3,600 Dao,' neither of them can be completed. Otherwise, you'll invite deadly trouble."
"We can't even collect 'Dao'...?" I asked again.
"Yes," Aries nodded. "Explaining it takes a long time, so I'll try to keep it brief."
What Aries said next once again exceeded my expectations.