Chapter 979: Thanks to the Reference Material, I Can Stay Alive
"Shh."
Philibert raised a finger and placed it on his smiling lips.
"Yes, you are indeed my reference material," he said softly, shaking the A4 paper in his hand. "But I can"t let others know."
Lin Sanjiu glanced at the Special Item that looked like a white paper in his hand.
"Because there is a possibility that you released the pocket dimension, as soon as I entered the pocket dimension, I immediately set you as my reference material," Philibert explained his Special Item with surprising patience—perhaps it was also a way for him to intimidate Lin Sanjiu. "...From the beginning of recording, your main actions and the thought process behind them are collected as reference materials in this paper. It can even provide a.n.a.lysis and suggestions based on this information."
This guy actually had something good in his hands.
"So, after observing you for a while and considering the information in the reference material, I can basically confirm that this pocket dimension has nothing to do with you," Philibert said, seemingly a little regretful. "Unfortunately, I thought killing you would be the simplest and most effective solution, but it seems that won"t work."
"What information led you to that conclusion?" Lin Sanjiu wanted to delay for as long as possible.
"It"s actually quite simple."
The middle-aged man shrugged, his wet gray-black s.h.i.+rt clinging to his skin and billowing up with his movements. "After entering the pocket dimension, it was inevitable that the five of us would team up against you. When I heard the rules of the pocket dimension, I found it strange... Why four boats? And based on the a.n.a.lysis from my reference material, all your actions pointed towards one goal—creating division among the five of us."
He paused and put away the paper.
"This is something that is difficult for you to achieve with your current conditions."
His explanation wasn"t clear and straightforward, but as Lin Sanjiu bit her lip and pondered for a moment, she immediately understood his meaning.
If the pocket dimension was indeed released by Lin Sanjiu, then the pocket dimension rules would be extremely unfavorable for her as well. If there was only one st.u.r.dy boat, the five-person group would almost immediately start killing each other, and as the first target, she would undoubtedly be in great danger. She would put herself in an extremely disadvantageous position, with the only action she could take being to create division among the five-person group. However, as Philibert had said, it wasn"t very successful. No matter how she looked at it, it didn"t align with her own interests.
"I already said it wasn"t me who released the pocket dimension."
Lin Sanjiu was well aware that this was not the answer Philibert was expecting.
The middle-aged man gave a sarcastic "Hmm" through his nose, pondering for a few seconds.
As the two fell into a momentary silence, the man with the drooping face who had sunk into the lake along with the pedal boat finally struggled and climbed back up. Amidst his coughing and cursing, he seemed to have climbed onto another pedal boat. By now, the water level had risen to the point where it was pressing against their breathing. The others had no choice but to enter the pedal boats, and one after another, they pa.s.sed by with the sound of footsteps. .h.i.tting the boats, as if a gust of wind blew through the pedal boat graveyard, gradually dispersing.
"You see, I can easily kill two people now," Philibert suddenly spoke, redirecting Lin Sanjiu"s attention.
"Once two people are gone, everyone will calm down and start looking for boats honestly." He smiled and suddenly banged on the seat beneath him twice. "By the way, these two boats have been here for two or three minutes and haven"t sunk yet. It makes people can"t help but want to try stepping on them to go back."
Before she could answer, the middle-aged man continued, "I already know which two people to get rid of. One is you, and the other is that droopy-faced... Lewis. I don"t like that person. But do you know why you can still sit in the duck boat and breathe comfortably?"
"Because you want to know what Natasha discovered underwater?"
"Not only that." Philibert spread his hands. "The real reason is that it"s not yet time to start killing."
"The time to start killing?" When is that?
Lin Sanjiu furrowed her brows, but before she could speak, Philibert glanced at his wrist.w.a.tch and smiled at her. "Well, tell me what Natasha discovered underwater. If you tell me, you"ll have at least 7 more minutes to live. If you don"t tell me... should I continue speaking?"
"Not only that, but Natasha was also searching for something in the water, precisely because she realized this," Lin Sanjiu hurriedly said. "Think about it, if she finds a piece of plastic, like a seat back, in the water, she can avoid all the boats with damaged seats. Because at this point, the probability of a boat sinking is significantly higher if it has a damaged seat compared to a boat without one... And she was searching for different fragments of boats to increase the criteria for selecting a boat and eliminate as many boats as possible!"
Natasha immediately exclaimed something in a language Lin Sanjiu couldn"t understand.
However, Philibert remained silent—Lin Sanjiu didn"t know if he was also considering the same thought.
Her speculation seemed plausible, but the man named Lewis, who seemed unharmed, had sunk on a boat.
There must be a way to distinguish between good and bad boats in this pocket dimension, but... what is it exactly?
Philibert contemplated for a while and sighed.
"Everyone, please listen to me for a moment," the middle-aged gentleman called out, standing up from the boat and bending over slightly. "Look, the boats are placed so closely together that we can walk from one boat to another without any issues, right? So, I would like to add a new rule... you can consider me a part-time pocket dimension host."
He sighed again.
"Now, I hope each of you can get into as many boats as possible, sit or jump in them for a few seconds, and if there are any signs of sinking, switch to another boat. This is not just for me, but for all of us... There are six of us in total, and if each person can eliminate twenty boats, we can remove a total of 120 wrong options. That would be a significant improvement."
Lin Sanjiu understood.
No wonder Philibert spared her life and didn"t kill any of the group members—apparently, he wanted everyone to test the boats for him. But regardless of whether they could eliminate 120 wrong options or not, Philibert would undoubtedly eliminate two people swiftly after seven minutes.
It was now the 22nd minute of the pocket dimension. Before he mortgaged his Special Item and renewed it for the second time, Philibert would surely take action. There was only that short minute when he "should kill someone."
But... even if Lin Sanjiu understood, what could she do about it?
Did she have the right to give up those seven minutes of her life?