Chapter 150
Chapter 150
Wei Sen observed the hall again. The walls here had to be made of some special material that transcended physics, which was why neither the seawater nor the frozen wasteland outside had any effect on the hall at all.
If she wanted to leave through the only door that might be the right one, the safest method was still to open it with a key and walk out.
“Well? Have you decided what you want?” the Cheshire Cat’s bewitching voice rang out again.
Wei Sen remained calm. “First, I want a key-the key that can open that little door. Second, I want a bottle of Shrinking Potion, one that will make me smaller after I drink it and return me to normal after one minute. For now, those two things.”
She tried to describe what she needed as carefully as possible, just in case what she received differed from what she had asked for.
Besides, this Cheshire Cat was actually thinking of eating her. It probably would not let her get what she wanted so easily.
The Cheshire Cat narrowed its eyes slightly. “Hee hee hee… Very well.”
As soon as it finished speaking, a key clattered onto the table in front of Wei Sen.
Wei Sen picked up the key and quickly opened the Mini Door. There was nothing wrong with the key. After the door opened, the outside was still pitch-black.
It seemed that to know what kind of world lay beyond this door, she would have to pass through it herself.
“Where’s the potion?”
“Hee hee hee, here it comes.”
The Cheshire Cat finished speaking, and a bottle of potion that looked almost like milk appeared out of thin air on the table.
Wei Sen was just about to step forward when she saw the potion multiply across the table as if someone had hit copy and paste-two bottles, four bottles, eight bottles… more and more of them.
In the end, there was no room left on the table, and neat rows of identical potions began appearing out of thin air on the floor as well. Before long, aside from the empty circle around where Wei Sen stood, every other spot was packed full of potions.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Wei Sen snapped, looking sharply at the Cheshire Cat floating in the air.
“Hee hee. You said you wanted one bottle of Shrinking Potion that would make you smaller after drinking it and let you recover after one minute. I fulfilled your request.
“There are now one thousand bottles of potion here. The one bottle of Shrinking Potion you asked for is among them.
“Of course, because you only asked for one bottle, the other nine hundred and ninety-nine bottles are all Poison. The moment even a single drop touches your lips, you’ll bleed from all seven orifices and die from the deadly Poison! Hee hee hee!”
Sure enough. She had known this sly cat would not help her leave so easily.
“Don’t forget, there’s still one thing I haven’t asked for,” Wei Sen said, perfectly composed.
The Cheshire Cat’s gaze grew even more sinister. “Hee hee hee. Very well. What else can you ask for? You can’t ask for something you’ve already asked for, you know! And if it’s far too reasonable, I won’t be able to give it to you.”
Wei Sen glanced at the little door. Even an S-Rank Anomalous Artifact like the Ghost Axe probably could not damage these walls in the slightest. So if she wanted to get out, she still needed that one-in-a-thousand bottle of potion.
One thousand bottles. How was she supposed to accurately find the right one…
And the rest were all Poison. One sip and she would drop dead.
The Cheshire Cat watched Wei Sen sink into thought and burst into laughter in midair, clutching its belly.
“Hee hee hee! Human flesh that dies from Poison tastes bitter, but I like bitter things! Hee hee hee hee!
“I’m so hungry, so hungry~ I’ll give you one last ten minutes. Once time is up, if you still haven’t left this place, then I’m digging in.”
“Listen.” Wei Sen’s eyes brightened slightly as she thought of how to break this game. She looked solemnly at the Cheshire Cat. “This time, I want ten mice.”
“Mice?!” The Cheshire Cat looked disgusted. “I don’t eat mice. I want to eat you!”
“They’re not for you to eat. You’d better listen carefully to my request,” Wei Sen said.
“Fine. Go on.” The Cheshire Cat reclined in the air, its glossy black eyes fixed firmly on Wei Sen.
“Ten mice. They must have absolute Poison resistance and be able to understand my instructions.”
“They’re only ten measly mice. Fine, I’ll give them to you. Even if each mouse helps you test a hundred bottles of potion, you’ll only have a one-in-ten chance of finding the right one. Alice, I don’t believe your luck is that good.”
With that, the Cheshire Cat tore a handful of smoke from its own body and tossed it into the air. In an instant, ten little white mice with red eyes appeared before Wei Sen.
They dropped to the floor in quick succession, then came before Wei Sen like obedient servants.
The Cheshire Cat propped its chin in midair and watched Wei Sen, saliva already gathering in its mouth.
Wei Sen crouched down and looked at the ten mice in front of her.
“Can you understand me?”
The ten mice nodded repeatedly.
“Next, I need you to do this…”
The Cheshire Cat watched Wei Sen whispering with the ten mice. It floated over to the clock hanging in the hall and reminded her, “You have nine minutes and thirteen seconds left.”
After Wei Sen finished speaking to the mice, the ten mice quickly moved the table aside. Together with Wei Sen, they arranged the one thousand bottles of potion into a neat twenty-by-fifty grid.
“You have seven minutes and twenty seconds left.” The Cheshire Cat bared its sharp claws, tracing through the air as if imagining how to split her belly open with a single strike.
Wei Sen looked at the mice and ordered, “Go!”
At her command, the mice rushed toward the potions.
The Cheshire Cat watched as the swarm of mice darted rapidly among the one thousand bottles. They opened caps, dipped their fingers in to taste, then quickly scurried to the next bottle to keep testing. It looked like utter chaos, without the slightest method to it.
“Hee hee hee, you have your final ten seconds!” the Cheshire Cat said, drifting toward Wei Sen.
By then, all ten mice had returned to Wei Sen’s feet. One of them had already shrunk to the size of a fingernail.
The Cheshire Cat pinched up the miniature mouse, tossed it into its mouth, and crunched it noisily. “Oh, appetizer’s done. Now it’s your turn.”
“Sorry, but I’ve already found the potion.” As Wei Sen spoke, she selected one bottle from the thousand with perfect accuracy.
The Cheshire Cat clearly did not believe her. “Stop stalling. With that messy nonsense you just pulled, how could you possibly find the potion?!”
“Binary. Ever heard of it?”
“Bi… nary? Is that some professional term you humans use?”
Wei Sen said calmly, “Number the one thousand bottles from one to one thousand, and represent each number in ten-bit binary.
Each of the ten mice corresponds to one bit in the binary number.
For each bottle of potion, based on its binary representation, have the mice corresponding to the bits marked one taste a tiny amount.
At the end, observe which mice have shrunk.
Set the bits corresponding to the shrunken mice to one and the rest to zero. Combine them into a binary number, then convert it to decimal. That gives you the number of the Shrinking Potion.
This method ensures that the one and only Shrinking Potion can be accurately identified in a short time through a single parallel test.”
Seeing the Cheshire Cat’s confused expression, Wei Sen explained again, “Suppose bottle thirteen is the Shrinking Potion. Thirteen in binary is 0000001101.
Then I would have the mice representing bits one, three, and four drink from it.
If those three mice shrink and the others don’t, the result combines to 1101, which equals thirteen. That means bottle thirteen is the target.”
The Cheshire Cat was stunned. “So… it can be done that way…”
Wei Sen downed the potion in her hand in one breath. A moment later, her body began to shrink.
She only had one minute. She had to move fast!
With that thought, she hurried toward the little door.
Suddenly, a cloud of smoke appeared in front of the door, and a huge cat face wearing an Eerie Entity smile blocked her path.
“But I’m hungry, Alice. I’m hungry. I need to fill my belly…”
“You’re going back on your word?!” Wei Sen stared coldly at the Cheshire Cat before her.
Its eyes were filled with greed. It licked its lips and stared straight at her, looking as though it wanted to swallow her alive at any moment.