Lin Yu's attitude immediately changed after drawing his pistol. The young girl adjusted her sunglasses and gave an awkward smile.
"Aiya, Brother Nine Waters, I was just casually questioning... It was mostly meant as a joke."
"Actually, I basically believe your answer. It's just that after all that wasted effort earlier, I couldn't help feeling a bit unwilling!" Unforgotten said while making a "please continue" gesture.
"Let's go with your answer."
Lin Yu put away the pistol and looked at Crow-Man.
"Good, then... our answer is 'No matter how long, this room will never be completely filled with water.'"
He spoke calmly as Crow-Man turned to the other four.
"Do you all agree with this answer?"
The other four nodded in unison.
Their voices overlapped, with Unforgotten - who had just been "questioning" - sounding the most firm.
Hearing this, Crow-Man flapped its wings.
"Caw caw—Correct answer! Congratulations on your reward! I will eliminate one incorrect door option!"
As Crow-Man spoke, it turned around and touched the green door it had emerged from with its wing—and the door disappeared!
Then Crow-Man turned back.
"Caw caw, now for the second reward—"
It waved its wings, and then...
A new black square suddenly appeared in the center of the ceiling!
The square split open in the middle as two black trapdoors appeared and swung open, then...
An even larger torrent of water gushed out from the trapdoors.
For a moment, all five players froze.
They had naturally assumed that after the first question ended, the water outlets would stop again and the accumulated water would drain from the room.
But not only had the original water flow not stopped, now there was an additional outlet from the ceiling—with a flow rate nearly equal to the other ten outlets combined!
The water level began rising noticeably faster!
From this perspective, their earlier estimate of "about 55 minutes" for the room to fill wasn't entirely meaningless.
Because now... they could easily calculate that with the room filling much faster, their survival time was likely less than half an hour!
Considering they'd already wasted nearly five minutes answering the question.
Now they had less than fifteen minutes left.
Soon, the water in the room reached past their waists.
"What kind of reward is this?! This is punishment!" Iron Uncle couldn't help shouting angrily.
"Caw, this is indeed punishment... Although you answered the first question correctly, so I gave you a reward—but you took too long answering, so I'm also giving punishment—with this restriction, you should answer faster next time!"
As Crow-Man laughed, Iron Uncle's expression darkened further.
Number Eight also looked displeased.
"How can you do this?! You never said we'd be timed!"
He looked at the group and whispered: "Should I use my ability to make it shut off the water outlets... At least get it to close that huge one on the ceiling!"
Hearing this, Iron Uncle and April both seemed tempted.
Lin Yu frowned, about to speak up against it.
But Unforgotten beat him to it.
"Unnecessary. I don't think we should use your ability here—this is only the first room."
"At least wait until we're truly stumped by the second or third question in this room before using your ability to buy us time."
Unforgotten said playfully, then added: "Aiya, I assume everyone here can swim?"
Number Eight and April both shook their heads.
"We took swimming together in college," April said.
Iron Uncle also laughed: "I can swim too, been fond of it since my youth."
He could swim too—though not exceptionally well, floating in still water wasn't difficult.
Unforgotten's words essentially reflected his own thoughts.
This young girl had convinced the others for him, making Lin Yu view this 'Thief' in a slightly better light.
"Alright, let's not waste any more time," Lin Yu looked at Crow-Man. "Since you dislike wasted time too... then present your second question."
Hearing Lin Yu's request, Crow-Man spread its feathers and floated on the water's surface.
"Caw caw, then here comes the second 'reward-punishment question'..."
"With the increased water flow, you already know time is limited—so hypothetically, I'm assigning your group of five three tasks."
"These three tasks are 'crack the safe combination,' 'find the padlock key,' and 'turn the switch to close the black trapdoor.'"
As Crow-Man spoke, a projection of a safe appeared on the wall nearby.
Seeing Iron Uncle and Number Eight's eager expressions, Crow-Man cawed twice.
"Caw caw, interruption—these are just hypothetical tasks, you don't actually need to do them, so the trapdoor can't really be closed."
This dashed Number Eight and Iron Uncle's unrealistic hopes.
"Assume cracking the safe combination takes 10 minutes, finding the padlock key takes 12 minutes, and turning the switch to close the black trapdoor takes 15 minutes."
"Cracking the safe requires one person."
"Finding the key requires three people."
"Turning the switch requires two people."
"So—can you ensure no one drowns before the trapdoor is closed?"
Number Eight instinctively responded:
"Another elementary math problem?!"
This was even more classic than the pool-draining problem—a time allocation question!
Like brushing teeth while boiling water to "save time"... a problem type engraved in every elementary math student's DNA.
This time, no one treated it as just a simple math problem.
After their earlier lesson!
Even Number Eight, who had spoken without thinking, quickly realized and looked at Lin Yu.
"Nine Waters, is this question also fundamentally a 'word trap' question?"
Lin Yu shook his head.
"I'm not sure yet, but based on the last question, that possibility seems high."
Unforgotten nodded and said:
"But... we can't assume it definitely is a 'word trap' question either—after all, this game might intentionally do the opposite!"
"Using our expectations to make us think it's another word trap—when actually it's just a normal math problem this time. That possibility exists too."