Doomsday Wonderland - Chapter 257

Chapter 257: Silvan’s Discovery

"What? How do you know?" The siblings were shocked and couldn't help asking Lin Sanjiu the same question at the same time, almost inaudibly .

Lin Sanjiu steadied herself but she couldn't help peering out from the gaps between the bookshelves . White smoke rose from the previous attack and slowly spread out in front of Siri's work desk . Lin Sanjiu could see the shallow dent on the ground through the white smoke . Her gaze swept past the dent, landing on the multimedia section . She eyed the same spot for a few full seconds . 　　

"Because… It was too illogical for them to risk coming to the central hall just to ask that useless question . I couldn't help myself, so I tested my conjecture," she replied softly .
—
Lin Sanjiu already had an idea in the beginning . The first two questions she asked were what the people from the north, west and south wings wanted . From Siri's answer, there was no problem with those questions . Speaking softly and getting Siri to reply with the microphone was also part of her plan . She wanted to create a sort of false association for the teams from the four wings: "The skinless human doesn't have a microphone, so we can't hear her . But we can hear Siri because Siri has a microphone, so we can hear Siri's answer . "

Once people had a false association, it would become a cognitive blind spot . They wouldn't even consider the fact that posthumans could actually speak very loudly if they wanted to . Lin Sanjiu had learned this tactic from Hannie .

Truth be told, it was useful to exploit humans' natural cognitive biases .

When the woman from the south wing requested for Lin Sanjiu to ask Siri if the people from the east wing only posed one question, the situation changed .

After the woman from the south wing finished her sentence, Lin Sanjiu looked at Siri . This time, however, she did not parrot the question as per the audience expectations . Instead, she asked very softly and very quickly, "You can hear me right? Please do not use the microphone to answer . Please only provide your next answer to me . "

Lin Sanjiu's non-existent heart thumped loudly . Siri stared at her expressionlessly and pushed away the microphone . Lin Sanjiu felt her heart settling back in its place .

"No," Siri spoke very quietly as if she understood Lin Sanjiu's intentions, "The east wing team did not only ask one question . They asked me another question . "

Lin Sanjiu was so tense that her fingers starting feeling numb . It had only been two to three seconds since the woman from the south wing had asked her question . From an outsider's perspective, it looked as though Lin Sanjiu had just finished asking her question . That meant that Lin Sanjiu had the time to "cover up" her actions . A person can easily twist their question to receive a predetermined answer . "The team from the south wing only wanted me to ask that one question, right? Please use the microphone to answer me . "

"That's right . That's the only question," Siri answered with a voice that sounded almost pre-programmed . Her voice rang out clearly from the speakers and caused a round of commotion . Admittedly, Lin Sanjiu managed her timing very well so everyone believed that the answer was directed to the question posed by the woman from the south wing .

"Now, without using the microphone, please tell me the answer to the second question they posed . " Lin Sanjiu had never spoken so fast in her life . She was so nervous that it felt like her blood vessels were on fire . This was the main aim of her actions!

"I told them, 'The book, The Blooming Dawn, can be found in C section Bookshelf 76, 4th shelf, 7th book' . "

When Lin Sanjiu had just heard Siri's answers, she immediately realized that she been standing in the same spot for too long . Before she could say another word to Siri, she turned and rushed toward the bookshelves . She had just taken her second step when some unknown person from one of the teams had destroyed the spot she was at .
—
After they heard Lin Sanjiu's account, the siblings were a little stunned . However, they still couldn't figure out how she came to the conclusion that Silvan had found a book .

"You have the beginning and the end of the story, you just miss the clue in the middle . Come on, it's not that hard," Lin Sanjiu didn't spell things out for the siblings, she just gave them a vague hint . As the kids were still young, she felt that it was a crime to just spoon-feed them without giving them the opportunity to think .

Rena held the spine of a book unconsciously . She repeated softly, "The Blooming Dawn… The Blooming Dawn… It isn't one of the target books . Ah! Oh! Ah! I know!"

She suddenly cried out and her face turned red with excitement . At the same time, Reno quickly jumped up and pulled his sister, "No, let me explain!"

The siblings had figured out the intricacies within the answers at the same time .

"We were searching in the wrong place!" Reno muttered, his eyes fleeting across the rows of bookshelves and he fixed his gaze at the Multimedia section . "Siri doesn't know where the target books are but she knows the location of every book on these bookshelves . That's to say…"

"The target books are simply not on the bookshelves!" Rena could hold herself back and blurted out her conclusion .

Her brother could only swallow back his words, feeling a little disgruntled .

"That's right," Lin Sanjiu smiled . Even though her smile was a little scary, the kids seemed very encouraged by her reaction . "Silvan definitely came to the same conclusion . He must have found a target book in one of the non-book section in the east wing… But, we just don't know which book it is . "

"That's not it… Did you guys notice which direction the thing which attacked me came from?" she asked coolly .

"No… That thing did not travel in a straight trajectory . Instead, something like an explosion target suddenly appeared…" Reno said as he recalled what had happened, "It is impossible to know who attacked you . "

"I am about 80% confident that the person who tried to attack me was Silvan," Lin Sanjiu said mildly . "When I was in front of Siri, I spent about three seconds longer than average to ask that additional question . Considering his ability to think, he must have noticed that something was amiss . He wanted to scare me away—but he was a step too late . "

The two kids looked at each other and couldn't help feeling a little tongue-tied .

"Not only is he handsome, but he is a little difficult to deal with…" Reno said with almost a sigh .

"Let's ignore him . Anyway, he missed! There is no time to lose . Let's start searching in the non-books section," Rena gestured happily . "Isn't the multimedia section the best place to start!"

She was right . There were many non-books sections in the central hall: the entrance, Siri's work desk, the multimedia section, and the reading area with tables and chairs . The multimedia section was the closest to the bookshelves . They could reach that area after walking past bookshelf 100 . However, the multimedia section was directly under the second floor of the west wing .