Chapter 48 Ocean City Citizens' Library
Mingzhao quickly went downstairs and returned to the driver's seat.
Today is the fourth day in the extremely warm sea area, and it should be time to find a service area.
The boat slowly came to a stop at the shore.
The sight before him made Mingzhao frown.
This island was the smallest she had ever seen in the game, and more importantly, she had never seen it in her previous life, nor had she ever heard anyone talk about it.
There is only one huge building on the entire island, shaped like an open book, with two symmetrical telescopes on it. Because the island is small, the building can be seen from the beach.
Mingzhao found it strange, especially the telescopes. Why were the two telescopes completely symmetrical? This meant that they were seeing in opposite directions.
In short, everything felt out of place.
Upon reaching the building entrance, the plaque above reads:
Ocean City Civic Library
Now Mingzhao was certain that he had never heard anyone mention the option of a service area or a library in his previous life.
The library's entrance is on the side; once inside, signs for various categories float in the air.
The interior of the library is much larger than it appears from the outside; it seems to stretch endlessly in every direction, as if it were an infinite space.
The signs cover a wide range of topics, including the history of various civilizations, the geographical environment of different sea areas, and biographies of some well-known figures from the city.
But what attracted Mingzhao the most were alchemy, martial arts, magic, potion-making, and other related fields.
The sense of incongruity resurfaced. The game "Great Voyage" is notoriously stingy with everything it gives out. Would it really be so kind as to lay out this seemingly endless resource in front of her for her to choose from?
As Mingzhao expected, just as she was about to go inside, a signpost suddenly appeared out of thin air and blocked her way.
An elderly sea hare wearing round-framed glasses, looking quite cultured, pushed up its glasses.
"Welcome to the [Treasure Hunt in the Sea of Books] event! This event aims to provide land dwellers with an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of maritime civilization and culture, and to promote friendly coexistence between land and sea people. The game will start after 50 players have been gathered. Please wait in the waiting area."
Following the sea hare's directions, Mingzhao then discovered that there were already more than twenty people in the blind spot behind the entrance.
Mingzhao did not transform into the Milk Dragon; no one knew what she truly looked like, and she went in without attracting anyone's attention.
Most players looked wary and kept their distance from other players.
Several players huddled together discussing the library's situation. Mingzhao listened carefully but found no useful information.
Twenty minutes later, all fifty people had finally gathered.
The old sea hare slowly brought the pupa over.
The rules for the "Treasure Hunt in the Sea of Books" are now announced.
[1. Before the game starts, 100 book keywords will be provided. These keywords may appear on the book cover or inside the book. Players are asked to find the books containing these keywords.]
[2. One point is awarded for each correct book, and one point is deducted for each incorrect book. Players can see their scores upfront. A warning will be issued if the total score falls below 0 during the game.]
3. At the end of the game, the player's final score will be calculated. A positive score of 50 points can be exchanged for any book in the library; a negative score will result in elimination.
4. Players are prohibited from talking to or attacking each other inside the library; violators will be instantly eliminated.
5. Correct books may not contain keywords, but incorrect books definitely do not contain keywords.
[6. The total game time is 2 hours. If you do not leave the library after the time is up, you will be eliminated.]
A strange sense of incongruity arose again; there were many inexplicable aspects to these rules.
For example, if a score below 0 is not penalized during the process, why is a warning necessary?
And this keyword—the correct book may not contain the keyword—does this mean that there are other methods to determine whether an item is correct?
Furthermore, you need a score of 50 to get a book. If you have to go through every book to find keywords, even if you find the right book every time, how can you possibly read 50 books in two hours?
Everything was strange, but there was no time for her to think beforehand; the game had already begun.
The players in the rest area scattered in a hurry, and Mingzhao, after glancing at the tags, chose the Maritime Civilization History area, which was most likely to have multiple words.
These one hundred words cover a very wide range, including proper nouns, emotional words, and verbs, making it impossible to find any pattern.
Mingzhao searched for half an hour before finding two books with the words "underwater cave" on their covers.
[Warning: Player [Jianbing Juan Da Long] has a score below 0.]
[Warning: Player [Pineapple Snow] has a score below 0.]
[Warning: Player [Down-on-his-luck Plumber] has a score below 0.]
...
In just half an hour, 11 warnings had been broadcast, which made Mingzhao feel a little strange.
If you only select books after finding keywords, the lowest score will be 0. Why do so many people end up with negative scores?
Then the sound of the sea hare came again.
[The number of incorrect books exceeds the number of correct books. Players are advised to search carefully and not rely on luck.]
Upon hearing this, Mingzhao instantly felt that he had grasped the crux of the problem.
In this game, what's the key to the algorithm for determining whether the total score is above or below 0? It's probability.
If you find the correct book more likely than the wrong book, your total score will be higher than 0.
Why can players get their scores in real time? If they only take the correct books, can't they calculate their own scores?
Therefore, there must be other solutions to this game, and these solutions must be related to probability.
Those 11 players must have thought of this as well, so they collected a lot of books, hoping to gamble on the possibility that there would be more correct books than wrong ones.
They just made the wrong bet.
Something is definitely missing in this process.
Thinking of this, Mingzhao returned to the guide platform and began asking questions about the sea hare.
Are these books randomly distributed, and is the proportion of correct books equal in each area?
"Yes, considering the fairness of the game, the distribution of the correct books is completely random."
Unexpectedly, the sea hare's response was very patient and gentle.
"So, what is the probability of finding the correct book?"
After asking this question, the sea hare's expression suddenly changed.
Through its thick, round-framed glasses, Mingzhao always felt that it was scrutinizing him.
"It's 0.4, the probability of getting the correct book is 0.4."
Upon hearing this number, Mingzhao already knew that her guess was correct.
Combined with the perfectly symmetrical book-shaped building seen earlier at the entrance, and the inexplicably symmetrical telescopes above it.
And why is the main entrance to the side of the library, even though it's supposed to be symmetrical?
The answers to all these questions were readily available.
She already knows how to solve the "Treasure Hunt in the Sea of Books" problem.
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