Ch37 - Forks

Xiao Jinyu lowered his hand.

In the air, the three logic factors that floated around his right hand and no longer spun, gradually disappeared. 

The first time Xiao Jinyu had seen these three logic factors was the day he had awakened his logic skill.

When he found out that he had awakened his logic skill, the first thing he did was to check if there were any logic factors on his mom. Although he didn’t know whether the pollutants Qi Simin and Li Xiaotong mentioned would contaminate through logic factors, but if there weren’t any on his mom, then he could at least have another reason to comfort himself that his mom’s strange appearance had nothing to do with logic skills and that his mom wasn’t a pollutant.

However, he saw black logic factors on his mom’s neck.

After that night’s event, Xiao Jinyu locked himself in his room and explored his logic skill ability. 

Fourth Perspective, as it’s name suggests, lets him see logic factors. Otherwise, in the infirmary of the subway station, Xiao Jinyu wouldn’t have been able to evade the detection of the detector and successfully concealed the fact that he had awakened his logic skill.

Xiao Jinyu tried many different ways, but he couldn’t find another way to use Fourth Perspective. Just as he thought that his ability was only “to see logic factors”, those three logic factors suddenly appeared on his wrist, rotating exactly the same was as White Garden’s logic skill.

No one would blame Xiao Jinyu for thinking he had “stolen” White Garden’s logic factors, anyone who didn’t understand the world of logic skills and encountered a situation like that would also mistake that those three logic factors were White Garden’s—

They were really the same.

So it wasn’t until now that Xiao Jinyu finally understood that those three logic factors didn’t belong to White Garden at all.

From the beginning to the end, they belonged to him.

…

Taking out his phone from his pocket, Xiao Jinyu looked down at his user information in the Grow Some Brains APP. 

[User ID: Fourth Perspective]

[User Level: Three]

His eyes stopped on the two words “level: three” for a moment, thinking, before he put his phone down. Before the phone light completely turned off, his sight moved across the line “User Rank: B07”, but he didn’t dwell on it for long. Xiao Jinyu calmly put his phone in his pocket.

…It was a bit weird. 

According to 004, the user levels weren’t determined by it. 004 didn’t purposefully differentiate their logic skills, instead, they were grouped by Haidu’s Logic Research Institute.

Ten years ago, Haidu’s Logic Research Institute discovered the hierarchical differences between logic skills and divided them into seven levels. After 004 was captured by humans, it also recognized the hierarchical standard determined by humans and so it followed that standard on the Grow Some Brains APP.

A logic skill was split into seven levels, level one being the lowest and level seven being the highest.

And within it, the criteria for level three… 

Xiao Jinyu recalled: “Have a clear understanding of the cause and effect of the logic skill and can also clearly define the forks on the logic skill.”

All level three users and clearly explain what their logic skill is, including the cause and effects of it. Even more, they can also explain all the forks on their logic skill.

Taking the level three user Meat King as an example, when he was at level one, Meat King was aware that he had awakened a logic skill, but he didn’t know a lot about this logic skill. He could perceive that ‘eating roasted pork’ was part of his logic skill, but he wasn’t clear on what the effect would be.

Once he got to level two, he knew that ‘eating roasted pork would then lead to a clear day the next day’. He would be proficient in using his logic skill yet he wouldn’t know the details of his logic skill. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Until he kept thinking, becoming a level three user.

Pc atflg rtbga mjii, Zfja Blcu mifjgis abiv Wljb Alcse ktja rqfmlolmjalbcr atf gbjrafv qbgx tjv ab yf, remt jr tbk ibcu la tjv ab yf mbbxfv obg jcv ktja lcugfvlfcar cffvfv ab yf erfv.

Sjalcu gbjrafv qbgx kjr Zfja Blcu’r ibulm rxlii’r mjerf.

Ktf cfza vjs yflcu mifjg kjr Zfja Blcu’r ibulm rxlii’r foofma. 

And the specifications of the meat, the way it’s cooked and the ingredients used… these were all the forks on Meat King’s logic skill.

A logic skill was just like a tree with a lot of branches.

The cause is the tree’s trunk and the effect is the top of the tree. The forks are then the branches stretching out from the tree.

When the user completes the simple ‘cause’, most of the time the logic skill will run normally and steadily move towards the ‘effect’. It’s like the nutrients that are steadily transported from the roots of the tree to the top. 

But there is also a small possibility that suddenly, the branches wouldn’t stay silent anymore. It won’t allow these nutrients to be delivered across their faces without their permission, so they’ll cut off the nutrient transmission. Therefore, the logic skill would become invalidated.

Level one to level three are thresholds.

All users must reach level three in order to ensure the stability of their logic skill. Majority of the logic skill breakages occur between level one and two because level one and two users don’t understand their logic skills enough, making them prone to doubts and misunderstandings, leading to their deaths.

Now, Xiao Jinyu has become a level three user. 

His hand in his pocket gently rubbed the cold and smooth shell of his phone, his face not fluctuating a single bit, just as if he was quietly watching the snow in the distance. However, only a Xiao Jinyu knew that—

He didn’t know any of the forks on his logic skill.

How many forks were there? What forks were there?

All of that, he didn’t know. 

But 004 determined he was a level three user.

Xiao Jinyu was silent as he walked over to the sidewalk. He bent down and observed the colored light dots falling from the sky.

This firework-like fall of the logic factors had already lasted for a full five minutes, spanning across half of Zhongdu, yet there was no sign of it stopping.

“Holy Sacrifice’s” magnificent logic factors were constantly falling, slowly stopping their spinning, before dissipating completely. 

Xiao Jinyu reached out, wanting to grab a logic factor.

The colored dot passed through his palm, falling into the ground covered in snow, blood, and sewage, before disappearing.

After trying a few times, Xiao Jinyu pulled his hand back.

Sure enough, there was no way for him to ‘steal’ logic factors. 

Xiao Jinyu silently looked at his empty palm.

It seems like his previous thought wasn’t wrong, that his sudden promotion to level three was actually a hint that he had finally found the correct use of Fourth Perspective.

…

Then what are the forks on Fourth Perspective? 

***

The march for “Pope’s Crown” was stopped and the logic skill laid by the nun in Zhongdu was broken.

However, the disaster didn’t end here.

Zhongdu’s Extermination Team rushed out with the ordinary staff members who hadn’t awakened their logic skills to help carry the wounded onto stretchers while cleaning up the gruesome, severed limbs on the ground. 

Wang Tao was instructing the team to send a student who’s arms had been severed by their own parents onto the ambulance, when suddenly, he saw a man dressed in black come out of Contamination Area 81.

Captain Wang was stunned. He looked at Su Jiuzhou again, before glancing at the black box he was carrying.

“Colonel Su, you didn’t go to Haidu?”

The black isolation box wasn’t large, but when it’s carried by hand, it’ll inevitably sway in the air. The sound of an hard object hitting the walls came from inside the box. If 004 had been locked up in there, it would have cried out and loudly insulted Old Pervert. However, when Su Jiuzhou carried the box over, Wang Tao only heard a whimper like hum, like something had made a sound but swallowed it back as if it was afraid of something. 

Wang Tao: “…”

He had long heard that Polluter 008, which was stored by the Capital’s Logic Research Institute, had a very special personality.

Unlike 004’s lawlessness and arrogance, Polluter 008 was cautious and timid.

…Very terrified. 

Su Jiuzhou’s gaze swept over the team members who were helping everywhere on the street, before he found the young man crouching and silently observing the ground in a corner. He slightly raised his eyebrow.

What kind of special hobby is this?

Looking away, Su Jiuzhou said: “Why should I go to Haidu?”

Ah? Wang Tao didn’t think: “Holy Sacrifice is hiding in Haidu, I thought that you would go.” 

“From Zhongdu to Haidu, it takes an hour. The backup left by Holy Sacrifice in Zhongdu has already been broken and so there’s no need.” Su Jiuzhou paused for a moment: “Moreover, it’s not like Haidu is without level five users.”

Wang Tao knew about the temporary release of Water Punishment, but he frowned: “Captain Luo and Holy Sacrifice’s rankings should be close.”

Although the names of the top 53 users aren’t displayed in the Grow Some Brains APP, there are only so many level five users in China. It’s impossible to guess the specific ranking of the top users, but their general ranking can still be deduced.

Su Jiuzhou: “There isn’t only Water Punishment in Haidu.” 

Wang Tao: “But she is the only one who works for the government.”

If level five users really want to fight, then the winner and loser would be determined by life and death. Normally, no level five user would be willing to interfere in a fight between two other level five users.

Su Jiuzhou slowly said: “There is one who might go and help her. And not one of the level five users are stupid, how Holy Sacrifice’s logic skill can be restrained is quite simple and they all know it.”

Hearing this, Wang Tao froze. 

A strange and complex look appeared on his face and Captain Wang nodded, agreeing: “En, it is indeed simple and easy to restrain.”

Glancing at him, Su Jiuzhou smiled.

At the same time, in Haidu.

In the beautiful and quiet, old residential area, torrential rain poured, the shadows of trees swayed in the night like a rugged ghost. 

“Boom—”

The marble staircase leading to the second floor of the house was pierced by hundreds of water spikes, finally overwhelming and collapsing the stairs. The house trembled for a few seconds, but it didn’t collapse. In an instant, the two slender figures had already exchanged hands dozens of times, their blood swept away by the overwhelming rainwater. The house was like a spring with all the water gushing out.

The black-robed nun dodged towards the piano and she clearly sensed that the air had become heavy, like she was in deep water, unable to walk freely.

This just was Water Punishment. 

Everywhere between the heavens and earth was a cage, as long as water molecules existed, then the cage made of water would never be broken.

However, this cage was slowly becoming weak.

The nun dodged another blow in silence, before saying softly: “You can’t beat me.”

“Ha?” The crazed laughter from the woman rang out and an even more violent rainstorm raged in the next second. 

The sacrifices laid out in Zhongdu were broken by Spear of Punishment, but Huo Lanxu’s logic skill didn’t collapse. She was a level five user and the scene in Zhongdu was already seen through and broken, but only her strength has stopped growing. She stopped at A14. And the woman in front of her was A15.

In the realm of Holy Sacrifice, Luo Sheng’s logic skill would be constantly suppressed. This repression isn’t static, but instead continues to grow.

The nun closed her eyes.

The tyrannical rain in the house was slowly weakening and the woman in front of her was being suppressed even more. 

However, she didn’t intend to kill the other party.

It was too much of a waste of time.

This was Haidu, dragging it on would lead to unknown changes. In case other level five users came to help, the nun didn’t think that she could easily escape.

Seizing this opportunity, the nun flashed out of the window and fled to the garden outside the house. 

Suddenly, she slipped.

For the first time, a look of shock appeared on her face. She immediately put her hands on the ground and tried to get up. However, her hand also slipped, her entire body almost falling over, with only her limbs stablizing her.

In the cold wind of rain and snow, the nun raised her hand and stared at the transparent liquid flowing down her palm. She leaned in and sniffed, a faint scent burrowing into her nose.

In the next second, she sighed softly and sighed as she said a name. 

“…Piggy Shampoo.”

Translator’s Note:

I didn’t think that I would be gone for this long… so sorry TT. I graduated this last month and apparently there’s a lot of work to do before and after you graduate high school. I’ll be starting college mid-August, so I’ll try to translate as much as I can before then (If I don’t get sidetracked by reading other books TT).