Illusion Report

...This isn’t a logic problem.

Fu Tailan rubbed his temples, trying to clear his groggy, muddled mind.

The nurse now stood at the foot of the bed. Its "arms" poked through the curtain there, two fists floating directly in front of him. They continued to expand and contract with his breathing—which only made it harder to stay clear-headed.

When Fu Tailan held his breath, the fists froze, their size unchanging. But he couldn’t just stop breathing forever, could he?

He lowered his gaze, averting his eyes from the fists. He thought for a moment, having already dismissed several ideas in his mind.

To logically deduce which hand was the left hand, or which held the blue pill, he would need some kind of marker or positioning system. He would also need the nurse resident to give a direct "yes" or "no" response to his guesses about the pill’s location. For example, after establishing certain preconditions, he could posit that if "Hand 1" met the criteria of his deduction, then Hand 1 must contain the blue pill.

But the nurse resident had already negated all three pillars of this reasoning, creating a logically impenetrable, closed loop.

"The left hand holds the blue pill," and "The hand holding the blue pill is the left hand"—this kind of circular answer was a perfect example of a situation where logic was useless.

"Before I ask any more questions, you should tell me the necessary rules and information," Fu Tailan said tentatively. "For example, what if instead of asking a question, I were to make a request for you to perform an action..."

He deliberately trailed off—afraid that if he finished the question, it would cost him one of his question slots.

"Honestly, there are no ’necessary rules and information.’ It’s just a simple choice. The odds are fifty-fifty. You’re so young, why aren’t you a little bolder? Youth is the perfect time for taking risks."

’It can barely squeeze out a single piece of useful information, but when it comes to being generous with someone else’s life, it has a whole speech prepared.’

The nurse grumbled for a bit, but when Fu Tailan didn’t take the bait, it reluctantly added, "As long as the request doesn’t directly involve the pills themselves, I can grant it. Making a request for an action will cost you one question, accordingly."

"Be more specific. What exactly can you do, and what won’t you do?"

The nurse paused, then suddenly chuckled.

"Things like asking me to drop the pills in hot water for a minute and then fish them out to show you the water’s color... or to mark my hands ’A’ and ’B’ and then have me swap the blue pill into hand A... or maybe having me slap you with the hand holding the blue pill... Any request that directly involves moving the pills or causing some change to them—don’t even think about it."

It answered so smoothly that Fu Tailan couldn’t help but suspect these were real examples from the past.

"But if you ask me to sing a song, or to lie flat on the ground without moving my hands—requests like that don’t involve the pills themselves, so I can do them."

’Who would ask you to do something so pointless?’

But its next words made Fu Tailan’s heart skip a beat. "Alright, you now have seven questions left to ask."

He almost thought he’d misheard.

"Wait, that last thing I said, ’Be more specific,’ did that—"

Thankfully, Fu Tailan reacted quickly and swallowed the rest of the sentence.

’If I ask, "Did that last thing I said, ’Be more specific,’ also count as a request for an action?"—the moment I say that, there’s an eighty percent chance I’ll only have six questions left, right?’

’These residents are such slippery, insidious things. Impossible to guard against... I need to learn from them.’

The nurse giggled.

"Seeing as you’re so young and pretty, I can say a few more words to save you a question. This isn’t the first time I’ve had a Hunter choose a pill. I have a pretty good idea of what you people will ask and what you’ll request."

"I won’t lie when I answer. For questions I can’t answer, I’ll just say I can’t answer. And what questions can’t I answer? Simple. When your question involves information about the pills themselves—be it their location or anything else—I will not give you the answer."

The fist on the right side, in front of Fu Tailan, gestured to the side.

"For instance, the bed next to you is Bed 1, right? If you ask me, ’Which color pill is closer to Bed 1?’ or ’Which hand’s pill corresponds to the color of the curtain?’... then you’ll have just wasted a question."

"I’ve told you, I won’t directly tell you which hand holds which pill. That’s the fundamental rule. No matter how many layers of packaging you add to that core question, no matter what form it takes, as long as the answer is related to ’information about the pills themselves,’ it’s a—no—go."

’Fucking fantastic.’

"...I never expected to get the answer that easily anyway."

"Well, that makes you a bit smarter than a previous Hunter."

’Ten questions or requests. The point must be to uncover hidden information, then use that information to figure out the red and blue pills... I only have seven questions left. I have to plan carefully.’

’But... how am I supposed to find the right questions to ask in this sea of uncertainty?’

The nurse had already blocked off every angle a normal person would think of.

’The answer has to be hidden somewhere inside this deadlock.’

’If someone can find it, why can’t it be me, Fu Tailan?’

Being forced into a corner tended to awaken Fu Tailan’s youthful spirit. The more he thought about it, the more defiant he felt. He lowered his head to think for a moment and decided to start from the very basics.

"Seventh-to-last question," he began, choosing his words carefully. "Do you yourself always know the location of the pills—which hand holds the blue one, and which hand holds the red one?"

"Yes, I always know their locations."

’...Ah, it said it.’

The nurse used the word "always"—a hook Fu Tailan had deliberately embedded in the question.

"You said earlier that you wouldn’t secretly switch the positions of your fists, but you never said whether you would switch the positions of the pills. Don’t worry, my next question doesn’t involve the pills themselves. It’s a question about your abilities."

"Go ahead."

Fu Tailan asked slowly, "My sixth-to-last question is... without changing the position of your fists, do you have the ability to move a pill from one hand into the other?"

’If the nurse didn’t have that ability, it could have just answered "I know" to the previous question.’

’But it deliberately repeated the word "always"—as if it had sensed Fu Tailan’s probing and was giving a hidden clue beyond the surface-level answer.’

’Of course, it could also be deliberately misleading me, hoping I’ll waste a question. Which of these possibilities is true will depend on the answer to my sixth-to-last question.’

"Oh my, this is the first time I’ve been asked this question. How should I answer?"

The nurse giggled a few times. "Let’s take the blue pill as an example. It’s in the left hand, but until you confirm which hand is the left hand, from your perspective, it could be anywhere, couldn’t it?"

"I don’t understand." ’That was barely coherent.’

"After all, my body is a mass of chaos. I only extended these two arms from my chaotic flesh to deliver your medicine. The hands don’t move, but it’s no problem for the things inside them to flow through my body from one to the other."

’...So that’s a "yes, I can switch them," I guess?’

In his seventeen years of life, Fu Tailan had rarely felt his comprehension skills pushed to their limit. But he couldn’t afford to waste his precious remaining questions on constant clarifications.

"You seem quite troubled... What a shame. That’s as far as I can explain it." The nurse’s tone didn’t sound the least bit regretful.

He took a deep breath, and the two fists in front of him shrank to the size of peanuts again.

The sight of them expanding and contracting was already starting to give him a faint headache. ’Is it deliberately resizing its fists to disrupt my train of thought?’

’Extended two arms from a chaotic mass of flesh...’

’The next question is a gamble.’

"Fifth-to-last question... It’s about the nature of your body."

"Ooh," the nurse responded, its interest piqued.

"For example, my body can be broken down into an astronomical number of ’cells,’ or you could say I have 68 kilograms of ’mass.’ So, is your chaotic flesh also formed from a substance that can be measured in units?"

It was unclear if it was excitement or rage, but the nurse suddenly let out a high-pitched shriek.

"YES YES YES YES YES MY CHAOTIC FLESH CAN BE MEASURED IN UNITS TOO OH I WANT TO PRESS YOU DEEP DEEP DEEP INTO THE DEPTHS OF MY BODY LET YOU SINK IN COMPLETELY SWALLOW YOU WHOLE THEN I’LL HAVE GAINED 68KG OF BEAUTIFUL DEADLY POISON"

’How rude—no, wait.’

Fu Tailan’s heart began to pound.

’It can be measured?’

’In that case... did he just see a path leading to the blue pill?’

But any of his next questions could lead to bitter disappointment—and he was running out of them.

"Thank you, but no thanks," he said, forcing himself to stay calm. "Fourth-to-last question. The substance that forms your body—if calculated using the ’units’ you mentioned, what is the total amount?"

The nurse started panting.

"I never thought someone so young would have such an impure mind and such strong desires. Is this puberty, I wonder—"

’What the hell? What nonsense is it spouting?’

"Alright, since you’re so pretty, I’ll tell you. It’s thir—thirteen thousand... thirteen thousand, six hundred and five units of churned ma-ma-ma-matter-er."

For some reason, Fu Tailan felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.

"C-Could you calm down a little? Humans don’t get this excited just from being asked their weight. Alright, third-to-last question. When I breathe, I see the fists expand and contract. I assume this isn’t my imagination—their size is actually changing, correct?"

The nurse had never actually forbidden physical contact—but Fu Tailan had absolutely no desire to touch it until the final moment of choice.

"CORRECT CORRECT NOT AN ILLUSION NOT AN ILLUSION"

The nurse was still in a state of incomprehensible excitement.

’...Excellent.’

’The hope of finding the blue pill has just jumped to sixty or seventy percent.’

"I’m getting really dizzy from them expanding and contracting like that," Fu Tailan complained. "So, for my second-to-last... it’s not a question, it’s a request."

The nurse outside the curtain fell abruptly silent, as if boiling water had instantly frozen into ice.

"The hand on my left, the one my phone is touching, please keep it the size of a peanut. And the other one, the size of a soccer ball."

In the dead silence, Fu Tailan held his breath.

For a long time, the fists, now fixed in size, remained motionless. They were silent for so long that he suddenly grew worried, suspecting this was all just a trap to make a fool of him.

"This request doesn’t involve the pills, only your hands—"

He had barely begun when the nurse cut him off, its tone so cold it was like a different person. "I know. You only need to say it once. Are you trying to be annoying?"

’...The nurse is reluctant.’

’Is that a good sign?’

Amidst Fu Tailan’s shallow, rapid breaths, the left fist gradually shrank and the right fist gradually grew, finally freezing at the size of a peanut and a soccer ball, respectively. They moved no more.

’The last question.’

’Success or failure all comes down to this.’

If he couldn’t get a direct answer, his only remaining course of action would be to pick one at random and trust to luck.

"My last question... or rather, it’s a request."

If not for the fists, it would have seemed like no one was outside the curtain.

"Please tell me how many units of churned matter were used for the hand holding the blue pill, and for the hand holding the red pill."