Genius Club-Chapter 26 Reasonable or Unreasonable

Gao Yang lit a cigarette and explained to Lin Xian:

"If Argentina really did beat France during the penalty shootout phase... then we can’t bet on Argentina to win for our lottery tickets! We should bet on a draw!"

"Why?" Lin Xian was clueless, his eyes a clear well of ignorance.

"It’s like this..."

Gao Yang gesticulated wildly as he spoke:

"Soccer matches are divided into regular time, extra time, and the penalty shootout."

"If a winner is decided during regular time, then the match ends right there."

"If the regular match ends in a draw, meaning the scores are even, then it goes into extra time to continue deciding a winner."

"And if extra time still ends in a draw! It moves on to the penalty shootout phase, taking turns kicking penalties until a winner is determined!"

"The standard for determining win, loss, or draw in soccer lottery tickets only takes into account the result from regular time!"

At this point in the explanation, Lin Xian understood:

"I get it, since they’ve gone as far as a penalty shootout, the previous scores must all be draws, so naturally, we should bet on a draw for the lottery tickets."

Gao Yang gave Lin Xian a thumbs-up:

"You learn so quickly! You’re a natural at soccer betting! Come on, join in on the action! The odds for a draw are really high!"

"Come on, bro! If we lose, I’ll take the hit, okay? I’ve already made seventy or eighty thousand thanks to you. If we win this time, it’s yours; if we lose, it’s on me!"

Gao Yang forcefully dragged Lin Xian into the shop.

Eventually, under Gao Yang’s incessant nagging and coercion, Lin Xian bought 30,000 yuan worth of soccer lottery tickets, betting on a draw between Argentina and France.

Lin Xian wasn’t fond of gambling and didn’t want to buy so much. But Gao Yang was on a roll, forcefully taking the bow, snatching Lin Xian’s phone, and using facial recognition to pay.

Gao Yang went all in and bought 60,000 yuan’s worth, and Lin Xian was forced to pay for 30,000 yuan’s worth.

The odds for a draw were 3.7

Which meant... if Argentina and France really ended in a draw during regular time, then Gao Yang could claim 220,000 yuan, and Lin Xian could claim 110,000 yuan.

...

Follow current novℯls on ƒгeewёbnovel.com.

3 a.m.

The match kicked off again amidst Lin Xian’s frequent yawns.

The Argentina Team played fiercely.

They scored a penalty not long after the start, and then scored another goal afterwards.

By the 80th minute, Argentina was leading 2:0!

Gao Yang was soaked in sweat, panicking:

"What’s going on, Lin Xian, this isn’t what we agreed on! Unless France’s team is graced by a god, how could they possibly score two goals in just a few minutes!"

However!

No sooner had Gao Yang spoken than France’s key player, Mbappe, kicked a goal directly in!

Gao Yang hadn’t even had time to let out a scream before Mbappe scored another goal!

In the space of a few seconds, two goals were scored! Even a soccer fiction wouldn’t dare to write it like this!

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Gao Yang once again turned into a human mop, wriggling on the floor like a maggot, muttering some incantation as if summoning some great evil god, completely incapable of coherent speech!

Finally...

The Argentina Team won the match in the penalty shootout.

Messi lifted the long-awaited Hercules Cup.

Gao Yang also raised his lottery ticket for the 220,000 yuan prize high, throwing himself at Lin Xian—

"Foster father!"

"Buzz off!"

...

A struggle ensued.

Gao Yang finally calmed down and began to analyze,

"Looking at it now... your dream seems truly abnormal! If it were just a simple prediction of Argentina winning, that wouldn’t be anything special."

"But you accurately predicted a draw in regular time, a draw in extra time, and that the winner would only be decided in the penalty shootout..."

"Let me think about this."

Gao Yang pondered, and Lin Xian also propped his chin, contemplating.

At present.

[If we make a rough judgment, we can now practically confirm that my dream is indeed the real future world 600 years from now.]

But he still felt there was a lack of decisive evidence.

Just predicting the results of a soccer match correctly and therefore concluding that the dream world is the real future world is actually not very rigorous logically.

When buying lottery tickets just now, many friends at the lottery shop who were joking and laughing said they had made a fortune betting on soccer this year, having correctly predicted several matches in a row.

An old man had even hit seven in a row and was planning to pay in full for a Haval.

With soccer betting, there are only three outcomes: win, lose, or draw.

Even by pure guesswork, there’s a chance of correctly predicting several matches in a row, which is not strong enough evidence to determine that the dream world is the real future world.

"Actually, Lin Xian, I still can’t believe that your dream is real."

In the end, Gao Yang looked up, his face serious as he spoke,

"Even if you’ve made three accurate predictions in a row, the unreasonable phenomena in your dreams are just too numerous. Honestly, I find it hard to imagine that it is a real world."

"I remember you said that time in your dreams never moves forward? It always stays on the same day?"

Lin Xian nodded:

"Every time I dream, it’s the same loop... people who died yesterday are standing in the same place today; friends who played well with me yesterday have forgotten everything today; the leaves always fall in the same place, never off by even a hair... It’s like I’m watching the same movie over and over every day."

"Actually, there are many unexplainable aspects of this dream, like the level of technological development in the dream, which is nearly identical to the present year 2022. How do you explain that? Do you believe that life 600 years in the future will be the same as it is now?"

Gao Yang was also scratching his head in confusion at this time.

"Stop! Stop!"

Gao Yang signaled Lin Xian to be quiet.

Then he ran into Lin Xian’s bedroom and took out a sheet of white paper and a black marker:

"This is too chaotic... Let’s sort out our thoughts! Then we can figure out what’s really going on with this dream of yours!"

"How do we sort it?" Lin Xian reached out to ask.

Gao Yang handed Lin Xian a piece of paper and a pen, gesturing for him to sit down:

"Like you said, dreams and reality are different. Dreams don’t need to be logical or orderly, but the real world is different! The real world must be logical, orderly, and provable."

"So, now let’s together summarize the [unreasonable aspects in your dreamworld]! Let’s list them all out!"

"If these unreasonable aspects really cannot stand scrutiny, are self-contradictory, and the logic isn’t consistent… then we can definitely say that your dream is just a dream! Everything is a coincidence!"

Lin Xian took the pen, nodded in agreement, thinking it was a good approach—this was also a type of reverse reasoning.

"Alright, let’s each write our own points, and then we’ll pool them together and discuss."

Lin Xian bowed his head and wrote the title on the white paper—

[Unreasonable Phenomena in the Dream World]

...

After writing the title, Lin Xian’s pen moved as if divinely guided.

He had long felt that there were too many bugs in the dream world, but previously thought that since it was a dream, the irrationality was perfectly rational.

But now with a change of perspective, if he were to link the dream world with the real world...

These irrational aspects would seem even more unreasonable!