God's Imitator

Tang Qing looked at the large screen, ”47 minutes. Considerably healthier than you.

”This sentence seems to come out of nowhere, but it must have been taken from a conversation between two people.

”If we assume A is speaking to B, it means A considers themselves to be the healthier one.

”And ’47 minutes’ should be some kind of evidence used to support that claim.

”The problem with this sentence, though, is that it doesn’t sound like something a person would say in a normal context. If it were ’I did it in 47 minutes, which makes me considerably healthier than you,’ that would be more natural.”

Bai Zhilan thought for a moment, ”It’s also possible the Imitator deliberately took it out of context. But either way, our main goal right now is to work out what standard these ’47 minutes’ are being used to demonstrate, specifically in relation to health.”

Tang Qing gave a meaningful smile, ”You should know the answer to that.”

Bai Zhilan’s expression remained unchanged, ”Hmm? I should? I genuinely have no idea.”

Tang Qing laughed, ”This is obviously some man showing off his abilities in that particular department.

”The sentence sounds cut off because it’s a rather private topic that one wouldn’t discuss openly.”A couldn’t very well say outright, ’I did it with someone for 47 minutes last night,’ so when B asked about it obliquely, all he said in response was ’47 minutes.’

”Perhaps this Judgment Game involves a crime of passion.”

Bai Zhilan frowned slightly, ”That doesn’t quite sit right. I feel like something’s off somewhere.”

Tang Qing continued with the tea, ”Oh? Where exactly does it feel off?”

Bai Zhilan sighed slightly, ”Alright. Stop testing me. Can we just play the game properly?”

Tang Qing gave a small shake of his head, ”You were the one being dishonest first. I genuinely cannot understand why you still feel the need to hide your abilities in this kind of game environment. All I can put it down to is force of habit.

”You clearly have the capacity, yet you’re deliberately pretending you don’t. Compared to that, this Lin fellow who doesn’t like to say much is considerably more straightforward.”

As he spoke, Tang Qing refilled Lin Sizhi’s cup.

Lin Sizhi raised a hand toward the cup in acknowledgement.

Bai Zhilan held out her empty cup, ”Alright. Let’s just play the game properly and stop wasting time on this.

”This clearly isn’t a crime of passion, and the speaker isn’t showing off his performance in that department.

”Even granting that 47 minutes is a total that might just barely be achievable when you add everything up and would certainly be worth being proud of, the key word is the one at the end: ’healthy.’

”Generally speaking, when a man is showing off that kind of ability, he wouldn’t describe it using the word ’healthy.’

”He would say, ’47 minutes, considerably more impressive than you.’

”So that interpretation isn’t especially convincing.”

Lin Sizhi set down his teacup, ”The reason the sentence sounds like it’s missing context, beyond the possibility of a sensitive topic being discussed, is that there’s another explanation.

”A may have been holding or gesturing toward something when he said this, something that already contained enough information on its own, so he naturally left that part of the sentence out.

”For instance, A might have been showing B his watch, or a timer on his phone.”

Lin Sizhi raised his left hand and made a gesture of displaying a phone to the other two, then used his right hand to point at the invisible phone.

”47 minutes. Considerably healthier than you.”

”Said like that, it makes sense.”

Bai Zhilan was thoughtful, ”Yes. That works. The gesture you made just now carried an unconscious note of pride or showing off, so the original speaker, A, was probably approaching it with that same attitude.

”So 47 minutes might also be a record on a phone.

”What kind of record?”

Tang Qing thought it through carefully, ”In terms of common physical activities, there are really only a handful of options.

”A group fitness routine, a specific strength training programme, cardio like swimming or running, or perhaps a game of badminton or another sport.

”But 47 minutes is a very specific number.

”For a group fitness routine, the duration would typically be fixed, and strength training would be measured by weight rather than time.

”So there’s only one scenario that fits: cardio training over a fixed distance.

”Only that kind of training measures completion time, which is why a specific figure like 47 minutes would come up.”

Lin Sizhi and Bai Zhilan answered in succession.

”A 10-kilometre run.”

”Ten thousand metres.”

Bai Zhilan explained, ”This is, after all, the first piece of information the Imitator has given us, so it’s probably not too heavily obscured.

”Looking at it broadly, compared to swimming or cycling, running is the activity that ordinary people participate in most, and 47 minutes is roughly the time it takes to run ten thousand metres.”

Tang Qing added, ”Swimming and cycling don’t fit.

”These kinds of activities typically have standard distances. For running, the common ones are 100 metres, 400 metres, 1 kilometre, 3 kilometres, 5 kilometres, and 10 kilometres.

”Running 8,500 metres and then specifically citing 47 minutes doesn’t really follow normal convention.

”For swimming, 47 minutes is quite a long time. Most casual swimmers wouldn’t maintain that continuously. And 5 kilometres would be unusually fast, while 10 kilometres would be unusually long.

”For cycling, the distance that maps most closely to 47 minutes would be somewhere between 20 and 30 kilometres, but that’s too wide a range to pin down.

”Most importantly, swimming and cycling are not particularly mainstream activities. Even when you show your results to someone else, they might not appreciate what the number actually means.

”Only a 10-kilometre run produces a time where 47 minutes is genuinely significant.

”For a non-professional runner, that takes sustained effort over a long period to achieve. It’s a time that gives you every right to be proud and show off to others.

”Of course, for a professional athlete, 47 minutes might mean something different.”

Lin Sizhi added, ”But professional athletes generally don’t go around comparing their ’health’ with other people.”

Tang Qing nodded, ”Exactly.

”So in all likelihood, this sentence involves someone holding up their phone showing a 10-kilometre run in 47 minutes, and saying it to another person as proof of their superior health.

”Right, I think that should be everything. Can either of you think of anything else?”

Lin Sizhi and Bai Zhilan each shook their heads.

”Move to the next one?”

All three reached agreement and pressed their buttons. The sentence on the large screen received a ’√’ mark and gradually faded, replaced by new content.

[I’m really not tired at all, and my appetite is huge, honestly.]

Tang Qing took a sip of tea, ”It seems like this game isn’t particularly challenging for any of the three of us.

”Let’s take turns speaking and push through it quickly.

”After all, we’re not the main players in this game.

”The others need us to complete all three puzzles before the game can officially begin. We shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

Bai Zhilan thought for a moment and said, ”The context of this sentence is probably B asking A whether they’re tired.

”And A responds by saying they’re not.

”It’s hard to tell outright whether that’s the truth or a comforting lie, but at least one thing is clear: A must have been going without adequate sleep for a substantial period.

”The fact that A says ’I’m really not tired at all’ rather than simply ’I’m not tired’ might indicate that B has asked this or expressed this kind of concern more than once.”

Tang Qing nodded, ”Yes. But that’s precisely where the problem lies.

”Just reading the literal meaning, the person saying this could genuinely feel that they’re not tired at all, or they could be reassuring someone else, when in reality they’re exhausted and drained but putting on a composed front.”