Chapter 296 - 130: Five Options (2)
For example, professional calculus, linear algebra, introductory textbooks, or books like C++ Primer, JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, and Advanced JavaScript Programming that could make one's head feel bald.
There might even be knowledge like The Classic of Tea or The Encyclopedia of Tea, which would be useless even if you returned to modern times.
The second option, tools, is similarly affected by luck.
But from Chen Zhou's perspective, the probability of getting useless junk among tools is obviously lower than receiving "useless knowledge."
Items like axes, saws, hammers, chisels, or professional carpenter or masonry tools make up a significant portion of all the tools.
Even if worse comes to worst, there are farming tools and fishing tools as a backup.
Even if there's not even a duplicate fishing tool, they can randomly give a few iron or plastic items that can be cut and used.
Generally, the metals and plastics used in making tools are quite durable, suitable for transforming into other tools or used to make firearms.
The third option, resources, has a much wider range compared to the previous two options.
As everyone knows, resources are divided into renewable resources and non-renewable resources. When subdivided, they can be categorized into water resources, mineral resources, wildlife resources, and several other categories.
Additionally, many modern industrial products such as fabrics, nylon materials, asphalt, steel, timber, and plastic can also be considered resources.
Also, various foods, rice, flour, and many kinds of medicine are all resources.
In this vast category, the probability of obtaining useful items and useless ones is not low, making this third option arguably the most unpredictable choice, with great randomness.
Should luck strike, and he's rewarded with a batch of seamless steel pipes with rifling, his gun-making venture will take a significant leap.
Even if there's nothing as game-changing as seamless steel pipes, getting a box of medicines with a long shelf life would suffice, at least ensuring he doesn't die from a cold or inflammation for 2-3 years.
...
Gazing past the first three options, the hesitating Chen Zhou focused on the fourth option—seeds.
The range of seeds is equally vast, potentially including his most anticipated green onions, ginger, and chili, or maybe the corn, potatoes, or millet and sweet potatoes he hopes to obtain as staple food, as well as various fruits and vegetables.
But not everything can be thought of optimistically.
If you count all the seeds in the world, actually usable crops only account for a small part; most are various grass seeds, tree seeds, or plants he's never heard of, and even if planted, grown smoothly, and bear fruit, they might not be edible.
Honestly, compared to the name "seeds," Chen Zhou wishes the option was named "crops."
The scope of crops is much smaller than that of seeds, the difference between the two is like shopping in a grocery store versus buying a lottery ticket; a lottery ticket may have a scarily high upper limit, but how many people in the world can actually reach that upper limit?
...
As for the final option, without considering the latter half of the description, it still has a relatively high cost-effectiveness.
After all, there are only four options in total, and if two options are chosen randomly, there's at least a 50% chance to select tools; other than tools, any of the other three options—knowledge, resources, and seeds—would not be a loss.
Even if the best tools aren't selected, the worst result would be getting both useless knowledge and seeds.
After all, this reward has a strong element of gambling, and if he's really that unlucky, he'd accept it.
However, the problem lies in the latter half of the statement added in the description—
More low-level items and a very few rare items will be mixed into the prize pool.
This sentence seems to raise the upper limit of the random options, but for someone like Chen Zhou, whose luck has never been great, it essentially lowers the lower limit, weakening the fifth option.
Originally, there might have been a chance to get two good things, but with this condition added, it's almost guaranteed to be junk.
He can already imagine those defective products of modern industry waving at him; silicone phone cases, butt plugs, electronic wooden fish, shoehorns, and other strange knickknacks constantly replay in his mind, reminding him to refuse this option with too high a gambling component.
...
He finished the puzzle in the middle of the night; the dim light of the oil lamp in the cave provided scant illumination.
Suddenly finding himself in a bright blue space, Chen Zhou wasn't actually accustomed to it. He stood quietly before the list of words, contemplating for a long time.
Finally, he reached out, without the slightest hesitation, towards the second option—"tools."
Just as his fingertip was about to touch the wall glowing with blue light, his arm fell straight down.
"Random."
This longest option rippled with circles of waves, gradually fading, and disappeared on the wall.
Immediately, all the blue screens crumbled piece by piece, turning into dust scattered in the air.
Like a dream, Chen Zhou left that technology-filled space and returned to his little home.
As for the "puzzle hole No. 3001," which he regarded as the exit, it did not play any role throughout the process, seemingly another very low-level prank thought trap.
...
Returning suddenly to the dim small room, Chen Zhou's eyes had some difficulty adjusting.
Standing in place for a while, he rubbed his eyes and immediately looked towards the table he had pieced together, trying to find the reward brought by the "random" option.
...
In the process of moving from tools to random, his heart went through an intense struggle.
A person with bad luck, holding two bucks, can choose to buy a pack of instant noodles or bread to soothe his gradually hungry stomach; for him, this is the best choice.