Chapter 1290: Sis, Run!
"Congratulations to the owner of Villa F10 for being the second to complete the barbecue!" The chef's announcement interrupted Ji Shanqing's words and refocused everyone's attention on the grill. Senping wiped his mouth, and the chef spoke to him again, "Although you have completed the task, the effect triggered by eating the barbecue hasn't been determined yet. You must now specify the next type of barbecue that will appear."
"Why is it this effect again...?" Someone grumbled, "I think we've seen this effect three or four times already, right?"
Greene stepped forward, her expression not looking great, "You should choose beef ribs! For the sake of fairness, you have to help me out this time."
Ji Shanqing, with interest, crossed his arms. "You should try it," he said to Senping. "I really want to see if the chef will grill beef ribs under these circumstances."
Greene turned her head sharply, "What do you mean by that?"
But Ji Shanqing didn't answer her. He turned to the chef and said, "Beef ribs, please."
The chef raised an eyebrow at his request, half of his body popping out from behind the grill, and he asked again, "Are you sure? You asked for it yourself; it's not my decision, you know!"
His delighted expression couldn't be suppressed as he asked, and a hint of joy leaked from his eyebrows and eyes.
Even a fool could sense something was amiss with the chef's reaction. Except for Crane, who also wanted beef ribs, the others started speaking up: "Quick, change your choice; don't go for beef ribs!" "What's he planning?" "Hey, young lady, you haven't finished explaining. What's up with the chef?"
Being referred to as a young lady repeatedly, Ji Shanqing slowly walked two steps forward with Lin Sanjiu. He had no gender and naturally lacked any gender consciousness. Every action and demeanor lacked any social definition of gender norms. It seemed as if he could lean towards any side without any constraints.
"If we choose beef ribs, we are responsible for the consequences, right?" He asked the chef first.
"Of course."
"In that case, we won't choose it." Ji Shanqing looked at the others' plates and said, "There's only one combination left, starting with 4. So, let's go with chicken sausages."
"4132." Senping hesitated momentarily and waved to the fifteen- or sixteen-year-old teenager, saying, "You, you're about to complete it."
Choosing to take care of a teenager who was not part of their own team naturally caused Li Xing to protest immediately, but Senping ignored him. Along with Ji Shanqing and Lin Sanjiu standing beside him, Li Xing finally held back his anger and watched the teenager step up to the marked plate.
"Although the next skewer won't be useful for any of you, send someone to pick it up," Ji Shanqing instructed. "Skewers are quick to eat, and the effect is suitable for triggering. Have you noticed that every time the 'decide the type of meat for the next skewer' effect is triggered, it's always between two combinations?"
Senping furrowed his brow, seeming to recall memories in his mind.
"For example, the first time we lined up to get barbecue, the combinations 4213 and 3412 appeared. Do you remember that? My sister and I happened to finish our lamb leg after 3412, and then the chef asked us to decide what the next meat should be. We chose 4, which is chicken sausages."
"Since then, I paid attention. I noticed that when grouped in sets of four numbers, the decision-making power for the next skewer always appears between two combinations. In other words, if we eat the barbecue between the end of one combination and the beginning of the next one, we are likely to take control and decide which number will be the starting point of the next combination."
"But then, I also triggered an effect between two combinations, but it wasn't decision-making power..." Greene hesitated before speaking up.
"The decision-making power for the next combination always appears between two combinations, and what appears between two combinations is always decision-making power. These are two different things," Ji Shanqing said and sighed. "We need to strengthen our logic."
Greene pondered for a moment. "Since the next skewer is only for eating," she said, raising her hand and voluntarily going behind the teenager. "Then let me do it! I'm prone to hunger, as you all know."
Although everyone was continuously burned by faint anxiety, it was true that the skewers had no effect on them once they got them. Therefore, they were all willing to demonstrate their styles and let the pregnant woman queue up to get the chicken sausages.
Senping couldn't hold back any longer, "I also noticed that if we replace the meat with numbers, it can be perfectly divided according to combinations of four numbers. But-"
Ji Shanqing interrupted him, "If each number appears only once in a combination, there are only 24 combinations of four numbers, which means there are 96 pieces of meat in total."
"Yes," Senping hesitated.
"But the chef said he has 100 pieces of meat!" the chubby Li Xing exclaimed. At that moment, the teenager also got the chicken sausages, successfully completing four identical grilled meats and becoming the third person to clear the stage.
"That's right. You all want to know why we shouldn't have chosen beef ribs just now. To explain these two questions, we have to start from the beginning," Ji Shanqing said, pointing at the tall guy and having him take the next lamb leg—this way, he would be the fourth person to clear the stage. The young woman with three lamb legs looked dissatisfied but remained silent, glaring at Ge directly.
"As I mentioned earlier, this beach barbecue event is a confrontation between us and the chef, right? Since it's a confrontation, the chef must have weapons. The chef's weapons are one, he knows the pattern of the appearance of the barbecue follows combinations of four numbers; two, when conditions allow, he can decide which meat will appear, thereby determining which combination will appear; three, he has extra four pieces of grilled meat; four, he knows when his hands will get tired."
"Extra four pieces of grilled meat?" Lin Sanjiu asked, "Does that mean a certain combination will appear twice?"
"That would be too wasteful." Ji Shanqing hugged his arms and glanced at Senping, raising his chin slightly. He said, "You initially thought of calculating the probability of each type of meat appearing, but you found out it wasn't right and realized the arrangement and combinations of grilled meat. But then you abandoned that correct answer. Why?"
"Because...," Senping replied. "After I realized the combinations, the grilled meat that appeared didn't follow the sequence of combinations."
"Right, that's the ninth combination. It should have been 1243, which corresponds to skewers, beef ribs, chicken sausages, and lamb legs." Ji Shanqing smiled. "But what actually appeared was 122143... Now, do you understand? The extra 21 in this combination comes from the extra four pieces of meat. To keep the probability balanced, the extra meat is still one of each type, which is 1234."
"But that's not right! I also thought of the gap between 96 and 100!" Senping was rather dissatisfied, saying, "But sometimes after we eat the grilled meat, we trigger the effect of losing it... So, to maintain the completeness of the number sequence combinations, the chef has an extra four pieces of grilled meat to fill in the gaps we lost. Doesn't that make sense?"
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