53: Chapter 53, First Test Question

The moment the "Geometric Eye" finished the Rubik's Cube evaluator was exactly midnight on Earth.

Observatories around the world simultaneously recorded a flash erupting from Mars orbit—not an explosion, but the alignment of all the blocks of the Rubik's Cube in a single instant to form a perfect cubic grid.

Red light diffused from the center, sweeping across every block, making the entire structure look like a giant ruby suspended in the dark space.

Then, it began to broadcast.

It was not electromagnetic waves, nor gravitational waves, but a brand-new information carrier—the vibration frequency of spacetime itself.

This vibration traveled at the speed of light and reached Earth seven minutes later.

The first to be affected were precision instruments worldwide: all atomic clocks showed synchronization errors, GPS positioning drifted by several meters, and even Earth's rotation monitoring data showed inexplicable pulsations.

"It is adjusting our time reference," Nuwa was analyzing the data in real-time, "Not an attack, but... calibration. To allow the test to be conducted within a unified time frame."

Immediately after, the first question appeared on the surface of the Rubik's Cube.

The question did not appear in the form of text or images, but was projected directly into everyone's visual cortex—no matter which corner of the Earth you were in, no matter whether you were looking at the sky, as long as you were a conscious intelligent being, you would "see" the same scene:

A simple geometric figure: an equilateral triangle with an inscribed circle inside, and an inscribed equilateral triangle inside that circle, repeating infinitely until a microscopic scale indistinguishable to the eye.

Below the figure, a line of text appeared, displayed in the native language that everyone could understand:

[Question 1: What is the limit of the area of this nested structure?]

Beside the question, there was a countdown: 23:59:59.

Twenty-four hours. All of humanity, solving one math problem together.

"What... what kind of joke is this?" Imperial President Klaus roared at an emergency meeting, "Why is it a math problem? And why let everyone see it at the same time? Even illiterate people and infants saw it!"

"Because it is testing the civilization as a whole," Sarah explained, attending the global leaders' meeting via holographic projection, "The Gardener believes that the level of a civilization depends on the logical ability of its lowest-level members. They are not testing the elite; they are testing the average."

The global data network had already begun to aggregate reactions.

After the initial chaos, people began to attempt to solve it.

Social media was flooded with various answers: from zero to infinity, from specific numbers to philosophical musings.

But the truly correct answer required understanding limits and infinite series—this was the content of higher mathematics.

"We cannot expect everyone to know calculus," the leader of the Dragon Kingdom frowned.

"But we can teach them," Lin Shen said, "Nuwa, immediately publish a concise tutorial through all available channels—television, internet, radio, and even public displays. Start from the most basic triangle area formula, and guide them step-by-step to the concept of limits. We need to let as many people as possible understand and calculate the correct answer within twenty-four hours."

"That's impossible!" an European representative objected, "Most people do not have such a mathematical foundation!"

"Then let them start learning now," Lin Shen said decisively, "The Gardener's test is not a multiple-choice question; it is a question-and-answer test. They want to see our learning ability and knowledge-sharing efficiency as a civilization. Even if not everyone can calculate the correct answer in the end, as long as we demonstrate our collective learning ability, we might pass the evaluation."

Nuwa had already begun to act.

All connected screens globally were requisitioned to play a ten-minute math lesson.

The course started with "What is the area of a triangle," used the most intuitive animations to demonstrate, gradually introduced inscribed circles, similar triangles, geometric series summation, and finally converged to the concept of limits.

At the same time, education systems in various countries were urgently mobilized.

Math teachers were asked to go to community centers, squares, and any place where crowds gathered to teach on-site.

Students taught their parents, children taught their grandparents, those who understood taught those who did not.

This was a global synchronized learning event unprecedented in human history.

For the first two hours, chaos prevailed.

But by the third hour, the data began to change.

Nuwa monitored the search volume and discussion content on the global internet and found that the search volume for keywords like "limit," "infinite series," and "geometric series summation" had increased by one hundred thousand times.

On social media, people shared their steps for solving the problem and corrected each other's mistakes.

"The learning curve is rising exponentially," Nuwa reported, "At the current speed, it is estimated that in eighteen hours, 35% of adults will be able to understand the problem and attempt to solve it. But only about 12% will be able to calculate the accurate answer."

"Not enough," Sarah said, "What the Gardener wants to see might be the participation rate, not just the accuracy rate. We need to let more people at least try."

Max proposed an idea at the Imperial Space Center: "If some people really cannot understand mathematics, can they 'participate' in other ways? For example, artistic expression? Music? The purpose of the Gardener's test is to evaluate our civilization's potential, and potential is not just reflected in mathematics."

Lin Shen pondered this suggestion: "But the question explicitly asks for the calculation of the area. However... perhaps we can provide a dual response. On one hand, let as many people as possible give numerical answers; on the other hand, respond with the overall creativity of the civilization."

He asked Nuwa to prepare a second plan: collect the derivative content generated by global humans during the problem-solving process—those artistic re-creations of the figure, musical adaptations, philosophical musings, and even humorous complaints.

All of this would be packaged as a "civilization creativity sample" and sent to the "Geometric Eye" along with the mathematical answer.

The countdown continued.

Twelve hours later, 1.9 billion people worldwide had submitted their answers.

Nuwa calculated the statistics of all numerical answers and formed a distribution map: the peak appeared near the correct answer, but there were also a large number of wrong answers scattered around.

Overall, the deviation between the civilization's average answer and the correct answer was within 15%.

"Considering we only used half a day to teach billions of people calculus, this result is already incredible," Academician Li Weimin looked at the data, "But will the Gardener be satisfied?"

The answer was revealed the moment the countdown ended.

The red light on the surface of the Rubik's Cube turned into blue light.

The second question appeared:

[Question 2: If this structure is not two-dimensional, but a three-dimensional Sierpinski tetrahedron, what is the limit of its volume?]

Countdown: 11:59:59.

Twelve hours, a more complex problem.

A wail sounded across the globe.

But this time, people were not panicked.

Nuwa immediately began to produce a new tutorial, starting from three-dimensional geometry.

At the same time, the first batch of people who performed well in solving the problem were automatically identified to form an online tutoring network to help others.

Lin Shen, however, stared at the three-dimensional figure, lost in thought.

"Sarah, did you notice? The figure for Question 1 was an equilateral triangle, and Question 2 is a regular tetrahedron. If there is a Question 3..."

"It might be four-dimensional or higher," Sarah continued, "They are testing our ability to think in higher dimensions. This is a key indicator of civilization level—being able to understand and manipulate higher-dimensional existence usually marks a level above 1.5."

"But we cannot teach all of humanity four-dimensional geometry in twelve hours."

"Perhaps we don't need to," Sarah pulled up the memory of the pacific node, "The Gardener's tests are often stepped. They don't expect us to master it immediately, but to see if we can build the correct thinking framework within a limited time. For the three-dimensional problem, if we can demonstrate the potential to generalize to higher dimensions, perhaps we can pass."

Lin Shen nodded: "Nuwa, add a brief introduction to four-dimensional concepts in the tutorial. Even if most people cannot understand it, at least let them know that 'higher dimensions exist'."

The countdown ticked.

Meanwhile, deep in the Pacific Ocean, a new anomaly appeared.

Mariana Trench, three thousand meters below the original node location.

Since the self-destruction of the pacific node, there should only be ruins here.

But at this moment, the sediment on the seabed was pushed away by an invisible force, revealing a brand-new structure underneath—not an icosahedron, but a constantly deforming polyhedron, like a beating heart.

This structure was not sleeping.

As soon as it appeared, it began to actively scan the surrounding environment, and the detection pulses it emitted had subtle differences from the Gardener's scanning frequency, more like it was... searching for its own kind.

"New quantum signal source detected," Nuwa reported, "The signal characteristics are similar to the Sower System nodes, but more aggressive. It seems to be looking for other nodes, and after finding no response, it began to turn towards the surface."

"What does it want to do?" General Liu asked.

"Not sure. But its energy readings are rising rapidly, already reaching 30% of the pacific node before its self-destruction. And... it is moving towards the sea surface."

Satellite images showed that the sea surface above the Mariana Trench began to form a huge whirlpool with a diameter of over fifty kilometers.

In the center of the whirlpool, the seawater was pushed aside, and a silver-gray spire slowly rose.

"It is surfacing!" the Ocean Monitoring Center alerted.

Even more unsettling was the timing of this new node's appearance—it was right during the Gardener's test.

Was it a coincidence, or some kind of response?

Sarah sensed the anomaly.

The node consciousness within her suddenly became active, transmitting an urgent message to her:

[Warning: 'Avenger' node detected waking up. This type of node is a defensive unit in the Sower System, specifically targeting external threats like the Gardener. But its programming may have been corrupted—it will attack any non-sower targets, including humans.]

"Why wake up now?" Sarah asked.

[Because the Gardener's scan activated its defensive protocol. It believes the Solar System is being invaded, and since humans failed to stop the invasion, humans may be judged as 'incompetent' or 'accomplices'. It might... clear the battlefield.]

"What does clearing the battlefield mean?"

[Eliminate all variables that might interfere with its combat. Including human civilization.]

A new crisis.

The Gardener's test was still ongoing, and a hostile sower defensive node was about to surface to attack humanity.

Lin Shen had to make a choice: focus on dealing with the Gardener's test, or split forces to deal with this new threat?

He looked at the global learning data, the progress of understanding the three-dimensional problem was twice as fast as the two-dimensional one—humanity was adapting to this sudden challenge.

Perhaps, we could deal with both.

"Initiate the third phase of the 'kindling plan'," Lin Shen ordered, "All underground shelters enter standby status. At the same time, prepare to contact the 'Avenger' node—not to confront, but to communicate. Sarah, can you talk to it?"

Sarah tried to connect, but was thrown back by a violent data stream.

A trace of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

"No. It refuses any connection requests from non-sowers. And... it is scanning my consciousness, thinking I am a 'contaminated' candidate."

The spire of the Avenger Node had already exposed one hundred meters above the sea surface.

Its surface began to unfold, blooming like a metal flower, with terrifying energy readings gathering in the center of the flower.

Nuwa predicted: "If that is a directed-energy weapon, a single shot would be enough to vaporize a coastal city."

Countdown: Eight hours left for the three-dimensional problem.

Lin Shen took a deep breath and made a risky decision.

"Let 'Kuafu' depart early. Not to the Kuiper Belt, but to the Mariana. Sarah, I'm going with you. We need to use the authorization the pacific node left you to try to take over or shut it down before it fires."

"But what about the Gardener's test?" Sarah asked.

"The test is for all of humanity. We leave, others continue. And if we don't stop this node, the test won't be over, and the cities might be destroyed."

Max objected: "This is too dangerous! 'Kuafu' hasn't finished its manned modification!"

"Use the backup plan," Lin Shen pulled up a blueprint, "Do not perform a full modification, just add a temporary life support system. This can only support seventy-two hours, but it's enough for us to make a round trip to the Mariana and attempt contact."

"What if it fails?"

Lin Shen looked at the screen, the Avenger Node was accelerating its ascent, and the energy readings were doubling every ten minutes.

"If it fails," he said, "at least we tried to communicate. And if we do nothing, failure is inevitable."

General Liu finally approved the operation.

An hour later, Lin Shen and Sarah boarded the modified "Kuafu" spaceship at the Dragon Kingdom space launch site.

This spaceship, originally designed for deep space exploration, was now squeezed with two temporary seats and a life support system.

It would arrive over the Mariana in thirty minutes, and then dive into the deep sea.

Meanwhile, humanity across the globe was crazily learning three-dimensional geometry.

Mathematics had never been so important, and never so popularized.

And in Mars orbit, the "Geometric Eye" Rubik's Cube rotated quietly, waiting for the second answer.

Three countdowns were running simultaneously:

Gardener's test: 7 hours 22 minutes remaining.

Avenger Node fully surfacing: Expected 3 hours 10 minutes.

"Kuafu" arrives at the contact point: 2 hours 45 minutes.

Lin Shen was in the narrow seat of the spaceship, looking at the blue Pacific Ocean below.

Sarah sat next to him, eyes closed, coordinating one last time with the node consciousness within her.

She suddenly opened her eyes and said: "The pacific node told me one thing at the last moment. It said, the Gardener's test is not an evaluation, but... learning. They are learning from us. Because their own civilization has stagnated, they need new thinking patterns to break through the bottleneck."

Lin Shen was stunned: "So they are collecting our creativity?"

"Yes. But they won't admit it. They will use 'evaluation' and 'pruning' as excuses, but in reality, they are stealing our uniqueness," Sarah looked at the starry sky outside the window, "So the answer we give cannot be too perfect, nor too bad. We must make them feel we are valuable, but not so much that they feel we are too much of a threat and must be archived immediately."

"A delicate balance."

"Just like walking a tightrope," Sarah nodded, "And now, we still have to deal with the storm beneath our feet first."

The spaceship began to descend, rushing into the atmosphere.

Below, the Avenger Node had already exposed two-thirds of itself, its surface covered with weapon arrays.

And in Mars orbit, the blue light of the Rubik's Cube flickered steadily, waiting for the civilization's answer.