In short, the top priority is to calm down first.
Chai Cuiqiao silently took the pen away from the examination paper and looked around.
All the candidates in the examination room faced the same situation. Even the candidates who made the fastest progress could only barely write a single stroke on the examination paper under great pressure.
Then he dropped the pen with all his strength and failed to finish writing his name.
'Something's wrong...'
Chai Chai looked away and cupped his cheeks with both hands thoughtfully, "The final exam of the Academy is set up for admissions, not to torture candidates."
The Chang'an Civilian Jinshi Group has graded the 2,500 candidates who have advanced to the final exam. The candidates are divided into three grades: A, B, and C. Each grade has three levels: upper, middle, and lower, which are used to guess who is the candidate. Most likely to pass the final exam and become a disciple of the Academy.
According to the probability, there are at least four candidates with level A or above in this examination room.
If even they are unable to do anything and are stuck at the first step, other candidates will be even less likely to pass...'
Chai Chai fell into deep thought and blocked out the noise from the outside world.
'The examiner just said that this final test not only tests courage and perseverance, but also tests character, wisdom and understanding. .
In the illusion generated by the test paper, there must be hidden clues to pass the test.
Regardless of whether they are ordinary candidates who have just begun to possess spiritual power, or candidates recommended by the Ministry of War who have been on the battlefield to kill enemies and whose courage has been tempered, both sides should be fair.
As long as you find clues or figure out the joints, you can unlock the illusion...'
Chai Chai thought for a moment, put the hairpin on his head, put the two intact examination papers aside, faced the first examination paper that had been stained black with ink, and picked up the Langhao pen again.
The next moment, an illusion of intertwined light and darkness was generated around him,
The beam of light projected from above the head was warm and bright, highlighting the chaotic and sinister surrounding darkness.
Without any warning, the beam of light above the head began to slowly shrink, becoming weak and dim, while the surrounding darkness slowly came over.
Chai Chai felt a cold current rushing through his body, his scalp was numb involuntarily, and he instinctively wanted to turn around and escape.
'Calm down and think! '
She forced herself to stand still without moving back, and began to look around for clues.
The light above the head is cylindrical and shrinks at a rate of approximately one inch per breath. It doesn't look like it is emitted by a normal light source, but more like it is constructed by the illusion itself.
The ground beneath your feet is neither gold nor wood. It seems to be some kind of stone. It has a hard texture and there is no muffled sound after stepping on it. It doesn't look like there is an underground cavity.
The hand... doesn't hold the pen.
Proves that only consciousness is in illusion.
In addition, spiritual power can be used.
But the best candidates of this year have just entered the state of Qi Sensing, and have not yet learned how to use talismans, let alone use spiritual power to create artificial light sources to illuminate the surrounding environment.
Where are the clues?
She took off the hairpin she wore on her head, held it firmly in her hand as a weapon, and stared into the darkness ahead.
The strange feeling of being stared at by a natural enemy came to mind again, and the uncontrollable fear overwhelmed his will like the sea water.
Blood flow accelerates, muscles tighten and stiffen,
As the darkness spread step by step, the fear finally reached the critical point, and the soles of the feet lifted and retreated uncontrollably.
"call..."
The light and darkness receded instantly, and consciousness returned to the examination room again.
The brush in his hand dripped a few extra drops of ink, further dyeing the examination paper black.
'Same as last time, I couldn't even see what was hidden in the darkness, and made almost no progress. '
Chai Chai put the brush on the table, paused, and touched the hairpin that was firmly on his head, "Well... I can't say that there is no progress." '
In the illusion, he clearly took off the hairpin and held it in his hand as a weapon.
But after leaving the illusion, the hairpin is still on the head...
Are hallucinations merely hallucinations, with no real physical effects other than terror to the mind?
Wouldn't there be a situation where "if you die in a hallucination, people in reality will also die"...
Chai Chai thought for a while, then picked up the wolf brush again and returned to the illusion. Before being scared away by the darkness, he took the initiative to take a half step back and escape from the illusion.
'Backing off is indeed the trigger for escaping from the illusion. So walking into the darkness is the way to break the illusion? But how to overcome the fear of being invisible and intangible...'
Chai Chai pursed his lips slightly and looked down at the Langhao pen. Li Ang's views on the biological fear mechanism during the previous chat came to mind.
"Based on the fact that orangutans are afraid of snakes they have never seen before, Darwin believed that orangutans will pass on their fear of snakes to their offspring in the form of genes."
"What are genes? Well, you can think of genes as dragons giving birth to dragons, phoenixes giving birth to phoenixes, and mice's sons can make holes."
"But this theory is, well... sort of, half right."
"The things that genes can do are relatively limited. Psychologists and anthropologists have done research in the past. When humans are still babies, they will simply classify the things around them. For example, people who can walk on two legs, animals that cannot move, etc. , fish swimming in the water, dogs walking on four legs, etc.”
"In this process, the brain will establish a cognitive model to filter out useful information, useless noise, and potentially harmful information."
“When something happens that goes against the common sense of the brain, the brain will immediately recognize it and mark it as abnormal, creating fear and interest.”
"For example, when walking on the street, everyone is walking with their legs upright. You will not be in the mood to observe everyone. However, when on a normal street, there are suddenly several people crawling and walking on all fours with their faces turned up, the emotion of fear will be It will be generated involuntarily, even earlier than the emotions of curiosity and doubt.”
“The same goes for the uncanny valley theory.”
"In other words, the innate fear of animals is the fear of unknown and alternative things."
"If you show a large model of a hippopotamus to gorillas who have never seen a hippopotamus, there is a certain probability that they will become afraid."
"What? How do you explain that mice are naturally afraid of cats?"
"To be precise, mice are not naturally afraid of cats, but respond to specific smells and sounds such as cat saliva, cat urine, and cat meows. When they smell the smell of cat urine, the endocrine system of the mouse will It starts working automatically, increases the mouse's anxiety, and forces it to move further away to avoid the possibility of encountering a cat."
"And if we use genetic engineering technology to edit the mouse gene so that it no longer responds to the specific protein of cat pheromones, then the mouse will no longer have stress symptoms. Even if it is faced with a live cat, it will not have fear. mood."
"The same is true for Toxoplasma gondii. Rats parasitized by Toxoplasma gondii will be indifferent to the cat's pheromones, and even actively contact the cat, hoping to be eaten by the cat, so that Toxoplasma gondii can continue to spread."
"So, innate fear is just the brain's own reaction."
"So, is it possible to overcome innate fear or even avoid fear at all?"
"That's a good question."
"There are methods. One is to use genetic engineering technology to knock out specific genes just like what is done with mice. But humans are different from mice. Mice accidentally mutated the corresponding DNA during their long evolutionary history, allowing mice to When facing predators such as cats, there is a higher probability of survival, and thus a greater probability of passing this DNA on to the next generation. And through successive generations of tests, it continues to be optimized, and finally forms a unique 'ability'. "
"As for humans... in the millions of years of evolution of the terrifying erect apes, it seems that they have never encountered any too terrifying natural predators, and they will have uncontrollable fear of specific smells and sounds."
"The other way is to hit the brain."
"To put it bluntly, emotions are a game for the brain to entertain itself. The area that controls emotions is called the limbic system. It includes the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, entorhinal area, dentate gyrus, cingulate gyrus, mammillary bodies, and amygdala. "
"Among them, the amygdala controls the emotion of fear. If the amygdala of a macaque is removed, it will permanently lose the ability to fear. It will no longer be afraid of snakes, no longer afraid of strong peers in the group, and no longer even afraid of climbing to high places. Even if the height is enough for it to fall to death."
"In another case, a woman suffered from a rare genetic disease called 'lipoid proteinosis'. This disease can cause lesions and even atrophy of the amygdala on both sides of the brain. Because this disease , the patient does not feel any fear. No matter what she encounters, she is extremely calm when watching horror movies, playing in haunted houses, being pointed at a gun, and seeing unknown shadows outside the house."
"Theoretically, patients with this disease, and those who have had their amygdala removed, are the closest people in the world to the literal meaning of the word 'fearless'..."
The memories gradually faded away, Chai Chai opened his eyes and let out a long breath.
Li Ang often told her things that she couldn't understand or understand, but she never thought deeply about why Li Ang inexplicably understood so many weird things. She just attributed it to the reason "the young master is a genius".
In Chai Chai's small world, Li Ang is the smartest and most resourceful person. Even a saint who is born with knowledge is not as capable as Li Ang.
Chai Chai believed this before, now and in the future.
At this moment, the fragmentary information in Li Ang's words became the key to the final exam.
'The emotion of fear comes from the amygdala. It is the amygdala that detects specific information and outputs various hormones. It makes your heart beat faster, your palms become sweaty, and your blood pressure rises. Involuntarily wanting to run away, or freezing in place and unable to move. '
'The most fundamental way to overcome the illusion is to remove the amygdala. Anyway, the injuries in the illusion will not be brought to reality. But I can't do it on my own - the young master never pointed out the location of the amygdala to me. '
'Then the only way is to block the fear. '
'How to do this... When the amygdala is stimulated, it will start to direct the body to secrete rapidly. Unless the five senses are stripped away, the source of the fear will not be accepted. '
'The young master seems to have said that there is a way to peel off the five senses. Blindfold yourself and lie in a warm pool of highly concentrated salt water. Floating on the water, without hearing or seeing, all senses gradually fade away. '
'But there are no such conditions in the fantasy world...'
The dilemma has returned to its original starting point,
Chai Chai frowned and thought hard about countermeasures.
Strip away the five senses and block fear...
'Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch. In the fantasy world, there are very few external stimuli. There are only two kinds, light and dark. '
"Could it be..."
Chai Chai's eyes lit up, he slowly exhaled a breath, and picked up the Langhao pen on the table.
The illusion struck again, and she appeared under the light again, facing the vast darkness surrounding her.
'If I am not mistaken, darkness is not the immediate stimulus to fear. There is nothing there. There is no visual, auditory, olfactory or tactile stimulation. '
'What really triggered fear in me was the light above my head. '
She raised her head and looked up at the warm and peaceful circular light column above, as if she wanted to see clearly what was in the light through the light column.
Tear.
Accompanied by the sound of tearing cloth, Chai Chai cut off a corner of his clothes with a hairpin, covered his eyes with a thick piece of cloth, and blocked his ears and nose as well.
Finally, the soles of the shoes were also wrapped with two layers of cloth.
She tied the cloth tightly and didn't care even if her eyes and ears hurt. She took a deep breath and waited quietly for the darkness to arrive.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths.
She calculated silently in her mind. Since the shrinkage rate of the circular light beam was stable and consistent, she could calculate the time it took for the circular light beam to completely shrink by breathing.
about there.
His eyes were blocked by pieces of cloth, and he couldn't see a trace of light.
But Chai Chai already had the answer in his mind.
She opened her legs and took a step forward.
She couldn't hear her footsteps, and she couldn't even feel that she was taking steps forward because the soles of her shoes were covered with pieces of cloth.
Step two, step three.
She strictly controlled her pace, and finally, when she reached the hundredth step, she heard another sound in her ears.
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