“Two?” Clearly, this answer was beyond the expectations of the three officers. Captain looked at him with great interest. “Let’s hear it.”

“Yes, sir!” Although he hadn’t received systematic training, at least someone had already told him that before answering a superior’s question, it was best to preface it with phrases like ‘reporting, sir’, ‘yes, sir’, or ‘no, sir’.

“The first question: everything reverts to its original state after midnight, but the glass slipper does not, sir.” This was obviously the standard answer; basically, everyone acknowledged this minor flaw in the master’s work.

But what interested the officers was the second answer given by William Carter, something they had never considered before, so they were quite eager: “And the second question?”

“The second question: it’s impossible to find someone based on a single shoe, sir.” William Carter answered loudly. He could also tell that the officers were interested in this extra answer. “If you give me a single shoe, I could easily find hundreds of millions of people who could fit it, sir. If it were really possible to find the right person with just one shoe, then all the people in the criminal investigation unit could be fired. Clearly, they’re not qualified.”

The last sentence was obviously William Carter’s impromptu humor. Although the question didn’t seem very difficult to William Carter, this kind of test wasn’t just about finding the correct answer; it also paid attention to the details in the process of answering. Whether the answer was correct or not was not the only standard.

This was a perspective no one had ever considered before. Needless to say, with today’s massive population, even in a fairy tale, unless there was only one family in the entire Cinderella story, this method wouldn’t work either—the prince was destined not to find his beloved.

The three officers exchanged glances and saw satisfied smiles in each other’s eyes. Captain lowered his head and added another comment to William Carter’s comprehensive evaluation: strong logic, excellent divergent thinking. After a moment’s thought, he added: has an appropriate sense of humor.

Chapter One: Psychological Test (Part 2)

The second question required describing a hypothetical scenario.

There are two maglev railways: one abandoned, one in use. Ten children go to play on the tracks. One child insists on playing on the abandoned track, while the other nine, thinking the abandoned track isn’t shiny enough, run to play on the track in use.

“When you see the maglev train appear two hundred meters away, you notice the children playing a hundred meters from you. At this moment, there is a track switch at your location, allowing you to divert the train onto the abandoned track. What would you do?” Captain repeated the question, then asked William Carter very seriously.

William Carter understood that this was the so-called psychological test, to determine which unit he would serve in. However, the question was clearly not that simple.

After thinking carefully for a moment, William Carter answered very seriously, “Reporting, sir, I think I could only call the emergency hotline and then immediately run to the children to see if there’s still any hope of saving them.”

Captain frowned, as if he didn’t quite understand William Carter. “Why? Do you know what we want you to answer?”

“Reporting, sir!” As always, William Carter followed the standard for answering questions—addressing the superior first was never wrong. “I know, but I still stand by my answer.”

“Go ahead.” Captain sat up straight, eager to hear what William Carter would say. After the previous question, Captain was even hoping that William Carter would say something out of the ordinary.

“Sir, modern maglev trains can reach speeds of over 1,800 kilometers per hour, which means at least 500 meters per second. In the question, I am standing 200 meters from the train and 100 meters from the children—the two are at most 300 meters apart. At the train’s speed, it would take only 0.6 seconds for them to collide.” William Carter sat in the chair, still trying to keep himself as straight as possible, speaking confidently like a trained soldier.

“With only 0.6 seconds, sir, what I need to do is: turn my head, see the children, and then make a judgment.” William Carter looked straight at Captain. “Sir, although I consider myself excellent, I’m not that excellent.”

The expression on Captain’s face clearly relaxed, and he smiled at William Carter again. “Very good, soldier. Few people can see the key to this problem—you did. Congratulations.”

“Thank you, sir!” William Carter didn’t dare show much excitement. He knew that the test had started the moment he walked in and would continue until the end. The answers to the questions accounted for at most fifty percent of the evaluation; the rest would be assessed throughout the entire process, so he didn’t dare relax at all.

“If you had enough time to make a judgment and take action, what would you do?” Captain continued to press. The two Lieutenant beside him still said nothing, maintaining their stern gaze on William Carter, making him not dare to make any rash moves.