svetikya Chapter 42 - Xu Kai's Notes
Chapter 42 - Xu Kai's Notes
He sat in his personal space for a long time.
He wasn't daydreaming. He opened the database, turned to the blank page after DB-001, and wrote in the header: "Entry Number: DB-002 | Type: Personnel File | Node Created: #003 After Settlement"
Personnel files.
This is a habit he developed on overseas construction sites—after each project ends, he creates a "Personnel Evaluation" subfolder in the project folder, recording the names of all the subcontractors, supervisors, and client representatives he worked with. It's not for scoring, but to have a record for future collaborations: Did this person keep their word? Was their technical judgment accurate? Would they shirk responsibility under pressure? If he didn't write these things down, he would forget them.
The same applies to dungeons.
He collaborated with three people in #003: Wu Ming, Qin Gong, and Xu Kai.
He started writing with Wu Ming.
---
"DB-002-A | Wu Ming | Number: Unknown (Wrist not observed, to be verified)"
First Contact: #003·Isolated Construction Site·Entry Phase
Professional Background: Third-year civil engineering student (currently enrolled), with experience in performing precision observation missions within China.
Core capabilities: High data recording accuracy; acceptable hand stability under pressure (handwriting deviation upon entry, stabilized after the fourth surge); complementary observational and engineering perspectives.
Behavioral Record:
—Proactively state your professional background upon entry, without exaggeration.
—The entire process was recorded, and the observation mission was not abandoned at high-pressure nodes.
—Surge cycle variation data: first accurately recorded by Wu Ming (4.1 seconds, error ±0.2 seconds)
—Wang Bo remained functional after his death and continued to perform his duties.
Credibility assessment: High
Cooperation value: High (complementary data, no overlap)
Human life takes precedence: Yes (unverified, but consistent with behavioral tendencies)
To be verified: Did Wu Ming have any subsequent instance experiences? Is his data recording method equally effective in other instance types?
He paused for a moment in the line "Cooperation Value: High".
high.
He encountered a few people on the construction site who were the kind of people who, without needing explanation, would already be recording the data you needed. Wu Ming was one of those people. His notebook was twenty-three pages long, densely packed with entries, from the first surge to the last evacuation. Every data point had a timestamp, an error estimate, and a "to be verified" label.
Xie Chengzhou had seen this format in the output reports of engineering software.
He closed DB-002-A and turned to the next page.
---
DB-002-B | Qin Gong | Number: Unknown
First Contact: #003·Isolated Construction Site·Entry Phase
Professional background: Structural engineer (inference based on: speed of recognizing concrete curing agents and intuitive judgment of load distribution)
Core competencies: accurate structural judgment, stable action execution, and excellent footwork control under pressure (no mistakes when stepping across the bridge from P2 to P3).
Behavioral Record:
—The candidate did not proactively disclose their background upon entry, and their profession was judged based on their behavior.
—The first to identify the location of the concrete curing agent, without making a fuss, and acted immediately.
—There was very little dialogue throughout, but every time he spoke, it was informative and valuable.
—Cuff action during settlement: Actively cover the rating text
Credibility assessment: High (behavior is consistent with judgment, no exaggeration, no evasion)
Cooperation value: High (approximately 40% overlap with Xie Chengzhou's capabilities, but complementary in execution).
Human life takes priority: (inference, based on the other party's concern about the distal ankle injury)
To be verified: Qin's employee number. She covered up the score during settlement—what was the score result?
He paused for a moment at the line "Qin Gong's Number".
He didn't know Qin's work number.
She never showed her wrists throughout #003; her sleeves were tucked in when she entered and again during settlement. It wasn't intentional concealment, but a habitual cover-up—Xie Chengzhou had seen this before. On construction sites, some people didn't like having their identification numbers seen, not because they had any secrets, but because it was their business and they didn't need others to know.
He added a line after "Pending verification": "Qin's covering behavior: habitual or deliberate concealment? The two have different meanings."
Then he turned to the next page.
---
He paused in front of the blank page.
DB-002-C.
He knew what to write in this entry. He knew it after the settlement, when he met Old Qian in Yuan City, and after writing about Wu Ming and Engineer Qin in the database.
He picked up his pen and wrote in the header: "DB-002-C | Xu Kai | Number: C-0019"
Then he stopped and put the pen on the table.
When he writes evaluations for people on construction sites, he has an unwritten rule: before writing, mentally review the person to ensure you're writing facts, not emotions. Emotions can lead to inaccurate evaluations, and inaccurate evaluations are more dangerous than no evaluation at all because they can cause you to make incorrect predictions in future collaborations.
He went through Xu Kai's thoughts in his mind.
C-0019. He entered standing at the edge of the crowd, back straight, already assessing the others. Before the first surge, he had already completed a preliminary classification of all twelve people. His classification criteria were: useful/useless, mobile/immobile, can be led/not worth leading. This classification framework, under pure efficiency logic, was accurate.
Wang Bo died, Lin Xiao died, Zhang An died. Xu Kai's plan was then put into action. Fang Yuan suffered an ankle injury, and Xu Kai's assessment was: abandon the plan.
This is not indifference. Before writing this entry, Xie Chengzhou spent some time confirming one thing: Xu Kai's judgment was not indifference, but a complete, self-consistent methodology that was entirely valid within his logical framework. He wasn't unaware that Fang Yuan would die; he knew, he factored in this outcome, and he believed the cost was acceptable.
This is not the same thing as indifference.
Indifference is the absence of calculation. Xu Kai, on the other hand, did calculate, arrived at an answer, and then accepted it.
Xie Chengzhou picked up his pen and began to write.
---
"DB-002-C | Xu Kai | Number: C-0019"
First Contact: #003·Isolated Construction Site·Entry Phase
Professional background: Unknown (Inference: Data analysis/risk assessment related, based on the accuracy and speed of the classification framework)
Core competencies: rapid classification, efficient path planning, stable decision-making under pressure, and immunity to emotional interference.
Behavioral Record:
—The initial classification of the twelve players was completed approximately three minutes after they entered the room.
—The timing of the proposal was accurate (after the deaths of Wang Bo/Lin Xiao/Zhang An, after the point of chaos, not during the chaos itself).
—Disagreements with Xie Chengzhou's proposal: Efficiency first vs. a third way
—Settlement score: A (One level behind Xie Chengzhou, the difference stems from the constitutive study of the "construction avoidance strategy")
—Post-settlement actions: Proactively identify scoring discrepancies, analyze the sources of these discrepancies, and propose a "luck" hypothesis.
—Post-settlement cuff action: Press down on the score text
Credibility assessment: High (Accurate statements, no exaggeration, acknowledgement of flaws in the solution)
Cooperation value: Medium
Human life takes priority: No
Note: The basis for "Cooperation Value: Medium" is that Xu Kai's methodology is accurate in terms of efficiency, and his classification framework and path planning are valuable. However, his solution has a blind spot regarding the variable of "pain stress in injured players." This blind spot is not a calculation error, but rather that this dimension is not included in his framework. The value of cooperating with him lies in the fact that he can calculate things I cannot, but he cannot calculate things I can.
He paused on the line "Human life takes priority: No".
This was the first time he had written this line in the database.
When he writes evaluations for people on construction sites, he never writes such an item because "human life priority" is a default value on construction sites and does not need to be written. If a person's "human life priority" is not met, he will not be included in the project or he will be removed.
But this is not a construction site.
This is a place where you can't choose your partners. Once you enter, you're there with whoever's there. You can't filter beforehand. You can only quickly assess the situation after you enter and decide how to cooperate, or not to cooperate, or to cooperate at certain points and not to cooperate at others.
"Human life takes precedence: No" is not a moral judgment.
He reviewed the matter in his memo, then added a line after "Notes": "'Human life first: No'—This is a data point, not a judgment. Its significance lies in: when the moral dilemma is triggered, Xu Kai will choose the efficiency-first solution. This is a predictable behavior. Predictable behavior is a variable that can be factored into the solution."
He put down his pen and closed the database.
---
He sat at the table for a while.
DB-002, three entries: Wu Ming, Qin Gong, and Xu Kai.
He writes assessments for people on construction sites, and he never feels this way after finishing them—those assessments are tools; once written, they're put in a folder, taken out when needed, and put back when finished. But after writing these three items, he sat at the table for a while without immediately closing the folder.
He went through #003 in his mind.
Twelve people went in, and four people came out.
Wu Ming came out, Engineer Qin came out, Xu Kai came out.
He created entries for these three individuals in the database, using engineering assessment terminology and dimensions such as "credibility," "cooperation value," and "human life priority." These dimensions were accurate, and he didn't see any problems with them.
But when he was writing the entry for Xu Kai, he paused on the line "Human life takes priority: No".
How long did he stop?
He wasn't sure. It could be three seconds, or it could be longer.
He wrote a line in his memo: "DB-002-C complete. 'Human life priority: No' — I paused. Reason to be verified. Not because the judgment was wrong, but because this is the first time this has been written into the database."
He closed the memo and pushed the database to one side of the table.
The toolbox was still on the table, the iron testing hammer was inside, the class insignia was inside, the three designer symbols were inside, and the "steel maggot behavior record" prop was inside.
He closed the toolbox, placed his hand on the lid, and felt the temperature of the metal—it was room temperature, about 23 degrees Celsius, dry and stable.
He waited in his personal space for a while, waiting for the pressure coming up from the soles of his feet, waiting for the changes in the handwriting on the inside of his wrist, waiting for any signal that "the next dungeon is about to begin".
There was nothing there.
He removed his hand from the toolbox lid, picked up the memo, flipped to the "Pending Verification" section, and added a line at the bottom:
#004: When does it start?
He paused after this line, then added in parentheses: "(Asked once, no answer. Continue to wait.)"
Then he closed the memo, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and waited.