
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
In a $3 \times 3$ grid, if each of the 9 cells is colored in one of four colors: red, yellow, blue, or purple, and any two cells that share a common edge have different colors, and exactly 2 cells in the grid are colored blue, how many possible ways are there to color the grid? (Answer with a specific number.)

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
user