Survivorship Bias

Chapter 11: I insist on twisting it

Zhong Yirou didn’t expect that what Yang Ming said was actually true. 

However, she couldn’t sense any traces of deception from An Wujiu, even when she was stitching up his wounds. Before this, she tried various methods to test him and almost believed that the person in front of her had indeed lost his memory and had no intention to kill.

But now, standing on the duel threshold, An Wujiu was completely different from his previous self. Besides the same appearance, he exuded an aura of oppression and provocation, despite having only a thread of life left. He looked completely at ease and was filled with excitement about dueling and killing.

Post-traumatic stress disorder patients usually become weak, slow, experience insomnia, language degradation, and emotional disturbances, and repeatedly relive intrusive memories of the trauma. However, a small number of individuals may exhibit extreme symptoms such as violent anger, emotional instability, reduced empathy, and excessive excitement.

The former described the previous An Wujiu, while the latter was the current version of him.

There had been several incidents of retired mercenaries going mad, but at that time, public opinion only considered those cases of mass shootings as acts of cyber psychosis-induced terrorism.

When humans were no longer entirely composed of organic matter, they ceased to resemble humans, and consequently, their psychological issues were no longer considered a concern.

In the duel threshold, Shen Ti did not show the shock that others imagined. Instead, a subtle smile appeared on his face.

At the moment when An Wujiu’s long knife thrust toward Shen Ti’s eyes, Shen Ti dodged the attack by sidestepping, then leaned back and picked up a steel rod from the ground as An Wujiu’s horizontal slash passed by.

“Don’t want to give them to me?” An Wujiu continued to smile.

“Twisted melon is not sweet.” Armed with a weapon, Shen Ti launched an attack against An Wujiu, and the end of the steel rod narrowly missed hitting An Wujiu’s head.

“You really want it, beg me then.”

An Wujiu didn’t move but tilted his head, easily evading the attack, and sneered.

“Who said it’s not sweet? I insist on twisting it.”

Each of Shen Ti’s strikes was fiercer than before.

Retreat to the left, then to the right, and then to the left again.

The loud sound of metal colliding erupted like fireworks.

The long knife blocked the steel rod.

In a moment of extreme closeness, their noses were almost touching, and An Wujiu suddenly reached out his finger towards Shen Ti, and the forceful fingertip was just inches away from those eyes.

Shen Ti showed no intention of avoiding it and stared directly into An Wujiu’s eyes.

Finally, that hand came to a halt.

“You’re testing me,” An Wujiu’s voice was very soft.

“Is that so?” Shen Ti just smiled, “Perhaps you misunderstood.”

Their attacks were like a tension-filled tango, with a radical rhythm, pressing step by step, and every move clashing. But An Wujiu could tell how much force his opponent was using; he didn’t want to be the one led in this dance.

In the end, he stopped, raised his leg, and kicked the steel rod out of the duel threshold from Shen Ti’s hand. As it left the light curtain, the steel rod transformed into green-colored data and eventually disappeared.

Facing Shen Ti, An Wujiu slowly retreated, gripping the long knife with his left hand, and the blade made a scraping sound on the ground. His right hand was covered in blood, and each drop fell to the ground along the trajectory.

“You have a decent face,” he said expressionlessly, “but the things you do are quite boring.”

He didn’t like being tested.

“Really uninteresting.” An Wujiu looked up, turned his wrist with a lift of his hand, and aimed Shen Ti’s knife back at his own chest. He stabbed the knife into his chest without hesitation.

The health bar above his head went down to zero instantly.

He threw the knife directly away and then raised his hands in a surrender gesture, but his face had a very happy smile.

“I lost, I admit defeat.”

Everyone was stunned, as no one could have expected that this guy would go crazy enough to solve himself.

“In this round of the duel, Shen Ti wins – An Wujiu’s health bar is reduced by one, remaining health bar count: 1.”

“Got it.” An Wujiu lowered his head, using one hand to take off the blood-stained shirt from his body. He shook his hair, which now reached only his shoulders, and bit the shirt with his teeth to tear a strip of cloth. He used it as a bandage to wrap and secure his injured hand and chest.

After taking off his shirt, Shen Ti noticed that there was a black pattern on the skin of An Wujiu’s left chest, similar to the white flower on the right side of his neck — both were peonies in full bloom.

After tending to his injuries, An Wujiu walked out of the duel threshold, the crimson light curtain covering his bare skin, as if he had returned from a bloodbath.

Despite having only one life left and facing certain elimination and death, An Wujiu displayed a confidence and aura that ordinary people couldn’t comprehend. Step by step, he walked in Yang Ming’s direction, stood in front of the motionless Yang Ming, and gazed at his pale face. He lifted his hand and brushed the hair covering Yang Ming’s cheek behind his ear.

“You…” Yang Ming couldn’t accept everything happening before his eyes, “You…”

He had already convinced himself that the terrifying An Wujiu would never come back. In this small duel threshold, he believed he could easily kill An Wujiu.

Yang Ming suppressed his anger and fear. “You were really lying!”

As if hearing a joke, An Wujiu chuckled, “For me, I have no recollection of you. But…”

“Don’t you remember me? If I were lying…”

An Wujiu slightly lowered his head and whispered as if sharing a secret, “You would have already been dead for a long time.”

After saying this, An Wujiu patted Yang Ming’s shoulder, walked past him, turned around, and smiled at everyone, “I know what you’re thinking.”

As he moved, he imitated the tone of an outsider, “An Wujiu was deceiving us! He’s exactly the kind of person Yang Ming described. Now he only has one life left, so just propose a duel and kill him.”

“That’s a pretty good idea,” An Wujiu turned his neck, “If I were you, I would definitely propose a duel right now.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Chengwei was eager to open his mouth.

“Don’t be in such a hurry. I haven’t finished talking yet.”

“I’m also puzzled about why I ended up in this lousy game. And as for that submissive act I put on a few minutes ago, I’m even more curious about it,” he said, looking at Yang Ming. “Hey, you. Haven’t you seen me before? Explain to me, did I really act like a fool in the previous game you mentioned?”

Yang Ming’s hand trembled slightly; he clenched it tightly and then suddenly addressed everyone, “Did you all see it? This is his true nature! We must…”

“Stop.” An Wujiu rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Answering questions truthfully is a valuable virtue.”

“Listen up, everyone.” He seemed to be tired and sat cross-legged on the ground, hunching his body. Using the hand that wasn’t injured to support his chin, he spoke with an indifferent expression, “I heard that I am currently the player with the highest points on the field, and you all seem curious about it.

“Let me be clear. In the previous round, I received a score reward of fifty thousand points. Or you can say, fifty thousand holy coins.”

He revealed the well-calculated plan, even though he was puzzled by his previous good-natured act. Nevertheless, he followed through with the setup.

Everyone was stunned; no one could have expected that the score earned from winning one round could be several times their accumulated points.

Only Shen Ti squinted his green eyes.

“As long as you don’t challenge me to a duel, and after the game ends, I will split the points reward from my previous round among all of you,” he said generously and gestured towards Yang Ming with his hand. “Listen carefully; that means every single one of you, even those who want to exterminate me.”

“Calculate it yourselves; the share you receive might be even higher than the points reward you’ll get from winning this round.”

Faced with such temptation, it’s hard for anyone not to be tempted.

Yang Ming had already won over many hearts with his proposal to share supplies, but in the game, the resources were virtual. Although they could provide temporary survival, participating in the game was for promotion and points. Returning to reality as true wealthy individuals was their goal, and the allure of points, which were the in-game currency, was much stronger than mere supplies.

Liu Chengwei licked his lips and tried to appear strong, “Then you’ll enjoy it; everyone else won’t challenge you, and you can duel with whoever you want.”

An Wujiu smiled, “Of course not. I also promise all of you that as long as you agree to my request, I will never challenge any of you to a duel in this game.”

He continued to incite, “I know you’re all wary of me. Honestly, it seems like I really have some issues with my brain. My personality fluctuates between good and bad, but that’s not important. What matters now is that I am the weakest person here, with only one life, no resources, and could die here at any moment. My only wish is not to die like this. All you need to do is agree to my request, give me some space, and I’ll give away the points reward from the previous round to everyone for free. Isn’t that a good deal?”

With all the setup, An Wujiu indeed became the weakest person on the field, unable to loot resources or restore his health bar. Without resources, even if he didn’t duel, he could still starve to death.

There was no need to take action at all.

“How do we know you won’t deceive us? Mr. Yang already said you’re not to be trifled with,” Ueno spoke with courage but was quickly intimidated by An Wujiu’s fearsome gaze. “I… just wanted to ask.”

“Are you so afraid of me? I don’t eat people,” An Wujiu made an innocent expression. “You still believe what Yang Ming said? He praised me to the skies just to set me up as a target for you to take down.”

“When we first came in, I told you all to be peaceful and live together until the last day. You didn’t listen. Now I’m proposing a second option. You should think it over carefully.”

No one dared to act rashly, and An Wujiu didn’t push them either; he just smiled.

“Don’t worry, when it comes to money matters, it’s better to be clear. Let me write a contract for you.”

Zhong Yirou thought of his memory loss and lack of knowledge about the game’s various mechanisms, so she reminded, “We can have the system act as a third-party guarantee.”

He had transferred 10,000 credits to her in the morning to get stitches, and now he wanted to use the points reward from the previous round for a trade.

Such a spendthrift. He really was a spendthrift.

“Can we do that?” An Wujiu showed a surprised expression, placed his palm near his mouth, and shouted towards the ceiling, “Hey, Holy Voice.”

Soon, the system responded to his voice, “Player An Wujiu requests interaction.”

“Get me a contract or something similar, and have everyone put their fingerprints on it. If I don’t distribute the points reward to everyone in the end or challenge them to duels after the game ends, all my points will be reset, and the same goes for you. Violating the rules will result in punishment.”

“Hold on,” Lao Yu asked, “If you spend the points reward from the previous round, can we still get a share of that money?”

An Wujiu scoffed, “Understood. You’re afraid I’ll spend it all, right? Holy Voice, add a line that says, regardless of whether I use it or not, I will definitely give out the entire points reward from the previous round.”

Holy Voice spoke, “Once a player provides points for trade in the system, regardless of whether the player still has points or not, the points will be deducted after the trade is completed.”

“If a player’s total points sum to zero, an indebted mode will be activated with the system. Under the indebted mode, even if the player successfully survives, they will automatically face a significant disadvantage in the next round. Please be cautious, all players.”

“Got it, got it,” An Wujiu yawned, “I can see the data on my panel. I’ve participated in four rounds and have a 100 percent win rate. They all know how wealthy I am. Let’s sign the contract.”

“The system is generating the agreement.”

Soon, a virtual glowing blue note appeared in front of him, containing all of An Wujiu’s requests and promises.

[Player An Wujiu uses the points reward from the previous round to exchange a request with other players: Not to send duel requests to An Wujiu during the game. All players who press their fingerprints on this contract are considered to have accepted the agreement and will not receive duel invitations from An Wujiu. They will receive an equal share of the points An Wujiu earned in the previous round as a reward. If either party violates the agreement, both will face the punishment of having their account points reset.

Party A: An Wujiu, Party B: … ]

“Is this acceptable to everyone? Whoever signs it will receive their share.”

An Wujiu had already pressed his fingerprint on the part of Party A and then looked relaxedly at the others.

“Fifty thousand points, you know. If everyone joins, each person will get at least seven thousand points.”