Survivorship Bias

Chapter 18: Now you want to dress properly? Didn’t you spend the whole day yesterday just swaggering around like that?

In theory, in an era where geographical boundaries were blurred and national borders were fading, An Wujiu shouldn’t be surprised by people of various appearances.

Yet Shen Ti’s face led his thoughts to wander to descriptions of foreigners from medieval records as if they were not of the same kind.

“Your ears are quite perceptive,” Shen Ti said, instantly dispelling An Wujiu’s unrealistic imagination.

“Putting pressure on me, it hurts, hurts, hurts.”

An Wujiu laughed angrily.

What was he taking him for?

“Does it hurt?” An Wujiu tightly pinched Shen Ti’s neck, “You’re so afraid of pain, why not let me just kill you?”

His hand gripped the sun and lone eye on his throat, tendons on the back of his hand undulating along with the veins on Shen Ti’s neck, rising in unison.

The hand against his reddened neck contrasted it, making it seem even paler.

Shen Ti was choked into coughing, his gloved hands gripping An Wujiu’s left hand, yet he continued to provoke, “How do you plan to kill me… with your cultist?”

An Wujiu’s heart twitched, but his face showed a rather curious smile, “My cultist? Who are they?”

The hand around his neck moved upward, holding onto Shen Ti’s chin, “You, perhaps?”

It was a probing question.

He could clearly feel those green eyes staring at him, scanning him like a lie detector, yet An Wujiu just smiled, maintaining direct eye contact.

Amidst the standoff, Shen Ti couldn’t detect any anomalies on An Wujiu’s face.

However, this person himself was already peculiar enough; whether due to a genuine change of character or a tightly-woven disguise, it was far from simple.

“What are you staring at?” An Wujiu pinched his chin forcefully, “You’ve been watching me since the warm-up match. Do you think you can uncover something, or do you really want to give me your eyes?”

Shen Ti burst into laughter, and as he laughed, the coral earring on his earlobe began to sway incessantly.

“How can you say that about me? I just took a few more glances because you’re good-looking. Is that so strange?” 

“And besides, I’m not the only one looking,” Shen Ti’s lips still carried a smile. “But speaking of that, you could even spot me watching you when I had a mask on?”

Caught at a point he could tease, An Wujiu was about to retort, but this guy began explaining in a feigned manner, “Oh, I get it now. It must be that my mask was too exaggerated. It definitely wasn’t you staring at me.”

An Wujiu looked at him coldly, paused for three seconds, then burst into laughter.

“Shen Ti, your black line must be connected to me.”

“Are you so eager to find evidence of me controlling the cultist because you know you can’t kill me through a duel? So, you’d rather pin some damn accusation on me?”

Shen Ti, who had just been laughing playfully moments ago, gradually faded the faux childish smile from his face. Yet it wasn’t embarrassment or unease after being uncovered, but a subtle amusement.

Like he was amused.

“Yeah, I signed an agreement with you. Killing you would be against the rules,” His response was deliberately vague.

“Admitting it?” An Wujiu shrugged, leaning in close to Shen Ti’s ear, and gently whispered in a tender tone.

“Then you better pray to God and hope I starve to death in the bunker soon.”

The time for forced sleep was drawing near.

An Wujiu got up from Shen Ti’s body, left the bed, and without any consideration, gave him an eviction notice.

“Go back to your room.”

Shen Ti wore an unwilling expression, “It’s late at night, and since you’ve come this far, we’re all guests here. Show a little hospitality…” Before he could finish, An Wujiu once again seized his neck.

“You really want to die by my hands,” An Wujiu said coldly.

Shen Ti dropped his overly nervous demeanor, his expression turning serious as he threw An Wujiu’s own words back at him and even held onto his wrist.

“You won’t kill me; you can’t.”

An Wujiu stared at him.

There was no way he could know who his red line was connected to.

Especially since he had switched once.

After a brief silence, Shen Ti began to laugh again without much seriousness, offering his reasoning, “If you hit me, you’ll be breaking the rules. And when the system shocks you, you won’t have any control over what I do.”

An Wujiu’s face turned cold for a moment, then he started laughing again. He turned around on his own, but Shen Ti directly grabbed him, “Where are you going?”

“Since you’re thinking of sleeping in my room, I’ll go to yours.”

Shen Ti laughed, “Are you so afraid to sleep with me because you’re planning something bad at night?” He sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at An Wujiu. “Or maybe you’re going to manipulate someone else to do something bad.”

“Could I have guessed right?”

An Wujiu remained silent for a moment. After a while, he opened his own panel, navigated to the points redemption page, and searched for a bit.

Just a moment ago, they were in a standoff, and Shen Ti thought he might uncover something, but he hadn’t expected this guy to be up to something entirely different.

The scene of them lying side by side on the same bed was rather eerie, with a subtle undertone.

“There it is.”

An Wujiu chuckled softly, tapping a few times on the panel. In front of them, a cluster of blue light particles appeared in the void, forming a pair of silver handcuffs.

Following that, An Wujiu brought his wrists together, palms facing upward, and extended them towards Shen Ti, presenting himself in a surrendering posture. He even raised his chin slightly.

Shen Ti glanced at his wrists, then up at him, raising his right eyebrow.

“Is this something you can do without paying?”

“Don’t play dumb.” An Wujiu lifted his gaze, his smile gentle and kind. “You came to my room because you thought I was involved with the cultist, hoping to find some clues or tricks out of me.”

As he spoke, with a sharp click, he secured the handcuff to his left wrist. “Afraid I’ll do something bad at night? Then let’s put them on before anything else happens. How about that?”

Just as he was about to secure the other half around the injured wrist, Shen Ti snatched the handcuff away decisively, quickly locking it around his own wrist with a click.

“It won’t work if I’m the only one handcuffed. If you want to leave, you still can, right?” In the darkness, Shen Ti’s voice held a playful tone. “It’s better if we’re tied together. I won’t get up, and you’ll have to lie down too.”

“Hey, you…”

“Ah, it seems like the sleep gas is kicking in. I’m feeling drowsy; it’s time to sleep.” Shen Ti, turning on his side, patted An Wujiu’s shoulder. “Goodnight.”

An Wujiu stared at the silver handcuff on his left wrist, and his gaze extended to the peculiar person on the other end.

He was just looking at himself as he closed his eyes, seemingly without a care in the world.

But An Wujiu was well aware that this person was incredibly misleading.

If his own deceit relied on provocative statements and reading human nature, then this guy’s entire way of existence was a deception. Every word and action lacked any credibility.

He appeared to have no strategy or plan, but this illusion perfectly concealed his true intentions.

Staring at Shen Ti’s face, a mischievous idea suddenly formed in An Wujiu’s mind.

He extended his hand, his fingertip touching the small ruby on Shen Ti’s forehead.

Like a drop of blood.

“Hey,” Shen Ti, still with his eyes closed, grabbed hold of An Wujiu’s wrist.

“You can’t pick it off; give up.”

His attempt had failed.

An Wujiu huffed a bit, trying to shake off Shen Ti’s hand. Unexpectedly, Shen Ti’s grip was surprisingly strong. An Wujiu struggled for a moment, and suddenly, a familiar sweetness filled the air.

The hypnotic gas’s effect washed over him, leaving An Wujiu powerless to break free.

He had dreams about his childhood.

The dream world was fluid, filled with bewildering and eerie colors. Blood-red sky, white sun, deep blue walls, and a burnt-yellow floor. A young version of him stood in front of a door, hearing a murmuring chant. His mother, prostrate on the floor, rapidly flipped through a notebook, the paper making a restless rustling sound.

And he stood at the doorway, watching his mother’s peculiar behavior.

Very strange. In the dream, An Wujiu kept calling out to her, but his mother was so engrossed in flipping and reciting that it continued until the dream version of him let out a long, piercing scream, like a blood-crying bird.

His mother, kneeling on the floor, finally lifted her head, her tear-filled eyes showing fear, and a moment of sudden clarity and resistance.

She stood up, rushed to the door, and slammed it shut with a bang.

An Wujiu, standing outside the door, felt his feet give way, and suddenly he was sinking, plummeting into an abyss with no bottom, descending rapidly.

Out of nowhere, he crashed onto the ground with a thud.

Then he woke up drenched in cold sweat.

“You experienced sleep paralysis,” Shen Ti said, sitting cross-legged beside him. He cocked his head, gazing at An Wujiu, then glanced upward with a hint of self-doubt. “…Is it called sleep paralysis?”

An Wujiu looked at the ceiling, still somewhat breathless. The aftermath of the hypnotic gas left him with a pounding headache. He tried to lift his hand to press against his temple, but instead, he found himself gripping another person’s hand.

Turning his head, he watched as Shen Ti’s hand was pulled up, and the other person raised an eyebrow, seemingly asking, “What’s wrong?”

Shen Ti stared at An Wujiu’s face, an odd intuition forming within him. It wasn’t until An Wujiu propped himself up on the bed, sitting upright, and spoke to him.

“I’m sorry.”

Indeed, he had truly returned to his normal state. Shen Ti’s face displayed a mix of astonishment and self-assurance.

An Wujiu didn’t pick up on his internal process, his expression remaining composed. “I’m sorry, I cut your mask in half.”

And he was still apologizing. Shen Ti burst into laughter. After the laughter subsided, he realized that An Wujiu’s speech seemed slightly faster than when he had first met him, and he wasn’t stuttering as much.

He chuckled, and An Wujiu found that unusual again.

“After being handcuffed all night, do you believe me now?” An Wujiu raised his gaze and asked.

Shen Ti’s lips curled into a smile, “It’s quite strange. The way you are now, it really makes it easy to trust you. And you actually remembered.”

“Why wouldn’t I remember?” An Wujiu sat up, his legs bent, and said lightly, “Apart from forgetting how I entered the Holy Altar, I remember everything else.”

He glanced at Shen Ti, then lowered his head to search the bed, as if looking for something, and then paused to recollect.

“It seems like I didn’t give…” he muttered to himself, then reopened last night’s redemption page, found the handcuffs, and scrolled down.

Shen Ti leaned over to look as well, and indeed, there was a matching key beneath the image of the handcuffs.

However, beneath the image, there were three big characters – “Out of stock.”

The page disappeared with a beep.

An Wujiu buried his head in his knees, his unbound right hand also holding onto his head, not saying a word.

Shen Ti stared at him and, oddly, found him a bit cute.

An Wujiu’s current state of despondency was akin to waking up the morning after a wild night of drinking. It was the clarity of knowing exactly what he had done that brought about the shame.

Shen Ti raised his hand, equivalent to giving An Wujiu a slight tug.

He slowly lifted his head, let out a sigh, and whispered softly, “I spent a lot of points…”

Shen Ti restrained his laughter. “You’re truly the most interesting person I’ve ever met.”

Receiving this compliment, An Wujiu didn’t react much. He was still pondering what had possessed him to promise all the points he had earned in the previous round.

He had initially planned to offer half of them.

That aside, he had even used his only redemption opportunity to buy handcuffs and hadn’t received the key yet.

He had tied himself up in knots.

He glanced at Shen Ti.

If he remained bound to Shen Ti, how could he set up a scheme?

“You’re not suspecting me anymore?” An Wujiu asked.

Shen Ti didn’t bother hiding it, “I’m suspicious, but I still need evidence.”

“Let’s go.” Shen Ti pulled An Wujiu off the bed and spoke with a serious tone, saying extremely unserious words, “If we don’t leave soon, they might think we’re doing things in there that we shouldn’t.”

An Wujiu furrowed his brows, “We didn’t do anything.”

“Yes, just sleeping.” Shen Ti shrugged, then suddenly remembered something. His free hand rummaged inside his windbreaker’s pocket, eventually pulling out half a piece of bread with a “Shen Ti” label on it. He broke it into two pieces, holding one half in his mouth and tossing the other half directly into An Wujiu’s lap.

“Quick, eat,” he mumbled unclearly.

An Wujiu stared at the bread in his lap, the label now missing. He had been testing him last night, and now he was generously offering food.

“To be honest, I never really thought of killing you,” Shen Ti said with a calm expression. His blue-green eyes gave off a false sense of gentleness. “And now I really don’t want to.”

“Why?” An Wujiu asked.

Shen Ti raised an eyebrow. “Because you make me feel… that being alive is quite interesting.”

As if he had been desperately seeking death.

“Eat,” Shen Ti had finished his own half, taking a water bottle out of the other pocket. It was only half full. He unscrewed the cap, took a few gulps, and then offered the remaining half to An Wujiu.

He deliberately ate and drank first to lower An Wujiu’s guard.

An Wujiu wasn’t too proud to accept the necessary offerings if he wanted to stay alive. He quickly finished the bread and drank the water Shen Ti left for him.

The energy bar above his head gradually returned to its length from yesterday.

Once again, the music that played every day at nine in the morning and twelve at night echoed in the bunker.

An Wujiu lowered his head. Waking up and feeling regret for yesterday’s actions, he realized his clothes weren’t buttoned up and his chest was fully exposed. It looked indecent. He wanted to button up, but just as his hand reached for the buttons, his left hand was pulled over.

“Now you want to dress properly? Didn’t you spend the whole day yesterday just swaggering around like that?”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Shen Ti bent over. Since they were shackled together, they had to bend over together even to put on their shoes. An Wujiu, whose buttons weren’t fastened properly, was a bit dazed. Shen Ti forcefully pressed them down, helping him put on his shoes as well.

“Just three more days!” Shen Ti stood up, raising both arms and stretching lazily. An Wujiu was also forced to raise one arm to celebrate with him.

He was unexpectedly so cheerful as if he didn’t feel like he was about to lose the game at all.

Before opening the door, An Wujiu realized he didn’t have much to offer in exchange for the food Shen Ti had given him.

“For the bread earlier, what do you want in exchange?” he asked.

“No need.” Shen Ti reached for the door and nonchalantly said, “Consider it payment for the room.”

Through the crack in the door, An Wujiu saw Zhong Yirou. She was holding a book and had changed back into her original cheongsam. Her makeup had also shifted toward shades of purple.

Shen Ti turned his head in An Wujiu’s direction, not noticing the presence of anyone else. Thus, he casually continued the remaining half of his sentence.

“…if I’ve already slept, I can’t just give nothing.”

Zhong Yirou happened to hear the latter half of that sentence and, by chance, saw the handcuffs that were gleaming.

With a soft thud, the book in her hand fell to the ground.