Survivorship Bias

    For a long time, Shen Ti's way of cognizing and feeling the world has been vague and fast. In his eyes, all things are like massive amounts of data, which are poured into his brain through a certain channel, and are absorbed and mastered very quickly. There is no need to pay too much attention and analysis, and there is no need.

    So he observes most of the time, but only in observation.

    Flip through the book of the world smoothly, until this moment, Shen Ti was stuck for the first time.

    He got stuck on a page of illustrations called An Wu Jiu.

    This beautiful and intricate illustration seems to be inserted in the air. It appeared unexpectedly in all the scenes that could have been expected, disrupting Shen Ti's pace. In this regard, his observation goes far beyond the perfunctory of a sample, but involuntarily tries to go deeper and deeper.

    From then on, a desire to understand, to master, to get in touch. Shen Ti tentatively defines it as curiosity.

    He didn't want to casually turn the page of An Wu Jiao, so he stopped for him.

      The frescoes are dominated by gold and white, depicting the Pope and believers, but in the middle is a black oval with sharp ends.

    After watching for a long time, I gradually developed a strange feeling, like seeing an unfathomable eye, an endless black hole.

    "Thank you."

    The uncontrollable thoughts were interrupted by a thank you, Wu You came back to his senses, turned his head and looked over, it was Nanshan who handed over.

    "I'm really stunned. If it wasn't for you, I might be in trouble now."

    When the two were about to look at each other, Wu You turned his face away.

    "You're the one who saved you."

    "I... just got a needle."

    Nan Shan smiled, still thanked him and corrected the content, "Then thank you for giving me the needle, otherwise I won't be able to wake up."

    After he finished speaking, he turned around again and gave An Wujiu his hand.

    Seeing Nanshan's thanks, An Wujiu wanted to wave his hand, but felt that his wrist was being restrained, then he remembered that his hand was still tightly held by Shen Ti, so he raised his hand, trying to get away from Shen Ti. Be wary of breaking free.

    But Nan Shan first stretched out the hand of peace and pressed down the two hands that connected An Wujiu and Shen Ti, "I understand, I understand..."

    What does he know? An Wujiu is very inexplicable.

    But he was still a little concerned about Shen Ti's physical condition, so he asked again, "Are you all right?"

    Shen Ti seemed to have lost his mind, but because of his words, he regained his senses, and those green eyes glanced at him.

    "It's fine."

    After realizing it, he let go of An Wu Jiao's hand, but he didn't let go directly, but his fingers loosened, stagnant for half a second, and finally let go.

    An Wu Jiu can finally focus on this circus.

    This place is completely cut off from the outside world, bigger and more empty than expected, the room is filled with a strange mist, and the humidity makes the place emit a rotten and damp smell.

    The four walls are painted with all kinds of circus animals, monkeys in red square caps, elephants in vests, tigers and hoops, fluffy white rabbits in black top hats. But it was probably a long time ago, these paintings that should have been bright have been stripped of most of their colors, and everything has become old, yellow, and gray, like works from a lifetime ago.

    Nevertheless, it is not difficult to glimpse the prosperity of this circus theater.

    Josh picked up the boxes and cards that An Wugui had thrown from the ground. He found that these cards were mostly written for A02, and rarely for D03, which was himself.

    “Did you find this in that room?” He handed it to An Wujiu.

    The cards are full of children's handwriting, which is very cute. Many were given to A02, thank him for the small cakes and gifts he gave them, and hope he can visit them on this floor more in the future.

    Some of them told A02 about their pain of being sick, they wanted to eat candy, and they could watch cartoons when they wanted to infuse them; others hoped that A02 could tell them more stories.

    It is not difficult to see from these cards that these children really like A02.

    "This is so cute." Josh read it out, "Brother A02, can you not bring A01 when you come over next time, he is too fierce, I don't like him, I just like him you."

    Zhong Yirou, who was still very weak at the side, laughed softly, "This feels... very much like what Wu You would write when he was a child."

    Wu You did not agree, and pressed his hat down, out of sight and out of mind.

    The previous video and audio, as well as these cards, seem to be depicting to them the people who work here, especially A02, which is only the second floor, so many have already appeared information about him.

    An Wujiu thought, the story of A02 might be an important opportunity to find an exit from here.

    The milky white mist extends all the way to the stage made of mahogany on the far right, and the stage that is already quite small becomes more and more empty because it is empty. Behind the stage is a dark red velvet curtain, like a peaceful pool of blood under the breeze, the layers of waves seem to be frozen.

    "I thought there was really a circus show here..." Josh looked around, the circus theater was so empty that you could almost hear echoes, "Nothing."

    Originally, they scattered and checked around, but an inexplicable strangeness hovered in this empty theater like a vulture, and the diminishing sense of security in their hearts made them involuntarily gather again.

    Wu You was a little confused at the moment, his eyes kept looking at Nan Shan, Nan Shan woke up after the injection and could stand like them, but his lips were terribly pale .

    "I have something to say." Wu You opened his lips, his voice echoed in the terribly silent theater for a long time, attracting everyone's attention. Wu You walked up to Nan Shan, and without saying a word, he reached out and pushed away his raised collar. At the beginning, Nan Shan felt strange, so he raised his hand subconsciously and wanted to ask him what was wrong.

    But he soon saw that Zhong Yirou's expression changed and became very ugly.

    Wu You was very close to him, raised his eyes to meet him, then moved away and said to everyone, "I also found it during the first aid. The scar on his neck is almost the same as Zhong Yirou's. ."

    There is a reason for many things at this moment. Nan Shan finally understood why she often felt inexplicable suffocation, and she couldn't adjust her deep breathing.

    An Wujiu got closer and stared at the scar on Nanshan's neck, the scar was already purple in color, the width was almost the same as the one on Zhong Yirou's neck, the width of half a knuckle, There are weaving patterns on it.

    "It shouldn't be," Josh puzzled, "Erci and I saw Yirou being strangled by that fake innocent, and we were the one who saved her at the time, but Nan Shan has never strangled his neck at all, so how could there be strangulation marks? Could it be…”

    He made a terrible guess, "Is this scar contagious? Like an infectious disease?"

    "If it is really contagious, it should be passed to us, but it is Nanshan. According to the current situation, it can only be started layer by layer, both of them are E layer That's why the same thing happens." Yang Erci's face was calm, and one arm went around Zhong Yirou's shoulder to support her, "The altar definitely doesn't want a family-like ending, this game is a layered and upward progression. The mechanism, perhaps this is to prevent everyone from being able to safely enter the top floor and find the exit.”

    Josh's focus was on 'starting layer by layer', and he was uneasy, "Is the next one going to be me?"

    An Wujiu continued: “It’s just a guess, there is no certainty as to how the streaks came about. Everyone must stick to the last level together, don’t panic, or you will defeat yourself. "

    His tone was firm, as calm and sure as he had just built a long ladder above the magma at a critical moment, as if everything was in his calculations. All of a sudden, Josh calmed down a little.

    Actually, An Wujiu felt that the same wound on Nanshan's neck was not as simple as a hindrance mechanism. When reuniting with them on the first floor, An Wujiu heard Zhong Yirou talk about being strangled by the fake self with a leather whip.

    The wounds on Nan Shan and Zhong Yirou's necks seem to have been left by the whip.

    Suddenly, a cold wind gusted out of nowhere in the theater, the wind rolled up the mist, and the vision blurred for a while, and at this moment, all the lights went out, and the darkness was like a monstrous ocean wave generally cover everything.

      Scattered stars in the night sky.

    "Sit down everyone."

    A high-pitched voice appeared, and the tone of speaking had a strange feeling of a fairy tale, "Sit quickly!" But I could only hear its voice, but not see it.

    Everyone looked around for the figure of the speaker, and when they turned around, they found that there were six more neatly arranged mahogany chairs in the empty space behind them.

    There are red projections floating on the chairs, marked with their names, and everyone has their own chair.

    In addition to being innocent.

    "If you don't sit down, the show will not start."

    "Sit down." Yang Erci sat down first, "It should be a new game."

    The others also sat down one by one, except for An Wujiu, who had to stand aside as there was no seat. He looked at the others, his eyes stopped on Shen Ti's body, but he didn't expect this guy to just look up at him. The two stared at each other for a few seconds.

    Then, Shen Ti patted An Wujiu's legs together.

    An Wujiu was stunned for a moment, then turned his head away.

    There must be something wrong with this person.

    This action is Shen Ti searching for a certain memory in a very short period of time. The mother sitting on the roadside patted her child on the leg, and the child passed by happily. Sit in my mother's arms.

    But this effect seems...not feasible in practice.

    Everyone took their seats according to their names, and the voice did not appear immediately, Wu You was a little strange, "Why isn't there a seat for Brother Wu Jiu?"

    Is there any danger?

    An Wujiu was calm, he didn't think too much about his specialness, he turned his face to appease Wu You, but suddenly found that all of their chairs were not right.

    Each one was bleeding along the legs of the chair, and at this moment, the blood was running all over the place.

    "Why are you bleeding?"

    When they heard his question, everyone looked down at themselves. They didn't feel any pain, but it seemed like a hole had been opened in their stomachs, and fresh blood came out continuously.

    Nan Shan asked about the blood on her hands, feeling not quite right.

    "It's like an illusion," he said.

    Nevertheless, the real fishy-sweet taste spread through the moist mist. In the darkness, there seemed to be countless eyes staring at them, and that strange and indescribable feeling began to erode the whole body little by little.

    "Thank you for coming to the theater! I'm your Mr. Rabbit!"

    Everyone raised their heads when they heard the sound, and a rabbit wearing a black top hat suddenly appeared in the center of the stage, bowing to them very gentlemanly.

    "Now that we're all here, let's get started."

    He straightened up, raised his arms and patted his furry hands. Suddenly, a white peony appeared in his hand. Mr. Rabbit smiled and threw the peony flower from his left hand to his right hand, and the peony flower changed from one to two.

    He giggled, turned around, and the peony flowers turned into a whole bunch, almost unbearable.

    "There are so many flowers, you have to find a way to use them out." Mr. Rabbit held the flowers and danced twice on the stage, his two ruby-like eyes rolled around , stood in the center of the stage, and finally, threw the bouquet in his hand into the sky.

    The snow-white peony turns into dense petals all over the sky, like a flower rain that blurs vision. Silk bird cage.

    "It's turned into a cage!" Mr. Rabbit jumped forward, opened the door of the birdcage, and got in, "Just a me!"

    An Wujiu who was standing by the side looked at the others, and found that the blood disappeared in an instant, everyone was silent, almost attentively watching the performance of the rabbit on the stage . There seemed to be an inexplicable attraction that drew everyone's attention to the stage, unable to escape.

    Except for Shen Ti, he was still the same as before, lacking interest in everything, raised his hand and yawned, sat on the chair and stretched, and finally collapsed on the back of the chair.

    The rabbit came out of the cage, "I need to separate them now, yes, both." After speaking, he bounced and pushed the two huge bird cages away, and pushed them to the both ends of the stage.

    "The performance will start soon, everyone, don't worry." The rabbit jumped to the center of the stage, looked left and right, confirmed the position of the two bird cages, and then looked down the stage.

    "Now I need a volunteer, yes, this magic needs another person, who would like to come up and experience it?"

    No one spoke, but the rabbit's scarlet eyes were aimed at An Wujiu, with a strange smile.

    "Then ask the gentleman who received the flowers to come to the stage."

    An Wujiu was stunned for a while, and suddenly felt something, he raised his hand and put a peony on his right ear.

    "Don't go up." Shen Ti, who was still sleepy just now, was extremely awake at this time.

      It can be very dangerous."

     After hearing this, An Wu Jiu walked towards the stage.

    "The task always has to be done by someone."

    Shen Ti knew that this sentence was for him.

    He got up to replace, but found that he couldn't get up, couldn't speak, couldn't make An Wujiu stop.

    The body seems to be fixed to this chair.

    An Wujiu finally stepped onto the stage, the rabbit jumped to his side, a huge sense of oppression enveloped him.

    "I promise you, this performance will bring the greatest joy to your friends, trust me!" He stretched out a furry hand and pointed the way to An Wujiu.

    "Now, please enter this bird cage on the left."

    An Wujiu did as he did, he walked over and observed the structure of the bird cage, it was similar to the warm-up match of the bird in the cage before.

    He walked into the bird cage, and the rabbit followed, closed the door of the bird cage, and took out a huge lock, and locked the bird cage.

    Then, he bounced to the other end of the stage and locked another empty birdcage.

    Mr. Rabbit returned to the center of the stage, opened his arms, and two pieces of black flannel fell from the sky, placed on the two bird cages impartially, and completely covered the gold wire cages.

    "Now, please don't blink, I will show you the most wonderful teleportation!"

    Teleportation?

    An Wu Jiu in the cage stretched out into the darkness, he could not see anything, only the voice of the rabbit could be heard.

    "Countdown! Three—"

    Shen Ti under the stage also felt very bad. He struggled with all his strength, but he could not get up from this chair.

    "Two—"

    "An..." He tried to speak, but he could only utter incoherent monosyllables.

    But An Wujiu heard it, he wanted to speak too, but it was just a split second.

    "One!"

    The black flannel on the left cage was lifted.

    There is nothing in it, only a solitary snow-white peony that fell into the cage.

    The rabbit giggled, picked up the peony and threw it under the stage, the flower fell on Shen Ti's lap along a parabola.

    Looking up again, Mr. Rabbit has come to the right side of the stage, he grabbed the black flannel and pulled it hard.

    "This is the miracle of teleportation!"

    An Wujiu, who was in the birdcage on the left just now, was teleported to the birdcage on the right across the long stage.

    "Surprise? Excited?" The rabbit bounced around the stage.

    The door was opened, An Wujiu came out from inside, his face was calm.

    "Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Beautiful, you can step down and hug your friends."

    An Wujiu walked off the stage and walked towards Shen Ti with a faint smile on his face.

    Seeing him appear safely, Shen Ti's heart gradually let go, maybe because of the weird atmosphere here, an indescribable emotion surged in his heart again, and his brows were unconscious. wrinkled.

    In front of the stage, the magical transmission of the two golden bird cages was wonderful. Behind the stage, a huge red velvet curtain hides a huge, immortal glass dome-like installation.

      go away.

    The unconscious An Wu Jiao was immersed in the water, the hem of the white shirt gradually floated and swayed.

    Like a fragile and beautiful white peony.