“Wait… I don’t accept this!” Chen Junnan said. “Why does he win just by saying those two sentences?”
Man-Snake paused and said, “Because my teacher once taught me a theory, which is ‘survivorship bias.'”
“Can this theory be used here?” Chen Junnan said. “Someone running a restaurant is using ‘survivorship bias’?”
“Yes, just as this young man said…” Man-Snake nodded. “The people who can write opinions on the message board will always be a minority. For example… out of a hundred customers, one person thinks today’s food is a bit salty, so he writes down this opinion. The owner reduces the salt to accommodate this opinion, and as a result, ninety-nine people think it’s bland.”
“Huh…?” Chen Junnan was stunned, feeling that this explanation indeed made more sense than his own.
Man-Snake found it more and more reasonable the more he thought about it. “This answer is too correct… This is ‘survivorship bias.’ The actual situation isn’t that ninety-nine people thought it was bland… but that one hundred percent of people thought it was bland.”
“What do you mean?” Chen Junnan asked.
“Because the person who wrote down the opinion should never come back again, leaving only the people without opinions to bear the results of this reform,” Man-Snake said, as if he had understood some truth about life. “You should have also noticed… there are often restaurants we love to eat at. After not going for a few weeks, when we visit again, we find the food is far inferior to before. Until we stop going, it starts advertising ‘prosperous shop for rent’… On the contrary, those shops that haven’t changed their taste much in decades will always stay open. So ‘opinions’ can be listened to, but you can’t listen to them one hundred percent mindlessly.”
“That does seem to be the case… Running a shop really is a discipline.”
Chen Junnan agreed verbally, but felt somewhat unhappy inside. This time a blind cat caught a dead mouse, allowing Jin Yuanxun to score. He needed to be more cautious next, otherwise if he couldn’t take down the “Pawn” in his hand, the situation would become even more troublesome.
Man-Snake pulled out a nearly decayed pencil from his chest and gently made a checkmark after this question.
“Whether it’s running a shop or life, it’s all the same,” Man-Snake said. “The people who will point fingers at your life, criticize and smear you, will always be a minority. If you keep adjusting yourself according to their requirements, life will also become confused.”
After hearing this, both Chen Junnan and Jin Yuanxun fell silent.
Man-Snake: “How was my elevation of the discussion?”
“The reasoning is okay, the phrasing is a bit affected,” Chen Junnan said.
“Alright, let’s proceed to the next question quickly,” Chen Junnan said. “I originally thought you only had logic questions, but now theory questions have appeared… Are there also math questions and humanities questions?”
“Possibly,” Man-Snake said. “These one hundred difficult questions are my treasure. Usually I only read them as books but don’t attempt to answer them.”
“But why is that?” Chen Junnan said. “You don’t look stupid either. If you’re willing to put in the effort… couldn’t you solve them all in a few days? Do you still need to hear what we say to distinguish the answers?”
“I’m conflicted,” Man-Snake said while flipping through the notebook. “Do you know what that person said to me…? He said as long as I answer these one hundred questions correctly, he’ll come back and help me become ‘Earth-level.'”
“Huh…?” Chen Junnan was stunned.
“But did he ever think…” Man-Snake’s eyes flickered. “If he really left, I don’t hope for him to come back.”
“This person you’re talking about is exactly…”
“An old friend who has shown me great kindness,” Man-Snake said. “Or perhaps I misunderstood his meaning. These one hundred questions lead not just to one hundred answers, but also to ways of solving one hundred matters, one hundred life philosophies for dealing with the world. When I finish them, I won’t even need him to come back—I’ll be able to handle most situations here.”
“Getting more and more mysterious…”
“That’s why I say these one hundred questions are like a ticket,” Man-Snake said wistfully. “I originally thought I had a very long time to slowly wait, and whenever I wanted to board, I’d open it… But now I’m very likely to die in this game. When I sit here, I discover everything is a bit too late.”
“No, wait, you’re saying some scary things,” Chen Junnan said. “Let me say this first—your bro doesn’t want to ‘bet lives’ with you at all. You won’t die.”
After saying this, he reached out to tug at Jin Yuanxun again. “Little Jin won’t ‘bet lives’ with you either, right?”
“Why would I want to ‘bet lives’…?” Jin Yuanxun asked.
After hearing this, Man-Snake shook his head. “It’s not that issue… You don’t want to ‘bet lives’ with me, and I don’t want to ‘bet lives’ with you. Naturally we’ll be fine, but I still might die.”
“So who did you offend…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“Offend?” Man-Snake smiled bitterly. “Dying in this place doesn’t require any legitimate reason. Maybe just because I don’t want to ‘bet lives’ with you, so I died.”
“What fucking bullshit reasoning…” Chen Junnan said. “Don’t worry, whoever dares to come after you, just tell me!”
“Qinglong.”
“…Then you can also tell Old Qi!” Chen Junnan changed his tune.
“Hopefully,” Man-Snake said with a smile as he opened the notebook. “Next question.”
After hearing this, the two became serious again. This question might directly decide where their “characters” would go, so neither dared to slack off.
“Two generals are besieged by enemy troops, but their forces are stationed on two mountains, A and B respectively. It’s known that as long as both sides begin breaking through at the same moment, they can encircle and annihilate the enemy troops and both escape. If one side attacks alone, they will definitely be completely annihilated. Do you understand up to here?”
The two nodded. “We understand.”
“So the two need to agree on a time to simultaneously launch the breakout. Because the distance is too far to even see smoke signals, they can only rely on messengers risking their lives to go notify. Suppose General A sends a messenger to Mountain B to inform the other party ‘break through at noon.’ But in reality, he’s not sure whether the messenger will encounter an ambush on the road, nor does he know if the messenger can reach Mountain B, so before the messenger returns, he doesn’t dare rashly attack.”
After hearing this, Chen Junnan scratched his head. “It’s getting a bit abstract, but I can still understand.”
“And the general on Mountain B faces the same problem. After he receives the message, he’s uncertain whether the messenger can return to Mountain A to tell General A ‘the other party received it,’ so he still doesn’t dare rashly send troops.”
“Sss…” After hearing this, Chen Junnan slowly frowned, feeling that this question had risen to a very absurd level of difficulty within just a few sentences.
“So my question is, under the existing conditions, what method can guarantee that these two generals can definitely launch the breakout at the same moment?”
After hearing this, Chen Junnan and Jin Yuanxun looked at each other, both at a loss.
“Can’t everyone on the whole mountain become messengers…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“…?”