Survivorship Bias

    After two days of searching without results, Zhong Yirou was a little frustrated.

    "How can I tell Wu Jiao?" She sighed in the passenger seat, and opened the interface of the altar in distress.

    Soon, a beautifully crafted celebratory animation appeared on the launch page.

    [Since the launch of the altar, the daily active users of the game have exceeded 100 million users, and a new breakthrough has been achieved in technology. The physical game cabin will…]

    Before the animation was finished, Zhong Yirou chose to skip it and clicked on [my] page, "Is there already so many people at the altar?"

    She asked casually, "Didn't it mean that it was closed before and new people were not allowed in?"

    Yang Erci frowned slightly, "Yes, there are so many people."

    A not-so-good intuition was always circling her mind like a vulture. Regarding the altar, she always believed that the game would use its method to cover everyone in the real world, not only those players who had already entered the game to fight for their lives, maybe it would continue to attract new people through other means, until Totally control everyone there.

    Although this sounds a bit alarmist, Yang Erci always thinks so.

    This game, or the unknown creator behind it, is by no means limited to its current scale.

    What they want, maybe just like the name of this game, turn the human world into a sacrificial altar.

    Zhong Yirou found An Wujiu, sent him all the information collected during the search, and then called him again, wanting to ask him if he would go back tonight.

    But the call never got through, Zhong Yirou felt very strange.

    Yang Erci reminded her, "You forgot, he has a chip now, you can contact him through the chip."

    "Oh yes." Zhong Yirou just remembered, so she looked for An Wu Jiu in her built-in address book, but strangely, she didn't find it. Zhong Yirou suddenly thought, maybe it was because An Wujiu got the chip and not covered all the data, so he kept the original owner's name.

    So she rummaged, only to find an unfamiliar contact named Abraham Cruise.

    "What an ancient name." Zhong Yirou blurted out.

    Yang Erci turned the aircraft in another direction, "What did you say?"

    "I said the name of the original owner of this chip." Zhong Yirou read it to her, "Abraham Cruise, does it smell like the Old Testament of the Bible?"

    Yang Erci suddenly frowned, almost stopping the aircraft in mid-air.

    "This is the name of my former colleague..."

    Zhong Yirou was stunned, "How come? Then this chip..."

    "He is already dead." Yang Erci said, "He died suddenly at work, but I had already left at that time. A friend who was still in Chauvin told me."

    Zhong Yirou thought of the daily operations of those who sell second-hand citizen chips, "So it makes sense."

    "What do you mean?"

    "In general, these chip sellers have two purchase channels: one is to buy those poor people who voluntarily sell chips to them in exchange for money, this is only given out of desperation, most of them are It is a guy who has no money or power and may owe debts, so their chips are not worth much to tell the truth, and they can't sell at a good price.

    ”

    Zhong Yirou continued, "But there is another method, which is to take chips from the dead. In fact, according to the law, the citizens' chips after death must be confirmed and destroyed by the relevant departments, otherwise the deceased's chips will be destroyed during his lifetime. Information such as cash accounts, work files, and family files all continue to be available.

    However, some chip sellers have connections, you can skip this link and let the chips that should have been destroyed re-circulate to the market, these people are either related to the government, or are involved in the deceased Cremation funeral process of dead body. "

    Yang Erci nodded, "No wonder people who sell chips are so careful."

    "Yes, it will be found out if you are not careful." Zhong Yirou couldn't help but sigh, "I didn't expect that even Researcher Chauvin's chip could be obtained, no wonder it is so expensive."

    Speaking, she tried to contact An Wu Jiao through the chip, but this time it was still unsuccessful.

    Zhong Yirou tried again, "No, I didn't even hear a sound."

    "It may be a signal problem." Yang Erci said, showing her the current navigation projection.

    Only then did Zhong Yirou find out that the navigation was also intermittent, flashing and receding constantly, and could not even provide a complete route.

    "Is the signal so bad here?" Zhong Yirou glanced out the window, the streets outside were very prosperous, not like a place with insufficient high-altitude signal coverage.

    "It's okay," Yang Erci looked forward, "I have a spare route identification device, so I can go by myself."

    They finally returned to the apartment safely, and happened to meet Wu You and Nan Shan who were also returning at about the same time.

     Knowing that they are the same as him, and they have nothing to gain about the blameless sister, Wu You is a little dejected. He sat on the sofa and glanced at the electronic clock. The time displayed is [October 23 Sunday, 10:45pm]

    Turn his head to the side, Wu You saw Nanshan standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, he seemed to be looking at the stars, and was very ecstatic. So Wu You also walked towards him, "Taoist, what are you looking at?"

    Nan Shan returned to her senses, smiled and shook her head, "It's nothing."

    "Nothing to take so seriously?" Wu You also took a look out, and there was nothing special.

    "What's wrong with the astronomical phenomenon?" Wu You asked again.

    Yes.

    "Today is frost, the first and third day of the month, it should be a new moon."

    Wu You frowned, and also looked at the night sky. The moon was full and bright, and no matter how turbid the air was, it still exuded a clear brilliance.

    It was a strange thing, and he told several others about it.

    Zhong Yirou came out of the room and whispered to everyone, "Noah is still sleeping, she seems very tired."

    Yang Erci warmed up something to eat, gave Noah a note, and the rest of them were divided into four, filling their stomachs. She entered the study with half a loaf of bread, intending to check her emails and record her recent discoveries by the way.

    After starting the host, she found an anonymous encrypted message among her unread messages. Yang Erci felt strange, tried to open it, and found that he needed to enter a string of passwords, and the password prompt was [Last day].

    Yang Erci thought about it, and a series of numbers appeared in his mind, which corresponded to the digits of the password box.

    She was a little excited and entered the date of that day, the day when her father left without saying goodbye.

    As expected, the message encryption has been lifted!

    It's Dad's mail!

    Yang Erci habitually copied and transferred the email to his own chip cloud storage space, and then quickly opened the email, but at this moment, the projection suddenly went out, the lights went out, and nothing could be seen .

    It's not just her room, behind Yang Erci's workbench is a large piece of floor-to-ceiling glass, she can clearly see that the lights in the whole city go out at the same time.

    10:45pm.

    An Wujiu felt that this place was not right, even if Lilith was not his sister, he would definitely visit again for her safety.

    In retrospect, Lilith's performance was a little unusual just now. It's normal to be afraid when she sees a man and the former boss at her door, but this time she was too cold and calm.

    "What if she doesn't admit it this time?" Gabriel doesn't have much confidence, he is a person who is rarely rejected, so he is in a bad mood when he is rejected.

    Shen Ti didn't make a sound, and pressed the elevator button. The other elevator was the same as when it came, showing that it was under maintenance and could not be used. They could only use the one on the right.

    “To be honest, I didn’t think about that.” An Wujiu said.

    The old elevator climbs little by little, the numbers keep evolving.

    "I just feel that someone is watching here, maybe..." He paused, "Apart from us, is there anyone looking for her?"

    Shen Ti speculated, "In addition to finding your own sister, you may also be eyeing her. It may be the perverted man last time, or it may be Chauvin. It's hard to say."

    "Does that mean you are going to help her now?" Gabriel understood and didn't object, "Well, I just happened to find the guy who helped me stalk me last time and come over again, there are so many people to talk to. Well."

    After he finished speaking, he started to call, but probably because the signal in the elevator was too weak, he couldn't get through.

    "What the **** is this signal." Gabriel cursed.

    Unfortunately, the elevator door opened at this time.

    The three got out of the elevator, An Wujiu looked at the other end of the corridor shrouded in darkness, it was quiet.

    They walked along the same road ten minutes ago, but when they came to Lilith's residence from the corner, they found that her door was open.

    An Wujiu frowned.

    It was exactly what he thought.

    "Gabriel, you are behind, don't follow too closely."

      Usually has a very good-natured temperament, simple purpose, pure and kind-hearted, and is a gentle focus character.

    But now he is like a skilled hunter, his footsteps and stature are extremely professional, and it seems that he has undergone very systematic training.

      .

    He turned around immediately, only to find that both of them had already entered, so he hurriedly followed.

    The scene in front of him made Gabriel's unpleasant mood even more depressed, and he swore that he had never had a night as depressing as today.

    The house is very dark, only the moonlight penetrates in, illuminating part of the space. It was empty, no one was there, there were not many furnishings in the room, sofas, chairs, tables, a row of cups on the shelf, uniform colors, and various small items were neatly arranged on the coffee table.

    An Wu Jiu squatted on the ground, holding a bag of cheap bread in his hand.

    Other food and some daily necessities were scattered on the ground, as well as the shopping bag that Lilith had just held in her hand.

    “There is no sign of struggle, and no blood.” Shen Ti checked the small room on one side, and said to An Wujiu, “It doesn’t look like it was kidnapped, such a small place, even a little No scratches."

    An Wujiu also felt very strange, he lowered his head and stared at the floor, and said to himself, "The position of this carpet has not changed."

    Gabriel did not understand, "How do you know there is no change? Didn't you come in before?"

    Shen Ti explained: "What he meant was that the carpet should change."

    This explanation confuses Gabriel even more.

    An Wujiu told him: "Lilith should be someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, everything in this room is very orderly, including this big rug. She bought a very square style, The pattern is also checkered, placed right, without the slightest slant."

      "An Wujiu put his hand on the carpet, "As soon as you enter the door, you will definitely step on this carpet, so if someone is holding her hostage, they will definitely shift the position of the carpet when she struggles. "

    Gabriel originally thought that Lilith was kidnapped by the perverted man in revenge, but now after listening to the analysis of the two, she felt terrified.

    "You mean, no one held her hostage, she ran away by herself?"

    An Wu blame is uncertain.

    Gabriel remembered, "There is only one exit in this building, we have been standing at the exit just after we got down, and came up again not long after, it is reasonable that she should not have left the building during that time. Lou, it's hard to say now, she can totally observe that after we turn back, leave the house and take another elevator down."

    Shen Ti shook his head, "The other elevator is under maintenance and can't sit."

    Things are getting weirder.

    An Wujiu's intuition told him that Lilith was no longer in this building.

    "I'm dizzy, I have to smoke another cigarette." Gabriel touched the pocket of his dark gray sweater jacket and found the pack of cigarettes, "Just one."

    An Wujiu thinks that he has already helped him so much, and came to run for them, he feels a little sorry, it's getting late, he can't let Gabriel continue to follow him .

    "Go back first."

    Gabriel just lit a cigarette and was a little confused, "Will you stop looking?"

    "Let's talk about it tomorrow." Shen Ti smiled and took An Wujiu's shoulder, "It's alright, since people are already locked, they don't have to worry about not being able to find them. When you find the property system here during the day and ask about it, it should be clear."

    Gabriel was persuaded, "Okay, let's go back then."

    The three went back to the elevator, An Wujiu glanced again, the one on the left is indeed disabled.

    The elevator went down, and the three of them were very complicated, so they didn't talk much. An Wu Jiu stood at the front, facing the reflective elevator wall, thinking about his thoughts, when he was about to reach the second floor, he heard Gabriel talking about the topic of supper, asking them if they need a drink to relax.

    “Thank you, but forget it.” An Wujiu wanted to keep a clear head.

    The elevator also reached the first floor.

    An Wujiu walked out, under the dim light, Lilith denied it again in front of his eyes.

    He wants to go back to Yang Erci tonight.

    "Shen Ti, we..."

    An Wu Jiu turned around, the elevator door was about to close, and there was no one inside.

    He turned his head again, but there was no one in front of him.

    Shen Ti and Gabriel disappeared in the elevator.

    He walked out step by step, and the whole city fell into darkness.

    An ominous premonition came over me.

    An Wujiu tried every method that could contact Shen Ti, but nothing worked, even the player communication system inside the altar failed.

    Just as she was about to fall into despair, a familiar high-pitched voice appeared.

    Every screen in the entire dark city lights up instantly, the facade of the building, the big screen in the school playground, the display screen in the hospital, the advertising screens on the street, all in the lights up at the same time.

    And what appeared on the screen was the same image, the rabbit in a magician's costume.

    "My dear friends, here's a surprise!"