Chapter 342
Survivor Bias! Terrifying Power!
Chapter 342 Survivor Bias! Terrifying Power!
Therefore, based on the mindset of these survivors, Lin Chaoyuan and Wang Er saw a thriving and prosperous scene of pioneering.
"Compared to them, we are more like a bunch of insects struggling in the apocalypse."
"They are like a well-prepared and planned base for the spark."
Lin Chaoyuan looked at this scene and spoke to Wang Er beside him, but he quickly added, "But once we get rid of that fishing line and hook, and then get our hands on that sacrificial object that Comrade Chu and the others ranked seventh in sequence, we'll be fine too."
Before meeting Chu Sheng and his group, Lin Chaoyuan and his companions had no concept of sequence levels. Although they knew that sequence ability users were also divided into strong and weak, they did not know the details.
But after meeting Chu Sheng and the others, and learning about their classification of sequence levels and sacrificial offerings, Lin Chaoyuan readily accepted it.
The reason is simple: Chu Sheng and his group have a clear understanding of the hierarchical system and the division of sacrificial offerings.
This hierarchy clearly and directly distinguishes strength and hierarchy, which is also part of order and civilization.
“Commander, we will have this day too.” Wang Er looked at the survivors farming on the floating island and the mechanical puppets that didn’t quite look like humans moving around on the floating island, and said, “If we really manage to make that sacrificial object we ordered, we won’t have to worry so much.”
"Even if we can only do half of what we say, our pressure will be greatly reduced."
As Wang Er spoke, a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes, then he sighed, "But I hope the cost of using it will be reasonable; if the cost is too high..."
He didn't say the rest, but Lin Chaoyuan understood what he meant.
If the cost of using it is too high, this offering can only be used as a last resort, and should never be used unless absolutely necessary.
If the cost isn't too high, they can treat this offering as an everyday item.
Although the only difference between the two is the cost, the gap between them is enormous.
The cost is too high, so they cannot use them easily. If they cannot use them at will, they cannot be used for exploration and reclamation. They can only be used for defense, which is very limiting.
If the cost is not too high, they can use it on a daily basis. They can then turn the strange occurrences and dangers they encounter along the way into resources, thus putting the Xuanwu Base on a positive cycle.
As the two talked, they quickly followed Youming's guidance to the foot of the Mingyue Tower, where Chu Sheng was already waiting, holding the different sacrificial object in his hand.
Upon seeing Chu Sheng, Lin Chaoyuan's attention was momentarily drawn to the sacrificial offerings in Chu Sheng's hands. He then took the initiative to speak, "Comrade Chu, judging from your appearance, have our two sacrificial offerings been completed?"
"I have fulfilled my mission." Chu Sheng nodded and handed over the Yin-Yang Scissors. "This sacrificial item can solve the problem of the fishing line and hook that are troubling you, but the cost of using it is quite high."
As Chu Sheng spoke, Lin Chaoyuan also felt the power and cost of the Yin-Yang Scissors.
He didn't show any expression, neither disappointed nor happy.
However, Chu Sheng could sense through his mental power that Lin Chaoyuan's body tensed up slightly when he felt the cost of the Yin-Yang Scissors, though it was only for a fleeting moment.
Lin Chaoyuan took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, "The price is a bit too high."
"However, this can indeed solve our predicament."
As someone officially selected to be in charge of a fire-starting base, he understood almost instantly the dangerous nature of the sacrifice.
Although he didn't know what the excruciating pain of having one's soul cut open was like, he knew that such pain was not something easily endured, and since it involved the soul, even if one could bear it, there would most likely be some aftereffects.
If one cannot bear this intense pain, one will split into two different personalities: one of desire and one of reason, which is a huge hidden danger.
It can be said that, regardless of whether one can bear it, using this sacrificial object means ruining a person.
"The price is a bit high, but there's no other way. I can indeed create sacrificial offerings and customize their abilities, but the cost of sacrificial offerings is something I can't change."
Chu Sheng spoke frankly, and that was indeed the case.
"The price of the sacrifice is the embodiment of the rules of heaven and earth; it is the price that the sacrifice itself evolves from based on its abilities and what it represents."
"This kind of cost cannot be eliminated by anyone, regardless of who or what sequence it is."
"At most, only those of us who created it can be exempted from some of the costs."
At this point, Chu Sheng paused, seemingly thinking of something, and looked at Lin Chaoyuan and Wang Er, "The price of this sacrifice is indeed quite high, but for now all we need to do is cut the fishing line."
"How about this, you will lose one person by using it, but as the creator of this offering, I will be exempt from some of the costs when I use it. In addition, I am a Sequence Six ability user with strong mental power, so I should be able to withstand the costs after the exemption."
"I'll cut the fishing line for you, consider it an extra service I'm offering."
Chu Sheng then revealed the idea he had prepared long ago.
After crafting this Yin-Yang scissors ritual object, he planned to use it for them once.
After all, he wanted to befriend them, not watch them go to their deaths.
Since he doesn't have to pay any price or face any risks using this offering, it's almost a zero-cost way to boost his favorability, which he thinks is quite worthwhile.
Upon hearing his words, Lin Chaoyuan was startled. He had considered that Chu Sheng and the others might be Sequence 8 or Sequence 7, but he never imagined that they were Sequence 6.
However, a smile quickly appeared on his face. There was no conflict of interest between them; on the contrary, they could trade with each other. The fact that the other party was a Sequence Six was also a good thing for them.
He immediately said, "Comrade Chu, since that's the case, then I won't refuse. We really need your help."
At this point, he changed the subject, looking at another firearm-type sacrificial object in Chu Sheng's hand, and asked, "Comrade Chu, I wonder if the price for this sacrificial object is high?"
"It's alright." Chu Sheng shook his head, glanced at the gun in his hand, and handed it over without any reluctance or hesitation. "Take a look for yourself."
"You have a lot of customization capabilities, but they can actually be summarized into three requirements: unlimited ammunition, early warning, and Sequence 7 level."
Upon hearing this, Lin Chaoyuan nodded, "That's the idea."
"Although this gun doesn't have unlimited ammo, with the combination of multiple abilities, it's not much different from having unlimited ammo."
"However, I haven't used it since I made it. You'll have to see for yourselves whether this gun can store wood bullets, fire bullets, and energy bullets."
Chu Sheng explained to them, "If possible, this gun's capabilities will be greatly enhanced; if not, it can still be considered quite good."
In fact, as the creator of this firearm, Chu Sheng was well aware of whether this sacrificial object could store bullets.
Bullets are stored in magazines, and the size of the magazine determines the size of the bullet reserve.
The magazine for this firearm is thirty rounds, so it can only store thirty bullets.
Once the number of bullets reaches this amount, the ability to reload the magazine will become ineffective, and the magazine will start reloading again once there is a gap in the magazine.
Of course, following this method of storing bullets, Lin Chaoyuan and his team could easily store thirty incendiary rounds in their magazines.
Upon hearing Chu Sheng's words, Lin Chaoyuan and Wang Er nodded.
When Lin Chaoyuan realized the cost of this gun, he couldn't help but show a hint of joy on his usually expressionless face.
However, he noticed the recoil mentioned in the price list, and after thinking for a moment, he asked Chu Sheng, "Comrade Chu, you made this sacrificial weapon, so you should know it best. Could you please demonstrate it for us?"
As he spoke, he pointed to himself and said, "You can see for yourself. I'm an old man. I can handle ordinary firearms, but I'm really not confident when it comes to this kind of sacrificial firearm."
As he spoke, he pointed at Wang Er and continued, "This kid is about the same. He's a Sequence Nine Guide Sequence, and he used to be an office worker. I'm always a little uneasy about him using a Sequence Seven sacrificial object."
Hearing his words, Chu Sheng neither agreed nor disagreed, after all, those who commissioned him to customize sacrificial objects were his clients. Not to mention personally demonstrating and using it, he would even modify the sacrificial object's abilities if he could get more money.
However, he did not ask Lin Chaoyuan and the others for anything.
After all, they had become a bunch of paupers, and no one understood Lin Chaoyuan and his group's poverty better than him.
"Then let me demonstrate for you."
As he spoke, Chu Sheng took the Flame Thorn Meteor Spear from Lin Chaoyuan and looked around. But no matter which direction he went, there were people planting things. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Let's go to the edge of the floating island. There are people planting things around here, so it's not easy to operate."
"Of course," Lin Chaoyuan nodded.
The three then walked toward the edge of the floating island.
On the way, Qingqing, who was playing around, saw the three of them carrying a gun that looked really fun, and followed them out of curiosity.
"Qingqing, can I play this?" Qingqing had a girlish face, her eyes full of confusion and curiosity, her long black hair fluttering in the wind behind her.
"We're not going there for fun. If you're free, go find your sister Fang."
Chu Sheng wanted to chase Qingqing away with some disgust.
"No!" Qingqing shook her head. "I want to go too!"
Seeing that she insisted on following, Chu Sheng waved helplessly at Lin Chaoyuan, "I'm sorry, there's a problem here because of her sequence."
Chu Sheng pointed to the head.
Upon hearing his words, Lin Chaoyuan looked at Qingqing thoughtfully, "Is it a matter of sequence cost?"
"Hmm." Chu Sheng nodded. "Qingqing is a true dragon. Dragons live for a thousand years and live one year. She inherited this characteristic as the price for her sequence."
"So she is actually still a baby less than a month old. She can move and run around freely and knows some common sense, but her personality has become like that of a child."
"You even have a mythological sequence?!" Lin Chaoyuan's eyes widened.
What Wang Jianguo of the Mechanical City knew, he naturally knew as well.
The distinction between mythological series, conceptual sequences, and ordinary sequences is the official explanation.
Seeing his reaction, Chu Sheng was somewhat puzzled, but he didn't show it on his face.
He didn't understand why Lin Chaoyuan was shocked. After all, there were quite a few people in their team with mythological and conceptual sequences, and it could even be said that everyone had them. However, this did not stop him from trying to get information out of Lin Chaoyuan.
"Elder Lin, although I learned about the classification of mythological sequences, concept sequences, and ordinary sequences from Elder Wang in the City of Machines, could you explain it in detail?"
"We still know too little about this, and I'm afraid we'll miss out on something in the future."
Hearing his words, Lin Chaoyuan hesitated for a moment, then nodded after looking at Chu Sheng for a few seconds.
At this point, the favorability Chu Sheng had cultivated earlier became apparent.
"I won't go into the basics; I'm sure you already know them from Wang Jianguo."
Chu Sheng nodded without saying a word.
Lin Chaoyuan continued, "The division of the sequences was made by the authorities at the very beginning of the apocalypse, based on their research on a large number of sequences."
"Ordinary sequences make up the majority, followed by conceptual sequences and mythological sequences."
“A sequence of concepts is something that exists in the realm of concepts, such as time, space, future, past, craftsman, creation, forging, overdraft, etc. Although many of these concepts have specific professions in reality, it does not prevent them from being things that exist in the realm of concepts.”
“A concept sequence represents the ultimate of one’s own sequence of concepts. According to the speculation of those researchers, as long as the concept sequence grows, you will be an omnipotent existence within the scope of your concept.”
"Mythological sequences are different. Mythological sequences represent myths, and myths themselves are ethereal and illusory. After research, myths themselves have been proven to be fictional. In other words, myths represent beliefs."
"The existence of faith will give birth to mythological sequences, and according to those people's speculation, as long as the owner of each mythological sequence does not perish midway, she will inevitably grow to the height of the mythological figure that the mythological sequence represents in the mythology."
"Unfortunately, mythological sequences and concept sequences are extremely rare."
Hearing his words, Chu Sheng thought for a moment and asked, "That's not right. We've encountered many concept sequences along the way, and even Qingqing was someone we met on the road."
"Besides, there is also a White Tiger sequence member among our group."
"There aren't that few of these sequences, are there?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Chaoyuan glanced at Chu Sheng in surprise, clearly astonished that they also had a mythological sequence.
Chu Sheng had no intention of hiding it. An Xi's sequence manifestation was too distinctive, and it was something that had already been exposed in the Mechanical City, so there was no problem in revealing it.
"You may have overlooked something."
"In this apocalypse, those who survive and are encountered by you must have relatively strong sequences; those extraordinary individuals with ordinary sequences will find it very difficult to survive."
"You're exhibiting a classic case of survivorship bias. It's not that you encountered more conceptual and mythological sequences that led to this, but rather that you rarely encounter other sequences besides these two types."
"You've been to the City of Machines, so you should know that most of the sequence ability users there are ordinary sequences, such as fire control and water control."
At this point, Lin Chaoyuan's expression became more serious, and he looked at Chu Sheng and continued, "Whether it is the conceptual sequence or the mythological sequence, they are basically unique. In other words, the ability users of these two sequences are unique."
"And those ordinary sequences can be awakened by multiple people."
"Now that there are too few people and the world is too dangerous, those ordinary sequences have died at the hands of the supernatural."
"But if you build a city and it can thrive for hundreds of years or even just a few decades, you will find that ordinary ability users are the most numerous."
"No matter how many concepts there are in reality, the total number of concepts in the world may increase in the future, but there will never be more. No matter how many figures there are in mythology, there is a limit to their number."
"Only ordinary sequences have no limit on the number. One person is awakened, a hundred people are awakened, ten thousand people, a hundred thousand people, a million people are all awakened in the same way."
When Chu Sheng heard Lin Chaoyuan mention survivor bias, he immediately understood.
It's not that there are more mythological and conceptual sequences, but that only they survived.
Thinking of this, Chu Sheng glanced at Qingqing, who was following them and listening to Lin Chaoyuan's words as if they were a story.
If it weren't for Qingqing, Fang Hong and the others would have all died in the extreme rainstorm.
Even if Fang Hong was also a concept sequence user, and even if there was another sequence user named Wang Meng in their team at the time.
Even conceptual sequences are powerless against them, let alone ordinary sequence ability users.
In that kind of weather, there is water everywhere, and even water control sequences are useless. You can control the water, but can you stop the endless waves?
Only someone like Qingqing could survive in such a place.
As for beings like Qingqing, ordinary sequences cannot achieve this; only concepts and myths can.
The same applies to Lu Guan and Zhuo Wu; if it weren't for their respective positions, they would have died long ago.
Seeing Chu Sheng's sudden realization, Lin Chaoyuan nodded.
As they talked, the two reached the edge of the floating island.
Without wasting any words, Chu Sheng took the Flame Thorn Meteor Spear in his hand and pointed the muzzle at the bottom of the floating island.
Because the floating island is level with the edge of Xuanwu's turtle shell, the area below appears extremely small when viewed from here.
Fortunately, the clouds were still higher up, and there was no obstruction to the view from the floating island. Under the eerie green moonlight, several strange creatures were wandering aimlessly below.
These strange creatures came in pursuit of Xuanwu, but under the dark moon, the life force of the people on Xuanwu's back was concealed, and these strange creatures directly lost their target.
Chu Sheng pointed to the closest of the strange creatures and said, "I'll attack that Sequence 8 strange creature and kill it. After I kill it, I'll tell you about the recoil and power of this gun."
Lin Chaoyuan looked in the direction Chu Sheng was pointing, but saw nothing; his eyesight wasn't good enough to see that far.
Wang Er could make out a blurry outline.
"But let me make it clear beforehand that the extraordinary materials that fall off the guns I'm testing after that weirdo dies are mine."
"Of course." Lin Chaoyuan did not object. "What you killed is naturally yours. Even if you didn't say so, I would have given it to you voluntarily."
Chu Sheng smiled noncommittally, clearly not believing Lin Chaoyuan's words.
After everything was agreed upon, Chu Sheng aimed his crosshair at the strange creature in Sequence 8.
With a flick of the finger, flames shot from the muzzle, and a fiery bullet pierced the eerie body of the Sequence 8 creature in the blink of an eye. The fireball then exploded inside its body.
This strange creature did not die from being hit by the fireball. The fireball exploding inside its body only caused a burst of flame to spray from its wound, just like a flamethrower.
After firing a fireball, Chu Sheng pressed the trigger and held it still. The wooden bullets streaked through the air in green streaks of light before disappearing into the strange creature's body.
It wasn't over yet. As Chu Sheng channeled strands of spiritual energy into the magazine, bullets were fired again. This time, there was no pause. The muzzle of the Flame Thorn Meteor Gun continuously spewed out flames and green light.
A fireball was fired from the muzzle, followed by a wooden bullet, and then an energy bullet.
This cycle repeated for three or four minutes before Chu Sheng finally finished.
The strange creature in Sequence 8 had already died the moment the first magazine of bullets was fired.
After that, Chu Sheng was simply experiencing the recoil of the gun.
Chu Sheng let out a soft breath and said to Lin Chaoyuan and the other person, "The test is complete."
Wang Er was completely stunned.
He had never seen such terrifying firearms.
Chu Sheng ignored him and looked at Lin Chaoyuan, pointed at Wang Er, and continued, "My sequence level is much higher than yours, so it's not a reliable reference. Therefore, I tested him based on his mental strength."
"Given his current mental capacity, he can sustain the use of this gun at full power for five minutes, but five minutes is the maximum, so the time I demonstrated is about right."
"Apart from that, the recoil of this gun isn't too great, but there's one thing you need to be aware of: in burst fire mode, the recoil of each bullet will gradually increase. Given his physical condition, he should release the trigger after firing about four magazines, and then continue firing without any problems."
"The recoil will be zero as soon as the trigger is released once."
"As for that weirdo, it was gone when I fired the first burst of bullets."
(End of this chapter)