Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 45: Multiple Choice Questions

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Multiple Choice Questions

When Yang Ping, out of breath, found Tang Qianqian, she was holding a burger and standing near a crowd of people, listening intently to the ghost story aficionados recounting their tales.

Congyun Hotel, a relic of a previous era, only managed to keep up with the times in terms of its dining services, adopting the most popular prepaid fast food concept. The brand of the burgers was even the same as the ones Tang Qianqian usually stocked up on at home. The slogan on them read, "No cooking skills required, just hands."

The only difference was that you might find a finger made of maple sugar in your air-fried fries.

After inviting Yang Ping inside and ordering another "Congyun Thrilling Combo," she said, "You said I was killed?"

"Although it sounds unbelievable, you must believe me."

"Of course I believe."

Tang Qianqian was incredibly calm.

As a homebody frequently dabbling in horror films, she couldn’t possibly be the kind of character in the movies who, just to advance the plot, wouldn’t listen to others’ advice and insisted on acting alone, only to end up dead.

Her senior had said that there exist powers beyond common knowledge, and it seemed that Yang Ping’s ability might be related to precognition.

Unraveling puzzles pieced together from random words to reveal scenes of events yet to happen at some future moment.

"Assuming that this is your ability, there are two ways to interpret a future-related power like precognition."

"...Hmm."

Yang Ping didn’t expect Tang Qianqian to be so cooperative. He had prepared himself to persuade her with his own past experiences, but not only did Tang Qianqian not question the future he foresaw, she didn’t become agitated by the prospect of her own death. Instead, she analyzed their current situation with a cool head.

"First, the foreseen future serves as a warning, like if I just lie in my room all night and don’t go anywhere, then I won’t trigger the outcome of dying on the second floor."

Tang Qianqian held up two fingers stained with grease from the burger and said, "Second, it’s fatalism."

"Fatalism?"

"The scene that is foreseen will inevitably occur. No matter how I try to avoid it, coincidences arranged by fate will lead me to the place of my death."

Putting aside the fact that the person foreseen to die was herself and simply evaluating it from the perspective of her ability, Tang Qianqian felt that the second type of ability involved the concept of cause and effect. If placed in a work of fiction, it could even evolve into a boss-level power.

Describing it as having growth potential of an ’A’ wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

"How could that be?"

Yang Ping didn’t like the idea of fatalism and quickly said, "It should be the first scenario. I’ve had many bad premonitions before, but if you make an effort, you can change the deadly outcome."

"Don’t be nervous, even if it is the second scenario, there might still be a solution."

Tang Qianqian was quite unfazed, "The one who foresees the future is you, and what you foresee is a moment in the future. Let’s assume what you foresee is a warning from the future you to the present you. Then my death is your subjective judgment, but in reality, many people appear to be dead at the time, only to be bouncing around alive a day or two later. Or even if they are dead at that moment, there’s always a chance to win a resurrection match afterward."

It’s worth mentioning that their senior Mingyuan was a professional resurrection match coach. During their first visit to Mr. Da Jiang, he had instructed this newly deceased novice how to continuously cut in line, ultimately clinching the championship in the resurrection match.

If the senior were to open a refresher course, there would probably be a lot of the deceased eager to learn from him the experience of fighting in resurrection matches.

Tang Qianqian comforted him, "Don’t panic, we’ll win the resurrection match."

Yang Ping had also heard about Da Jiang’s case; when senior Mingyuan arrived, Mr. Da Jiang had a steel spike through his head. He could hardly imagine how painful that must have been. He didn’t understand why Tang Qianqian would risk complicating matters by risking severe injury or even death, "But wouldn’t it be better if it were the first scenario?"

Just by staying in her room doing nothing, she could avoid the risk of death.

"Not good at all."

"...Ah?"

"If the future that is precognized could be changed at will, then the act of precognition would lose its meaning,"

Tang Qianqian suddenly placed her hands on Yang Ping’s shoulders and said seriously, "Your precognition would become no different from commonplace safety tips like ’be careful when crossing the road’ or ’don’t stick your body out of the window when on the highway.’"

Indeed, safety tips were never absent from human life, as any public place would have such signs displayed.

For Yang Ping, however, this Ability, which had an A for growth potential and the hope of evolving into a Boss level, suddenly became as commonplace as any safety slogan one might see anywhere.

"Even if you eliminate one future in which I die, other possibilities will emerge at the same time. I might get killed by a ghost in the mirror staying in the room or drown in bloody water during a bath—these are the most famous ghost stories in the Congyun Hotel,"

"Qianqian, are you thinking of ending it all?"

Putting himself in her shoes, Yang Ping suddenly came to a terrifying conclusion.

He had insisted on joining the organization precisely because he had lost joy in the monotonous life, hoping that through "sacrifice," he could give his life a meaningful end.

That way, at least those who spoke of Yang Ping afterward would think he had made some contributions to the world.

Could it be that Sister Qianqian, although she seemed optimistic and out-of-touch, had an inner world much like his own?

Yang Ping tried to persuade her, "The senior said before, life itself has no meaning; it is only those who continue to live that can give it meaning."

It was the senior’s persuasion that had changed his attitude toward life.

Rather than a glorious sacrifice, he now preferred to live on and rely on his own Ability to help more people.

"You’re the one who wants to give up on life, hey, you kid."

Tang Qianqian held her forehead, "Listen up, salted fish are the creatures that cherish their lives the most. I just sought reimbursement from Mr. Da Jiang for a box of pre-made mini burgers two days ago, how could I possibly want to die? This is what we call an investment in the future."

"But in an unclear situation, clearly the first scenario is the most beneficial for you, isn’t it?"

Even according to Tang Qianqian’s explanation, changing one type of fatal ending might lead her to be entangled by a different ghost story, but if fate could not be changed, she would be a hundred percent certain to be seriously injured.

Yang Ping thought this was a very simple logical issue.

"You have been mistaken from the start; it was never about being able to distinguish or not,"

The hands on Yang Ping’s shoulders tightened a bit, and Tang Qianqian looked into his eyes, "Remember what the senior’s manuscript said? Ability is a manifestation of human desires and obsessions; from the very beginning, it was determined by human thoughts."

Although Yang Ping was exceptionally intelligent, he was, after all, still a high school student.

Once it came to the matter of life and death, his thinking would become confused.

But this might be the most important moment in Yang Ping’s life, as he was making a choice.

Tang Qianqian took a deep breath and said with undeniable certainty, "Forget the first possibility, what you need to keep in your mind now is just one thought—the future precognized will definitely happen, no matter what subjective changes are made, the coincidences of destiny will push people toward that precognized future."

For that, even if she were grievously injured, it would be worth it.

The most important thing between team members is to establish trust; she trusted Yang Ping and even more so the senior, believing that even if she got severely injured, the senior would still pull her up.

"Then, there’s another charge I have for you,"

Yang Ping didn’t speak, he just stared blankly at Tang Qianqian, who lifted the corners of her mouth and said, "If you seek wealth and rank, do not forget each other."

This was Tang Qianqian’s life creed.

If her teammates could all become Boss-level powerful beings, then her future of slacking off would surely be smooth sailing.