"Lives are slipping away here almost every moment."
As Lin Shiming said this, he took off his glasses, lowered his head, and gently wiped them with a tissue.
"Although I wouldn't judge my own prospects by the average, the highest number still offers some reference."
"Of all the people I've collected data on, the highest number of Advanced Zone Instances cleared was twenty-one."
"And even that came solely from one person's account, with no way to verify it. Even if I take that number as fact, my time is almost up."
Even without compiling statistics, the principle was simple-a low-probability event would approach an overall probability of one if repeated enough times, especially with the system's "invisible hand" at work.
He could already clearly feel his Instances growing more difficult.
Lin Shiming crumpled the tissue in his hand into a ball and put his glasses back on.
"There are plenty of cases where someone never recovered from a companion's death, made mistakes, and died in turn. At the very least, I don't want that happening to anyone I know."
Lin Shiming rarely spoke so much, yet his words were so heavy, and there was nothing to dispute.
The conversation stalled. A moment later, Ji Xie, who had remained silent throughout, was the one to break the silence.
He first set down his chopsticks with a clack, then picked up a tissue from the table, wiped his mouth, and said casually:
"I'm done."
Li Xian set down his chopsticks too, looking rather dispirited. This should have been a rare, peaceful, delicious dinner, but the subject he had brought up had soured it.
Lin Shiming looked the same as always, seemingly unaffected by the conversation. Only after Li Xian failed to respond for a while did he pause slightly and say with