He chuckled, looking at the number floating before him. "That's right, it's zero percent chance," he thought.
Then he began laughing out loud.
He wondered if even the heavens were mocking him, or had he finally lost his mind?
He raised his hand to catch the floating number, but his fingers passed right through it.
He sighed, thinking to himself that he would probably die here anyway, so what did it matter if he lost his mind? As this thought crossed his mind, the number started shifting again and turned to [55%].
He paused. Was he really losing his mind?
Before, he had wondered about his chances of surviving with the pill, and it had shown zero. Then he had thought that he'd probably die, and it showed [55%]. Could it be that these strange numbers were reacting to his thoughts?
The numbers shifted and stopped at [100%].
He swallowed hard. What was this? He had never heard of such a thing before. He decided to test it out a little more.
"What are the chances that I survive?" he thought. The number shifted, becoming [46%].
Was he really not losing his mind? he wondered, and the number shifted, turning to [99%].
"99? What's the 1%? Are you making fun of me?" he spoke in frustration, and the number shifted back to [0%].
He sighed. What was he doing, arguing with a floating number? He calmed himself and asked, "What are the chances I become a cultivator?"
The numbers shifted and settled on [5%].
He smiled bitterly. "That low, huh," he thought.
His gaze suddenly hardened. He didn't know if these strange numbers before him were real or if he was actually losing his mind, but they showed that he had a over [40%] chance of survival.
If that was truly the case, then he wouldn't give up.
As he thought of that, the numbers shifted and became [66%].
He smiled. Just his mindset had changed the chances?
"What are my chances of becoming a cultivator?" he wondered. The number shifted and became [6%].
He smiled. It was a small increase, but it had increased nonetheless, all because he decided to live.
He clenched his fist, summoning all his power. He forced himself into a plank position, then pushed himself into a kneeling position, then stood up. His legs were trembling from lack of energy and his entire body was shivering from the cold, but thanks to the cold, he was alert and had a burst of energy.
His expression hardened.
"I don't care if it's real or delusions... but I choose to live this time. If I survive through today... I won't give up anymore. I will take control over my own destiny... I... I will calculate my way to immortality," he thought.
Suddenly, he stumbled back into the water. "Dammit, even with all that resolve, I'm still hurt," he thought.
He forced himself to get up once again.
He would've given up before, but the thought that he had such high chances of survival gave him power.
But in the end, these were still just that, chances. He still had to find a way to make use of them.
He quickly looked around him in all directions, thinking in his mind which direction had the highest chance of survival. His expression froze as he saw the [0%] for going upstream like he was planning to.
"0%? That's crazy," he thought.
He then looked in all the other directions.
They had varying degrees but overall weren't much better. They were all below five percent. This could only mean one thing - his chances of survival were dependent on something that was in that direction, he thought, looking in the direction with an [80%] chance.
…
As he walked, Yu Tian kept activating his calculation ability.
He had named it "Calculation" since it was calculating probabilities.
He continuously activated it, getting the best possible path in the direction he was walking.
As he continued, his chances slowly grew from the initial eighty percent to ninety-five percent.
He thought to himself that although it was a good thing that the ability didn't have a cooldown, his body had one. The adrenaline from before was almost running out, and he didn't know how much longer he could keep this up.
Although his wounds had already clotted, he had already lost too much blood.
Not to mention the physical injuries - he had a few broken ribs. He also hadn't eaten anything since that morning.
Could he really make it?
As he was thinking of this, he suddenly noticed the roots of a plant.
"Huh?" he wondered, lifting his gaze. He realized that he was on the ground. He had collapsed?
He noticed that it was already dark. Only a little brightness remained thanks to the full moon, but even that was being obscured by the large trees.
"No, I can't give up... not yet," he thought, looking at the number floating before him [99%].
Yu Tian raised his hand, crawling forward. His hand landed on the ground. He tried to lift it to crawl again. "Just a little more," he thought, but he couldn't muster enough energy to make the next movement.
"Is this the end?" he wondered.
Suddenly, he felt a warm sensation on his hand. He looked up. There, he noticed a bright flower glowing with a golden light that brightened a few meters around it.
He raised his head to look at the flower. "So bright, just like the moon," he thought.
He didn't even need to calculate it. "What are the chances I survive after eating this?" he asked anyway.
[100%] the number showed. He smiled.
But his hands were too tired to move anymore. Even so, his expression was determined. He moved his body, slithering like a snake. The ground was rough, his light clothes doing little to protect his skin, but he didn't care. He used all his strength until he reached the flower.
He bit down on the flower's stem. Luckily for him, the stem wasn't hard and the whole thing came down. He started violently devouring it. He was also hungry, so this was his first meal in a while. He chowed down from the stem up to the entire flower.
Once he was done, he lay on his back. "What are my chances of survival now?"
His bright smile slowly faded as he noticed the number floating before him.
[1%]
…
Author's Corner
"Floating number" is kinda funny considering percentages are floats. Didn't know I was a comedy genius.