This light, airy praise felt somewhat unreal to him.
Mental fortitude? Skill?
Xu Xi couldn't help but tug at the corner of his mouth wryly.
Only he himself knew that the real "awesome" part was just the reload ability.
But then, looking at it from another angle, possessing the reload ability, wasn't he, in a way, kind of awesome himself?
...
The outside world.
The player tier list and rankings released by God Hunt had sent shockwaves across the globe.
Their previous lists, based solely on players' instance clear counts, were rendered completely obsolete.
Hua Nation.
Discussion Thread: [Discussion] Who understands the redemptive feeling of seeing a "6" within the top 100?
1L (OP): As per the old rules, first, a handsome photo of Master Xu Xi to bless the thread!
Attached: picture.jpg (In the photo, the young man is smoothing back the hair on his forehead, leisurely descending a staircase, looking like he just woke up not long ago)
2L (OP): As the title says, as soon as the rankings were announced, I couldn't wait to click in and look. The top 100 was okay, some changes but nothing major. However, when I saw the 71st place, I was like: Xu Xi? Who shares a name with my master?? Then I looked further back at the instance clear count: 6. I was like: ???
3L: Seeing I'm not the only one who felt this was absurd is a relief.
4L: Actually, it makes sense. Master Xu Xi's instances, while they look difficult, are indeed not simple in reality either.
5L: The selection and mixed-team competitions probably gave a lot of tier points, right? Looking at this mixed-team competition, aside from 248, no one survived. The difficulty was a bit outrageously high.
6L: If the mixed-team competition is this hard, the number of survivors from the first three editions wasn't high either. The first edition was a bit better, 3 players lived. The next two editions only had 1 survivor each.
7L: Comrades, I just saw a joke and had to come share it with you. Some people in Kimchi Nation have already started researching, saying some of Master Xu Xi's facial features align with the physiognomy of some ancient nobility from their country, suggesting he might have Kimchi Nation ancestry.
8L: I'm going to laugh myself sick. Why don't they just say the entire planet is their country? Let's see if God Hunt pays them any mind.
9L: Probably because this mixed-team competition was too tragic, they're just coping hard.
10L: Right now, many foreign media outlets are questioning whether Master Xu Xi alone took the key item, causing the remaining players to get stuck, and are condemning him for it.
11L: Such ugly words. What do you mean 'took'? Clearly, the item was fated for Master Xu Xi. Besides, let them condemn all they want, it's not like the master can hear them anyway.
12L: Holy crap, holy crap! Have you guys seen the latest video He Sanshui posted on the video site?
13L: Haven't seen it. What video?
14L: Master Xu Xi's clear method was actually a shortcut that exploited a loophole in the instance mechanics. The original intended clear method still exists, it's just that the remaining players didn't find it. You can go watch the video for the detailed analysis.
Attached: (link)
15L: ??? Wait, instances have shortcuts like that???
16L: Just came back from watching. So, those players were essentially led astray by 248, is that what it means?
17L: So this is the saying, "Those who learn from me live, those who merely imitate me die"?
18L: Nah, tricked you. Learning leads to death too.
19L: Hahahaha, now let's see what those foreign media outlets have to say. Clearly, their own players weren't skilled enough, and they're blaming Master Xu Xi.
20L: Speaking of which, our country now has two Elimination Cards, right?
21L: Yes, Kid Brother and 248 are forever legends. These two Elimination Cards are basically our Hua Nation's final insurance.
20L: By the way, have you guys seen the global rankings? That number one, "Hege Nuodisen," the country listed is Mi Nation. Forgive my ignorance, but I couldn't find it on the map either.
21L: That so-called 'nation' is actually just a small island, its area is only about the size of one of our cities.
22L: I see. A mere 2 tiers. Our Hua Nation is a vast land teeming with talent, let him stay in first place a little longer then. ()
...
Ever since God Hunt announced the detailed player tier rankings, the general public's mental outlook underwent a subtle yet positive shift.
Before this, they only felt that the 999th Floor was a boundless, distant horizon, with immense unknowns and fear looming over their heads.
But now, the appearance of the tier ranking list gave those who once thought the 999th Floor was unattainable their first tangible perception of this abstract endpoint.
It was like a lighthouse on the dark sea. Though its light might be faint, it could be pursued, it could be surpassed.
The future, though still arduous, was at least no longer completely an impenetrable fog.
...
J Province.
City outskirts.
Ji Yang stood with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his windbreaker, behind a cordon line. His gaze reached beyond the line, firmly locked onto a patch of black-gray substance not far away, slowly but inexorably spreading.
The substance had no fixed form. It resembled a wispy, writhing fog that absorbed all light, or thick, viscous asphalt, silently devouring everything it touched.
Its gloomy, murky aura instinctively evoked panic and unease.
Just yesterday.
The moment Xu Xi exited the instance, God Hunt's announcement followed—
"Hua Nation player Xu Xi has successfully cleared the Fourth Mixed-Nation Team Competition. Province-wide pollution in J Province, cleared."
This province, burdened with heavy pollution from consecutive instance failures, once again welcomed a long-lost, perfectly clean sunlight.
However, beautiful light is always fleeting.
In the blink of an eye, the newly restored clarity at the edges seemed to come alive again and began to spread anew.
He knew this was because another player from J Province had failed to clear an instance, leading to new pollution.
Even though he had witnessed this scenario once before after the last mixed-team competition ended, seeing it again now with his own eyes, that familiar chill, mixed with a sense of powerlessness, still crept silently up his spine.
Behind every inch of land swallowed anew by darkness, there was a name corresponding to a player who had fallen within an instance.
For every patch a player cleared, two more might become tainted in the blink of an eye.
A phrase involuntarily surfaced in Ji Yang's mind—
A desperate war of attrition...
Right then, his phone vibrated.
It was his live stream notification alert.
As he opened his phone to see which followed player had entered an instance, the notification that had just popped up on his lock screen instantly seized his full attention.
In the notification bar, the name was short and clear, silently crashing into his line of sight.
Xu Xi.
Ji Yang's heart gave a sudden lurch.
He hadn't expected the young man to jump into another instance so soon, even after experiencing the mixed-team competition.
He immediately looked up, taking one last glance at the slowly expanding edge of pollution in the distance, then turned without hesitation and ran towards the off-road vehicle parked further away.
As he drove the car away from the area, he tapped into the live stream at the fastest speed possible.
Emo can wait. Watching the stream comes first.
