Chapter 119
Chapter 119 Does It Even Matter?
After finishing the meal and resting for a bit, the two of them jumped into the game.
The private space was unchanged from before the update, except for a few functional operations that Xia Xinyan couldn’t be bothered to look at. Instead, she turned to find Ling Mo.
At this moment, Ling Mo was still on the villa’s balcony reviewing the update. Noticing Xia Xinyan’s arrival, he closed the window in front of him and stood up. “Are we starting now?”
He liked to go through all the update content during every game update to get a comprehensive grasp of the first-hand information. However, he wouldn’t take up too much of his friends’ time, especially not Xia Xinyan.
Since he had already read the main content, the rest was just some trivialities from the player community and could be saved for later.
Xia Xinyan already knew all about the game updates, but hearing him say that, she shook her head and smiled, “Don’t be so anxious, aren’t you going to check the update details first?”
“I’ve pretty much checked it all.”
“Have you only seen the update details?”
“……Yeah.”
“Then there’s no rush,” Xia Xinyan opened the menu panel, “I heard the game has a leaderboard now. Aren’t you going to check your ranking?”
Besides the leaderboard, a highlight of this update was the complete integration with an external network—for ordinary players, that is. Now every player would have a virtual computer that works almost exactly like a real computer and even supports running all desktop games.
This was a huge shock to the computer industry, completely changing the market. Many criticized this move as highly irresponsible, but regardless of the chaotic happenings in reality, this feature remained intact with no sign of compromise.
Gods… don’t need to compromise with humans, right?
For most players, this feature was a delightful surprise—it effectively meant they scored a top-of-the-line portable computer for free, sparing them the hassle of running back and forth to their game pods.
Additionally, the game also included a built-in exclusive forum connected to the game system, providing considerable convenience for transactions and giving players a place to discuss the game.
And the game also launched an auction house where players could buy and sell various items that couldn’t be purchased in the mall but were obtained from dungeons.
Of course, the most noteworthy aspect, which even Xia Xinyan couldn’t overlook, was the leaderboard.
Both she and Ling Mo were now on the leaderboard; her rank was 71, and Ling Mo’s was 67.
This wasn’t particularly high for her, but it was as she expected. After all, they hadn’t pushed their power to the limit in the early stages and were delayed by basketball events. Plus, she had consciously slowed her power increase. Even so, they still reached this ranking, which was enough to indicate… this batch of players really was underwhelming.
As for why she didn’t rush to the top from the start, it was because she didn’t want to draw too much attention at this stage.
The leaderboard had just emerged, and even though the rankings might shift frequently due to players’ attempts to climb, those currently at the top would certainly attract considerable attention.
Judging from the previous reactions of the chubby guy, this assumption held some weight.
The bird that sticks its head out gets shot—Xia Xinyan understood this well.
However, unlike her calm demeanor, Ling Mo was quite excited upon discovering they made the leaderboard. “We actually made it? And such a high ranking?”
To be clear, the leaderboard they were looking at was the national leaderboard, which meant their current strength ranked them against fewer than a hundred opponents nationwide?
“That’s still not enough, Mo,” Xia Xinyan said to temper his enthusiasm. “Our goal should be first place.”
Back in her last life, she had no idea where she was lost when the leaderboard came out, so she never even touched its edge. She didn’t know what it felt like for players to be on the leaderboard from the start. To prevent Ling Mo from getting carried away simply for appearing on the list, she had to inject some reality into him.
Upon hearing this, Ling Mo paused, “First?”
“Not confident?” Xia Xinyan tilted her head at him, smiling slightly.
“Of course not!” Ling Mo shook his head immediately, then with a passionate expression, he declared, “Right! Our goal should be first place!”
He was unaware of the challenges that came with reaching the top; all he knew was that if Xinyan had this mindset, he would accompany her on this journey.
In terms of the game, he had always been quite confident in himself.
And it certainly seemed that way. They had barely played seriously and had already made the leaderboard. If they actually tried hard, entering the top ten wouldn’t be a problem at all.
Seeing his enthusiasm, Xia Xinyan smiled and patted his chest, “That’s the spirit! Alright, let’s match up.”
She was very aware of her own nature; if she wanted to avoid getting carried away, setting a higher goal would solve that.
It seemed Ling Mo was no different.
After forming a team, Ling Mo didn’t match immediately but opened the friends list and invited a few friends who were browsing the community.
He understood that having more friends made things easier.
After all, their survival rates during recent play sessions had been quite high.
The friends he picked didn’t decline, as they were familiar faces from the last dungeon—Fatty, Bai Yu, and Morning Light.
Once everyone was in the party, Ling Mo started the matching process.
Within two seconds, they were teleported to the preparation hall.
It’s worth mentioning that this time, the preparation hall had only the five of them and no other outsiders.
Another notable point was… they discovered Bai Yu had taken on their real-world appearance.
Ling Mo took a few moments to look Bai Yu up and down, somewhat surprised. “How come you…?”
“I changed my appearance using game points,” Bai Yu smiled. “Though it hurt my wallet, I was more afraid of what that big guy might say about my gender identity behind my back.”
Fatty: “…”
Morning Light also looked curious, “Is this… Bai Yu?”
“Yeah, surprising, right?” Bai Yu turned around to face him, showcasing his new look.
This time, he was dressed very plainly, a stark contrast to his previous flirty appearance. If you didn’t know better, you probably wouldn’t believe it was the same person.
Morning Light chuckled in confusion, “Actually, you looked pretty good before.”
“I can switch back to how I looked before,” Bai Yu replied, his pupils suddenly tinted with a light blue color, his short hair instantly transforming into long black strands. His chest began to swell, changing into the robust figure they had seen before, and his features softened, losing that bit of masculine sharpness, leaving behind an aura of femininity, just like what they had seen previously.
“Do you see?” He did a little spin in front of them, smiling. “Most of my body is made up of bionic mechanical tissues, so I can change my appearance to a certain extent.”
After a pause, he added, “This might become my unique trump card, not just for camouflage but also for seduction.”
Fatty furrowed his brow, scrutinizing him for a while before finally unable to contain his curiosity. “I’ve been wanting to ask—do you still have any… down there, in this form?”
Bai Yu locked eyes with him for a moment.
Then smiled, “Want me to drop my pants and show you?”
Fatty: “……”
