Another Member of the Bai Family

After leaving, Xi Yan lingered for a moment, looking back at the entrance of the haunted house. There were still many players waiting in line, entering in batches of ten.

"Xi Yan, what are you looking at? Do you want to go in again?" Qing Yan asked.

Her tone, however, clearly indicated that she did not want Xi Yan to do so.

Xi Yan smiled and replied, "Not really. I was just thinking that the 50,000 points offered by this haunted house don't seem that hard to get. This instance really feels like a recreational one; as long as you don't violate the rules, the survivors are the ones who benefit."

"Hmm... Indeed." Although unwilling to admit it, Qing Yan had to concede that this was the first time she had ever encountered such an instance.

"What do you think Kela meant by sending me to this instance?" Xi Yan asked.

Qing Yan shook her head and said, "No one has ever been able to figure Kela out. What he's really thinking, and the things he does, are often completely unexpected."

"Never mind dwelling on it. Let's go check the leaderboard and see what rank 50,000 points can get us," Xi Yan replied.

Soon, the two of them arrived in front of the leaderboard.

This leaderboard allowed for manual searching. At the very bottom of the leaderboard was a tiny magnifying glass, which was used for searching and querying.

Xi Yan typed in his name and tapped the small magnifying glass.

His ranking information appeared immediately.

"Name: Xi Yan
Rank: 999+
Encouraging players to keep striving for the top of the leaderboard!"

The search result even came with an inspiring sentence at the end.

However, having 50,000 points and not even making the top 999 was somewhat beyond Xi Yan's expectations.

The leaderboard only displayed the top ten, and to check anyone else, one had to search by name.

The person in tenth place had 60,000 points.

Therefore, Xi Yan had assumed that his 50,000 points would place him fairly high up.

"Why are you 999+, but I'm 99...?" Qing Yan suddenly pointed at the leaderboard screen in front of them.

Xi Yan had been deep in thought and confusion just now, so Qing Yan had entered her own name as well, but the result left them both stunned.

They both had 50,000 points, yet one was ranked beyond 999th place while the other was 99th. No matter how you looked at it, this made no sense.

"Why is this happening?" Xi Yan was puzzled as well.

The next second, however, he spotted the difference between their entries.

"Name: Qing Yan
Gender: Female!
Rank: 99
Encouraging beauties to keep striving for the top of the leaderboard!!"

Xi Yan noticed that the information retrieved from Qing Yan's search included an extra field for gender, and the final sentence of her profile had an extra exclamation mark compared to his.

Why did this instance feel somewhat biased in favor of women over men?

The two stood in front of the leaderboard, staring at the information displayed upon it, neither speaking a word.

There were not many people in front of the leaderboard; only a couple of scattered individuals were checking the rankings. Everyone else was actively participating in the amusement park's attractions, eager to earn higher points and leave this place.

Although the rules stated that only the first-place finisher could leave, and the hopes of doing so were slim, failing to try meant losing even that sliver of hope for departure.

While food was sold here, the prices were exorbitant. The transactions required local game points, not the points the survivors used in the survival realm.

Therefore, once the survivors finished the food they had stored, they would have no choice but to participate in the games here to earn points in exchange for meals.

"Well? Have you thought it over? Judging by the way you're looking at the leaderboard, you must be wondering why there's such a massive gap between the top ten players, right?"

The person who had tried to sell packages to Xi Yan earlier appeared before them once more.

Seeing this man, Xi Yan immediately furrowed his brow. Once again, he hadn't noticed when the man had materialized behind him.

If this man wanted to launch a sneak attack on the two of them, he would undoubtedly succeed one hundred percent of the time.

"Does asking this question cost me points?" Xi Yan asked a very pragmatic question, which momentarily startled the man.

The man smiled and replied, "Of course that doesn't cost any points. Feel free to ask."

"Then..." Xi Yan suddenly pointed at the first-place entry on the leaderboard and said, "Why does the person in first place have over 500,000 points, while the person in tenth place only needed six points to make the list? Why is there such a massive gap between them?"

"Because this first-place person bought my package deal," the man said, a trace of distinct pride evident in his tone.

After the man gave his answer, the atmosphere among the three suddenly fell silent.

Seeing that neither of them was responding, the man scratched his head in confusion and asked, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with my answer?"

"No... nothing..." This was an answer Xi Yan never could have anticipated.

"Then why am I ranked beyond 999th with 50,000 points, while she is ranked 99th with the same 50,000 points?" Xi Yan continued to ask.

The man glanced at the leaderboard. Qing Yan's search results were still displayed on the screen. Catching sight of her rank, the man smiled.

"Because this leaderboard is somewhat biased toward women over men." The man looked slightly embarrassed as he answered this question.

"You mean the leaderboard is biased toward women?" Xi Yan looked at the man in astonishment.

"Mm... you heard correctly. It's indeed just the leaderboard that favors women; none of the other things in this entire instance do," the man replied.

"..." Xi Yan felt utterly speechless. He had originally suspected the entire instance was biased toward women, only to find out that it was actually the leaderboard itself.

Could this leaderboard perhaps be a living entity? Noticing Xi Yan's confusion, the man continued his explanation.

"Are you wondering why a leaderboard would have such human-like thinking? Actually, it's because this leaderboard is the core of the entire instance. The entire instance operates based on this leaderboard."

"So that's how it is." Xi Yan understood instantly. "I haven't asked for your name yet, sir."

By this point, Xi Yan had developed a mild interest in this man.

"Don't call me 'sir' or anything like that. I'm just an ordinary survivor, making a living here by earning some points to trade for food and whatnot. My name is Bai Yuan," the man answered.

Xi Yan didn't react much upon hearing the man's name, but Qing Yan widened her eyes in shock the moment she heard it, and then gently tugged at the corner of Xi Yan's sleeve.

She whispered, "Xi Yan, this person belongs to the Bai family, and he is someone we cannot afford to cross."

If Qing Yan was willing to describe someone as untouchable, then that person was undeniably someone to be avoided at all costs.