Chapter 152: The Anthropomorphized Rankings

Upon hearing Qingyan's analysis, Xiyan immediately shook his head and replied, "Even if he really has some extraordinary ability, could he possibly make everyone forget his existence? With a score that high, it's impossible for him not to have ridden any attractions or played any sessions."

"Then what do you mean..." Qingyan looked at Xiyan in confusion.

Xiyan rolled his eyes, thought about it carefully for a moment, and then replied, "Perhaps... the first place doesn't even exist at all?"

"Doesn't exist?" Qingyan was startled at first, but after thinking it over, she understood what he meant.

Xiyan meant that this first-place ranking was not a real person at all, but rather a virtual product within this instance, just like those puppets.

Could it really be like this?

To test this hypothesis, Xiyan and Qingyan began wandering aimlessly around the amusement park once again, searching for this elusive first-place holder.

Yet, just as before, they could not gather even the slightest scrap of information regarding this number one.

Eventually, the two returned to the spot where they frequently rested and sat down heavily on the steps, exhausted.

Xiyan said to Qingyan, "I feel like my guess shouldn't be wrong."

"Even if your guess is correct, how are we supposed to solve this problem? The rules clearly stated that only the person in first place can leave this place," Qingyan said with a hint of distress.

This was precisely the problem Xiyan wanted to solve at this very moment.

If he could not resolve the issue of this first-place position, he would probably never be able to reach that top spot, which also meant he would never be able to leave this instance.

This was not his original intention; he was determined to leave this place through his own efforts and win the wager against Bai Yuan.

"Don't worry for now, there must be a way to solve this. This instance doesn't seem like it's deliberately trying to harm the survivors; there has to be a clue somewhere." Xiyan paced back and forth on the spot, his mind racing. Where had they missed a detail?

Judging by the rules and these recreational facilities, neither showed any intention of driving people to their deaths, so this leaderboard shouldn't be intended to kill people either.

Wait! Could it be...

Xiyan suddenly thought of another possibility: what if the entire instance had no intention of killing anyone, but the leaderboard itself was the one trying to kill the players?

After all, he still remembered Bai Yuan telling him previously that this leaderboard possessed its own consciousness and was biased against men in favor of women. Could it be that the leaderboard was behind all this trouble, rather than the instance itself?

Thinking of this, Xiyan felt he had found a breakthrough. He immediately grabbed Qingyan's hand and ran toward the leaderboard. Before Qingyan even understood what was happening, she was dragged right in front of it.

"Slow down, why are you dragging me here in such a rush?" Qingyan complained impatiently.

Once Xiyan let go of her hand, Qingyan crossed her arms angrily and glared at him.

Xiyan smiled faintly, ignoring her question for a moment. Instead, he walked around the base of the leaderboard in a circle, and then spoke to the empty air, "Mr. Bai, since you've helped this far, would you mind showing yourself?"

Upon seeing Xiyan's actions, Qingyan furrowed her brows in deep confusion and looked around, but she didn't see Bai Yuan anywhere in the vicinity.

Undeterred, Xiyan continued persistently, "Mr. Bai, do you really not want to come out and have a chat with me?"

Just as Qingyan was about to walk over to Xiyan, a figure slowly stepped out from behind the other side of the leaderboard.

Seeing the newcomer, Xiyan immediately smiled and stepped forward respectfully, "Mr. Bai, I knew you would come out to talk to me."

"You really something else, how can you be so certain?" Bai Yuan smiled helplessly and shook his head.

Xiyan replied, "Because it's rare to find someone who shares the same aspirations as Mr. Bai, isn't it?"

For the first time, Xiyan smiled with a slightly playful hint.

Hearing Xiyan's answer, the corners of Bai Yuan's lips curled upward in an uncontrollable wave of joy.

"I figured you'd have discovered this problem after becoming second place, yet you still assumed I would definitely tell you the answer. Aren't you afraid I might kill you?" Bai Yuan's tone carried a trace of detachment, making it hard to decipher his true attitude for a moment.

Seeing Bai Yuan act like this, Qingyan still felt a bit fearful inside. The words Xiyan had just spoken certainly overstepped the boundaries of their respective statuses. If Bai Yuan were to get angry over this and decide to kill him, it wouldn't be entirely impossible.

"If Mr. Bai wanted to kill me, he wouldn't have waited until now. Since Mr. Bai has kept me alive until this point, I suppose you wouldn't mind doing me one last small favor," Xiyan said with a cheeky grin.

Bai Yuan truly had no way to deal with Xiyan when he looked like this. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to him.

Xiyan took the paper with delight. He always felt that Bai Yuan hid a whole stash of things inside his robes; whether it was strategy guides for various rules or other information, it was always a single piece of paper pulled from his embrace. His inner pocket was truly magical.

It was just like the magical cartoon cat from his world.

"Take a good look at what's written on the paper, and I'll explain it to you," Bai Yuan said.

Xiyan nodded, studying the contents of the paper while listening to Bai Yuan's explanation.

"The leaderboard does indeed possess its own consciousness, though not as fully developed as a human's. Just as you guessed, the first-place position is indeed not a real person, nor is it a virtual entity that has existed forever..."

The leaderboard developed a different personality every single month. Perhaps the previous month's personality was a rigid and orthodox system where no one could tell it had any individuality.

As for this month, it had become extremely mischievous and willful, and its bias against men in favor of women was a trait unique only to this month.

Prior to this month, the leaderboard had never exhibited such behavior, so there were no precedents available to solve this problem.

However, Bai Yuan had stayed in this instance for more than half a year, so he understood the temperament of this leaderboard to a certain extent.

At this point, Bai Yuan suddenly looked at Xiyan mysteriously and said, "This leaderboard actually has a physical body, you know. His physical form remains unchanged, appearing in only one specific appearance, which is how I recognize him."

Bai Yuan's revelation truly shocked Xiyan. The leaderboard actually had a physical form? Wasn't that basically becoming a supernatural spirit?

"But what does this have to do with the problem we need to solve right now?" Xiyan still didn't understand why Bai Yuan was bringing this up.

"Why, aren't you usually quite smart? How come you've suddenly become so obtuse?" Bai Yuan suddenly feigned exasperation toward Xiyan.

Xiyan looked at Bai Yuan in bewilderment. Why, after being told that by Bai Yuan, did he suddenly feel like he wasn't quite as clever as he thought?