Chapter 23
Chapter 23: No Miracle—But How About a Good Scare?
"It's up!" Zhao Yan called out in a low voice.
However, the next second.
Both men's pupils contracted sharply, and the light in their eyes dimmed at a visible rate.
The golden ID they had placed all their hopes on—the one that had dominated the top of the leaderboard yesterday—【No Words Needed】, was gone.
In its place were foreign names.
【1st Place: Arielia Alice (Eagle Nation)】
【Location: Eerie Island (Grade S)】
【Record: Killed Wandering Corpse (Grade E) X 42】
【Score: 4,200】
——————
【2nd Place: Muraguchi Kazusu (Sakura Nation)】
【Location: Eerie Island (Grade S)】
【Record: Killed Shadow Walker (Grade D) X 1, Killed Wandering Corpse (Grade E) X 29】
【Score: 3,400】
……
The top 10—at a glance, almost entirely Eagle Nation and Sakura Nation names.
That string of foreign letters and Japanese characters landed like a series of slaps, striking both men hard across the face.
Only 2 names were barely holding on.
——————
【9th Place: Huaxia's No.1 Romantic (Huaxia Nation)】
【Location: Eerie Island (Grade S)】
【Record: Killed Hanging Ghost (Grade C) X 1, Wandering Corpse (Grade E) X 4】
【Score: 1,900】
——————
【10th Place: Yekaterina (Su Nation)】
【Location: Eerie Island (Grade S)】
【Record: Killed Butcher Ghost (Grade C) X 1, Wandering Corpse (Grade E) X 3】
【Score: 1,800】
——————
Looking further down, the bottom 10 were even more painful to read.
——————
【11th Place: Yang Wei (Huaxia Nation)】
【Status: Deceased】
【Location: Eerie Island (Grade S)】
【Record: Killed Elemental Scarecrow (Grade D) X 2, Eerie Scarecrow (Grade E) X 6】
【Score: 1,600】
Note: Upon death during the Newcomer Period, rewards will be transferred to an acknowledged surviving partner.
——————
……
——————
【18th Place: Silk-Stocking Desperado (Huaxia)】
【Location: Eerie Island (Grade S)】
【Record: Killed Eerie Infant (Grade E) X 10】
【Score: 1,000】
——————
The remaining spots were almost entirely divided between Sakura Nation and Eagle Nation.
"It's over."
Zhao Yan's body went limp—like someone had yanked out his spine—and he collapsed heavily into his chair.
He pressed his hands over his eyes in anguish, unwilling to look at that despairing leaderboard, a long sigh echoing through the office:
"No Words Needed... gone."
"A flash in the pan. A genuine flash in the pan..."
"We got one more with Yang Wei charging up to 11th place, and the damn thing shows 'Deceased'!"
"And that Silk-Stocking Desperado is about to drop out of the top 20 too."
Despair.
A deep, suffocating helplessness had settled over this iron-blooded soldier.
Suddenly, Zhao Yan sucked in a sharp breath and grabbed an alloy combat knife off the wall.
"Damn it! Those think tank jinxes!"
"I'm going to go hack them apart! They said it would happen and it did!"
"Old Zhao! Sit down!"
Wan Changzheng slammed the table hard, barking sharply: "Who's the Chief of Staff here—you or me?!"
"What kind of logic is it for the senior to talk the junior out of hacking people up?!"
"Put the knife down! Stop showing off that donkey temper in here!"
Dressed down by the old commander like that, Zhao Yan ground his teeth, chest heaving violently, before finally hurling the knife back onto the table in fury.
Clang!
He slumped back into his chair, staring at the ceiling with hollow eyes.
"Commander... what do we do now?"
"Are we just going to watch those foreign devils ride over our heads and do as they please?"
"They're cheating with firearms—are our people supposed to fight with their bare heads?!"
Wan Changzheng went silent.
He wanted to say something, but found his throat sealed shut as though something was blocking it.
Right at that moment of dead silence.
Click.
The office door was pushed open.
The sound of high heels tapping against the floor rang out.
The woman who walked in wore a white lab coat and had a neat, silver-white bob. She was tall, with an aura as cold and remote as a glacier, and held a tablet computer in her hand.
Shen Lian.
The moment Zhao Yan saw who it was, his temper shot right back up.
Because this woman was the head of those "jinxes."
Chief of the Base Think Tank, Head Engineer of the Research Institute—Shen Lian.
She was a genuine genius—a graduate of the National Defense University of Science and Technology!
3 years ago she crossed over and awakened a Grade A mental-type ability: 【Extraordinary Brain】!
She possessed a processing power comparable to a supercomputer.
But none of that mattered.
What mattered was that this woman's mouth was even sharper than her brain.
Zhao Yan still remembered the very first time they met, when this woman looked at him without a single expression and said:
"Chief of Staff Zhao, given your brain capacity to muscle density ratio, I recommend you transfer to the role of assault operative."
"Allowing you to serve as a strategist is an insult to the profession."
That day, Zhao Yan nearly burst a blood vessel on the spot. He had held a grudge ever since.
"Chief Engineer Shen."
Wan Changzheng quickly pressed down on Zhao Yan—who was about to blow up again—shot him a look, then turned to Shen Lian with a weary expression:
"Please don't provoke Old Zhao anymore. His blood pressure nearly spiked just now."
"This time... just say we lost, all right? Your think tank won."
Wan Changzheng gave a bitter smile.
Everything about Shen Lian was fine. The problem was she was pedantic, hyper-competitive, and brutally sharp-tongued—she had a talent for stabbing people right in the lungs.
However.
To both men's surprise.
Shen Lian did not put on the air of a victor. Instead, she gave a quiet shake of her head.
"No."
"What do you mean, no?!"
Zhao Yan exploded, jabbing a finger at Shen Lian's face as he cursed:
"Little girl! Don't push your luck! I've been tolerating you because you're talented!"
Shen Lian looked at the raging Zhao Yan, her expression still completely blank.
"You've misunderstood, Elder Zhao."
She gave a slight bow. "Actually... I'm here to apologize."
"Apologize?"
Both men froze, exchanging bewildered glances.
"Your judgment was correct. The error was mine."
"My model's predictions were a complete failure."
Shen Lian's voice remained cool and level.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
Zhao Yan was baffled. "No Words Needed is already gone, isn't he? He's not even on the leaderboard anymore—what exactly are you apologizing for?"
Just as the 2 men were puzzling over it, Shen Lian dispensed with any further preamble and stepped forward.
She placed the tablet computer she was holding onto the desk in front of them.
"See for yourselves."
Both men looked down.
On the screen was a single, solitary data entry.
【9,527th Place: No Words Needed (Huaxia Nation)】
The air went quiet for 3 seconds.
Then.
Wan Changzheng and Zhao Yan looked at each other simultaneously, and both their faces broke into the expression of a bewildered old man staring at his phone.
"Chief Engineer Shen..."
Wan Changzheng's mouth twitched. "Are you taking us for fools?"
"Even if we're both getting on in years—Old Zhao nearly 60—we haven't gone senile yet!"
Zhao Yan let out a laugh of disbelief: "That's right, you scheming girl—you're playing games with us again, aren't you?"
"Doesn't the Newcomer Leaderboard only display the top 1,000? And the top 20 are the only ones with detailed data—what in the world is this 9,527?"
Faced with the two men's skepticism, Shen Lian expressionlessly pushed her glasses up.
"I never said this was the 【Newcomer Leaderboard】."
"Additionally, I think the two of you ought to find time to visit an optometrist. Or perhaps get a new pair of reading glasses."
"You..."
Zhao Yan nearly choked on his own breath.
But he still forced down his fury, leaned in close to the tablet, and took a careful look.
This look.
His gaze instantly locked onto the golden title at the very top.
【Global Boss Kill Overall Leaderboard】
"What the—?!"
"The Boss Kill Leaderboard?!!"
Whoosh.
Wan Changzheng and Zhao Yan shot straight up from their chairs, spines rigid, eyes practically bulging out of their sockets!
What did the Boss Kill Leaderboard even mean?
It brought together every seasoned crossover survivor from across the globe!
The peak combatants of every major base!
Even those old monsters who had been living in this world for years!
Only those who had truly killed a Overlord-tier monster were qualified to appear on it!
Why... would a newcomer who had only been here 3 days show up on this leaderboard?!
"This... this..."
Wan Changzheng's hands were trembling.
Seeing that, Shen Lian's slender fingers lightly tapped the screen and pulled up the detailed entry.
【9,527th Place: No Words Needed (Huaxia Nation)】
【Current Score: 10,000】
【Number of Bosses Killed: 1】
【Kill Target: Watchful Scarecrow (Grade S Boss)】
【Time to Kill: 59.9 seconds】
【Kill Record Time: Year 1314 of the Savage Calendar, March 7th, 00:01 AM】
【Kill Footage Review: Inquiring whether to display... Please wait.】
Wan Changzheng and Zhao Yan were utterly thunderstruck.
Both men sat there with their mouths hanging open, their gazes as blank as a newborn's, minds completely empty.
Grade S...
A Grade S Boss?!
And in under a minute...
No—in less than a minute—solo?!
It was only after Shen Lian picked up the cup of cold water from the desk and poured each of them a cup—forcing them to drink it—that the 2 men barely managed to pull themselves together.
"Com... Commander..."
Zhao Yan's voice was trembling, carrying a surreal, life-questioning quality.
"Do you remember... when we had just arrived in the Savage Realm on day 3, what were we doing?"
Wan Changzheng stared into the distance, murmuring: "Let me think... I think we were being chased by a pack of Werewolves all over the mountainside..."
"We even lost a shoe running."
"And those Werewolves—what level of threat were they?"
"Roughly on par with a Grade D enhanced human, I'd say... still just small fry."
At those words, both men fell into simultaneous silence.
Comparison is the thief of joy.
This person had been in the Savage Realm for 3 days—with only a day and 2 nights of actual time passed—and had already torn apart a Grade S Boss.
Whereas back in their day, they had been chased around like dogs by Grade D small fry.
"Commander..."
Zhao Yan swallowed hard, his voice laced with a mixture of awe and fear.
"I hate to put it this way, but in the language of young people these days..."
"I seriously suspect this No Words Needed is hacking the game!"
"How in the hell can he be this strong!!"
"It feels like in front of a Grade S Boss, he's the one who's the real Boss!!"
Wan Changzheng was so overwhelmed he was rambling, both hands shaking: "This... um... I... this is a miracle!"
He didn't know what to say, but he knew one thing.
Today, the entire Savage Realm—and indeed all of Blue Star—would not be quiet.
Because the appearance of 【No Words Needed】 had utterly shattered the upper limit of what anyone thought was possible in terms of combat power in this world!
Just as both men were still submerged in the enormous shock.
Shen Lian suddenly spoke again.
"So, gentlemen—he did not drop off the Newcomer Leaderboard."
"The timing simply happened to land on day 3, which is why his name didn't appear on day 2."
"Beyond that..."
"This No Words Needed has just chosen to make his 【Kill Footage Review】 public."
Shen Lian pushed the tablet forward, a faint curve appearing at the corner of her mouth.
"No miracle—but would you like a good scare?"