146: Chapter 147: The Rankings Open, a Cliff-like Lead

The sender's profile picture was a white cat, and the name was listed as "Ye Yu."

"Lin Ye, are you free this weekend? I'd like to treat you to a meal to thank you in person for saving my life."

Lin Ye stared at the message for two seconds before typing a reply.

"No need for the expense; it was just a small favor. Just focus on recovering."

He clicked send, then tossed his phone aside. With a flash of his figure, he had already entered the game.

As for eating, how could it compare to the satisfaction of Cultivating?

Meanwhile, dozens of kilometers away in a ward at the county hospital.

Ye Yu leaned against the headboard, phone in hand, staring blankly at the reply on the screen.

She hadn't expected Lin Ye to actually decline her invitation.

"A small favor?"

This was called a small favor?

If it weren't for him, she might have truly died in that mountain gully that day.

Ye Yu bit her lip, feeling a bit unpleasant.

She admitted that her initiative to invite Lin Ye to dinner was not just to thank him for saving her life, but also out of a bit of curiosity.

Although her consciousness had been somewhat blurred at the time, she had seen both Lin Ye ripping off the car door and dismantling the control panel with his bare hands.

It was hard to imagine that such power could belong to a human.

So she was very curious about where Lin Ye had gone all these years to have changed so much.

Of course, besides all that, it also stemmed from a heartfelt flutter.

That day when Lin Ye carried her onto the road, she had curled up in his arms, listening to his steady and powerful heartbeat. A very complex feeling had suddenly surged in her heart—she couldn't tell if it was gratitude or something else.

In short, she wanted to see him again.

But this guy was something else; he just flat-out refused.

Ye Yu stared at the phone screen for a long time before finally tossing the phone onto the bed in a huff.

Less than ten seconds later, she picked up the phone again, hesitated for a moment, and sent another message.

"Then once I'm discharged, I'll go to your house to thank you in person."

She placed the phone by her pillow and began to stare blankly at the ceiling.

She originally had many things to say, such as how the wound on her face had already scabbed over, and the doctor said it was recovering well with little chance of scarring, so there was no need for plastic surgery.

But the words reached her lips and were swallowed back down.

...

Another three days passed.

That night, Lin Ye did not enter the game as early as usual.

Only ten minutes remained before the third batch of players would arrive.

Father Lin sat on a bamboo chair, holding a cigarette in his hand. It wasn't lit; he just held it, rubbing the cigarette roll back and forth with his thumb and index finger to ease his inner tension.

Mother Lin sat next to him, her hands folded on her knees, her expression also somewhat unnatural.

Lin Ye glanced at his parents and spoke to break the silence.

"Dad, Mom, don't be nervous. Just do as I said. With your Talent and Life-Bound Weapon, there won't be any problem getting through the early stages safely."

"Mm." His parents nodded with serious faces.

But Lin Ye knew their minds were no longer here.

It made sense; after living for half a lifetime, being able to experience the feeling of Transmigration at this stage of their lives—no one could remain calm.

Time passed minute by minute.

Countdown: five minutes.

Three minutes.

One minute.

When the countdown hit zero, a faint light suddenly shimmered on Father Lin and Mother Lin.

In the next second, the two of them vanished.

Lin Ye stood where he was, looking at the two empty bamboo chairs, remaining silent for a long while.

To say he wasn't worried at all would be a lie.

He had been in the Martial Domain World for three months and knew well the cruelty and danger of that world.

Although he had always acted relaxed in front of his parents, that was entirely to stabilize their mindsets.

In fact, he knew very well in his heart.

There were too many variables in the Martial Domain World, so many that you simply couldn't predict what would happen in the next second.

The only thing he could do was pray silently in his heart, hoping his parents wouldn't end up in some bizarre place like Lin Dong.

"They shouldn't be that unlucky," Lin Ye comforted himself, then with a thought, he entered the game.

Just as he opened his eyes, a crisp System notification sounded in his mind.

"Ding! The Martial Domain Leaderboard has opened. It has been detected that you have entered the rankings. Do you wish to make your information public?"

He had almost forgotten about this.

"No."

He wouldn't be so foolish as to make his information public.

This wasn't a real game; there was no need to chase the empty fame of being the "top-ranking big shot."

In the Martial Domain, a world where the strong prey on the weak, keeping a low profile was the way to go. He believed other players on the leaderboard thought the same.

This place was like a dark forest; whoever exposed themselves first might be targeted.

He opened the Attribute Panel, and sure enough, a leaderboard option appeared in the top left corner, with an icon of a glittering gold trophy.

Clicking on the leaderboard, a semi-transparent interface expanded before his eyes, with lines of text arranged densely upon it.

[Rank 1]: Information Hidden

Affiliated Power: Great Han Dynasty

Comprehensive Score: 12580

[Rank 2]: Information Hidden

Affiliated Power: Roman Dynasty

Comprehensive Score: 2220

[Rank 3]: Information Hidden

Affiliated Power: Egyptian Dynasty

Comprehensive Score: 2180

[Rank 4]: Information Hidden

Affiliated Power: Great Han Dynasty

Comprehensive Score: 2150

[Rank 5]: Information Hidden

Affiliated Power: Persian Dynasty

Comprehensive Score: 1980

...

[Rank 100]: Ramanujan

Identity: Imperial Court Guard

Realm: Ninth Grade

Affiliated Power: Mauryan Dynasty

Comprehensive Score: 888

Without a doubt, he had successfully taken the top spot, and with a massive lead.

Comprehensive Score: 12580.

This number left the second place behind by more than ten thousand points.

Although he didn't know exactly how this score was calculated, it was likely related to factors like attributes, Talent, Cultivation Technique, Life-Bound Weapon, and reputation.

"But, are there really so many Dynasties in this martial domain game?"

In fact, Lin Ye had wondered long ago why he had never encountered other players.

He originally thought it was because too few players had arrived, but now it seemed perhaps the Martial Domain World was just too large.

Just the Great Han Dynasty alone was unimaginably vast. Even if the other Dynasties were smaller, they probably wouldn't be that small.

And with such a vast world area, even if billions of people from across the globe were recruited at once, it would likely be a drop in the bucket.

Of course, as time passed, collisions between players would definitely occur; there was no doubt about that.

"Right, it seems there's a special gift pack for making the rankings. Where is it?"

As he was thinking about this, another System notification came into his mind:

"Ding! It has been detected that you are at the top of the leaderboard. You are specially rewarded with the unique Supreme-grade title—[Unparalleled Under Heaven]."

"What the hell? The special gift is just a title?"

Lin Ye was dumbfounded and subconsciously clicked on the title details.

"Holy crap!"