18: Chapter 18 The Mystery of the Fate Platform
He spat violently into the sea, his face full of disdain. "A bunch of losers relying on numbers! 1.5 billion people and they only managed over 100 million in merit points? That's not even 0.1 per person. We have 300 million people and over 90 million points, averaging 0.3 per person! If we're really comparing per capita, we leave them in the dust!"
He glanced at the Yanhuang Civilization number again.
5.1 billion.
That number seared into his retinas like a branding iron.
The hand waving his hat paused.
His smile faded slightly, but he still stubbornly insisted: "When the death tide comes, having more people just means they die faster and the risks are higher. The elite model of our Stars and Stripes is the true way…"
But he couldn't finish his sentence.
Because the gap was so large that any excuse seemed ridiculous.
Yanhuang Civilization versus India.
5.1 billion to over 100 million—that was 51:1.
And Stars and Stripes versus Yanhuang Civilization was 96 million to 5.1 billion, a gap of over 51 times.
It wasn't 51:1; it was 1:51.
This thought pierced his inflated heart of confidence like a thorn.
Fog City.
Victoria plunged her longsword into the deck. The blade sank three inches into the wood, standing firmly. She stared at the sixth-place ranking, motionless.
Silence.
A long silence.
The sea breeze lifted her blonde hair, brushing against her pale face.
Sixth place.
Neither good nor bad.
But for someone who firmly believed that "Fog City will ultimately triumph," this ranking was like a basin of ice water poured over her burning ambition.
She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She inhaled deeply again, and exhaled.
Then, she gripped the hilt, drew the sword, sheathed it, and turned around.
"Stay calm, continue forward."
Her voice was as steady as if nothing had happened.
But if anyone could see her eyes, they would find that something in those grey-blue eyes was freezing, inch by inch.
Teuton.
Fritz tightened the wrench in his hand with excessive force, causing the bolt to emit a harsh creaking sound. He let go, and the wrench dropped onto the deck, but he didn't bother to pick it up.
His gaze swept over the number behind seventh place, then scanned toward first place.
Over 16 million against 5.1 billion.
He remained silent, like a machine calculating at high speed. Population comparison, resource comparison, efficiency comparison, development potential comparison... Countless data points surged, collided, and recombined in his mind.
Finally, he only said eight words:
"We need more time."
There was no anger, no unwillingness, only cold calculations and even colder determination.
Polar Bear.
Igor's laughter stopped abruptly.
It didn't fade away; it cut off suddenly, like a string severed by a knife. He squatted on the deck, still holding the dagger used for butchering walruses, the grease on the blade dripping onto the deck boards one drop at a time.
Fifth place.
Neither good nor bad.
But he couldn't shout his "Ura" anymore.
He opened his mouth, a vague grunt rolling out of his throat, then he swallowed hard and forced out a sentence: "...Continue fighting. Ura, there is still plenty of time…"
This "Ura" was not as loud.
After shouting it, even he felt the sound was emptily ridiculous.
Solomon pushed up his glasses.
The number for thirteenth place hung quietly on the panel, neither off to one side nor the other, stuck exactly at "thirteen"—a position full of symbolic meaning for his people.
He did not evaluate the ranking, did not frown, did not sigh.
He simply locked his gaze onto first place.
5.1 billion.
Nearly fifty-one times that of second place.
He stared at that number for a long, long time. Behind his round-rimmed glasses, his pupils contracted slightly, like the focus of a microscope adjusting.
"Exaggerated, incredible, inconceivable, interesting…"
He took a notebook from his breast pocket, opened to a brand-new page, dipped a quill into homemade ink, and wrote a line of text stroke by stroke:
"Yanhuang Civilization's terrifying, super-abnormal advantage, cause pending investigation."
After writing, he paused, then added a line of small text below:
"The gap with other camps has exceeded the scope explainable by population base. A systemic variable exists. Requires further observation."
---
At this moment, on the Cause and Effect Fate Platform, the Symphony Realm of the Yanhuang Camp had completely exploded.
"Good heavens, 5.1 billion merit points? I wouldn't even dare to dream of this number!"
"It's too terrifying, honestly, it really scared me."
"India only has over 100 million? They don't even measure up to our rounding error—just ask, who else is there?!"
"Brothers, we're set, we're set, this wave is straight-up legendary!"
The carnival lasted for about three minutes.
Then, rational voices began to emerge.
"Don't! Absolutely don't get carried away! This is only the third day, there are still over three hundred days left."
"Eliminated players have their values wiped to zero, the cost of one person dying is too high. Once the death tide comes later, the advantage might turn into a disadvantage."
"Everyone, let's analyze calmly—isn't our lead a bit too large?"
This sentence was like a pebble thrown into a boiling wok of oil.
"That's right, I calculated it. Yanhuang Civilization's actual active population is about 1.2 to 1.3 billion, with about 100 million eliminated or incapacitated, and the rest are frozen sleepers. But 5.1 billion in merit points—this ratio isn't right."
"You have to know that India's population is even larger than ours, but what's the result? Merit points are only over 100 million."
"Conversely, look at the Stars and Stripes: population of over 300 million, merit points over 90 million. That ratio is about the same as other countries on the ranking besides us, Yanhuang Civilization."
"But only us—we're so far ahead it's ridiculous."
"Could it be that sharing strategies improved efficiency? After all, we communicate too frequently on the Fate Platform, so naturally, more people survive."
"Hmph, do you think the other side doesn't have a Fate Platform? Can't they communicate? We're all human; it's impossible for our Yanhuang Civilization communication efficiency to be over fifty times higher than theirs."
The Fate Platform fell into silence.
Then someone typed a line of text, directly pulling the discussion into another dimension.
"Have you guys noticed that foreigners have never appeared on the Fate Platform?"
The scrolling speed of the Symphony Realm suddenly slowed down.
"The World Echo is entirely in Chinese."
"The regional echo is also divided according to our sea areas."
"Never seen any English posts, Japanese posts, or posts in any other language."
"Never."
"Not a single one."
There was silence for a full ten seconds.
"...Could it be that only we, the Yanhuang Civilization people, have the Fate Platform?"
Once this sentence appeared, the Symphony Realm was instantly detonated to a new magnitude.
"That's impossible, right? Didn't the whole world undergo Transmigration?"
"The rules didn't say only Yanhuang Civilization could access it, but we really haven't seen any foreigners!"
"Could it be separate servers? Our Yanhuang Civilization server, their international server?"
"Did you forget the comment above? If they also had a similar platform, the merit points couldn't be that different! Having a Fate Platform versus not having one—those are two different game difficulties!"
"So... is it possible that the Fate Platform is a Yanhuang Civilization exclusive?"
"!!!"
"Then what do they do? No communication platform, no strategy sharing, no positioning for team-ups—they're all relying on fighting alone?"
"No wonder the Stars and Stripes's points are about the same as their population; isn't this just the primitive mode?"
"And we are in the information age mode…"
The discussion went deeper and deeper, and also became quieter and quieter.
Finally, someone asked the question that everyone wanted to ask.
"If the Fate Platform isn't from the official Magic Sea Survival, could it be that it was created by one of us fellow survivors?"
"Are you kidding? What kind of protagonist would that person be???"