19: Chapter 19 Yang Xing, Boss, I want to lick your boots!

"It's definitely not me; I can't even catch a fish."

"Not me either; I'm still gnawing on raw seaweed right now."

"So, which legendary master is it? If you're real, come out and let us kowtow to you!"

The comment section was filled with disbelief and various probing messages flooding the screen.

The Symphony Realm was lively for a while longer, but that question remained hanging over everyone's heads, like a fishbone stuck in the brain. Fortunately, in the end, no one apparently came out to answer.

This also made the survivors in the Yanhuang Civilization faction feel a strange sense of relief. The Fate Platform was a good thing; without it, most of them wouldn't be able to survive. It might have ended up like the situation with India, where one look at those points revealed that a lot of people had died.

But the idea of the Fate Platform becoming private made people's moods turn strange; no matter how they thought about it, it felt awkward...

"I knew it, how could the Fate Platform be private?"

"Exactly. I don't know what everyone is thinking. A System that connects over a billion people—if it wasn't built by the authorities, could it really have been made by an individual?"

However, this self-comfort spreading through the Fate Platform didn't last long before it was blown apart by a comment that struck at the core!!!

"Does anyone know what the hell is up with the person in first place on the Personal Merit Ranking???"

Personal Merit Ranking?

Many people only just remembered—they had been too busy looking at the faction sequences and hadn't had time to click on the personal rankings.

A swipe of the finger. The list expanded.

[Personal Merit Ranking]

[First Place: Yang Hang, Merit Value: 552,876,543]

[Second Place: President Shen Qing, Merit Value: 612,847]

[Third Place: Zheng Yuanshan, Merit Value: 487,326]

[Fourth Place: Victoria, Merit Value: 463,257]

[Fifth Place: Jackson, Merit Value: 419,674]

[Sixth Place: Wang Jianguo, Merit Value: 403,561]

[Seventh Place: Solomon, Merit Value: 403,211]

[Eighth Place: Li Xiufen, Merit Value: 398,745]

...

The top three on this list were all from Huaxia, and Huaxia occupied six of the top ten. But everyone was stunned the moment they saw this list.

Their brains stopped thinking.

The entire Fate Platform went quiet. The screen-flooding messages that usually poured down like a waterfall were completely frozen at this moment, as if time had stopped.

It wasn't that no one was talking. It was that everyone was counting the zeros at the same time.

Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten-thousands, hundred-thousands, millions, ten-millions—

Five hundred fifty-two million, eight hundred seventy-six thousand, five hundred forty-three. Nine digits.

Except for the first place, the rest hadn't even broken one million. The gap wasn't just a cliff; it was the distance from the top of Mount Everest to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

The regional echo exploded first.

"123456... I counted it three times like I was chanting a sutra, and I was so scared I almost had a heart attack—is there anyone alive who can help me check how many digits this is?"

"The nine-grid layout is completely maxed out. It's over five hundred million."

"Calling him Brother Yang feels disrespectful; this is President Yang! Emperor Yang!"

"No! That's thinking too small. This is a collector's edition from the human sample bank, the top-tier configuration for a national server ID holder, a walking SSR!"

"The merit bar left second place so far behind they can't even smell the exhaust... is this panel broken?"

"Do you think this is a private server?"

"I didn't dare say he was using a health-lock cheat just because this crappy server was maintained so well... but how am I supposed to justify this using human logic now?"

"Indeed, nine digits, and it's damn near six hundred million—was this merit farmed by running a money printer?"

"Exactly, I know strategy posts can earn merit. Sister President Shen Qing grinding for six hundred thousand in two days is already a beast, but this is only the third day since the server opened, and he has five hundred fifty million..."

"Isn't the answer dancing right in front of our faces?"

A calm comment interjected.

"To be able to earn so much merit in three days, he must have done something, or is continuously doing something, that benefits all of us Yanhuang Civilization people. As for what it is, think about it yourselves."

The regional echo was silent for three seconds. Then someone typed two words.

"...It couldn't be the Fate Platform, could it?"

"Does the Cause and Effect Fate Platform really have an owner?"

"What kind of joke is that? That joke isn't funny at all."

"What else could it be? What else can you think of besides that?"

"Holy crap—could there really be only this one answer?"

"Assuming the Cause and Effect Fate Platform really has an owner, and it's one of us survivors, then the contribution value of this top-ranked Big Boss makes sense. After all, the fourth rule stated 'encourage mutual help among those in the same faction.' Needless to say, the help the Cause and Effect Fate Platform has provided to all of us Yanhuang Civilization is already at an immeasurable level..."

"If that's the case, then the Cause and Effect Fate Platform was probably opened by Big Boss Yang Hang from a sunken sea treasure chest."

"Then the question arises."

"Is this definitely something a human can do? Is Big Boss Yang Hang the biological son of the Magic Sea?"

Meanwhile, the discussion in the Symphony Realm went a level deeper.

"So, before we guessed the Fate Platform was a Yanhuang Civilization exclusive, now we're going a step further—this Fate Platform was actually made by one of the survivors in our batch? It wasn't provided by the System, it's man-made?"

"Pain mask on. While we are all still twisting, lurking, crawling, and struggling in the darkness, someone has already ascended to the heavens. It hurts~ it hurts so much~~"

"Then what level of monster must this person be?"

"Five hundred fifty million merit, which means that in these three days, every one of us, over a billion people, has been working for him."

"Now that you put it that way, I feel a bit… subtle…"

"Subtle what? Without the Fate Platform, you would have starved to death long ago! What's wrong with him collecting some 'internet fees'?"

"Exactly. Having a Fate Platform versus not having one is two different game difficulties. Look at India, with over 1.5 billion people and only a little over 100 million merit; the number of deaths is in the billions."

"To be honest, I feel relieved instead. The Fate Platform being made by one of our own is better than it being made by the System. Who knows when the System might reclaim its things."

"That makes sense. If it's made by one of our own, at least they won't screw us over."

"And think about it, Big Boss Yang Hang having so much merit means he has been maintaining the Fate Platform all along. These past three days, our ability to communicate, post, ask for help, locate, and form teams is all his credit."

"Now that you say that... I'm suddenly a bit touched."

"Big Boss at the top of the leaderboard, please accept this little brother's kowtow!"

"Big Boss, do you need a follower? The kind that can shout '666'!"

There were also voices of doubt, but they were quickly blocked by logic.

"Wait, what if he just got lucky and opened some Heaven-Defying treasure?"

"Then how do you explain the five hundred million-plus merit? Besides benefiting everyone, what other way is there to farm that much?"

"...That also seems to be the case."

"President Shen Qing is second with over six hundred thousand. Zheng Yuanshan is third with over four hundred thousand. The former has stood out since the Fate Platform first appeared and has always dominated the platform's popularity. The latter is clearly an official person; in terms of organizational and team capabilities, who can compare to them? As time goes on, I'm afraid even President Shen Qing won't be able to compete!"

"Big Boss Yang Hang's merit is over nine hundred times theirs; this can only be the revenue from the Fate Platform itself."

"The logic loop is closed."

In the various regional echoes, there was a myriad of reactions.

"Damn, so I've been working for the Big Boss at the top of the leaderboard this whole time! But... I'm happy to do it! Without the Fate Platform, I would have been fish food long ago."

"If five hundred million-plus merit could be exchanged for supplies, could it buy an island?"

"I was smug about my few thousand merit before, but now that I've seen the top spot... forget it, I won't compare, it hurts my self-esteem."

"The Fate Platform was made by one of our own? Can we make requests in the future? Like adding an emoji feature? Or a live streaming feature?"

"What if one day Big Boss Yang Hang doesn't want to play anymore and shuts down the Fate Platform?"

"He went to all that trouble to create it, what good would shutting it down do for him? He's lying back and collecting merit thanks to the Fate Platform! Do you understand the concept of linked interests?"

"So we had better pray that Big Boss Yang Hang stays alive and well. If something happens to him, the Fate Platform might be gone."

"...Bless Big Boss Yang Hang with a long life!"

"Big Boss Yang Hang, my name is Zhang Wei, male, interested in women, my specialty is shouting '666', please take me in!"