Chapter 210 Forum Experience Rankings

Chapter 210: The Forum's Seniority Leaderboard

"My name is Yue Zhengqing. I've survived six nightmare games and have been a player for over half a year." Just six months seemed like an extraordinary tenure in Yue Zhengqing's estimation. "On the player forum's seniority leaderboard, I'm ranked 561st. You should know that the forum's registered users have already surpassed six thousand, so with my experience, it's not an exaggeration to call myself a 'veteran.'"

*Pfft.*

Qin Yuxuan, standing behind and listening, almost snorted with laughter, but his excellent acting skills kept him from betraying such an inappropriate emotion.

This was the first time Qin Yuxuan had heard of a "veteran" with only six months of experience. While it was true that many human players couldn't last half a year in the nightmare world, for those who mutated sufficiently powerful abilities, "survival" became much simpler. So, even Qin Yuxuan knew of players who had survived for two or even three years in the nightmare world.

Those players, even in Qin Yuxuan's eyes, were utterly non-human—monsters he would have to give a wide berth to!

Only those players had the right to call themselves "veterans."

What kind of fool was this guy, bringing his girlfriend to a nightmare game just to show off?

"Player forum? Is that a website in the real world where players can communicate?" The young office worker sitting on the same sofa sounded pleasantly surprised. "There's actually something like that?"

"See? Not everyone has to register for the player forum," the woman in the black nightgown said, though her tone was rather cold despite addressing Yue Zhengqing.

"That forum was established by the relevant authorities. Despite all their efforts to promote it, anyone who still knows nothing about it probably doesn't have much experience. In the end, they'll just be another number, serving as a denominator to highlight my status as a veteran." Yue Zhengqing didn't seem bothered by the black nightgown's attitude; instead, he patiently explained, "There's no need to doubt the authority of the rankings. Although players initially fill in their own start dates, anyone who hasn't logged into the forum for a week is temporarily removed from the list. They only return after logging in again. The relevant authorities seem to be using this method to track the number of surviving players."

"I don't doubt the forum," the woman in the black nightgown said, glancing at the man embracing his girlfriend. "I just doubt myself."

"Yourself?"

The woman in the black nightgown smiled mockingly. "My ranking on that recently popular list is 405. According to what you just said, should I call myself a veteran among veterans? But I've never felt that I'm that impressive."

Hearing the black nightgown's ranking, Qin Yuxuan gave her a more serious look.

The nightmare world was vast—so vast that even players within the top five hundred rarely encountered each other in the same game. Qin Yuxuan hadn't expected this small reception room to first produce a rank 561, followed immediately by a 405.

It was worth noting that Qin Yuxuan's own ranking on that forum was 478th, only slightly higher than the man named Yue Zhengqing. However, Qin Yuxuan didn't care much about it. After all, that ranking only proved how long one had survived in the nightmare world; it revealed nothing about a player's actual strength.

"Just because your ranking is a little higher than mine, you think you can speak with such a condescending tone? That ranking doesn't prove who's stronger. Maybe after this game ends, my ranking will be higher than yours." Yue Zhengqing, who had just been strongly endorsing the ranking's authority, suddenly changed his tune, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "My ability isn't just simple physical enhancement—it's something very hot and scorching."

As Yue Zhengqing had said earlier, even without fully disclosing one's ability, a simple description of its mutation direction could deepen mutual understanding.

"Very hot and scorching? Are you trying to say fire?" The woman in the black nightgown rarely showed concern, but she frowned slightly.

Upon hearing the word "fire," the girl with braided hair, who had been sitting quietly on another long sofa, also looked towards Yue Zhengqing and adjusted her somewhat outdated black-framed glasses.

"We're all strangers meeting for the first time. Now isn't the time to reveal everything." Yue Zhengqing seemed to notice the sudden gazes from everyone around him, and the smug expression returned to his face. He even jiggled his crossed leg.

Hot and scorching?

Qin Yuxuan's gaze towards Yue Zhengqing also grew more serious. Although everyone was a player, and initially, everyone's innate talents sounded equally useless, the abilities that mutated later clearly had varying degrees of strength. Recently, even the relevant authorities seemed to have begun research into classifying and grading player abilities. The player forum had already started recruiting volunteers for the study.

According to the announcement posted on the forum, volunteers needed to label their ability's name in the backend and provide a detailed account of its usage and typical achievements in nightmare games. This backend data would not be accessible to any third party outside of the players themselves and the relevant authorities, but experts from the authorities would rate the players' abilities through research and information comparison.

Although this study had just begun, once the so-called ratings were fully disclosed, the already problematic hierarchy among players would likely become even more severe. However, that was precisely what Qin Yuxuan needed, because as one of the first volunteers, he was confident he would receive a higher rating than ordinary players.

In the still-undetermined ability grading system, physical enhancement was undoubtedly the lowest tier of player abilities. Even if some formidable individual could strengthen their body to be impervious to blades and withstand artillery fire, it would take a very long time for them to grow to that level. Unfortunately, among players, those with physical enhancement abilities, who were completely at a disadvantage against eerie entities, were the ones who had the least time.

Simply put, they didn't last long.

At the highest tier of ability classification were undoubtedly those non-humans with elemental control abilities. Among them, the most prominent recently was certainly Feng Ling, the leader of the Nameless Society—a woman who stood in raging flames like a phoenix. However, abilities mutated by players were never unique. Although that "phoenix" was the most famous, it was indeed possible that other players also possessed the ability to control fire.

That Yue Zhengqing said his ability was very hot and scorching? Was he hinting that his ability was also fire-based?

"My name is Xiao Xiaodie. I'm Zhengqing's girlfriend. You can call me Xiaodie," the girl nestled in Yue Zhengqing's arms said sweetly. "My ranking on the seniority list is 2060. Compared to everyone else, I might not have as much experience playing games, but I... am a healer."

"She's my dedicated healer. Although her ranking isn't high, her ability is surprisingly effective," Yue Zhengqing said with some self-satisfaction. "But since we've all become teammates in this game, Xiaodie will do her best to help everyone."

Ah—a classic healer girl.

What a waste that she was with someone like Yue Zhengqing.

Qin Yuxuan coldly watched Xiao Xiaodie's back, already imagining how heart-wrenching her cries would be after he dealt with Yue Zhengqing.

"How about you, big sister?" Xiao Xiaodie looked familiarly at the woman in the black nightgown. "What's your ability?"

"My ability?" The woman in the black nightgown looked at Xiao Xiaodie's sweetly smiling face and said seriously, "My ability is to kill people after learning their names."

"..." Both Xiao Xiaodie and Yue Zhengqing's expressions froze and crumbled.

"Just kidding," the woman in the black nightgown sneered.

"..."