Chapter 6: The Ninety Million-Plus Who "Died"
[Supernatural Leaderboard]
Wang (Peak of All Beings!) (Level Rating: 2.0) (Plot Rating in this Supernatural World: E-)
Dao Fa Zi Ran (Second to One!) (Level Rating: 1.8) (Plot Rating in this Supernatural World: None)
Shakespeare (Third Pce Schor!) (Level Rating: 1.7) (Plot Rating in this Supernatural World: None)
Rey
I Want To Go Home
Motley
FUC*
西八 (Xiba / Shiba)
Sorcerer God (咒术师の神) (…)
This Supernatural Leaderboard had a total of one thousand pces.
In the short time Li Guanqi spent looking at the leaderboard, the plot ratings of the other two people in the top three, besides him, also reached E-.
Li Guanqi deduced that the condition for achieving the so-called "E-" was actually successfully being accepted as an apprentice by the old bck-robed dwarf.
Because he had simuted it, the process went smoothly for him, just a little bit faster than everyone else.
But the standard for the Supernatural Leaderboard wasn't the plot rating.
It was the Level Rating!
Li Guanqi looked at the second pce "Dao Fa Zi Ran" and the third pce "Shakespeare," completely bewildered.
The former was 1.8, the tter 1.7.
The average human level was only 0.8.
At the very beginning, before he obtained the simutor rewards, even with his two-meter height, years of hard training, and potential to be selected for the national basketball team, he was only 1.2.
Were these 1.8 and 1.7 scores from top athletes in boxing, NBA, rugby, sumo wrestling, or something simir?
—Damn, who is this Wang? A rating of 2.0, more than double the average human rating. Is he a max-level human? Did Tyson also come over?
"Huh?"
Li Guanqi was taken aback.
Because he discovered that lines of text were actually scrolling across the leaderboard at this moment, just like the bullet comments on video software.
—That number one Wang must be one of ours.
—Awesome, awesome.
—Kao bei! (Damn!) What the heck is going on!
—what? (Transtion: 什么?)
—お母さんに会いたい。(Transtion: I want to see my mom.)
—?????????？ (Transtion: Where the heck is this pce?)
—I want to go home.
[The following bullet comments have all been transted.]
—Speaking of you guys caring about this leaderboard, doesn't anyone care about what exactly happened? Did we all transmigrate collectively?!
—*************
—****
—*
—***
—Your mom!
—Fuck! Swear words can be sent, but any keywords reted to the world plot cannot be sent, whether it's sentences, words, single characters, or pinyin!
—Can't discuss the plot? Then what's the use of setting up this bullet comment feature?!
After seeing this bullet comment, Li Guanqi exited the Supernatural Leaderboard and returned his focus to the outside world.
Just as that esper from who-knows-where in the world had said, if you can't discuss the plot, what's the point of the bullet comment mechanism?
At least Li Guanqi couldn't think of one for the time being.
He sat on the cold straw bed, his eyes slightly sore from the faint yellow firelight around him. He couldn't help but close his eyes and rub them.
However, the moment he closed his eyes, he discovered a horrifying fact.
In the upper right corner of his closed-eye perspective:
[Current Supernatural World, Number of Surviving Espers: 7,022,459 (approximately seven million).]
Seven million?!
Li Guanqi's expression changed slightly.
From beginning to end, from transmigrating to this supernatural world until now, probably less than twenty minutes had passed.
In this short period, the number of survivors had plummeted from one hundred million to just seven million!
However, according to Li Guanqi's specution, death in the supernatural world wasn't real death, but rather something like a "game over," exiting the world and returning to reality.
Because when the simutor first appeared, it said: "In a cycle of life and death, enter one bizarre instance after another."
So it shouldn't be real death.
But those ninety million-plus people who got a "game over" had also lost the qualification to continue obtaining supernatural powers in the supernatural world.
Speaking of which, Li Guanqi wasn't surprised by this result.
First, there was the old bck-robed dwarf's almost non-existent patience.
Anyone suddenly transmigrating to a strange world would be confused, right?
But failing to reply for a few dozen seconds meant being killed by the impatient old bck-robed dwarf.
That would kill off a portion of people.
Maybe there were also some idiots who, upon seeing the old dwarf, would shout things like "Who are you?! Let me go, let me go! I'm calling the police!"
That would also kill off another portion of people.
And then, there was that incredibly screwed-up part.
It seemed like a choice between two bowls of curse insects.
But no matter which bowl they gritted their teeth and forced themselves to eat, the ending was the same: death.
Li Guanqi dared to bet his reputation that among the ninety million-plus espers who had already gotten "game over," absolutely ninety percent were screwed over at this stage.
Who could have thought that the old bck-robed man was so twisted?
To actually insist on picking someone stubborn enough to die rather than eat curse insects… or perhaps a coward?
After all, Li Guanqi couldn't figure out, besides someone like him who knew in advance through the simution, what kind of person would choose to be pierced through the forehead and killed by the bck beetle's steel-needle proboscis when faced with death versus eating insects?
No matter how disgusting eating insects was, could it be more terrifying than death?
Was this selection process filtering for stubbornness or cowardice?
It simply didn't make sense!
If the supernatural world was really a global game, then Li Guanqi strongly condemned the game designers for such an idiotic setup – anonymously, of course.
Speaking of which.
Nearly one percent of the global popution disappearing all at once would have quite serious consequences. Moreover, the sudden teleportation might mean that employees in important positions suddenly vanished.
Li Guanqi felt that reality must be in utter chaos right now.
But this was clearly not something he could worry about.
All he could do now was follow the perfect ending walkthrough he had simuted, step by step, to clear this supernatural world [Beginner's Trial · Sorcerer's Apprentice].
Li Guanqi y on the straw bed. Soon, drowsiness overcame him, and he slowly fell asleep.
Beside the bed, a lit red candle stub emitted a faint light, burning out completely by midnight.
The next day.
Light leaked into the dipidated house. Although there were no windows, sunlight shone in through the gaps in the damaged roof pnks. One beam happened to fall right on Li Guanqi's face.
"Is it morning?"
Li Guanqi rubbed his sleepy eyes and sat up from the bed.
According to the simution, by the second day, the old bck-robed dwarf should be returning soon... Speaking of which, Li Guanqi still didn't know the old dwarf's name.
As expected.
After about ten minutes.
"Creak—"
The door was pushed open, and the old bck-robed dwarf, estimated to be less than 1.2m tall, walked in. Step by step, he actually rose into the air, walking onto the table in the center of the room.
Flight?
Li Guanqi had sharp eyes and quickly realized that wasn't it.
Beneath the old dwarf's feet were countless small, winged bck insects. It was these insects that were lifting the old dwarf into the air... Such strength must belong to curse insects.
Li Guanqi felt somewhat surprised.
Setting aside this old dwarf's identity as a sorcerer, just with so many strange curse insects, how could "he" in the simutor, before being fed curse insects, manage to kill the dwarf unexpectedly with just [Swift Steps (Green)]?
That simuted version of him was a bit too fierce.
Or perhaps, the greatest weakness of sorcerers was being approached at close range?
Mage-type? (法爷 - Fǎyé, sng for mage/caster css in games)
"Come."
The bck-robed dwarf looked at Li Guanqi and took out a palm-sized, dark red stone from his sleeve.
"This is a blood-testing stone. It can determine the specific details of your sorcerer aptitude."
