"Let me register real quick..." Registration was a breeze—just open the sign-up page and enter a nickname. The rest, like gender, age, and personal details? Fill it out if you want; if not, no big deal. None of it was mandatory.
For the registration ID, let's just go with "Phoenix Sky."
"No password needed? Guess it's really bound to your login." Scrolling to the bottom of the registration page, there was a not-too-big, not-too-small verification box. The prompt told you to swipe your Boundary Mark across it. Once verified, you never needed anything else—just swipe your Boundary Mark to log in anytime.
"How does this even work?" Jill Young squinted at the tablet, inspecting it from every angle. There wasn't any device on it that could read a Boundary Mark. But when her glowing gold profile hovered over the box, a loading bar actually appeared! It was like using a vintage brick phone for fingerprint scanning—completely baffling, no clue how it was possible.
And also—
"What if your Boundary Mark is in an awkward spot? Like Swallow—hers is on her chest, so does she have to swipe her chest every time? Face scan, sure, but chest scan? That's a new one!" Jill Young joked, letting her imagination run wild. "Chest scan's not too bad, but what if someone's Boundary Mark is somewhere even more private? Swiping that? The mental image—wow, that's wild!"
(Somewhere else, Oddball Bro suddenly shivered, feeling a chill down below...)
About ten seconds later, the loading bar finished. Ding! Registration complete. She'd worried someone else might've grabbed her nickname, but nope—problem solved. The page auto-switched to avatar selection. The Global Observation Agency Official Website generated three images, and Jill Young realized they all had something to do with her.
The first was a flashy gold championship belt, with two fists colliding right in the center. The fists wore boxing gloves, kind of like the logo from an old-school gaming console. But overall, it looked modern, powerful, and had a mysterious coolness to it. Just one look, and Jill Young knew it was about her days as the Bloody Queen of the Black Fist Tournament.
"Yeah, this one's not bad."
"I actually have some rough numbers on that." Jonathan chimed in right on cue for Her Majesty: "A few days ago, the Global Observation Agency's official site released some stats. The total number of users is about eighty thousand. Not every Chosen One logs onto the Agency site, and some regions don't even have internet access. But if you estimate based on population distribution, there are roughly a hundred thousand Chosen Ones worldwide."
A hundred thousand Chosen Ones—what does that even mean? Sure, that's less than one in fifty thousand people, and plenty of them are probably as harmless as Lou Yide, but make no mistake: that one-in-fifty-thousand is enough to shake the whole world.
"A hundred thousand, huh..." Jill Young nodded, "Looks like the 'Tianyi 5G' business really could take off. Alright, let's keep checking out what kind of folks are on here."
Jill clicked into a featured post—"Straight-Up Bandit" had compiled the latest Chosen Ones rankings from their own data. With so many people, they'd set up separate floors for different tiers.
Skipping all the weaklings, Jill started at the top three thousand. The page exploded with rows of shiny cards, all lined up in a dazzling parade. About half were just question marks, but the other half were so flashy they could blind you.
Then she checked the top fifteen hundred—the cards here were even cooler, with special effects and way more detail thanks to "Straight-Up Bandit's" obsessive data collecting. Jill was speed-reading, when suddenly her finger paused and her mouth curled: "Hey, isn't that Senior Bro? Top fifteen hundred, not bad at all."
This chapter isn't over yet~.~ Click to the next page for more awesome content!
Zhuo Yihang didn't have direct combat skills, but with just hypnosis and psychic powers, he still made the top fifteen hundred. That says a lot about how strong his mind powers are.
Next, Jill checked the top six hundred—now we’re talking! These cards were seventy percent complete, and the special effects were wild. Scrolling up and down, she spotted more familiar faces.
"That’s Li Yuncong, right? With 'Dominance' written that big on his card, it’d be hard to mistake him for anyone else. And hey, isn’t that Old Man Paladin? He usually seems so steady, but even he’s showing off his rank!"
Going further, she entered the ultra-elite zone, with fewer people at each stage: top two hundred, top eighty, top thirty. Question marks dominated the screen—folks at this level were super cautious and rarely revealed anything.
"Hmm?" In the top eighty, Jill spotted a familiar icon—a gray-white skull, registered as 'Iron Body.' "Isn’t that Zhu Ming, that jerk? Looks like he had some lucky break, or he’d never climb this high." Jill stroked her chin, thinking, "Last time I saw him, he had a mechanical battle body with him. Maybe that’s related."
Thinking of Zhu Ming reminded her of Qi Xi—she hadn’t seen her since Shanghai. But hey, not Jill’s problem! She tossed the thought aside and kept browsing.
"And now—the top eight." Jill’s face grew serious as she clicked into the ranking. The top eight were split in two: the bottom half was seven cards lined up side by side, with no order and no way to tell who was strongest. Almost all were question marks, except one card showing real info.
That card didn’t need any special effects—the number 'eight' was all the explanation you needed.
Its image was a swirl of rainbow-colored clouds, looking mysterious and deep. The name on the card was simple—just one character: 'God.'
'God?' Not Chinese, not English—some language Jill didn’t recognize. But the site’s auto-translate confirmed it really was just that one word.
Seeing that ID, Jill instantly switched to roast mode: "Talk about arrogant! I at least know my limits, but this guy? No clue at all. Oh right, wasn’t he the one who bragged about challenging Black Death Emperor and then ghosted? All talk, no action—he’s really working the hype game."
Then her eyes drifted up to the card far above the other seven.
Standing alone, no competition—undisputed number one.
"Black Death Emperor." Staring at that majestic, intimidating five-clawed black dragon image, Jill’s eyes burned with fighting spirit: "He doesn’t bother with registration or websites. Of course the Agency gave him special treatment and put him at the very top. So far, nobody in the world can match him—but that’s just for now. Someday, I’ll reach that level too. And when I do, we’ll see who’s really number one!"
Alright, let’s see where I rank!
Click, search, three... two... one... Ding! There it is!
"What’s the number?" Jonathan craned his neck, super curious. He knew he couldn’t see the results, but he still stretched out to peek.
"Top eight on the ranking..."
"Mm." Jonathan pulled his neck back, proud and delighted, nodding as if it was all expected. He raised his wine glass in salute: "Just as I thought—congratulations, Your Majesty! From now on, Yongye and Tianyi have a glorious royal banner to rally behind."
"...Thousand..."
"Mm... huh?!!" Jonathan spat out his wine in shock, not even bothering to wipe his mouth. Eyes wide, he stammered, "Is my Chinese that bad? Did you just say... top eight?"
"Top eight—thousand... Checked again, still top eight—thousand..." Jill stared at the auto-generated, super basic, super shabby card, eyes narrowed, face blank, voice flat: "Wait, you said the Agency website only has eighty thousand users, right...?"
The mood froze.
"Uh..." Jonathan gulped, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. "Well..."
Jill held out her hand: "Give me the phone."
Jonathan reflexively moved, then paused, asking cautiously, "You want to...?"
"Top—eight—thousand? Even Zhu Ming, that jerk, made top eighty, and I’m stuck at top—eight—thousand? There are only eighty thousand users, for crying out loud!" The powder keg finally blew. Jill slapped her tablet onto the bed, gritting her teeth and flipping the bird in pure rage: "Are they saying I’m the bottom of the barrel? That’s some seriously salty nonsense! No way—I’m calling someone, and first thing, I’m gonna go beat up Qian Kun!"