Lin Ye, the Man With a Shot at the Top

The Great Xia Dragon Soaring Settlement.

(To avoid getting locked in a dark room, Huaxia has been changed to Great Xia...)

Inside the First Instance Technology Research Institute.

The livestream of Raging Waves had vanished from the big screen, leaving only a blank display and crackling white noise.

But the conference room was so quiet that a dropped pin could be heard.

Every researcher had remained in the same position for several minutes.

It was as if the instance they had just watched had locked them down with hard crowd control, leaving them afraid to move a muscle.

Zhao Jianyu in particular had her mouth wide open, looking as if her soul had left her body.

After a long while, Ding Chang finally tapped the table and slowly spoke.

"Ahem..."

"Everyone... everyone, stop staring into space and tell us what you thought."

"We watched Lin Ye's instance to learn from it and improve."

At Ding Chang's words, everyone slowly came back to their senses.

"Terrifying! It was truly terrifying!"

"Nearly twenty thousand people were wiped out in one go! I never imagined a non-combat instance could be deadlier than a war instance."

The researchers' first reaction was to marvel at how terrifying Raging Waves was.

It was a kind of great terror that went beyond their understanding.

Some terror came from a gap in strength, while some came from the unknown.

The terror born of the unknown was far deeper than the terror caused by a gap in strength.

Clearly, the terror brought by Raging Waves this time belonged to the latter.

"Lin Ye has practically founded a school of his own, opening a great door for instance creation across the whole of Azure Star!"

"It's just... even if we wanted to imitate something like this, I don't think we could. With military technology, we could at least find some direction, but with this, we don't even have that."

"It's incredible. At first, I didn't understand why the completion rate for the last instance was so low. Now I see that the content of this instance is so vast it's suffocating!"

"But as for this Non-Combat Mode, I think experiencing it once is enough. I'd still rather see what other powerful weapons are in Raging Waves!"

Everyone began expressing their amazement endlessly.

But for all their talk, they were really only touching the surface.

What this instance conveyed was simply too profound; many of them couldn't understand what truly lay within it at all.

Ding Chang glanced at Zhao Jianyu and spoke.

"Jianyu, out of all of us, you have the best understanding of instances. I wonder what you saw in this run of Raging Waves?"

After a brief mental shutdown, Zhao Jianyu had begun writing furiously in her notebook.

Then he turned the notebook around. Four large characters were written on it:

Lin Ye = Firmament!

The other researchers were completely baffled, with no idea what Zhao Jianyu meant.

Zhao Jianyu swept back her hair and spoke directly.

"I don't think what Lin Ye created is an instance at all, but a thoroughly complete world! The world of his dreams."

"In this world, there are many elements: the military, technology, politics, economics, culture, and so on."

"Teacher Ding was right before. We can't look at the world in Lin Ye's instance through Azure Star's eyes, because their underlying logic is different! In that world, there is no Firmament at all!"

"In Earth Online, the military and the other elements exist alongside one another. The military supports the other elements, and the other elements in turn feed back into the military. The military technology born under those rules is probably far beyond anything we can imagine."

Zhao Jianyu cleared her throat and continued.

"In the first instance, Lin Ye showed us Eagle Sauce Country's military strength. In the second, he showed this world the various foundations Eagle Sauce Country possessed. Together, the two make up Raging Waves."

"That's why I wrote down Lin Ye and Firmament, because I think Lin Ye is like the Firmament of that world! He's using the Firmament's way of thinking to create an instance.

"If you imagine our Azure Star as an instance too, you should understand what Lin Ye is doing."

"Without that kind of big-picture vision, it would be impossible to create an instance like this. And that is exactly what our research work lacks..."

Zhao Jianyu's words made everyone draw a sharp breath.

She had actually compared Lin Ye directly to the Firmament.

Her colleagues had never heard such high praise from Zhao Jianyu before.

Zhao Jianyu was famously aloof and proud. For her to praise someone so unreservedly could only mean that person had completely conquered her.

"Sister Zhao..." A younger researcher scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed. "Um... could you put it more plainly? It's too profound for me to understand."

"Ahem. There are two things we need to do next," Zhao Jianyu said, somewhat impatiently.

"First, don't try to understand the deeper things in Lin Ye's instance. We can't use his whole system of economics and politics anyway!"

"Second, if any of you are unfortunate enough to be selected for the instance in the future, the best choice is to surrender immediately. Don't entertain too many unrealistic ideas."

After another round of discussion, the researchers finally left the conference room, still wanting more.

Honestly, the insights and improvement everyone gained from watching the instance this time far exceeded what they would have gained from a year of diligent work.

Soon, the conference room was empty except for Zhao Jianyu and Ding Chang.

Then a faint sound of sobbing rang out.

"Teacher!"

Zhao Jianyu hurried over and found that the corners of Ding Chang's eyes were already damp.

At some point in the last few moments, her teacher had actually cried.

"Teacher, has your health gotten worse again?"

"I'll take you to the hospital!"

Very few people at the institute knew that their director, Ding Chang, actually had little time left.

Just half a year ago, Ding Chang had been diagnosed with late-stage cancer.

On Azure Star, humans likewise went through birth, aging, sickness, and death. Whether you were LV4 or Level 0, you could still experience it.

The Firmament could wipe a person out, but it couldn't save one.

Or rather, the Firmament simply wasn't willing to save anyone, nor did it want to interfere with such natural laws.

In a world like this, being able to go through birth, aging, sickness, and death might itself be a kind of good fortune...

"Xiaoyu, there's no need to have my illness looked at anymore. Even the Firmament can't save me."

"I'm just a little emotional. Seeing Lin Ye, I feel there's hope for us Great Xia people to reach the top of the Hero Ranking."

"Xiaoyu, you know my greatest wish is to see a Great Xia person reach the top in my lifetime."

Ding Chang coughed violently, a smile on his face.

Zhao Jianyu naturally knew about her teacher's wish.

On Azure Star, although there was no concept of countries and all the settlements together formed the Azure Federation, there was still competition among the settlements.

That competition was reflected in the levels of each settlement's people.

The more high-level challengers a settlement had, the more material resources the Firmament allocated to it, and the better the living conditions there.

That was precisely why the various settlements placed such importance on the military technology in instances.

For a high-level person like Ding Chang, it had nothing to do with survival; it was more a matter of glory.

Once upon a time, the Great Xia Settlement had been full of talent. Its people had occupied a third of the top twenty spots on the Firmament's Hero Ranking alone.

Back then, the Great Xia people had been the undisputed kings among the myriad peoples!

But later, excessive complacency had caused the Great Xia people to fall behind during an explosion of technological advancement, and they had been playing catch-up ever since.

Now, the Great Xia people had no one in the top five of the Hero Ranking at all. Long Yuan, the strongest Great Xia people designer, was only in seventh place.

Beyond him, there wasn't another Great Xia person all the way down to fiftieth place.

Although, in a world where myriad peoples stood side by side, having one person in the top ten was already quite good.

Some smaller settlements didn't even have a single person in the top hundred.

But for someone like Ding Chang, who had lived through Great Xia's heyday, seeing things as they were was indeed frustrating.

"Teacher, I know you've placed your hopes on Lin Ye now.

"I could tell from the very beginning, when you wanted him to join the institute even though he was only LV1."

Zhao Jianyu gently patted Ding Chang's shoulder, slowly comforting her teacher.

"But Lin Ye is still a newcomer, after all. Never mind the person at the top of the Hero Ranking—even those in the top ten have all built up their strength over a long time. You need to give him some time."

"But judging by how stunningly he's performed, I believe it's definitely possible for him to reach the top of the Hero Ranking!"

Ding Chang smiled and let out a long sigh. He seemed to have come to terms with it.

"When you get old, you forget things easily."

"I was so caught up in my feelings that I completely forgot the important business."

"Xiaoyu, contact Lin Ye and tell him he must be especially careful from now on! Tell him to check the instance carefully for any loopholes."

"He absolutely mustn't let his guard down at a time like this."

As he spoke, Ding Chang's expression suddenly grew serious.

"If I'm right, a lot of important figures may take the initiative to challenge his instance next."

Zhao Jianyu frowned, somewhat puzzled.

"Teacher, aren't you being a little too cautious...?"

"Given how things stand with Raging Waves now, surely no one would take the initiative to challenge the instance? Wouldn't they just be asking for trouble?"

But Ding Chang shook his head, seeming to recall some unpleasant events from the past.

"Xiaoyu, you're thinking too simply about some things. Most ordinary people would certainly avoid it like the plague."

"But for some challengers with enough combat strength, Lin Ye is the perfect trial! They have more points than they can spend anyway."

"It can't be helped... The first time, Lin Ye's instance, the first Purgatory-level instance on Azure Star, already attracted a lot of people, but most of them were waiting and watching..."

"This time, Raging Waves wiped out nearly twenty thousand people in one go! Its various metrics all broke historical records. The whole world will be focused on him next!"

The more Ding Chang spoke, the deeper the worry on his face grew.

"Not to mention that the people of the Dahe Settlement are very unlikely to let him off. Lin Ye wiped out twenty thousand people from the Dahe Settlement in one go... That's a humiliating disgrace for their settlement."

"Besides... other challengers with high combat strength will very likely be itching to try it too, especially some LV4 powerhouses."

Zhao Jianyu nodded.

She was slowly beginning to understand what Ding Chang was worried about.

On Azure Star, big shots who reached LV4 had a special privilege: they could never be forcibly pulled into an instance.

It was equivalent to having the golden thirty days of beginner protection forever.

Of course, these big shots rarely took the initiative to attack other people's instances either, because their own instances alone provided them with an endless stream of points.

For them to enter an instance of their own accord, it had to be particularly interesting and widely known.

Out of curiosity, these big shots would then go and experience it.

And Lin Ye's instance now fit that description perfectly.

"There's one more thing... Xiaoyu."

"From now on, don't mention wanting Lin Ye to join the institute anymore. The fact that he's willing to stay in the Soaring Dragon Settlement is already a blessing for our Great Xia."

"The institute as it is now can't keep up with him, and there's even a very good chance it would hold him back."

Ding Chang coughed drily twice more, then spoke slowly.

Zhao Jianyu looked as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she nodded.