[Does it really work that well!?]
[Buying at a high price! Buying at a high price!]
[Thank you, Goddess Lin! You gave me a chance to stand again!]
[I'll never forget your tremendous kindness, Lin Xiaoran! From now on, I'm your most loyal fan! If anyone dares to flame her, I'll flame you to death!]
[I'm so jealous!]
National Fortune Analysis Bureau.
Jiang Jiayou looked regretful. "Why didn't I win any?! Ah! What a shame!"
Che Yisi said as well, "Exactly! Such an excellent healing potion-if it were given to the authorities, we might even be able to work out its precise formula!"
Han Wenju rolled her eyes. "How do you know none of our government personnel won any? Besides, after learning what this healing potion can do, how many people would be willing to contribute theirs? Perhaps the National Fortune Game considered that and distributed these potions randomly to people who needed them."
Jiang Jiayou shook his head. "Don't underestimate our people. Something this worth researching-someone is bound to offer theirs up. Even I would hand mine over."
Che Yisi said, "The only question is whether our Sky Blue Star has materials that can produce potions with the same effect."
Jiang Jiayou said, "Exactly. I asked around about that batch of A-rank weapons from last time. The experts at the research institute stayed up for several nights and still couldn't fully reconstruct the weapons' blueprints. These things are already beyond our technological capabilities!"
Both the A-rank gravitational radiation guns and these healing potions were mountains of treasure that were difficult to scale. Their inability to mass-produce them left them torn between love and anguish.
Inside the game instance.
At six in the evening, Lin Xiaoran opened the rankings and checked the points.
First place, Lin Xiaoran, 53,010 points.
Second place, Sophia, 1,600 points.
Third place, Sanders, 500 points.
Fifth place, Amit, 375 points.
Number of remaining challengers: 61.
Apart from the first night, when many people had frozen to death after just entering the game and failing to find ordinary supply crates, by today, the third day, almost no one was being eliminated because of the cold. More were eliminated because they encountered ferocious beasts they couldn't defeat.
Of course, there was another reason: more and more challengers were spontaneously banding together, reducing the elimination rate.
After dinner, Lin Xiaoran continued learning ninjutsu from Madara.
Although the Uchiha Clan specialized in Fire Release and genjutsu, the Sharingan's copying ability meant they also knew ninjutsu from other ninja villages, provided they weren't Kekkei Genkai.
Kakashi was proof enough. With just one Sharingan, he had copied over a thousand ninjutsu and become known across the ninja villages as the "Copy Ninja."
Naturally, Madara knew no fewer ninjutsu than Kakashi. Fire Release was simply what he found most comfortable to use.
Besides learning ninjutsu, Lin Xiaoran also had to study changes in chakra nature, striving to thoroughly master this field.
Elsewhere, at Sophia's location.
By now, her team had grown from its original three members to over a dozen, all allies they had encountered over the past two days or sought out themselves.
And because Sophia's Heroic Spirit was the strongest, she had unquestionably become the team's leader.
Looking at the rankings, Yasaka Shidō said bitterly, "What's wrong with that Yimopu? Was he unlucky enough to get caught by Lin Xiaoran, or did he go looking for trouble with her?! He was clearly pretty strong, yet he never thought to take the initiative and team up! What a useless fool!"
Before Yimopu was eliminated, he had held second place, more than two hundred points ahead of Sophia in third.
Yet such a powerful ally had been eliminated on the third day!
Yasaka Shidō refused to believe Lin Xiaoran had made the first move. After all, according to the information from the previous round, Lin Xiaoran would focus on earning points from ferocious beasts during the first few days. Unless she happened to encounter someone, she wouldn't readily go looking for trouble.
Though it was somewhat damaging to morale to say so, Yasaka Shidō suspected that Lin Xiaoran didn't want to end the game early, which was why she let people like them live until the fifth day and reach the finish.
Kim Jun also spoke quietly. "That guy's death had absolutely no value!"
"Exactly! If we could find out what abilities Lin Xiaoran's Heroic Spirit has this time, we'd be able to prepare countermeasures!"
"At least there's one thing we can be sure of. This Heroic Spirit must be even stronger than Issho!"
"Even stronger than Issho..."
The dozen or so people sitting in a circle immediately fell silent, all recalling the meteor that had fallen from the sky when they watched the livestream!
Their limited imaginations could be forgiven; they simply couldn't imagine what abilities a Heroic Spirit even stronger than one who could summon meteors might have.
Surely Lin Xiaoran's Heroic Spirit couldn't summon two meteors this time?
That would be far too terrifying!
"Oh, speaking of which, before I ran into you today, I caught a glimpse of something blue flying across the sky! I wonder if it was Lin Xiaoran's Heroic Spirit!"
Suddenly, one of the newly joined challengers spoke up.
"What exactly did it look like?!" Everyone immediately grew curious.
"Well, it had a pair of wings... Its whole body was blue, and it was huge! It only appeared in the sea of clouds once, so I couldn't make out any other details."
The challenger spoke after carefully recalling what he had seen.
"It had wings and could fly?"
"Huge? How huge?"
"By the sound of it, it must have been Lin Xiaoran's Heroic Spirit. If anyone else had a flying Heroic Spirit, their points shouldn't be too low. They'd already be famous."
"How huge... Probably..." As he spoke, the challenger glanced at Sophia, who sat silently beside the fire, and didn't continue.
But everyone else instantly understood what he meant: that blue Heroic Spirit had to be taller than Sophia's Stone Giant! Bigger, too!
At that thought, their spirits sank even further, and they couldn't help asking themselves whether their cooperation really served any purpose.
People might always say, "There is strength in numbers," but this was the National Fortune Game, and the summoned Heroic Spirits could even possess superpowers!
Before absolute power, an advantage in numbers ceased to matter. Either way, the other side's Heroic Spirit could settle everything in one move.
Just look at Yimopu in second place. He had encountered Lin Xiaoran alone and been instantly killed, without even a chance to escape.
And he had ranked second in strength!
"Shut up, all of you!"
Listening to the muttering around her, Sophia grew increasingly agitated, abruptly stood up, and roared.
As the end of the game slowly drew closer, the fear and uncertainty in Sophia's heart intensified as well.
Because her life was at stake!
If she couldn't beat Lin Xiaoran, she wouldn't even have a chance to surrender! Let alone survive!
She didn't want to die!
Sophia's eyes reddened, and she turned and ran far away from the others, not wanting them to discover her crying in secret.
The others also fell silent, as soundless as the desert itself.
Knowing their fate like this felt terrible, enough to drive someone mad.
Previously, when they watched the livestreams, they had mocked other countries' challengers for their humiliating behavior-crying, kneeling to beg for mercy, wetting themselves in terror... While mocking them, they had even said they would never act like that themselves!
But after truly entering the National Fortune Game, their hearts had all but turned to dead ashes from the moment it began.
Only then did they understand that when driven into a desperate corner, people really would cry and tremble uncontrollably.
They missed home terribly, wanted desperately to go back, wanted desperately to leave.