Seeing that he really held onto the number one spot, Lu Ce's expression grew a bit more serious.

Thank god... Looks like every time he played the game and tried to power up by courting death, it actually paid off.

Honestly, the glory of being ranked doesn’t matter, but if he did all that and still wasn’t the strongest, Lu Ce might’ve had a hard time accepting it.

He looked closely at his own description.

【No.1 Sin (Codename)】

【Ability Description: Too many abilities, no representative skill. Possesses a unique understanding of the Game, often analyzes how to maximize difficulty, and actively places himself in dangerous situations.】

【Suspected to have severe psychological disorders.】

【Suspected to have self-destructive tendencies.】

【Comprehensively ranked based on combat power, in-game performance, and psychological resilience. Truly deserving of first place!】

In the “Background” section, any Player who wanted to remain anonymous could just be listed as unknown.

The only difference was that his ability description was... a bit longer than the others.

The key thing was, it said a lot, but basically said nothing! There was a weird kind of elegance to this pointless explanation.

Still, that was a good thing. Lu Ce had Sealed Artifacts, Skills, Stat Allocations, and Equipment on hand. If all his secrets got exposed, he’d feel majorly ripped off.

The Game’s privacy protection was actually doing a pretty decent job—everyone’s ability descriptions were kept vague.

It’s just that... his photo wasn’t exactly low-profile.

It was an action shot from his battle in the Demon Asylum.

He had seven or eight Iron Spikes jammed into his body, and a bunch of crazed, starved-looking mental patients were clinging to his neck and thighs, biting and tearing at him.

But Lu Ce stood motionless, like his feet had taken root. His red mask showed a bizarre, twisted grin, and his right hand held the Hell Roar, calmly firing away.

The image looked like a freeze-frame from a Hollywood action movie—Lu Ce himself barely recognized it at first.

“woc, what the h*ll, why’s this so cool?”

Lu Ce had to laugh. At the time, with the mask on and his mind focused on fighting, he had no idea what kind of image he was presenting.

Now that he was relaxed and looking at himself objectively, damn... he did look kind of cool.

As soon as the leaderboard dropped, it was a landslide: every major media platform had him as the undisputed number one.

And the biggest topic of discussion—was the nationality of each top Player!

In the modern world, competition between nations ultimately boils down to talent.

And when it came to this new wave—where a single person might shift the world order—talent meant everything.

So even if a top Player had nothing to do with you personally, national pride still made most people feel honored by association.

And with Lu Ce as the undisputed number one but still unidentified, he naturally became the top trending figure worldwide.

“Holy sh*t, is the world’s number one really this good-looking? That’s beyond human at this point.”

“Downloaded the picture and made it my wallpaper. This must be one of the perks of being number one—looking this cool.”

“How was this ranking even determined? What makes him number one? I don’t see how he’s stronger than the others.”

“Looks like a Korean site already confirmed it—they’re saying this ‘Sin’ is Korean.....”

Starting today, all kinds of discussion wouldn’t stop.

Lu Ce basically became the most well-known person overnight.

“Stop!”

At that moment, in the government office of K Province in southern Huaguo, the projected screen on a computer froze.

Jiu Tian stood beside it, directing the staff to play a video.

“This frame—zoom in, slow it down, extract it!”

As a Special Affairs Agent, Jiu Tian still had some authority and gave commands nearby.

And the footage on screen showed a moment from Lu Ce’s third Game, when he pulled out Zhao Jiacheng’s name card.

Lu Ce had been very careful, covering most of it—but a corner still peeked out.

“Zhao...? Emmm... last name’s Zhao, probably.”

Jiu Tian muttered to himself, looking at the guy who had been working beside him just thirty minutes ago, now suddenly the world’s number one.

“D*mn right. I knew you'd be number one! No way anyone else could beat you in this world.”

“The world’s top Player is a Huaguo native! Maybe even one of our own.....”

Jiu Tian was visibly excited as he spoke.

“You sure about that?” said another staff member beside him, hesitantly.

“Of course I’m sure! I spent two days with him, same Game, life and death together! You think I’d mistake him?” Jiu Tian snapped.

The staffer rolled his eyes: “I meant—are you sure he’s actually one of ours?”

“If he’s not, then why does he have that name card? Something’s fishy. Anyway, report this to the Organization. Run the database. Search for everyone with the last name Zhao!”

“We can’t let the number one get scooped up by another Organization, or worse, defect overseas... That’s unacceptable.”

As he spoke, Jiu Tian’s gaze turned serious, staring hard at the screen showing that red-masked figure.

The staffer next to him smirked and said,

“Life and death together, huh? All you did was tag along for the ride, Show-Off Guy~~.”

Jiu Tian: ......

.......

“Hisss....” Lu Ce looked at the flood of online posts about him being the number one in the world and took in a sharp breath.

“Who knows what kinds of abilities those major Organizations have... and it’s unclear if someone already has something like mind reading.”

“How long can I even keep my identity hidden......”

Lu Ce didn’t know why, but he suddenly had an inexplicable sense of danger.

The one thing on his mind now was—if he opened his door tomorrow and found a heavily armed synthetic brigade waiting outside, would he even have room to negotiate?

Probably not.....

“I really need to participate in more Games....”

Lu Ce thought to himself. If self-harm pain didn’t count, he’d stab himself a few times every day to boost his Pain Points.

【Game Update: New mode unlocked—Challenge Mode!】

Just then, a system prompt rang out again, snapping Lu Ce to attention.

【Surely none of you Players think you're weaker than others. Well then, here’s your chance to prove it!】

【Players ranked outside the top 100 may issue a challenge to anyone ranked inside. If the challenger has a higher number of consecutive Perfect Completions, the top 100 Player must accept.】

【If a top 100 Player initiates the challenge, please refer to the detailed description for how the challenge will proceed.】

【We welcome everyone to join in and prove that you are number one~.】

Lu Ce stared blankly at the notification in front of him.

For some reason, the last line felt like it was aimed directly at him.

Being number one wasn’t just about standing out...

Now even the Game was coming for him?

Ding!!!

Just as he was thinking that, another prompt sounded, and a message popped up on his personal interface.

【Player No.79 “Park Bu Seong” has issued a challenge to No.1 “Sin.” Do you accept?】