As soon as Challenge Mode was released, Lu Ce immediately received a challenge. That efficiency was honestly unmatched.

All that could be said was, the title of World Number One really does attract trouble.

Only, when Lu Ce saw the message, his first reaction was…

“Why the h*ll am I only ranked 79?!”

Seventy-ninth? What kind of sh*t ranking is that? In normal novel plots, shouldn’t the second-ranked guy be some blond genius who excels at everything, thinks not getting first is a disgrace, and comes to challenge the protagonist?

And you? Seventy-ninth place? Some little trash? Want to challenge me?

Completely unimpressed, Lu Ce felt a wave of disdain as he held his second-hand Redmi phone and rolled over on his shabby dorm bed in the rundown bathroom-turned-dorm.

What right do you have to challenge me?

But soon, he noticed a second issue.

What kind of decent person is named that? Must be Korean.

With his current peak high school senior knowledge base, he still recognized those characters.

Piao Bu-cheng ? Why “not pass”? Do you have a cousin named Qian Bu-gou (money not enough) or what?

Lu Ce viciously mocked this contestant from Da Han Mingguo (lit. "Great Cold Dark Country") is a parody of word "Daehanminguk" (Republic of Korea), author replacing it with similar-looking characters) in his head, still lying in bed, not in any hurry to accept.

This guy even used his real name—does he actually think it sounds good or something…

Suddenly, through the challenge platform, that 79th-ranked guy sent another message.

【You're the number one? A guy hiding behind a mask, or as you Chinese say, a sneaky coward?】

【Even named yourself “Sin”—guess you already know, holding the number one spot without strength is the biggest sin.】

【Dare to fight? If you do, I suggest you take a screenshot of your ranking now. It'll be your final moment of glory.】

【If you’re too scared, then keep being a turtle hiding in its shell.】

【......】

The guy was saying a lot, basically trying to provoke Lu Ce into accepting with some third-rate taunting.

Lu Ce skimmed it, too lazy to keep reading. Heroes in this world are as numerous as fish in the river, but this one clearly wasn’t.

What was this? Some mudfish that became a spirit or something?

Even the trash talk was low-level. Reminded Lu Ce of the middle school thugs he used to see. No clue how this guy even got to 79th place.

Lu Ce didn’t reply for now—not because he was debating whether to accept. For him, if there's a game, he's playing. No way he’d skip out.

He just wanted to wait a bit, see if anyone ranked higher would come challenge him.

If he was going to fight, might as well make it a worthwhile opponent. Since being ranked first made him such a big target, surely plenty of people wanted a piece of him.

Weren’t the top ten players feeling unsatisfied with him at all?

But after sitting on his bed for over ten minutes, Lu Ce realized that most of the high-ranking players weren’t that reckless.

Most people knew—risking a fight with an unknown top-ranked monster over some virtual ranking was dumb.

He got flooded with challenge messages, but they were all from people ranked outside the top 100. Some weren’t even in the top 10,000!

They seriously thought this was their “A Step to the Top”? They had zero fear of death, huh…

After some thought, Lu Ce typed a reply into the challenge interface.

“Dumba**.”

Then, without another word, he blocked the guy’s contact.

Challenge accepted!

Meanwhile, in a mansion in Itaewon, South Korea, Park Bu Seong rolled off his massive bed and stared at the beautifully translated Chinese message sent by the system, then slammed his fist on the mattress in anger.

He'd gone all out with his taunts and provocations, and all the number one replied with was an insult?!

What kind of garbage manners was that?!

“Sh*t! Chinese sc*m…”

He cursed through gritted teeth, then planned to message “Sin” again.

Only to discover—he’d been blocked.

Suddenly, the room filled with crashing and roaring as things were thrown around, making the butler outside tremble in fear.

BANG!

The door was kicked open violently. The butler flinched and quickly bowed slightly to Park Bu Seong.

“Prepare the car. We’re going to the Blue House!” Park Bu Seong’s face was dark as coal, but then, for some reason, he suddenly laughed.

“I’m doing this… for the honor of our great Da Han Mingguo…”

.......

“Six hours…”

After accepting the challenge, it would take six hours to enter Challenge Mode.

Pretty efficient. Lu Ce wouldn’t have to wait three days for the next game. The only issue was—he had just finished the previous game.

No rest, back-to-back rounds. And while technically he was fully healed, that constant mental tension…

—Lu Ce loved it!

Of course, first thing's first—he needed to request leave.

He opened the contacts page on his Redmi.

【Yesterday 21:08, Xie Antong: Game over? How’d it go? I’ve already designed a prototype org structure based on past business models. Wanna join?】

【Yesterday 23:15, Xie Antong: ?】

【09:08, Xie Antong: What kind of game are you in?】

【13:45, Xie Antong: ……You still alive?】

Lu Ce muttered, yeah, odds of dying were kinda high.

“Unfortunately, still alive. But I caught something nasty and probably can’t go to school. Help me call in sick?”

Send.

【18:26, Xie Antong: ?】

【Don’t tell me… you got pulled into Challenge Mode?】

Lu Ce: ?

C’mon, was it that obvious?

Also—girl, you really dared to guess that? You even figured out I’m in the top 100?!

“Not saying anything else. Just help me call in sick. I got food poisoning in the last game and can’t leave the toilet today!”

Send!

He brushed it off with an excuse. Then glanced at the game’s start time—still over five hours to go.

No point checking the phone anymore.

Closed his eyes to rest, trying to get in some sleep before the next game began.

【18:27, Xie Antong: If it’s food poisoning from the game, your self-repair might not be enough. Got any Healing Potion? Just use it.】

She replied, half-believing it. Then looked at the notification in her own game interface…

Time passed quickly.

When Lu Ce opened his eyes again, the game had already started. He was already inside the Initial Game page.

【Welcome to the Chosen’s Paradise, honorable No.1 — Sin!】

【This game will be Challenge Mode — The Seven Wonders of the School.】

【As the challenged player, you may choose the difficulty level.】

【Hard, Nightmare, Hell.】

Lu Ce remembered Xie Antong had once told him—

In the Chosen’s Paradise, there were four levels of difficulty in total.

This Challenge Mode skipped straight past the first one: Normal.

“Hell Mode!”

Lu Ce quickly scanned the description and made his choice.