Chapter 100: Absolute Supremacy, Dominating First Place

Bang!

A huge pile of materials tumbled onto the ground.

Lin Mu’s lips twitched; fortunately, he was quick enough to react, or he would have been buried alive by this avalanche of goods. Over two million points’ worth of items—no small sum.

…

Unwittingly, a week had passed.

In the center of Lin Mu’s base, a table had been set up, covered with all sorts of ingredients. Fourteen days of fighting had drawn these people closer. After all, they all had one thing in common: everyone wore a collar.

Lin Mu lounged in a deck chair, a roughly made, oversized umbrella beside him.

Comfortable.

001 stood quietly at his side, ever ready to answer his call.

Today was the last day of the fourteen days—the final day of this disaster.

Just like last week, their base was on holiday; no one was working.

For Lin Mu, the whole disaster was more like a vacation. The severe cold and sweltering heat had posed some difficulties, but that was the weather—unavoidable. This time, though, it hardly affected him at all. It was just a contest of strength—nothing simpler.

“Brother Mu, here’s a fruit platter I made for you.”

Jiang Ying carried over a metal tray, an array of colorful fruit arranged atop it.

“Just set it down.”

“All right.”

Lin Mu opened the regional channel.

[Huaguo Region]: 43.47 million

A perfect number—over 40 million people.

And now, the global population was only 150 million.

In Lin Mu’s view, the game should be ending soon. But that was clearly impossible.

“Robbing and looting pays, huh? In fourteen days, I racked up 700,000 points.”

“That’s nothing. I got 2.2 million.”

“I still think Lin Mu is incredible—he’s been first on the leaderboard every day. Does he belong to the Rose Team or the Handsome Team?”

“…”

The people of the Huaguo region were full of curiosity about him. But Lin Mu had never considered revealing himself—how could he act freely later if he got too familiar now? This time, they were on the same side, but what about next time?

He then opened the global channel, where the atmosphere was much more heated—taunts and provocations flying back and forth, but no one could actually do anything. There were only so many Duel Cards, most had been used up long ago, and it was impossible to know if any were left.

He glanced at his mailbox, which showed +99 unread messages, and sighed. Ever since his name had turned gold and stayed at the top, messages poured in daily, mostly people wanting to cooperate or buy things from him. But he lacked for nothing. He’d picked a few to join him, but as soon as they did, they fell silent.

Most people preferred being big fish in their own small teams. Why not live well as a leader in your own group? Survival was the same everywhere.

Finally, he checked the team rankings. As expected, he was still number one. With such an absurdly high score—fifteen million points—who could possibly surpass him?

Sunshine. Sand. A beautiful scene.

Except there was no water.

Currently, their stop was in the middle of a desert—sand stretched in all directions, with not a single plant in sight.

“Brother Mu, time for lunch!”

“Coming!”

…

At midnight, everyone waited for that familiar voice.

When the hour struck, it came.

“Congratulations! You’ve survived until now; you are the most resilient group I’ve ever seen! But don’t get too excited—the real highway survival begins tomorrow.

You heard right—tomorrow is the true beginning.”

Lin Mu’s lips twitched. That line sounded all too familiar.

“First, let’s distribute rewards. Not the team rewards—those have already been sent to your mailboxes. Now, we’re giving out regional ranking rewards!”

A leaderboard appeared in the sky.

[Huaguo]: First place, 43.47 million people, 1.64 billion points.
[Asanguo]: Second place, 23.32 million people, 660 million points.
[Eagle]: Third place, 8.72 million people, 350 million points.
[...]
[Rosilu]: Forty-ninth place, 232 people, 71.22 million points.

Huaguo led by an overwhelming margin.

Lin Mu studied the leaderboard. Clearly, many were hiding their true strength.

An average of three hundred thousand points each—but that was just an average.

The top ten alone had nearly eighty million points among them.

“Third place: every member receives ten thousand of each basic resource.”

“Second place: every member receives fifty thousand of each basic resource, plus one Vehicle Upgrade Card.”

“First place: every member receives two hundred thousand of each basic resource, one Vehicle Upgrade Card, and one Vehicle Core Upgrade Card.”

The rewards made Lin Mu shake his head—not impressive at all.

Then again, it was the entire region receiving resources. For some people, even ten thousand might be more than they’d ever owned.

“Tomorrow at nine, you will leave this place and begin a new journey. This time, it’s the real beginning. As for what you’ll encounter, you’ll have to explore for yourselves. Have fun!”

This time, there were no further hints.

Lin Mu shook his head and opened his mailbox. Two golden, gleaming messages awaited him: one for the regional ranking reward, one for the global ranking reward.

The regional reward contained just two items: a Vehicle Floor Expansion Card and an invitation.

The global ranking reward was also two items: a Substitute Doll and a Team Upgrade Card.

Lin Mu’s lips twitched—what kind of things were these?

“What cards did you guys get?”

“Vehicle Upgrade Card, Vehicle Core Upgrade Card, Vehicle Floor Expansion Card, and a Substitute Doll.”

No surprise—all these items were bound to their owners.

Otherwise…

If he could collect twenty Substitute Dolls, just imagining the possibilities was enough to make him smile.

“Ahem, everyone, use your cards now. Once you’ve done so, you’ll have the highest-level vehicles in the game—except for me.”

Vehicle Core Level 7, Vehicle Level 9.

Absolutely ahead of the world. Even the second and third ranked teams might not achieve those numbers for all their members.

Lin Mu upgraded his own vehicle as well.

[Vehicle Core upgraded to Lv10. Backpack +500, capacity for 10 passengers, Resource Exploration feature enabled.]

[Resource Exploration]: Unlocks Resource Radar, able to detect all types of resource deposits within 100 kilometers.

Lin Mu stroked his chin. Was this still highway survival, or had it become a resource exploration game?

No matter.

The vehicle now had a fourth floor—a plain, ordinary room.

[Vehicle Level upgraded to Lv11. Mimicry unlocked.]

[Mimicry]: Can visually deceive lower-level creatures.

After using the Team Upgrade Card, his team size rose to 100. The warehouse gained 1,000 slots, and a fixed-point teleport function was added—though it wasn’t useful for now.

All that remained in his hand was a single golden invitation.