Amid everyoneâs playful banter, time slowly ticked by.
Soon, night fell.
As the clock passed 11:00 PM, midnight drew ever closer.
The leaderboard was in turmoil as the lordsâ scores began to change rapidly.
Lords would suddenly gain a huge amount of prosperity, instantly surpassing several or even dozens of others.
Then, just as quickly, they would be overtaken by other lords, dropping several ranks.
The competition was especially fierce around the 10,000th, 5,000th, 1,000th, 500th, 300th, and 100th place milestones, as crossing these thresholds meant leveling up to the next tier of rewards.
In the chat channel, people constantly howled in frustration over dropping a tier while others cheered for breaking into a higher rank.
ă11:30 PM.ă
[World Chat Channel (789654)]
Yun Qihao: "Brothers, watch me make my move!!"
Lin Yu: "Go for it, big shot!"
Ding Dong: "Go for it!"
Zhang Lv: "Go for it!"
...
Amid a chorus of cheers, Yun Qihaoâs prosperity instantly increased by 1,000,000, rocketing him past Qian Duoduo and into first place.
The World Chat Channel immediately erupted.
"Lord Yun made his move!!"
"Everyone, chant with me: Lord Yun is a badass!!!"
"Lord Yun is a badass!!!"
"Lord Yun is a badass!!!"
...
"Donât get too excited. Lord Yun has played his card, but Lord Qian hasnât made his move yet! Lord Qian might just reclaim first place in a bit."
"You canât be sure about that. Lord Yun is backed by the Divine Hall and could produce a super-building like that, worth 1,000,000 prosperity from a single structure. Lord Qian is just rich; it doesnât mean he can get his hands on a super-building."
"Thatâs right. The building blueprint I sold to Lord Qian was only worth 100,000 prosperity."
"Me too. The blueprint I sold was worth 80,000 prosperity."
"Mine was 75,000."
"Mine was 30,000."
...
The lords who had sold blueprints to Qian Duoduo were lining up to report the stats. Although the prosperity from each individual building wasnât outrageous, the sheer number of blueprints was staggering.
In a corner of the continent, beside a golden hall, the excited look on Yun Qihaoâs face gradually turned frosty. He finally let out a helpless sigh.
He did some quick mental math and realized that the prosperity values reported by the lords who sold blueprints to Qian Duoduo already totaled over 5,000,000. And that didnât even include the lords who sold blueprints but hadnât spoken up. The total prosperity from the blueprints Qian Duoduo had acquired could only be higher, not lower.
Sure enough, at 11:40 PM, Qian Duoduoâs territory prosperity increased by 130,000, putting him exactly 10,000 points ahead of Yun Qihao.
This was clearly a deliberate move by Qian Duoduo. Such a display of effortless superiority made Yun Qihao give up the struggle.
The time reached 11:50 PM. Qian Duoduoâs territory prosperity hadnât changed, still holding steady at 5,130,000.
Lin Yu pulled his focus from the Lordâs Core and issued an order to Xia Luo, who was overseeing the Urban Construction and Planning Bureau.
"Begin the final phase of construction."
"Remember, increase the number of completed buildings gradually. Donât finish all of them until the final minute."
"Donât make any mistakes. Losing a golden building would be a huge waste."
At this moment, all 250 staff members of the Urban Construction and Planning Bureau were in position. (An additional 50 sprites had been added later to prevent the bureau from shutting down if staff members took leave.)
After receiving the order, Xia Luo immediately directed the bureauâs sprites to act according to plan. The sprites sat down at their workstations, projected their consciousness into the small orbs of light there, and connected to the urban construction system to initiate the final build.
"Itâs moving, itâs moving!!"
"Quick, look! âAnonymous 1âsâ prosperity is starting to rise."
"Hahaha, I knew it! âAnonymous 1â was definitely holding back a massive play."
"Lord Qian better watch out!!"
"Go, âAnonymous 1â!"
...
Seeing Lin Yuâs territory prosperity begin to change, the people in the chat channel went wild, all guessing how high âAnonymous 1â could climb and whether he could dethrone Qian Duoduo.
At that moment, a strange scene unfolded. Unlike other lords whose prosperity jumped by thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands at a time...
...Lin Yuâs territory prosperity was only increasing by 1 point at a time, sometimes 100, but almost always just 1.
On the leaderboard, this meant the number for âAnonymous 1âsâ prosperity was constantly spinning and increasing. Although the number changed rapidly, each individual increment was tiny. It was unclear if this was intentional.
This situation left everyone staring, dumbfounded.
Qian Duoduo: "Hahaha! Scared me for a second. I really thought âAnonymous 1â was about to pull something big, but itâs just this."
Qian Duoduo: "Looks like this âAnonymous 1â really is just some commoner who got lucky. He doesnât even have a single high-value building. To think I considered him a rival... heâs not even on Yun Qihaoâs level. Ptooey! What a letdown!"
Yun Qihao: "(ïżŁâœïżŁ") ..."
Qian Duoduo: "Now, watch this!"
As soon as Qian Duoduo finished speaking, his territoryâs prosperity took a triple leap: "+300,000," "+200,000," "+250,000."
In an instant, his prosperity hit 5,880,000.
Qian Duoduo: "How about that? Are you blown away?"
"The lord is a badass!!!"
"Lord Qian is the real deal!!"
"The lord has so many aces up his sleeve!!"
...
In the World Channel, a stream of flattery sprouted like mushrooms after a spring rain. Behind the scenes, Qian Duoduo was immensely pleased. He felt victory was in his grasp, as he still had other buildings under construction that would provide him with several hundred thousand more prosperity upon completion.
As far as he was concerned, first place was a sure thing.
However, Lin Yu paid no mind to Qian Duoduoâs boasting in the World Channel. âAfter all, first place is mine for the taking.â
He even posted a message in the chat.
Lin Yu: "Lord Qian is a badass plus!!"
On the leaderboard, âAnonymous 1âsâ prosperity continued its unwavering climb, soon surpassing 12th place, 11th, 10th... all the way to 3rd.
After breaking 3,000,000, its rate of increase didnât slow in the slightest. In fact, it began to gradually accelerate.
The compliments in the chat channel died down. Everyone was stunned by the situation, their eyes glued to the changing prosperity score.
At 11:55 PM, âAnonymous 1âsâ prosperity reached 4,000,000.
At 11:59 PM, âAnonymous 1âsâ prosperity broke 5,000,000.
At 11:59:15, âAnonymous 1âsâ prosperity surpassed 5,120,000, officially taking second place.
At 11:59:55, âAnonymous 1âsâ prosperity reached 5,800,000. At this point, Qian Duoduoâs prosperity had reached 6,300,000.
Just as Qian Duoduo was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the growth of âAnonymous 1âsâ prosperity suddenly accelerated.
At 11:59:59, âAnonymous 1âsâ prosperity reached 6,000,000.
The next moment, just as Qian Duoduoâs worries were easing and the crowd of spectators assumed the dust had finally settled, the leaderboard flashed.
12:00:00. "Anonymous 1" Prosperity: 56,789,114. "Anonymous 1" had officially claimed the top of the prosperity leaderboard.