After receiving the game's notification, An Xiaomei couldn't help feeling a surge of excitement — she had great confidence in the "cheat" granted by her powerful mental energy.
"Verification complete. Congratulations, Adventurer An Xiaomei. You completed the Main Island Upgrade Challenge in a total time of 3 hours, 52 minutes, and 34 seconds, the shortest of all participants. Your island has successfully advanced to Level 1. Please wait patiently for the final settlement. All rewards will be announced after the conclusion of this competition."
Hearing the game's precise announcement, An Xiaomei finally felt relieved.
Just then, her stomach gave a loud protest. Knowing full well that her first-place position was now set in stone, she relaxed completely and started cooking her meal.
While she was hearing the voice notification on her side, the same message was simultaneously broadcast in text form to all the spectators watching her livestream — and the entire audience exploded with excitement.
After all, one success could be called luck, but winning first place twice in a row proved that her strength was no fluke — this was something no one could achieve with luck alone.
[I declare I'm camping in Grandma An's livestream from now on.]
[Didn't expect the old lady to keep such a consistent lead! No matter what, as long as she's bringing glory to the nation, I'll support her!]
[Your grandma will always be your senior — I feel ashamed for ever doubting or mocking her.]
But alongside the flood of praise for An Xiaomei's first-place win, there were still some stubborn trolls who refused to give up.
[Don't praise her too soon. The higher she jumps, the harder she'll fall.]
[It's only been two events so far — just solo rounds. I'll reserve my judgment until later.]
[I think the game's rigged for her. How else could she gather ice floes that fast and accurately?]
Of course, most of those haters were foreigners coming to stir up trouble. Within Longguo (Dragon Nation), no one in their right mind — except spies or the mentally unwell — would resent a compatriot bringing honor to their country.
In response, some passionate fans of "Grandma An" fired back harshly:
[Excuse me, don't come showing off in our Dragon Nation's adventurer stream. Get lost back to your own country — we know exactly what kind of people you are.]
[Oh, are you just mad your own nation didn't get first place? Losers like you are just clowns jumping around here.]
[Even if An Xiaomei's success was luck, it's still luck you could never have.]
The foreign troublemakers were clearly hit where it hurt — one by one, they went quiet, sinking back into the chat, too afraid to anger An Xiaomei's growing army of supporters.
In fact, the Longguo Cybersecurity Department had once tried to remove the negative comments from their adventurers' streams, but the game provided no channel for moderating or disabling hostile remarks — all they could do was watch the "bullets" of online speech fly across the screen.
Meanwhile, inside a high-level meeting room in a certain island nation, a bald man slammed the table in rage.
"I told you to collect information about other nations' adventurers' successful strategies, not just the same reports I can see myself! You're a bunch of useless freeloaders!"
"Prime Minister," one subordinate protested weakly, "it's not our fault. The game keeps all inventory and equipment data secret — we can only see items when someone dies and drops them. As for techniques, I really can't see what's so special about that old Dragon Nation woman's methods…"
The prime minister's fury only grew. His mustache quivered, his breath coming out in ragged bursts.
Seeing this, an aide quickly pulled out a small bottle of blood pressure pills and fed him one, calming his condition slightly. But when he looked down at the few remaining pills in his hand, his heart sank.
The medicine's almost gone… and with the factories out of raw materials, what will we do next time he relapses?
Around the world, experts were closely observing An Xiaomei's livestream, yet their findings were inconclusive. All evidence suggested she was simply a very lucky old lady — but none of those shrewd politicians truly believed that explanation.
Eight hours later, after finishing her second meal of the day, An Xiaomei received a new global system notification.
"The second round of the Main Island Upgrade Challenge has concluded. The game has now tallied the final top ten results and will distribute rewards accordingly."
"1st Place: Longguo's An Xiaomei — Completion time: 3h 52m 34s.
Reward: One 10-year Longevity Pill, one Advanced Resource Crate, +1 month lifespan for all Longguo citizens, and 1,000 acres of fruit orchards."
"2nd Place: Y Nation's Andrew Toole — Completion time: 4h 34m 56s.
Reward: One 5-year Longevity Pill, one Intermediate Resource Crate, +15 days lifespan for all Y Nation citizens, and 100 acres of fruit orchards."
"3rd Place: Z Nation's Selina Emily — Completion time: 5h 23m 19s.
Reward: One 3-year Longevity Pill, one Basic Resource Crate, +7 days lifespan for all Z Nation citizens, and 10 acres of fruit orchards."
"Participants ranked 4th–10th will each receive one Basic Resource Crate.
This event has officially concluded. A kind reminder to all adventurers: your standard-issue cold-resistance gear will expire in three days. Please prepare proper winter clothing in advance to avoid accidents.
The next event's opening time will be announced later. Survive well and beware of unexpected incidents."
Hearing the game's final, cryptic warning, An Xiaomei's heart sank slightly — she sensed that the calm days were about to end.
Most people in Longguo were overjoyed, eager to celebrate with fireworks — if only such things were still available.
But in Longguo's top-level conference room, Elder An sat deep in thought, troubled by the string of satellite calls he had just received.
Five minutes earlier, the president of M Nation had personally called:
"Elder An, congratulations — another great victory for your country. But as the world's largest resource gainer, surely you'll show some generosity and share with your allies, yes?"
Soon after, the leaders of several "friendly nations" also called, all expressing "congratulations" — but their real purpose was clear: they wanted Longguo to share its newly manifested resources, claiming it was the duty of a "responsible major power."
Elder An sighed. Before he could respond, his deputy spoke bluntly:
"We don't need to fear those alliances anymore. Their resources are exhausted — they can't afford a war. We mustn't act like rich fools feeding the same wolves that once tried to devour us."
Elder An understood the logic, though age had made him more cautious, less bold.
When the neighboring nations realized Longguo wasn't yielding, they came up with a new idea:
If they could ever contact adventurers inside the game, their top priority would be to target Longguo's players — to slow down the rise of the Dragon Nation.