Cold Rain in the Morning, Wind at Night

Although the first person tried to take back the conversation, the middle-aged man completely ignored him.

His gaze was fixed on Number One, his voice becoming dreamlike and ethereal. "And this... this is just the threshold for Level 5! Look at what the system has updated these past few days! How long can a professional survive? How many can they live? Mental Corrosion! District Wars! Out-of-Zone Exploration!"

He sat back down. "Old Zhang, tell me... why are humans so fragile? Are we... about to go extinct?"

The first person chased after him.

It undermines morale.

He faced the gazes of the people in the conference room again, took a deep breath, and wanted to say something, but found that all words seemed pale and powerless in the face of the cruel reality at this moment, and in the end, he could only let out a long sigh.

Let me share my thoughts.

Xi Ji Ignite a cigarette, took a deep drag, and his eyes looked somewhat vacant through the swirling smoke.

"To get an 'Excellent' rating and obtain Forbidden Class... you'd have to be a true 'cheater'."

Someone nearby instinctively retorted, "Isn't your Talent a cheat code?"

Xi Ji Xi Ji smile, grabbed a lit cigarette, and stuffed it into his mouth, swallowing it.

He moistened his throat with tobacco and Xi Ji.

"My Talent, [Aura Control], can provide the team with comprehensive buffs: attack, defense, speed, recovery... As my strength increases, the coverage and effects will become even stronger."

Those around them nodded silently.

All-around support Talent.

"I entered the Dungeon, and thanks to my Talent, I quickly assembled a team and managed to hold off the Beast Tide with great difficulty."

Xi Ji's voice was flat and emotionless, as if he were telling someone else's story:

"With my help, they did hold out a little longer... but only 'a little longer.' There were too many monsters, far more than people, they couldn't kill them all, they really couldn't kill them all... They fell one by one, and in the end, I was the only one left."

Xi Ji summarized it directly in just a few words.

"I've noticed a key point." Xi Ji raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping over everyone. "The final evaluation of the Trial Instance might not depend on individual performance. The system seems to have a hidden evaluation mechanism that generates the corresponding Dungeon difficulty based on your 'potential' or 'strength.'"

"So that's why it's called a 'trial'?" someone murmured.

Qin Lang and the others nodded; the World Channel had already noticed this.

"The strong and the weak face different levels of Doomsday intensity, but the despair is equal. Ultimately, whether you are 'excellent' or 'good' may have already been roughly determined the moment you step into the Dungeon."

"Supreme rating might mean exceeding this expected assessment, saving the world and creating Miracle despite the original apocalyptic crisis."

He paused for a moment, then uttered the final, and most brutal, conclusion:

"There's an insurmountable gap between Survivors with Talent so overwhelming it's like they're cheating, and ordinary Survivors. But this isn't because they're excessively overpowered..."

"In fact, within the design logic of this Survival System, those who don't 'die' are, from the very beginning, assumed to be... expendable resources that are difficult to advance."

"This system may never have intended for ordinary people to survive. Its purpose might be to sift through the graveyard of civilization and select those it deems qualified 'cheaters'."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xi Ji lowered his head, no longer looking at anyone, but focusing intently on the few sheets of paper in his hand.

After a while, the first one spoke up, "What I mean is, we can increase the pass rate by artificially lowering the Dungeon rating. As long as we don't aim for a 'good' or higher rating, we can just honestly get a 'normal' rating and pass."

Qin Lang: "The World Channel has already confirmed that knowing too much about Dungeon in advance will significantly lower the rating. Therefore, for those who only aim to guarantee a pass, we can provide them with a strategy guide in advance so they can avoid risks and focus solely on survival."

A glimmer of hope flashed in one of their eyes.

"If we concentrate our resources and create the most comprehensive strategy guide, so that those entering the 'Rise of Superpowers' Dungeon can find and eliminate the still-developing Dongli Cang as soon as possible, wouldn't it be possible... to save that world and obtain the Supreme evaluation?"

One person shook their head. "It's definitely not that simple. Some professionals on the World Channel have already suggested letting people try it, but none of those who tried have returned."

"We have to give it a try."

The discussion in the meeting room lasted for a long time.

Several hours later, Xi Ji walked out of the conference room carrying a thick stack of documents covered in cigarette ash.

He leaned against the cold metal wall, Ignite another cigarette, but didn't smoke it. He just stared blankly at the smoke rising and disappearing under the light.

"Yes, this information is intelligence gathered by our nine-person team, along with these speculations. You can ask the chairman for his and Consultant Su's Dungeon experiences in the dungeon later. Your Analysis Department should prepare a strategy report as soon as possible."

Xi Ji waited for someone to come out and give him the information, then lit a cigarette and started smoking in the police station.

He stood at the door, smoking one cigarette after another, until everyone had left.

As Jing Yunxin left, she glanced at him with concern, hesitated, and ultimately just turned and left silently; she still had many things to do.

When there was no one around, Xi Ji slowly walked to the outer edge of the Sanctuary, leaned against the cold outer wall, and, like many lost people in the world, stared blankly at the endless darkness that swallowed everything.

"Survival System, what exactly are you trying to do?"

"You don't give any time for stable development; every step of the design is riddled with pitfalls. There's no reasonable growth ladder; the gap between individuals is despairingly large, and the power chasm between levels is bottomless..."

He thought of his companions who had fallen in the Trial Instance, of his middle-aged colleague who had suffered an emotional breakdown, and of the dark road ahead Future no light could be seen.

"Even if... even if they manage to become a 'normal' rated professional through the guide, given your damned nature... how long can they possibly survive?"

Obtaining the [Class Change Certificate] is already a highly competitive process, and achieving a high rating in the Trial Instance is an even more perilous and dangerous battle.

This is clearly a meticulously planned, ruthless selection and purge targeting the entire civilization.

Is this Darkness Survival about?

Before me, all that remained was boundless darkness, and a chilling sense of powerlessness that seemed to accompany it.

The white smoke drifted into the darkness and was swallowed up.

Helplessly... cold rain in the morning, wind in the evening.