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Shen Nian felt a chill run down her spine and instinctively took a step back.

That's really scary.

Previously, she had always thought that the so-called killing intent was just an illusion caused by the surge of adrenaline when facing a powerful enemy; she was just being overly nervous and scaring herself.

Until this moment.

When Jian Li's icy gaze fell upon him, he felt a terrifying intuition as if he were being watched by some kind of apex predator, enveloping his entire body.

Only then did she truly realize that murderous intent was a real thing.

But the problem is...

What's going on here?

I feel like I've become a jinx ever since I came back from Prison Rock.

First, they found their house had been ransacked, then they were pinned to a door while looking for Lu Xiu, and now they're inexplicably being targeted with murderous intent.

And she still doesn't know why!

Is there some kind of legend surrounding Prison Rock?

Shen Nian couldn't help but think.

I'm never going there again!

But soon...

As Jian Li's killing intent grew stronger...

Shen Nian couldn't think straight anymore. A strong will to survive instantly brought her to her senses. "Actually, wearing a maid outfit isn't a bad idea. I'm personally quite interested in this profession. As the saying goes, serving others is also a form of self-cultivation—"

After saying that.

Shen Nian didn't dare to look Jian Li in the eye again, and took several steps back in her high heels.

However.

The murderous intent intensified even further.

Shen Nian: "----

Is this the wrong direction?

Why would you do that?

"----I was just kidding."

Lu Xiu looked at Shen Nian, who seemed to have seen a ghost, and blinked in confusion.

Are you serious?

And what are these two doing? Are they gazing at each other affectionately while performing a skit?

However, Lu Xiu's mind was filled with the torturous Neutralize system and superpowered monsters in the dungeon, and she was too lazy to delve into the inexplicable emotional tug-of-war between the girls.

"Never mind."

Lu Xiu thought for a moment, then stepped aside to make room for me. "You all come in and sit for a while. I'm going into my Construction Space. If you need anything, wait until I come out."

Upon hearing this...

Shen Nian glanced at Jian Li subconsciously.

Lu Xiu followed her gaze and looked over, landing on Jian Li, who hadn't said much to her.

They followed Lu Xiu's gaze.

The chilling emptiness and murderous intent in Jian Li's eyes vanished instantly, and she returned to her usual quiet demeanor.

Even the icy aura emanating from him vanished completely.

It was as if the death stare just now was merely Shen Nian's illusion.

I witnessed this scene, which resembled a Sichuan opera face-changing act.

Shen Nian: "----"

You're angry!

This is definitely discriminatory treatment!

So what did I do wrong?!

Can someone please tell me?

Jian Li met Lu Xiu's gaze and slowly walked into the house. Then, looking at the thin layer of sweat on Lu Xiu's face that was not completely dry, and her youthful sportswear, she seemed to hesitate for a moment.

But in the end, he walked up to Lu Xiu, lowered his eyes, and slowly raised the hand that had been tightly clenched, handing the unopened chocolate wafer biscuit in his palm to Lu Xiu.

"For me?"

Lu Xiu paused for a moment, then reached out and took the wafer biscuit, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth while saying, "Thank you."

Then.

Lu Xiu ignored the strange atmosphere between the two.

After all, her mind is completely occupied with the dungeon right now.

Please make yourselves at home. There are drinks in the fridge, help yourselves.

Lu Xiu strode to the central island counter, picked up her water glass, gulped down a large mouthful of water, then put the glass down and said impatiently, "I have to hurry back and continue Constructed Instance while the iron is hot."

After saying that.

She didn't give Shen Nian and Jian Li any time to react before immediately bringing up the System Panel.

With a soft flash of Bai Guang, her figure vanished.

She went to suffer again.

In the bright and spacious apartment, only Shen Nian and Jian Li remained.

The air fell strangely quiet.

Jian Li silently walked to the sofa and sat down, patiently waiting, without looking at Shen Nian again.

But Shen Nian still felt like she had a thorn in her side.

"Um—I need to use the restroom."

Shen Nian made an excuse and quickly hid in the bathroom, then clicked the door shut.

I just closed the door.

Shen Nian immediately brought up the System Panel and began frantically sending messages to her immediate supervisor.

[Shen Nian: Director Yan! What exactly happened to Jian Li?!]

[Shen Nian: Why did she try to kill me just because I casually asked if I could stay at Lu Xiu's place? All I did was not like staying in hotels! Also! Does that wretched place, Prison Rock, bring bad luck or some kind of curse? Please don't hide it from me! ---- Am I going to die?]

On the other side.

Inside the Coordination Bureau Bureau's office.

Yan Fushou was looking at the document, frowning as he pondered something.

Suddenly, a communication window popped up in front of me.

When he saw the message Shen Nian sent, his expression immediately became subtle.

Although I didn't witness it with my own eyes.

But the image of Jian Li Li's murderous expression immediately flashed into his mind.

Nothing more.

The main reason is that he's seen it too many times.

As for why Jian Li wanted to kill Shen Nian ----

Yan Fushou had also guessed something.

Jian Li insisted on living with Lu Xiu, and Yan Fushou noticed something amiss.

It's Jian Li is going to bring up the matter of living with Lu Xiu this time.

But unexpectedly, Shen Nian brought it up first----

It would be strange Jian Li didn't breathe on Shen Nian!

This new member is really something else----

Yan Fushou imagined the scene Shen Nian described, couldn't help but chuckle, shook his head, and then casually typed a reply to explain it to Shen Nian.

Less than five seconds.

Shen Nian's message came again.

How was I supposed to know! Why didn't you say so sooner! You bald idiot!

It's obvious.

The last sentence was typed in a hurry, and there was an extra "U".

Yan Fushou's forehead veins bulged when he saw Shen Nian's message, but Shen Nian had already withdrawn it.

He immediately started playing dead.

"What kind of people are working under me?"

Yan Fushou sighed again, then decided not to bother arguing with Shen Nian anymore.

I closed the communication window directly.

This girl was also an innocent victim, so it's understandable that she was agitated. Judging from the fact that she went to Prison Rock to kill the Architect and managed to escape unscathed, she is clearly both capable and intelligent.

Although I may occasionally appear reckless----

But Yan Fushou never lacks patience and tolerance when dealing with such people.

After all, they were so young when they were forced to struggle through various dungeons, teetering on the brink of life and death.

In this situation, he, as their leader, still had to be harsh on them.

That would be far too cold-blooded.

Whether it's Wei Yidong, Jian Li, Shen Nian, or the other members of the Strategy Group with their distinct personalities.

Yan Fushou was sometimes annoyed by them, but he never thought of pruning their long, forked branches, straightening their branches, or making them all the same shape.

From beginning to end, he let them grow wildly and unchecked, at most guiding them to avoid going astray.

There have been criticisms within the Coordination Bureau regarding the management style of these top players in the Strategy Group, with some feeling it's too lax, too permissive, and lacks discipline.

But Yan Fushou ignored those voices.

They don't know anything!

Having never been to those notoriously difficult and challenging dungeons, one can say whatever one wants while sitting in an office.

Yan Fushou's only concern was Jian Li.

I just hope she realizes soon— Lu Xiu isn't her sister.

That is an independent entity, unchanging because of anyone's obsession, and unbound by anyone's memories.

"

Yan Fushou shook his head slightly, not wanting to think about it any further.

This was just a minor incident.

He quickly put the matter out of his mind.

After all, Jian Li hasn't done anything yet; she just wants to get closer to Lu Xiu.

Minor issue.

Compared to what he's currently considering, that's even less important.

He picked up the documents on the table again.

This is intelligence extracted from Queenie, an otherworldly player in Prison Rock.

The intelligence concerns a highly representative unofficial version of the Prison Rock.

As for why it was so easy to pry it open.

This is all thanks to Lu Xiu.

Queenie was clearly fed up with Lu Xiu's actions—she even said things like, "How can the players of Nine Provinces not kill Lu Xiu?"

Yan Fushou then chatted with her for a while.

Even though he wasn't an interrogation expert, he easily got Queenie to reveal the details of her side of the story.

After all, Queenie was only One Mind on proving that Lu Xiu's dungeon was inhuman, and she started talking nonsense.

Although she immediately regretted it afterward.

But what's done is done, and the information that has been revealed cannot be taken back.

Lu Xiu has done all sorts of bad things!

But Lu Xiu did a wonderful job!

"That's interesting----"

Yan Fushou looked at the copy mechanism described in the document, his fingers tapping lightly on the table, making a rhythmic tapping sound.

This is a dungeon where you fight hand-to-hand, and the entire process is filled with violent battles.

There are no intricate mechanics, no psychological pressure that induces despair, no gameplay rules that require repeated contemplation to understand, and it's not Roleplay Instance.

However, the enemy's design and the description of its attack methods are quite interesting.

This gives a clear glimpse into the combat style of the players on the other side of Prison Rock.

Overall

It is very valuable.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

This player, Prison Rock, is truly talented.

Of course, this is all predicated on the fact that such a copy can be made—and not just cold, lifeless text.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be very meaningful.

Yan Fushou pondered for a moment, then opened the communication panel again and sent a message to Li Shengkai, the head of the Dungeon Resource Management Division.

Not long after.

The door to his office was pushed open, and Li Shengkai, dressed in a simple dark suit, with a calm and composed face and a few noticeable strands of white hair at his temples, walked in.

Upon seeing Li Shengkai, Yan Fushou went straight to the Open Gate and asked, "How's it going? How are the frontline soldiers doing in Sekiro and Titanfall Instance?"

"Approximately 60% of the frontline soldiers have completed the mission."

Li Shengkai pulled out a chair and sat down. "The main problem is Sekiro. The completion rate is really not high. I just saw the military representatives at the front lines having a headache about it."

Yan Fushou slightly; that was not surprising.

Sekiro with walkthroughs, Sekiro isn't an easy game to beat.

He pondered for a moment, then murmured, "Then the Outlast will have to be postponed, but the current strategy is indeed not perfect enough. It should be ready by the end of the year—"

"You didn't come here to ask about this, did you?"

Li Shengkai heard Yan Fushou's murmur, but did not continue the conversation.

After all, implementing the new regulations is no easy task.

"Of course not—I wanted to ask about something else: how are those folk Construction Club doing now?"

"What can they do? Because of the announcement of the Architect Influence during the special event, they've all started to keep a low profile—what else can they do? Fight back and insult the players?"

"No one is wavering?"

Yan Fushou asked curiously, "In that situation, anyone with even a little shame would feel humiliated, and then be motivated to improve, right? Especially after the goddess took back the pricing power for the civilian versions, so they couldn't rip people off anymore."

"Of course some people are wavering. My informant says that many members are now ashamed of being members of the Construction Club."

Li Shengkai replied, then realized something. "What are you trying to say?"

Yan Fushou handed the copy of the information he had pried out of Queenie to Li Shengkai: "Take a look at this."

"A representative unofficial version of Prison Rock?"

Li Shengkai took the document, then flipped through it: "Quite interesting----"

"Then have your company's Architect try to imitate it."

Yan Fushou interlaced his fingers and rested them on the table. "Since it's a highly representative unofficial dungeon of Prison Rock, if we can recreate it here, it will greatly help players become familiar with the combat style of Prison Rock players, and the rewards should also be quite good."

Li Shengkai nodded slowly. "It's possible, but I'm not sure if the Architect under my command can handle this kind of extremely rough, direct combat style that completely abandons weapons and relies on hand-to-hand combat. I also can't guarantee that the results will meet expectations."

"I know."

Yan Fushou nodded. "So it's just for you to try out. I'll also send this information to Lu Xiu."

Li Shengkai asked curiously, "You want her to do it?"

"If she's interested, then we'll do it, but I think she's most likely not interested—"

"Then why—"

"After you've heard my explanation, I think it would be good for her to understand the style of the Prison Rock dungeon, just as a research project."

Yan Fushou interrupted him, saying something startling, "Furthermore, I also plan to tell the director to post this intelligence directly on the forum and make it completely public."

Are you sure?

Li Shengkai was genuinely shocked.

Is there any point in hiding it?

Yan Fushou retorted, "The Architect in your Dungeon Resource Management Division might not be able to build it. We can't really rely entirely on Lu Xiu, can we? The Architect community in Nine Provinces has long been stagnant. You saw that Architect influence ranking last time, didn't you?"

"Now that you've said it yourself, many members of the Construction Club are ashamed of their identity, it proves that there's still hope for them. In this situation, rather than letting them wander around like headless flies, or feel inferior every day because of Lu Xiu, that insurmountable mountain they can't climb."

Yan Fushou pointed to the documents in his hand. "Why don't we give them the ideas for the Prison Rock dungeon? What if someone actually succeeds? We can't imitate Lu Xiu's dungeon, but we can draw inspiration from the framework of dungeons in other worlds and create our own. Surely we can do that? There will always be one or two capable people, right?"

"This will allow them to open their eyes and see how people in other areas Constructed Instance —this will not only help more players understand the characteristics of Prison Rock players, but also prevent the situation from repeating itself last time."

After all, if another special event were to take place, Lu Xiu's influence would still be far ahead of the competition. It would be absurd if, in the end, there wasn't even a single Architect to share the burden.

Li Shengkai: "----"

He paused for a moment, then said, "What you're saying makes sense, but aren't you afraid that the Construction Club will be reborn through this otherworldly dungeon framework, and then become too powerful to shake off?"

"Then you're seriously underestimating the mountain above them."

Yan Fushou smiled and shook his head, "If they can really rise from the ashes using this approach—and even surpass Lu Xiu —then I will call them unparalleled geniuses."

Li Shengkai: "----"