Countdown

In the days that followed, everything seemed to be accelerated.

This applies to both the Coordination Bureau and all players in Nine Provinces.

The main challenge is the reverse ending in the Witch Instance, which is quite difficult.

If you need to collect everything, then forget it.

Even after obtaining the key item, they are still hunted down by all the vengeful spirits in the entire Mansion.

Finally, it's a race against time, a direct confrontation with Viola, and a defense against the Hunter interfering.

Players went one after another to try and make mistakes, figuring things out as they went along, and a week passed by in the blink of an eye.

On the other side...

The Strategy Group from the Coordination Bureau wasn't idle either; they were working even harder than the average player.

Because this dungeon has a very strict Memory Blur mechanism, it means that creating a workable strategy will require a lot more effort.

The Strategy Group members began working non-stop in the Witch's House 'Witch Instance, meticulously exploring every inch of the dungeon using keywords, trying to figure out all the items and mechanics.

Many people had anticipated that with the closure of the system's dungeons, Nine Provinces would likely enter a period of emptiness with no dungeons to explore, which even caused some panic at the time.

But it turned out they were completely overthinking it.

Lu Xiu's [Witch] dungeon alone has given everyone a run for their money—and as more and more people clear the dungeon and discover more and more things, the players become increasingly bewildered.

Every day, the forum is as lively as during the Chinese New Year.

Every day, players make new discoveries.

[I got another skill variant [screenshot], not much different, but it really has changed.]

[No, am I clearing a community dungeon or a system dungeon? The rewards for different choices vary slightly, with countless variations—for example, whether or not to kill the Hunter, or how to treat Viola. When did community dungeons become like this?]

[It feels like Lu Xiu is conducting an experiment; this dungeon is different from the previous ones, but the rewards are all pretty good—even the worst one is Don't Look.]

[Does the system dungeon offer rewards as good as Lu Xiu's? Don't talk nonsense—although the system dungeon isn't that difficult. So, has anyone actually reached the reverse ending? Has anyone actually managed to break through the siege of resentment? Has anyone been willing to share what rewards they got?]

Posts like these are being flooded with them every day.

And finally, on this day, even ordinary players managed to unlock the reverse ending.

[I beat the game with the reverse ending! [Screenshot] Awesome!]

[???]

The moment I saw the skill.

All the players gasped in shock—another SS-rank!

And it's incredibly powerful. Leaving aside PvP, a five-minute duration of 80% damage reduction from the same source is something you'd expect from a system dungeon boss.

Is it a god-tier skill? Although the cooldown time is a bit long, and it can probably only be used once per dungeon, it's still a god-tier skill.

Beat the boss within five minutes!

But after the initial excitement subsided, looking at the reward and recalling the changes in the Witch's House after obtaining the key item, a sense of helplessness welled up in the hearts of all the players.

The rewards are really generous.

But it was torture, and it was truly torture.

But as helpless as it may be.

What can we do?

Go ahead and fight.

Players even started finding humor in their misery.

Now I finally understand why reversing the ending is so difficult.

[The brave warrior was right, Lu Xiu does love us, she just expresses it in a rather hardcore way! That's just her proud and aloof love!]

[Stop acting crazy here, just say you want a reward.]

Are you really sure Lu Xiu is a woman? Neither men nor women know about love; don't you find that disgusting?

It really is.

Wouldn't a man be better?

[The one upstairs is even more impressive.]

At the same time.

Coordination Bureau.

Yan Fushou leaned back in his chair—his hair on the top of his head seemed to have thinned even more.

He scratched his head and looked at Li Shengkai sitting in front of him. "So, the Take Their Place skill is also useful against frontline monsters?"

Li Shengkai didn't look much better, with dark circles under his eyes. "Yes."

Upon hearing this, Yan Fushou felt a chill run down his spine, and his vision went black.

This means that the Strategy Group needs to figure out a way to reverse the ending.

The goal is to get everyone to collect items like the Witch's Diary, and ultimately, to get the frontline soldiers to obtain the crucial Soul-Severing Blade.

"----This isn't over yet."

Li Shengkai continued, "The military representative at the front said he wanted them all, saying that all the rewards were useful and he hoped to use up all three rewards from the dungeon. He would personally coordinate the rotation at the front."

Yan Fushou felt it was time to just shave his head completely.

Li Shengkai, aware of the pressure on the Strategy Group, reassured them, "I see Jian Li and Shen Nian are making pretty good progress, aren't they? I believe in you guys; you'll definitely be able to create strategies for different endings in the [Witch] dungeon."

"Their methods for clearing the game are completely different from those of ordinary players, let alone getting the soldiers to follow them, especially the reverse ending; it's only for internal reference by the Strategy Group."

Yan Fushou rubbed his temples in anguish. "You can't expect the soldiers to clear the dungeon the way they do, can you? And the Memory Blur detection in the Lu Xiu dungeon this time is so ridiculous—it's a headache."

"----That seems to be true, but all we can do is try our best."

Li Shengkai shook his head, then suddenly remembered something. "By the way, speaking of Jian Li and Shen Nian? I haven't seen them lately?"

"They went to find Lu Xiu."

"----Indirectly inquiring about the dungeon?"

"No."

Yan Fushou gently shook his head. "I thought so at first too, but the two of them have been going to Lu Xiu's apartment almost every day this week, it seems they just want to see her."

Li Shengkai hesitated for a moment before asking, "Friend?"

I think so.

Yan Fushou nodded slowly, the weariness on his face seeming to fade somewhat. "I hope so too. Whether it's Jian Li, Lu Xiu, or even Shen Nian, stripped of their accolades, they're just a group of young people who ultimately need to interact with others—"

Li Shengkai was silent for a moment, then said with some emotion, "That's true, although I sometimes forget their ages, especially Lu Xiu's."

"Who isn't?"

Yan Fushou sighed again, then changed the subject, asking, "How are the Architect under your Dungeon Resource Management Division doing?"

"A new lower-level dungeon is coming out soon."

"However, it can only be Li Shengkai —other Titanfall, including the latest Witch, are not allowed. Every time I mention it, the Architect under my command look like they're ready to die for their cause."

"Then it is indeed fitting to die to prove one's innocence—"

Yan Fushou smiled, then said seriously, "But won't this cause problems? Have you assessed it? Won't this kind of lower-tier alternative dungeon become a stepping stone for Prison Rock players in the new version? You know, there are less than twenty days left until the new version goes live."

I don't think it's a big problem.

Li Shengkai shook his head. "Even if the new version of the arena allows Prison Rock players to thrive in the lower-level alternative dungeons, it doesn't mean they can have it as easily as Lu Xiu's dungeon. You're the leader of the Strategy Group, so you should know the difficulty of her dungeon better than I do."

This won't be a problem at all; it might even confuse the players in Prison Rock. Most importantly—even if the Coordination Bureau doesn't do it, those Construction Club will."

Yan Fushou asked in surprise, "Your undercover agent received the message?"

"Well, it's probably because of that [Simple Sifu] from last time that they gained confidence, plus the huge gap caused by the system's dungeon being closed. The Construction Club has been itching to get started for a while now. But I heard that at first they wanted to make a lower-tier alternative dungeon for the Witch, but after clearing the dungeon, they immediately gave up—they changed course and started imitating Lu Xiu's previous dungeon, which should be released in the next couple of days."

Hopefully it's a good thing.

"It's definitely a good thing. Even if they do a terrible job, imitating Lu Xiu's dungeon will still get a decent rating, and it will enrich the scene library, right?"

Li Shengkai smirked. "Otherwise, it would look terrible. Only Lu Xiu's dungeon rating is sky-high, the rest are just CDF."

--.

Yan Fushou was somewhat speechless. "Fine, that makes sense. The new version is coming soon—"

We don't know how it will end up.

Li Shengkai didn't respond immediately, but hesitated for a moment before continuing, "There's one more thing. It seems that the people from the Play Society are in contact with the people from the Construction Club. I asked Old Hu from the Internal Security Response Division, and I heard that they've also been in contact with Wei Zhe from the Bedrock Guild and Zhao Qingdai from the Crimson Sky Guild. I don't know the details yet; they're still in the initial contact stage and are still investigating."

I know this isn't your responsibility—but considering Jian Li, I'm telling you anyway.

Yan Fushou suddenly looked up, his expression somewhat unpleasant.

The next few days.

Just as Li Shengkai had predicted.

How could Construction Club easily give up during the huge window of opportunity left by the system's instance closure?

As a result, the previously dormant fan-made games finally experienced a major surge in popularity.

The Coordination Bureau and the Construction Club are finally starting to exert their influence.

New fan-made versions of the game are appearing every day.

This time, however, all the major Construction Club have learned their lesson.

They completely abandoned the idea of creating an identical copy of Lu Xiu's work, and instead changed their strategy: since they couldn't beat him, they would rely on a powerful ally.

The vast majority of the newly released fan-made dungeons are inferior replacements for Lu Xiu's previous dungeons.

Moreover, the Construction Club no longer attempts to replicate the original one-to-one. Instead, it first designs a rough framework, then incorporates the gameplay that has been validated in the Lu Xiu dungeon, reduces the difficulty, simplifies the mechanics, and caters to the general public.

Surprisingly, this method worked remarkably well.

Although the quality of these dungeons varied, with some good and some bad, Lu Xiu's [Witch] dungeon remained far superior.

But there are still some worthwhile ones – either the rewards are decent, they can serve as a training ground, or they can be a baby bus for ordinary players who have been beaten to the point of mental exhaustion to regain their confidence.

Of course, there are also bad ones.

But after the system-run dungeons were closed, all the players were eyeing the civilian dungeons—which were really bad, and that put Old Feng in danger.

Time rolled forward amidst the countless players' explorations, curses, and sighs.

soon.

The countdown to the new version ends in just six days.