Choice

Lu Xiu was stunned for a moment, then she came to her senses, opened the rules document, and began to read it word by word.

Perhaps it's because too many players are involved.

The rules are long and tedious—though they can certainly be explained in detail.

The system starts matchmaking after 30 minutes, which is clearly to give players some time to process the information.

Players who find it troublesome can, of course, ignore everything, roughly determine how to fight in the arena, and just rush in.

After all, simply looking at the rules is not as easy to understand as actual experience.

But Lu Xiu couldn't do that; after all, she was Architect.

But this glance had a significant impact.

Lu Xiu discovered that almost every rule had corresponding supplementary explanations.

For example.

Regarding the rule that after the most brutal thirty-day arena event period ends, the conquered territory will belong to the enemy.

The system's supplementary rules state that after the arena battle ends, both sides will enter a brief period of cross-realm interaction.

During this period, cross-border exchanges and transactions can take place between the two regions.

The things that can be traded here are not limited to high-level items and Survival Points, but also include occupied real-world areas.

This means that if thirty days have passed and the lost territory cannot be reclaimed, and one does not want to watch one's home city be stripped away, one can actually surrender and redeem one's occupied homeland from the other side.

Of course, this is on the premise that the other party agrees and can afford the price.

For example,

To ensure fairness in situations where the two regions may have unequal resources, the system specifically mentions that some lower-rated civilian dungeons from both sides will be directly enhanced by the system when selected as arena scenarios.

But what exactly has been strengthened? What are the criteria for judgment? The system hasn't disclosed a single word.

even.

Urban combat modes don't seem to be static.

The system later mentions topics such as copy library exchange, dual copy opposition, and copy merging.

There was no further explanation.

In conclusion

All sorts of confusing rules are giving me a headache.

However, what Lu Xiu was most concerned about was the supplementary explanation of the folk dungeons as a scene library.

--Because this arena is a special cross-industry event, and one side's core Architect is not yet level 10, the restrictions on the civilian instance selected as the battle scene will be partially lifted by the system based on the battle situation.

"Restrictions lifted?"

Lu Xiu murmured these four words, unsure if this was the solution she was looking for.

Take the Sekiro instance she created as an example.

In her original dungeon, some bosses could be bypassed—and once bypassed, as long as the aggro wasn't triggered, she wouldn't be chased down.

There's also a hate system—enemies will stop chasing you if you're more than a certain distance away.

To ensure the normal operation of the copy.

She will definitely impose all sorts of hidden restrictions when Constructed Instance.

The latest Witch Instance is the same—as long as the player doesn't leave their role, the fake Viola can't directly harm the player, and the Black Cat can't intervene either.

Is this what the system is trying to disable?

If that's really it----

Lu Xiu's expression suddenly became subtle. That dungeon, which was already in the underworld, might really turn into a terrifying meat grinder.

Even she, the Architect, felt a chill run down her spine.

In fact.

Lifting the restrictions here was more complicated than she had imagined.

She just doesn't understand yet.

Just as Lu Xiu was staring at the rules, lost in thought...

Buzz.

The system window in front of her suddenly emitted a buzzing notification sound.

The pop-up window that had been hovering over her, allowing her to choose between [attack] or [defense], began to tremble slightly.

Lu Xiu suddenly snapped out of her daze, glanced at the upper right corner, and realized that the thirty-minute preparation time had unknowingly dwindled to just five minutes.

We can't delay any longer.

Lu Xiu hesitated for a moment, her gaze sweeping back and forth between the two options, before finally extending her slender white finger and selecting [Defender].

To be honest, she never expected the Cross-Realm Arena to be like this.

She originally planned to wait until the new dungeon was completed before playing it.

But even as the Architect, she was required to participate in the matchmaking process immediately—and without any specific preparation, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and improvise.

Choosing to defend is undoubtedly the safest option.

After all, the defense is against the civilian dungeons of Nine Provinces, and there is a very high probability that she will encounter her own dungeon.

Fighting in your own instance, even if the mechanics might be unbound and modified by the system, is still much better than going to Prison Rock in complete darkness.

After choosing a direction, Lu Xiu thought for a moment and said, "I should still tell Yan Fushou."

She casually opened the communication window and sent Yan Fushou Yan Fushou short message, informing him of her decision.

After sending the message.

Lu Xiu immediately closed the communication window without waiting for a reply.

Because you can tell just by thinking about it.

This arena format was also unexpected by the Coordination Bureau, and it concerned the survival of Chen Capital. At this moment, the pressure on the Coordination Bureau was definitely hundreds or thousands of times greater than that on her.

Yan Fushou is probably in a terrible predicament right now.

Just let them know.

After doing all this, Lu Xiu breathed a sigh of relief.

Next, all you have to do is patiently wait for the countdown to end and then you'll be matched.

"I don't know if all players are matched together----"

Lu Xiu looked out the window, preparing to welcome the countdown to zero.

But when he glanced down, he suddenly froze.

She went to Construction Space as soon as she got up today, still wearing her pajamas and slippers.

How can you fight in a ring like that?

Clothes, clothes, clothes!

After a brief silence.

A sudden burst of hurried footsteps erupted in the quiet apartment.

With only two minutes left on the countdown.

As if her eyebrows were on fire, Lu Xiu ran to the bedroom in her slippers and yanked open the wardrobe door.

With only twenty-odd seconds left in the countdown to cross-border matching, the event is about to begin.

Accompanied by a series of slightly hurried footsteps.

Lu Xiu rushed out of the bedroom.

Because time was so short and she had so many clothes in her wardrobe, she didn't have time to rummage through them to find something suitable for battle. She just grabbed whatever was available and wore it, hoping not to die in her pajamas.

At this moment, she had just thrown on a simple T-shirt, but it seemed to be from two years ago and was a little small, which accentuated her full and attractive curves.

As she ran towards the living room, she frantically fastened the side snaps of her black pleated skirt, revealing a pair of long, snow-white legs beneath the hem. The legs were long, straight, and toned, with fair and delicate skin that seemed to glow with a luminous sheen under the bright light, without an ounce of excess fat.

Accompanied by a soft sound.

Just as the countdown reached its final ten seconds...

Lu Xiu finally buttoned up her pleated skirt.

She let out a long breath, casually smoothed her slightly disheveled long hair behind her head, and a hint of relief appeared on her face.

Although this outfit isn't very appropriate—it looks like I'm going shopping rather than to a life-or-death boxing ring—it's still much better than wearing pajamas and slippers, which would be truly disgraceful.

3.

2.

1.

Just as Lu Xiu had adjusted everything...

The countdown has reached [00:00:00].

Buzz.

But the expected teleportation did not occur.

Take Their Place, a crisp system notification sounded, and a brand new window suddenly popped up.

[Match pool locked!]

[Defender sequence - Confirming!]

Your match result is: Bye.

[Note: Due to the significant gap between your sequence and overall combat strength rating, there are currently no suitable opponents. Please wait patiently.]

Lu Xiu fell silent. She glanced at the words "bye" and then looked down at her own attire before sitting down on the ground without any regard for her image.

Then, she leaned back, sprawling on the floor in a starfish shape, utterly dejected, staring at the bright ceiling of the apartment, and cursed, "Brain-dead system."

At the same time.

Not everyone experienced the excruciating pre-battle gasp that Lu Xiu went through.

For the vast majority of Nine Provinces players, this Cross-Realm Arena arrived right on time.

Chen Capital.

When the countdown reaches zero.

Zhao Heng did not see any notification that he was not given a bye.

He felt everything go black.

Immediately afterwards, a strong sense of spatial distortion and dizziness suddenly struck, instantly stripping him of all his senses.

But this dizziness comes on suddenly and goes away very quickly.

When Zhao Heng suddenly opened his eyes, he was shocked to find that he was no longer in his familiar apartment.

He looked around and found himself standing in a vast, empty, pure white space.

There were four other figures standing beside him.

Clearly, these four are Zhao Heng's teammates.

The IDs above their heads varied widely, and their sequence levels also differed, generally ranging from sequence 8 to sequence 12.

Without a doubt.

Of the five people standing here, Zhao Heng, with a sequence level of 16, is the strongest.

After a brief moment of surprise.

The group tentatively greeted each other.

One of the young men, whose ID was [Wild Wind], glanced at the information above Zhao Heng's head and seemed to remember something. "Wait—you're Zhao Heng from the Longsword Guild? The star player on the forum?"

Zhao Heng's lips twitched when he heard the description "star player on the forum," but he ultimately nodded. "That's me."

Upon hearing this affirmative answer, the other three seemed to remember something, and their tense expressions visibly relaxed, as if they had found their pillar of support.

But the young man named [Wild Wind] couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering him, "Zhao Heng —with your strength, why didn't you choose to attack and go to the other side? Instead, you chose to defend?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Heng's expression became somewhat subtle.

In fact, over 90% of the players on the Nine Provinces side, whether they were guild elites or solo players, tacitly chose to defend.

After all, this was the first time they had encountered such a special event.

Most of the players in Prison Rock chose to attack.

Because they are more experienced.

"I did this because—"

Zhao Heng wanted to explain, but he had only just begun.

A window popped up unexpectedly in the pure white space, abruptly interrupting his words.

[Match complete. You are the defenders. We are currently selecting a battle scenario from the Nine Provinces civilian dungeon database.]

[Draw complete!]

Then, seven scene cards emitting different colored lights were slowly turned over in front of the five Nine Provinces players.

Resident Evil (S)

Sekiro (SS)

[Simple Sifu (A)]

[The Mutation Eve (S)]

[Outlast (S)]

[----]

[The BP (Block/Select) process has officially begun!]

[Rules: The defending team has 3 ban slots, and the attacking team has 2 pick slots. After both sides have completed their bans and picks, the system will randomly select the final battle scene from the two scenarios!]

[The defending team should disable it first!]

Everyone who saw this was stunned, and then they forgot to ask Zhao Heng why he wasn't attacking.

"There are three copies of Lu Xiu's work, what should we do?"

The young man named Wild Wind subconsciously looked at Zhao Heng: "Should we ban all of Lu Xiu's dungeons?"

The other three players also looked at Zhao Heng.

"Those three copies of Lu Xiu ----"

Zhao Heng thought for a moment and asked, "Have you all cleared the level?"

The four nodded, but their expressions were rather unpleasant.

One of them said embarrassedly, "I crawled through the game."

"So what do you think the opposing players in Prison Rock will do when facing this kind of dungeon?"

Zhao Heng continued, "I don't think they'll be able to handle Lu Xiu's instance with ease the first time, even if the instance, as a scenario, no longer requires players to role-play and no longer restricts their own abilities."

Wild Wind paused, then asked, "You mean—"

"Ban those trashy fan-made copies."

Zhao Heng recalled his experience clearing Lu Xiu's dungeon and said with a subtle expression, "Then leave her three dungeons and that Simple Sifu, and see what the other side chooses."