Patching Things Up Everywhere

"Although it sounds a bit outrageous."

Fan Lixin hearing Yan Fushou's words, Fan Lixin replied, "But what I said is absolutely true. I did encounter two invading monsters, but those who encountered only one monster weren't much better off, were they?"

Didn't Shen Nian just say that she encountered a dragon, was chased the whole way, and heard the Prison Rock players cursing Lu Xiu the whole time?

Shen Nian was somewhat annoyed when Fan Lixin brought this up. "That guy's a chatterbox, he kept saying Lu Xiu was sick—"

Other members of the Strategy Group also chimed in.

Their expressions were somewhat subtle.

After all, the arena suddenly exploded.

After listening, Yan Fushou looked down at the list of monster types recorded by the Strategy Group.

Zombies, skeletons, ghosts, Demon, knights, giants, dragons, giant mosquitoes----

A black line appeared at the end.

What is all this nonsense?

Especially the last giant mosquito.

What is this?

He couldn't help but ask.

There was a moment of silence in the conference room.

Then in the corner.

One of the Strategy Group members raised his hand. "Chief, I swear on my life, we really did encounter mosquitoes."

"You're running away too? You can't even beat this?"

"No, but they are really annoying! Although they are called giant mosquitoes, they are still relatively small compared to humans. Their flight altitude is unpredictable, and a bite is not only quite painful, but it is also poisonous—"

"So?"

"So before they could react, I took my teammates and ran! At least I knew it was something from the Lu Xiu dungeon!"

The Strategy Group member straightened his back, looking smug. "Then, when the players in Prison Rock are exhausted from dealing with them, we'll turn around and wipe them out."

Upon hearing this absurd claim, Yan Fushou felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.

The other members of the Strategy Group also had somewhat strange expressions.

There really were mosquitoes.

Monsters that are completely different and clearly exist in different environments appeared at the same time.

Considering that Lu Xiu could not possibly have been a random, illogical compilation.

Therefore, the most likely scenario is that Lu Xiu is verifying the new instance she has cleared, which is probably a complex world with a certain ecosystem.

This means that clearing this dungeon will yield extremely high rewards.

But it also means torment--------

Just sitting here and imagining it—everyone present already felt a complex mix of resistance and longing, pain and pleasure, towards Lu Xiu's new storyline.

And without a doubt, Yan Fushou felt this emotion the most intensely.

"Director, I don't think now is the time to consider how difficult this new dungeon is or how high the rewards will be."

Fan Lixin guessed what Yan Fushou was thinking, "What we should really be thinking about now is—the monsters in Lu Xiu's new instance are now running around all over the arenas. How should we fight in the upcoming recapture battle and the regular arenas?"

You called us here so you could use this opportunity to let us learn a little about this new SSS dungeon, right?

Yan Fushou nodded.

"This is probably a bit difficult. We don't know what the mechanics of Lu Xiu's dungeon are yet. From what we've seen, those invading monsters are really hard to beat. If we run away, we won't be able to understand the characteristics of those monsters at all. If we go and fight, the players from Prison Rock will definitely come and attack us."

They don't need to know about the monsters in Lu Xiu's new instance; they can just run away when the time comes. We have more to consider.

I don't think many of us can handle the monsters in the new dungeon while also dealing with the players in Prison Rock.

Yan Fushou had a headache. After a moment of silence, he said, "Then let's run first—the arena is the priority."

"Then it really becomes a race."

Fan Lixin said, "Let's see who runs the fastest!"

Yan Fushou: "----"

What kind of nonsense is this?

A perfectly good arena has been turned into a race to see who can run the fastest because of a new dungeon.

And it wasn't just Yan Fushou who thought this way; at this moment, whether in Nine Provinces or Prison Rock, all the players whose lives were thrown into chaos by the invading monsters were internally ranting and raving.

Many newly matched players no longer pretend to play the game.

What are you fighting for!

Go in and get ready to run!

It's likely that even the system didn't anticipate that its special promotional event would lead to such an awkward situation due to the monsters' ridiculously high strength.

So very quickly.

A system notification sounded----

[Urgent Update.]

[During the special intrusion event, the enemy units in the SSS-level dungeon were found to be too strong, causing widespread and uncontrollable passive avoidance of combat in regular arenas and recapture battles.]

[To ensure balance in Cross-Realm Arena competition and maintain order, and to truly realize the event's original intention of allowing players to familiarize themselves with the new dungeon in advance, the system has urgently applied a patch to the invasion event.]

The new rules are as follows:

[1. Starting immediately, the side that successfully kills an invading unit within the arena will receive 300% of the match's payout at the end of the match.]

[This grants a bonus to battle achievements and guarantees a large amount of Survival Points and special buffs.]

[2. To compensate for the information gap in combat, when an invading unit arrives, a "Architect's Afterimage" will be generated around it. This Afterimage will forcibly take over the initial aggro of the monster, briefly holding off the invading unit, and during this time, will visually demonstrate to the players present the standard response and elimination method for that monster.]

[3. After the Architect's Afterimage dissipates, a temporary dungeon-exclusive weapon used by the Architect will drop simultaneously. Players who pick it up will briefly gain the attributes of the Architect's Afterimage and can engage in combat under the new dungeon rules, replicating the Architect's actions to kill invading units.]

[4. After retaking the arena or after a regular arena opponent dies, you can continue to challenge invading units.]

[5. This instance will be forcibly converted into an arena setting in the future. Please take this seriously.]

A system notification suddenly popped up and appeared in front of everyone.

Coordination Bureau.

In the conference room.

Everyone was speechless.

Fan Lixin opened his mouth, then said, "Well, now we have no choice but to fight, and we'll have to fight them for weapons."

The monsters were too strong, disrupting the balance.

The system's first reaction wasn't to make adjustments.

Instead, they simply stopped pretending—turning high risk into irresistible rewards: killing an invading monster grants triple battle merits and a huge amount of Survival Points.

That's fine.

It was also explicitly stated that the new dungeon would be forcibly converted into an arena setting in the future.

Now everyone needs to take this seriously.

Yan Fushou shook his head. "Alright, let's get ready to match."

The problem I was worried about is no longer there—with this system patch, the people in Prison Rock can no longer focus solely on how to escape or launch a sneak attack.

Even if you don't care about the 300% battle merit and Survival Points, you still have to familiarize yourself with Lu Xiu's new dungeon.

Unless they stop caring about winning or losing in the ring.

Of course, this also means that with the arrival of the invading monsters and the added variables of their exclusive weapons, the intensity of the battles in the arena will definitely be higher than ever before.

The system has killed two birds with one stone.

The group responded, but their voices were weak and listless.

Shen Nian frowned slightly and couldn't help but mutter to herself, "Why do I always feel like this isn't so simple? This system sounds good, the Architect's Afterimage demonstrates once, and the dropped weapon lets us try to replicate it—but even if Lu Xiu demonstrates, will we be able to defeat the invading monsters?"

Upon hearing this, the memory of being tortured to the point of near death while conquering the Lu Xiu instance instantly overwhelmed everyone present.

All the members of the Strategy Group gave wry smiles.

They had thought of that too.

But now the trend is irreversible, the system has made it clear that this instance will be forcibly turned into an arena scene, there is no way out.

"There's no use thinking about it now."

Fan Lixin sighed, "At least there's a chance to win. Let's just grit our teeth and go for it. Even if we get slaughtered, we should still gain something. At least we can familiarize ourselves with the monsters in Lu Xiu's new instance. At least the arena isn't affected by the Memory Blur mechanism, right?"

The crowd remained silent, a sense of tragic resolve washing over them as they left the meeting room, preparing to launch a recapture battle and match up in the regular arena.

And indeed, things turned out exactly as these Strategy Group members had predicted—

Reclaim the arena.

Fan Lixin opened his eyes and found himself standing on a desolate, dark red land.

This is an SS-level dungeon in Prison Rock —known as the Fire Dung Pit by players in Nine Provinces. The monsters in this dungeon are easy to defeat, but the terrain is very chaotic.

This is one of the Prison Rock dungeons that players in Nine Provinces are less willing to choose.

Fan Lixin didn't care; this kind of dungeon wasn't difficult for him.

Moreover, the recapture battle is mainly a player-versus-player battle, and the two sides arrive at their respective locations very close to each other, so the impact on the instance is actually not too great.

really.

Not long after.

He then saw his opponent in this battle to retake the city.

[Enoch, Sequence 28]

--

I'm an old acquaintance.

Fan Lixin had faced off against the Chosen Player known as "Prisoner of the Rocks" twice, as Prison Rock was renowned for his high agility attribute.

There are only so many Chosen Player on both sides, so it's perfectly normal to run into someone you know.

If this had happened a few days ago, the two would have immediately started fighting the moment they met during the recapture battle, without any unnecessary words.

But at this moment, the two remained restrained.

They faced each other nearly a hundred meters apart, neither of them rushing to make a move. They only devoted a small portion of their energy to guarding against a sneak attack, while their attention was focused on what was above them.

"Your Architect is insane! I want to see how she fights these monsters she created!"

Enoch's face was grim. After all, they were fighting well just a short while ago, but suddenly he was inexplicably dragged halfway across the map by a large monster—and the worst part was that he couldn't fight back! He couldn't even break through its defense! It was an utter disgrace!

Fan Lixin did not refute this, because this was exactly what he, and indeed the entire Coordination Bureau, urgently wanted to know.

Bang!

A deafening roar followed.

The invading monster crashed down heavily.

Gravel flew everywhere.

The earth seemed to tremble.

After the smoke and dust cleared, a heavily armored monster slowly straightened up.

He was clad in heavy, bulky stone armor, holding a massive shield as large as a door in his left hand and a rough, enormous club in his right, which looked like the tooth of some kind of creature.

[Havel]

Fan Lixin saw the name of the invading monster.

Logically speaking, once the new dungeon monsters arrive, they will immediately charge at them.

But this time, Havel didn't move.

Directly in front of him, as specks of blue light converged, a semi-transparent Afterimage slowly emerged. The Afterimage was barely discernible, dressed in armor and holding a simple, unadorned straight sword.

The name above his head is none other than - The Architect's Afterimage!