Play Society and Franca

Regardless of what the audience thinks, those two unfortunate guys who are stuck in each other's camps and can't leave think about it.

With Midir's death, the last remaining Prison Rock Core player in the cave who was putting up a last-ditch fight also had his health depleted, and the group battle had completely become a waste of time.

Even if there are still a few scattered core players of Prison Rock wandering outside, it doesn't matter to the big picture.

Inside the caves of Midir.

Lu Xiu gently exhaled a breath of stale air.

at the same time.

The Lord of Cinder Domain has also disappeared.

The sparks and Ember that kept flying out of Lu Xiu's body gradually dimmed and eventually disappeared completely into the air.

Next comes a ten-day cooldown period.

This Domain Skill is indeed powerful, but its cooldown time is too long.

Lu Xiu looked at her skill list and felt a little regretful.

If the cooldown time were even shorter, it would be truly invincible.

Speaking of which...

The Domain Skill on Prison Rock's side seems to have been used multiple times, which is clearly not a normal cooldown period, and it's unclear what item was used.

I wish I could get my hands on it.

However, Lu Xiu quickly forgot about that.

With Midir's death.

Shen Nian gripped her exceptionally long sword and looked at Lu Xiu again. "Lu Xiu, what exactly did you mean by 'the dog sits down'? What am I to you?"

Is this the time to play house?

"Midir's dead, isn't it going too far to use this excuse?"

"----Your knife is so cool."

"Really? I think he's handsome too."

"Can I borrow it to play with?"

"It's possible, but this sword is actually difficult to draw. It's too long, almost two meters long. I only use it as a tool for my skills. It's not impossible to actually cut someone, but every time I have to grab the hilt and swing the scabbard out, and then awkwardly retrieve it after the fight."

"I'll teach you a trick: raise the knife to your neck, use your body and arm span to shout something like, 'Like a surging tide, leading you home,' or 'I will sever the cage of fate.' It'll increase your success rate."

"Really? But why shout those things? Why does shouting them increase the success rate—wait! Is that what we're talking about?"

"Goose, goose, goose, goose----"

And just then...

On the other side, having just easily dealt with the last few core players of Prison Rock and cleaned up Queenie, who was actually a traitor despite her green name in Nine Provinces, Cheng Xiu and his group arrived at Lu Xiu's side.

As they approached, they saw Lu Xiu with a smile on her face, teasing the exasperated Shen Nian.

There was no trace of the Deity figure who had just appeared on the battlefield.

The contrast is just too great.

Even so, Cheng Xiu and the others did not show the slightest casualness when they approached Lu Xiu.

"It's all settled, Lu Xiu."

Cheng Xiu stopped beside Lu Xiu, his tone extremely polite, even carrying a solemnity he himself didn't realize.

In fact, not only him, but even Wei Yidong, who is usually very loud and impolite, was unusually quiet at this moment.

Instead of speaking as usual, he remained silent, scrutinizing Lu Xiu with a strange look.

The others weren't much better off.

Needless to say, Lu Xiu's release of the Lord of Cinder Domain was nothing short of miraculous. Its mechanics were so powerful that even a low-level Sequence 1 player, given those effects, would probably dare to challenge anyone.

certainly.

The most outrageous thing is her feat of instantly killing Gallagher and the others.

This completely baffled these core players of Nine Provinces.

Keep in mind that the arena battles have been going on for almost a month.

As the top team in Nine Provinces, Cheng Xiu and his group had clashed with people like Gallagher and Finn more than once or twice.

They knew better than anyone else how much value Lu Xiu possessed that could easily surpass theirs.

Hearing Cheng Xiu's words.

Lu Xiu slightly suppressed her smile, turned her head, and nodded gently. "That's good."

Then, she glanced at the time and asked, "So what are you planning to do next? There's still half an hour left. Are you just going to wait for it to end, or do you want to use this time to challenge some other bosses in Dark Souls?"

Before anyone could answer, Lu Xiu seemed to have thought of something and added, "If you want to take on a challenge, I recommend the Painted World. You've probably already defeated the other bosses, but the new boss in the Painted World is quite interesting, and she's a young lady!"

Cheng Xiu and others: "----"

Everyone glanced silently at Lu Xiu, then at the spot where Midir had just been standing, and the image of Midir unleashing the Abyss Laser flashed through their minds simultaneously.

interesting?

As a limited-time boss who joined alongside Midir, the interesting boss Lu Xiu mentioned in the Painted World —I guess his level of abnormality is just as high as Midir's?

You want us to take on this challenge?

Us?!

Several High Sequence players from Nine Provinces couldn't help but raise their hands, wanting to point to themselves and ask a question.

----Me?

In the end, Cheng Xiu swallowed hard and was the first to react.

His lips twitched slightly, and he shook his head sincerely. "----Let's forget it. I think it's fine if we all just stay here quietly and wait for the settlement."

"Okay."

Lu Xiu didn't press the matter. "Then you're free to do as you please."

But after saying that...

Lu Xiu seemed to remember something else, glanced at Jian Li standing quietly beside her, and said, "It's actually better if we don't go. After all, the top-tier players in Nine Provinces don't seem very united."

Cheng Xiu was taken aback. "----What happened to you?"

Lu Xiu nodded, and then recounted Jian Ning's matter.

Although she knew Jian Li would most likely report it, Lu Xiu still decided to tell Cheng Xiu and ask about those people.

After listening to Lu Xiu's story...

Cheng Xiu and several other players looked rather grim.

Lu Xiu asked curiously, "Do you know the organization they belong to?"

"Know----"

A flash of disgust crossed Cheng Xiu's eyes. "They're from the Play Society."

Wei Yidong, standing to the side, couldn't hold back any longer and spat out, cursing, "Those are a bunch of lunatics who have no concept of reality!"

Lu Xiu blinked, somewhat puzzled. "What do you mean?"

Cheng Xiu rubbed his temples and explained to Lu Xiu, "Simply put, they're a group of utterly selfish players with no moral compass."

He gave several examples and concluded. "They treat life and death in the real world as a game, with virtually no moral burden. Some members did indeed give up on themselves because they couldn't adapt to the gamified world, but many more deliberately went down that path."

And currently----"

Cheng Xiu glanced at Jian Li and said, "It seems that Jian Ning is the leader of the Play Society."

Jian Li stood behind Lu Xiu, her eyes lowered.

Lu Xiu realized something, turned around, subconsciously rubbed her head, and whispered, "It's none of your business."

Jian Li must have felt awkward too, after all, she was her older sister.

Jian Li smelled the faint fragrance emanating from Lu Xiu, felt the weight on her head, and slowly raised her head.

But Lu Xiu had already withdrawn her hand and turned away.

Jian Li silent for a moment, then reached out and tugged at the hem of Lu Xiu.

On the other side...

Lu Xiu fell into deep thought.

Play Society.

Thinking about it carefully, she herself seemed quite like a member of the Play Society.

After all, ever since accepting her identity, she has often viewed this gamified world with the mindset of a pure player.

That's one way of life, I suppose.

However, the group at the Play Society was clearly more extreme.

Even if Lu Xiu treats everything as a game, it won't affect others, but the people in the Play Society obviously won't think that way.

That's not how you play!

Lu Xiu shook her head, snapping out of her reverie and gathering her scattered thoughts. "I've got it. In short, just be careful in the future. As for how to report this to the Coordination Bureau, you can decide that yourselves."

At this point, Lu Xiu suddenly changed the subject. "By the way—are there members within the Play Society who idolize Franca?"

"Franca?"

Cheng Xiu was taken aback for a moment, then asked with a puzzled look, "Why are you suddenly asking this?"

"I noticed that some of them were wearing animal ears."

Lu Xiu recalled the image of a member of a certain Play Society, and explained, "I remember, isn't that a characteristic of the residents from Franca? Or is it just a cute feature?"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Xiu frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and then hesitantly shook his head: "I'm not quite sure about that—"

"I see."

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiu didn't ask any further questions, but murmured, "Nine Provinces should have no problem winning the arena battle—I wonder how Franca also won during the special event, is doing."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Xiu looked towards the cave exit. "Only they themselves probably know the answer—"

Yes.

The world is not populated solely by humans.

This was discovered by Lu Xiu after she adapted to her current body and carefully reviewed her memories to understand the information about the world she was in.

After all, she didn't want to make a fool of herself or have her time travel discovered.

God knows.

What was her expression when she learned that Franca had Orc Race?

This is one of the reasons why she has never felt a very strong sense of belonging to Nine Provinces.

----We're not even from the same world.

After a brief chat...

Next.

There's not much more to say.

Since I don't intend to provoke the Sister Friede in the Painted World anymore...

Lu Xiu simply found a clean spot in Midir's cave, sat down, and chatted idly with Shen Nian and Jian Li, killing the last half hour of their time.

The battle has come to an end.

But at this moment, in the external Nine Provinces main live broadcast room, the popularity did not decrease with the end of the battle, but instead ushered in another wonderful climax.

If Lu Xiu's instant kill on the battlefield was a display of skill and heroic spirit, then...

Now, the scene of Lu Xiu sitting and chatting and joking with Shen Nian and Jian Li revealed a side of her that perfectly matched her beautiful appearance and exuded a youthful charm.

[Oh no, I can't connect Lu Xiu with the person who just annihilated Gallagher and the Architect who created all sorts of hellish dungeons—how can one person possess two completely conflicting traits at the same time, and even mischievously tease their teammates? This is too cute! This is too unfair!]

[Things just happened so fast, I haven't even had time to process it yet. This girl is actually Lu Xiu —I really thought she was a burly man with a female ID.]

[He can sternly and swiftly defeat enemies in battle, yet secretly nudge them with his shoulder during rest, revealing a charming smile—I want to be a dog too! Woof woof woof!]

[Have some self-respect! Why should you be in this position?]

[This unexpected contrast is just too adorable—I thought she was a cool, aloof fighting machine, but her personality in private is completely different! I'm finding it hard to resist! It's just too unfair.]

As a player who has completed the Lu Xiu dungeon, it's not unreasonable for me to get to know the Architect, right?

[----]

The entire live stream room was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

Of course, Lu Xiu, who was inside the cave, was completely unaware of the excitement happening in the live broadcast room outside.

Time passed by, second by second.

Soon, the countdown in the upper right corner finally reached [00:00:00].

Buzz.

A slight feeling of weightlessness came over me.

A white teleportation Bai Guang shone on Lu Xiu, Jian Li, Shen Nian, Cheng Xiu, and all the other players from Nine Provinces.

at the same time.

System announcements also rang out throughout Nine Provinces.

The first-tier team's collective battle has ended!

[Congratulations to the Nine Provinces faction for their final victory!]

[Battle Results: The Nine Provinces faction has successfully captured ten areas of Obsidian City, the capital of the opposing faction (Prison Rock)!]

[Star player in this team battle: Lu Xiu!]

[Reward: 10,000 Battle Points!]

[Second-tier players, please prepare!]

[----]

The system announcements continued incessantly, echoing endlessly.

Meanwhile...

After the brief dizziness from the scene change subsided.

Lu Xiu landed lightly, finally returning to Maple Leaf Avenue and stepping onto the floor of her own home.

She let out a soft breath, just about to look at the settlement window that popped up in front of her.

But before she could act...

After leaving the closed, collective combat scenario.

Countless unread messages, friend requests, and emails suddenly flooded in, and the dense pop-ups filled Lu Xiu's entire field of vision in less than a second.

Meanwhile, the small envelope icon in the lower right corner of the system interface, representing [unread emails], was jumping around wildly as if it were going crazy.

The numbers are skyrocketing at an outrageous rate!

It jumped straight from 99+ to 9999+!

Even though Lu Xiu had already turned off the email notification sound, she still felt a chill run down her spine and was startled as she watched the numbers jump up so rapidly.

Since they learned that Lu Xiu wouldn't reply, the players who were suffering from the dungeon stopped bothering her as much.

This suddenly turns into the same situation as when [Resident Evil] was first released.

Lu Xiu was somewhat flustered.

"----What the hell?"

Her fair fingers tapped incessantly, trying to close all the friend requests and pop-up communication windows that were still frantically appearing.

And just then...

As two more Bai Guang flashed, Shen Nian and Jian Li also left the battlefield and appeared beside her.

As soon as she landed, Shen Nian saw Lu Xiu standing there, her hair standing on end, pointing wildly at the air in front of her. She was taken aback and asked, "Lu Xiu? What's wrong?"

"I'm being bombarded with emails----"

Lu Xiu replied, completely flustered, "And it seems like hundreds of thousands of ghost soldiers are adding me as a friend—"

Upon hearing this, Shen Nian blinked, then seemed to realize something.

She brought up her System Panel, then jumped to the forum, quickly glanced at it, and then couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"I know why now----"

Shen Nian couldn't help but chuckle, swiping her finger in the air to set her forum window to be visible to everyone, then pushing it directly in front of Lu Xiu: "The entire team battle we just fought was live-streamed, which means that everything you did in it—all the viewers could see it."

"----live streaming?"

Lu Xiu paused slightly as she looked at the interface, a sudden sense of foreboding rising within her.

She had already thought about the live stream before participating in the group battle, and was mentally prepared for it.

But it's quite obvious.

The consequences far exceeded her expectations.

She looked toward the window that Shen Nian had pushed open.

At this moment, the Nine Provinces Forum was completely flooded with negative comments.

At first glance, the entire homepage is filled with red "explosive" posts, almost all bearing her name.

[Lu Xiu!!! I love you!!!]

[Shocking! The Architect torments everyone is a beautiful girl!]

[<About how I suffered terribly in the dungeon, but decided to forgive the Architect after seeing her.>]

[The Architect who seemed like a sadistic torturer turned out to be an absolutely stunning beauty in real life! (with selected high-definition screenshots) [doge emoji]]

[From now on, no one is allowed to criticize Lu Xiu. She only Constructed Instance to make the players of Nine Provinces stronger. What did she do wrong!]

[Rational discussion: How exactly did Lu Xiu do it? Why is she so strong? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?]

Was she naturally this strong, which is why she faced such challenging dungeons? Or did she become so strong only after encountering challenging dungeons?

[I just reviewed the game, and it was absolutely outrageous. I don't even know how I could have defeated Lu Xiu.]

[Lu Xiu, do you need another dog?! I can actually imitate it even better! Even better than Shen Nian!]

[Lu Xiu ----So amazing!!!]

-"

Looking at those outrageous post titles.

Lu Xiu's vision went black.

This day.

The girl behind the ID "Lu Xiu," which was already familiar to players of the Nine Provinces," has become a household name throughout the Nine Provinces.