Can't You Fight the Architect?

"I'm not incapable of clearing it."

"Then what was the reason this time?"

"The bugs were too disgusting, the environment was too dark, and I had to deal with all that disgusting stuff under those conditions, with barely any ammunition... That's a problem with the dungeon's design, not a problem with me. I can beat an old man—are you saying I can't beat an old woman?"

"..."

Yan Fushou fell silent for a moment, then looked at Wei Yidong, whose little topknot gave him the air of an edgy teenage boy. "You said the same thing when you faced Jack from the Baker Family last time."

Wei Yidong was utterly self-righteous. "That just proves even more that the dungeon design is flawed!"

"Enough. Looks like this dungeon doesn't suit you. You can't beat it."

"No! I can beat it."

"Mm-hmm, got it. Rest for a while and wait for the others to come out."

"No! I really can beat it! It's the dungeon's fault!"

Wei Yidong craned his neck stubbornly. "I'm just not used to those dark, creepy environments, or that troublesome, exhausting way of clearing it—conserving ammo, finding the way, solving puzzles, avoiding pursuit—this isn't combat at all!"

"Give me a pure combat dungeon! No creepy environment! No disgusting bugs! No psychological interference!"

"I guarantee I'll bulldoze my way through it!"

Yan Fushou did not reply. He simply pointed at the door. "Out."

Wei Yidong left, grumbling and cursing.

Yan Fushou shook his head and looked through the documents on his desk. The Strategy Group's progress on the [Resident Evil] dungeon was far slower than expected.

So far, only a handful of people, including Jian Li, could clear it reliably.

They were true top-tier players... players who had received Chosen Talents after the world became gamified.

Yet all of them had rated the [Resident Evil] dungeon poorly. Even though they could clear it, they all said they had no desire to go back after doing so.

Wei Yidong could not even clear it.

To make matters worse, the dungeon also blurred players' memories.

The progress was agonizingly slow.

The main issue was that they could not die recklessly. It was not that they were reluctant to spend Survival Points; rather, for this type of role-playing dungeon, the system had an extremely complicated set of mechanisms to ensure so-called fairness in challenges. If a player died frequently in a dungeon, or died in unreasonable ways, the system might determine that the player was trying to identify patterns and undermine the fairness of the dungeon challenge.

It would directly blur that player's memories.

That completely cut off the method of spending Survival Points and using mass deaths to obtain a complete walkthrough.

Players who had already cleared the dungeon faced even greater restrictions.

Take Jian Li, for example. When she entered the dungeon for the second time after clearing it, she could have killed Marguerite Baker smoothly after reaching the middle of the process. Instead, she deliberately held back and was killed by her.

If it was not done flawlessly, her memories would still be blurred.

There was no need to doubt the game system's judgment in this regard. Although the Coordination Bureau currently had no idea how this so-called game system accomplished it, judging by how it could give clearance evaluations based on each player's performance in a dungeon, it was absolutely capable of monitoring every move every player made.

Yan Fushou even suspected that emotional fluctuations... were within its surveillance range as well.

Under such restrictions, it was easy to imagine how slow their progress was. The Strategy Group could only fill in the walkthrough bit by bit, and so far they had only managed to piece things together up to Marguerite Baker.

This dungeon was well made.

But it was too well made... Not only were its atmosphere, combat, and puzzles tormenting.

Like a game, it also possessed a complete, independent gameplay system.

That rendered the Strategy Group's once-prized cross-analysis strategy meaningless.

The so-called cross-analysis strategy involved top players skilled in different areas clearing a dungeon first, then providing a rough walkthrough based on their respective strengths. After that, mid- and lower-tier players would work from the rough walkthrough, repeatedly entering the dungeon and compiling the details of every stage until a complete walkthrough was produced.

But against the [Resident Evil] dungeon, there were not enough top-tier players capable of clearing it, and the mid- and lower-tier players were not strong enough either...

That gave Yan Fushou quite a headache.

Actually, the [Resident Evil] dungeon was manageable. At least the frontline soldiers had a fairly decent clear rate.

What Yan Fushou was most worried about... was the Architect Lu Xiu's next dungeon. If its mechanics were still complicated, if it still had a complete and independent gameplay system, and if the problem went beyond merely having a terrifying atmosphere, then they would be in real trouble.

Though it probably would not appear so soon.

At the very least, it would take another half year or so.

But when it did appear, would the Strategy Group have to go through this all over again?

"No... We still need to find the Architect."

Yan Fushou rubbed his temples and stood up, just about to head out.

Knock, knock—

There was suddenly a knock on the door.

Yan Fushou sighed, sat back down, and called out for them to enter.

Li Shengkai, director of the Dungeon Resource Management Division, pushed open the door and walked in, his expression somewhat complicated.

Yan Fushou was a little surprised. "Old Li? What is it?"

Li Shengkai pulled out a chair and sat down. "Information on civilian construction groups."

"Didn't Jianqu Construction Group remove its pinned bounty notice from the forum? Did they put up another bounty?"

"No. I just received intel from an informant—the leader of Spirit Pivot Construction Group has reached Builder Level 15."

"That informant of yours who screams for more money every day?... No, wait, it seems like every one of your informants screams for more money. Old Li, you really have terrible taste in people."

"Is that really the point?!"

"Sorry... Level 15, right? The highest level among Builders currently applying for the [Builder Special Fund] is only Level 4, isn't it? How did he level up so fast?"

Yan Fushou smiled. "Does that mean something?"

Li Shengkai countered, "You know, right? When a Builder reaches Level 5, a new function unlocks. It's called 'Role Assumption.'"

Yan Fushou nodded. "I've heard of it, but I never looked into it. I don't know exactly what it does."

Since he had not previously been responsible for civilian dungeons, he genuinely did not know much about it.

"Assume the role of a character within a dungeon."

Li Shengkai answered, then shook his head. "But that isn't the important part. The important part is the later function. According to the intel my informant sent back, once a Builder reaches Level 15, they gain a new function called 'Hall.'"

"What does it do?"

"They haven't found out yet."

"Then..."

"But based on the information the informant obtained, the leader of Spirit Pivot Construction Group was extremely excited after leveling up. He said outright that this function was incredibly powerful and closely tied to the quality of a Builder's dungeons. He even claimed that it would completely overturn the current situation where player-side gameplay dominated.

"He also beat his chest in regret, saying that the dungeons he had made before were too crude, with most of them being imitation dungeons. Otherwise, Spirit Pivot Construction Group could have stepped into the spotlight already. Old Yan... Spirit Pivot Construction Group has a terrible reputation, but you should have heard of their leader. He definitely wasn't talking nonsense."

"You mean..."

"Original dungeons."

Li Shengkai pointed at the [Resident Evil] dungeon guide on Yan Fushou's desk. "If the 'Hall' function is really that powerful, which Builder do you think would be the most valuable?"

Yan Fushou: "..."

At the same time.

Chen Capital, on the other side of the city.

Longsword Tower, seventh floor.

Amid a flash of white light, Zhang Fenghua, the leader of the Longsword Guild Strategy Group, exited the dungeon.

The moment he landed, he started cursing. "What kind of bullshit dungeon was that? That Mia at the start was bad enough, but there were so many more freakish things afterward! That whole family was insane! And the puzzles too! Who the hell knows how to solve those puzzles? How were you supposed to solve puzzles in an environment like that?!"

After he finished cursing.

He finally noticed something and looked ahead.

More than a dozen people were watching him.

Zhang Fenghua froze for a moment. "You guys came out too?"

A fat man in a shirt, with a huge belly, gave a bitter smile. "Group Leader, I died at Jack's hands. That guy was a complete psycho—appearing and vanishing like a ghost. It was my first time seeing an enemy in a dungeon who made us afraid to even breathe."

"Same. I saw him in the hallway right after I came out. My heart practically stopped."

"The problem is, he just won't die! We burned him to ashes in the garage, and he still showed up later. The pressure was insane."

"There are even worse freaks later on. You'll know once you fight them. Marguerite... seems to have some unique mechanic, but I don't want to keep going."

"I died at Mia."

"..."

Once the dungeon came up, everyone was full of complaints.

There was no helping it.

Ever since they had learned about the rewards for the [Resident Evil] dungeon, the entire guild had been forced to focus on clearing it.

The rewards were simply too good. No one could ignore them.

But the problem was that the dungeon was truly torturous.

Even the Coordination Bureau's Strategy Group could only grind through it bit by bit, let alone other players.

The Longsword Guild's strategy players had been stuck in the dungeon for a week already, yet only one person had cleared it.

Watching his complaining colleagues, Zhang Fenghua gave a wry smile. "Just as I thought... Right, where's Zhao Heng? Did he clear it? Didn't he make a forum post?"

"That was the boss lady... no, the boss, having the operations staff post it for him."

The same fat man answered, "He himself has no intention of going back in. I heard he's still shutting himself away. No idea what he went through."

"..."

Zhang Fenghua was somewhat speechless. After a long while, he finally said, "It would be great if we could find the Builder of this dungeon..."

The moment those words were spoken, they immediately struck a chord.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Right, then we can beat her up!"

"Exactly, exactly, beat her up, beat her up!"

"Beat my ass, make her write guides for us!"

Zhang Fenghua said irritably, "What fucking use are the current guides? They don't say anything. The dungeon is full of puzzles, and we have to solve them under that much psychological pressure. If we keep feeling our way through like this, how long will it take? Not to mention the combat—some enemies seem to have mechanics too. We need more detailed guides!"

"...So we can't hit her?"

"Hit her my ass. We'd be lucky just to find her and put her on a pedestal."

"What a shame."

"What a shame."

"Group Leader."

Just as everyone was showing their regret, the fat man spoke again. "You were still in the dungeon just now, so you didn't get the message. Boss said we don't need to look for the builder of the [Resident Evil] dungeon anymore."

Zhang Fenghua was somewhat surprised. "Why? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"Boss said the Coordination Bureau put pressure on her. She isn't afraid of them, but she doesn't want to be a beast... She said the people holding the front line right now are mainly soldiers, not rotating guild personnel, and not ordinary people either. Even if the front line collapsed, guild members could still survive, but she doesn't want to see her compatriots die right in front of her.

"She also said that only domestic stability can earn more Survival Points. Turning the whole place into a land crawling with monsters benefits no one. Compared with joining a guild, the builder who made the [Resident Evil] dungeon really is better suited to staying in the Coordination Bureau."

"..."

Zhang Fenghua fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "Understood... but the other guilds might not think that way."

The fat man nodded. "I asked the same thing, but Boss said that was other people's business. Besides, the Coordination Bureau is actually pretty formidable—especially when the iron fist comes down. And the players in their Strategy Group are strong too, especially that deadpan Jian Li... She told us to relax."

"So she's still scared after all..."

Zhang Fenghua shook his head. After grumbling about his own boss, he said, "Forget it, I get it. Since we're not looking for the builder... then Zhao Heng will have to suffer a little more. Go contact him!"