Piercing Boom

Lu Xiu saw the rewards and finally grew excited.

But the excitement did not last long before she could no longer take it.

...She was too tired.

The afterglow of her excitement slowly faded.

Lu Xiu finally calmed down and sat back down on the floor of the construction space.

Though her mind had become excited again, the aftereffects of clearing Sekiro twice in one day were still there.

Lu Xiu felt every inch of her muscles aching faintly...

She rubbed her shoulders and pulled the window from earlier back up... Come to think of it, she had not had time to look at the other rewards yet.

This time, the skill reward she received for her first clear was [Perfect Deflect], which seemed different from the rewards other players received for clearing it.

The skill other players could receive for clearing it seemed to be called... Loser's Obsession?

She pulled over the window for a look, then opened the skill.

[Special Skill: Loser's Obsession]

[Rating: S]

[Type: Rule-based/Passive Trigger]

[Ability Description: 1: Triggers when HP is ≤5% and you suffer lethal damage. HP is locked and grayed out, entering the [Obsession State]. When the skill triggers, the target that last dealt damage to you is marked as "Enemy," and this mark cannot be changed during the state.

2: In the Obsession State, HP is no longer calculated, and all damage you receive is converted into Posture. When Posture (Posture Bar) is filled, you die immediately.

3: Successfully deflecting an enemy's attack or dealing effective damage to the enemy reduces your own Posture; damage dealt to you by non-enemies also counts toward Posture.

4: If you successfully kill the enemy while the state lasts, recover 50% HP and exit the [Obsession State]; otherwise, die immediately when the state ends.]

[Trigger Condition: HP ≤5% and suffer lethal damage]

[Duration: 300 seconds]

[Cooldown: 2 hours]

[Cost: None]

[Note: Obsession may be born of protection, revenge, unwillingness, the desire to survive, or simply being unable to win; it is this obsession that makes losers struggle back from death again and again, refusing to fall...]

Lu Xiu murmured, "...So it isn't a lesser version of Perfect Deflect?"

She was a little surprised. This seemed to be a lesser version of [Audience], and it was extremely passive.

Not only could it not be activated voluntarily.

It also could not pull the other party under the same rules. If she was being ganged up on, there might be no way to turn things around.

But it was still useful. It was basically HP lock.

Honestly.

Lu Xiu wanted it too; she just did not know whether it would conflict with [Audience]...

However.

That was not the most important thing. If there really was a conflict, she could go without it.

But the other rewards were different.

Lu Xiu looked at the last line of the dungeon verification information—[Possible rewards: "Loser's Obsession"; rare skills; Shinobi Prosthetic tools; consumables; attribute point rewards.]

Shinobi Prosthetic tools!

Rare skills!

This meant clearing the dungeon could also grant other skills, as well as Shinobi Prosthetic tools.

Lu Xiu wanted those more. Although Perfect Deflect was great, it was only one skill.

She actually wanted the dungeon's "Dodge Step," "Shinobi Prosthetic tools," and "Perilous" attacks too. It would be even better if there were combat arts.

Ideally, she would farm out all of Wolf's skills.

After creating her first dungeon, Lu Xiu was no longer the clueless newbie she had once been.

At the very least, she knew that each player-made dungeon could yield rewards a maximum of three times.

This included dungeon verification attempts.

In other words, she could still farm the Sekiro dungeon two more times.

Lu Xiu had cleared it just now entirely by trading blows, and then obtained the [Perfect Deflect] skill.

For the second clear, she could try to rely mainly on Shinobi Prosthetic tools while using Dodge Step as much as possible, and see whether she could farm them out.

As for the third time, she could try to farm out all the enemies' [Perilous] attacks.

The focus was pure pragmatism!

If she really could farm out Dodge Step, Shinobi Prosthetic tools, Perilous attacks, and the rest.

She could not say how powerful that would be.

But self-preservation definitely wouldn't be a problem!

"..."

The more Lu Xiu thought about it, the more she felt like she was a genius. She got to her feet, intending to begin the second dungeon run.

But the moment she stood up, a wave of dizziness hit her.

...She had no idea how many hours she had been going nonstop.

Her mind and body had both reached their limits.

Lu Xiu rubbed her smooth forehead. Looking down, she realized everything she saw had afterimages; she could not even see her own toes anymore... She knew she had reached her limit. After taking one last look at the rewards, she summoned the system menu and exited the construction space.

Very soon.

The white light of the construction space faded from before her eyes, replaced by the soft, dim yellow lighting of the real world.

Lu Xiu leaned against the wall for a while. Once she had left the construction space, the overwhelming exhaustion finally erupted in full.

She shook her head, then took off her restrictive clothes. Her snow-white, jade-like skin was exposed beneath the gentle light, gleaming with a warm luster. Her proud curves were laid bare at that moment, like a meticulously sculpted work of art.

She staggered into the bathroom.

She did not even have the strength to look in the mirror, simply turning on the hot water.

After showering.

In a daze, Lu Xiu changed into an oversized nightgown and threw herself onto the bed. The instant she touched the pillow, her consciousness sank into a deep black dream.

In the dream.

She seemed to become that tireless blacksmith once more, mechanically swinging her blade and parrying again and again amid endlessly flashing danger symbols.

Maybe the thought of doing cyber assembly-line work even in her dreams was too terrifying.

Whoosh—

Lu Xiu jolted awake in fright and abruptly sat up in bed. The noon sunlight, like a warm veil of gauze, covered the entire room.

She froze for two seconds before her awareness fully returned. She checked the time... and discovered it was already one in the afternoon.

The mind-rending exhaustion from last night had finally faded away.

Fully revived.

"Nice."

Once Lu Xiu realized her fatigue was gone, she stretched hard, rolled out of bed, planted her bare feet on the floor, and headed for the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom.

The sound of running water soon rang out.

Lu Xiu scooped up a handful of water and lightly splashed it over her face. The instant the cold water hit her skin, the last trace of drowsiness was completely washed away.

She raised her head again, and an utterly flawless, impeccable face appeared in the mirror.

A few droplets still clung to her fair, delicate face. She was beautiful, certainly, but something felt strange.

At that thought.

Even Lu Xiu herself paused in surprise.

Ever since crossing over.

She had actually rarely looked at herself this seriously.

"What exactly is wrong..."

Lu Xiu stopped midway through her sentence.

She stepped closer. Once her body blocked the sunlight streaming in through the window, the oddity became unmistakable.

In the mirror, her originally clear, bright black eyes had turned red.

Not a glaring scarlet.

Rather, it was an exceptionally pure, translucent crimson, as though a thin layer of red jade had slowly spread through the depths of her pupils. It was not cloudy at all—instead, it was startlingly clean, like freshly dissolved cinnabar gently lit by the light, or the softest lingering glow of the evening sunset, frozen at the bottom of her eyes.

Lu Xiu's beautiful eyes widened slightly, and that touch of red shifted with them.

It was indescribably beautiful.

Her features had already been stunning, and this unusual color now seemed like the final stroke that brought them to life.

It gave her an added hint of bewitching charm.

But Lu Xiu was in no mood to admire herself.

"What the hell is this supposed to mean?!"

Lu Xiu blinked, but nothing changed. She could hardly believe it.

Five minutes later.

After sitting on the sofa and going through everything that might have affected her, Lu Xiu finally remembered something.

She opened the system's built-in inventory.

Just as expected.

The equipment reward from yesterday's validation instance was still sitting there.

But she couldn't take it out—only view its attributes.

[Item: Mortal Blade: Gracious Gift of Tears (Broken Blade)]

[Rating: Broken Blade]

[Status: Damaged (Only 1/5 of the blade remains)]

[Type: Ritual Blade]

[Attribute Bonus: Perception +1]

[Special Effect: Though merely a broken blade, it still possesses the power to slay the undying. While it is on the holder's person (also effective in the inventory), both pupils turn a clear crimson. In this state, the holder gains abnormally keen sensitivity to death, allowing them to distinguish, almost instinctively, the living and dead states of any target and their abnormal forms (such as false death, parasitism, split souls, and so on). Can be manually disabled by the holder. Once disabled, eye color returns to normal and the effect disappears simultaneously.]

[Equipment Requirement: Exclusive to Lu Xiu (ID: 15******)]

[Note: Gracious Gift of Tears, offered in exchange for Dragon's Tears; a blade that cannot be sheathed, for drawing it means death... A reward that should never have appeared. Empowered by the unwilling obsessions of all living beings, it became a broken blade. Once the Builder's "Placement" function is unlocked, other broken blades may be collected.]

Looking at the special effects section, Lu Xiu finally understood the source of the change in her eyes.

She had been so exhausted yesterday that she had nearly forgotten about this item.

Thankfully, it could be turned off.

She hurriedly disabled the special effect, then went to look in the mirror again. Sure enough, her eyes had returned to normal.

"..."

Lu Xiu returned to the sofa and sat down, opening the item description for Gracious Gift of Tears once more. Her expression was somewhat strange.

Was there going to be some broken-sword reforging plotline too?

And what was with that note? Why did it feel like the characters in the instance all wanted nothing more than to come out and chop her to pieces?

"Ha... how could that be?"

Thinking that, Lu Xiu laughed at her own idea.

If the instance characters really had such emotions, they wouldn't have been slaughtered so thoroughly by her in the instance.

Besides, wasn't it still unknown whether the people inside the instances she created were real people?

Lu Xiu shook her head, closed the item description for Gracious Gift of Tears, and opened the thing she hadn't had time to look at yesterday because of her resentment and exhaustion.

"Wow... it's that expensive?!"

There wasn't much to say about the rest.

But when Lu Xiu saw the rule stabilization fee for the [Sekiro] instance, she was startled.

It was as high as 21,000 points!

No.

She clearly remembered that the Resident Evil instance had only cost 3,000!

Why was this one so much more?!

Was it because there were so many enemy characters?

After thinking it over, that was the only possibility Lu Xiu could come up with.

This was a bit troublesome—more than twenty thousand points.

She really didn't have enough Survival Points to put the instance online, especially since there was still some time before the monthly ticket dividend settlement for the [Resident Evil] instance.

Did she have to take out another loan from the Coordination Bureau?

Lu Xiu wore a thoughtful expression.

Hmm... she should borrow it. The interest was low anyway.

It wasn't as though she couldn't pay it back.

Most importantly, now that she had the ability to protect herself, she could make contact with the Coordination Bureau.

She had actually already been mentally prepared for the Coordination Bureau to come looking for her.

Although this was a parallel world, and the entire administrative system had developed certain problems after reality became gamified, its foundations were still there. If they truly made up their minds to screen everyone in the country named Lu Xiu, they would definitely be able to find her.

By the time Lu Xiu learned that IDs could be changed, the Resident Evil instance had already gone online...

That was also why she hadn't moved. There was no point.

Since contact was inevitable, it would be better to take the initiative and gain a few more bargaining chips.

She didn't want to join the Coordination Bureau, but she also didn't want to spend her life hiding.

With that thought—

Lu Xiu made up her mind. She found the official application portal for the [Builder Special Fund] again and submitted her newest instance.

Less than five minutes later—

Lu Xiu clapped her hands.

Submit.

Done.

Imperial Capital, Chen Capital.

National Strategic Dungeon and Anomalous Space Affairs Central Administration.

Dungeon Resource Management Division.

Lin Xiao lowered her head, intensely reading posts on the forums. Taking a moment to sip her tea, she smiled and said to Su Miao beside her, "That Miss Lu Xiu has really changed the ecosystem and reputation of civilian dungeons. The forums are still discussing [Resident Evil] on a massive scale."

"How did you know she's a woman?"

Su Miao briefly looked up as well and smiled. "Don't we spend all day on the forums? Players have been calling the Resident Evil dungeon disgusting from start to finish. At first, a few people were calling her big sis, but now they're all calling her crazy. Players are saying no one without ten years of psychiatric history could make a dungeon like this. Some are even saying that if the builder really is a woman, they'll livestream themselves eating a pound of shit."

"Hahaha."

Lin Xiao couldn't help laughing. "But I have a feeling she's a woman."

"Me too..."

Su Miao had just started to speak.

Her personal notification sound rang.

Lin Xiao spread her hands. "There it is again."

Su Miao sighed, turned to open the window, and after dealing with it, looked up again. "Yeah, there it is again... From the bigger picture, I'm quite grateful to Lu Xiu, but personally, she's really caused me quite a lot of trouble."

"What's bad about builders suddenly becoming more active?"

"But they've become way too active! Ever since the [Resident Evil] dungeon came out, everyone realized it was possible for original dungeons to receive high ratings. All sorts of freaks have popped up at once, and every last one of them wants to build an original dungeon."

Su Miao continued helplessly, "But they don't have the ability, you know? Their creations are rated E or F, yet all of them want to take out loans through the special rating channel. Every one of them has that arrogant attitude of, 'Send me 3,000 Survival Points now, and I'll pay you back with a new Resident Evil dungeon later.'"

"Hahaha."

Lin Xiao laughed again. After a while, she said, "But this really is a good thing. Even if plenty are just muddying the waters, there'll always be some gold among them."

"Let's switch desks! You deal with those absurdly self-confident builders who ask me for Survival Points every day, then say that!"

"Then forget it. No gold is fine... Just hold on. Once Master Lu Xiu comes out with another S-rank original dungeon, everything will get better."

"How could that happen?"

Su Miao shook her head. "Original dungeons are incredibly difficult to make. I heard from friends in the Strategy Group that, disgusting as the [Resident Evil] dungeon is, its quality is beyond question. It must have been polished for at least three years. Isn't that what the forum players have been saying too? Otherwise, it couldn't possibly be this perfect. If you want to wait for Master Lu Xiu to make another S-rank dungeon, wait another three years."

"That's not long. It'll pass in the blink of an eye."

"Come on, come on, come sit here! You deal with those builders!"

Su Miao stood up directly.

But just as she finished speaking.

Her personal notification sound rang again.

Lin Xiao burst out laughing, openly gloating.

Su Miao was a little exasperated, but she could only pull up the window, cursing as she did, "Will this ever end...?"

Su Miao had thought she was about to unleash a satisfying tirade.

But what appeared before her eyes were two SSes.

Her movements instantly froze.

On the translucent screen lay a new Builder Special Fund application.

Applicant: Lu Xiu.

Dungeon Name: Sekiro.

Dungeon Rating: SS.

"..."

Su Miao stood there blankly, her mouth slowly opening, then slowly closing, then opening again.

After a long while.

She suddenly reached out, her trembling finger pointing at the window before her as she let out a scream loud enough to make the entire floor turn to look.

"AAAAAHHHHH—"

Lin Xiao's hand holding the teacup jerked, and the scalding tea nearly spilled onto her pants.

She stared at Su Miao in bewilderment, her eyes full of concern that seemed to say, "Have those builders finally driven you insane?"

"What are you doing...?"

"Lu, Lu, Lu..."

Su Miao's lips trembled. The first syllable got stuck three times, and she still couldn't manage to say the full name. She simply gave up on language altogether and shoved the window directly in front of Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao lowered her head and glanced at it.

The teacup was set down.

She stood up.

Her hand pointed toward the window.

"AAAAAAAH—"

Two shrill screams erupted one after another through the Dungeon Resource Management Division's office area.

Colleagues at neighboring desks poked their heads out, utterly confused.

What happened? What happened?

Why were there groundhogs screaming in the office?!

Less than ten minutes later.

Coordination Bureau, Director's Office.

Director Li Bao picked up the desk phone. After hearing the news from the other end, he fell silent for a long while.

"Say that again."

"What do you mean Lu Xiu built another dungeon?"

"What do you mean it was rated SS-class again?"