No Self-Awareness

But in the end.

Lu Xiu did not dwell on it any further. She had only built one scene so far; it was too early to think about all that.

For now, there was no cost involved. She would continue refining the dungeon first.

Lu Xiu gently shook her head, temporarily clearing away the jumble of thoughts in her mind. After looking around Hell Dining Table before her—

She hesitated for a moment.

This time, she did not close her eyes. Instead, she directly raised her fair arm and pointed it ahead.

Sure enough, even without closing her eyes, memories still surged forth like a flood.

As she imagined, the entire space seemed to begin shifting, and a low rumble sounded outside.

The wall to the left suddenly moved outward by several inches.

Then—

A doorframe appeared.

The corridor beyond the door formed.

The room and corridor began connecting.

Lu Xiu lowered her hand, then walked around the dining table and the motionless NPCs. Reaching the doorway, she cautiously poked her head out for a look before finally stepping outside.

Beyond was a familiar corridor, its floorboards creaking beneath her feet.

The rooms on both sides were tightly shut.

Yet both ends of the corridor were pitch-black.

That was because Lu Xiu had not yet constructed the scenes over there, so there was nothing but void.

But Hell Dining Table and this corridor alone were enough to evoke memories of her past life... She remembered how terrified she had been while playing Resident Evil 7. Though Donna's Dollhouse in Resident Evil Village had also made her break out in a cold sweat, the seventh game had left the deeper impression.

She could not help wondering what it would feel like if players from her past life had to physically take on the role of Ethan Winters and enter the Baker Estate to survive.

It would definitely be more despairing than playing through a screen.

After all, Ethan was not Leon, nor was he Chris. In the eighth game, he was the god of washing hands, but in the seventh... at least in the early stages, he was completely and utterly an ordinary person.

Because of a video, he traveled thousands of miles to find his wife, only to plunge headfirst into a den of demons.

He struggled there, fled, solved puzzles, and finally found his wife... only to be greeted by even more horrifying scenes.

The more she thought about it—

The more Lu Xiu recalled how she had felt while playing the game. She could not help putting herself in the shoes of her past self, standing in that corridor.

She had really been scared back then.

She would probably still be scared playing it now.

...Scared of encountering some ghostly thing around a corner, scared of something lurking in the darkness, scared of the environment itself.

As Lu Xiu thought, she followed the visual mental imagery gradually becoming clearer... walking forward as she immersed herself in Ethan's state of mind, materializing the Baker Estate, that den of demons.

As Lu Xiu stepped forward—

Details within the corridor began to fill in.

Nodes connecting different areas started appearing.

The main hall, the second floor, the old house, the courtyard...

It was a highly enclosed yet exquisitely designed boxed garden.

The areas were connected by keys, mechanisms, specific components, or ladders, creating a powerful sense of vertical exploration.

As the game progressed, players had to pass through areas they had already explored again. This structure forced players to contend with enemies in cramped maps.

Lu Xiu remembered it clearly...

Memories continued pouring forth.

Those familiar game scenes began emerging one after another as Lu Xiu walked.

She slowly moved forward. The ground extended beneath her feet, while the claustrophobic, oppressive, terrifying Baker Estate gradually took shape behind her... walls joined together, corridors stretched out, stairs emerged, along with cramped rooms, deep hallways, dilapidated furniture, and decorations.

The stench of decay mingled with damp air.

Since real people would enter the dungeon rather than play through a screen, smells were naturally important.

Still, that part relied entirely on Lu Xiu's imagination.

Lu Xiu continued walking.

The young woman's face was beautiful and captivating, her features sharply defined. Her lovely eyes were lively and spirited, and her figure was slender yet curvaceous. She wore a fitted white T-shirt beneath a dark denim jacket, paired with light-colored skinny jeans. Simple and clean, she radiated a strong youthful vitality that stood out harshly against the decay around her.

Her skin was snow-white, retaining its delicate sheen even in the dim surroundings.

Even in such a filthy, chaotic environment, not a speck of dirt clung to her.

She was like a deity that did not belong to this world... strolling along as she created a new world from nothing.

And clearly—

This deity was very skilled.

"Phew..."

Three hours later.

Lu Xiu subconsciously pressed a hand lightly against her full, soft chest. Straightening her waist, she took a deep breath, looked back at the scene she had just constructed, then pushed open the door and stepped out.

Outside was the pure-white construction space.

The moment the door opened, soft white light shone upon her.

Lu Xiu instinctively raised a hand to shield her eyes, then let out a breath of relief.

Though she felt somewhat nostalgic, staying inside the Baker Estate for too long had honestly been rather oppressive. That place was the setting of a horror game, after all—not exactly somewhere pleasant.

Outside was much better.

It was just a little hard to get used to.

Because it was too clean outside.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Xiu raised her hand again. As memories from her past life surfaced in her mind, the scenery around the main house began to emerge.

Under the setting sun, mosquitoes buzzed through the air. Hidden, shadowy paths, rust-covered iron fences and gates, an overgrown yard, an abandoned trailer, and the chains preventing players from immediately exploring the main house...

The scene took shape.

Lu Xiu rubbed her forehead, feeling slightly dizzy.

She did not know whether the Visual Mental Imagery Construction Method consumed an extreme amount of mental energy.

Not long ago, she had suddenly begun feeling dizzy as she walked. As more and more scenes took shape, nausea had started setting in as well... Now that she had constructed the area outside the house—

The urge to vomit became even stronger.

"Could it really be consuming mental energy? Then it looks like finishing in one day is impossible."

Because she genuinely felt unwell—

Lu Xiu no longer cared about appearances. She plopped down directly onto the steps connecting the main house and the yard. As she sat, her jeans clung tightly to her smooth, rounded legs. Their mid-rise design and slim cut made her figure stand out even more. Her hair hung loose, with several strands sticking to either side of her cheeks from sweat, giving her a faintly athletic-girl vibe, though she still looked utterly out of place in the surroundings.

But Lu Xiu had no attention to spare for herself.

Sitting on the steps, she temporarily exited visual mental imagery construction mode and began resting while reviewing the scene she had just built.

At the same time, she estimated how long it would take to complete the dungeon.

The conclusion was extremely optimistic.

If nothing unexpected happened later, the dungeon should take shape rather quickly.

Thinking of that—

Lu Xiu let out a breath.

But immediately afterward, the thought she had temporarily suppressed not long ago resurfaced.

That was... could a dungeon of this caliber earn rewards for its constructor?

And could the dungeon she created really grant players who cleared it certain skills or items?

Though, from her own perspective, Resident Evil 7 really did have an immense impact—especially after its scenes had been materialized.

She was still a little worried...

Wait.

No.

Lu Xiu's delicate brows furrowed slightly.

She seemed to have fallen into the Walenda effect. Perhaps because her body was different, and because of the influence of the original owner's memories, she had unknowingly become more anxious and emotional. She truly understood, but she was also genuinely worried.

After all, two completely opposing sets of memories were tangled together in her mind, influencing each other... Many habits were not Lu Xiu's at all. For example, when she had seen the rule stabilization fee earlier, she had immediately squatted down on the spot and given up in despair. Yet whenever she felt dejected, she still instinctively did the same.

It was like she was possessed...

"A man—no, a grown adult like me—what the hell am I worried about?"

Lu Xiu quickly raised her hand and smacked her soft cheeks hard, forcing herself not to think with the original owner's mindset. At the same time, she could not help complaining, "Fuck, why am I so troublesome..."

At that moment—

Lu Xiu had a thousand thoughts running through her mind... identity, earning survival points, building dungeons, the ability to protect herself, even what to eat for a late-night snack.

Yet she had overlooked the single most important thing.

That was—she had not cleared even one dungeon.

If the number of dungeons she had cleared could be displayed above her head right now, then looking in a mirror, she would see—

System dungeon clears: 0

Unofficial dungeon clears: 0

That was right.

The original owner had never entered even one official dungeon. The only unofficial dungeon she had entered had left behind nothing but memories of being scammed.

Thus, Lu Xiu had no information whatsoever about the dungeons of this world. Or, more accurately, she had never personally experienced a dungeon in this world.

As a result, Lu Xiu had absolutely no concept of what this game world's dungeons were like.

She had merely relied on imagination to speculate about system dungeons and other unofficial dungeons. And in her imagination, the opponents she was comparing herself against were roughly equivalent to games released alongside Resident Evil 7 in 2017.

The games released that year included The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Persona 5, Horizon Zero Dawn, NieR: Automata, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Nioh...

So her worries could not entirely be blamed on the other set of memories...

It could only be said—

An unofficial dungeon created by someone who knew nothing at all about the state of dungeons—

Would either fail to fit the local conditions, make a fool of itself by showing off before experts, and become a laughingstock.

Or it would... descend like a monster.

While everyone else was still making wooden swords, she had suddenly dragged a cannon onto the battlefield.