What Exactly Did You Strip Away?!

When Lu Xiu decided to become a Dungeon Architect and create a dungeon to eke out a living, she had plenty of concerns.

She worried that dungeon creation would be more troublesome than she imagined, that she would not be able to pay the rule stabilization fee once the dungeon was complete, and that the dungeon would not be appealing enough.

Yet during the dungeon construction process, those problems had basically resolved themselves.

Creating the dungeon was easier than she had imagined.

Once it took shape, it was more interesting than she had imagined as well.

Even the most troublesome rule stabilization fee had found a solution on the very night she decided to become an architect—taking out a loan.

But not from players... that would be courting death. She would borrow from the authorities.

Lu Xiu had felt from the start that the system encouraged players to become Dungeon Architects because it wanted to create a virtuous cycle.

Truly good player-made dungeons could provide players with desperately needed powerful items or skills.

Naturally, the authorities had noticed that too.

Though the previous player-made dungeons had all been trash.

And the independent architects had been utterly useless.

But the path toward increasing overall strength was right there. The authorities could not possibly turn a blind eye to it... Since the current architects were no good, they would dig up new ones.

Independent architect groups were practically synonymous with scammers, but by boldly taking the lead early on and exploiting players' unfamiliarity with dungeons, they had amassed enormous amounts of Survival Points. They had also banded together to suppress any other architects with ideas, leaving them unable to rise.

That left many imaginative players relying on system ads just to survive. Even if they wanted to become architects, they had no Survival Points to pay the rule stabilization fees for creating dungeons.

So the authorities established the [Builder Special Fund], giving them loans and lending them a hand!

Lu Xiu looked into it and found that the application requirements for this fund were extremely low. All she needed to submit was the system's rating after the dungeon was completed. As long as the system rated an independent dungeon C-rank or above, its creator could take out a low-interest Survival Point loan.

And sure enough.

The authorities had used this method to support a batch of barely passable independent dungeons.

And this Builder Special Fund was exactly what Lu Xiu had her eye on.

She figured the [Resident Evil] dungeon she was currently creating should earn at least a C-rank rating.

In short.

Lu Xiu had considered everything from every angle. The only thing she had not considered was... that the architect had to clear the dungeon personally once! And have the relevant memories stripped away!

What was more.

Only after clearing it would she receive the rewards for building the dungeon, as well as its rating.

That had practically cut off every escape route Lu Xiu had.

She could not even trick the Builder Special Fund out of a loan of Survival Points and then slack off.

The construction space was silent.

Lu Xiu squatted on the ground, leaning forward slightly as she half-hugged her shapely legs, her chin resting on her knees. She was in a terrible mood.

She had dug herself a hole... and then casually kicked away the ladder.

Originally.

Her plan had been quite clear—first, make a reasonably complete dungeon, get a system rating, then apply for the [Builder Special Fund], borrow some Survival Points, publish the dungeon, survive, and slowly figure out what to do next.

But now, the dungeon was complete.

And she did indeed have a chance to get the loan.

But the prerequisite was—

She had to clear the dungeon herself first.

And she had to do it without knowing the process.

Lu Xiu looked up at the game stage in the distance, one she knew better than anything.

She had personally built this stage using her Visual Mindscape. No one knew better than her just how terrifying it was.

So.

What was she supposed to do now?

Lu Xiu hugged her legs tighter and fell into deep thought.

Then, as she thought, for some reason, she suddenly remembered something from her previous life.

Once.

When she dried her clothes, she forgot to check the pockets and tossed her ID card into the dryer along with them for an entire hour.

She only noticed it when she went to get a change of clothes.

At the time, she had been worried that her ID card had been damaged, because she had to leave on a business trip the next day.

That night, she kept searching online to see whether anyone else had gone through the same thing, whether their ID cards had been damaged, all while repeatedly checking her own card.

And so.

She fussed over it again and again, worrying the whole night through.

In the end, her ID card had not been damaged at all. Instead, she had failed to sleep for the entire night.

She did not even know what she had been doing that night...

And ever since then.

She had learned a lesson: once something had already happened, she could not change it. Worrying was useless, and feeling depressed was useless. The only thing she could do was accept it and solve it.

Worried that her ID card was damaged?

Then go to an internet café and check it, instead of pointlessly agonizing over it.

If it really was damaged, then get a temporary ID card that same day.

Because the business trip was not going to change. The only thing she could do was accept the situation and solve the problem.

So at this moment, did she have any other choice?

That thought surfaced in Lu Xiu's mind as she glanced at her Survival Points.

Seventeen points.

If she gave up now.

Then she would have to rely on system ads to survive.

Day after day.

Until one day, when the ads were no longer enough and her Survival Points dropped to zero.

The end.

Did she want to become like that?

She did not need to think about that question. The answer was clear.

No!

So...

Lu Xiu slowly released her legs and stood up. Blindly giving up, wallowing in despair, and feeling low would not change anything.

What she needed to do now was accept reality and solve the problem.

She looked up again at the game stage, the Baker Estate, and suddenly gave a bitter smile.

She remembered advancing the scenario.

Back then, she had thought that players entering this place would definitely suffer horribly.

She had even been looking forward to it.

And now, the first victim had turned out to be herself.

Thinking of that.

She could not help sighing.

"Serves me right..."

The prompt was still there.

[Enter dungeon verification?]

Lu Xiu gently rolled her shoulders.

"Whatever. If it's karma, it's karma."

"I made this dungeon myself. Even if I have to play it through tears, I'll play it."

"I just hope I'm not such a coward when the time comes."

After saying that.

She raised her hand and tapped confirm on the system interface.

[Entering dungeon...]

[Dungeon mode: Roleplay Mode]

[Role: Ethan Winters]

[Architect verification mode activated]

[Beginning memory stripping]

[Loading dungeon...]

The construction space in Lu Xiu's eyes began to change.

The entire world seemed to turn into something like water, and everything began to flow.

The sky spun.

Space folded.

Then a faint sensation of weightlessness washed over her, like an elevator suddenly dropping one floor.

Lu Xiu instinctively closed her eyes.

And when she opened them again—

The world had completely changed.

A car drove down the road. Vast woods stretched outside the windows, and the setting sun filtered through the leaves, scattering mottled light across the windshield as the engine rumbled softly.

Lu Xiu froze.

She looked down and found herself sitting in the driver's seat, her hands on the steering wheel.

The car drove steadily onward.

And the navigation screen displayed a country road.

"..."

So this was inside the dungeon?

It really was no different from the real world.

Also, the Resident Evil 7 setting she had recreated was incredibly accurate. It was exactly like the original. Next came heading for the main stage... Wait!

Lu Xiu's thoughts abruptly stopped. After two seconds of silence, she blinked, looked down at her hands, then at the road leading toward the Baker Estate ahead.

Then she recalled the dungeon's progression.

...She remembered everything!

Every detail was crystal clear.

Lu Xiu fell silent once more.

A long while later.

"Don't I remember everything...? What exactly did you strip away???"