Following You Lot...

An era of diverse talents has arrived.

The current spectacle truly lives up to that description.

Whether it's the breakthrough achieved by the Architect under Li Shengkai's Dungeon Resource Management Division, or the sudden release of three A-level and one S-level unofficial dungeons, both can prove this point.

It was truly a vibrant scene, a place where everything flourished.

Actually, it makes sense when you think about it.

It's the fish effect, you know.

Lu Xiu is that fish.

Before she arrived, Builder Group operating in a gray area had long controlled the output of unofficial dungeons. They made the same things all the time, the rewards were meager, and they were constantly robbing Survival Points. Anyway, players had no other choice; they could enter or not enter as they pleased.

But then Lu Xiu arrived.

Resident Evil, Sekiro, Titanfall.

The release of these three instances instantly changed the landscape of unofficial instance creation.

And how much benefit did Lu Xiu gain from these three instances?

Anyone can see that.

The most direct benefit is the predictable substantial ticket revenue. The most outrageous thing is that he makes money openly and honestly, without being targeted by the Coordination Bureau or despised by players (let's not count the insults).

Even the Coordination Bureau has to protect her, and she can still gain status, respect, and fame.

He achieved both fame and fortune.

Lu Xiu forged a path that no one had ever walked before in this gamified world.

And everyone saw it.

The Architect under Li Shengkai began to study seriously, and the private Builder Group started to get restless and began to change their approach. This is actually normal, after all, if you want to cheat people, you have to hide from the Coordination Bureau and take risks. If you get caught one day, you will have to wipe out your entire fortune.

But what about seriously doing dungeons?

They do it openly and honestly. Players may complain, but they still pocket the Survival Points. The Coordination Bureau not only doesn't investigate, but they also come to discuss cooperation.

Even a fool could do the math.

When Resident Evil was released, a bunch of Architect rushed to apply for the [Builder Special Fund].

That's why.

It's quite possible that many of the people who applied for the [Builder Special Fund] were actually members of Builder Group.

However, at that time, it was still a short time since Lu Xiu's Resident Evil was released, and those Architect had not yet become influential, nor had they been able to produce dungeons that would attract players' attention.

So there was no splashing of water.

But now.

They took it out.

The Architect under Li Shengkai's command were brought out, as were the amateur Builder Group.

Of course, this is also related to the updates to "Iron and Blood".

The players are unaware of this.

However, unaware of the update, they quickly guessed why a bunch of high-rated unofficial dungeons had suddenly appeared.

[Good, good, good! The Builder Group has finally come to terms with reality! They've finally been forced by Lu Xiu to stop seriously Constructed Instance instead of just ripping people off.]

[Of course, their pricing power has been taken back. Those dungeons that tried to cheat the rules are now priced as low as double digits. They can't make money off those dungeons anymore, so they have to make dungeons properly.]

[It's like they could easily create a normal dungeon, but they insist on ripping people off! Stupid Builder Group.]

[These are confirmed to be dungeons released by the Builder Group? Should we still enter them?]

[It must be Builder Group, otherwise where would so many Architect come from? Only they have that kind of foundation. But despite the complaints, we still have to go in. These dungeons have good ratings, and the ticket prices are so cheap—only 200 Survival Points for three A-rank dungeons, and only 300 Survival Points for an S-rank dungeon.]

[Indeed, the first two dungeons in Lu Xiu are alright, but the third one is too expensive to complete. I just wonder what the rewards are like for these dungeons.]

[This is probably a replacement for the Lu Xiu dungeon. The rewards shouldn't be too bad, and those Builder Group shouldn't be ripping people off anymore. Of course, we'll have to test it out ourselves to know.]

[This Builder Group have finally reformed—now it really is going to be like that post said, a hundred flowers blooming! Fine, I have plenty of Survival Points, I'll be a warrior for once, let's see what happens to those who come after Lu Xiu opens the door to unofficial dungeons!]

[----]

After discussion.

Most players already know where these dungeons come from.

Many players entered the game immediately.

Because the rating is quite high, and the tickets are cheap enough.

This reminds many people of Lu Xiu's first dungeon—many players are hoping that these dungeons will offer rewards that replicate those of the original Resident Evil.

Coordination Bureau.

Li Shengkai watched the players' discussion with a thoughtful expression, while Sun Yi and Feng Yan, not far away, also looked pondering.

It's obvious.

This was unexpected, yet perfectly logical.

Li Shengkai thought for a moment, then sent a message to Yan Fushou, asking him to see if he needed to arrange for someone to go and conquer the area. He then contacted his informant.

The message has just been sent.

The informant's reply came soon.

[Boss, more money needed! The Spirit Pivot Construction Group got wiped out! Their leader is paranoid now, telling everyone there's a mole, and the pressure is mounting! I have an elderly mother to support, children to raise, and my wife is a big spender...]

[Add more, stop talking nonsense.]

Li Shengkai's face darkened, but he quickly replied: [Tell me, were those newly appeared dungeons released by the Builder Group?]

[Adding is fine, boss is generous, I love the boss the most ---- those dungeons were indeed released by the Builder Group.]

[stock?]

[No, most of them were built after Lu Xiu suddenly appeared. With so many people in the Builder Group, there are bound to be geniuses, right? Their existing works are all imitations of system dungeons; they're too embarrassed to present them here.]

Why did they suddenly release so many instances?

[I initially thought that they envied Lu Xiu, but I later realized that they seemed to have other motives. Anyway, the way those Builder Group leaders cared so much about the feedback on this new dungeon was a bit too abnormal. Logically speaking, even if they wanted to reform and become like Lu Xiu, they wouldn't release so many dungeons at once and care so much about the success or failure of the previous dungeons.]

But they're still having meetings in their private Construction Space, closely monitoring player feedback, which isn't normal.

[Okay then—keep an eye on it and figure out their purpose.]

[You need to pay more!]

[Add!]

[Okay, boss, I love you the most! Loyalty guaranteed!]

[----]

Li Shengkai ignored the clown on the other end of the chat, closed the chat window, and frowned.

Do you care a lot about feedback?

Indistinctly.

Li Shengkai seemed to have grasped something: Architect, Update, Iron and Blood, Dungeon----

etc.

Will the upcoming updates be closely related to Architect? Will they be closely related to their dungeons?

Li Shengkai suddenly had this thought.

If that's really the case.

Security for Lu Xiu's side needs to be strengthened!

At the same time.

Online, in a privately Construction Space.

Wooden beams crisscrossed to form arches, the air thick with the smell of old wood mixed with machine oil, and enormous gears...

It slowly rotates overhead, occasionally emitting a dull friction sound. Looking along the orderly and beautifully rotating gears, you can vaguely see a corner of the clock face outside.

This appears to be the inner attic of a Bell Tower.

At this moment, the setting sun is pouring down through the stained-glass windows, cutting into patches of colorful light and shadow that fall on the long, narrow wooden table in the center of the attic.

Six high-backed chairs.

The six figures had their faces deliberately blurred.

In the background.

The monotonous, unchanging ticking of the second hand never stops.

"It seems to be working well."

The leader of the Spirit Pivot Construction Group, seated in the main seat, glanced at the forum window before him and said softly, "The players are still quite interested."

"Are you really that good at ignoring criticism? The players have cursed you out so many times already, haven't they?"

The only woman among the six seemed to glance at him. "Just like when you sent a bunch of people to find Lu Xiu, you found her, but her hometown was also raided. And you still have the nerve to say it was all part of the plan? You idiot."

The leader of the Spirit Pivot Construction Group froze, clearly anger rising within him.

But the next second...

He calmed down, took a deep breath, and said, "I told you that it was an accident. I had already told the Guard Corps to go into hiding. Who knew they would find Lu Xiu out of nowhere, and who knew that Lu Xiu would create a second instance, Sekiro, so quickly, causing the Coordination Bureau to make such a big fuss?"

The female group leader scoffed, "And what about this time? Are you sure this will work?"

"It works."

The leader of the Spirit Pivot Construction Group spoke up, "Everyone here has seen the update preview for the new version Iron and Blood. Don't you know what that means? Architect are the key to victory in PvP events."

"This means that the region with the deeper pool of Architect has greater initiative."

He glanced around at the five people present.

"This time we are launching four instances at the same time. The purpose is not to compete with Lu Xiu for the market, but to accumulate a scene library. On the day of the update, the more instances we have, the greater the probability that the instances will be used. And as long as our region wins..."

Our copies are used one of the most frequently, and I believe everyone here understands the benefits that come with that.

"----An unimaginable reward—this is a direct quote from the update preview."

Upon hearing this...

The attic was quiet for a while.

What about Lu Xiu?

Someone spoke up, "She should know about the update too. Isn't she also building a new dungeon? Will our dungeon really be used the most times in the future?"

"That's why I said we should win by quantity; our individual copies might not be as good as Lu Xiu's."

Without hesitation, Guild Leader Ling Shu replied immediately, "But how many dungeons can Lu Xiu build by herself? How many people are in our entire Builder Group Builder Group? And considering the ticket price, can she really take on all of us single-handedly?"

Keep in mind that the number of players participating in the event will be several times the number of Architect; it's impossible for everyone to use Lu Xiu's dungeon.

Even if what you said makes sense.

The female guild leader spoke again, her voice calm. "But the question is, will the players really be satisfied?"

"What's the meaning?"

"So, will players accept these four new dungeons we're releasing?"

She glanced around and said, "If the players aren't satisfied, we'll be lucky if they don't even complain when the arena is actually used."

The attic fell silent again.

The leader of the Spirit Pivot Construction Group was silent for two seconds before saying, "If Lu Xiu's dungeons are popular, why can't ours? The dungeons we've released this time are all rated well, and they're imitations of Lu Xiu's dungeons. Players can't possibly not appreciate them at all. I even think that as long as there are enough copies, enough imitations, we can completely overshadow the brilliance of her dungeons!"

The female group leader did not speak.

"And we will grow as well. She alone created Resident Evil, Sekiro, Titanfall."

The voice of the Ling Shu commander carried a suppressed, almost overflowing emotion. "And how many people do we have? Right now, we may just be imitating! But as time goes by, and we imitate enough, one day, we will surpass hers! After all, we are all human, why can't we catch up?"

"Let's wait and see."

Upon hearing this, the female raid leader retorted, "Let's see what the players think of these four new dungeons first."

Having said that, he fell silent.

Instead, he switched to the System Panel and started browsing the forum.

The others exchanged glances and then opened their System Panel and chat windows.

soon.

This private Construction Space fell silent.

Meanwhile, more and more players entered the dungeon.

Inside the instance, they witnessed a scene they would never forget.

I don't know how much time passed.

Just as the female Builder Group leader was getting impatient...

Refresh the forum window again.

finally.

A post about their instance popped up.

My assessment of those new dungeons.

"It's here; someone has left a review."

The female leader's voice was calm, but the other five people in the attic looked up almost simultaneously.

The leader of the Ling Shu guild was the last to put down what he was holding and slowly opened the forum.

He spoke slowly and deliberately, as if using this composure to tell everyone that he was very confident about the outcome.

Six blurry figures simultaneously opened the forum and clicked on the post.

Expand post details.

[Damn it! Don't go!! Damn it, this Construction Club! Lu Xiu shouldn't have opened the door to unofficial dungeons! He should have locked you all out!!! You don't imitate system dungeons! You fucking imitate unofficial dungeons, huh!!!]

You're hopeless! All three A-rank dungeons and one S-rank dungeon are imitations of Resident Evil! Every time, I have to torture myself on your fake underworld maps!

I fuck you guys!!!

You guys are really daring! It's all Resident Evil! I enter one instance, find it's Resident Evil, kill myself and quit, then enter another instance and find it's Resident Evil again! Are you kidding me?!

It's all Resident Evil!!!

Can you guys use your brains when you're imitating? Can't you come up with something original? It's all the same fucking scene!

And the stories are all exactly the same! It's an insult to my intelligence! Everyone saves their wife! Isn't that just a rip-off?! And the scares are even more outrageous! If you're going to have Resident Evil, can't you at least create a decent atmosphere?! It's just constant, sudden scares!

That S-rank dungeon was the worst! It completely copied the original Resident Evil, and even replicated scenes like feeding severed hands and intestines! It was made even more disgusting! And it went on a rampage of monster swarms and stat boosts!

Don't you have anything of your own?!

That's bad enough! The rewards from A-rank dungeons are all garbage! And the S-rank dungeon actually gives you a [Crawler] skill! It increases your speed by 20% when crawling or kneeling!!!

I fuck you guys!!!

Moving by crawling or kneeling increases speed by 20%!!! What would I need this thing for!!!

Lu Xiu! Lu Xiu! Come out here right now! Close the door to the folk copy!

Close it!!!

I never want to see those bastards again!

[----]

In the privately Construction Space, the ticking of the second hand continued monotonously, one tick after another, like a kind of slow and unhurried mockery.

No one spoke.

Six blurry figures froze on the high-backed chair, as if someone had pressed the pause button.

The leader of the Spirit Pivot Construction Group stared at the post. The comments at the bottom were still scrolling wildly, each one like a slap in the face, the sound of which could be heard even through the screen.

[Hahahahahahahahaha]

[Such vivid descriptions! I can almost picture the despair the poster must be feeling.]

[So all four dungeons are just reskinned versions of Resident Evil?? I entered one and was about to complain, but the others were just as abstract.]

[Awesome, warrior!]

[Lu Xiu would probably be speechless if she saw these instances.]

Each comment was like a poisoned dagger, piercing precisely into the heart of the leader of the Spirit Pivot Construction Group.

His jaw tightened, his Adam's apple bobbed, and then his hands began to tremble violently.

A deathly silence fell over the attic.

Much later.

A figure sitting in the corner spoke first.

"You guys... are you also imitating Resident Evil?"

silence.

"The same to you?"

Silence again.

"No way, you guys are all...?"

5

"That one's the simplest. We didn't have time to imitate the Titanfall, Sekiro is too difficult to replicate."

Someone spoke up in a muffled voice, their tone carrying a hint of unspoken uncertainty. "Resident Evil is the easiest to pick up, with the lowest barrier to entry and the clearest construction logic. The cramped corridors, the interplay of light and shadow, the psychological pressure—there are ready-made templates to follow."

"That's what we think too."

"We are too."

"My Architect are all thinking that Resident Evil has the widest audience—"

As they talked...

The attic became completely quiet.

The second hand kept ticking.

It made a clicking sound.

However, in an instant, the atmosphere in the attic shifted from discussing important matters to a massive fashion clash.

Although they joined forces, they actually had no idea what each other was doing, as they were still relatively independent gray-area groups.

Everyone who saw the other's dungeon rating thought it was alright. Plus, the update announcement came suddenly, and when the leader of the Spirit Pivot Construction Group said it was going live, they immediately had everyone under them log in without even thinking to ask what dungeon the others were imitating.

This leads to the fact that upon closer inspection, it's not a scene of diverse flowers blooming, but rather a large-scale matryoshka doll display.

On the other side...

Players rushed in excitedly, expecting to see a dazzling array of stars, only to find themselves in what felt like Pinduoduo version of Resident Evil.

silence.

Awkward.

Much later.

Finally, someone spoke up again.

"Why----"

The female leader looked up at the sky and sighed deeply, her voice carrying a sense of weariness from Mikiri Counter through the world.

"How can we possibly run a dungeon well with a bunch of insects like you?!"