[Name: Gong Yao] [ID: P-R0000111] [Status: Insufficient permissions (player is not in a Dungeon Instance; status cannot be queried)] [Linked system: P001] [Physical fitness rating: S+] [Intelligence rating: S+] [Combat ability rating: S+] [Value rating: S+]
Gong Yao's player information appeared on Zhang Qin's screen.
"Wow, you guys in the Maintenance Team and Technical Team have it so easy! You can look up anyone's information whenever you want!"
Meimiao let out an exaggerated gasp.
"All his stats are actually rated above S. That's Gong Yao for you!"
Li Qing's gaze, however, lingered on the field displaying the linked system.
"...P001?" he asked Zhang Qin for confirmation. "Is this data correct?"
"Yes, it's P001." Zhang Qin showed no surprise. He had probably already snooped on... investigated Gong Yao.
"P? We have a P rank?" Meimiao asked, puzzled.
Li Qing said, "P stands for 'public.' P001 is the default public system. Apart from recording player data, issuing missions, and processing settlements, it has no permissions whatsoever, nor does it possess artificial intelligence."
Every player brought into the Death Instance system received a unique system of their own.
Their IDs began with a letter from F to S representing their rank. Once a player earned enough points to rank up, the letter at the front of the ID advanced by one rank.
The system's intelligence would also increase, granting it more permissions.
Public systems, however, were different.
They were the original systems used for debugging. Now, they held records of the actions of certain creatures within Dungeon Instances-creatures even lower in status than players.
Zhang Qin opened the information for system P001, and the screen immediately began scrolling rapidly, packed with IDs of every kind.
"It's mostly a temporary storage space for data we can't clear out right away. You can think of it as... a junk room."
Zhang Qin explained.
"We conducted a very thorough investigation into Gong Yao, including his assignment to system P001. Our conclusion was that there was no problem."
Li Qing fell silent for a moment, then asked, "'No problem'? According to whom?"
Zhang Qin grinned, revealing two rows of rather uneven teeth. "According to me. There really isn't anything abnormal."
"Hmm..." Li Qing gave Zhang Qin a doubtful look.
Zhang Qin immediately clutched his chest in anguish. "Team Leader Li, don't tell me you've started suspecting even me?"
"..." Li Qing said, "Forget it. It's not important."
As long as it didn't cause him any more trouble, Gong Yao could use whatever system he liked.
A week later.
By the time Li Qing received his Administrator Console chip again, he had lost all faith in the Technical Team.
"Why don't you roll the version back to what it was a month ago?" Li Qing suggested politely. "Or give me an A-rank administrator's backend tool for now."
This time, he wasn't dealing with Zhang Qin, but one of the deputy team leaders under him.
The deputy team leader already looked as though he was about to drop dead from staying up all night coding. At those words, he nearly burst into tears:
"Team Leader Li, nothing will go wrong this time, I promise. Director Zhang set up an extra fast-track channel for you. He said if you need anything, just submit an incident report. Once he receives it, he'll teleport into the Dungeon Instance and fix it for you on-site!"
"..."
Li Qing calmly continued offering suggestions:
"Why not just give me permission to modify the core code? By the time he receives the incident report and gets there, I'll have fixed the Admin Backend myself."
The deputy team leader stopped talking and simply looked at Li Qing pitifully, conveying a silent refusal.
After a long silence between them, Li Qing finally compromised. He took back his Administrator Console and prepared to activate mission teleportation.
Zhang Qin's offer to fix it on-site was just a courtesy. He had clearly counted on Li Qing's extensive mission experience: even if a bug appeared, Li Qing could quickly resolve it himself and probably wouldn't need him.
But right then, Li Qing decided that if the system bugged out again, even if he could fix it himself, he would drag Zhang Qin over to experience a little human suffering.
Expressionless, he closed his eyes and began this field assignment...
[Dungeon Instance name: B0021-The King of Hell Is Here] [Rank: B] [Actual survival rate: 90% (expected: 33%)] [Dungeon Instance description: Welcome to the set of the smash-hit horror film "The King of Hell Is Here"! What sparks will fly between the seven actors during these fourteen days of passionate filming? All will soon be revealed-] [Issue report: Dungeon Instance death rate severely abnormal. No runtime errors reported; error severity cannot be determined. Administrator, please eliminate the anomaly and repair the flaw.]
Li Qing felt that he had arrived, but he didn't particularly want to open his eyes.
...Here came the most headache-inducing part again.
There was an anomaly in the Dungeon Instance, but no one knew where.
Surely it couldn't be that a meddlesome player like Gong Yao had appeared in the previous round and single-handedly dragged the death rate down.
He sighed silently and opened his eyes. He was in a small, sunlit room filled with props and equipment.
Li Qing sat straight down on the wooden floor and pulled up the Dungeon Instance's details-
[Dungeon Instance status: In progress (1/14)] [Player clear condition: Complete fourteen days of film shooting.] [Participating players: (7/6): P-SB010250\P-ZD458290\P-R0000111...]
Wait, P-R0000111?
Gong Yao??
Was it too late to abort the mission?
Just then, the door behind him opened, and a rough voice asked warily, "Who are you?"
Li Qing turned around and saw a heavily bearded man in a polo shirt.
[Name: Director Li] [ID: N-B0021008] [Status: Normal]
"N-B0021008, I'm Li Qing, a Death Instance administrator, Employee ID S-A9B08F013. I'm here to investigate the abnormal death rate in this Dungeon Instance."
Li Qing got straight to the point, but Director Li looked utterly bewildered. "??? What are you talking about?"
Now it was Li Qing's turn to be confused.
He repeated his identity, only to receive a baffled look from Director Li. "Did you come to the wrong film set?"
Li Qing: "..."
Director Li's status was clearly normal, yet he acted as though he knew nothing.
Unwilling to waste any more time figuring out whether he was pretending or genuinely ignorant, Li Qing entered Director Li's ID and executed the level-reset command.
[Modify level: Temporarily reset N-B0021008 to level 1 (60 minutes)] [Confirming permissions (S/A)...] [Target is a low-level NPC. Permission granted...] [Reset failed. Dungeon Instance B0021 has rejected your level-reset request.]
Li Qing: ?
He opened the Dungeon Instance details again and suddenly noticed a small note at the very bottom:
[This Dungeon Instance is a product of the Technical Team's latest technology. Its version exceeds that of the maintenance tools, so some code rejects system modifications.] [The Technical Team is currently unable to resolve this issue. Administrators are advised to proceed slowly to avoid crashing the Dungeon Instance through forced operations.]
Administrator Li Qing: ...
This was a disaster.
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