Li Qing fell silent as he read the urgent message.
A long string of explanations followed:
[The cause of the dungeon instance incident cited in your last progress report (the dungeon instance mistakenly identified a player as the boss, causing the original boss to be replaced) has been verified. The major incident involving players leaving the dungeon instance also arose from this loophole.] [The original boss would punish players who left the game without permission before it ended (that is, before filming wrapped). But as you saw, this boss was scared out of its wits.] [-So!! This is where Team Leader Li, Division One's top performer, gets to shine!] [Please use any means necessary, without exposing yourself, to make the players return to the dungeon instance and resume the game as soon as possible!] [Note: There is no set time limit for this assignment. If the film has not been successfully completed after 14 days, the dungeon instance will automatically determine that no one has won, erase all player data, and end.]
Wasn't that just a total party wipe?
The players in this dungeon instance really were rather unlucky.
But for Li Qing, the good news was that the dungeon instance wouldn't develop an even bigger bug because of this.
As for whether the players were wiped out...
[Additional note: Given how well I know you, Team Leader Li, you probably don't care about those players' lives. So what follows is a personal request!] [Team Leader Li! Li Qing! Little Thirteen! My esteemed ancestor! Please, I'm begging you, help me out! If this dungeon instance ends in failure, all the work our Technical Team put into developing the "AI-Generated Dynamic Dungeon Instance" over a month of overtime will go down the drain!] [If you can get the dungeon instance to end normally, I'll write some code to rig this year's annual party raffle for you!][←Information Security Department notice: This message may contain prohibited fraudulent content. Employees should exercise their own judgment.] [-Your frazzled but still loving Old Dad, S-A0000002 Technician, Zhang Qin]
"..."
Honestly, Li Qing didn't trust Zhang Qin's "AI-Generated Dynamic Dungeon Instance" in the slightest. If it really went into widespread use, who knew how many messes they would have to clean up afterward?
But his job was to clean up the Technical Team's messes.
Whatever the case, this was a bug, and he needed to fix it.
It wasn't for the annual party raffle.
Li Qing opened the five players' livestreams again.
Apart from He Li, who had been transferred to a psychiatric hospital, the other actors had all returned to their normal lives.
Bai Cha hadn't started his livestream yet, so Li Qing didn't know what he was doing. But a search of this world's internet revealed that he had booked a plane ticket.
A ticket for an international flight leaving tomorrow.
He really couldn't wait to get out of here... Li Qing pondered.
But naturally, he couldn't let Bai Cha leave so easily.
Li Qing wiped his mouth, closed the scene of the male and female leads locked in a loving embrace, and switched to the pitch-black work Admin Backend.
Some of this dungeon instance's code couldn't be modified?
His Administrator privileges weren't working?
-It didn't matter. What Li Qing was about to do didn't require an Administrator's special privileges.
Toward evening.
Gong Yao reclined in a chair in his apartment, with a pile of work offers from his agent still sitting on the table.
Soothing music played over the speakers, but Gong Yao felt restless as he aimlessly scrolled through his phone's contacts.
Just then, the speakers suddenly crackled with static, and the music cut off.
Gong Yao suddenly had a bad feeling.
Then he heard a sweet yet sinister female voice coming from the speakers:
"The game isn't over yet..."
His phone suddenly rang.
Gong Yao put it on speaker, and Tao Lele asked anxiously from the other end, "Gong Yao, did you get Meng Tian's Ghost Calls?"
In another city.
An Ya hurled her phone away, smashing it to pieces.
"Who's playing this prank? Hurry! Find out who it is!"
The television screen abruptly lit up from standby.
A line of large, blood-red words slowly seeped into view:
An Ya, you killed me. I won't let you get away...
An Ya's face turned livid, and she yanked out the power cord.
The woman's haunting voice came from the smart speaker again...
-"Come back. None of this is over yet."
Yu Xiaohe huddled at the foot of her bed, her face pale. On the screen of the phone she had tossed aside, those words kept appearing, disappearing, and appearing again.
"It's not over..." Yu Xiaohe murmured. "What will it take to end it? Meng Tian is already dead. I should be able to put the past behind me..."
No, that wasn't right.
She couldn't put the past behind her, because two people still existed to remind her of her past as "Qin Lian."
She had to... make a choice.
Bai Cha's apartment.
Bai Cha hurriedly packed his suitcase while his assistant pounded on the door outside.
"Mr. Bai, you can't leave! Everyone received a warning from the dead woman. Filming for 'The King of Hell Is Here' resumes tomorrow!"
"Parlor tricks!" Bai Cha sneered. "There's no way those messages came from a dead person!"
What messages could Meng Tian send? Dead was dead.
The person who should have been sending messages was still alive and well.
"Warning: Host, please return to the set as soon as possible and continue filming 'The King of Hell Is Here.'"
A mechanical voice sounded in his head.
"I've already wrapped!!! I have no scenes left, understand!??"
The assistant outside the door froze.
"B-but this is what the director and investors want. Mr. Bai, even if you don't believe in ghosts, you still have to consider the investors' wishes. Besides, that gentleman also made a resource exchange with the investors. He must want-"
"Get lost!! You and your investors can all get lost!! I'm sick of bowing and scraping to that disgusting old man, and I don't want to make it big anymore! If he wants to expose me, let him! Haven't I earned him enough money these past few years???"
Bai Cha stuffed all his important belongings into the suitcase, his hands still trembling slightly.
His reputation, his future, and that man... he didn't want any of them anymore.
This was his one chance to escape this nightmarish film crew...
Yes, if he could survive this time.
Then he wanted nothing but freedom.
Before you continue