That screenshot.
Like a lit fuse, it instantly detonated the entire thread.
Within a few short minutes, the obscure post—which originally had a mediocre title and zero engagement—saw its reply count surge like a runaway wild horse, skyrocketing from a few dozen to tens of thousands.
The thread was instantly pushed to the front page, catching the eyes of even more people.
And everyone who saw this thread was left utterly dumbfounded.
Custom instance.
S-rank.
Putting these two terms together carried an impact no less shocking than finding a state banquet head chef cooking at a roadside food stall.
Because in the general consensus of the public, custom instances were basically synonymous with garbage.
There was a widely circulated saying on the forum: out of ten custom instances, nine were absolute death traps, and the last one was a trap currently under construction.
As for why their reputation was so abysmal?
The reason was simple.
There was no barrier to entry to become a constructor…
but the invisible barrier was incredibly high.
The vast majority of ordinary people simply lacked the ability to design an instance with any real depth.
When the world first became gamified, the custom instances churned out by constructors were mostly designed just so the creators could clear them themselves…
resulting in clumsy, unwatchable messes.
In the words of the forum’s more irritable veterans: ‘It’s one thing to suck, but you’re insulting my intelligence.
And it’s one thing to insult my intelligence, but the rewards are a steaming pile of crap.
Go to hell!’ However, to some extent, this harshness stemmed from a place of deep disappointment.
Because in the beginning, people genuinely held out hope for custom instances!
System instances were great and all, but most high-difficulty ones with good rewards required players to physically travel to offline locations…
which many people couldn’t stomach.
Wherever there are people, there is conflict.
It was only in the past two years that the Coordination Bureau had suppressed many of the malicious actors.
If this were two years ago, many wouldn’t even dare approach an offline instance entrance.
…For fear of being murdered.
Therefore, many people had once looked forward to custom instances that could be entered directly online.
But the results were exactly as mentioned above.
The early custom instances were truly, unbearably clumsy.
And just when the skill level of some constructors finally started to improve…
great, the damn constructor syndicates arrived.
Some constructors actually started banding together, using their advantage in instance creation to constantly manipulate entry tickets and clear conditions.
There was one custom instance where the clear condition actually required players to surrender ninety percent of the Survival Points on their person.
Could you believe that?
The theme of that instance was actually ‘Only when you lose everything will you understand how strong you are.’ Go to hell!!!
Everyone went from anticipating custom instances, to being disappointed by them, and finally to spitting in disgust and walking away whenever they saw one.
Custom instances became extremely unpopular.
Consequently, even fewer people were willing to put in the grueling effort to construct them.
It was only recently, with the Coordination Bureau intentionally providing support and many constructors finding a new approach—imitating the mechanics of system instances—that custom instances re-entered the public eye and salvaged a bit of their reputation.
Although the rewards from these imitation instances were mostly degraded versions of system instance rewards, they were still useful to the vast majority of ordinary people.
However, despite recovering some of their reputation, it hadn’t been long.
The stigma surrounding custom instances still stank to high heaven.
Aside from those constructor syndicates, still very few people were willing to take on the thankless job of becoming a constructor.
Let alone producing a high-quality custom instance.
Because of this, the appearance of [Resident Evil] was so shocking.
Because under these circumstances, a high-rated custom instance had actually appeared!
And an S-rank at that!
Most people hadn’t even seen an A-rank!
Let alone an S-rank!
So when the screenshot was posted, the forum practically exploded in an instant.
“Is this image real or fake?” “An S-rank custom instance???
It’s actually an S?
How is that even possible?” “Did the system review bug out?” “Could this be an instance made by the Coordination Bureau?” “Did some constructor syndicate find an exploit?
Wow, found an exploit and didn’t tell the bros!
Treating us like outsiders, huh?” “This can’t be real.” “???” “Holy crap, it really is an S!” “Who is Wren Lux?
Sounds like a girl’s name.
How did she do this?” “…” Beneath the post, all sorts of speculations emerged endlessly.
Some suspected a system error.
Some suspected the Coordination Bureau made it in secret.
Others asked if a constructor syndicate had found a bug.
The discussion heated up like a rolling snowball.
And just as the thread was about to break fifty thousand replies, a new comment appeared in the thread.
The ID of the commenter belonged to a familiar face on the forum—Zhao Heng.
Obviously, an S-rank custom instance would make anyone curious, including the top-tier players in the eyes of ordinary people.
As soon as Zhao Heng appeared, he was immediately recognized.
After all, he had just been in another thread making a huge fanfare about clearing an S-rank instance.
[It’s actually not impossible for a custom instance to get a high rating.
Recently, the Coordination Bureau has opened up quite a few high-difficulty system instances.
My guess is someone cleared one of them, was deeply impressed, and built their own version based on that instance’s structure.
I see this constructor hasn’t published any instances before.
They probably spent a long time polishing it.
Quite dedicated…
But if you really want good rewards, you’re better off avoiding custom instances.
Just enter a system instance directly.
It’s not like you can’t beat them.] Zhao Heng’s reply immediately drew in countless people.
“So that’s how it is.” “I was wondering how it could be made out of thin air.” “Imitating a system instance, that makes sense.” “But this is still insane.
The first S-rank custom instance!!” “Getting an S-rank just by imitating is also ridiculous!” “I wonder if it’s a trap.
I’m a little interested now.” “Me too.” “Brother Heng, Brother Heng, is this hard to clear?” “…” Although Zhao Heng seemed to look down on the rewards of this custom instance, not everyone had the ability to participate in high-difficulty offline instances.
The rewards from imitation instances were degraded versions?
This was an S-rank!
Even if it was degraded, it would still be useful, right?
So, very quickly, people started asking Zhao Heng about the difficulty of clearing it.
Meanwhile, the number of replies in the thread continued to climb.
At first, everyone was just shocked by the S-rank custom instance, but the winds quickly shifted…
Almost everyone was asking about the clear difficulty and which system instance it was prototyped after.
Clearly, a massive number of people were interested.
Under these circumstances, many were paying close attention to Zhao Heng’s response.
And they didn’t have to wait long.
Zhao Heng’s reply came quickly, his style as consistent as ever.
[I don’t know how hard it would be for you guys, but if you’re asking me, let me put it this way: after I cleared the Fog City Corridor, there are no S-rank instances left that can stop me, let alone a custom one…
I can only say it’ll be a piece of cake!] [I’ll go in and take a look later when I have time.
Wait for my good news.] …
On the forum, the reply count for that thread was still skyrocketing.
Zhao Heng’s reply was like adding fuel to the fire.
Players began chiming in, saying they were waiting for Brother Heng’s good news.
But Zhao Heng didn’t reply again.
At the same time.
Chenjing.
In a certain high-rise apartment.
A man around thirty years old leaned against the back of his sofa, his right hand continuously swiping across the translucent screen in front of him.
He wasn’t tall and had plain features.
Although he was lean and muscular, his bodily proportions weren’t great, and his cheeks were somewhat sunken.
He definitely couldn’t be called handsome, nor was his aura unique; he was very ordinary…
The only exception was his eyes, which could barely be considered special.
They were as sharp as a falcon’s.
Even a casual glance always carried a hint of nonchalant sharpness.
It was a look of habitual scrutiny, a habit formed from spending long periods soaking in instances.
He was Zhao Heng.
Right now.
He stared at the translucent screen in front of him.
After scrolling through the replies in the thread for a good while, he pulled back to the top of the post and looked at the instance information for [Resident Evil] once more.
He fell silent for a moment before he couldn’t help but say, “…Holy shit, how the fuck did she actually do this?” Although he had spoken nonchalantly on the forum just now.
In reality.
When he first saw the S-rank custom instance, he was no different from the ordinary players.
He only had one thought in his mind, and that was— What the fuck?
What is this?!
Zhao Heng was someone who had cleared an S-rank system instance, and he had once thought about constructing his own instance.
So he knew one thing much better than those ordinary people on the forum, and that was—an S-rating was truly not that easy to get.
Those S-rank instances, whether in theme, structure, mechanics, logic, or the precision between the entire narrative and rules, were all exceptionally strong.
Zhao Heng also knew a few higher-ups in constructor syndicates.
As far as he knew, even if they were imitating system instances…
those large constructor syndicates didn’t have any constructors capable of making an S-rank instance.
Even an A-rank was a stretch.
So he was genuinely curious.
How exactly did this Wren Lux do it?
Which system instance did she imitate?
Could it be…
an SSS-rank instance?
Zhao Heng’s eyelids suddenly twitched.
But he quickly shook his head.
Impossible.
The top-tier players capable of clearing a 3S instance were almost all in the Coordination Bureau, and they could be counted on one hand.
It was absolutely impossible for them to run off and become constructors.
Then how exactly was this done?
The more Zhao Heng thought about it, the more clueless he felt…
Finally, he simply stopped thinking about it, sat straight up, and slapped his forehead.
“Hey!
I’ll just go in and take a look, then I’ll know!” As for the difficulty.
Zhao Heng wasn’t worried at all.
After all, this was a custom instance.
He could even clear official S-rank system instances.
Could he really stumble in a custom instance?
The only thing he cared slightly about was—the clear conditions.
He had seen far too many predatory, underhanded tricks in custom instances.
Thinking of this.
Zhao Heng hesitated for a moment, reopened the system interface, and then deposited his nearly sixty thousand Survival Points into the bank.
That’s right.
The system had a savings bank function, and Survival Points deposited inside generally wouldn’t be deducted.
This could be considered a form of insurance.
As for why he said they ‘generally’ wouldn’t be deducted…
well, let’s put it this way: many of the predatory methods used in custom instances were learned from system instances.
Although Zhao Heng was confident, he wasn’t about to be reckless.
After finishing all his pre-battle preparations.
“Let me see.” “Just what level this S-rank custom instance is at.” Zhao Heng rolled his wrists, opened the instance library, and quickly found the [Resident Evil] instance.
He clicked right in.
Paid the entry ticket.
Entered the instance.
The next second.
A white light flashed.
Zhao Heng’s figure disappeared.
And as time passed, more and more people on the forum noticed the [Resident Evil] instance.
At the same time, more and more people took action.
For a time, in every corner far and wide, behind countless closed doors.
One cold, white system light flashed after another.
And among them…
were two members of the Coordination Bureau’s Strategy Group.