When Wren Lux decided to become an instance constructor and make an instance to survive, she had quite a few worries.
She worried that instance creation would be more troublesome than imagined, worried she couldn’t pay the rule stabilization fee after completion, and worried the instance wouldn’t be appealing enough.
But during the construction process, these problems were basically solved.
The difficulty of making the instance was lower than she thought.
Once formed, it was also more interesting than she expected.
Even the most troublesome rule stabilization fee had a solution she found the very night she decided to become an constructor: a loan.
Not a loan from players…
that would be suicidal.
A loan from the official system.
From the start, Wren Lux felt the system encouraged players to become constructors to form a virtuous cycle.
Truly good civilian instances could provide players with desperately needed powerful items or skills.
The officials naturally noticed this too.
Although previous civilian instances were garbage.
And civilian constructors were practically useless.
But the path to enhancing overall strength was right there, and the officials couldn’t possibly ignore it…
Since current constructors were useless, they just needed to unearth new ones.
The civilian constructor community was basically a bunch of scammers, but by relying on their early pioneering spirit and the players’ initial unfamiliarity with instances, they had accumulated massive amounts of Survival Points.
They even formed cliques to suppress any aspiring constructors from making a name for themselves.
This left many players with great ideas relying on watching ads just to stay alive, lacking the Survival Points to pay the rule stabilization fees for instance creation.
So, the [Constructor Special Fund] was established to give them loans and lend a helping hand!
Wren Lux looked into it and found the application requirements for this fund were extremely low.
She only needed to upload the system’s rating upon the instance’s completion.
As long as the system rated a civilian instance C or above, the creator could take out a low-interest Survival Point loan.
And you know what?
Through these means, the officials actually managed to support a batch of passably decent civilian instances.
This [Constructor Special Fund] was exactly what Wren Lux had her eye on.
She figured the [Resident Evil] instance she was currently making would easily score at least a C rating.
In short.
Wren Lux had considered every single angle, except for one thing…
An constructor actually had to clear the instance themselves!
And have their relevant memories stripped away!
Furthermore.
The instance creation rewards and ratings would only be given after a successful clear.
This practically cut off all of Wren Lux’s escape routes.
Her plan to scam some Survival Points from the [Constructor Special Fund] and then slack off was completely ruined.
Silence filled the Construction Space.
Wren Lux squatted on the ground, leaning slightly forward, hugging her well-proportioned thighs with her chin resting on her knees.
She was in a terrible mood.
She had dug herself into a hole…
and then kicked away the ladder.
Originally.
Her plan had been quite clear: make an instance with a decent level of completion, get a system rating, apply for the [Constructor Special Fund], take out a Survival Point loan, publish the instance, lay low, and slowly figure out her next steps.
But look at her now.
The instance was finished.
The loan was indeed within reach.
But the prerequisite was— She had to clear the instance herself first.
And she had to do it without knowing the flow of the game.
Wren Lux looked up at the game stage in the distance, a stage she was intimately familiar with.
This was a stage she had built with her own hands using Visual Imagery.
She knew better than anyone just how terrifying it was.
So.
What should she do now?
Wren Lux hugged her legs tighter, lost in deep thought.
As she pondered, for some reason, a memory from her past life suddenly surfaced.
Once.
When drying her clothes, she forgot to check her pockets and accidentally tossed her ID card into the dryer for an hour.
She only noticed it when she went to get her laundry.
At the time, she was terrified the ID card was ruined because she had a business trip the very next day.
That night, she frantically searched online to see if anyone had experienced the same thing and whether their IDs had survived, all while repeatedly inspecting her own card.
Just like that.
She tossed and turned, worrying for an entire night.
The result was that the ID card wasn’t broken at all, but she hadn’t slept a wink.
She didn’t even know what she was doing that night…
But ever since then.
She learned a lesson: you cannot change what has already happened.
Worrying is useless, and getting depressed is useless.
The only thing you can do is accept it and solve it.
Worried the ID card was broken?
Then go to an internet cafe to test it instead of fretting over nothing.
If it really was broken, then go get a temporary ID that same day.
Since the business trip wasn’t going to change, the only thing to do was accept and solve the problem.
So right now, did she have any other options?
As this thought surfaced in her mind, Wren Lux glanced at her Survival Points.
Seventeen points.
If she gave up now.
She would have to rely on watching system ads to survive.
Day after day.
Until one day, she ran out of ad views and her Survival Points hit zero.
The end.
Did she want to end up like that?
She didn’t even need to think about it.
The answer was clear.
No!
So…
Wren Lux slowly let go of her legs and stood up.
Blindly wallowing in despair and depression wouldn’t change a thing.
What she needed to do now was accept reality and solve the problem.
She looked back up at the game stage, the Baker estate, and suddenly gave a bitter smile.
She remembered when she was advancing the game flow.
She had been thinking about how much the players would suffer when they entered.
At the time, she was even looking forward to it.
Well, look at her now.
The very first victim turned out to be herself.
Thinking of this.
She couldn’t help but sigh.
“Karma…” That line of text was still there.
[Enter instance verification?] Wren Lux gently rolled her shoulders.
“Whatever, let it be karma.” “I made this instance, so I’ll play it even if it brings me to tears.” “I just hope I won’t be too much of a coward when the time comes.” With that said.
She raised her hand and tapped confirm on the system interface.
[Entering instance…] [Instance Mode: Roleplay Mode] [Roleplay Character – Ethan Winters] [Constructor Verification Mode Initiated] [Commencing Memory Extraction] [Loading Instance…] The Construction Space in Wren Lux’s eyes began to change.
The entire world seemed to turn into a water-like substance, and everything began to flow.
The sky spun.
Space folded.
Then, a slight sense of weightlessness washed over her, like an elevator suddenly dropping a floor.
Wren Lux instinctively closed her eyes.
And when she opened them again— The world was completely different.
A car was driving down a highway.
Outside the window were vast stretches of woods.
The setting sun cast dappled light through the leaves onto the windshield, and the engine hummed with a low rumble.
Wren Lux was stunned.
She looked down and found herself sitting in the driver’s seat, her hands gripping the steering wheel.
The car was driving steadily.
And the navigation screen displayed a country road.
“…” ‘Is this inside the instance?’ ‘It really is no different from the real world.
Also, the Resident Evil 7 scene I recreated is spot on, exactly like the original.
Next up is heading to the main stage…
wait!’ Wren Lux’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt.
After two seconds of silence, she blinked, looked down at her hands, and then looked at the road ahead leading to the Baker estate.
Then, she recalled the flow of the instance.
…She remembered everything!
Every single detail was crystal clear.
Wren Lux fell into silence once more.
After a long time.
“I remember everything…
What exactly did you strip away?!”