Lu Xiu was genuinely on the verge of breaking down.
She had worked herself into such a state, terrified out of her mind, only to discover in the end that she remembered everything!
What was this supposed to mean?
You had to understand that Resident Evil 7 was a horror game. Playing it while knowing what was going to happen and playing it blind were two completely different experiences.
If she didn't know where a monster was going to jump out and scare her, then of course she would be startled when it suddenly appeared.
But if she already knew?
Would it still be scary?
More importantly, Lu Xiu had played the original game twice in her previous life. Then, when she recreated it as a dungeon, that was practically equivalent to playing it all over again.
Everything was already deeply ingrained in her mind.
Under those circumstances, no matter how oppressive or terrifying the atmosphere was, it would be difficult to make her emotions fluctuate much.
Except during the combat sections.
And because all that fear had suddenly vanished after she realized she still remembered everything, now, forget being worried...
Lu Xiu's confidence was practically overflowing.
This wasn't a good sign.
What the hell...
Lu Xiu rubbed her temples.
Although it was certainly a good thing that the situation she feared most hadn't happened...
Still.
Why had it turned out like this?
Lu Xiu rested one hand on the steering wheel without even looking at the road.
Before the dungeon truly began, the car wasn't under the player's control. It would automatically take them to the Baker Farm.
After all, if players were allowed to drive freely, what if they suddenly decided to turn around and go somewhere else?
This wasn't a System dungeon, and there was no actual content outside the intended area, so certain restrictions and invisible walls were unavoidable.
The main reason the player remained inside the car at all was so the prologue could be shown.
Simply put, the protagonist, Ethan Winters, had a loving wife named Mia, and the two had once lived a happy life together.
But three years ago, Mia suddenly disappeared.
Then, one day, Ethan Winters received an old videotape and an email from Mia, who had been missing for three years and was presumed dead.
The information pointed him toward Louisiana.
Although the whole thing was suspicious, Ethan Winters couldn't suppress his longing for his wife.
So he decided to head to the location and investigate, hoping to find her.
At this moment, Ethan Winters was driving toward the Baker Farm in Dulvey, Louisiana, following the contents of the message.
Lu Xiu had no interest in watching a prologue she already knew by heart.
Instead, she lowered her head and started thinking about the real problem.
The System had clearly stated that her memories would be stripped away.
So why did she still remember everything?
Was it a System bug?
Probably not.
She had never heard of anything like that happening before.
Then...
Lu Xiu thought back carefully.
And suddenly realized that she couldn't remember what she had eaten over the past few days.
In fact, many details of her recent daily life were completely gone.
Simply put, she remembered transmigrating, remembered deciding to become a Dungeon Architect, remembered returning home...
And then everything after that was blank.
Yet strangely enough, she could still remember the entire process of constructing the dungeon.
And all of her memories of the game from her previous life remained intact as well.
Lu Xiu's expression gradually became strange.
Could it be that because she was a transmigrator and possessed two overlapping sets of memories, the System had only stripped away one of them?
***
That actually seemed possible!
All she could say was that the gifts of fate always left traces behind.
While Lu Xiu was lost in thought, the car suddenly stopped.
They had arrived.
That familiar game stage was right in front of her.
Lu Xiu glanced at it, pushed aside the chaotic thoughts in her mind, opened the car door, and stepped outside.
Then she stretched her body...
And the moment she did, she suddenly realized something was wrong.
She lowered her arms, turned around once in place, then looked down at her chest and hands.
Perhaps the System wanted to ensure that players wouldn't suffer from any cognitive dissonance.
When Lu Xiu looked down, she couldn't actually see her own chest, while the hands in front of her appeared to belong to a man.
But when she stretched, she could very clearly feel her female body.
Her eye level hadn't changed either.
And Ethan Winters, the character she was roleplaying, was considerably taller than her.
In other words, she could clearly tell that her real body hadn't changed at all.
It was still hers.
The sensation was probably best described as wearing an incredibly form-fitting suit that didn't interfere with her movements in the slightest.
Her actual body was inside that 'suit,' while the exterior played the role of Ethan Winters.
What a hassle.
She had originally thought...
But after thinking about it, this arrangement made sense.
Dungeon players who entered this roleplaying dungeon all had to play Ethan Winters, but there was no guarantee that every player would be male.
Everyone's height and build were different as well.
There was no way the System could crudely force a player's consciousness into a completely unfamiliar body.
On this subject, Lu Xiu, who was already a victim of something similar, had plenty to say...
It really was difficult to get used to.
If the difference in physique was too great and the dungeon involved combat, forget fighting properly—being able to run without falling over would already be impressive.
So for this kind of roleplaying dungeon, using something like an external 'suit' was probably the only viable solution.
It wasn't really a problem.
Just a little disappointing...
Forget it.
She would be leaving soon anyway.
Lu Xiu shook her head, gathered her thoughts, and started walking forward.
Since she still possessed all the relevant memories, many of the dungeon's difficult sections were no longer difficult at all.
If possible, she intended to speedrun the entire thing.
She had heard that after a player cleared a dungeon, the System would issue a corresponding evaluation based on their performance during the run.
The higher the rating, the better the chances of receiving valuable rewards.
With that thought in mind, Lu Xiu expertly followed the path and soon arrived in front of the Baker Farm's main house.
Then, without even bothering to inspect the locked entrance, she turned left and followed another path toward the abandoned cabin.
Lu Xiu was running!
There were actually plenty of frightening sights along the way.
Strange noises.
Rotting animal carcasses.
An old man suddenly passing by in the distance.
And a horrifying structure resembling some kind of sacrificial ritual, made from animal remains and circular saw blades.
But Lu Xiu ignored all of it.
She just kept running.
Before long, she reached the abandoned cabin—the old house that had appeared in the Resident Evil 7 demo.
Lu Xiu didn't stop.
She didn't even hesitate.
She strode forward, pushed open the door, and went inside.
The instant she entered—
Bang!
The door slammed shut behind her.
Ahead was complete darkness.
Lu Xiu calmly pulled a flashlight from her backpack, turned it on, pushed open another door, and walked down the hallway.
She had absolutely no interest in anything along the way.
Naturally, she ignored the disgusting kitchen at the end of the corridor as well.
As for the videotape that could get someone killed...
To save time, Lu Xiu didn't even bother watching it.
She simply went straight to pull the switch.
Because Lu Xiu knew perfectly well that all of those things existed for one purpose.
Foreshadowing.
Hints.
Psychological pressure.
They were there to tell the player that something was very wrong with this place and gradually make them afraid.
If this were an ordinary player, they would definitely inspect everything after arriving somewhere this sinister.
After all, who knew what kind of dungeon this was?
What if they missed an important clue?
And while they searched for information, the environment would continuously apply psychological pressure.
Little by little, the fear would accumulate.
They would become increasingly tense.
Increasingly terrified.
But Lu Xiu didn't fall for any of it.
She knew where all the key items were.
She knew every puzzle solution.
She knew the entire game flow.
So she completely ignored the psychological hints and atmospheric buildup and simply bulldozed her way through the progression.
Soon, the eerie and terrifying Baker house became strangely lively.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Footsteps echoed constantly through the building.
Someone was running around inside!
You might not believe it, but in less than ten minutes, Lu Xiu had already reached the basement dungeon with a pair of bolt cutters in her hands.
And there she met Mia.
Her speed was ridiculous!
"Mia! Mia, are you okay?"
Of course, she couldn't skip the dialogue with the NPC.
More than anything, Lu Xiu was worried that omitting it might cause some kind of problem once the dungeon officially launched.
So she still followed Ethan Winters's reactions from her memory and began interacting with Mia.
After that, she followed Mia out of the dungeon.
At this point, Lu Xiu no longer dared to rush.
She looked at Mia walking ahead of her and began taking slow, deep breaths to mentally prepare herself.
Because what came next...
Wasn't going to be easy.
The combat section was about to begin.
And during this section, Ethan Winters suffered terribly.
More importantly, Lu Xiu couldn't cheat her way through it at all...
Lu Xiu followed Mia through the dark, oppressive basement until they finally reached the exit Mia had mentioned.
But the exit had long since been sealed.
There wasn't even a door anymore.
The moment Mia saw this, her emotions spiraled out of control.
She became extremely agitated, repeatedly shouting that it was gone, that it was gone.
Then she started muttering that now that Ethan Winters had come, they would soon become a family, so it didn't matter anymore...
In short, she was completely delirious.
Everything about her was wrong.
Lu Xiu was still mentally preparing herself and paid little attention to Mia's rambling.
Only after Mia weakly collapsed onto the sofa did Lu Xiu finally come back to her senses.
She turned around and walked into the connected room nearby.
After entering, she didn't investigate anything.
She simply waited patiently.
Sure enough.
Not long afterward—
Mia's terrified scream rang out.
By the time Lu Xiu walked back outside, Mia was gone.
But Lu Xiu knew exactly where she had gone.
She took another deep breath, continued advancing according to the game's flow, left the basement, and headed upstairs.
At some point, night had fallen.
Rain poured outside the house.
Thunder rumbled through the darkness.
The relentless patter of rain came from beyond the walls.
The already eerie abandoned cabin instantly became even more terrifying.
The horror atmosphere was pushed to its absolute limit.
Suddenly.
An unusual noise came from somewhere ahead.
It sounded as though something was repeatedly slamming against a door.
Lu Xiu walked through the sinister corridor until she reached the door connecting to the other side of the basement.
Then she stopped.
According to the flow...
The moment she opened this door—
Mia would attack.