After the world's datafication, if one considered only System dungeons, Su Miao had seen every rating, from the lowest F-grade all the way to the top-tier SSS-grade.
After all, since dungeons were part of the gameplay, the game System naturally had to generate a sufficient number of them.
And they had to span every level, from low to high.
Because of her job, Su Miao not only knew the names and ratings of every top-tier System dungeon, she even knew which ones had already been cleared.
But that was limited to System dungeons.
As for civilian dungeons... Su Miao had never paid much attention to them.
She had never even seen a civilian dungeon rated A-grade. Under such circumstances, there was simply no reason to pay attention... Ninety-nine percent of the civilian dungeons currently in circulation hovered between C-grade and D-grade, and anyone capable of creating a B-grade dungeon was already hailed as a Genius Dungeon Architect.
And S-grade?
Su Miao had only ever seen that among System dungeons.
Yet such a rating... had actually appeared on a civilian dungeon!
"Are you kidding me?! A civilian Dungeon Architect created an S-grade dungeon?"
Lin Xiao lunged in front of Su Miao, completely forgetting about maintaining her image, and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Quick, give me access! Let me see! Let me see!"
Su Miao swiped her right hand across the light screen, making her System window visible to everyone.
Soon, Lin Xiao saw the application form submitted by Lu Xiu.
"Resident Evil? Horror, stealth, survival? And it's a single-player survival dungeon!?"
"Yes... and that's not all."
Su Miao swallowed and pointed at the description at the bottom of the application.
"According to the Dungeon Architect, there's a high chance of obtaining skills in this dungeon."
"Is that for real...?"
Lin Xiao looked somewhat incredulous.
"I remember the 【Lone Wolf】 dungeon was only A-grade, right? Should we report this?"
"..."
Hearing that, Su Miao snapped back to her senses as if waking from a dream.
Then, as though suddenly remembering something, she bolted away.
***
Since reality had undergone datafication and gamification, society as a whole had experienced a massive transformation.
The old management Systems struggled to encompass this entirely new Domain.
And so, after two years of chaos... a new System architecture emerged to deal with the threats.
The National Abnormal Space Response and Survival Committee.
It had come into being to meet the demands of the times.
And the Committee's core executive department was the National Strategic Dungeon and Abnormal Space Affairs Coordination Bureau, abbreviated as the Coordination Bureau... a typical dual-line System operating under a dual-leadership structure.
Its primary responsibilities were screening, analyzing, and researching strategies for all existing dungeons, formulating raid plans, and, at the same time, working closely with the military System to convert dungeon resources into frontline combat power.
The Coordination Bureau had several divisions under its command.
Su Miao belonged to the First Division, the Dungeon Resource Management Bureau. Its main responsibilities were registering and screening civilian dungeons, distributing funds to Dungeon Architects, and strategically stockpiling items dropped from dungeons.
Soon afterward, Su Miao handed the application to her superior.
Then... her superior was equally shocked and immediately passed it upward.
And so it continued, all the way up the chain.
In less than ten minutes, the application form had reached the Director's office.
At that moment, an old man was looking down at the application displayed on a semi-transparent screen.
The old man had dark skin and very short gray hair. He dressed simply, wearing a faded, old-fashioned short-sleeved shirt and dark trousers of an equally old style. He looked quite elderly, yet his back remained straight, and his eyes showed none of the cloudiness of age—they were even clearer than those of some young people.
He was the Director of the Coordination Bureau.
Director Li Bao.
"Yan Fushou, what do you think?"
The old man shifted the window to one side.
Standing beside him was a man around forty years old.
He was tall—extremely tall, nearly two meters by estimate. Although he wasn't particularly muscular, his sheer height alone made him imposing... though his somewhat high hairline slightly undermined that sense of majesty.
His name was Yan Fushou, Director of the Coordination Bureau's Combat Strategy Division.
The Combat Strategy Division was the most important department within the Coordination Bureau and also the one with the greatest concentration of top-tier players.
Internally, it was generally known as the Raid Team.
"Very impressive."
The middle-aged man with the high hairline considered his words before answering.
"It's extremely rare for a civilian dungeon to receive an S-grade rating... but to be honest, Director, everyone in the Raid Team, myself included, has already lost hope in civilian dungeons. Take that last B-grade dungeon, for example. It was nothing more than a clumsy imitation of a System dungeon... and the rewards at the end were completely useless, because they were all things System dungeons already provided, only in degraded form. In that case, why wouldn't we just clear the System dungeon instead?"
***
Clearly, the leader of the Raid Team wasn't particularly interested in civilian dungeons... even an S-grade one.
On one hand, previous civilian dungeons had been far too disappointing.
On the other hand, the Raid Team was severely understaffed, yet it still had to clear a large number of System dungeons rated S-grade and above, including several SSS-grades.
And the top players in the Raid Team weren't soldiers.
Every one of them had a distinct personality and was difficult to manage—some even dared to hit him, their own leader.
The most painful part was that Yan Fushou couldn't even beat them in a fight.
His hair had already been thinning lately...
He really didn't want to deal with civilian dungeons, even an S-grade one.
This Dungeon Architect was undoubtedly a Genius, but the Raid Team had already cleared more than thirty S-grade System dungeons, and even those rewards had only been so-so.
"You're saying this dungeon is something similar?"
Director Li Bao looked up.
"A degraded version of a System dungeon?"
"Yes. There's a high probability."
Yan Fushou nodded.
"You probably know that although System dungeons have been getting more difficult recently, the overall strength of the player community has also been increasing... With so many people in the country, naturally there are plenty of gifted individuals. The number of people clearing high-difficulty dungeons has continued to rise, and a large portion of those players actually come from the civilian sector."
"Many Dungeon Architects never originally intended to construct dungeons at all. A lot of them cleared some high-difficulty System dungeon, were deeply impressed by it... and then turned around and imitated it. After all, there are no barriers to becoming a Dungeon Architect."
"To put it bluntly, that's the only way many Dungeon Architects are capable of clearing their own dungeons... After a Dungeon Architect finishes constructing a dungeon, they have to strip away their memories of it and personally clear it before the dungeon can go live."
"For most players, if you tell them to create an original dungeon and simply pile on the difficulty, who wouldn't know how to do that? Even if you've never eaten pork, you've at least seen a pig run, right?"
"But the problem is that once they pile on the difficulty, they can't clear those dungeons themselves."
"And if they don't make them difficult enough, they're too simple, and their dungeon ratings remain low, usually hovering around C-grade or D-grade."
"So many Dungeon Architects can only reconstruct high-difficulty System dungeons they've personally cleared, without concerning themselves with the construction details... After all, memory stripping doesn't remove that kind of irrelevant information. They can simply rely on their previous clearing experience to successfully bring the dungeon online."
"But the problem is... the rewards from those dungeons are all degraded versions of things that already have superior alternatives. The original System dungeons give better rewards, so those civilian dungeons aren't really useful."
"..."
Director Li Bao listened quietly, his gaze falling once again on the application form.
It was indeed true.
At present, civilian dungeons imitating System dungeons had already become the norm.
One could even say—
The overwhelming majority of Dungeon Architects fell into this category.
It was just that most Dungeon Architects could only produce imitations rated C-grade or D-grade.
Anyone capable of reaching B-grade was already considered a Genius.
As for S-grade...
Director Li Bao glanced at the rating once more.
Yan Fushou noticed what the Director was thinking and smiled again.
"But then again, this person is still extremely impressive."
"After all, even if it is an imitation, managing to receive an S-grade rating is an extraordinary achievement in itself."
"Among Dungeon Architects, only a tiny handful in the entire country can imitate System dungeons well enough to reach B-grade. As for those capable of reaching A-grade... they're practically nonexistent, let alone S-grade."
"This person is unquestionably a Genius, and she has most likely spent a very long time polishing this dungeon."
Yan Fushou paused before continuing.
"So, as far as the loan is concerned, there's nothing more to discuss—approve it. It would be a genuine waste if someone like this ended up being held back simply because of funding."
"I'll discuss it with Old Li and have someone contact this Dungeon Architect immediately to sincerely invite her to join the Coordination Bureau."
"Right now, this... well, Resident Evil dungeon is most likely an imitation dungeon."
"But that's fine."
"If she's willing to join us, we can provide her with first-hand strategies for other high-difficulty dungeons so she can study them."
"Imitate, understand, and then innovate."
"Right now, she may only be capable of creating imitation dungeons."
"But if she continues to grow—"
"Perhaps one day, she'll truly be able to create an original dungeon with unique rewards."
"..."
Director Li Bao slowly nodded, then sent the application form over to Yan Fushou.
"Then go make the arrangements... Also, once this dungeon goes live, have the Raid Team arrange for someone to clear it."
"..."
Yan Fushou wasn't particularly pleased about that, but he didn't let it show and merely nodded.
"Understood. Although it's an imitation dungeon, since it managed to reach S-grade, the rewards might be different."
"Mm... By the way, which dungeon is that young girl Jian Li in right now?"
Just before Yan Fushou left, Director Li Bao suddenly remembered something and asked one final question.
Yan Fushou's footsteps paused.
Then he gave a bitter smile.
"She didn't go into a dungeon. She said dungeons are boring and she doesn't want to go."
Director Li Bao fell silent for a moment.
"Arrange some psychological counseling for her. Things on the frontline are getting harder and harder... We really need the Raid Team to provide more skills or items capable of changing the current situation."
Yan Fushou's expression turned serious as he nodded.
"Understood."
Only—
Understanding was one thing.
After leaving the Director's office, Yan Fushou thought of that young girl who dared to hit him and couldn't help reaching up to touch his hairline...
He felt as though a monk's bald patch was already beckoning to him.
***
Evening.
Seven o'clock.
Lu Xiu sat at the dining table, physically and mentally exhausted, with a spoon between her teeth.
On the table before her sat a small white porcelain bowl. Inside it, the pale yellow egg custard trembled gently, topped with a few drops of sesame oil and a sprinkling of chopped green onions. Wisps of steam curled upward, carrying a rich, appetizing aroma.
She scooped up a spoonful of egg custard, lowered her head to blow on it, then slowly put it into her mouth.
"Mmm..."
Lu Xiu let out a long sigh of relief, her expression instantly becoming one of contentment.
As expected.
Food really was the best thing for healing a person.
After being run ragged all day, she was genuinely exhausted, mainly because the pressure of clearing the dungeon had been so intense.
After all, that was Resident Evil.
A Resident Evil that had returned to its horror roots.
Now that she was sitting at home enjoying some food, the tension that had gripped her finally began to slowly fade.
Lu Xiu scooped up another spoonful of egg custard.
Just as she was about to continue eating—
Ding.
A System notification sounded.
Lu Xiu froze.
She instinctively raised her head, and a semi-transparent window appeared in front of her.
【Loan application review complete.】
【Review result: Passed.】
That fast?
Lu Xiu was stunned for a moment.
She opened the window and discovered that the Survival Points had already been transferred directly into her account through the System.
Along with them came a friend request and an email—from the National Strategic Dungeon and Abnormal Space Affairs Coordination Bureau.
However, Lu Xiu decisively ignored the email.
For the time being, she didn't particularly want to have any contact with the authorities...
Lu Xiu put the email out of her mind and turned her attention to the Survival Points that had just arrived.
"Finally, the dungeon can go live."