In fact, not long after the S-rank civilian dungeon 【Resident Evil】 appeared, people on the forums had already begun discussing its prototype and asking whether anyone had cleared it.
Top-tier players like Zhao Heng were, after all, only a tiny minority.
The vast majority of people normally had no chance of coming into contact with an S-rank dungeon.
First of all, the offline entrance was a hurdle.
Second, the ticket fee was another hurdle.
Asking someone who wasn't exactly wealthy in Survival Points to spend more than five hundred points on a ticket, then travel to an offline entrance and compete with guild elites and top-tier players for a spot, all for an uncertain and distant possibility—
To be honest, not many people would do that.
But 【Resident Evil】 was different. Not only could it be entered online, but the ticket cost only two hundred points.
There was no need to fight for a spot or wait in line; all it took was a single click to enter.
That naturally made the low-to-mid-tier players, who also happened to be the loudest group on the forum, unable to resist entertaining the idea.
It was only two hundred points, anyway.
Might as well give it a try.
What if?
What if they really managed to get something good out of it?
A lot of people on the forum thought the same way.
That was why, in less than half a day, posts discussing the 【Resident Evil】 dungeon had flooded the entire board.
Because the vast majority of low-to-mid-tier players wanted to give it a shot.
Of course.
They were still considered slow.
The truly bold ones had entered long ago.
They had gone in with a mentality almost indistinguishable from gambling.
And while everyone had their attention fixed on the 【Resident Evil】 dungeon, a certain post appeared—
【That Dungeon Architect, Lu Xiu! You're seriously messed up!! Is the dungeon you made even meant for humans to play!?】
Naturally, it drew a great deal of attention.
Anyone who saw it immediately clicked in.
And then... they were greeted by an absolute torrent of deranged ranting.
【Are you kidding me! Are you kidding me! How can there be such a twisted Dungeon Architect! Is that thing you made even a dungeon? That's torture! You're a psycho! Who starts a dungeon by throwing the players into a haunted house! No hints at all! No tasks at all!】
【It's dark everywhere!】
【There are noises everywhere!】
【Take two steps and you start wondering whether something's standing behind you!!】
【You torture the players for half an hour at the start inside that damn house! Then that damn basement! Running around in circles for half an hour! Finally finding a living person! Only to get tortured even worse! That woman named Mia! Why don't you just let her resurrect infinitely while you're at it!? What the hell were you thinking when you made this dungeon!! And after making it, how exactly did you clear it yourself?! Lu Xiu!!! Answer me!!!】
“???”
“What's going on? Did this guy just come out of the dungeon?”
“OP, calm down. What exactly happened?”
“How was it torturing people? I don't get it.”
“It can't be that bad...”
“I was literally about to go in... Why does he sound like he's lost his mind? Wasn't this dungeon supposed to be an imitation? Didn't Brother Heng say it was easy as pie?”
“When Brother Heng said it was easy as pie, he was talking about himself, not us. But judging by this, even if it is an imitation dungeon, the difficulty doesn't seem low. It almost drove the OP insane.”
“Imitation dungeon my ass! It's an original dungeon! Completely original! Easy as pie? Pie my ass! You'll understand once you go in and play it yourself!”
“...”
Everyone was dumbfounded and immediately began asking questions one after another.
As the number of people discussing it continued to rise, the OP finally replied again.
One stone stirred up a thousand waves.
An original civilian dungeon!
A completely original dungeon!
And judging by the sound of things... the difficulty was extremely high!
Everyone was stunned.
And while they were still trying to digest the news.
More similar posts began appearing one after another.
And each title sounded more unhinged than the last, almost all of them emotional, out-of-control accusations.
Clearly.
Quite a few people had died in the dungeon at around the same time.
【Dammit! Who made this dungeon! Is this even meant for humans to play!!!】
【Who designed this dungeon? Come out! I promise I won't beat you to death!】
【Is the Dungeon Architect mentally ill?! Who makes a dungeon like this?!】
【I wanted to quit ten minutes after going in. What kind of hellhole is that?!】
【I seriously suspect this Dungeon Architect has psychological problems!】
【Give me my points back! Dying deducted a full thousand Survival Points!! Give them back!!】
【Hahahaha, so this is an S-rank dungeon, hahahaha, so this is an S-rank dungeon, hahahaha.】
“...”
A lot of the post titles looked abnormal; many of these people seemed like they had been driven half-insane.
As time passed, more and more posts appeared.
In an instant.
Eight out of every ten posts in the entire off-topic section were about the 【Resident Evil】 dungeon.
Amid all the chaos.
Everyone gradually managed to piece together the general situation.
This civilian S-rank dungeon that had caused such a stir not long ago was actually a completely original dungeon... and it seemed to have a supernatural theme. The overall progression was incredibly macabre, and the combat was pure torture, with most players dying during the section involving Mia.
Even the players themselves couldn't clearly explain what the dungeon as a whole was like.
All they could say was that it was disgusting, terrifying, horrifying, and twisted.
Almost every player who had experienced it gave similar descriptions.
Only the exact adjectives differed a little.
In short, a thousand words could be condensed into a single sentence—even a dog wouldn't play it!
And the question these players asked most frequently in their posts was—how the hell had the Dungeon Architect who made this dungeon managed to clear it themselves?!
Posts like that were everywhere on the forum.
Meanwhile, the players who hadn't entered yet but had been planning to try their luck became more and more discouraged the longer they read.
Because not a single person said they had cleared it.
There wasn't one piece of good news.
...Only accusations, wailing, and madness.
That caused many hopeful players to rush back to the post that had originally exposed the 【Resident Evil】 dungeon, where they found Zhao Heng's earlier comment claiming it was 'easy as pie.'
Then they flooded the replies beneath it, frantically asking about his run and whether he had actually cleared the dungeon.
To sum it all up, their message was simple—
Brother Zhao! Brother Zhao! Say something!!
For the vast majority of people on the forum, Zhao Heng was the only top-tier player they were familiar with.
That wasn't surprising.
As time went on, it wasn't just the people who hadn't entered the dungeon. Many players who had gone in, died, and come out convinced that the dungeon was utterly twisted also came over to ask.
They wanted to know too!
For a top-tier player, was this dungeon actually difficult!
And more importantly!
Could this dungeon really be cleared?
Just as the number of replies beneath Zhao Heng's 'easy as pie' comment was about to break two thousand.
Zhao Heng finally appeared.
His response was very simple.
【Don't go. There's nothing but bloodshed and death in there!】
【What comes later is even more inhuman!】
【That dungeon isn't meant for humans to play!】
“...”
Everyone stared at that reply, then looked back at Zhao Heng's 'easy as pie' comment from only a few hours earlier.
They were completely dumbfounded.
***
The next morning.
Lu Xiu was awakened by a nonstop barrage of System notifications.
Ding ding ding ding ding—
The irritating sound barely paused, as though someone were bombarding her with messages.
On the soft bed.
Lu Xiu sat up groggily. She was wearing a very simple set of pajamas with a loose neckline. Perhaps because she wasn't a very still sleeper, or perhaps because of her full figure, several of the buttons had come undone. Her fair, smooth shoulders were exposed beneath the collar, and her long hair was slightly tousled from sleep, with a few strands stuck to her cheeks.
Her eyes were still heavy with sleep, and she clearly hadn't fully woken up yet, a trace of morning irritation hanging over her expression.
“...What is it.”
The moment she spoke, another notification sounded.
Lu Xiu couldn't take it anymore. Irritated, she reached out and opened the System panel, narrowed her eyes at it, then froze.
She had received more than a thousand emails... and the number was still increasing.
Lu Xiu blinked her beautiful eyes, her mind clearly not having caught up yet.
She stared blankly for a moment.
Then she rubbed her eyes and casually opened one of the emails.
【Are you some kind of twisted psycho?!】
Lu Xiu: “...”
Why are you cursing so early in the morning?!
She opened another one.
【Who taught you to build a dungeon like this?!】
“...”
Lu Xiu finally woke up completely and remembered that the dungeon had gone live. She had spent a long time practicing 【Visual Mental Image】 last night... and genuinely hadn't paid any attention to what had been happening with the 【Resident Evil】 dungeon.
Now that she looked at it, these emails all seemed to be related to 【Resident Evil】?
Lu Xiu opened a few more and finally understood the cause and effect.
Simply put... the players who had been tortured by the dungeon had come to email and curse her, the Dungeon Architect.
Lu Xiu was utterly astonished. After a moment of silence, she muttered, “...Psychos!”
***
And Lu Xiu wasn't the only one who was astonished.
At the Coordination Bureau, in the Combat Strategy Division—commonly known as the floor where the Raid Team was stationed.
Division Chief Yan Fushou sat behind his desk, staring at the two people standing in front of him.
“...What do you mean? An original dungeon? And neither of you cleared it? You guys couldn't even clear an S-rank civilian dungeon???”