As Lu Xiu, the Dungeon Architect, pushed the game's flow forward, she did get frustrated from time to time, but honestly, it couldn't really be called boring.
On one hand, the process of constructing the instance itself was actually quite interesting.
On the other hand, imagining how badly the players would suffer after entering this instance was... surprisingly entertaining.
No wonder some game developers were so malicious when designing their games.
Honestly.
It really did give her a strange sense of satisfaction.
Hehe...
Lu Xiu became more and more enthusiastic. Even though she already knew the plot and the overall flow, every time she reached one of those iconic scenes, she couldn't help imagining how players would react when they personally encountered it inside the instance.
And that only made her even more motivated.
For example, the Hellish dining table at the beginning of Chapter 2.
Lu Xiu felt it wasn't disgusting enough, so she made a few proper adjustments...
After all, people never got tired when they were doing bad things.
In short.
Lu Xiu had a wonderful time playing... no, she worked extremely hard, spending almost all of her waking hours inside the Construction Space.
Since she was only running through the flow, it didn't consume much energy.
Under those circumstances, her progress was extremely fast.
Of course.
Although Lu Xiu clearly had a slightly sadistic streak, she didn't deliberately make things impossible for the players. As long as they could keep their fear under control and respond calmly, they would definitely be able to clear the entire instance.
After all, this was Lu Xiu's first time constructing an instance, so she didn't dare go too far. This meant that although the instance contained conditions that could lead to death, every single one of them could be avoided.
But if players became too terrified, started running around blindly, or completely lost their composure...
Then it was hard to say what would happen.
Lu Xiu practically living inside the Construction Space continued for two full days.
By now.
Her Survival Points had dropped to just 17.
Fortunately, the instance had finally been thoroughly checked.
Lu Xiu stood on the ground where the final BOSS appeared, watching as the monster it had transformed into was struck by Ethan's neurotoxin round. It finally lost its ability to move, collapsed to the ground, and disintegrated into dust.
Then Chris's squad appeared and took Ethan and Mia aboard the helicopter, carrying them away from that hellish lair.
After that, only the opening and ending CGs remained.
Those weren't difficult to make, but they were important. After all, without a prologue, players wouldn't even know what they were supposed to be doing.
As for the ending, she might as well include it too. It wouldn't make much difference.
Oh.
There were also quite a few performance sequences that still needed adjusting.
That was another problem Lu Xiu had discovered while pushing through the flow.
Controlling a character from behind a screen and personally entering the game world to roleplay that character were two entirely different experiences.
A lot of scripted performances that didn't feel strange while playing a normal game became somewhat immersion-breaking when the player physically entered the horror world in their own body.
Those needed to be adjusted.
Certain key events were unavoidable, such as Ethan losing his hand.
But the process itself could at least be made smoother and more logical.
In any case, the instance could generally be considered complete.
Lu Xiu looked at the instance world that ended so abruptly, slowly let out a breath, then squatted down and stared at the calcified remains of the final BOSS.
She extended a slender finger and gently touched it.
A strange sensation traveled through her fingertip.
Since Lu Xiu had spent the entire time acting as an observer while pushing the plot forward, merely controlling Ethan as he charged into battle, it really did feel as though she had simply played the game all over again.
That had subtly changed her mindset.
She had even begun to think that tormenting players was rather fun.
Lu Xiu felt there was something wrong with that mentality.
She kept feeling as though she had overlooked something, and vaguely sensed that this attitude would eventually come back to bite her.
Besides.
Even putting those worries aside, she only had a little over a dozen Survival Points left, enough to keep her alive for barely more than ten days.
She didn't even know how the instance would perform once it launched.
So why was she sitting there grinning like an idiot?
That was precisely why she was touching the actual objects inside the instance right now.
She wanted to readjust her mindset.
And it worked surprisingly well.
At the very least, after touching those ashes that felt completely real beneath her fingers, Lu Xiu finally remembered that what she had created wasn't merely some ordinary game.
It was an instance that required Survival Points—or, more accurately, lifespan—to enter.
If a player died inside, they wouldn't die in reality, but the Survival Point penalty was apparently quite severe.
In other words, their lifespan would be reduced.
Maybe she really shouldn't be so delighted about this.
With that thought, Lu Xiu lightly clapped her fair hands together, stood up, stretched, and returned to work.
Opening and ending CGs.
Performance adjustments.
Finally, still feeling somewhat uneasy, Lu Xiu used Visual Mental Image to control Ethan and ran through the entire instance one more time.
This time, she didn't bother inspecting the map.
She focused entirely on the overall flow.
Two hours later.
Lu Xiu once again stood at the final stage of the story.
The sound of the helicopter's rotors gradually faded into the distance, while the downdraft stirred dust across the ground.
Then everything returned to silence.
The sky was gray-white.
All that remained was a devastated battlefield.
And at that moment.
The System interface before her suddenly lit up, and a prompt window slowly unfolded.
【Instance overall structure complete】
【World logic loop established】
【Plot flow verification passed】
【NPC behavior tree stable】
【Core gameplay verification complete】
【Instance status: Encapsulatable】
【Is the instance complete?】
【Do you want to encapsulate the instance?】
Lu Xiu froze for a moment.
Honestly, she had spent the past two days completely immersed in modifying the flow and repeatedly testing everything.
Because of that, she hadn't really felt as though the project was actually finished.
But now.
The System had finally given her definitive confirmation.
She couldn't help taking a deep breath.
"Submit."
She reached out and pressed confirm.
The next second.
The entire instance world trembled faintly, and countless tiny streams of data appeared in the air once again.
Those thin threads were drawn out from the ground, the walls, the trees, the buildings, and everything else in the world.
They gathered high in the sky, converging into a slowly rotating sphere of light.
It looked as though the entire world itself was being packed away.
The process wasn't slow.
It finished quickly.
And once it was done... another System prompt appeared.
【Encapsulating—】
【Instance encapsulation complete!】
【Construction complete. Beginning detection of instance scene structure and scale. Generating rule stabilization fee...】
【Rule stabilization fee: 3000 Survival Points】
【Congratulations, Dungeon Architect. You have taken the first step.】
【Instance is about to go live. Pre-launch precautions:】
【1. Before the instance officially goes live, the Dungeon Architect must perform a live-machine verification.】
【2. Verification method: The Dungeon Architect must personally enter the instance and complete it.】
【3. During verification, all of the Dungeon Architect's memories regarding this instance will be temporarily stripped away.】
【4. The Dungeon Architect will enter the instance as an ordinary player, but will not need to pay Survival Points as an entrance fee. Memories will be restored after clearing the instance. Once the Dungeon Architect clears the instance, they can receive the clearance rewards normally. You will be the first player of your own instance.】
【5. If the Dungeon Architect cannot complete the instance, the instance cannot go live and will enter the System's instance pool as a scrapped project.】
【The instance's System rating, clearance rewards, and Dungeon Architect rewards will be issued after the Dungeon Architect clears the instance and the instance reaches a launchable state. Some rewards will be affected by the Dungeon Architect's clearance performance.】
【Enter instance live-machine verification?】
Lu Xiu: "?????"
Her beautiful eyes widened in shock.
Then her vision went dark.
Huh???
I have to play it first?
Wait! Wait!
Is this seriously how it works?
No wonder I've had such a bad feeling this whole time.
So the Dungeon Architect is actually the first unlucky bastard who has to experience the instance!
Not long ago, I was still gloating over how badly the players were going to suffer!
And now it turns out the Dungeon Architect is the first one who has to suffer!?
The one suffering is actually me???
And my memories of the instance are going to be stripped away too?
Is that even reasonable?
What is this?
The bullet I fired two days ago coming back and hitting me right between the eyes!?
Lu Xiu instantly panicked.
She raised her hand and protested loudly, "I don't think there's anything wrong with the instance I made! I demand that it be launched directly!"
There was no response.
Obviously.
This was a mandatory procedure.
"..."
Lu Xiu's pretty face went completely blank.
After standing there motionlessly for a while, she covered her face, crouched down on the spot, and let out a miserable wail.
At this moment, she felt like a girl who had been trafficked into some remote mountain village, utterly despairing, only to discover that the person who bought her was also a woman...
And that woman even claimed she had only come to find relatives.
Just as the girl finally started believing her, the woman suddenly turned around and admitted she had lied—
She had actually come to buy herself a wife!
What kind of sick joke is this!?