An Mu was silent for a moment.
“It seems it is also an execution, but the method is a bit different. I don't know the specifics, and what I heard might not be entirely accurate. It could just be a rumor.”
Xu Youyou found it hard to understand. “But even so, is there really a need to keep it a secret?”
An Mu replied, “From what I know, that person has drawn too much hatred. If their identity is exposed, it might trigger assassinations and hunts by those in the know, which would affect the assimilation progress to some extent.
And since the current situation is urgent and no accidents can be tolerated, the higher-ups chose to keep it temporarily confidential.
After all, as you both know, executing this person directly would be incredibly simple. But now is not the time to deal with that idiot.
Once the dust settles, the higher-ups will naturally deal with him properly.”
Xu Youyou blinked. “Is that the explanation? Well, alright, I guess that makes sense.
Besides, killing him just like that would indeed be letting him off too easily.”
The bus drove on.
After about fifteen or twenty minutes, the bus arrived outside the gates of Lingyang First High School.
There happened to be a bus stop right there.
Everyone stood up and got off the bus.
Zuo Lin'an slowly walked toward the school, dragging his suitcase behind him.
Xu Youyou looked around.
“Wow, there are so many people?”
Zuo Lin'an also felt it was a bit crowded. There had to be several hundred people here, maybe even a thousand.
Just as they stepped through the school gates, they spotted a familiar figure.
“Homeroom Teacher!”
Hearing the familiar voice, Liu Gaomei subconsciously turned her head.
“You're here?”
She pulled out a roster, checked off their names, and casually took out two keys, handing them over.
“Here, I specially reserved these for you.”
Zuo Lin'an took them and looked. They were dormitory keys, with a thumb-sized round tag hanging from each, engraved with a room number.
“Oh? This is...”
【A-101-1】
It was Dormitory Building A, Room 101 on the first floor, Bed 1.
Indeed, the room keys at Lingyang First High School were numbered down to the specific bed. This way, with everyone having their own key, it was very easy to tell them apart.
Even if a key was lost, the owner could be found quickly.
As for whether someone would use a found key to steal from a dorm, the school had surveillance cameras installed everywhere, including the dormitory hallways. Anyone who dared to steal would be caught immediately.
Liu Gaomei instructed, “Keep this to yourselves.”
Xu Youyou grinned. “Don't worry, Homeroom Teacher. We aren't big mouths.”
The keys Liu Gaomei had reserved for them were for a four-person room.
“Alright, go drop off your luggage first, then gather in Senior Class One. I'll head over there in a bit.”
Zuo Lin'an replied, “Okay.”
The two bid farewell to Liu Gaomei and walked toward the dormitory building.
Xu Youyou was in high spirits along the way. “Back when we were in school, we always had eight-person rooms that were packed to the brim. Who would've thought that after graduating, we'd get to stay in...”
He didn't finish his sentence, merely jiggling his keys.
Zuo Lin'an also felt a bit nostalgic.
The two went to their room, unpacked briefly, and then set off together toward Senior Class One, which was on the sixth floor of Academic Building No. 5.
Before applying to go to Sin Hunter City, they had studied in Senior Class One. Returning to their old haunt now brought back a unique mix of feelings.
They naturally chose their former seats. Fortunately, no one had taken them yet when they arrived.
Zuo Lin'an sat in front, with Xu Youyou behind him.
Besides them, there were other people in the classroom.
They looked to be of all ages, and though they didn't really look like students, everyone's appearance would change once the dungeon opened, so age didn't matter.
The classroom had fifty seats in total, and they were soon completely filled.
Everyone was very polite. No one shouted or wandered around aimlessly, and even when they conversed, they spoke in hushed tones.
Before long, they saw a familiar figure walk in through the door.
It was their homeroom teacher.
Liu Gaomei walked up to the podium. “Quiet down, everyone. Our time is limited. First, I'll go over the details you need to watch out for in the dungeon. You'll need the remaining time to familiarize yourselves with the school's layout.”
Everyone quieted down.
Liu Gaomei turned around and wrote a number on the blackboard.
【9000】
“I believe everyone is aware of the current situation. Because of the arrogance of a certain dungeon boss, a secret of our supernatural world regarding dungeons has been exposed to the players.
Once a player clears a dungeon, it will never open a second time.”
At this mention, the people sitting in the classroom frowned one after another.
Zuo Lin'an even saw a few people whose eyes began to burn with murderous intent.
Seemingly oblivious, Liu Gaomei continued, “Right now, veteran players from the Wuxia World are accepting invitations from newbies to go and stomp low-difficulty dungeons.
This behavior will lead to a drastic reduction in the sustainability of our One-Star and Two-Star dungeons.
And to achieve the specter assimilation of the Wuxia World, we need the number of specters in that world to continuously increase. The only thing we can do is kill as many players as possible in the dungeons.
After all, the more players we kill in the dungeons, the more specters will appear in the Wuxia World.
As for Daily Dungeons, One-Star dungeons are the most numerous, followed by Two-Star, and so on.
If a large number of One-Star and Two-Star dungeons are sealed away because players cleared them, the rate at which specters increase in the Wuxia World will drop drastically.
If that happens, they will gain more time, which could ultimately lead to the complete failure of our assimilation.
Although the National War Dungeon can also kill a large number of players, the issue is still time. After all, the National War Dungeon can only be opened about once every six months.”
Having said this, Liu Gaomei shifted the topic.
“Originally, the player count set for this National War Dungeon was 3,000, divided into six dungeon lines. Each line would have five hundred players, and the remaining five hundred would be NPCs in disguise.
However, because we have entered emergency mode, some details have been adjusted.
The number of players has been increased from the original 3,000 to 9,000—an increase of 6,000 players.
Among the additional 6,000, only 1,000 are new players. The remaining 5,000 are all carefully selected veteran players who have experience helping newbies clear low-difficulty dungeons.
As for the number of dungeon lines, it has been increased to ten. Each dungeon will be allocated 900 players and 100 NPC students.”
Someone raised a hand to ask.
“According to the original plan, shouldn't our NPC count also be 3,000? With the revised requirements, ten dungeon lines with a hundred NPCs each only adds up to 1,000?
Cutting out two thousand NPCs all at once—isn't that a bit risky?”
Liu Gaomei patiently explained, “For NPCs, quality matters more than quantity.
We did indeed plan to deploy 3,000 initially. However, after careful consideration, we decided to drastically prune the guest-starring personnel.
The 1,000 of you were chosen to remain after meticulous selection by the higher-ups. This is an acknowledgment of your capabilities, and we hope you won't disappoint our expectations.
Of course, cutting two-thirds of the roster all at once is indeed rather drastic. However, there are other reasons behind this, which I will explain next. Please be patient.”
Rate on N.U.
