Zuo Lin'an stared at the modification page for a moment. After some careful thought, he ultimately backed out of the modification menu.
There was no need to rush this, after all.
After all, he still had two unsolvable specters to retrieve from his dungeon. This meant... he had plenty of time to think about how to modify the main quest.
“I'll wait for now.”
Once Xu Youyou finished his dungeon run and came over, they could discuss it together.
He could also ask Bai Yuan and the others in the chat group; perhaps he could get some reliable advice.
Of course, by “others,” he meant the... elder who had just replied to him on Bai Yuan's behalf.
Just then, Zuo Lin'an noticed that Xu Youyou had sent him a message.
【Xu Youyou: I'm here, I'm here! Brother An, open up for me, quick!】
Zuo Lin'an shook his head in amusement. This guy must have rushed over the moment he finished his dungeon run, without even taking a second to check the forum.
He opened a gap in the white mist of the outer ring to let him in.
Then, he got out of bed, walked into the living room, and sat on the sofa. Just as he did, Xu Youyou burst through the door like a whirlwind.
Once inside, he immediately went looking for food and drinks as usual. Only after filling his stomach did he amble over to the living room and collapse comfortably onto the sofa.
He looked completely at home, as if he owned the place.
“Sigh!”
Xu Youyou began to complain bitterly.
“I got spotted by the players while playing an NPC this time! There was an experienced veteran player carrying a newbie, and he saw right through my disguise. Fortunately, I ran fast.”
Zuo Lin'an asked, “Nobody cleared it, right?”
Xu Youyou grinned and nodded. “Of course not. I still wiped them all out.”
Seeing that he had calmed down, Zuo Lin'an took out his phone, opened the post he had read earlier, and handed the device over.
“Don't celebrate just yet. Take a look at this first.”
Xu Youyou froze. He noticed that Zuo Lin'an's expression was incredibly solemn.
“Did something happen?”
He took the phone and began to read. As his eyes scrolled down the screen, his expression grew increasingly grim.
“Holy shit?!”
“Which dumbass boss was this? Did they think they had a guaranteed win, so they went and leaked the dungeon's secrets to a player?”
But he quickly realized something.
“Wait, that's not right. Aren't words related to these secrets supposed to be filtered out?”
“For example, when players talk about ‘players,’ ‘dungeons,’ ‘games,’ or ‘specter items’ in front of NPCs and specters, those words are automatically censored. Shouldn't the secrets of our world be censored too when a dungeon boss says them?”
Zuo Lin'an shook his head. “Did you forget that special existences like us exist?”
“When players discuss the dungeon, the game, or the main quest in front of us, none of it gets censored, does it?”
Xu Youyou nodded in realization.
“So, that idiot is a Human-Specter Symbiont boss just like us? And a newbie too?”
After all, even a newbie like him knew that the secrets of their world were strictly off-limits.
For someone to do something so incredibly foolish, they had to be even newer than they were.
Zuo Lin'an stroked his chin.
“The post didn't mention who it was, which makes the intention pretty obvious—they're keeping it confidential.”
Xu Youyou looked highly dissatisfied.
“Keep it confidential? What's there to protect about someone like that?”
Zuo Lin'an replied, “It's probably because the situation is too critical right now to deal with them. They'll likely handle it once they have the time.”
“Right now, the most important thing is how we modify our main quest. This directly affects whether we can continue wiping out the players in the future.”
Xu Youyou's attitude turned serious as well.
“The main quest? Can't we just extend the survival time?”
Zuo Lin'an thought it over carefully but shook his head.
“Extend the survival time? That's far too passive.”
Xu Youyou didn't understand. “What do you mean?”
Zuo Lin'an explained his reasoning.
“If we keep the main quest as a survival time limit, the players only need to focus on keeping themselves safe. Instead, as the dungeon bosses, we'll be the ones racking our brains trying to hunt them down.”
“But I've read many forum posts, and plenty of dungeon bosses don't do that. They set up a complex main quest for the players to complete.”
“And to complete a complex quest, most players will choose to cooperate with each other.”
“And if they cooperate, they'll inevitably have to reveal some of their methods for dealing with specters to the other players.”
Xu Youyou had been slightly confused at first, but as Zuo Lin'an spoke, his eyes lit up.
“I get it!”
“We need to change the main quest to a type that requires the players to take the initiative to complete.”
“That way, when our living bodies disguise themselves as NPCs or even as players, we can easily find out what trump cards they're hiding!”
“This is incredibly advantageous for us. And as for how long it takes to clear the dungeon, that's still ultimately in our hands.”
Zuo Lin'an nodded. “If I set a main quest to find a specific object, the players will have to find it to clear the dungeon.”
“But the dungeon is only so big. If they have enough time, they'll eventually find it if they search inch by inch.”
“Therefore, we need to use other methods to limit how long they can survive in the dungeon.”
Xu Youyou scratched his head, and then a sudden realization struck him.
“I get it now!”
“Even if the main quest isn't about survival time, and there's no official time limit to complete the quest, we can control it through other means.”
“For example, food and water!”
“We can calculate roughly how much food and water twenty players would consume per day, and then only provide enough for one, or maybe two to three days.”
“If the players can't find a way to complete the main quest for a long time, they won't be able to clear it. Once their food and water run out, they'll have no choice but to wait for death.”
“By doing this, even though the quest doesn't explicitly enforce a time limit, we still retain full control over how long the players can survive in the dungeon.”
“Amazing, amazing! As expected of Brother An, you've thought of everything!”
Zuo Lin'an remained unfazed by Xu Youyou's praise.
“Then think about this: what kind of main quest should we set for them to complete? Ideally, it should force them to cooperate as much as possible and exchange information about their trump cards.”
Xu Youyou stroked his chin, his eyes darting around as he thought. Finally, a spark of inspiration hit him.
“I've got it!”
“A player's talents and specter items are almost always designed to counter specters.”
“This means that as long as we set a main quest that requires them to take action against a specter, they'll naturally start sharing this information with each other.”
“And to bosses like us, that information is the most critical and valuable intelligence we could possibly get.”
Zuo Lin'an heard this and gave Xu Youyou a thumbs-up.
“Exactly. That's exactly what I was thinking.”
“Setting the main quest to repelling a specter will maximize our gains. But the question is, how many times should we require them to do it?”
Xu Youyou racked his brain.
“How many times? How many times?”
“Once is definitely out of the question. That's too risky for bosses like us; there's absolutely zero room for error. It has to be at least twice, or maybe three times!”
Rate on N.U.
