Before going to bed, Qi Xu checked the sign-up slots for the dungeon—68 players had already registered, mostly top-ranked players from regular dungeons or the monthly leaderboard. Seeing this, he immediately closed the sign-ups.
Next, he began setting the difficulty levels for each stage, arranging them from easiest to hardest. After calculating the costs, he realized he needed to pay 64 survival coins, with a note in parentheses: "Adjustments for overpayment or shortages."
Seriously? Not only was he using his own DIY dungeon card to create this, but he also had to pay out of pocket to buy monsters and provide rewards? This survival game was making pure profit... What a scam! A total rip-off!
The system assistant, Ball Ball, awkwardly stayed silent, not daring to make a sound—mainly because it couldn’t control its mouth and had already been fined all its private savings. It didn’t even have enough coins to prepare for the next disaster-level dungeon.
Left with no choice, it had come up with a new idea... At least it could scrape by for now.
Qi Xu had been exhausted earlier, but now he couldn’t sleep. Tossing and turning, his mind raced with thoughts.
He had thought restarting the game would give him at least a year or two of advantage, but his performance in the last round had been so poor that he was already struggling after just two months.
Sighing, Qi Xu shifted his focus to selecting participants for the arena challenge.
War Wolf 009, Dongfang Yuan, Old White Dragon in the Waves, Golden Bell Armor Iron Shirt—plus himself, that made five confirmed spots. After their last team dungeon, Qi Xu had a good grasp of everyone’s abilities.
Bubbly Girl Guo Degang had just sent a private message saying she had made plans to meet a monster at a bookstore tomorrow and couldn’t cancel, or she’d be hunted down. She wouldn’t be joining this dungeon.
Retired Magical Boy’s stats were below 60, so he hadn’t signed up either. That left...
As the dungeon creator, Qi Xu could see all registered players’ detailed three-dimensional stats.
The most impressive numbers belonged to Breaking Cocoon into Butterfly and A Swimming & Fitness Coach Chen.
But combat ability wasn’t always perfectly reflected in stats, so he singled out a few high-stat players to observe more closely tomorrow.
By the time Qi Xu finally fell asleep, it was past 2 AM. A little after 5 AM, he was woken by the sound of group chat notifications. Groggily, he opened the holographic screen...
It was the meeting group Ball Ball had created the day before.
Why were they messaging so early? What kind of announcement was this?
Since he hadn’t set up message muting, the notifications blared out loud.
Fortune God's Only Daughter: "Holy crap, not a single person signed up! What am I supposed to do with the dungeon I set up?! I spent over 100 survival coins, and now no one wants to join? Pisses me the hell off!"
Ball Ball: "......"
Ball Ball: "After analysis, it appears your poor reputation is the reason. Players in your zone have collectively decided to boycott your dungeon upon learning you created it."
Fortune God's Only Daughter: "No shit, Sherlock. Bunch of idiots. Like I even want to play with them. So what now? How do I pick teammates for the challenge? Can I just go solo? Useless trash—they’re no better than deadweight."
Ball Ball: "If you keep swearing, I’ll deduct your coins."
Fortune God's Only Daughter: "So what’s the solution? Are you deaf? I’ve been asking forever, and you haven’t given a single useful answer. What kind of AI are you? Time for an upgrade—or the scrap heap?"
Ball Ball: "Then just pick people at random."
Reading this, Qi Xu was instantly wide awake, his drowsiness gone. He had always suspected Ball Ball wasn’t just an ordinary AI, but this confirmed it.
Fortune God's Only Daughter: "So you’re not just an AI. You actually have some level of authority over the survival game’s decisions and controls."
She had hit the nail on the head. For someone who seemed brash, she was surprisingly sharp. Qi Xu had just realized this himself—Ball Ball definitely wasn’t just an AI.
It felt more like the monsters—a real, living entity.
Fortune God's Only Daughter: "Gotcha, huh? Too scared to talk now?"
[Group Member "Fortune God's Only Daughter" has been removed by Group Owner Ball Ball for violating group rules. Please maintain respectful and polite communication.]
Invincible Black Whirlwind: "If you can just handpick participants, why make us go through the trouble of setting up a dungeon?"
Ball Ball: "My energy reserves are low this month, but the rules require a dungeon for every disaster event. By organizing it yourselves, you not only select the 10 arena challengers but also save me some energy."
Invincible Black Whirlwind: "So, dear Ball Ball, you’re saying we had to waste a dungeon card and a bunch of survival coins because you’re running low on energy?"
A Dairy Cow: "@Invincible Black Whirlwind Come on, man, have some perspective. It’s just one dungeon card and a few coins. You’re a top-ranked player—why sweat the small stuff?
Shouldn’t we be discussing how to keep the arena challenge friendly? Let’s not violate human decency or ethics. Why fight among ourselves? How about we take turns—you win this time, I win next time?
What do you say, big shot? You’ve got the clout to make it happen. No one listens to a nobody like me."
Happyending: "@A Dairy Cow Your stupidity is giving me a headache. Sorry, but I’m claiming your life."
A Dairy Cow: "This is why I hate dealing with unreasonable people like you. Unbelievable."
Ball Ball stopped responding. It didn’t want to offend Invincible Black Whirlwind—she held grudges. Ever since the "Blue Little Flower" incident, she’d stopped carelessly spending coins...
Qi Xu couldn’t be bothered with A Dairy Cow either. There was no reasoning with someone that deeply entrenched in their own ignorance.
Having stayed up late, Qi Xu was still exhausted and dozed off again.
By the time he hurriedly got up, it was almost 8 AM. After washing up, eating breakfast, and getting dressed, he gave Little Seven and Sweet Girl strict instructions:
"I’m going hunting. You two guard the house."
The two little ones nodded reluctantly.
At exactly 8 o’clock, Qi Xu braced himself to be teleported—but nothing happened. He was still sitting in his car. Frowning, he muttered, "What’s going on? A glitch?"
He opened the DIY Dungeon Challenge Card and suddenly found himself in what felt like a surveillance room.
Screens filled the space, displaying the 68 players participating in the challenge. To zoom in on any feed, he just had to tap it.
The system was smart and user-friendly.
Once he confirmed everything was working, Qi Xu plopped onto the sofa.
He’d been ignorant—thinking he’d have to physically enter the dungeon. Turns out, he was just watching from home like a TV show...
Little Seven and Sweet Girl tilted their heads in confusion. "Aren’t you leaving?"
.........
