I went berserk in the game of gods.

Chapter 143: A Little Bit of Fun with the Dungeon Boss
After glancing at Cao Yu and the others, Mr. Pingzheng disappeared from the spot.

The next second, a roar came—Cao Yu turned his head and saw that the swimming pool suspended in mid-air was collapsing, and a large amount of water was churning and sweeping back into the story house before disappearing, as if it had entered an unknown space.

At the same time, other players received a notification that "the dungeon rules have changed and the main quest has been completed automatically."

They were forced to complete the game.

Some were overjoyed, while others were very unhappy—the opportunity to complete the side quest was right in front of them, but then everything changed and they lost everything.

The players had varying emotions, but what they had in common was that no one came out to say anything harsh or demand compensation.

Anyone who can reach the D-level player level must have some brains.

Before witnessing Cao Yu's excessively powerful abilities, it would have been understandable for someone to act recklessly.

Now that you've seen it, to still be so insolent is just asking for death, isn't it?

Most players opted to clear the dungeon directly and disappeared into the story house.

The remaining few players, driven by curiosity and a desire to see what would happen, wanted to stay and see how the dungeon would change.

Cao Yu and six others were among them.

"Have you noticed how much Mr. Pingzheng and the Story King look alike?" Su Meiyu said with surprise.

"Could they be different sides of the same person?" Xu Yuelu guessed. "Dark Story House...dark...so the Story King is Mr. Pingzheng's dark side?"

As she spoke, she looked at Cao Yu:
"My brother said before that the Story King didn't actually usurp Mr. Pingzheng's place... Could it be that he already guessed that they were actually the same person?"

“I do have some guesses,” Cao Yu replied. “These are just speculations based on some information. They’re completely unfounded and have no impact on the side quests. It doesn’t matter whether you care or not.”

"Brother, could you share your thoughts?" Xu Yueluo asked humbly.

"In terms of approach, it leans towards the analysis of psychological problems."

Cao Yu was not stingy and replied:

"Analyzing the dungeon's name and background content, we can conclude that Mr. Pingzheng is an upright person who cares a lot about the fairness and impartiality of competition. However, the competition in this dungeon presents the opposite situation."

Here I'm making a assumption—that the dungeon boss is Mr. Pingzheng. Whether the dungeon is fair or unfair, it reflects his psychological pursuits.

In other words, the background content of the instance represents his desire for fairness. The actual actions within the instance represent his aversion to fairness.

He held up two fingers:
"These two contradictory mindsets have created the current state of this instance. That is, the game rules are unfair, but they do not restrict any means of retaliation by the players, thus achieving relative fairness to some extent."

Initially, I thought Mr. Heimasa's eccentric mindset was the cause of this situation. But after witnessing the wonders of the Story House and the performance of the Story King, I strongly suspect... it's not just eccentricity, but rather that Mr. Heimasa has developed a split personality.

"Dissociative identity disorder...psychological analysis..."

As Xu Yuelu deduced the cause from the result, she said:
"So, Mr. Pingzheng had an experience of not being treated fairly when participating in competitions, which caused his mentality to become distorted... Later, this instance with him as the main character was created, and both sides of his mentality were amplified by the instance rules, thus creating the current situation?"

"That's about right," Cao Yu said. "However, this is just guessing about the dungeon boss's experience and mental state, which is not much different from making up a story based on information. There's no substantial basis for it."

"No, the story you made up basically matches my experience."

A slightly deep voice suddenly entered the ears of Cao Yu and the other six.

Mr. Pingzheng reappeared.

He seems to be able to teleport freely within the instance, an ability that even the King of Stories lacks.

It seems that the real Mr. Pingzheng has much higher authority than the Story King.

"Thank you all for waking me up," Mr. Pingzheng said with a smile of gratitude.

"So... you were really asleep before?" Su Mei asked curiously.

"That's it."

Mr. Pingzheng replied:
"However, it's a bit different from sleeping in the ordinary sense. You can think of me as being equivalent to the rules of this instance, so the rules here will have two sides depending on my mindset. The 'fair competition' you created has awakened my 'positive side'."

"Are you the dungeon boss?" Cao Yu asked.

“Yes,” Mr. Pingzheng replied.

"How did this dungeon come about?" Cao Yu's curiosity was piqued. "Speaking of which, this is the first time I've ever peacefully interacted with a dungeon boss... Are dungeon bosses, like players, considered a class in the game?"

"You have a lot of questions, let me answer them one by one."

Mr. Pingzheng said:

"I don't know how the dungeon was created. I was originally human. One day, after I regained consciousness, I found myself becoming the dungeon boss, and my nature of existence changed from a material being to a being governed by rules."

Dungeon bosses are indeed a class, just like players, and they can level up as the dungeon levels up. To use an analogy, the dungeon is like a company, and I am the boss; the bigger the company grows, the stronger I become.

However… not all dungeons have a 'class boss' like me. Most dungeons simply exist, without even a clearly defined boss. Those with free access like me belong to the minority.”

"Humans can actually become dungeon bosses...?"

A thought suddenly occurred to Cao Yu—could he become the dungeon boss?
He asked:
"What about players? Can they have dungeons?"

“Sure,” Mr. Pingzheng said. “Have you ever heard of ‘copyright sovereignty’?”

"Never heard of it." Cao Yu shook his head slightly, then asked in a pretentious manner, "What is 'copy sovereignty'?"

“Brother, I know this!” Xu Yueluo interjected, “‘Dungeon Sovereignty’ is a game item that can create dungeons. Its value is among the highest in Evolution Games. Once it appears, high-level players will definitely fight for it. However… I don’t know the specific details.”

“She’s right. But like her, I don’t know the specific details either.”

Mr. Pingzheng said:

"The ways players own dungeons are not limited to 'dungeon sovereignty.' For example, I can entrust a player to be my agent and temporarily manage the dungeon on my behalf. The management model is similar to the story king you encountered before."

However, players can only gain instance management rights through this method, which is very limited, and there is a significant difference in access control compared to a real instance boss…

Perhaps out of gratitude, Mr. Pingzheng answered Cao Yu's questions very readily.

During the conversation, he also talked about what happened before he became the dungeon boss.

Just as Cao Yu and others speculated, he was once a swimmer who suffered unfair treatment in competitions and had his life's work ruined.

Later, feeling depressed, he took the advice of a psychologist and tried to write down his experiences and feelings to vent his emotions... and then he discovered that he had a great talent for storytelling.

However, perhaps due to his distorted mindset, he prefers dark stories.

So he changed careers for the rest of his life and became a horror novelist.

"Perhaps this is why the 'story-to-realization' rule and authority were formed after the creation of the instance," Mr. Pingzheng said with emotion. This instance, in a way, is a summary of his life.

Cao Yu couldn't help but ask, "What will happen to this instance next?"

"I will redesign it to truly reflect fair competition rules, which can also be considered... to fulfill a personal regret in my life."

Mr. Pingzheng replied:
"However, I am ultimately the dungeon boss. If I completely ignore my own position when designing it, I'm afraid it won't pass the review of the evolution game. There will definitely still be dangers in this dungeon in the future, but as long as I am here, the fairness of the competition will always exist."

"I hope your wish comes true," Cao Yu said with his blessing.

"Then I'll accept your kind words."

Mr. Pingzheng smiled, took out six badges that were a size larger than the ordinary winners' badges, and handed them to Cao Yu and the other five in turn, saying:

"Here you go. With this badge as proof, you can attract my attention when you compete in games. Within the arena's area of ​​effect, I can directly pull you in. Of course, this only applies during regular hours when the arena is not open."

"Can I still enter the instance even when it's not open?" Cao Yu was a little surprised.

"It seems you haven't participated in many dungeons... That makes sense, you were able to get an 'A+' rating from me, so you must have done very few dungeons during your promotion to D-rank player, right? Your player quality is excellent."

Mr. Pingzheng reminded him:
“A dungeon is like a small world. Dungeon bosses like me have a lot of autonomy. If I wanted, I could even connect the Pingzheng Arena to the real world and turn it into a tourist attraction.”

"You can do that?" Su Mei asked in surprise.

“There are many types of dungeons. You’ll find them less strange as you experience more of them.” Mr. Pingzheng smiled and said, “Alright, that’s all for now. I’m going to be very busy.”

He bid farewell to everyone:
Goodbye, my friends. I hope we'll have the chance to meet again someday.

After saying that, he disappeared from the spot and went off to busy himself with the changes to the instance.

The other players nearby also heard the conversation. Seeing that there was nothing more to see, they all left the instance.

Cao Yu and the other six took a moment to check the dungeon's rating.

Cao Yu got an A+, and all three Xu sisters got an A.

Luo Feng and Su Mei were just a little short, both getting an A-... Judging from their expressions, they weren't disappointed at all; on the contrary, they were quite excited.

"This is the first time I've received an A rating," Su Mei said, her voice slightly excited.

“That’s how it is when the big boss leads the team,” Luo Feng said with a smile. “If Brother Cao wants to take on bodyguard missions, he can contact me. I know many powerful figures’ children who have this need and offer very high prices.”

"I don't need the money right now, let's talk about it later."

Cao Yu's gaze fell on the three sisters, and he asked:

"A boss like Mr. Pingzheng is probably the kind of boss you mentioned before, one with extremely strong initiative, right?"

“Yes,” Xu Yueluo replied, “I’ve only heard my father mention it before; this is the first time I’ve encountered it myself.”

Cao Yu sighed, "Having an 'ancestor' at home is really great. The advantage compared to other players is much greater than just a little bit..."

He seized the opportunity and asked the three sisters some more questions... Actually, what he really wanted to ask was "why the new district is isolated from the outside world".

He hadn't forgotten that the crisis created by the three major families in the Federation was still unresolved.

How exactly do the three major families control the strongest tier of players?

And... why did the 008 division only set up Spirit Boat Points and not build a Time Station after clearing the division test instance? This is also a question that needs to be investigated.

Having finally encountered the three Xu sisters, who came from a wealthy and influential family, he naturally had to seize the opportunity to extract some information from them.

However, asking directly carries risks.

The father of the three Xu sisters is a player whose evolution level has reached the A-level range.

If he were to ask some questions directly... unless he could erase the three sisters' memories, it would be easy for his origins to be exposed.

He himself didn't care whether he was exposed or not. Even if he aroused the interest of an A-level player and came into their sights... with the "Gate Between Two Realms" in hand, it would still be very easy for him to escape danger.

But if the information about my hometown is exposed, and someone follows the trail to find the 008 partition... then that would be a bit troublesome.

Driven by caution, Cao Yu directly used "robbery" as the main topic, gradually guiding the three sisters into his conversational rhythm.

The three sisters were very interested in the topic of robbery and kept clamoring to invite him to join No Return City.

Upon encountering this situation, Cao seized the opportunity to mention the members of the No Return City group, who enjoyed robbing banks in the new district, and added that he was actually somewhat interested in it as well.

Unfortunately... there are just too many players who have this idea.

If everyone attacks together, he won't gain much benefit at all.

and so……

"...Within our 09 node, are there any new zones that haven't officially joined the Evolution Game yet? That is, zones that haven't built Spirit Boat Points and Time Stations yet."

Cao Yu asked:

"If so, is there any way to limit the ratings of players in a particular zone when clearing dungeons? For example, to limit their ratings when clearing zone challenge dungeons to always be below B, thereby extending the time that zone is 'offline', making it easier for me to develop sustainable raiding."

"..."

Neither Luo Feng nor Su Mei spoke. In silence, the two moved a short distance away from the group.

It's best to avoid getting involved in topics you shouldn't be involved in.

Cao Yu ignored the two of them.

He wasn't really going to rob the new district.

The 009 sector, where the Federation is located, is currently offline and isolated from the outside world.

The three major families are keeping the strongest teams in check, keeping the regional trial dungeons in a state of never being cleared... He needs to figure out why.

How did the three major families achieve this?
the other side.

After hearing Cao Yu's question, Xu Yueluo thought for a moment and then said:
“Extending the partition’s offline time… Brother, your question reminds me of some ‘partition offline events’ that have occurred on external nodes.”

A look of reminiscence crossed her face.

There really is a chance… Upon seeing this, Cao asked with great curiosity and a very natural attitude:

"Oh? A partition going offline can become an event? What does that mean?"

(End of this chapter)