I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

Chapter 42 has one more.

Professor Zhang continued to express his opinion: "Jiangcheng University is the same this time."

She adjusted her glasses. "Of the three people whose identities are yet to be confirmed, Fang Wei had bullied classmates in school, and Luo Yiming has a record of arson during his minor years."

As for Chow Sang Sang—we checked his social media accounts and found that he had engaged in cat abuse in private.

Those who survived were ordinary students, faculty, and migrant workers, and none of them had any major criminal records.

So, can we understand this to mean that the dungeon difficulty is the same, but there is a certain 'moral bias' involved?

Players are randomly selected for dungeons, and the probability of death is the same for everyone. However, at the same difficulty level, players with moral flaws may face a higher difficulty level.

The meeting room erupted in uproar.

"Professor Zhang, you mean... the dungeon difficulty adjusts based on the player?" someone asked incredulously. "Then what does that mean?"

Hell Judgment?

The person who pushed the toddler to death was smashed to pieces in the dungeon.

The man who forced his underage girlfriend to have an abortion grew an umbilical cord around her neck.

In reality, those who abuse cats are skinned alive.

Although it's somewhat far-fetched, upon closer examination, it has a strange and terrifying flavor to it.

A dungeon can't possibly be alive, right?!

That's so weird.

……

Just then, Academician Zhou from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, shook his head.

He is a leading figure in condensed matter physics in China and one of the first scholars invited to study psionic magnetic fields.

"Correlation is not the same as causation. The current sample size is only 28 people, and the confidence level is less than 30%, so it cannot be used as a conclusion."

Our hypothesis is that the essence of a copy is a "psychic-mediated spatial fold".

Psychic energy is an unknown form of energy that has not yet been incorporated into the standard model.

When it accumulates to a threshold in a local region, it will trigger metastable distortion of the spatial structure, forming a subspace independent of the normal space.

This subspace has its own operating rules, which are what we call the "copy rules."

"As for 'selecting people,' it's not that the instance actively chooses people; rather, it's that when the spatial folds expand, they happen to encompass all life forms within the area. Whoever is within the area is drawn in, and it has nothing to do with morality or character."

"The higher mortality rate among those with bad records is more reasonably explained by differences in behavioral patterns."

These types of people are generally more impulsive, more selfish, and more inclined to break the rules and take risks. They have a higher rate of decision-making errors and are naturally more likely to trigger dead ends.

People with good character are generally cautious, law-abiding, and emotionally stable, with a low probability of breaking rules and a naturally high survival rate.

This is a behavioral issue, not a moral judgment.

Professor Zhang frowned, wanting to argue further, but Zhou Mingyuan added:

"Of course, I do not deny that the rules of the game may use people's guilt to create illusions, amplify fear, and indirectly increase the mortality rate."

But this is a psychological effect, not a deliberate moral judgment by the copyist. There is a fundamental difference between the two.

The two held their own opinions, and a low, continuous murmur of discussion filled the conference room.

……

"The hypothesis can be retained."

The military leader tapped the table: "Let me ask a practical question: Can the replica be destroyed manually? For example, with missiles or high explosives?"

The military's approach to the problem remains simplistic and brutal.

Forget about this and that, let's just launch a few missiles and bombard it first.

"It's not possible right now."

Academician Zhou put it very bluntly: "We have already conducted a blasting experiment. The shock wave of conventional explosives will be absorbed by the replica barrier and will not be able to destroy the space structure."

We've tried strong magnetic fields and high-energy rays, but they only cause slight interference, not complete destruction. And there's bad news—"

He paused, his tone heavy:

"The concentration of psionic energy is not static; it is constantly increasing."

The concentration of psionic energy around Jiangcheng University is increasing significantly faster than before. If we extrapolate from the current rate of increase—

In as little as three months, Jiangcheng could see a medium-sized instance covering more than 10,000 people.

Within six months, major cities across the country will most likely see a series of similar events.

These words struck like a boulder, silencing the entire conference room.

A dungeon with tens of thousands of players.

However, if it were to occur in a busy urban area, the consequences would be unimaginable.

……

"Of course, the moral bias in copying is just a conjecture."

Professor Zhang said calmly, "The sample size is small, so we cannot draw any conclusions yet."

However, from a statistical perspective, this correlation is very high.

"Why not just find national moral exemplars to include in the copy?"

"No, moral bias is just one possibility. In fact, the difficulty of the dungeon is still the same, and failure to complete the mission will result in elimination... But this reasoning is indeed very interesting."

In other words, once you enter the instance, it doesn't matter if you're a saint radiating radiance or a vicious murderer.

If you fail to complete the mission, you'll still die.

……

"Knock knock knock".

Lin Zhenghong tapped on the table, and the conference room fell silent.

"Write this conclusion down; it can serve as a key research direction."

He said in a deep voice, "When we encounter more cases, we should focus on collecting background information on the survivors and the deceased. With more samples, we will naturally be able to understand the situation more clearly."

Professor Zhang, how's the database construction going with your folklore team?

Professor Zhang nodded: "It's already underway. The Taiping Cemetery and Jiangcheng University replicas are very likely based on real-world supernatural stories and legends."

Nationwide, all written supernatural tales, legends, folk taboos, and supernatural settings in novels, films, and folk stories are being compiled and stored.

We've already entered over 30,000 entries, and are currently categorizing and labeling them. We want to quickly understand the scope of the copy's "material library."

"We speculate that the ghosts and rules in the dungeon are most likely derived from local folk tales."

Once the sources are identified, we can anticipate problems and develop appropriate solutions.

Lin Zhenghong hummed in agreement, then looked at the special project team: "We need to expedite the equipment development. Do you need manpower or funding? You tell me, and I'll approve it."

Progress needs to be fast, but not rushed; a steady and methodical approach is essential.

He paused, then his tone became serious: "Next, I will announce several measures, which will be officially implemented starting today."

Everyone in the meeting room sat up straight and picked up their pens to take notes.

"First, joint military and police deployment."

Throughout the city of Jiangcheng, 127 additional security posts have been set up, with key areas manned 24 hours a day.

The garrison dispatched two companies to cooperate with the special police detachment on night patrols.

The number of aerial patrol helicopters has been increased to three, providing round-the-clock patrols and immediately reporting any abnormalities.

"Second, we should expedite the city lighting project."

All old residential areas, back streets and alleys, and remote road sections will be equipped with streetlights within a week to ensure that there are no blind spots in nighttime lighting.

They use the pretext of "building a safe city" to explain to the outside world, without explanation or discussion, only focusing on implementation.

Third, strengthen grassroots publicity.

In conjunction with communities, streets, schools, and enterprises, we will carry out publicity on "safe production and disaster prevention and mitigation," popularize precautions for traveling at night, and teach people how to avoid danger and how to call the police in case of abnormal situations.

However, it is important to minimize panic while simultaneously raising public awareness.

Fourth, construct emergency shelters.

Twenty-three large venues throughout the city have been selected as emergency shelters, equipped with medical and living supplies. In the event of a large-scale incident, residents will be immediately evacuated to the nearest shelter.

Fifth, recruitment of special talents.

We are recruiting individuals from across society who have a history of paranormal encounters or possess special abilities. They will be offered preferential treatment and will be assigned to the Special Operations Reserve Team.

Taoist priests, masters... and even players, anyone with genuine skills can be invited to serve as an advisor.

No one spoke; the only sound was the scratching of pens on paper.

Everyone knew what that pause meant.

Lin Zhenghong waited until everyone finished taking notes before continuing, "One last thing, regarding Comrade Chen Xi's application to lead the team into the instance, it has already been approved."

All eyes in the conference room were on Chen Xi.

—This person was the first to come into contact with the zombie incident, the first criminal police officer to personally chase the ghost bus on route 404, and the first player within the system to awaken a profession.

The future is so bright I can't see it clearly.

With so many firsts like today's award ceremony, it will become commonplace in the future.

Chen Xi immediately stood up, her posture ramrod straight.

"Comrade Chen Xi," Lin Zhenghong looked at her solemnly, "the organization has decided that you will lead nine carefully selected special forces members into the Jiangcheng University instance."

The mission has three parts: First, confirm the list of deceased individuals among the three missing persons; second, figure out the rules of the instance as much as possible and bring back detailed intelligence; third, test the actual effectiveness of existing equipment against ghosts.

"Mission accomplished!"

Chen Xi gave a standard military salute, his voice firm and powerful.

……

Late at night, three layers of police tape were still in place outside the west gate of Jiangcheng University.

The outermost layer consists of police officers, who are responsible for evacuating unrelated personnel.

The middle layer consisted of armed police, heavily armed and on high alert.

The people at the very back are from the Special Investigation Team—no, with the approval of the Central Committee, their full name should now be the Special Incident Investigation Section.

The forensic team used instruments to monitor energy fluctuations, and the ripples on the screen jumped fast and slow.

Ten people stood in a row on the open ground inside the warning line of the artificial lake.

Chen Xi stood on the far left, wearing a training uniform and combat boots, with an emergency-modified pistol tucked into his waistband.

A peach wood dagger was strapped to his leg, and his backpack contained glutinous rice, cinnabar, talisman paper, as well as a batch of emergency food and a medical kit.

It's still uncertain whether these items can be brought into the instance.

It's still making noise, and it's still the familiar ink-wash style writing:

[Player Chen Xi's team detected, requesting entry into the dungeon "High School Ghost Stories".]

[Current number of players in the instance: 0.]

Chen Xi turned around abruptly, and the technician in the technical department had a distorted yet excited expression:

"Team Leader Chen! Energy level has surged! Recorded!"

As soon as the words were spoken, ink-wash characters floated and sank in the vision of the ten-person team:

[Players Chen Xi, Ashima, Zheng Wenxuan... have been detected and meet the entry requirements]

[Current dungeon slots available: 10/10, satisfied]

[Queue ended, you will be teleported into the dungeon "High School Ghost Stories"]

[Countdown: 3...2...1...]

The text appeared without any warning.

Even after mentally preparing themselves, some people still couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the surreal text appear in their field of vision and waved their hands in disbelief.

Supernatural forces truly exist.

"Move closer, back to back!" Chen Xi ordered sharply. "Grip your weapons tightly and maintain formation!"

The nine men reacted immediately, quickly moving closer together and forming a circle with their guns pointed outwards.

The next second, wisps of mist suddenly seeped out from the ground.

A burst of white light suddenly erupted.

The ten people disappeared from the spot.

……

In just a brief moment, the feeling of weightlessness vanished.

The white mist around him grew thicker and thicker. Chen Xi opened his eyes to a familiar yet unfamiliar scene before him—

A white mist hung in the air, the lake water was pitch black, and the sky overhead was an unnatural gray.

As for his equipment, it was all gone, only his food and water remained.

"Report your numbers!"