Chapter 35, Chapter 35, that chapter dominated the overall ratings for a whole month...
Popular forum discussions:
Title: [I really want to ask, who exactly is that "anonymous tourist" who has dominated the top spot in overall ratings for a whole month?]
Main post: [This is clickbait, but I think everyone probably already knows what's going on... but I still can't believe it. How did they manage to get the highest overall score with just a beginner-level dungeon?]
I always thought the beginner dungeons were all tutorials for newbies!! (Frustrated)
...
It has been a full month since the simulated combat pod went online and was opened to all students.
The students had always known that their school was technologically advanced, but they never expected that not long after the start of the semester, the principal would bring out a high-tech gadget exactly like the holographic capsule in the novel.
It can also switch between instances; how is this different from a holographic game?
It's like a futuristic fantasy from a novel coming to life!
In the first week, in order to grab a spot as soon as possible and be among the first to try it out, people lined up at 3 a.m. and set alarms to get up and fight for it.
After actually lying inside, I was so excited I couldn't contain myself.
Everything felt so real that it was impossible to tell that it was a system-generated virtual world.
They explored this and that, and some, taking advantage of having a full hour to use the game, chose a hellish difficulty dungeon first.
Then, before they could even see what was happening, they were all killed by zombies.
I didn't even know how I died until I returned to the default screen.
So, feeling rather disgruntled, I switched back to the intermediate dungeon and experienced another (speed kill).
Finally, I calmed down and switched to a beginner-level dungeon, which finally made things a bit better.
Even so, the pass rate in the first week was still pitifully low.
On average, the clearance rate is far lower than the system's projected clearance rate.
Those who managed to snag a spot early on were too embarrassed to admit they'd been utterly defeated when they returned to their dorms. They could only secretly resolve to train harder and at least master one of the beginner dungeons.
As a result, the simulated combat pod became the hottest topic on campus in Fangzhou for the past month.
Unlike other courses and campus facilities, the most distinctive feature of the combat simulation pod is that it has a leaderboard.
Furthermore, the values are updated in real time, are publicly visible to everyone, and different dungeons have their own leaderboards, while there is also an overall leaderboard for comprehensive scores.
Since the overall score is affected by many factors and measures a person's overall performance in the instance, it is perfectly acceptable to compare them together.
In the forum, someone shared their experience: she tried to avoid encountering zombies and cleared a beginner dungeon quickly and without taking damage, while killing two zombies and spending more time barely clearing an intermediate dungeon, and the points she got were about the same.
She concluded that it's not impossible to get a high score in the beginner level.
However, after a month of experimentation, the forum still reached a general consensus: the higher the difficulty of the dungeon, the easier it is to get a high score.
It's a very simple principle: since the rating measures a person's overall strength, then a more complex intermediate dungeon with more hidden dangers is naturally more suitable for demonstrating strength than a simple beginner dungeon.
—This was the firm belief of the forum members before they noticed the existence of the "anonymous visitor".
The students actually noticed the account that was number one on the overall leaderboard in the first week.
But it's only the first week, and everyone is still adjusting. Very few people can successfully complete the beginner dungeon. If someone does complete it and performs well, it's easy for them to get a good score.
So they didn't take it seriously at first.
Until a week passed, then two weeks passed.
Three weeks, a month...
Some people have figured out a way to speedrun through beginner dungeons without taking damage, some have managed to clear intermediate dungeons with some difficulty, and some have survived for half an hour in advanced dungeons, even managing to get two kills. Anonymous Visitor still holds a firm place on the leaderboard.
They then realized something was wrong.
Upon clicking into the details and discovering that this anonymous tourist had achieved such a high overall rating simply by completing a "beginner dungeon," they were devastated.
Fu Qing tried it casually and left behind an insurmountable record.
It even became a source of anxiety for students who loved setting records.
When they imitated the anonymous tourists, chose a simple beginner dungeon, tried to hit all the scoring points they guessed, and thought they had done it perfectly, they were even more devastated when they came out and found that they hadn't even touched the edge of an SSS-level rating.
In the end, all I could do was come to the forum to complain.
—Because each person only has one hour of simulator time per week, which is far from enough, Fuqing allows students to share their gains and lessons learned in the instance on the forum when they are not using it.
They even share their walkthrough videos so that everyone can discuss whether there are any omissions or areas for improvement.
Of course, there are still some limitations.
After all, there are only so many instances. If all the spoilers are revealed, Fu Qing will have to rack his brains and try hard to remember a few more.
The restrictions are simple: all beginner dungeons are open for public discussion on the forum, intermediate dungeons are only open to those who have played them and explored more than 30% of them, and advanced and higher-level dungeons are only open to those who have already completed them.
The exploration level is a value inherent to the combat pod, while the forum browsing limit is imposed by the system.
The post floating on the homepage at this point wasn't the first discussion thread about "anonymous tourists," but it was still very popular.
[I was just passing by and got insulted for no reason. Forget the tutorial, some people can't even get past it. (crying)]
[Regardless of who the anonymous visitor is, if they're so skilled, why don't they try running a Hell difficulty dungeon? What kind of ability is it to bully people in the newbie village!]
[I reasonably suspect that she was too lazy to choose; the 004 dungeon was just randomly drawn. She might have gotten an SSS rank just as easily, or even more easily, from a Hell dungeon.]
[The person upstairs is right...]
[No way?! SSS rank in Hell difficulty? Are they even human?]
Last week, I dared to explore the Night Forest map in the Hell difficulty, and three wild wolves suddenly appeared, scaring me half to death. The leader looked like it was two stories tall, and its bright yellow eyes shone like two light bulbs in the darkness. Those weren't wolves at all, they were dinosaurs!
Anyway, it slapped me into a pulp, and for the past week I've had a phobia of stray dogs on the street.
I really want to know who designed these dungeons; they're insanely difficult, it feels like they never intended for anyone to complete them.
...
To avoid privacy breaches and speculation about the teachers' personal information, Fu Qing has never disclosed the origin of the copies.
Therefore, the students treat it as just another game instance, and they discuss it quite freely.
When referring to the characters, they are always referred to as the protagonist and NPCs.
They can replay the game repeatedly, and they can study the strategies. For them, it is no different from a game.
However, this is an exceptionally "realistic" game, and even for moral reasons, they will not act as recklessly as the fourth catastrophe in a typical game.
...
I agree that the Hell difficulty is inhumane, but the No. 004 beginner dungeon isn't easy either. Has anyone cleared it? Let's have a serious discussion.
I spent an entire hour last week on this dungeon. I discovered that while the initial requirements seem simple—just get home safely—there's actually a lot more hidden if you dig deeper. Once you step into a trap, the difficulty skyrockets, it's terrifying.
[Upstairs! Finally someone understands me!! Actually, it's not a coincidence that the anonymous visitor got a high score in this dungeon. In other beginner dungeons, she might also get an S, but I don't think SSS is realistic.]
To verify this hypothesis, I spent three full hours playing this dungeon over the past three weeks, and let me explain in detail.
[This is interesting. I'll pull up a small stool and sit down.]
[Squatting]
The owner's profile picture was a pink flower, and they replied after a long pause.
77L (Big Flower): [I'm here, I'm here. I changed my ID so it's easier for everyone to follow this thread. The person upstairs was right. Other beginner dungeons might be tutorials for newbies, but No. 004 definitely isn't, because it has a few hidden pitfalls (yes, I've already struggled to get through them TAT).
The first pitfall comes from the environment of the instance itself. As you can tell from the architectural style, the instance scene is a very familiar old-fashioned residential area. Judging from the conversations of passersby, it should be a staff housing complex of some organization, where retired employees of the organization live, mostly elderly people. The protagonist himself and his upstairs and downstairs neighbors are also mostly elderly people.
Moreover, the incident occurred at the time when people were leaving school or getting off work, and even if there were young people present, they would not have gone home yet.
So, the first problem arose: These elderly people simply wouldn't listen to any advice!
During my first playthrough, I kindly explained to them for a long time that the zombies were coming, but no one believed me. I almost had a stroke.
Until one day a zombie appeared out of nowhere and bit me. As I clutched my neck and fell to the ground, I was still hoping that seeing me dead would make them realize the danger and run away.
The result? Surprisingly, not a single person ran away!
They surrounded me and the zombie, waving palm-leaf fans and pointing at us, saying things like, "Hey, why are you biting people? That's so rude!" Then they said, "Young man, don't go. Let's have a word with you."
I:"……"
Everything went black; the inevitable annihilation was already clear.
Da Hua spoke with genuine emotion, filled with grief and indignation.
Unexpectedly, the replies below not only showed no sympathy, but also burst into laughter.
[Hahaha, I feel like Da Hua's resentment is about to overflow from the screen.]
[The first person the zombie bit was actually the only one who knew it was coming. How pitiful!]
[I was laughing when I suddenly remembered how my grandparents wouldn't throw away the spoiled leftovers in the fridge... If zombies really came, I'm afraid I really wouldn't be able to persuade them.]
[...suddenly, I couldn't laugh anymore]
[Ugh! My parents are the kind of people who would say, "What? There are zombies outside? Let me go out and see what's going on!"]
[Oh, so that's how the principal said half the people died at the start of the game.]
[While running a dungeon, I unexpectedly discovered its educational value... I used to think that fighting zombies was simply a matter of having the right weapons, stockpiling the necessary supplies, and getting physically fit. I never imagined that the biggest challenge would be convincing my stubborn parents (lying down)]
[Perhaps we could write a few articles beforehand saying there's an outbreak of type X virus in a certain city, to create a buzz? They'd be more likely to believe it.]
[@CheeseIsPower, Let's Get Refreshed]
Halfway through the discussion, they discovered a loophole in their doomsday preparations and quickly patched it up.
...
108L (Big Flower): [I'll continue, because the additional condition of the dungeon is to save passersby, so most people will choose to persuade the group of people chatting downstairs to go home.]
However, if you spend too much time on this step, it will soon be rush hour, and the community will be flooded with people leaving get off work, among whom are a large number of infected people.
If you wait until rush hour, the chances of saving pedestrians are basically gone. I've tried it a few times, and it always ended in total failure.
Another point worth noting is that an old man zombie will randomly spawn in the neighborhood, sneaking up behind the protagonist without warning. I've been killed by him several times.
If you don't dodge here, or if you make too much noise when you kill him, you might also be surrounded by well-meaning old folks, falling into the "Hey, why are you biting people? There's a madman here, everyone come quick!" phase I mentioned earlier, ultimately resulting in a total wipeout (lights a cigarette).
[Hahahaha]
110L: [Got it, got it, so this dungeon can't be dragged out, we have to speedrun it]
[Easy to learn, but impossible to use]
115L (Big Flower) replied to 110L: [That's right, you can see from the anonymous visitor's completion record, she definitely speedruns—completes the game in five minutes!!]
I'm actually really curious how she did it, because this dungeon has an incredibly overpowered setting, which I'll explain later.
[Looking forward to it?]
[Prick up your ears]
[I think I know what Da Hua is going to say. When I first discovered this, I was absolutely blown away! And there's an even more outrageous setting later on! I'm really curious, how can a beginner dungeon have a guaranteed death situation?? No, I have to hold back, no spoilers.]
121L (Big Flower): [In short, killing the old man zombie would definitely take more than five minutes. I observed his direction of movement, and when I restarted, I blocked him. At the same time, I used the alarmist method I learned from the propaganda team to successfully trick a few old people into going upstairs.]
Attention, the main event is about to begin.
That's right. If you've successfully navigated all of the above, then congratulations, the most difficult part of this dungeon is about to begin (what?).
One of the most outrageous features of this dungeon is the movement speed of the elderly characters—my God, it's too slow!
When I saw an old lady walk up to the third-floor platform, unfold the small folding stool she was carrying, sit down and say she wanted to rest before continuing, I was absolutely furious!
What's even more outrageous is that the old man next to him actually took a leisurely sip of the tea in his thermos!
He even asked if I wanted a sip, saying this tea is good for clearing heat and reducing internal fire!
Going upstairs here, conservatively estimated, took at least two and a half minutes; it was basically a forced cutscene. That's why I said a five-minute playthrough is unbelievable. Ignoring this forced plot, you can calculate how much time it took the anonymous tourist to convince them, defeat the old zombie, and deal with the even bigger crisis that followed!
[Case solved, Big Flower, are you here to be funny?]
[That anonymous tourist is amazing... This confirms her identity even more...]
[Upstairs, you should have noticed something when everyone, including Da Hua, tacitly used the pronoun "she"...]
127L: [So far it seems okay. Zombies can be blocked, and old men and women can be persuaded with a shocking statement. I haven't played this dungeon yet, what are the difficulties?]
129L replied to 127L: [Did you overlook something...? What Da Hua said about being able to glitch zombies and other speedrun tips is based on her experience after repeatedly restarting the game, while the anonymous guest account only shows one play history.]
If you were encountering this instance for the first time, could you quickly and clearly analyze the situation, silently avoid or eliminate the zombies, and at the same time gain the trust of the NPCs?
This requires not only absolute strength, but also experience, awareness, and a keen sense of crisis.
133L (Big Flower): [Thanks to 129L for the explanation. I accidentally wrote too long. I'll finish it quickly.]
The above are just some points to complain about; the biggest challenge of this dungeon is later on. At the start of the dungeon, when we stand at the spawn point (the staircase platform between the third and fourth floors), we will brush past a middle-aged or elderly female neighbor named "Xiaoyan" who has just returned home.
When we first met, she seemed almost perfectly normal; at least, I didn't realize anything was wrong.
But in fact, she had already been infected, and the source of infection was very rare—her pet cat.
This pet cat is extremely terrifying. It retains the ultimate predator instincts of a cat. The first time we met, it swatted half of the head off the NPC in front of me with one paw. The bulging muscles on its back look like it could kill two of me with one punch. In the narrow stairwell, it's like a rampaging meat grinder.
Encountering it was a complete nightmare.
In short, the female neighbor was attacked by the mutant cat about four minutes after she returned home. After that, she opened the door to run away, but it was too late.
Therefore, if we return to the stairwell within five minutes, we will have the chance to witness our female neighbor being torn apart and become the next target of the mutated cat. If we return after five minutes, we will see a corpse and an open door.
—The mutated cat had already escaped and was running rampant through the building's stairwells, searching for prey. It was incredibly fast and agile, and it was almost impossible for us to get home before it spotted us.
The moment you encounter it, the death rate in dungeons skyrockets to 99%, and the side quest to save NPCs becomes virtually impossible.
Encountering a wild beast in the stairwell is a nightmare-like massacre.
I have come up with a few ways to pass the game so far:
1. Kill the female neighbor who has not yet mutated when you first meet her, so that she has no chance to open the door and go home (but this requires a lot of mental fortitude, and you feel like a murderer). After that, hide her in your house to avoid meeting the neighbors and avoid the trouble of explaining.
2. Hide in a neighbor's house on a lower floor, and then climb the stairs back home. However, the mutated cats lingering in the stairwell will continue to slaughter the neighbors, greatly affecting the score.
3. Solve the problem of the mutated cat (duh)...
...
In the second half, Da Hua returned to sharing her detailed strategy for dungeon 004, earning many thanks.
Encouraged, some people stepped forward to add their own insights.
140L: [Thanks for sharing. I'd like to add two points that Da Hua didn't mention.]
First, the female neighbor wasn't entirely without abnormalities when I first met her. On my fourth visit, I noticed that she actually had a few drops of blood on her body, but it was evening and the hallway was dimly lit, so it was indeed difficult to see clearly.
Theoretically, some people might be able to smell the blood, but at the time, the stairwell was filled with the smell of cooking oil from several families preparing dinner. Anyone who could smell it could apply to be a police dog.
Secondly, one of the neighbors carrying a child actually had a child who was already infected. If you take too long to go upstairs, the baby zombie might bite an elderly person and cause them to mutate. Then you'll be caught in a pincer attack by mutated cats and regular zombies – a nightmare. This is another time-sensitive area; you can't be slow, you have to finish quickly.
If you choose to kill the child zombies, you'll likely be ganged up on by your neighbors for a beating—don't ask me how I know…
It can only be said that the reality is far more complicated than we imagine. Without these copies, I wouldn't know that there are so many uncontrollable factors in reality, and I would easily act on assumptions.
But the truth is, many times you do the right thing, yet you don't get understood.
Besides doing the right thing, the method must also be right.
149L (Dahua) replied to 140L: [Thanks for the supplement! This dungeon really has a lot of pitfalls, I don't know how I was assigned to the beginner level - but if you choose to go upstairs and go home from the beginning, it is indeed very easy to pass the level, but you won't get a high score that way.]
Okay, that's all the information I've gathered about this dungeon.
Finally, all I want to say is, think about it carefully, think about it carefully, how exactly did the anonymous tourist manage to clear the game in five minutes on their first visit? I can't figure it out no matter how hard I try.
As 129L said, according to the anonymous visitor account's records, she only played once, indicating that she achieved all of this through instinct and personal skill. If she had more experience, like me, and had reviewed the forums and practiced several times before playing, she probably would have achieved even better records.
No, not just probably, definitely.
An SSS-level record may be a height that is difficult for us to reach, but it is far from her perfect performance.
I know that at this point, we all know perfectly well who the anonymous visitor is (those who don't can be dragged out), so I might as well say it directly: these three weeks of repeated trials and explorations have completely convinced me, and made me realize that all the speculations we made on the forum about her strength were still somewhat conservative.
Just like when we watch speedrun videos of games online, those pro players' moves always look effortless and casual, giving us the illusion that we could do it too.
Only by experiencing it firsthand can one know that their effortless lifting relies on thousands of attempts that have developed muscle memory, absolutely precise and top-notch micro-management, and extraordinary talent that is one in a million.
Imitation is easier said than done.
The same applies to this instance; a difference of just a few minutes can represent a huge gap in experience, intuition, and ability.
In these three weeks, just analyzing and imagining how she dealt with the various crises in the dungeon, how she saved time, tried not to cause panic, and avoided getting herself into a difficult situation... has already made me feel obvious progress.
Thank you for setting an example. I will continue to strive, looking up to her. (Bowing)
...
Da Hua's guide was full of sincerity, and the final summary elevated the theme, taking the original crazy rant thread to a level that didn't belong to it.
[Shocking]
[Without your analysis, I wouldn't have understood this dungeon at all.]
[+1, speechless. I originally thought that speedrunning the beginner dungeon in five minutes was nothing special...]
[I suddenly want to see an anonymous visitor run the Hell difficulty dungeon. I wonder if she can clear it without taking damage like this?]
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