Data on map size, number of players, and dungeon area—all of it was listed out. Only at the very bottom was there finally a section about the native inhabitants.
As with the rest of this instance’s world-building, the backstory for the residents was that they lived in a neighborhood shrouded by eerie supernatural forces.
To maintain peace and order, three people had to be sacrificed every month.
And as for the creepy supermarket at the heart of the neighborhood—it regularly recruited batches of unsuspecting employees from the outside world.
Naturally, these clueless staff members became the prime candidates for sacrifice.
All the locals knew that the store manager was the one in charge of the supermarket, and also the final line of defense if things ever spiraled out of control.
Because of that, they held the manager in high regard. Whenever she helped the employees, they would never get in the way.
As for corrupted customers and corrupted staff—they were inherently opposed to the manager. Still, due to mutual concerns, the two sides typically maintained a truce.
Unless the supermarket went completely off the rails, both parties preferred not to provoke one another.
Among the native residents, the system assigned a contamination ratio: 20% were corrupted beings, and 1% were corrupted employees.
That said, while a typical neighborhood might have a thousand residents, in reality only about a hundred ghosts had been summoned.
But a hundred was more than enough.
A hundred ghosts, each with their own twisted personalities but sharing one goal—wanting the players dead—could wreak just as much havoc as the three NPCs pretending to be residents.
Once everything checked out, Su Shisan updated the NPC roles.
[Mimosa Pudica] would still act as the store manager, her simulation NPC would be the corrupted staff member, and Zhen Jin would play a corrupted resident.
With the design settled, Su Shisan planned to personally observe the instance when it launched again.
She needed to make sure the summoned ghosts had at least a passable level of intelligence—if they were too dumb, they might as well keep doing all the acting themselves.
Once the instance setup was done, Su Shisan pulled out a “Grade D NPC Recruitment Ticket.”
“After I summon this NPC, where will they live?”
“Naturally, they’ll live with you,” the system replied smoothly.
“But don’t worry—Grade D players are entitled to an entire villa, so space won’t be an issue.” As it spoke, it displayed several villa blueprints.
“If none of these suit you, you can also design your own. For example, we can build a small siheyuan-style courtyard if you prefer.”
A large enough house would certainly help her avoid bumping into the NPC all the time, but Su Shisan still frowned slightly. She’d always lived alone and wasn’t used to sharing space with strangers.
Still, having a permanent NPC was a necessity.
Temporary hires required briefing them on the world setting, evaluating their intelligence and skills—it was far less convenient than having someone fully under her control from the start.
After thinking for a moment, she had an idea.
“Can I live in an apartment building? The kind with one unit per floor?”
“…Well, that’s doable.”
The system hesitated.
“I just assumed you’d prefer something more luxurious—like a castle or a villa.”
Most builders did. It was a way to show off status, and let’s face it—after living like an ordinary person for so long, who wouldn’t want to experience the rich life?
Su Shisan gave a helpless shrug.
“Guess I’ve just been a corporate drone too long.”
Compared to big, glamorous homes, she was more comfortable in something smaller and practical.
Apartment buildings also offered a natural way to minimize social interaction—very important, considering she’d be recruiting more NPCs in the future.
The more people under one roof, the higher the odds of conflict.
Although the system didn’t understand her choice, it didn’t object.
“With an apartment building, the current limit is three floors. Two bedrooms and a living room per floor.”
That was good enough.
Su Shisan quickly selected a layout with a large balcony, then turned her attention to the recruitment ticket.
To use it, she needed to write down a specific trait, burn the ticket, and then a brand-new Grade D NPC would be summoned.
If there were no native residents in the dungeon, she would’ve asked for an NPC who could change appearances.
After all, without a special item, players could only change their looks once per instance—making them stuck in one role.
But now that the summoned ghosts would act as the “ordinary” residents, she just needed the NPCs to take on more important roles. A shapeshifting ability wasn’t necessary anymore.
Instead, her top priority was acting skill. Su Shisan wrote down:
“Good at acting.”
Then, a sudden thought struck her.
“What if the NPC I summon has a horrible personality?”
She could deal with someone dumb, as long as they followed orders. But someone with a bad attitude?
That would be a pain.
She didn’t like actors who thought too much for themselves.
“In that case, you can resell the NPC to the marketplace. A Grade D NPC should fetch around 2,000 points,” the system said, clearly familiar with the scenario.
“Though just so you know—NPCs resold too many times get flagged as low-value and will only sell for cheap.”
An NPC worth 10,000 points, resold for 2,000?
That was daylight robbery. It was easy to see why most builders avoided selling unless the NPC was truly awful.
Still, this one was free. Su Shisan made up her mind—if this person turned out to be disobedient or ruined her instance, she’d cut her losses, sell them off, and earn back enough to buy a new one.
The summoning ticket burned under the flickering flames, releasing thick clouds of black smoke that swirled and condensed—until they took the shape of a person.
“By the guidance of fate, dear Builder, please allow me—He Feixian—to pledge my loyalty to you.”
As the smoke cleared, a stunning woman with long, wavy hair and an hourglass figure appeared in front of Su Shisan.
The moment she arrived, she reached out, took Su Shisan’s hand, and bent down to kiss it lightly.
Su Shisan could feel an invisible contract taking hold between them.
She blinked. Once the surprise passed, she calmly withdrew her hand and met the woman’s mesmerizing green eyes.
“Hello, He Feixian. I’m Shisan. Just call me… Boss.”
She’d thought about it—”boss” felt appropriate. After all, she was the one providing housing and a job. The NPC’s role was to work inside her dungeon.
Given the clear power imbalance, being friends would be a stretch. It was better to keep things professional—starting with the title.
Once she confirmed the woman had no objections, she got straight to the point:
“Let’s talk about your abilities.”
From the moment Su Shisan told her to use the word “boss,” He Feixian realized this was no casual meeting. This was a formal interview.
She immediately straightened up and began her self-introduction with poise:
“Hello Boss, I was an actress in my previous life. I’ve done a variety of films—including two horror movies. I’ve won the Golden Snake Award for my performances, so I’d say my acting is pretty solid.”
“I also trained in dance for a while.”
Unfortunately, she could act—but not write. She’d barely scraped by in her qualification instance, and never managed to level up afterward.
Eventually, she fell out of the player ranks entirely and became an NPC.
That thought brought a flicker of sadness to her eyes—but only briefly. She quickly pulled herself together.
Designing dungeons and writing scripts had never been her strength. But acting?
That she could do. Maybe becoming an NPC was a blessing in disguise.
As she silently encouraged herself, Su Shisan raised an eyebrow.
The Golden Snake Award? Never heard of it.
That was strange. She was pretty familiar with the entertainment industry.
It was one thing to have never seen this dazzling beauty before, but how could she not have heard of the award either?
Something wasn’t right.
Still, she didn’t suspect He Feixian of lying—such a lie would be too easy to expose.
And the woman radiated confidence, not the overblown arrogance of someone boasting about some fake trophy.
Then a possibility struck her.
“System… are we not from the same world?”
The system hesitated under He Feixian’s stunned gaze, but eventually admitted:
“That’s correct. You’re from different worlds.”
Su Shisan had no idea what He Feixian thought of that, but she definitely had her doubts.
She could tell the system was hiding something—normally it was long-winded, so this sudden brevity was suspicious.
Still, she didn’t press. If there was a secret behind all this, it wouldn’t matter until she had more strength. Right now, the truth was just a liability.
With that, she turned her attention back to He Feixian.
“I live in an apartment building. One unit per floor. You can choose between the first or second floor. Once you decide, just design your space and I’ll handle the renovation.”
As for explaining her dungeon and the world to He Feixian—that could wait. Her last instance had just wrapped up, and she had a full month to rest before the next one began.
That would be more than enough time to understand each other.
Today, being the day of summoning, she saw no reason to push her new hire too hard.
Su Shisan considered herself a decent boss—after all, even veteran workers deserved some downtime before getting back to the grind.
Because if the working class couldn’t empathize with each other—who else would?
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