Chapter 56

"Uh-oh..." Pan Feng whispered.

"Did he hear us..." Hua Xiong also whispered.

"I'm only a few meters away from you guys; what's the point of lowering our voices?" Feng Jue said.

"Hmm... hehe... that's true..." Pan Feng was about to respond.

Feng Jue interrupted: "Before you start making up excuses, let me clarify that I don't think you're cheaters, because your behavior doesn't match. You are clearly insiders of the Dream Company, whether you are GMs or not, I don't know, but I think your work shouldn't be exposed." His gaze quickly swept over Pan Feng and Hua Xiong, hinting that what he was about to say was important: "Tell us the truth, and we can cooperate with your work and keep everything confidential after the script ends. Otherwise... I might fabricate a story based on today's events, add some details, and serialize it as a novel on various forums."

"Uh... wait a moment..." Hua Xiong replied: "Let us discuss it."

"Be my guest." Feng Jue said, then turned and moved away from them.

The two left the broken window and came to a corner of the office, whispering to each other. About five minutes later, they returned.

Pan Feng spoke to Feng Jue and Xiao Tan: "Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Your identities, what work you are doing, and what the plot of this script is?" Feng Jue quickly asked, having already thought about these questions.

"You guessed right, we are game administrators." Hua Xiong said: "We came to this script to handle a type of data garbage called 'Derivatives.' As for the plot of this script... you've seen it. The one we were chasing just now is a mutated form of Dr. Ashford. The basic plot is that this Ashford has some anti-human sentiments. He stole the Z virus from the research institute and mixed it with another special solution he had prepared in advance. He then used a device on the roof of this building to release it, infecting the entire city."

"So only the zombies in the research institute are ordinary zombies, while the ones outside have turned into those bizarre blood wolf zombies?" Feng Jue interjected.

"Actually, the blood wolf zombies, as a result of the mutated virus, are stronger than ordinary zombies. Although they seem weak now, by night, without garlic, players of your level will find it very difficult to fight these monsters." Hua Xiong said.

"Then what about the zombie werewolves we encountered earlier?" Xiao Tan asked.

"According to the script, the system needs to arrange a few mini-bosses inside and outside the building." Pan Feng replied: "The setting for the zombie werewolves is that 'infected individuals have a three in ten thousand chance of becoming a more powerful and stable variant.'"

Feng Jue said: "You can access a lot of information... monster data, the number of routes to completion, when flags are triggered, and the script map, right?"

"Not just that, we can check the players' coordinates, real-time status, skills in their skill bars, titles, and abilities at any time through the menu." Pan Feng said: "I remember you were infected just now, and you managed to find the serum and cure yourself, right? You're quite capable."

Feng Jue said: "Thank you, but... I think there's one piece of information you can't access." He paused: "The 'Derivatives' you mentioned, right?"

Hua Xiong sighed: "If we could, we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble to try to complete the script first."

Feng Jue said: "After meeting the completion conditions, we ordinary players will be teleported out, and you should be able to ignore the teleportation time. So... when we leave the script and receive our rewards, your work actually just begins. Without the interference of players, you can freely search for and eliminate the Derivatives in the completed script world."

"Oh... impressive, you figured that out in just a few words." Hua Xiong said.

"I'm not interested in your situation or this script anymore." Feng Jue stretched his neck, relaxing it: "Please tell me more about the Derivatives."

"Even if you knew, it wouldn't make a difference, as you can't help at all." Pan Feng said: "If I were you, I'd be happy to have a GM help me find and eliminate the escaped Ashford variant, and then complete the script and get the rewards easily."

"Please explain the origins and nature of the Derivatives in detail." Feng Jue said with a smile: "Otherwise, I might write two sharp and highly inflammatory emails to Young Master Tezuka and Name Really Hard to Choose, telling them... that due to some technical errors by the game company, you were killed by a powerful monster that shouldn't exist in this script."

"Tell me... how did you know they were killed by a Derivative?" Pan Feng asked.

"Just connecting the dots." Feng Jue said.

Pan and Hua were impressed by this answer...

"Hmm... cough, alright." Hua Xiong said: "It's fine to tell you. The existence of Derivatives will eventually be noticed by players, although the probability is low. The company plans to release a document during the beta test phase to explain it appropriately." He looked around and said: "Follow me." Then he led the three to a coffee machine.

He went to the nearest cubicle, picked up a very noticeable can of coffee on the desk, and opened the lid, pointing to the coffee powder inside, which was about three-quarters full: "Assume this coffee powder is data." He raised his right index finger, "One of these grains is uncontrollable data that the system needs to remove." He paused, "And this grain is constantly moving and changing position within the entire can of coffee powder." He looked at Feng Jue and Wang Tan: "How can you precisely pick it out?"

"It's impossible." Feng Jue immediately replied.

"Yes, it's impossible." Hua Xiong continued, then put his hand into the can and grabbed a handful of coffee powder: "What the system can do is, at a fleeting moment, grab that data and all the data in its vicinity, like this, and hold it in hand." He slightly raised his fist, and the coffee powder slowly fell through his fingers: "But in this handful of coffee powder, only one grain needs to be destroyed, while the rest are useful. I can't throw away the whole handful just to remove one grain. And I can't hold this handful of powder for too long, as the one I want to eliminate might slip through my fingers at any time."

"So... the system uses this data to generate the script." Feng Jue said: "The Derivatives become tangible monsters, and you kill or defeat them, rendering them unable to resist or escape. Then the system can clear them when cleaning up the script."

"That's right." Hua Xiong said, then took a cup and a jar of sugar cubes, "This cup is the shell of the script. You players are like these sugar cubes." He pointed to the cup, "When you queue for a script and hear the system prompt [The team size has been randomly determined: six people], the data has already been put into the shell, but at this stage, they are still just basic elements, such as air, water, fire, and earth..." He put six sugar cubes in his hand, "Then, including you, six players come to the entrance of this script and hear [Your team has entered the queue and is searching for other ready individuals or teams]. At this moment..." He threw away two sugar cubes, "Two of them are replaced by me and Brother Pan. These two will be immediately assigned to other waiting scripts, and they won't notice the change."

Pan Feng added: "We GMs usually work in pairs. Once the Derivative's code is identified in a script about to start, we will insert ourselves into the queue. The players we replace are usually in pairs or two individuals queuing separately, and they won't be in a team with the players who successfully enter the script."

"What about five-player or six-player teams?" Xiao Tan asked.

"For a five-player team, we can only replace the single player, sending one of us in. For a six-player team, there's nothing we can do; they have to face the Derivative themselves. However, since the game's launch, no six-player team has encountered a Derivative." Pan Feng replied: "By the way, the amount of data the system 'captures' can only generate a six-player survival mode script, so you don't have to worry about encountering Derivatives in two to five-player scripts or other modes."

"Doesn't that mean the six-player team script is extremely dangerous?" Xiao Tan exclaimed.

"There aren't that many Derivatives." Pan Feng laughed: "The probability of such uncontrollable data appearing is about one in a billion. During internal testing, the two sets of servers for sleep and non-sleep modes ran continuously for thirty days, and there were only ten instances of Derivative code."

"In short, when you hear [Script generation in progress]..." Hua Xiong threw the sugar cubes into the cup and added hot water to the coffee machine, and the coffee powder dissolved into a liquid, "All these elements will be randomly generated into a normal script based on your level, combat strength, specialization, and past performance. The plot and world view are also generated at this time. The Derivative is mixed into the script, combining with a certain data element and becoming tangible."

Feng Jue thought for a moment and asked: "Then... how strong are the Derivatives?"

"Haha..." Pan Feng laughed: "You've seen our strength, right?"

"noticed..." Feng Jue said.

"Do you know why we work in pairs to clear Derivatives?"

"One person might get killed, right..." Feng Jue replied.

"Good to know. Don't be fooled by our displayed level of thirteen; we use GM accounts, and our actual combat ability is about ten levels higher. Even so, we can't say we are invincible. For example, the boss we just encountered; when it jumped off the building to escape, we were powerless. If we followed, we would die just like the players."

Xiao Tan asked: "Why doesn't your company increase the abilities of the administrators? For example, make them look like level thirteen but actually have the strength of level fifty?"

Hua Xiong held the cup of coffee in front of him: "Can two sugar cubes fit in this cup? Can two watermelons fit in it?"

"Oh..." Xiao Tan nodded, seemingly understanding.

"Our accounts won't level up; we are specifically responsible for the level five to fourteen range. Other administrators in different level ranges have similar situations, with combat abilities far exceeding their displayed levels. Since you now know about the Derivatives, if you encounter them again... although the probability is almost zero, if you do, please cooperate with the on-site administrators and keep it confidential from other players."

"I'm curious..." Feng Jue said thoughtfully: "If a Derivative escapes in the script, what happens?"

Pan and Hua's expressions changed when they heard this.

Feng Jue continued: "You admitted that one administrator might not be able to handle a Derivative, which suggests that something like this has happened before. A situation where an administrator went to hunt a Derivative and was killed by it."

Hua Xiong said: "The script would normally close and revert to data, and the surviving Derivative code would become stronger and more cunning..."

"Cunning?" Feng Jue asked, puzzled.

"Derivatives have a certain degree of autonomous AI and are divided into four levels. Generally, the administrators handle the weakest level four Derivatives. Their intelligence is slightly higher than that of a smart script boss, and their combat strength is slightly stronger. If a Derivative survives the script, it will become stronger and more cunning, possibly advancing to level three. In 97% of cases, a level four Derivative can be defeated by one administrator, but a level three Derivative requires two administrators, and the success rate for one administrator is less than 50%."

Feng Jue asked: "What about higher levels?"

"Never seen one." Hua Xiong replied: "To be honest, we've never even heard of a level two Derivative. A level three Derivative has only occurred once so far. During the game's operation, the probability of a level three Derivative appearing will slightly increase, but even if it increases tenfold, it's still a very small chance."

"Understood. Then let's see how strong the level four data garbage in this script is..." Feng Jue said with a smile.