There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

At dusk, the sky was painted with the colors of twilight.

After a few rounds of games, it was already nightfall. The three of them, along with a battered Pei Sheng, found a random restaurant on the popular internet street to dine in before they all headed home separately after work.

"Hey, Miss, it's getting late, how about I give you a ride? I drove here!" Pei Sheng, his nose still stuffed with tissues, suddenly turned to Ji Xiaoxia and said, emphasizing the last sentence.

Ji Xiaoxia glanced at the glowing eyes of the other party and shook her head silently, "Um, I need to tidy up some things back at the shop first, and then I can go home by myself. I live nearby!"

She too, emphasized her last sentence.

Unable to get a date with the young lady, a disappointed Pei Sheng waved his goodbyes.

After sending off the three bosses, Ji Xiaoxia also breathed a sigh of relief and turned to head back to Mystery City.

She was the first person Li Ziwen had recruited after she discovered that a new Scripted Murder Game themed store had opened nearby where she lived, and after some thought, she decisively came for an interview.

Having never been in contact with offline Scripted Murder Games before, she didn't become a DM but ended up as the receptionist on the second floor.

Ji Xiaoxia went upstairs to tidy up briefly and then picked up a few Scripted Murder Game scripts that were kept at the reception desk.

Those city-limited scripts were stored in a delicate box; Ji Xiaoxia opened it and randomly flipped through one of the scripts.

She wanted to understand more about this game of Scripted Murder.

But as she read, she suddenly felt that the script's story seemed strangely familiar.

"Have I seen it somewhere before?"

With a confused look in her eyes, Ji Xiaoxia read the story as memories flashed through her mind. Then, she suddenly remembered seeing a replay of a script on a forum a few days ago.

However, the details didn't quite match—it was just a strong sense of déjà vu.

This vague feeling was frustrating, so Ji Xiaoxia simply found a comfortable position to lean back in her chair, then closed her eyes.

A blinding white light quickly invaded the pitch-black vision.

...

An empty space unfolded, containing only a small ten-square-meter cabin furnished with simple tables and chairs.

Ji Xiaoxia opened her Player's Handbook and entered the "Player Square" feature.

However, the system panel in front of her displayed a large yellow exclamation mark!

[The Script Space is undergoing maintenance and upgrade. All functions are temporarily suspended. The maintenance time is 24 hours. Please wait patiently, players.]

Ji Xiaoxia: "???"

What the hell?

This even surpassed the realm of black technology and ascended to the mystical and fantastical Script Space—it could actually undergo maintenance and upgrades?!

...

...

"Hmm? An upgrade?"

After returning home, Xu Shuo also entered the Script Space.

But now, facing the yellow exclamation mark, he couldn't help but feel puzzled too.

Then he remembered that Hong Rao had mentioned that the Script Space was not like this before, meaning it must have gone through several upgrades.

So, what was the reason this time?

It couldn't possibly be...

Xu Shuo stopped his tendency to take the blame.

Having resolved the issues with the third script, he took the opportunity to release Luo Kai from the blacklist, and then a little red dot appeared in the upper right corner under "Messages."

Xu Shuo clicked it open; there were two chat messages, one from Luo Kai and one from Hong Rao.

Luo Kai's was very simple, just three question marks [???].

Clearly, he had discovered he was blacklisted, and the timestamp on the message showed it was from yesterday, probably sent after he was blacklisted.

The system hadn't automatically cleared it.

Xu Shuo ignored the question mark and opened Hong Rao's chat interface.

[Hahaha Shuo, you actually forced Script Space to go into maintenance with this BUG! You really are my student!]

Xu Shuo: "..."

It had nothing to do with him.

It seemed that Script Space hadn't just paused functions like "Player Square" and "Shopping Mall", but even the feature for face-to-face conversations across spaces was suspended, wasn't it?

Otherwise, Hong Rao would definitely have come in front of him to laugh about it.

Xu Shuo had no interest in gender discrimination, so he ignored her chat as well and turned off the information interface before opening his Performed Scripts.

As expected, while he was working, "Abyss Sigh" must have already completed its production steps.

And then it was successfully sealed and taken down.

"Crimson Dusk" had passed production, and Xu Shuo had only stayed in this script for about half an hour, with the rewards being only performance points and a Mental Prop Card. Beyond that, there was nothing extra.

Perhaps because he hadn't participated at all, just staying in the classroom the entire time without moving, this time he hadn't triggered a Character Card.

Tch, he had thought he could trigger a Character Card 100% of the time, but this trash game already couldn't keep up!

After checking, Xu Shuo closed the system panel and was about to leave Script Space, but suddenly remembered something and sat down to open the Player's Handbook again.

He sent a message to Hong Rao.

[During the maintenance of Script Space, is it possible to enter scripted games?]

[Nope, during its upgrade, except for some High Rank scripts that can't be paused, players in Low Rank scripts are even kicked out, and they won't get any compensation!]

Hong Rao replied instantly, and she seemed very experienced with this kind of situation.

Xu Shuo pondered for a moment.

[Did Script Space have a lot of BUGs in the past?]

[Hmm, let me explain in detail. Script Space in the past, let alone having a Player Square, didn't even have a grading system!]

[I'm not one of the old players, but I've heard that those who were among the first to enter the scripted games had a dire experience. Due to the lack of a grading system, they possibly faced nightmare-level Abyss Creatures while still poor newbies and got completely annihilated without even a chance to struggle!]

[Later, Script Space probably realized players were dying too fast, so the grading system was introduced, with six stages divided according to performance points, and it started to cater more to newbie players.]

[That was the first upgrade.]

[Then Script Space gradually improved and developed a Shopping Mall where you could exchange items for performance points.]

[Let me tell you, the mall only had nine pages before, and didn't even have props separated by points.]

Here, Hong Rao couldn't help but complain, before continuing to message.

[Anyway, there have been quite a few upgrades before, and even after I joined Script Space, it upgraded again, this time introducing Player Square.]

Xu Shuo, reading this long string of messages, was thoughtful.

In any case, Script Space was like a game developed by some programmer, initially only having a simple framework that was rough and leaky on all sides.

Afterward, the players who entered this game kept trying and failing, and it kept patching BUGs and developing new functions to address issues, until it became what it was now.

That made it very clear.

Ever since Xu Shuo joined, the BUG that caused him to run into the wrong scripts and lead to script collapses appeared, prompting the programmer over there to start a new round of patches.

He had no idea what it would be like after this upgrade. If the BUG that let him go to other scripts was really fixed, it wouldn't actually be a good thing for him.

First off, Xu Shuo was still just a Level 1 player, a poor newbie who could meet a madman at any time.

More importantly, the rewards for Low Rank scripts were just too meager!

So, he hoped that the programmer wouldn't be able to fix the BUG.

...