Chapter 78: The Test Server Boss is Fleeed, GM Xiao Zhou Resigns on the Spot

The day before the Lord of the Abyss broke the seal, Lin Ye had nothing to do. Fatty Wang was taking inventory of the Abyss Protection Packages, Su Qinghan was adjusting the support skill configurations for the Battle of Breaking the Seal, and Pojun was practicing shield blocks on the city wall. Under the remote command of the Lord of the Abyss, the global Abyssal Lords were frantically stocking up, preparing for the live-streaming sales event for the Battle of Breaking the Seal. Even the Lord of Flame was squatting at the gate of the Korean Server Abyss city, honestly taking attendance.

Only Lin Ye had nothing to do. The abyss decay set was equipped, the attribute panel was maxed out, and his Talent had been upgraded to cross-map contagion. Everything that needed to be prepared was ready; he was just waiting for tomorrow when the Lord of the Abyss broke the seal. He sat by the third-floor window of the Unscrupulous Business Center, legs crossed, boredly flipping through the system menu. When he reached the entrance to the Test Server, his finger stopped.

The Test Server. The last time he went to the Test Server was when he fleeced the Prototype of the Creator God. That BOSS had its origin drained by him, turned into a beam of light, and ran away. Later, the officials sealed the entrance to the Test Server and added twelve layers of permission locks. But Lin Ye's current account permission was Global Spokesperson; the twelve layers of permission locks were as good as non-existent in his eyes.

He clicked on the Test Server entrance. A prompt popped up from the system.

"Global Spokesperson permission verification passed. All areas of the Test Server have been unlocked. Welcome back."

The corners of Lin Ye's mouth curled up. Since he was idle anyway, he might as well go to the Test Server to see what new things the officials had hidden.

He stepped into the Test Server.

The Test Server was still the same: gray sky, gray ground, and gray unfinished buildings. But the map was several times larger than before. Lin Ye walked along the main road, and after walking for a while, he saw a huge golden portal. A line of text was carved on the portal: "Internal testing area, entry strictly prohibited. Violators will be banned."

Lin Ye looked at the text for about half a second, then stepped into the portal.

Behind the portal was a huge circular space. Eight light orbs floated in the center of the space, each sealing an unfinished BOSS. The version numbers were marked under the light orbs. Abyss Council expansion pack hidden BOSS, Lord of Sealing, version number 3.2. Star Core Alliance expansion pack vanguard commander, Star-Fall General, version number 3.4. Interstellar expansion pack gatekeeper, Void Behemoth, version number 4.0. Eight light orbs, eight unreleased version BOSSes. From 3.2 to 5.0, it covered the version content for the next year and a half.

Lin Ye's eyes lit up. This wasn't a Test Server; this was the official version repository.

He walked to the first light orb and pressed his hand against its surface. A warning popped up from the system.

"Warning: This BOSS is an unfinished version; values are not yet balanced, and skills are not yet implemented. Forcibly breaking the seal may lead to unpredictable errors. Continue?"

Lin Ye clicked continue. The light orb exploded, and the Lord of Sealing fell out. Before it could even stand steady, Lin Ye's Decay Domain had already covered it. Three hundred layers of debuffs were applied, and its attributes were completely crippled. The Lord of Sealing didn't even get to use a skill before its health bar hit the bottom. Lin Ye didn't kill it; he locked its health at 0.5% and then performed a reverse extraction. The Lord of Sealing's origin energy was drawn out along the Decay Domain and injected into the abyss decay set. The dark purple light on the set brightened a notch.

Drained. Lin Ye pushed the hollowed-out Lord of Sealing aside and walked toward the second light orb. Star-Fall General, version number 3.4. The light orb exploded, and the Star-Fall General fell out. It was slightly stronger than the Lord of Sealing and held out for about ten seconds. Ten seconds later, its health bar hit the bottom; health lock, reverse extraction, drained, pushed aside. The third light orb, Abyss Council expansion pack hidden Speaker, Lord of Silence. Version number 3.7. The light orb exploded, it fell out, debuffs applied, health lock, drained, pushed aside. The fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh. Lin Ye opened the light orbs like opening blind boxes, draining one after another. The dark purple light of the abyss decay set grew brighter and brighter, turning from dark purple to pure deep purple, and then from deep purple to black-purple.

The last light orb, version number 5.0, Star Core Alliance expansion pack ultimate commander, Overlord of the Galaxy. Lin Ye pressed his hand on it, and the system popped up the final warning.

"Warning: This BOSS is a long-term pending version; values are only initially set up. Forcibly breaking the seal may cause the server to crash. Continue?"

Lin Ye clicked continue. The light orb exploded, and the Overlord of the Galaxy fell out. It was bigger than the other seven BOSSes combined, standing in front of Lin Ye like a mountain. Lin Ye applied one layer of debuffs to it. The Overlord of the Galaxy's health bar moved, dropping by one percent. Effective.

Lin Ye began stacking layers. Ten layers, twenty layers, fifty layers. The Overlord of the Galaxy began to counterattack; Star Core energy surged from its body, colliding with the Decay Domain. The two energies stalemated for about twenty seconds. After twenty seconds, the Overlord of the Galaxy's Star Core energy was completely dissolved by the Purification Form. One hundred layers, one hundred fifty layers, two hundred layers. The Overlord of the Galaxy's health bar dropped to ten percent; Lin Ye locked its health and performed a reverse extraction. The Overlord of the Galaxy's origin energy was more than all the previous seven BOSSes combined. It took a full three minutes to drain it completely.

All eight light orbs were empty. The eight unreleased version BOSSes, like eight empty beverage bottles, lay sprawled on the ground.

Lin Ye clapped his hands and prepared to leave. As he turned around, he saw someone standing at the entrance of the Test Server. GM Xiao Zhou, wearing that rumpled shirt, his dark circles even heavier than the last time they met. He was holding a resignation letter in his hand, his knuckles white from gripping it.

"Brother Ye. Eight version BOSSes were sealed deep in the Test Server, from 3.2 to 5.0, covering the version content for the next year and a half. You drained them all."

Lin Ye nodded.

"The official version repository is now just these few empty shells." Xiao Zhou's voice was trembling.

Lin Ye glanced at the eight empty BOSS shells lying on the ground behind him.

"If the version reserves are gone, just design some more."

Xiao Zhou held up the resignation letter.

"We can't design any more. These eight BOSSes were the inventory the planning department had saved up for a year and a half. The skill mechanics, numerical models, and art assets for every single one were customized. You didn't just drain the BOSSes' origin; you drained a year and a half of the planning department's hard work. Just now, the Planning Director called me and said he quit. The Art Director also said he quit. The Programming Director just turned off his computer and went home. The Test Server is empty, the version repository is empty, and the team has disbanded."

Lin Ye was silent for a moment.

"So you came to resign?"

Xiao Zhou nodded, his eyes red.

"Brother Ye, I've been on this project team since gods domain: origin was established. It's been three years. From proofreading the dialogue for Novice Village NPCs to maintaining the servers for the Cross-Server Tournament, I've done it all. I've been scolded by players, scolded by leaders, and scolded by my wife. But I never thought about resigning. Today, I really can't hold on anymore." He placed the resignation letter on the ground and turned to walk away.

"Wait."

Xiao Zhou stopped. Lin Ye walked up to him.

"If you resign, who will manage the Test Server?"

Xiao Zhou gave a bitter smile: "There's nothing left to test on the Test Server, so what's there to manage?"

"Who says there's nothing to test? Aren't the empty shells of those eight BOSSes still there?"

Xiao Zhou was stunned.

"What do you mean?"

Lin Ye pulled a stack of documents from his backpack. It was the performance review form for the Abyssal Lords, left over from when Fatty Wang printed too many.

"The origin of these eight BOSSes was drained by me, but their skill mechanics, numerical models, and art assets are still there. The empty shells are there, the framework is there. Tell the planning department to change the skill mechanics of these eight BOSSes, adjust the numerical models, and swap out the art assets. Put on the Abyssal Lord skins, and add the effects of the Decay Talent. Don't call them Lord of Sealing or Star-Fall General anymore. Call them the Abyss Guard Team. Version 3.2 won't be called the Abyss Council expansion pack; it'll be called the Abyss Labor expansion pack. The BOSSes aren't for players to fight; they're to help players farm materials."

Xiao Zhou's eyes grew brighter the more he listened.

"You mean to turn all the version BOSSes into support-type NPCs?"

"Why not? Players have been fighting BOSSes for a year and a half; they're already sick of it. Change the flavor, let the BOSSes work for the players. Eight BOSSes, eight support slots. Change the Lord of Sealing to Sealing Guard, whose skill is to cast an invincibility shield on the player. Change the Star-Fall General to Star-Fall Guard, whose skill is to boost the player's attack power. Change the Overlord of the Galaxy to Galaxy Guard, whose skill is to clear small mobs across the screen. Let the players bring the BOSSes to grind dungeons."

Xiao Zhou's mouth opened wide enough to fit an egg.

"Will that work?"

"Why wouldn't it work? The Lord of the Abyss can sell goods, the Abyssal Lords can provide escort, why can't version BOSSes be supports? Go back and tell the Planning Director that the version repository isn't empty. It just changed direction. Tell him to bring the team back to work."

Xiao Zhou picked up the resignation letter from the ground and tore it in half.

"I'm going back right now!"

He turned and ran out of the Test Server, then ran back after a few steps.

"Brother Ye, the Planning Director asked me to ask you, how should we set the version number for the new version?"

Lin Ye thought for a moment.

"3.2 to 5.0 are all scrapped. The new version starts from scratch. Just call it gods domain: origin: The Labor Era. Version number 1.0."

Xiao Zhou wrote it down and ran off again.

When Lin Ye walked out of the Test Server, Su Qinghan was standing at the entrance waiting for him.

"I heard you fleeced the Test Server dry. GM Xiao Zhou almost resigned."

Lin Ye nodded: "He didn't resign. I dangled a new version in front of him, and he went back to work."

Su Qinghan couldn't help but laugh.

"Making version BOSSes act as support for players, only you could come up with that."

Lin Ye shrugged.

"If BOSSes attack players, players scold the planners. If BOSSes help players, players praise the planners. Same code, same art resources, just a change in direction, and everyone is happy. The planning department couldn't figure this out, so I helped them figure it out."

He stepped toward the Abyss Rift. Behind him, under the gray sky of the Test Server, the eight empty BOSS shells lay quietly on the ground. Their origin had been drained, but their code was still there, and their art assets were still there. It wouldn't be long before they stood up again. Not as enemies of the players, but as comrades-in-arms.

Deep within the Abyss Rift, the voice of the Lord of the Abyss rang in Lin Ye's mind.

"You drained all eight version BOSSes from the Test Server."

Lin Ye nodded.

"The planning department almost collectively resigned."

"They didn't resign. I had them change direction. In the future, version BOSSes won't be for players to fight; they'll be to help players farm."

The Lord of the Abyss was silent for a long time.

"You don't even spare the version BOSSes."

Lin Ye laughed.

"When it comes to labor, the more, the better."