An emperor in his later years is summoned by his sister to save the nation's fate.

She dug for more than two hours, panting heavily and with blisters on her hands, before finally managing to find two pieces of inferior bloodstone.

"Damn it! Fifty mounds to dig every day, how is that even possible?" Catherine wiped the sweat from her brow, her heart filled with despair.

Just as she was about to move to another spot to continue digging, a shocking scene suddenly appeared around a corner ahead.

A young man, covered in blood and dressed in the same miner's clothing, lay on the ground in agony.

His lower body was pinned down by a boulder weighing hundreds of kilograms, and his legs were twisted in an unnatural way, clearly broken.

"Help...help me..."

When the miner saw Catherine, he grasped at her like a lifeline, stretching out his blood-stained hand and pleading weakly, "Kind person, please help me move this rock. If you save my life, I... I'll give you all the Bloodstone I've dug up today as a token of my gratitude!"

Upon hearing the condition of all Blood Fiend Stones, Catherine's eyes lit up instantly.

Although a sense of vigilance instinctively arose in her heart.

After all, she had witnessed bizarre cunning in the Eternal Night Wasteland before.

But in her subconscious, she had already entered the so-called system instance. Since it was an instance, the characters that appeared should all be NPCs responsible for driving the plot, right?

"This is definitely a hidden mission arranged by the system! As long as the rescue is triggered, I can get a generous reward!" Catherine made a judgment in her mind. The extremely tempting conditions made her lower her guard.

She strode forward, gripped the edge of the boulder with both hands, and prepared to move it.

However, just as she forcefully moved the boulder, exposing her unguarded back to the other party...

The miner, who was originally weak and in pain, slowly curled up a sinister, cunning, and eerie smile!

A crimson glint flashed in his eyes. This was not an NPC at all, but a B-grade monster lurking in the mine, which often used various disguises to gain the sympathy and trust of others—the Deceitful Monster!

The deceptive and cunning murder pattern strikes at the heart. Once someone trusts you, even if it's just believing a single word or promise, it instantly triggers a fatal murder pattern!

"Go to hell!"

In that instant, the deceitful man's broken legs suddenly kicked out.

He unleashed superhuman strength in his hands, showing no signs of weakness and needing rescue. Instead, he shoved Catherine to the ground!

"Bang!"

Before Catherine could react, the Deceitful Demon lifted the boulder and mercilessly smashed it down on her legs!

"Ah—!" Catherine let out a piercing scream as both legs instantly fractured into shattered pieces.

The cunning man crouched down and began greedily rummaging through the only two Blood Fiend Stones in her bamboo basket.

"Damn monster!"

Although Catherine was in so much pain that she was almost fainting, a fierce glint flashed in her eyes.

She resolutely recited the summons silently in her heart.

"Come forth, you vengeful ghost puppet!"

A purple light flashed, and a porcelain doll, no bigger than a palm and dressed in a blood-red lace dress, appeared before her.

This is her purple-quality monster pet. The doll's skin is covered with spider web-like cracks, and its eyes are two murky glass beads that reveal resentment.

In its hand, it gripped a raw, rusty silver needle stained with black blood.

Once its gaze locks onto a target, it will form a one-way causal bond with it. Once the bond is successful, any damage the puppet inflicts on itself with the silver needle in its hand will be 100% synchronously reflected back to the target!

This is also Catherine's strongest trump card that enabled her to survive the first wave of strange events.

She was now a C-level Ghost Master. With a thought, the vengeful ghost puppet suddenly turned its stiff ceramic head, and the murky glass bead locked onto the deceitful ghost.

"Punch its eyes!" Catherine roared, and the vengeful puppet raised the rusty silver needle in its hand without hesitation and plunged it into one of its glass eyeballs!

"Pfft!"

Almost simultaneously, the Deceptive Ghost, which was preparing to rise and attack, suddenly burst out a cloud of blood mist from its pupils! Without warning, its left eyeball was pierced directly by an invisible force and exploded!

"It's a success!" Catherine was overjoyed, but then something unexpected and terrifying happened.

The deceitful creature, whose eye had been blinded, didn't utter a single scream.

On its blood-soaked face, a strange smile appeared.

"My eyes... are fine! I'm not injured!"

He muttered to himself, as if he were undergoing some kind of insane self-hypnosis.

The next moment, a miraculous supernatural phenomenon occurred!

This self-deception actually worked under the distortion of the rules! Its eyeball, which had exploded into a bloody mess, miraculously recovered to its original state within a few seconds, as if time had reversed!

This is another of the most disgusting abilities of deception—making deception come true!

As long as its supernatural power is not exhausted, even if it deceives itself into not being injured, this deception can forcibly reverse reality and make it come true!

"How is this possible..." Catherine's face was filled with despair, and at this moment, because Catherine had believed its words, the murderous pattern of the Deceptive Trick had been triggered!

It grinned maliciously as it raised the blood-stained boulder and, with an irresistible force of law, smashed it down toward Catherine's head!

"Bang!"

Although Catherine desperately commanded the vengeful puppet to frantically self-harm in retaliation, the damage she caused was easily mitigated by the deceitful puppet through self-deception.

Finally, under the continuous pounding of the boulder, Catherine let out a short scream, her entire body turning into a blurry mass of flesh and blood, leaving no trace of her remains.

The next moment, her mangled corpse turned into a white light, forcibly enveloped by the dungeon's mechanics, and disappeared into the mine.

A national announcement has once again resonated across the globe.

[National Fortune Announcement!]

[Catherine, the Chosen One of the British Empire, has been eliminated after failing to complete her daily quests and dying in the dungeon!]

The chosen one will resurrect within their Eternal Night Wasteland territory, and all rewards from this round of the dungeon will be reset to zero.

As soon as the announcement was released, the live broadcast room of the British Empire was filled with lamentations.

"Oh my god! Catherine was eliminated so quickly!"

"This dungeon is disgusting! Those aren't NPCs at all, they're all creepy monsters that eat people alive!"

"Even the purple-colored monster couldn't beat it? That weird ability to deceive itself is just too overpowered!"

Meanwhile, at the same time, Lu Xueyao was in the Ninth Mine.

Under Lu Li's guidance, her mining efficiency was terrifying. At this moment, her bamboo basket was already heavily filled with nearly 30 high-quality bloodstones.