Strange things happen, and I drive the evil god mad by chasing debts.

At midnight, the barrier of the Demon Suppression Division's exclusive dungeon lit up precisely on time.

A dark rift tore open in mid-air, and a cold wind carrying fragments of spatial turbulence rushed towards us.

It doesn't have the smell of apocalyptic decay, but rather a displaced and distorted sense of emptiness and coldness.

[Hidden Dungeon - Ruins of Time and Space, now open.]

[Dungeon Level: Super A]

[Dungeon Characteristics: Fragments of time and space intertwine, reality and supernatural tales overlap, and the eerie entity survives by relying on a "false reality." It cannot be brute-forced to kill; it can only be expelled by breaking the rules of time and space.]

[Main Quest: Unravel the seven layers of otherworldly illusions, repair the spatial rifts, and successfully survive to complete the dungeon.]

[Plain Rules for the Dungeon (Two Rules Initially Unlocked):]

First, never believe the calls of acquaintances in this world.

Second, pedestrians on busy streets at midnight don't look down at their feet.

[Hidden Warning: This instance perfectly replicates the 21st-century world; all warmth and familiarity are traps for the Shadow Hunt.]

Fang Yue stared at the system pop-up window, his heart, which had been pounding for days, suddenly leaped, feeling both sore and burning: "It really is a time-space dungeon! It's not a bug! The Demon Suppression Division's warning before wasn't lying!"

Shen Qingchan clenched her fingers slightly, her eyes losing their recent dejection, leaving only extreme calm: "Don't get agitated."

The more a scene resembles one's homeland, the harsher the rules become.

This is a strange instance, not the way home. We need to be careful.

"I know!" Fang Yue nodded emphatically, gritting his teeth. "I can distinguish between traps and reality. As long as I can find clues about time and space, I can stay calm!"

Shen Qingchan said calmly, "Stay with me and don't stray out of my sight for the rest of the time."

The two stepped into the dark rift side by side.

After a brief period of weightlessness, my feet landed firmly on the smooth and clean asphalt road.

The warm yellow streetlights spread out one after another, the traffic roared by, and the street shops were brightly lit. The milk tea shops, convenience stores, and pedestrian overpasses were so familiar that they were etched into my memory.

The air was filled with the evening breeze and the aroma of street food, a familiar scent from the 21st century that they had never experienced since they traveled back in time.

Fang Yue paused, his throat tightening instantly.

He subconsciously raised his hand to rub his eyes, his voice trembling: "Sister Qingchan... this is too real."

It's exactly the same street as where we used to go shopping after school; even the brightness of the streetlights hasn't changed.

Shen Qingchan slowly surveyed her surroundings, her gaze sharp, without a trace of indulgence: "It is a scene from the present world replicated by a fragment of time and space."

The system said, "Due to misalignment and parasitism, everything seen can be fake."

Just then, passersby on the street all turned to look.

These people were dressed in ordinary short-sleeved shirts and hoodies, walking briskly, looking no different from ordinary people.

Upon closer inspection, however, everyone's necks were stiff, their bodies ramrod straight, and their gazes were vacant, staring straight ahead—from beginning to end.

No one looked down at their own feet.

A cold sweat instantly broke out on Fang Yue's back: "The second explicit rule! Pedestrians don't look down at their feet at midnight! These... are all strange things in the instance?"

"They are low-level parasitic phantoms," Shen Qingchan whispered. "They disguise themselves by relying on fragments of the present world, they don't move around randomly, they don't initiate conversations, and they won't attack for the time being."

But if we break the rules, they will swarm and kill us instantly.

The two kept their bodies low and moved slowly along the walls of the shops on the street, trying to avoid all pedestrians.

The entire street was bustling and lively, with the sounds of traffic, laughter, and shop announcements filling the air.

This bustling scene lacked any sign of human life; a deathly stillness lurked beneath the glitz and glamour, sending chills down one's spine.

Suddenly, a familiar shout came from the intersection in front of the street.

"A-Yue! Qingchan! What are you doing here?"

The voice was clear and warm; it was the voice of their best friend from before they traveled through time. It was vivid and real, instantly touching the softest, most cherished part of their hearts.

Fang Yue froze, his feet instinctively reaching out to take a step forward.

Shen Qingchan instantly raised her hand and grabbed his wrist tightly, her grip heavy, and she hissed sharply in a low voice, "Stop! Rule number one! Never trust the calls of acquaintances in this world!"

Fang Yue's mind went blank for a moment, and he instantly became much more alert. His nose tingled with emotion: "I... I almost forgot... It's so similar, it's really so similar."

The two looked up.

In the middle of the intersection stood the boy from their memories, wearing the familiar white T-shirt, his eyebrows and smile exactly the same.

He waved frantically at them, his voice urgent and sincere: "Come quickly! It's almost midnight, it's not safe on the streets, I'll take you home!"

As soon as the word "go home" came out, Fang Yue's eyes instantly welled up with tears, and the obsession in his heart almost overwhelmed his reason.

That was the home he dreamed of returning to, the home he cherished every day.

Shen Qingchan's expression was cold and hard, her gaze fixed on the other party, calmly dissecting the flaws: "When he waved his hand, his wrist had no curve, his facial muscles did not move slightly, and he was stiffly replicating the whole thing."

This is an illusion created by the Shadow Instance, which has captured our memories.

A system notification followed immediately.

[System notification: Memory parasitic phantom detected, triggering mental induction.]

[Unlock the first hidden rule: Reject all calls from acquaintances; do not respond, do not go to their aid, and do not show any signs of desire.]

Those who cling to illusions will be forever trapped in a temporal mirage, becoming nourishment for ghostly apparitions.

Seeing that the two remained motionless, the boy's smile slowly froze, his eyes grew empty, and his voice became ethereal and chilling: "Why aren't you coming over? Don't you want to go home?... Don't you want to go back to your original world?"

This statement precisely hit their biggest weakness.

Fang Yue gritted his teeth, forcefully suppressing the agitation in his heart, and firmly averted his gaze: "I want to! But I know it's fake!"

Shen Qingchan said in a deep voice: "Ignore it and keep moving forward."

The longer you stay, the stronger the mental erosion becomes.

The two forcibly looked away from the familiar figure and quickly walked forward along the wall.

The calls from behind gradually became distorted and hoarse, turning from a friendly invitation into a cold whisper that lingered in my ears.

"Don't go...stay...this is your home..."

The sound didn't completely disappear until the two had walked several dozen meters away.

Fang Yue breathed a sigh of relief, raised his hand to wipe away the cold sweat, and said in a voice still filled with fear, "That was terrifying."

Other ghost story dungeons are scary, but this one is soul-crushing.

They deliberately trick us into dying by taking what we want most.

"That's the terrifying thing about the Ruins of Time and Space." Shen Qingchan stared intently at the end of the street. "It replicates our past, our obsessions, using the gentlest illusions to lay the most deadly traps."

[Instance Progress: 1/7 - Illusion Debunked.]

[Hint: There are six remaining layers of spacetime illusions, each layer more realistic and harder to see through than the last.]

Fang Yue clenched his fist, his eyes shifting from confusion to determination: "It's okay, I can handle any difficulty."

Once we break through all the illusions and achieve a perfect victory, we'll have the option to return to our original place, and we'll truly have a chance to go home.