A bizarre and terrifying experience; I messed up the dungeon world.

"No mistake, there's a problem with this instance, I'll check it."

She didn't ask any more questions, and reviewed the mission information again. "Six people, how many came?"

Zhou Lang gestured with his chin towards the hall, "Including us, five. We're one short."

The last one arrived quickly. He was a high school student, his school uniform collar slightly wrinkled, a backpack slung over his shoulder, and his hair disheveled. He pushed open the door, stood for a moment at the entrance, glanced at the people in the hall, said nothing, and found a spot against the wall. His eyes were unfocused, as if he hadn't slept enough, but there was something wrong with that unfocused look—it wasn't sleepiness, it was emptiness; there was nothing real in his face.

Zhou Lang glanced at him but didn't say anything.

The hall was silent for less than thirty seconds before the man by the window turned around from in front of the map. "Everyone's here? Let me say a few words."

No one asked him to speak; he spoke on his own.

"My name is Wang Jianguo. I've completed four dungeons. My combat stats are boosted in certain scenarios, and I excel at close combat. This isn't bragging, but rather to give everyone a basic understanding of me—I'm capable of leading a team, and I'm willing to do so. If you have any questions, just say so. If not, then it's settled."

The curly-haired woman clapped three times slowly. "Okay. My name is Lin Jue, I'm just browsing."

The girl in the corner looked up. "Gu Tian."

He simply said two words, then lowered his head and continued folding paper.

Han Yingying nudged Zhou Lang with her elbow.

"Zhou Lang," he said, and then nothing more.

Han Yingying added, "Han Yingying."

Everyone looked at the high school student standing against the wall.

He lowered his head and remained silent for five or six seconds, then said, "...Li Ming."

The voice was squeezed out of his throat, hesitant, as if he was searching his mind for the two words before speaking.

Wang Jianguo has already started explaining the plan: "A high mortality rate indicates a large amount of strange information. My suggestion is to thoroughly investigate the guesthouse during the day, split up, quickly collect clues, and summarize them tonight. It's efficient and has a low risk of death."

Lin Jue tilted his head. "Is the low risk of death your opinion, or is it supported by data?"

"Judgment based on experience".

"Then it doesn't count."

The two people were speaking in a very flat tone; they were either arguing or talking to themselves.

Gu Tian was still folding paper when Zhou Lang noticed that what she folded was a paper crane. The folds of the wings were very precise, indicating that this wasn't the first time she had folded this.

"We can split up," Zhou Lang said, "but don't act alone, go in pairs."

Wang Jianguo glanced at him. "What specific ideas do you have?"

"Let's get to know the people first," Zhou Lang stood up and glanced at the door, where a man was still peeling peanuts. "We need to pay attention not only to the players, but also to the staff here."

"You mean, there's something strange about them?" Wang Jianguo looked towards the door.

"They're easy to talk to during the day, but not necessarily at night."

After he finished speaking, the atmosphere tightened subtly. Lin Jue turned his phone screen over and placed it on his lap. Gu Tian pinched the wing of the paper crane, applying a little pressure, leaving a shallow crease on the wing.

Li Ming stood there, without reacting.

---

After the group was formed, Zhou Lang and Han Yingying formed their own group, Wang Jianguo took Gu Tian with him, Lin Jue acted alone, and Li Ming was casually included in Wang Jianguo's group. However, he had been spacing out since the group was formed, following behind Wang Jianguo like a shadow, not watching his feet as he walked, but he didn't bump into anything.

Zhou Lang went to his room first, 202, a standard farmhouse style room with a wooden bed, coarse cloth quilt, and a window facing the mountain.

He checked every corner of the room: under the bed, in the closet, in the bathroom, on the ceiling, in the corners, and even in the cracks in the floor.

Clean, there's nothing there.

He took out his observation scope, stood by the window, and used it once on the man peeling peanuts in the courtyard downstairs.

Through the viewing lens, a line of text appeared above the man's head.

[Emotional state: repression, fear, desire to escape.]

Zhou Lang shifted the camera to the woman in an apron wiping tables in the lobby, and she used it again.

[Emotional state: resentment, restraint, intense obsession.]

He put away the observation glasses and stood by the window for a while.

Two strange phenomena, two completely opposite states.

Fear and the desire to escape usually belong to the victim. Resentment and obsession usually belong to the one who hasn't let go.

But it's still unclear who harmed whom.

Han Yingying took notes beside him, asking, "What's the connection between these two?"

"I don't know yet," Zhou Lang said, closing the window. "Let's go check the second-floor corridor."

---

The corridor was quiet, but as Han Yingying walked, she slowed her pace near room 403. "The floor here..."

Zhou Lang squatted down. There was a faint mark on the floor, stretching from the door of 403 all the way to the window at the end of the corridor. It wasn't a crack; the direction was too regular and the path too straight, as if it had been left by someone dragging a heavy object.

He walked to the end of the corridor, pushed open the window, and saw several dents on the outside of the windowsill, which corresponded exactly to the dent in the corridor. Below the windowsill was the exterior wall of the guesthouse, with large areas of the wall that had been repainted—and the patched area was quite large, covering at least half of the wall.

Zhou Lang took a picture of the exterior wall and then put his phone away.

He tried the door to 403; it was locked, but the lock cylinder was loose and could be opened with a bit of force.

Let's leave this for tonight.

Dinner was prepared by the boss, consisting of six dishes: braised pork, stir-fried greens, shredded potatoes, steamed eggs, two kinds of pickled vegetables, and a pot of corn porridge.

The standard setup for a farm stay.

The six people sat in a circle, but no one took the first bite; everyone was waiting for someone else to try it first.

Finally, Wang Jianguo made the first move, picking up a piece of braised pork, chewing it, and saying nothing.

Zhou Lang noticed Gu Tian's actions—she put a little bit of each dish into her bowl, but didn't eat any of it. After everyone had started eating, she waited for about five minutes to make sure nothing was wrong before she started eating.

She did it so naturally, like she was slowly choosing what to eat; you wouldn't notice she was waiting unless you looked closely.

For someone participating in the instance for the second time, it's quite impressive that they were this alert.

Li Ming was in a daze the whole time. He picked up two chopsticks, ate half a bite, and put down his bowl. Han Yingying gently nudged him, and he finally looked up and said, "...I'm done eating."

No one said he hadn't finished eating; he just said something completely unrelated.

Han Yingying lowered her voice, "He really has a problem."

"Don't look at him," Zhou Lang said, picking up a piece of shredded potato. "Eat your food."

At the dinner table, Wang Jianguo talked about what he had found that afternoon. He had also discovered the marks on the corridor floor. He hadn't gone into room 403 yet and planned to deal with it after dinner. Gu Tian added that she had found a locked cabinet near the kitchen. The lock was new, while the locks in the other rooms were all old rusty iron. This was unusual.

Lin Jue listened without saying anything, then poked the pickled vegetables with his chopsticks, probably thinking the taste was off, and changed the dish.

"I'm planning to break into apartment 403 after dinner," Wang Jianguo said. "Gu Tian, ​​want to come with me?"

Gu Tian nodded, "Okay."

Zhou Lang glanced at her and said, "Be careful, that room is not simple."

Wang Jianguo smiled and said, "I know, I have a combat advantage."

That's easy to say.