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

He stood at his front door, his phone showing 8 PM—the time before he entered the dungeon.

"Time stands still again," Zhou Lang muttered.

He opened the door; the house was empty. His sister still hadn't returned.

Zhou Lang sat on the sofa and opened the game panel.

[Player: Waves]

[Level: 3]

[Game Currency: 2200]

[Skill: Scare Ghosts (Upgraded after fusing with the Bandaged Ghost)]

[Props: Oil lamp, scissors, chainsaw, Anna's necklace]

He clicked on Anna's necklace to check its attributes.

Anna's Necklace

[Quality: Rare]

[Effect: After wearing it, you can sense and communicate with the vengeful spirits in the surrounding area.]

[Note: She is finally free.]

Zhou Lang put on the necklace, but didn't feel anything special.

He lay on the sofa and closed his eyes.

I'm too tired today, I'll take a nap first.

Zhou Lang didn't wake up until noon the next day.

He got up, washed up, and cooked a bowl of instant noodles for lunch. Halfway through his meal, his phone suddenly rang.

It was Zhao Qiang calling.

"Hey, Lang-ge, are you home?"

"exist."

"Can I come over to you? I have something I want to tell you."

"Okay, come on."

Half an hour later, Zhao Qiang appeared at Zhou Lang's door. He looked unwell, with dark circles under his eyes.

"You didn't sleep last night?" Zhou Lang asked.

"I can't sleep." Zhao Qiang sat on the sofa. "Every time I close my eyes, I think of those ghosts in the manor."

You'll get used to it.

"How can you be so calm?" Zhao Qiang looked at Zhou Lang. "We almost died there, aren't you afraid at all?"

"What's the use of being afraid?" Zhou Lang retorted.

Zhao Qiang was stunned for a moment before finally saying, "That's true."

"What do you want from me?"

"I want to ask, what are your plans next?" Zhao Qiang said. "The game will continue, and we'll have to go back into the dungeon sooner or later."

"Then let's go in," Zhou Lang said. "We can't avoid it anyway."

"But..." Zhao Qiang hesitated for a moment, "I heard some players have teamed up, sticking together for mutual support. Do you want to find some teammates too?"

"No need," Zhou Lang refused decisively. "I can manage on my own."

Why?

"Because my teammates would drag me down," Zhou Lang said. "And I don't want to owe anyone favors."

Zhao Qiang opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing. He knew Zhou Lang's personality; once he made up his mind, it was hard to change it.

"Then be careful." Zhao Qiang stood up. "I'm leaving now, I have things to do at home."

"Um."

Zhao Qiang walked to the door, then suddenly turned back: "By the way, Han Yingying asked me to tell you that she thanked you for saving her twice."

Zhou Lang didn't answer, he just nodded.

After Zhao Qiang left, Zhou Lang opened the game forum to see if there was any useful information.

The forum was full of player discussions; some were sharing dungeon guides, some were asking to team up, and others were selling items.

Zhou Lang scrolled through the pages for a while and came across a post.

[Shocking! A player encountered an S-rank anomaly in a dungeon!]

He clicked on it to take a look.

The poster said they entered a dungeon and encountered twin sisters. The sisters were extremely powerful and easily killed several players. The poster was lucky enough to escape, but all their teammates died.

There were a lot of people discussing it in the comments section of the post.

"An S-level eerie event? Really?"

"Don't brag, OP. S-class monsters aren't that easy to encounter."

"I believe the original poster. I've also heard about that mall instance; the death rate is extremely high."

After reading the post, Zhou Lang seemed to be deep in thought.

S-Class Mystery…

He thought of Anna. Anna was just an ordinary person in life, but after death, her resentment was so strong that she became a powerful vengeful spirit. Could the twin sisters be in a similar situation?

Just then, the game panel suddenly popped up.

[Player level 3 detected]

[New Feature Enabled: Dungeon Selection]

Players can choose to enter a specific instance or be randomly matched into an instance.

Zhou Lang's eyes lit up.

This feature came at just the right time.

He opened the dungeon list, which displayed several dungeons to choose from:

[Abandoned Hospital]

Haunted House Adventure

Midnight Shopping Mall

Cursed School

When Zhou Lang saw "Midnight Mall," he remembered the post he had just seen.

This is it.

He clicked on "Midnight Mall" and confirmed his entry.

[Instance: Midnight Mall]

[Difficulty: Hard]

Number of participants: 8

[Instance Description: A secret lies hidden beneath the mall; after midnight, the cable car will take you to the truth.]

[Entry Time: 12:00 tonight]

[Countdown: 11 hours 32 minutes]

Zhou Lang turned off the panel and began preparations.

He checked his inventory; the oil lamp, scissors, and chainsaw were still there, and Anna's necklace was still around her neck.

I have 2200 game coins left, enough to buy some items.

Zhou Lang opened the online store, browsed around, and finally bought three items:

[High-powered flashlight: 500 game coins]

First Aid Kit: 300 Game Coins

[Signal Flare: 200 Game Coins]

I spent 1000 game coins, and I have 1200 left.

Zhou Lang put the new props into his inventory and lay back down on the sofa.

There are still 11 hours left, let's take a break first.

At 11:50 p.m., Zhou Lang woke up on time.

He stood in the center of the living room, waiting to be delivered.

[Dungeon is about to begin]

[Teleporting players]

A flash of white light, and Zhou Lang disappeared from the living room.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in front of a shopping mall.

The shopping mall is huge, five stories high, with a huge GG sign on the exterior wall. The lettering on the GG sign has faded, but you can still barely make out that it says "Prosperous Shopping Mall".

Zhou Lang looked around and saw other players being teleported over one after another.

There were eight people in total.

Besides Zhou Lang, there were seven other people: a middle-aged man, a little girl, a woman who looked like a female teacher, a doctor in a white coat, a muscular boxer, and two young people.

Zhou Lang was taken aback when he saw one of the young men.

It's Han Yingying.

Han Yingying also saw Zhou Lang, and a look of surprise appeared on her face. She wanted to walk over, but was interrupted by a game prompt.

[Dungeon Rules]

[1. Players need to uncover the mall's secret within 24 hours.]

[2. A strange phenomenon will occur every 2 hours; please handle it with caution.]

3. There are clues inside the mall; please search carefully.

4. Players are prohibited from harming each other.

5. Completing the task will earn you rewards; failure will result in death.

[Instance officially begins]

Current time: 00:00

[2 hours since the first strange occurrence]

After the notification disappeared, the players began to look at each other.

"Hello everyone, my name is Zhang Wei," the middle-aged man spoke first. "Since we've been assigned together, we're teammates. I suggest we introduce ourselves first, and then discuss our strategy."

"My name is Li Na," the female teacher said.

"My name is Dr. Wang," the doctor said.

"Boxer, just call me Old Fist," the boxer said.

"My name is Han Yingying." After saying that, Han Yingying looked at Zhou Lang.

Zhou Lang remained silent.

"Hey bro, what's your name?" Zhang Wei asked.

"Zhou Lang".

"Zhou Lang, right? It's nice to meet you." Zhang Wei smiled and extended his hand.

Zhou Lang glanced at him but did not shake hands.

The atmosphere was a little awkward.

"Um, well..." Zhang Wei withdrew his hand, "Let's go into the mall and take a look."

"Wait a minute," Zhou Lang suddenly spoke up, "There are still two people I haven't introduced."