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

She sat up, her fingers touching the texture of the sheets—soft, warm, and smelling of laundry detergent. Outside the window was a familiar street scene; the aroma of fried dough sticks wafted from the breakfast shop downstairs, and the sounds of someone arguing drifted in through the glass.

It's too real.

She looked down at her phone, and the date displayed on the screen made her pause—three days had passed since she last "woke up".

"Was it another dream?"

Han Yingying rubbed her temples, her mind a jumbled mess. The memories of the cable car instance were too vivid: the boxer's screams as he was bizarrely torn apart, the hesitation in her teammate C's eyes when he handed her the item, and Zhou Lang's expression as he stood at the edge of the cable car, turning back to tell her to "stay close."

She remembers every detail.

But now? She woke up in her own room again, as if nothing had happened.

Han Yingying got out of bed, her bare feet sinking into the floor, a chill creeping up her spine. She walked to the mirror; her reflection showed a pale face, but no wounds, no bloodstains, and even the clothes she wore the night before were her pajamas.

"wrong."

She turned and opened the wardrobe, searching for the coat she had worn in the dungeon. The coat was hanging there neatly, with no strangely torn cuffs, and the note with the rules was not in the pocket.

Everything was too clean.

Han Yingying took a deep breath—she stopped what she was doing and instead pushed open the door and walked out.

In the living room, the stepmother was wiping the table, while the stepsister sat on the sofa scrolling through her phone. When they saw her come out, the stepmother smiled and said, "Awake? Breakfast is in the kitchen; heat it up yourself."

"Um."

Han Yingying went into the kitchen, turned on the microwave, and found a bowl of porridge and two steamed buns inside. She stared at the porridge for a few seconds, then closed the door without heating it up.

She wasn't hungry.

Or rather, she simply has no appetite right now.

Back in her room, Han Yingying took out her phone and opened her contacts. Zhou Lang's number was still there. She hesitated for a moment, then didn't dial.

What if it's just a dream? What if she calls and the person on the other end doesn't even know her?

She tossed her phone onto the bed and walked to the window. The breakfast shop owner downstairs was serving customers, and someone in the next building was hanging laundry to dry. Everything seemed so normal, so normal that she wondered if she had really gone mad.

My phone suddenly vibrated.

Han Yingying turned around, and the screen displayed the name of her best friend, Lin Xiaoyu.

"Feed?"

"Yingying! Are you free today? It's been so long, let's grab a bite to eat!" Lin Xiaoyu's energetic voice came through the receiver.

Han Yingying was taken aback: "Long time?"

"You bet! You haven't talked to me for almost a month. I thought you'd blocked me," Lin Xiaoyu said with a smile. "So, are you free at noon?"

One month?

Han Yingying glanced at the calendar. Indeed, if those dungeon experiences were taken into account, the timing matched.

"I'm free," she said. "The usual place?"

"Okay! See you at twelve!"

Hanging up the phone, Han Yingying sat back down on the bed. Lin Xiaoyu's voice sounded perfectly normal, just like always. But if those copies were real, why didn't the people in the real world notice anything amiss?

She opened her phone's photo album and scrolled to the most recent pictures. There were selfies with Lin Xiaoyu, dinners her stepmother had made, and stray cats she'd seen on the street. The date on the last photo was exactly the day before she first entered the instance.

That was it.

Han Yingying stared at the photo and suddenly remembered a detail—in the cable car instance, her teammate C had said that every time they returned from the instance, the time in the real world would be automatically updated.

"So these memories..."

She opened her phone's notes app, which contained her "daily logs" from this period: going to the supermarket, arguing with her stepmother, watching TV series, and sleeping. Each entry was written in detail, but she had no recollection of it at all.

These were not written by her.

Or rather, it wasn't written by her "now".

Han Yingying turned off her phone and lay back down on the bed. There was a small crack in the ceiling. She stared at the crack, countless thoughts flashing through her mind.

If the copy is real, then the real world is fake.

If the real world is real, then the dungeon is a dream.

But what if both are true?

She remembered what Zhou Lang had said on the cable car: "Don't think too much, surviving is the most important thing."

Yes, survive.

Regardless of which world is real, at least she's still alive.

At noon, Han Yingying arrived at the agreed-upon restaurant on time. Lin Xiaoyu was already there, engrossed in her phone. Seeing Han Yingying enter, she immediately waved, "Over here, over here!"

Han Yingying walked over and sat down. Lin Xiaoyu pushed a cup of milk tea over to her: "Your favorite taro boba, drink it while it's hot."

Thanks.

"Don't mention it." Lin Xiaoyu looked at her, resting her chin on her hand. "Have you been under too much pressure lately? You don't look too good."

"It's alright." Han Yingying took a sip of milk tea, the sweetness melting on her tongue. "It's just that I'm not sleeping very well."

"I knew it, you must have stayed up late again." Lin Xiaoyu poked her forehead. "How many times have I told you, going to bed early and waking up early is good for your health, but you just won't listen."

Han Yingying smiled but didn't reply.

The waiter brought over two servings of pasta. Lin Xiaoyu picked up her fork and said while eating, "By the way, have you heard? Something strange has been happening in our neighborhood lately."

"What's so strange?"

"It's Aunt Wang from the third floor. She suddenly disappeared a couple of days ago," Lin Xiaoyu said in a low voice. "Her husband reported it to the police, but when the police checked the surveillance footage, they found that she hadn't left the house at all."

Han Yingying paused, her fork still in her hand. "Never been out of the house before?"

"Yeah, it's really weird." Lin Xiaoyu took a bite of noodles. "And it's not just her. A lot of people have gone missing recently. It's all been reported on the news."

Han Yingying put down her fork and took out her phone to search for news. Sure enough, the first page featured a report about "bizarre disappearances in multiple locations."

She clicked on the news, which read: Recently, there have been many cases of residents mysteriously disappearing across the country. The missing persons are all young adults who showed no abnormal behavior before their disappearances. Surveillance footage shows that they did not leave their residences. The police are investigating.

The comments section has exploded.

"Could they have been abducted by aliens?"

"I think it's like everyone's traveled through time."

"Wake up, upstairs! This is reality, not a novel."

Han Yingying scrolled to the last comment, posted by someone with the ID "Langligelang".

Her heart skipped a beat.

The comment was only four words: "Be careful at night."

"Yingying? Yingying?" Lin Xiaoyu waved her hand in front of her. "What's wrong? You look so pale."

"It's nothing." Han Yingying locked her phone. "I just suddenly remembered something."

"You're just overthinking things." Lin Xiaoyu picked up a piece of bacon and put it in her bowl. "Here, eat more, it'll nourish your brain."

Han Yingying forced a smile and continued eating her noodles with her head down.

But her attention was completely off the food.