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

That's definitely his style.

"Six o'clock in the evening, at the east gate of Chengnan Park. Be with me and Zhou Lang."

"OK."

Han Yingying put away her phone and took two deep breaths. The S-rank dungeon would open in six hours. Whether she was prepared or not, she had to go.

She took the afternoon off to go home and organize her equipment. She opened her inventory, made a list of everything usable, and then exchanged the in-game currency she earned from the last dungeon run for a potion of invisibility. This item was a luxury in A-rank dungeons, and might only be considered basic equipment in S-rank dungeons.

At 5:40 p.m., Han Yingying arrived at the east gate of Chengnan Park.

Zhou Lang was already there, sitting on a bench, twirling a coin in his hand. He was wearing a black hoodie, the hood pulled down to cover half his face, making him look like someone about to commit robbery.

"You're here early." Han Yingying sat down next to him.

"Nothing much, I just came." Zhou Lang put the coins into his pocket. "Zhao Qiang also received the notification, he's on his way."

"Is Zhao Qiang also S-rank?"

"right."

Han Yingying frowned. Zhao Qiang needed help even in A-level dungeons, let alone S-level... wasn't this just pushing him into a fire pit?

"Don't overthink it, I'm here." Zhou Lang said this in a very calm tone, as if he were saying that the weather was nice today.

At 5:50, Zhao Qiang came running over, panting, the contents of his schoolbag jingling incessantly.

"I...I bought every item I could." He was bent over, panting. "Damn it, S-rank? I think there must be a mistake? I'm just a C-rank player, and they gave me an S-rank notification?"

"It's not a mistake," Zhou Lang said. "Sometimes S-rank dungeons randomly select lower-level players to increase the dungeon's 'mortality rate'."

Zhao Qiang's face turned green: "So I was just removed from the denominator?"

"almost."

"Could you please be a little more tactful?"

"cannot."

Han Yingying couldn't help but chuckle. This was always how these two interacted: Zhou Lang was responsible for speaking the truth, and Zhao Qiang was responsible for getting roasted.

At 5:55, Lin Mo arrived. He carried a black backpack and walked over quietly, like a cat.

"Is everyone here?" He glanced at the people present.

"Everyone's here." Han Yingying introduced them, "This is Lin Mo, my teammate from the fourth dungeon run. This is Zhao Qiang, Zhou Lang's classmate."

Lin Mo nodded, and Zhao Qiang waved to him.

Six o'clock sharp.

Without any warning. The ground didn't crack, the sky didn't change color, and pedestrians continued their walks and dog walks as usual. Suddenly, everything went black before Han Yingying's eyes, as if someone had flipped a switch.

When they opened their eyes again, the four of them were standing on a barren field.

The sky was gray, not the gray of an overcast day, but rather as if the entire sky had been painted with a layer of leaden gray pigment. The sun and clouds were nowhere to be seen. There was a faint smell of rust in the air.

Han Yingying looked down at her feet—the ground was cracked and barren, with dark red liquid seeping from the cracks.

"Welcome to the fifth instance." A mechanical voice echoed in everyone's minds. "Instance name: 'Mirror Town'. Difficulty: S-rank. Survival condition: Find the clock tower in the town center and ring the bell. Time limit: Seventy-two hours. Death condition: Reaching zero health or failing to complete the task within the time limit. Current number of players: Thirty-one."

Thirty-one people.

Han Yingying looked around. Besides the four of them, there were a few other people scattered on the wasteland, some in groups of two or three, and some alone. The closest ones were a woman in a red jacket and a bald man, who were talking in hushed tones.

"A 31-person S-rank dungeon." Lin Mo pushed up his glasses. "Assuming a 70% mortality rate, no more than ten will make it out alive."

Zhao Qiang's face turned even greener.

"Stop calculating." Zhou Lang patted him on the shoulder. "It's no use calculating. Let's go, let's find the town first."

At the end of the wasteland, there was a dirt road, and the outlines of buildings could be vaguely seen at the other end of the road. The four of them walked along the dirt road for about twenty minutes, and the whole town came into view.

Han Yingying stopped in her tracks.

Something's wrong with this town.

All the buildings are symmetrical—there's a three-story building on the left, and an identical one on the right; there's a grocery store on the left, and another on the right, even the words on the signs are mirror images. The whole town is like it was split in two by a giant mirror and then pieced back together.

"Mirror Town," Zhou Lang read the instance name aloud. "Interesting."

"What's so interesting about it?" Zhao Qiang asked, trembling.

"Look at the road surface."

Zhao Qiang looked down. There was a thin dividing line on the road, stretching from the entrance of the town all the way into the depths, splitting the entire street into two perfectly symmetrical halves. To the left of the dividing line, the ground was normal gray cement; to the right, the ground had the exact same texture, but the color was slightly reddish.

"I guess," Zhou Lang crouched down and touched the dividing line with his finger, "that the left side is 'truth,' and the right side is 'mirror.' Or maybe it's the other way around. You've gone to the wrong side—"

He didn't finish speaking, but everyone understood what he meant.

Just as Han Yingying was about to say something, she heard hurried footsteps behind her.

She turned her head and saw two people running towards her from the other end of the dirt road. A man and a woman, the man was tall and thin, the woman was short and plump, and they were both out of breath.

Han Yingying paused for a second, then recognized them.

"Su Wan? Gu Bei?"

The short, chubby girl ran up, panting with her hands on her knees, "Yingying! Great! I knew you'd be here!"

The tall, thin boy followed behind, his expression grim: "We've been set up."

Su Wan and Gu Bei were teammates Han Yingying met during the second and third dungeons. Su Wan appears carefree but is actually meticulous and skilled at gathering intelligence; Gu Bei is a technically skilled player who can crack most of the puzzles and locks in the dungeons. The two said they were going to rest after the last dungeon, so how did they end up in an S-rank dungeon?

"What do you mean? Were you set up?" Han Yingying pressed.

Gu Bei's expression was grim: "Our dungeon rating has been tampered with. Normally, our next dungeon should be rated B. But three days ago, we suddenly received a dungeon preview, and it jumped directly to S rating. I checked, and someone used our account to buy 'difficulty upgrade tickets' on the player trading market."

"Difficulty Increase Ticket?" Zhao Qiang interjected. "What the hell is that?"

"A high-level item that can forcibly increase the difficulty of the next dungeon for a specified player." Su Wan straightened up. "It's expensive, but it's nothing to some people."

Han Yingying's expression turned cold: "Who did this?"

Gu Bei shook his head: "Can't find it. The transaction records have been cleared. But someone who can get their hands on this kind of item isn't an ordinary player."

The group exchanged glances. Zhou Lang stood to the side, having heard all the information, and glanced at the two newcomers without saying a word.

"Who are these two?" Su Wan looked at Zhou Lang and Lin Mo.