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

"I do know something," he said, his voice less certain than usual. "Before my sister disappeared, she was investigating something. She left some notes, which mentioned the concept of 'strange occurrences'."

"Your sister knows too?"

"It's not just that she knew. She was one of the first to notice the anomaly. Her disappearance... might be related to this."

Han Yingying listened quietly.

"Besides finding my sister, there's another reason I entered the game—to trace the source of the strange occurrences." Zhou Lang's speech quickened, as if he had made up his mind. "I gathered some clues in the first few dungeons. The strange occurrences didn't appear out of thin air; they have an origin point. The origin point is in the real world."

"Chengxi Industrial Park?"

Zhou Lang glanced at her, his gaze complex: "You investigated faster than I expected."

"I'm investigating too," Han Yingying said, "but I'm not as fast as you are."

The two stared at each other for a moment. Zhou Lang then extended his hand.

"Join forces."

Han Yingying grasped his hand: "Let's join forces."

This handshake carried more weight than any vow. Not because it was particularly solemn, but because it was the first time two people, accustomed to acting alone, had truly entrusted their backs to each other.

Cheng Qian was cracking a mint she'd somehow found, glancing at them sideways without saying anything.

In the following period, the eight people developed a detailed action plan.

Zhao Qiang was in charge of ringing the bell. His route was: after entering the phantom bell tower, jump over the second platform (avoiding the mirrors), go around the third platform (avoiding the coffins), and go up to the fourth platform to step on the footplate.

To ensure Zhao Qiang could jump over the second level, Zhou Lang had him practice jumping seven times in the hotel lobby—from one table to another, a distance roughly the same as the distance between the clock tower platforms.

Zhao Qiang almost fell the first five times, barely managed to stay upright the sixth time, and finally landed cleanly the seventh time.

"That's it, don't hesitate when the time comes," Zhou Lang said.

"You make it sound so easy..." Zhao Qiang wiped his sweat.

"Because I can say it so easily."

"..."

Once everything was ready, the four of them entered the mirror again.

This time, no reflection appeared—the shattered reflection from before hadn't regenerated. But the atmosphere in the mirrored world was more oppressive than the first time; the gray of the sky had deepened by a shade, and the smell of rust in the air was stronger.

The four headed straight for the clock tower.

Upon arrival, Zhou Lang entered the clock tower again. This time, instead of going upstairs, he found a hidden mechanism on the first floor—a groove under a loose floor tile, containing a bronze token.

"Trigger key." He took out a token. "Place this next to the stepping stone on the fourth floor, and the phantom clock tower will appear in the real world."

He went up to the fourth floor and put the token into another recess next to the footboard.

The bronze bell emitted a deep hum, and the entire bell tower began to shake.

"Get out!" Han Yingying shouted from outside.

Zhou Lang jumped over the third coffin—the coffin lid slammed shut as he passed, just two centimeters from trapping his foot—and slid over the mirror platform on the second floor, rushing out the door.

The four ran to the barbershop and passed through the mirror back to reality.

In the real town center, the illusory clock tower is coalescing. A translucent gray building rises from the ground, its outline identical to the mirrored clock tower, but its texture seems to be made of smoke.

"Zhao Qiang!" Zhou Lang shouted.

Zhao Qiang stood at the entrance of the hostel, his legs trembling, but he still took a step.

"Fifteen minutes!" Han Yingying looked at the timer on her phone. "Hurry up!"

Zhao Qiang ran towards the illusory clock tower. His running style wasn't exactly graceful, but he was fast. Fifteen seconds later, he reached the entrance to the clock tower, glanced back at his teammates, and then disappeared inside.

The scene inside the illusory clock tower could be vaguely seen from the outside—Zhao Qiang's figure moved rapidly behind the semi-transparent wall, going upstairs, to the first floor, then the second floor—

He paused briefly in front of the second-level platform.

Han Yingying's heart clenched.

Then Zhao Qiang jumped.

A not-so-graceful but powerful jump cleared the mirror platform and landed on the stairs.

"Okay!" Su Wan shouted from below.

The third level. Zhao Qiang didn't hesitate and quickly walked around the outside of the coffin. The coffin lid inside the illusory clock tower didn't move—in the real world, this trap didn't work.

Fourth floor.

Zhao Qiang stood in front of the pedal, glanced down, and stepped down.

hum-

The sound of the bronze bell pierced through the walls of the illusory clock tower, echoing throughout the entire mirrored town. The ground began to tremble, and a crack appeared in the gray sky above, through which white light poured down.

"Instance complete." A mechanical voice echoed in everyone's minds, "'Mirror Town' cleared. Surviving players: eleven. Dead players: twenty. Calculating ratings..."

When Zhao Qiang ran out of the phantom clock tower, he was so weak he collapsed to the ground like a noodle.

"I stepped on it! I stepped on it! Damn it, I finally did something decent!" He lay on the ground and shouted at the cracked sky.

Zhou Lang walked over and squatted down next to him: "Not bad."

Two words.

But Zhao Qiang smiled as if he had won the lottery.

Light poured down from the cracks in the sky, flooding everyone's vision.

Han Yingying felt a familiar pulling sensation in the white light—the dungeon was over, and they were about to be sent back.

But not back to reality.

After the light faded, they stood on a street. Not a street in Mirror Town, nor a street in the real world. The sky here was a dark purple, and the architectural styles were mixed—there were Chinese-style eaves and brackets, Western-style Gothic spires, and some strange structures that did not belong to any known architectural style at all.

People were coming and going on the street, dressed in all sorts of equipment. Some were carrying weapons, some were walking strange pets, and some were haggling over prices at roadside stalls.

"Where is this place?" Zhao Qiang got up from the ground and looked around.

"A bizarre world," Lin Mo said, "the main city outside the instance. I've been here once."

Han Yingying scanned the area. The main city had shops, blacksmiths, potion makers… and a huge screen floating above the city, broadcasting a live stream of a dungeon. A barrage of comments scrolled across the screen—

"Holy crap, I beat Mirror Town? Only 37 hours?"

"Eight members of the team survived the level? What was their composition?"

"Three members of the Bloodblade Guild have died in the LMAO."

"Wait, who's that Han Yingying? She's really good with the detection scope."

"A newbie to an S-rank dungeon? That's just hype."

Han Yingying looked at her name on the screen, unable to describe how she felt.

"You're on a live stream." Su Wan patted her shoulder. "Clearing an S-rank dungeon will be automatically recorded into the live stream system. Congratulations, you're a celebrity now."

"This is not a good thing," Han Yingying shook her head.

Cheng Qian greeted Zhong Shi and said she was going to report to her guild before leaving.