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

Finished?

The thought flashed through his mind for less than a tenth of a second before he extinguished it.

What does it mean to say there's no hurdle you can't overcome? It just means you're not reckless enough.

He gripped the chainsaw tightly, ready to rush back and trade his life with the other side—

A hospital room door on the left side of the corridor was suddenly kicked open from the inside.

The person who came out was wearing a white hooded jacket, the hood pulled low so their face couldn't be seen. Three other people, dressed similarly, followed behind.

The man in white raised his hand.

An arc of light shot from his fingertip, striking the steel plate at the very front squarely in the chest. The steel plate flew four or five meters before crashing heavily to the ground, unable to get up for a long time.

The remaining three men in white attacked simultaneously, cleanly and swiftly.

The captain of Shattered Star didn't even have a chance to react before his weapon was kicked away, and he was then pinned against the wall, unable to move.

The members of the three major unions were immediately thrown into disarray. They were facing four individuals of unknown origin and whose strength far exceeded their expectations.

In less than three minutes, the thirty people were beaten to a pulp and retreated to the first floor in a sorry state.

The corridor returned to silence.

The white-clad man at the head of the group turned around to face Zhou Lang and Han Yingying.

Beneath the hood was a young face, male, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with an ordinary appearance, the only distinctive feature being a silver earring in his left ear.

"Are you all alright?" he asked, his tone casual, as if asking about the weather today.

"Who are you?" Zhou Lang didn't put down the chainsaw.

"People from the X union."

Zhou Lang and Han Yingying exchanged a glance. The X Guild—the most mysterious organization in the game, with no publicly available membership list and no fixed base, yet consistently ranking in the top three. Many rumors circulated about this guild, but no one could confirm any of them.

"Why are you helping us?" Han Yingying asked.

The silver earring glanced at her, its gaze lingering on her face for two seconds.

"You'll find out later," he said.

That sounds really rude.

"I want to know right now." Han Yingying is not someone who can be easily fooled.

"Knowing won't help, the timing is wrong." After saying that, Silver Earring took out two vials of medicine from her pocket and threw them to Zhou Lang. "Use these on your two injured teammates. They stop bleeding and restore healing all at once, and they're better than what you buy in stores."

Zhou Lang caught the potion and examined it. The bottle had no label, and the liquid was pale gold.

"Thanks." Zhou Lang handed the potion to Zhao Qiang, asking him to use it on Su Xiao and Chen Feng.

Silver Earring nodded and led her three companions deeper into the corridor.

"Wait a minute," Han Yingying called out to him.

The woman with the silver earring stopped walking without turning around.

How many people are in the X guild in total?

"Enough."

The figures of the four men in white disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

Han Yingying stood there, her expression complex. She felt that the way the silver earring looked at her didn't seem like it was at a stranger.

The medicine worked remarkably well. Su Xiao's wound stopped bleeding quickly after being applied, and scabs began to form within ten minutes. Chen Feng's knife wound on his leg had also mostly healed; although it still hurt a bit, he could walk normally.

"This medicine is amazing!" Zhao Qiang exclaimed in amazement, holding the empty bottle. "It would be worth at least five hundred outside."

"It doesn't matter how much it's worth, what matters is why we're getting it for free," Zhou Lang said.

"Who cares? Let's get through this dungeon first." Lin Mu wiped the dagger clean and put it away. "Those guild members won't let this go."

"They won't dare to come back anytime soon," Zhou Lang said. "After being beaten up like that by the X Guild, they need to figure out what the relationship is between the X Guild and us. They won't make any rash moves until they figure it out."

This judgment was later proven accurate. Throughout the entire instance, members of the three major guilds never appeared before them again.

After settling Su Xiao and Chen Feng in, the six of them took a short rest in a ward on the second floor.

The doors and windows were locked, and Zhao Qiang moved an iron bed across the doorway as a roadblock. Lin Mu leaned against the window, keeping watch, as darkness fell outside.

"No noise exceeding 40 decibels is allowed after sunset," Han Yingying reminded everyone.

40 decibels is roughly the volume of normal conversation in a library. In other words, after sunset, they can only communicate in hushed tones; running, fighting, or even heavy breathing could trigger the rules.

This restriction is considered tricky for an SS-level dungeon. It means that after dark, they have to avoid the eerie presence while also avoiding making noise.

"What do you guys think of that 'abnormal data fluctuation' message in the system notification?" Zhou Lang leaned against the wall and took out the oil lamp to wipe it clean.

Han Yingying shook her head: "I've never received such a prompt before."

"I noticed a detail." Lin Mu turned his head and lowered his voice, "The font of that line of text is different from the other prompts; the color is grayish, as if it was added later."

"You noticed it too?" Zhou Lang looked up.

"I used to be a procedural designer," Lin Mu said expressionlessly. "That hint is more like a comment embedded in some external program, not part of the original system architecture."

"What do you mean?" Zhao Qiang didn't understand.

"To give you an example," Lin Mu thought for a moment, "it's like you're writing an essay, and the teacher secretly adds a line of annotation to your essay, with handwriting different from yours. This copy of the system has also had an extra piece of information inserted by someone—or something—."

The room was silent for a few seconds.

"BUG," Zhou Lang said.

"Yes, that's the interpretation I'm inclined to think." Lin Mu nodded. "The dungeon system has a bug, or something more serious—someone deliberately created this bug."

Su Xiao, bandaged and leaning against the headboard, gasped upon hearing this: "A dungeon can have bugs? Are we safe then? Are the survival conditions still accurate?"

"I don't know," Lin Mu replied readily.

Zhao Qiang's face turned even paler.

"What's the panic?" Zhou Lang glanced at him. "Bugs can be good or bad. What if it's something that's to our advantage?"

"Your level of optimism is beyond what a normal human being can do," Zhao Qiang muttered under his breath.

As darkness fell completely, sounds began to echo in the corridor—not footsteps, but a dragging sound, as if someone were pulling something heavy across the floor.

Everyone held their breath.

The sound grew closer and closer, stopping at the door of the ward.

A sliver of grayish-white light shone through the crack in the door.

Zhou Lang gestured for everyone to stay still. He quietly crouched down by the door and peered through the crack.

A woman in a hospital gown stood in the corridor—no, not standing, but floating. Her feet were about ten centimeters off the ground, her hair covered her entire face, her hands hung at her sides, and her nails were long and bluish-gray.

She hovered at the doorway, motionless.

About thirty seconds later, she slowly turned to the other end of the corridor, dragging something along as she drifted away. The dragging sound resumed, fading into the distance.

Zhou Lang stood up and made a "safe" gesture.

Han Yingying leaned close to his ear and said almost silently, "I counted, she stopped at the door for exactly thirty seconds."