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

She had written part of it before.

But one memory remains blank—the part about "encountering the gods," as if it had been precisely erased with an eraser, wiped clean, leaving only a white void.

Han Yingying looked at Zhou Lang.

He was frowning as he studied the writing on the sphere's surface, his profile illuminated by the sphere's glow.

She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Something's not right. She could sense that something was amiss.

If she was the founder of Guild X and the only max-level player who ever left the game, why did she lose her memory? Why did she re-enter the game as a newbie? What is hidden in that erased memory of "Encountering God"?

The silver earring said, "You'll know eventually." Now she knew half of it—she knew that the X Guild belonged to her, but she didn't know the whole story.

The part that was erased is the key.

Zhou Lang turned around: "What did you just see?"

Han Yingying looked into his eyes and hesitated for a moment.

"My head hurts so much, I couldn't see anything clearly," she said.

This was the first time she had lied to Zhou Lang.

The instance ends on the third day.

The medical records in the director's office were found, and the truth was revealed—the director of the sanatorium had altered the patients' diagnoses, turning healthy people into "patients," subjecting them to unnecessary treatments, and ultimately causing their deaths. Those wrongfully killed patients have become ghosts, patrolling at night, repeating the routes they were taken into the treatment rooms before their deaths.

As for the spherical space in room B4-017, Zhou Lang and Han Yingying didn't mention it in the dungeon settlement. Shen Mo also tacitly remained silent—his name was good, and he had a talent for this.

When the settlement screen popped up, Zhou Lang noticed a change.

[Dungeon Rating: SS (Highest)]

[Special Notice: Players "浪里个浪" and "韩莹莹" have achieved the highest rating nine times consecutively. According to Special Rule 7-3, both players are granted early access to the Guild Tournament. Entering the finals will unlock the SSS-level dungeon.]

「7-3。」周浪看着这组数字，想起了那台心电监护仪上重複的数字序列。7-3-7-3-7-3。

coincidence?

The six people returned to the transit station in the real world—a white platform suspended in the void, functioning similarly to a game lobby.

Shen Mo stood at the edge of the platform, staring blankly into the void.

Zhou Lang walked over.

"Are you eligible to participate in the union competition?"

"I've had it for a long time," Shen Mo said without turning his head, "but I've never used it."

Why?

"It's pointless for one person to participate."

There's a strange sense of incongruity about these words coming from a lone wolf.

"And now?"

Shen Mo turned around and faced Zhou Lang: "Now it has meaning."

Zhou Lang didn't press further. Some people's transformations don't need explanations; they just need a trigger. The things in room B4-017 changed Shen Mo's perspective on the game.

Han Yingying was talking to Lin Mu, Su Xiao, and Chen Feng on the other side. All three looked unwell—not because of their injuries, which had healed, but because of their eligibility to participate in the guild competition.

"None of the three of us are qualified," Lin Mu said bluntly. "We're at least three SS-level dungeon runs short of achieving the highest rating."

"Twice," Su Xiao corrected him. "One time was already counted. We still need two more."

"Twice is no less." Chen Feng rubbed the back of his neck. "SS-level dungeons, the highest rating, every time it's a life-or-death situation."

Han Yingying bit her lip. She and Zhou Lang could participate earlier, but Lin Mu and the others couldn't. The rules didn't allow it.

She instinctively looked at Zhou Lang, wanting to discuss a solution.

Zhou Lang had already walked over. He looked at Han Yingying's expression, then at Lin Mu and the other two, and guessed about 70-80% of the situation.

"You three go run the dungeon," he said. "Han Yingying and I will wait for you."

"No way," Han Yingying immediately objected. "The guild competition has a time window; if we miss it, we'll have to wait for the next one. We don't know when the next one will be—and the SSS-level dungeon might not even be available anymore."

"So what do you mean?"

"Let's go participate in the union competition first—"

Before Han Yingying could finish speaking, a new notification popped up from the system.

[Warning: The guild competition requires teams to have at least five members. Currently eligible team members are: Langligelang, Han Yingying, and Shen Mo. Insufficient members to register.]

Three people. Two short.

"This..." Han Yingying was stunned.

Zhou Lang stared at the warning for five seconds.

The rules are holding them back.

Nine consecutive top ratings earned them an exceptional early entry permit – this "reward" seemed appealing, but it was actually a trap. Their core team consisted of six people, three of whom were ineligible, leaving them just two spots short of qualifying. They were right on the line of being ineligible to participate.

"Interesting," Zhou Lang muttered to himself.

"What do you mean?" Zhao Qiang leaned closer.

"The system doesn't want us to enter the SSS-level dungeon so quickly."

After these words were spoken, everyone present fell silent.

Han Yingying's heart sank. Combining this with the memories she had just regained—the cracks in the system, the data overwriting, the deliberate modification of the game—there was an unseen hand controlling everything behind the scenes. And she had once been the person closest to that hand.

But she just couldn't remember the most crucial part.

"What should we do then?" Su Xiao asked, her voice tense.

"The rules say there need to be at least five people." Zhou Lang counted on his fingers. "Me, Han Yingying, Shen Mo, that's three. We're two short. Lin Mu, the three of you need to complete two SS-level dungeons first to qualify. Let's go."

"Shall the three of us go alone?" Chen Feng asked, a little flustered.

"You've cooperated on so many dungeons, your strength is sufficient." Zhou Lang said calmly. "Besides, it would be useless for me to go. The rules don't allow me to participate in your dungeons—the system's original words, 'Players who have obtained advance participation qualifications are not allowed to enter SS-level or higher dungeons before the competition.'"

Han Yingying looked down at her system panel and, sure enough, found the same restriction.

She and Zhou Lang were bound by the rules.

I can't help my teammates, and I can't participate in the competition early. I can only wait.

"These rules seem tailor-made for us," Zhao Qiang muttered. "Isn't that a bit unfair?"

No one answered him. Because everyone thought he was right.

-

Lin Mu, Su Xiao, and Chen Feng teamed up to enter their first SS-level dungeon.

The waiting time was the hardest. Zhou Lang, Han Yingying, Zhao Qiang, and Shen Mo stayed at the transfer station. Zhao Qiang's qualifications were far from sufficient; he had never received the highest rating—mainly because he spent half the time screaming during each dungeon run, which deducted a lot of his rating points.

"I feel like I'm being targeted." Zhao Qiang slumped onto a bench at the transfer station. "Is the evaluation system biased against timid people?"

"It treats everyone the same," Han Yingying said. "Your score is low because you screamed for seventeen seconds in the sixth instance when you saw a cockroach ghost."