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

The instance is set in an abandoned amusement park, and the task is to repair and restart the Ferris wheel. The task itself is not difficult; the challenge lies in the numerous eerie creatures roaming the amusement park, and the members of the Seventh Guild have clearly reached some kind of tacit understanding with them.

"They're using props to drive the monsters away from us!" Song Yutong cursed, as she used an iron pipe to smash the head of a clown ghost that lunged at her.

After observing the area, Zhou Lang discovered a pattern—the members of the Seventh Guild had placed exorcising incense along key passages, effectively driving all the strange occurrences onto the route Zhou Lang's team was traveling.

"These people are really creative," Zhao Qiang said with a bitter face.

"Let's change routes," Zhou Lang decided. "We'll go through the haunted house."

"A haunted house? That's where the most ghosts are—"

"Their exorcising incense can't drive away the ghosts in the haunted house because the ghosts in the haunted house spawn at fixed times and are protected by the environment. In other words, although there are many ghosts in the haunted house, they follow fixed routes and can be predicted. The ghosts that are driven in from outside are running around randomly and are actually more difficult to deal with."

Zhao Qiang: "...Brother Lang, how do you know everything?"

"Enough talk, get on board."

Five people went into the haunted house.

There were indeed many eerie things in the haunted house, but Zhou Lang's judgment was correct—these ghosts followed a fixed route, like trains on tracks. As long as you figured out the rhythm, you could easily pass through the gaps.

Zhou Lang walked at the front, turning around every few seconds to make a hand gesture: stop, walk, squat, run.

The five of them walked through the haunted house, exited from the other end, and went directly to the vicinity of the Ferris wheel.

The Seventh Trade Union remained in the same spot, waiting for a long time, but no one showed up.

By the time they realized what was happening, the Ferris wheel had already started spinning.

[Mission complete, Team 1 wins.]

In the third round, their opponent was the Fifth Guild. This team didn't resort to any underhanded tactics, but they were very strong—their captain was an S-rank dungeon clearer and had several rare items.

The instance is a maze, and the task is to find the exit. Both sides start from opposite ends of the maze, and whoever gets out first wins.

This battle was extremely tough. The walls in the maze would move and rearrange themselves every ten minutes. Han Yingying was responsible for recording the route, but each time the walls moved, the previous records were invalidated.

"This won't do." Han Yingying crossed out the map on her notebook for the third time.

"No need to write it down," Zhou Lang said.

"What?"

"Have you noticed that the cracks in the ground didn't change when the wall moved?"

Everyone looked down and, sure enough, the cracks in the ground remained consistent before and after the wall moved. The cracks formed a faintly discernible line that stretched from beneath their feet into the distance.

"Follow the crack."

This trick worked. The cracks were the route to the exit; no matter how the walls moved, as long as you followed the cracks, you wouldn't get lost.

The Fifth Guild apparently hadn't noticed this. They emerged from the maze forty minutes later than Zhou Lang's group.

Their opponent in the semifinals is the Third Guild. This team has two S-rank clearers and is widely considered the favorite to win the championship.

The instance is an ocean liner, and the mission is to find lifeboats and escape before the ship sinks. The ship is teeming with bizarre creatures disguised as passengers who could suddenly attack and harm people at any moment.

Liu Dayong almost lost his life in that match.

While searching the lower decks, he encountered a strange creature disguised as a crew member and was grabbed by the throat. Song Yutong arrived just in time and stabbed the creature's arm with her dagger, freeing both of them. However, Liu Dayong was left with a bruise around his neck and lost his voice.

Zhao Qiang's performance in this competition exceeded everyone's expectations. He discovered a hidden lifeboat on the deck—concealed behind the cover of a lifebuoy. The location was extremely tricky; a normal person would never bother to climb over the cover of a lifebuoy.

"How did you find it?" Song Yutong asked.

"I... I just felt that the lifebuoy was hanging crooked." Zhao Qiang scratched his head. "I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and I want to straighten anything that's crooked..."

Zhou Lang patted him on the shoulder.

Five people boarded the lifeboat and escaped three minutes before the ship sank. The Third Guild was fifteen minutes later and also escaped successfully, but according to the scoring rules, Zhou Lang's team won.

The final will be held two days later.

The opponent is the fourth guild—the fourth seed in the tournament, whose team includes an SS-level dungeon clearer.

The instance is an ancient castle, and the mission is to kill the Lord-level monsters within. This is the most difficult instance since the start of the tournament, as the Lord-level monsters are far stronger than ordinary monsters.

After the five entered the castle, Zhou Lang didn't rush to find the lord. He instructed everyone to search the castle first, collecting all usable items and information.

"You can't fight a Lord-level monster head-on," he said. "You have to find its weakness."

Han Yingying found a diary in the library that recorded the life of the castle lord. In life, the lord was an alchemist, but after death, he transformed into a strange being, whose greatest fear was silver.

Are there any silver items in the castle?

"There's a set of silver cutlery in the kitchen," Liu Dayong said, his voice still hoarse.

"Go get it."

The five men modified their weapons from silver cutlery—silver forks were tied to sticks to be used as spears, and silver knives were simply held in their hands. Zhao Qiang even hung a silver plate around his neck, saying it was a talisman.

"Do you think this is an exorcism?" Song Yutong said disdainfully.

"Just in case it works!"

When they found the lord, the members of the Fourth Guild also arrived.

The lord was a strangely shaped knight over three meters tall, completely clad in black armor and wielding a giant sword. He stood in the center of the castle's throne room, his red eyes sweeping over the two groups of people as he approached.

The SS-rank clearer of the Fourth Guild was a bespectacled man nicknamed "Professor." He glanced at Zhou Lang.

"cooperate?"

Zhou Lang thought for two seconds: "Okay. Division of labor—you guys attract attention from the front, we'll attack the weaknesses from the side."

How do we pinpoint the weaknesses?

"The joints of the armor. If a silver object touches those joints, its movement will be slowed down."

The professor adjusted his glasses: "How did you know?"

"I just observed it. When it walks, there's a slight jerk in its right knee, and there are signs of oxidation at the seam of its armor in that area—it was injured by silverware before."

The professor stared at him for a few seconds, then nodded: "Okay."

The battle lasted for nearly twenty minutes.

The six members of the Fourth Guild were engaging the lord head-on. The professor's command skills were indeed strong; he had a clear understanding of the lord's attack rhythm. Zhou Lang led his team to attack from the flanks and rear, using silver weapons to target the joints of the armor.

Each time the lord was touched by the silver, its movements slowed down. In the end, its right leg was almost completely immobile.

Zhou Lang seized the opportunity, took the stick with the silver fork attached, and poked it into the gap of the lord's helmet visor.

The lord let out a scream like metal scraping against metal, and then his entire armor collapsed with a crash, turning into a cloud of black smoke.