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

"So those ghosts..."

"They were failed experiments. Part of their bodies were taken over by that thing, and that's how they ended up like this."

"What about the woman in the coffin?"

The butler's body was trembling slightly.

"That wasn't a woman. That was the product of the master's last experiment. He dug up his daughter's body and inserted that thing... completely into her body."

"He succeeded?"

"He successfully brought her in. But it wasn't his daughter who returned." The butler raised his head, two dim lights swirling in his empty eye sockets. "The first thing that thing did after waking up was to tear the master to pieces."

The hall was silent for a few seconds.

Zhao Qiang's mouth was slightly open, as if he wanted to say something but didn't know what to say.

Han Yingying asked a crucial question: "Who created the seal? The master is dead, who drew the sealing array?"

The butler slowly turned to her.

"it's me."

Everyone was stunned.

"You?" Zhou Lang looked at the butler with a gruesome stitching line down his head. "Are you also a test subject?"

"I was the master's first experiment. And the only one who retained some consciousness." The butler's voice became hoarse. "When the master used me for his first experiment, that thing only entered a small part. I wasn't completely devoured. The master thought I had failed, but I... I still remember who I am."

"So you've been guarding this manor all this time."

"Guard her," the butler corrected. "The power of the sealing array is weakening. It weakens a little more each year."

"And now?"

"You removed the nails last night." For the first time, a clear emotion appeared in the butler's voice—fear. "The seal is less than 30% intact. In two days at most, she will break free."

A deathly silence.

Zhao Qiang slowly raised his hand: "I have a question. The nail popped open by itself, we didn't pull it out, so we're not taking the blame for this."

No one ignored him.

Zhou Lang processed this information and pieced together a clue.

"Since you are the guardian, you should have a way to reseal it."

"Yes," the butler nodded, "but we need materials. Seven new sealing nails, and enough blood."

"Where is the seal nailed?"

"There are seven hidden throughout the manor. They were spares prepared by the master before his death. The exact locations..." The butler pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Zhou Lang. "They're all on this."

Zhou Lang unfolded the paper. On it was a simple map of the mountain resort, with seven locations marked by red circles.

At the bottom of the garden well, in a hidden compartment in the second-floor study, in the attic beams and pillars, under the kitchen floor tiles, inside the wooden crates in the storeroom, in the walls of the servants' quarters, and—

"Where's the seventh one?" Zhou Lang pointed to the last marked point on the map. That location was outside the villa, marked "Cabin in the Woods."

"There's an abandoned cabin in the woods behind the manor. The seventh nail is hidden there." The butler paused. "But that woods... something comes out at night."

"Go during the day?"

"It's safe during the day. But there's something wrong with that little hut itself. The master also conducted experiments there."

Zhou Lang put the map away. "Alright, today's mission has been changed. Split up and find the sealing nails."

He quickly assigned tasks—Zhao Qiang was in charge of the kitchen and warehouse, which were relatively safe locations; Xiong Batian was in charge of the attic and servants' quarters, where strong people were needed to demolish walls and pillars; Han Yingying was to go with him to the garden and study; the cabin in the woods was to be left until last, to be visited during the day.

"Isn't the garden the location for today's mission?" Han Yingying reacted quickly.

"Yes. We can sweep and look for nails at the same time, killing two birds with one stone."

Zhao Qiang raised his hand: "I have another question. After we find the nails, what happens? Who goes to the basement to nail the coffin? That thing is already awake; we can't just fight it while nailing it down, can we?"

good question.

Zhou Lang looked at the butler.

The butler said, "I'll distract her. But you must be quick."

"Can you beat it?"

"We can't beat her. But she won't kill me. The things inside us come from the same source. She'll try to devour me, and that will take time. Before she devours me, you must drive all seven nails in."

Zhao Qiang raised his hand again: "Third question. I feel that there are many problems with this plan."

"That's not a problem, it's a statement," Zhou Lang said.

"Then let me revise it—will this plan cause any problems?"

"Definitely. We'll adapt to the situation."

Zhao Qiang lowered his hand. "I knew I shouldn't have come with you." He said this, but he had already walked towards the kitchen.

Zhou Lang and Han Yingying exited through the side door of the hall and arrived at the garden on the west side of the villa.

The garden was quite large, but it had been abandoned for a long time. The bushes had grown wildly, obscuring the original stone paths. The flower beds were full of black mushrooms, and in the distance stood a stone well, its rim covered with moss.

"The first nail is at the bottom of the well." Han Yingying glanced at the map.

Zhou Lang walked to the edge of the well and looked down. The well was very deep and dark. After throwing a pebble in, it took several seconds to hear a "plop" sound.

"There is water."

"You're not going down, are you?"

"Unless you want to go down."

Han Yingying didn't say anything more. She walked to the side and found a bunch of discarded ropes. The ropes were a bit rotten, but still usable. Zhou Lang tied one end of the rope to a stone pillar on the edge of the well and tugged on it to make sure it was secure.

"I'm going down. You stay up here and keep watch. Shout if anything happens."

He grabbed the rope, climbed over the edge of the well, and slid down little by little, his feet pushing against the well wall. The well wall was covered with slippery moss, so he had to be extra careful when stepping on it.

After descending about seven or eight meters, my feet touched the water. The water was icy cold, and the chill crept up my ankles.

Zhou Lang held the oil lamp in his mouth, its green light illuminating the bottom of the well. The water was about knee-deep, and the bottom was covered with gravel. He bent down and felt around in the water, the gaps between the gravel filled with silt and rotten leaves.

After touching it for two minutes, my finger touched a metal strip.

He pulled hard and pulled an iron nail out of the crack in the stone. The nail was about the length of a chopstick, completely black, and heavy in his hand. The nail was engraved with symbols similar to those on the sealing array in the basement.

"Found it!" he shouted, looking up.

Han Yingying's face appeared at the well's edge, her expression obscured by the backlight. "Be careful when you come up."

Zhou Lang stuffed the nails into his pocket and prepared to climb up.

At that moment, he felt something touch his ankle.

It's not gravel. It's a finger.

The water at the bottom of the well began to cool.

It wasn't just ordinary cold; it was the kind of cold that suddenly dropped in temperature, making even your bones ache.

Zhou Lang looked down—there was a face beneath the water.

Its face was swollen and pale, its features blurred. Its eyes were sunken, its mouth open, and black well water flowed from its mouth and nose. Its hand gripped Zhou Lang's ankle, not with much force, but with a sticky, adhering pull.

[Strange discovery: Drowning victim. Danger level D.]

Level D. Small-scale.