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

"The relevant traces had been dealt with before the police intervened."

"No record of this matter will be kept."

Zhou Lang put all three pages of paper into his inventory.

That makes sense.

Li Sisi and Li Niannian—they didn't simply die in a cable car accident. They experienced something else before or after the accident. There were ligature marks on their necks, and their clothing was incomplete.

Someone did something to them and then used the cable car accident to cover up the crime.

The resentment of these two girls was probably much stronger than that of the ordinary passengers.

He walked out of the project office, preparing to meet up with the others, when he suddenly heard a muffled thud coming from the end of the corridor.

It was the sound of something falling to the ground.

He quickened his pace and turned the corner—

Chen Tiejun squatted in the corridor, in front of an overturned desk. He turned the desk over, and the face-down side was covered with photos.

Photos of the construction site. But unlike the ones Zhou Lang found before, these photos show the foundation.

The foundation before concrete pouring.

The photo clearly shows something protruding from the soil of the foundation. It's white and slender.

bone.

"Damn it," Chen Tiejun's voice was dry, "they buried the body under the mall's foundation."

Zhou Lang leaned closer for a look. There was more than one. The foundation area in the photo wasn't large, but at least three or four white marks could be seen, distributed in different locations.

Oceanwide Group didn't just build shopping malls to suppress the dead; they poured corpses directly into the foundation.

This shopping mall is a tomb in itself.

"Everyone, come here," Zhou Lang raised his voice.

Han Yingying and Su Wan walked over from different work areas, with Lin Xiaoxiao following behind Su Wan.

Liu Hao appeared last, slowly walking over from the other end of the corridor.

Zhou Lang noticed that there was some dust on the cuffs of his school uniform, but he was holding a document in his hand.

"I found the cable car company's compensation agreement." Liu Hao handed over the document. "All the victims' families have signed confidentiality agreements, and the compensation amount... is very high. There's also an additional clause—families are not allowed to disclose any information related to the accident; otherwise, the compensation will be fully refunded."

Zhou Lang took the agreement and glanced at it, his gaze landing on the signatures on the last page. Of the nineteen agreements, seventeen had family members' signatures.

The signature fields for Li Sisi's and Li Niannian's two documents were blank.

"Didn't these two people have any family members to sign?" Han Yingying noticed as well.

"Or they may have family members, but refuse to sign," Zhou Lang said.

"What are the consequences of refusing a confidentiality agreement?" Su Wan asked.

No one can answer this question. But the answer probably won't be very good.

System time: 03:51:06.

Nine minutes left.

"The second strange thing is about to happen." Zhou Lang put the documents away. "Don't stay in open areas. Find a room where you can lock the door."

"Project Department," Han Yingying said immediately. "I just saw that the door to that office is a security door, and it can be locked from the inside."

The six people walked quickly into the project office, and Han Yingying locked the door from the inside.

The room was small; even six people standing together felt cramped. Zhou Lang extinguished the oil lamp—the green light was too conspicuous in the darkness and would attract eeriness.

04:00:00.

Punctual.

Sounds came from outside the office area. Footsteps, heavy and slow, came from the stairwell, with long intervals between each step, as if someone was dragging something.

The footsteps grew closer and stopped at the entrance of the project department.

There was silence outside the door for about five seconds.

Then, there was a knock on the door.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Three very polite knocks.

No one spoke.

A woman's voice came from outside the door, hoarse and intermittent, like a recording played at a slow speed.

"Excuse me... is there... another cable car... running?"

Lin Xiaoxiao covered her mouth with both hands, tears falling silently. Su Wan hugged her tightly, her own lips trembling.

Chen Tiejun stood behind the door, fists raised, ready to strike at any moment.

Zhou Lang leaned against the wall, his attention not on the door.

He was looking at Liu Hao.

Liu Hao stood in the corner of the room, his back to everyone. In the darkness, Zhou Lang, using the faint light from the window, saw a very subtle movement—

Liu Hao's lips twitched.

He is laughing.

Silent, restrained, but undeniably laughing.

The eerie voice outside the door asked the same question again, then dragged its heavy steps forward. The footsteps grew fainter and fainter, eventually disappearing into the corridor.

After waiting another five minutes and confirming that it was safe, Zhou Lang relit the oil lamp.

"It's gone." Han Yingying breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhou Lang did not respond to her. He walked up to Liu Hao, and the green light of the oil lamp shone on the two of them.

You were laughing just now.

It wasn't a question, nor a test; it was just a very calm statement.

Liu Hao's expression immediately returned to its previous indifferent state. "No, you've mistaken me."

"I saw it very clearly."

The atmosphere in the room changed. The other four people's eyes were now focused on the two of them.

"Hey, what do you mean?" Chen Tiejun walked over. "Everyone's tense enough already, don't let yourselves fight amongst ourselves—"

"He's not one of us," Zhou Lang said.

Even Han Yingying was stunned when she heard this.

Liu Hao leaned against the wall, looking at Zhou Lang. The two stared at each other for a few seconds.

Then Liu Hao smiled.

Unlike the smile in the darkness earlier, this time it was a wide, open smile, with his mouth stretched wide, revealing his neat teeth.

"How did you find out?" His tone changed; it was no longer the cold, taciturn tone of a high school student, but rather carried an indescribable...pleasure.

"When a newbie enters a dungeon for the first time and sees an A-rank monster, they don't run or scream, their heart rate doesn't rise, and they don't even break a sweat." Zhou Lang listed them one by one. "When others are investigating, you follow along, neither actively seeking out nor falling behind, always staying on the edge of the team's visual perception—your presence is so low that you won't be noticed, but not so low that you'll be questioned."

He paused for a moment. "Besides, when you suggested coming to the fifth floor, your tone was too natural. You said, 'There should be clues on the upper floors of the mall'—you used 'should,' but there was no guesswork in your tone."

Liu Hao clapped twice. "Your observation skills are really good."

He straightened up from the wall and stretched. The timid boyish demeanor had completely vanished, replaced by a relaxed, even somewhat cynical, attitude.

"Then guess what I am?"

Zhou Lang didn't guess.

He stepped the oil lamp forward.

The moment the green light enveloped Liu Hao's entire body—his shadow twisted on the ground. Everyone else's shadows were normal, but Liu Hao's shadow had an extra section.

The extra part of the shadow was shaped like a tilted head.

"You're possessed." Zhou Lang put away the oil lamp. "There's something strange inside you. It's been there from the beginning."

Chen Tiejun instinctively took three steps back, and Lin Xiaoxiao screamed. Su Wan covered Lin Xiaoxiao's mouth, but her own face turned pale.

Han Yingying did not back down. She stood next to Zhou Lang and took out a dagger from her inventory—she didn't know when she had bought it.