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

"What do you think of that girl with the ponytail?" Zhou Lang suddenly asked.

"Her? She looks quite pitiful. What happened?"

"It's nothing," Zhou Lang didn't explain further. "Lock the door tonight. If anything happens, knock three times on the wall; I'll be next door."

He stood up to leave, but Han Yingying called him back.

"Zhou Lang".

This was the first time she had called him by his real name.

Zhou Lang turned around.

Han Yingying opened her mouth, but what she finally said was, "Don't run around alone."

Zhou Lang nodded and went back to his room.

As he closed the door, he heard footsteps in the hallway.

It wasn't Brother Liu—Brother Liu's footsteps were heavy and rhythmic. This footstep was very light, as light as if gliding on the ground, and the rhythm was sometimes fast and sometimes slow, as if he was walking with an unaccustomed body.

The footsteps stopped for a moment at his door.

A faint light shone through the crack in the door—not from lamplight, but a bluish-white light, like the skin of a drowning person.

Then the footsteps continued forward, getting farther and farther away, until they finally disappeared in the direction of the third floor.

Zhou Lang stood behind the door, holding an oil lamp in his hand, his thumb resting on the ignition device.

He didn't open the door.

It's not because I'm afraid.

He knew that opening the door now would complicate the situation in this instance even more. He needed more information to make the right judgment.

Outside the window, the fog on the lake grew thicker. A tall, dark silhouette moved within the fog, slowly walking from the lake towards the shore.

The view of giants.

Zhou Lang remembered the name of the instance.

Giant appearance – a forensic term referring to the enormous appearance of a corpse after it has become highly decomposed and bloated.

The thing that emerged from the lake is gradually approaching the inn.

Its daybreak.

Zhou Lang was awakened by the knocking on the door.

"Are you up yet?" came Brother Liu's voice.

When the door opened, Brother Liu was standing in the corridor, his eyes dark and bluish-black.

"Did you sleep last night?" Zhou Lang asked.

"Do you think I could sleep in that situation?" Brother Liu said with a bitter face. "Around three in the morning, something was crawling in the corridor, right next to me. I didn't dare to breathe loudly."

"Crawl? Not walk?"

"Yes, crawl. The kind of crawling on all fours." Brother Liu gestured, "You can even hear the sound of fingernails scraping the floor."

Zhou Lang glanced at the floor of the corridor.

There were scratches. Five paths in a row, stretching from the stairwell to the end of the corridor, and then... turning into the room of the mature woman and the girl with the ponytail.

The scratches disappeared there.

The two walked to the door. Just as Brother Liu was about to knock, the door opened from the inside.

The mature woman stood at the door, without makeup today, looking rather tired. But overall, she was alright; at least she looked alive.

"Did you see the scratches in the hallway?" she asked as soon as she opened the door.

"I saw her." Brother Liu glanced into the room. "Where's the girl?"

"She's asleep inside. She was terrified last night and only managed to drift off in the middle of the night."

Zhou Lang peeked out. The girl with the ponytail was curled up on the bed, the blanket covering her chin, and the half of her face that was exposed looked tired.

"Was something in your room last night?"

"No. I didn't sleep all night and didn't hear anything come in. But around midnight, the doorknob moved a few times, as if something was trying to open the door from the outside."

"Did you lock the door?"

"Locked."

Okay. At least the older woman's vigilance is not a problem.

Han Yingying came out at this moment. Seeing the group of people gathered together, she came over and joined them.

"Where are the boys in school uniforms?" she asked.

Everyone looked towards the third floor.

No one volunteered to go up and knock on the door.

"I'll go." Zhou Lang went upstairs.

There was only one room on the third floor, and the door was closed. Zhou Lang knocked three times.

no respond.

Then knock three more times.

A muffled response came from inside the door: "...Mm."

"Come down for breakfast," Zhou Lang said.

After waiting for about ten seconds, the door opened. A boy in a school uniform stood in the doorway, his bangs messy, rubbing his eyes, looking like he hadn't woken up yet.

His shoes—

Zhou Lang glanced down.

The lake mud is back. The mud stain on my left foot is in the exact same spot as when we first met during the day.

His shoes are different during the day and at night. They're muddy during the day, but not at night.

This isn't as simple as just changing shoes.

These are two distinct entities sharing one body. By day, he is the player; by night, he is the eeriness.

Zhou Lang's judgment became even more certain.

As they went downstairs, he and Han Yingying exchanged a glance, and Han Yingying nodded slightly—she had also noticed the problem with the shoes.

Owner Feng reappeared behind the counter and prepared breakfast for everyone: congee, pickled vegetables, and two small side dishes. Compared to the atmosphere last night, the inn seemed much more normal during the day. The human skin lantern no longer glowed in the sunlight; it looked like just an ordinary old lantern.

"Boss Feng," Zhou Lang asked while drinking his porridge, "Are there any other residents around here?"

"There used to be one, but the villages behind it moved away, and now I'm all alone."

Why did you move away?

Boss Feng smiled and said, "The young people have all gone to the city."

"Has anything happened at that inn before? Like—a fire or something?"

Mr. Feng paused for a moment after putting down his cup. This pause was longer than the one he had taken yesterday when asked about his wife and children.

Why do you ask that?

"Just asking. I noticed that the walls of one of the rooms on the second floor are blackened, like it's been burned."

This was made up by Zhou Lang. He hadn't looked at the walls of the other rooms on the second floor, but he needed to test Boss Feng's reaction.

Boss Feng's business smile vanished. In its place was a strange expression—as if he were recalling something, but the process of recalling it was painful.

"It happened a long time ago," he said, his voice much lower than before. "An accident."

"Is anyone dead?" Brother Liu asked bluntly.

Mr. Feng didn't answer. He turned around and went through the door behind the counter, and never came out again.

"You asked too hastily." The mature woman glared at Brother Liu.

"We have to hurry," Zhou Lang said, speaking up for Brother Liu. "We only have three days. And there's no safe period in this instance; the longer we drag it out, the more dangerous it becomes."

"So what are you planning to do?" The mature woman leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs.

"Let's split up and investigate," Zhou Lang said. "Two people per group. Brother Liu and I will search the first floor and the outer perimeter of the inn. Han Yingying and—"

He looked at the mature woman and the girl with the ponytail.

The girl with the ponytail looked up and gave a timid smile.

"Han Yingying is in the same group as her, check the second floor." Zhou Lang pointed to the girl with the ponytail.

"And me?" The mature woman raised an eyebrow.

"You'll be paired with the boy in the school uniform, and you'll check the third floor."

The mature woman frowned. She was clearly not happy about partnering with a high school student. But what bothered her even more was something else—

"Why aren't I in a group with Brother Liu?"

She showed interest in Brother Liu yesterday. Zhou Lang saw it clearly—the mature woman's skills were most likely related to interpersonal relationships; she needed someone she could use, and Brother Liu, being the strongest, was the best candidate to take the fall.

"Because it's necessary." Zhou Lang didn't explain further.