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

At the end of the basement was a secret room.

Zhou Lang held up an oil lamp and shone it inside. The green light illuminated the runes covering the walls and a coffin. The coffin lid was askew, the inside was empty, and a bronze badge was embedded at the bottom.

"Is this the core of the manor?" Zhao Qiang leaned closer for a look, then shrank back.

Without a word, Zhou Lang reached for the badge. The moment his fingertips touched the bronze surface, the entire manor trembled. A rumbling sound came from overhead, and dust fell in a flurry.

[Congratulations to player "浪里个浪" for finding the core of the manor and triggering the completion condition.]

[Instance Rating: S]

[Settlement in progress...]

Han Yingying breathed a sigh of relief, leaned against the wall, her legs feeling a little weak. Zhao Qiang plopped down on the ground.

"Is that all?" Zhao Qiang asked.

"Do you want to stay a few more days?" Zhou Lang put the badge into his inventory.

When the white light appeared, all three of them experienced blurred vision simultaneously. When they could see clearly again, they were already standing in the plaza of the safe zone.

The safe zone is always bustling with people, but this time it was a little different—Zhou Lang and his companions appeared right on the teleportation array in the center of the plaza. The S-rank dungeon's completion effect was quite flamboyant, with a golden halo exploding above their heads, visible for hundreds of meters around.

"S-rank? Another S-rank?"

Which team?

"Holy crap, what's with this 'Wandering Wave' ID? ...The one from the ghost-slaying incident?"

A buzz of discussion arose as they gathered around. Zhou Lang walked out expressionlessly, followed closely by Zhao Qiang and Han Yingying.

Before we had walked fifty meters, the first group of people arrived.

"Excuse me, gentlemen." A young man in a black uniform stood in front of them, a silver guild badge pinned to his chest—the "Iron Wall" guild, ranked third in the safe zone. "I'm Zhang Qi from the Iron Wall guild's external relations department. I'd like to discuss joining with you."

"Not interested," Han Yingying said directly.

Zhang Qi paused for a moment, but his smile didn't fade: "We can discuss the terms gradually—"

"She said she wasn't interested." Zhou Lang glanced at him and walked away.

The second group was from the "Tian Shu" guild, the third group was from "Qing Feng," and the fourth group didn't even have time to announce their names before Han Yingying had already practiced refusing them quite skillfully.

"No, thank you."

"You really won't consider it?"

"Not considering it."

Zhao Qiang secretly tugged at Han Yingying's sleeve: "Sister Yingying, these guilds are all pretty powerful, right? Don't you want to consider them?"

"What's there to consider? Once you join a guild, you're at their beck and call. Dungeon assignments and resource allocations are all up to the guild." Han Yingying said without turning her head. "I don't owe them anything."

Zhou Lang didn't offer an opinion. Whether or not he joined the guild was irrelevant to him, since his way of doing things was different from normal people anyway.

The three found a quiet corner to sit down and sorted out their loot from the dungeon. Zhou Lang received the most—the MVP reward for completing the S-rank dungeon gave him a special item called "The Manor Owner's Glasses," which allowed him to see the hidden NPCs' favorability ratings within the dungeon.

"Is this thing useful?" Zhao Qiang leaned closer to take a look.

"We'll see." Zhou Lang put his glasses away.

As they were talking, a man walked over. Unlike the previous union liaisons, this man was dressed casually in a T-shirt and jeans, with messy hair, but his eyes were bright, and his gait carried an unconscious alertness—the kind of habit only trained people have.

"Brother Lang, Sister Yingying." He smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

Han Yingying frowned: "Who are you?"

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself." He slapped his forehead. "Qin Du, from the 'Blazing Flame' guild. I'm not here to poach anyone, I just want to chat with you guys for a bit."

"Blazing Flame" - the second-ranked guild in the safe zone.

"What are you going to talk about?" Zhou Lang asked.

Qin Du looked around and lowered his voice: "You guys rejected quite a few guilds just now, didn't you? Iron Wall, Sky Pivot, Green Edge, I see they've all come."

"so?"

"So I suggest you, while you may refuse, don't be too hard on yourselves." Qin Du scratched his head. "You might not be familiar with the rules of the safe zone. The only solo players who have survived this long are either so strong that they don't need a guild, or they've simply gone unnoticed. You don't fit either of those categories—you have the strength, but not quite there; as for reputation, with consecutive S-rank dungeon runs, it's hard to go unnoticed."

Han Yingying didn't say anything.

Qin Du continued, "The union was rejected when they tried to recruit people. It's embarrassing. One or two is fine, but you rejected all five of them. It's not just a matter of face; it's telling everyone—I don't think much of any of you."

"I really don't like it," Han Yingying said.

Qin Du's smile froze for half a second, then he shook his head: "Alright, I've delivered the message. Be careful."

He turned and walked away, but after a few steps he turned back and added, "By the way, Brother Lang, our boss is very interested in your ghost-scaring trick. We can talk about it sometime."

Zhou Lang did not respond.

After Qin Du left, Zhao Qiang's expression turned somewhat grim: "What did he mean? A threat?"

"A reminder," Zhou Lang said.

Is there a difference between a reminder and a threat?

"Yes. The threat is that he won't leave."

Zhao Qiang thought about it and it seemed to make sense.

The next few days were unusually quiet in the safe zone. No one came to talk to them about joining the organization anymore, but Zhou Lang noticed that when they walked down the street, certain gazes would linger on them for a few more seconds.

On the third night, Zhao Qiang came to find Zhou Lang, clutching his phone and looking rather unwell.

Something's happened.

"explain."

"Someone posted on the forum saying that the three of us deliberately offended the major guilds in order to start our own business. They also said that Sister Yingying had previously sabotaged her teammates in a dungeon, so no guild dared to recruit her." Zhao Qiang handed over his phone.

The post was detailed and even included pictures—a screenshot of Han Yingying from a certain dungeon, capturing a moment that looked like she abandoned her teammates and ran away alone.

"This picture is fake," Han Yingying said calmly after looking at it, but her fingers curled slightly. "I was covering the rear in that dungeon run, letting my teammates go first. The screenshot only captured the moment I turned around."

"Who posted this?" Zhou Lang asked.

Zhao Qiang checked the poster's profile: "The ID is 'Autumn Wind Rises,' registered three days ago, and only posted this one post. No more information can be found."

"Small," Zhou Lang said.

"The Blazing Flame?" Zhao Qiang guessed.

"It's hard to say." Han Yingying shook her head. "The major guilds all have motives. But the timing of Qin Du's visit to us is too coincidental—the other guilds stopped coming the day after he left, and the post came out on the third day."

Zhou Lang didn't reply. He was thinking about something else.

He reviewed the unusual activity that had occurred in the safe zone over the past few days. The deliberate scrutiny, the sudden disappearance of attempts to win him over, and the perfectly timed smear campaigns—this combination of tactics was executed with practiced skill.

"Yingying, what did they say in the comments section of that post?"

Han Yingying scrolled through her phone: "Thirty percent of them are criticizing me, twenty percent are speaking up for me, and the rest are just watching the drama unfold."