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

Han Yingying, however, didn't contact him. After the last dungeon run, the two added each other as game friends, but apart from Han Yingying sending a message saying "I'm home," there had been no other conversations. Zhou Lang didn't take the initiative to contact her either.

He's not very good at this.

The dungeon entrance is located at an abandoned bus stop.

When Zhou Lang arrived, there were already four people standing below the platform.

A tall, thin boy with dyed blond hair, smoking a cigarette, was kicking pebbles listlessly. Next to him was a girl wearing glasses, clutching a drawing board, looking extremely nervous. A little further away, a man in his thirties, wearing a black windbreaker, stood leaning against a pillar, his expression indifferent. Lastly, a round-faced girl with short hair was squatting on the ground playing on her phone, looking relaxed.

Five people, including Zhou Lang.

The standard number of players for a C-rank dungeon is five to eight. Looks like these are the five of us today.

The blond-haired guy spoke first, gesturing with his chin towards Zhou Lang. "New here? How many times have you been in this dungeon?"

"The fourth time."

"Hey, old timer, huh?" The blond guy exhaled a puff of smoke. "This is my sixth time. Just call me Brother Hui."

Zhou Lang glanced at him but didn't call out.

The girl wearing glasses timidly introduced herself: "My name is Lin Xiaoxi, this is... my second time."

The man in the windbreaker said two words: "Fang Yan," and then shut up.

The round-faced girl squatting on the ground looked up and smiled. "Su Tang, this is the third time. This dungeon is pretty weird, you know? The first three groups all got wiped out."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Xiaoxi's face paled.

Huang Mao—Hui Ge glared at Su Tang. "Can you please stop saying such discouraging things before we even enter the dungeon?"

"To be honest," Su Tang shrugged.

Zhou Lang didn't participate in the discussion. He was looking at the copy information that popped up by the system.

[Instance Name: The Mysterious House]

[Dungeon Level: C]

[Instance Introduction: A guesthouse welcomes its new tenants. A group of art students sketching in the town have checked into the guesthouse. The guesthouse has a mystery number of 7; survive for 7 days to complete the instance.]

[Duplicate Rules:]

1. It is safe during the day, and you can conduct investigations freely.

2. Be wary of strange occurrences when staying in a guesthouse at night.

3. Survive for 7 days to pass the level.

IV. Please do not open the door at night.

Seven strange things, five players.

They are outnumbered. However, the oddities of C-rank dungeons are usually not too severe, and it's not impossible to survive for seven days using the conventional strategy.

The problem is that "all three waves were wiped out".

The information provided by the system will never reveal the true danger. Zhou Lang stared at the words "Class C" for a long time, his eyelids twitching.

A white light appeared, and the teleportation began.

-

When they opened their eyes again, the five of them were standing on a muddy road.

Low hills rose on both sides, covered with trees whose names I didn't know. It was dusk. The air carried a damp, grassy smell, mixed with a faint, sweet, rotten fragrance.

At the end of the road, a three-story building stood there all alone.

The exterior walls were grayish-white, with moss growing in some places. The curtains were drawn in the windows on the second and third floors, but the main door on the first floor was open, letting in warm yellow light. A wooden sign hung at the entrance, with the words "Anju Homestay" written in calligraphy on it.

Settle down.

The name is quite ironic.

Hui walked in first, pushing open the door. The lobby wasn't large, with a reception desk and faded tourist posters on the wall. A middle-aged woman sat behind the desk, her hair piled high, her face heavily made up, and her lips painted bright red.

She smiled.

"Welcome to Anju Homestay. Are the five students here for sketching?"

Zhou Lang noticed that the system had given each of them an identity—a third-year art student who had come to Luming Town for sketching and painting. His backpack now contained an extra set of painting tools and a sketchbook.

Hui-ge naturally replied, "Yes, we booked five rooms."

"We have plenty of rooms." The female proprietress stood up and took out five keys from a drawer. "There are five rooms each on the second and third floors. You'll stay on the second floor. Don't go to rooms 301 to 305; those are under renovation."

Five keys, corresponding to 201 to 205.

Zhou Lang received 203.

When he took the keys, his fingers touched the female boss's hand. It was cold. Not the kind of cold you get from being in an air-conditioned room for too long, but a coldness that seeped into your bones.

Zhou Lang remained calm, took the keys, and went upstairs.

The second-floor corridor was carpeted in a dark red color; it was soft and silent underfoot. A wall lamp hung every two meters, casting a dim light that did not reach the ends of the corridor.

Room 203 is located in the middle of the corridor. The room is small, with a single bed, a wardrobe, a desk, and a private bathroom. The window faces the hillside behind, and when you draw back the curtains, you can see dense trees.

Zhou Lang closed the door and first checked every corner of the room.

Under the bed, it's clean.

The wardrobe was empty, except for two clothes hangers.

In the bathroom, I turned the faucet on and the water flowed normally. The mirror was a little blurry, but it was still usable.

He pushed open the window and glanced down. The second floor wasn't high; he could jump if he really needed to escape.

After finishing the inspection, Zhou Lang sat on the bed and opened his sketchbook.

He wasn't really going to draw. There was a note stuck to the last page of his sketchbook, containing information left by a previously deceased player, which he had bought with money.

The note contained three lines of text:

"I won't be coming in on the first night."

"There's something wrong with the faucet."

"Don't go to the third floor."

That's all. The person who wrote this probably died later that night, without leaving anything more.

Zhou Lang put the note away and went out to find the other people.

In the lobby on the first floor, the five people reunited. The female boss had disappeared sometime during the night, and the front desk was empty.

Hui sat on the sofa, his legs propped up on the coffee table, a cigarette dangling from his lips. "Brothers, let me say a few words. In these survival-type dungeons, information sharing is paramount. Share everything you know, don't hold back."

Fang Yan leaned against the corner of the wall, glanced at Hui Ge upon hearing this, but did not say anything.

Lin Xiaoxi raised her hand, as if answering a question in class. "I... I know that the strange creatures in C-rank dungeons usually don't attack players on the first day. So tonight should be safe."

"Basic common sense." Hui nodded. "Anything else?"

Su Tang sat cross-legged on the ground, scrolling through her phone—even inside the dungeon, her phone still had a signal. "I bought some information. The strangeness of this dungeon is progressive, getting stronger every day. The fourth day onwards will be a bloodbath."

Hui-ge put his legs down from the coffee table. "A few days?"

"Day four."

"Then we need to find a shortcut to pass through before the fourth day. Seven days is too long."

Zhou Lang spoke up. "There are no shortcuts."

Several people looked at him.

"The dungeon rules are very clear: you can only clear it if you survive for seven days. This isn't a suggestion, it's a hard requirement." He paused, "But we can use the daytime to investigate. Only by figuring out what these strange things are can we know how to deal with them."

Hui grinned. "Not bad, bro, you've got ideas. What's your name again?"

"Waves and waves."