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

In the basement of the haunted mansion, they found a booklet documenting bizarre methods of spatial transformation. Now, the same pattern is appearing in this hospital. This is no coincidence.

"Someone is using the same method to make copies," Han Yingying said.

"It's not manufacturing." Zhou Lang stopped and looked at the corridor in front of him. Dark red liquid was gathering on the walls, forming some kind of pattern. "It's infection. The instance itself is also being strangely corrupted."

This explains why the strange events in the real world have suddenly disappeared recently—not disappeared, but moved. The supernatural forces have concentrated their power in the instance, where they are carrying out major operations.

"The clues we found last time..." Han Yingying murmured, then suddenly stopped and pressed her hand to her temple.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." She lowered her hand, but Zhou Lang noticed her pupils were contracting rapidly. "I remembered something."

"What is it?"

"...I feel like I've been here before."

Zhou Lang glanced at her. Han Yingying's expression was complicated; she didn't seem to be joking, but she also didn't seem to be sure what she was saying.

"Have you been to this hospital before?"

"Not this one, but... somewhere similar." She shook her head, dropping the subject. "Let's finish the game first."

They continued uphill.

The parasite on the sixth floor was the most troublesome. It hid in the operating room, occupying the entire ceiling, with tentacles extending from every vent. Zhou Lang's chainsaw wasn't very effective in this confined space, and in the end, Han Yingying found its core—a black crystalline substance hidden behind an operating light.

Su Wan played a crucial role in this battle. She had no choice, as the parasite's tentacles indiscriminately bound her, almost turning her into a dumpling. Meng Yuan cut off the tentacles and pulled her out; the two worked together seamlessly, demonstrating their long-standing partnership.

But after Su Wan was rescued, the first thing she did was to keep her distance.

"This person," Zhao Qiang shook his head.

The seventh floor.

The last parasite was on the rooftop. Pushing open the rooftop door, a cold wind rushed in, causing Zhou Lang's oil lamp flame to flicker. In the center of the rooftop stood a tree—a huge, withered tree that shouldn't exist on a hospital rooftop. The trunk was black, and its branches stretched in all directions, each branch tipped with a translucent cocoon.

There is someone inside the cocoon.

These aren't real people; they're the residual data of players who have already died in the instance. Their expressions vary—some are laughing, some are crying—all frozen in the moment of their death.

"This is the parasite?" Meng Yuan swallowed.

"No, this is its fruit." Zhou Lang raised the oil lamp, its green light shining on the tree trunk. The bark cracked open, revealing countless tiny eyes inside.

All the eyes blinked at the same time.

Then the tree moved.

The battle lasted nearly twenty minutes. Zhou Lang's chainsaw severed three main branches, Han Yingying located and destroyed two power supply nodes, and Zhao Qiang was responsible for drawing away the cocoons falling from the branches—they would hatch into highly aggressive shadows upon landing. Meng Yuan and Su Wan held the retreat route, ensuring that the five people were not entangled by the tree roots.

The final blow was Zhou Lang's strike right in the center of the tree trunk.

The withered tree split open from the middle, black sap gushed out, and the entire tree turned to ashes within three seconds.

Congratulations, all parasites have been eliminated.

[Dungeon Cleared]

Five people lay sprawled on the rooftop. Zhao Qiang lay sprawled out like a dehydrated fish. Meng Yuan leaned against the low wall, rubbing his elbows. Su Wan sat in the corner, examining the blade of a dagger, not looking at anyone the entire time.

Han Yingying sat next to Zhou Lang without saying a word. Her hand was still pressed against her temple.

"What did you remember?" Zhou Lang asked.

Han Yingying was silent for a moment. "Fragments. Lots of fragments. I'm sorting them out."

"Let me know when you're done."

"Um."

A white light appeared, and the teleportation began.

Instance settlement area.

Zhou Lang's completion rating was still SSS. This was the second time in a row that he had received the highest rating, and his name was highlighted in red on the bulletin board, making it particularly eye-catching.

A new notification popped up:

Congratulations to player "浪里个浪" for unlocking SS-level dungeon access!

[Note: The difficulty of SS-rank dungeons has been significantly increased. Please be fully prepared.]

Zhao Qiang also obtained SS-level access. So did Han Yingying. Their names were side-by-side on the leaderboard, like a string of firecrackers tied together.

"SS-rank..." Zhao Qiang's expression was a mix of excitement and fear. "Brother Lang, I have a bad feeling."

"Your hunches are always very accurate," Zhou Lang said.

"Can you please not be so honest?"

Meng Yuan walked over and stood a few steps away. Su Wan followed behind him, maintaining the same distance.

"I'm sorry about what happened earlier," Meng Yuan said, without any hesitation. "I'll tell Lin Qi that the mission failed when we get back. As for how he reacts, that's his business."

"Will he let you go?" Han Yingying asked.

"No." Meng Yuan smiled, but there was a bitter taste in his smile. "But once the favor is repaid, it's repaid. We'll settle the other debts later."

He patted Zhou Lang on the shoulder. "You're quite an interesting person. I've never seen anyone use their own life as a bargaining chip to force someone to cooperate before."

"You'll get used to it," Zhao Qiang interjected. "I'm already used to it."

Meng Yuan smiled, shook his head, and turned to leave. Su Wan followed him, pausing slightly as she passed Han Yingying, but said nothing and continued on her way.

"She's been watching you," Zhou Lang said to Han Yingying.

"I know."

Why?

"I'm not sure. Maybe... she knew me from before."

Zhou Lang had always known about Han Yingying's memory problems but hadn't pressed her for details. She would tell him when she was ready.

In addition to the leaderboard, the safe zone's bulletin board now displays a new notification:

The Guild Competition is about to begin.

[Eligibility: Guilds with SS-level dungeon access]

[Rewards: Guild ranking, exclusive resource zones, and—]

The last few words were blurred and could not be read.

"A union competition?" Zhao Qiang leaned closer to look. "We don't have a union, what does it have to do with us?"

"It's okay for now," Zhou Lang said.

However, he noticed a small line of text below the announcement: "Non-guild players can participate as external aids, but must accept an invitation from a guild."

Less than ten minutes after the message was posted, more people arrived.

There weren't many people this time, only four groups. The reason is simple—within half an hour of Zhou Lang clearing the game, the Dark Eclipse Guild posted a message on the player forum, claiming that "Langligelang" had rejected all guild recruitment offers, was an "uncooperative lone wolf," and implied that those who cooperated with him would not have a good ending.

Lin Qi's methods weren't particularly clever, but they were certainly disgusting. Most of the smaller guilds backed down after seeing Dark Eclipse's attitude; no one was willing to offend the second-largest guild for the sake of a solo player.

Of the four groups that came, three were genuinely invited—Tianji Pavilion, Biluo, and Xingchen, all top-ten guilds. And then there was another group…