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

He walked to the combination lock and dialed four numbers—

0, 0, 0, 0.

Click.

The lock is open.

Zhao Qiang opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.

Han Yingying: "...What's the principle behind it?"

"There's no guardian." Zhou Lang removed the lock. "The twelfth mirror is empty, and the name is empty too. Empty means zero."

Whether this explanation is reasonable or not is not important; what matters is that the lock was indeed opened.

There was a wooden box, slightly larger than a shoebox, in the hidden compartment. Zhou Lang took it out, placed it on the stone table, and opened the lid.

Inside was a yellowed booklet and a black key.

The cover of the booklet had two words written on it: "Contract".

Zhou Lang turned to the first page, which contained the name of the first owner and a quote: "I dedicate my soul to this place in exchange for eternal peace." Below it was a bloody handprint.

Every page thereafter follows the same format, up to page eleven. Page twelfth is blank.

"This is the core secret of the manor." Zhou Lang closed the booklet. "Every owner sold their soul to this manor and became a ghost after death. The manor needs a twelfth soul to complete a certain ritual."

"And what about this key?" Han Yingying asked.

The key was black, and its material wasn't metal; it looked like it was made from some kind of bone.

Zhou Lang didn't rush to use it, but first checked the system prompts.

Sure enough, the discovery of the hidden compartment triggered a new quest.

[Hidden quest unlocked: Prevent the twelfth sacrifice]

[Mission Level: S]

[Mission Rewards: One SSR-level item, 3 points for all members]

[Note: Completing this task will change the ending of the instance.]

An S-rank hidden quest appeared in an A-rank dungeon.

Zhou Lang shared the mission information with Zhao Qiang and Han Yingying. After reading it, Zhao Qiang's legs started shaking again, but this time it was from excitement.

"SSR-level item? Triple points for everyone?" Zhao Qiang rubbed his hands together. "Brother Lang, this is a huge win!"

"Don't get too excited yet." Zhou Lang carefully put away the contract book and the key. "An S-rank mission can be deadly."

Han Yingying thought for a moment: "Stop the sacrifice, does that mean don't let the twelfth soul be added? Then who is the twelfth target?"

The three of them fell silent at the same time.

The answer is actually quite obvious—all the "servants" in the manor are candidates.

Including them.

A gust of wind blew down from the stairwell, causing the oil lamp flame to flicker.

Zhou Lang looked into the darkness at the bottom of the stairs: "Let's go back first. It's not safe to stay down here for too long."

The three returned the way they came. As they passed through the corridor, the ghosts were still there, but Zhou Lang noticed a change—their expressions were different. Before, they had been staring blankly; now, the corners of some of the ghosts' mouths were curved in a smile.

He's laughing.

Zhou Lang quickened his pace.

It was already 2 a.m. when they returned to their respective rooms. Zhou Lang didn't sleep; he sat on his bed, flipping through the details of the contract book.

There was a detail in the booklet that he hadn't noticed before—next to the bloody handprint on each page, a time was written in tiny print. Not the year of check-in, but the specific date and time.

First term: January 15th, midnight.

Second term: January 15th, midnight.

The third term: the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, midnight.

It's all on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The Lantern Festival. Midnight.

Zhou Lang checked the system calendar. The timeline within the instance is independent, and it is currently "December 28th".

There are 18 days left until the Lantern Festival (January 15th of the lunar calendar).

According to the dungeon rules, one day corresponds to one workday. They've already worked for three days. If they don't actively trigger the hidden quests, at a normal pace, seven days is the standard completion time for the dungeon.

However, the hidden mission is limited to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

In other words, he needs to find a way to stop the ritual within eighteen working days. There is plenty of time, but only if the ghosts don't act prematurely.

Those smiles made him very uncomfortable.

The butler appeared as usual at six o'clock the next morning.

Today's work schedule is as follows:

It paused, its gaze sweeping over the three people. Zhou Lang noticed that the butler seemed to have a few more stitches on his clothes today.

"Let's go, today's task: clean the bathroom on the third floor."

"Zhao Qiang, today's task: trim the back garden."

"Han Yingying, today's task: Organize the attic storage room."

Then there's Xiong Batian.

"Xiong Batian, today's mission: Clean the basement."

Zhou Lang paused for a moment.

The basement. The butler sent Xiong Batian to the basement.

He glanced at Xiong Batian. This guy had been working alone since entering the dungeon, not communicating with anyone, and wouldn't say anything when asked. His strength seemed decent; getting a "good" rating in this dungeon was already quite respectable.

But they sent him to the basement...

The butler finished assigning tasks and left, just like usual.

Zhou Lang found an opportunity to walk up to Xiong Batian.

"Don't rummage through things in the basement."

Xiong Batian glanced at him sideways, ignored him, and turned to leave.

Zhao Qiang leaned over and said, "Brother Lang, is this guy crazy? I kindly reminded him and he gave me a hard time."

"Let him be." Zhou Lang withdrew his gaze. "Just focus on your own business."

But he knew in his heart that things weren't that simple. After they went to the basement, the butler immediately sent another player to the same place.

Is this a test or guidance?

He thought for a moment and said to Zhao Qiang, "When you go to the back garden today, pay attention to whether there are any unusual plants or tombstones."

"A tombstone?" Zhao Qiang's face paled. "There's a grave in the back garden?"

"Eighteen owners must be buried somewhere."

Zhao Qiangsheng walked away dejectedly, carrying the scissors. After taking a couple of steps, he turned back and asked, "Brother Lang, what do you think will be engraved on my tombstone if I die in this instance?"

"The inscription reads: 'Tomb of Zhao Qiang, coward, age unknown.'"

"...You really are my brother."

Han Yingying couldn't help but chuckle, then quickly resumed her serious expression.

The three of them went their separate ways.

Zhou Lang went to the bathroom on the third floor. It was more like a large shower room than a bathroom, with several cubicles, each containing an old-fashioned cast bronze bathtub. The water pipes were heavily rusted, and the water from the faucets was dark red.

He washed himself while inspecting his surroundings. He hadn't been to the third floor before; besides the bathroom, there were several locked rooms. The doors had no keyholes, as if they were sealed shut from the inside by something.

He knocked on the nearest door.

no respond.

I gritted my teeth and knocked it again.

A slight noise came from behind the door, then silence.

There's something in there.

Zhou Lang did not act rashly. He memorized the location and continued to complete the cleaning task.

At lunchtime, the four met in the lobby. Xiong Batian was still sitting alone in the corner, his expression not very pleasant.

Zhao Qiang, carrying a plate, leaned closer and said in a low voice, "Brother Lang, there are no tombstones in the back garden, but I found a dry well."

"A dry well?"

"Yes, it was in the very corner of the garden, completely covered by vines. I almost stepped on it. The wooden cover was half rotten, and it was pitch black underneath; I couldn't see anything. But I threw a stone down—"

He paused for a moment.