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

"It took two seconds to hear the sound. It was very deep."

"Are you sure that was the sound of a stone hitting the ground?"

Zhao Qiang blinked: "...Now that you mention it, I'm not sure anymore."

Zhou Lang: "I'll go check it out later."

Han Yingying brought over the food and sat down: "There's a lot of old furniture in the attic storage room, most of it is broken. But I found something."

She pulled a photograph out of her pocket.

The black and white photograph shows a group of people standing at the entrance of a manor. Eleven people, dressed in clothing from different eras, but standing in the same picture. Everyone has a smile on their face, except for their eyes—

It's all black holes.

It's the same as what I saw in the bronze mirror.

The back of the photo had a line written on it: "A family should always be together."

Zhao Qiang glanced at the photo and silently put down his chopsticks.

"Want some more?" Zhou Lang asked him.

"...Eat." Zhao Qiang picked up his chopsticks again. "Even if I die, I'll die full."

The afternoon's work proceeded smoothly. Zhou Lang finished cleaning the bathroom and received his performance evaluation for the day. What concerned him, however, was something else entirely—

After Xiong Batian came up from the basement, he became even quieter.

It wasn't the kind of quiet that comes from being taciturn; his entire demeanor was off. He didn't touch a bite of dinner, staring blankly at the table.

At 7 PM, the butler was killed and his salary was paid.

"Xiong Batian's evaluation—"

The butler suddenly stopped.

Everyone looked over.

On the butler's stitched-up face, the crease at the corner of his mouth slowly tightened, stretching out at an angle. It looked like he was smiling.

"Special evaluation. Salary—0."

zero.

Zhao Qiang and Zhou Lang exchanged a glance. In this instance, survival rate is directly linked to performance rating and pay. What does zero pay mean?

Xiong Batian did not react at all, standing there like a wooden stake.

The butler continued to pay the others' salaries, and everything proceeded as usual. After the butler left, Xiong Batian turned and went back to his room without saying a word.

Zhao Qiang tugged at Zhou Lang's sleeve: "Brother Lang, is this guy alright?"

"It's none of our business."

"But what if something happens to him? Will the difficulty of this dungeon change?"

Zhou Lang thought about it. Zhao Qiang was right. In a multiplayer instance, the elimination of any player could trigger a chain reaction.

"I'll go take a look."

He walked to Xiong Batian's room and knocked three times.

No one answered.

"Dominating the world".

A muffled response came from inside; it was impossible to make out what was said.

Zhou Lang pushed the door open and went inside. It wasn't locked.

Xiong Batian sat on the edge of the bed, his hands supporting his knees, his head bowed. Hearing the noise, Zhou Lang looked up and noticed a detail—behind the man's right ear, a small patch of skin had turned grayish-black.

It's not dirt; it's just that the skin's natural color has changed.

"What did you encounter in the basement?" Zhou Lang asked directly.

Xiong Batian was silent for a moment: "You went there last night."

This is not a question.

Zhou Lang did not deny it.

Xiong Batian looked at him, speaking slowly, as if carefully choosing each word: "That stone table, I accidentally cut my hand while cleaning it. Blood dripped into the groove on the tabletop. And then—"

He rolled up his sleeves.

There was a shallow cut on my right palm, but the skin around the wound was grayish-black, just like behind my ear. Moreover, the grayish-black area was much larger than behind my ear, spreading to half of my palm.

"Then the patterns on the table lit up. Just for a moment." Xiong Batian raised his gray-black hand. "By the time I realized what was happening, it had turned into this."

Zhou Lang stared at the hand, his mind racing.

The stone table was used for sacrifices. The grooves contained old blood. New blood falling in activated something, causing Xiong Batian to be "marked".

The implication of killing the butler and paying him zero wages is clear—this person is no longer a servant.

He became a candidate for sacrifice.

"How are you feeling right now?" Zhou Lang asked.

"Cold." Xiong Batian's answer was brief. "Cold from the inside out."

Zhou Lang checked the system panel and found that he couldn't see Xiong Batian's status. Players could only see each other's information when they were in a team, and Xiong Batian wasn't in a team with anyone.

"What's your name? Your real name."

"……what?"

"Team formation depends on the situation. In your case, we need to figure out what kind of negative effect it is first."

Xiong Batian hesitated for a long time.

"Xu Ming".

Zhou Lang sent a team invitation, which Xu Ming accepted. The moment the status panel popped up, Zhou Lang's brow twitched.

[Player: Xu Ming]

[Status: Under Erosion (22%)]

[Effect: Erosion increases by 1% per hour. When erosion reaches 100%, the player becomes a sacrifice, and their soul belongs to the manor.]

[Removal conditions:? ? ? 】

One percent per hour. Now it's 22%. That means it's been about four or five hours since Xiong Batian—Xu Ming—was corrupted this afternoon.

If this isn't lifted, it will exceed 50% by this time tomorrow. It will reach full capacity in two more days.

"The situation isn't good." Zhou Lang shared the status information with him.

Xu Ming's expression didn't change much after reading it, but his grip on the edge of the bed tightened.

"Do you have a solution?"

"I'll think of a way."

Zhou Lang offered no guarantee and turned to leave the room.

Zhao Qiang and Han Yingying waited in the corridor.

"How is it?" Zhao Qiang asked.

Zhou Lang explained the situation. Zhao Qiang's expression changed after listening, while Han Yingying was deep in thought.

"Erosion," she murmured. "The condition for resolution is a question mark, which means there's a solution but no hints. Should we start with that contract book?"

Zhou Lang thought so too.

He went back to his room and took out the contract book. The three of them huddled under the wall lamp in the corridor to look through it.

I've read every page of the booklet, but I was focused on the information about the sacrificers and the dates, not the main text. Now, looking at it again, I noticed a dried leaf tucked between pages six and seven.

The leaves are very thin; when held up to the light, you can see the veins. The veins form a very small pattern—a well.

"A dry well," Zhao Qiang said immediately, "the dry well in the back garden!"

The three people looked at each other.

"Tomorrow." Zhou Lang carefully put the leaves away. "We'll find a way to get to the back garden tomorrow."

Zhao Qiang raised his hand: "That's my work area, I can—"

"No, you can't go down the well alone."

"Who said I was going down?!" Zhao Qiang's voice rose eight octaves, then he remembered it was late at night and quickly covered his mouth.

The three of them went back to their rooms.

Zhou Lang closed the door, sat on the bed, and began to organize all the information he had.

The manor requires twelve souls to complete the ritual. Eleven are already there, and the twelfth spot is empty. Xiong Batian—no, Xu Ming—has been marked as a candidate sacrifice because his blood triggered the stone table's mechanism.

The clue to stopping the erosion points to the dry well.

The purpose of that black bone key is still unknown.

He took out the key and turned it under the oil lamp. There were fine engravings on the handle of the key; upon closer inspection, they revealed the character "解" (jie, meaning "to solve").

What do you mean? Unlock? Unblock? Remove?

Zhou Lang tried to match the key to the room's door lock—it didn't match.

The latch on the window is mismatched.