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

"Get on the train." Zhou Lang was the first to step in, checking his ticket to find seat number 3 and sitting down. Han Yingying sat next to him in seat number 2. Zhao Qiang frantically searched for his seat number, muttering profanities under his breath.

Lin Ke and Sun Ming also took their seats one after the other.

The woman in the windbreaker was the last to board the bus. Her seat was in the last row, far from everyone else.

The doors closed. The train started moving.

The first hurdle has been overcome.

The train was traveling through the tunnel, and it was pitch black outside the window. The carriage was quiet, with only the rhythmic clanging of the rail joints.

Zhao Qiang finally recovered, slumped against the back of the seat in front of him, and said weakly, "Six tickets for six people, just right. Did the person who designed this scenario have OCD?"

No one responded to him.

Zhou Lang observed the interior of the carriage. Several dusty suitcases sat on the overhead luggage racks, and there were cracks in the glass doors connecting the carriages. What caught his attention most were the electronic displays at both ends of the carriage, scrolling red text—

This train journey has six stops. At each stop, passengers must disembark and complete a designated task. Those who fail to return before the train departs again will be disqualified.

"Six stations, six missions." Lin Ke adjusted his glasses. "Standard level-based progression."

"What's the first stop?" Sun Ming asked.

The display screen switches between images:

[First stop: Sound-finding station – Find the crying child and take them home. Time limit: 15 minutes.]

The train slowed down and stopped at a dimly lit platform. Above the platform, the station nameplate read two black characters: "Seeking Sound."

The car door opened, and the intermittent cries of a child could be heard outside, sometimes near, sometimes far.

Zhao Qiang's legs went weak: "Can I give up on this stop?"

"No." The six people said in unison.

Zhao Qiang's face fell.

The mission at the Sound-Searching Station sounds heartwarming, but it's incredibly difficult to complete. The "crying child" is a humanoid shape without facial features, and the sound comes from its smooth face. The "home" is a small red door deep inside the platform. Zhou Lang glanced at what was inside and then closed the door—it wasn't a home, it was a den.

As he pushed the child, who had no facial features, through the door, a dozen equally smooth arms reached out from behind the door and pulled the child inside.

The second station is the "Reflection Station"—the ground is entirely water, and each person's reflection will move two seconds later. The task is to kill your own reflection. The problem is that the reflections completely replicate the original's abilities, and they can coordinate with each other.

Sun Ming stood out the most in this round; the buzz-cut man's fighting skills were no joke, as he shattered his own reflection with a single iron pipe. Zhao Qiang, on the other hand, was chased by his own reflection the entire time, and Zhou Lang had to help him out in the end.

The third stop is the "Exchange Station." Everyone's positions are randomly swapped, and your body becomes someone else's. You have ten minutes to find your own body.

Zhou Lang swapped places with the woman in the windbreaker.

The moment he entered the other person's body, he felt a folding knife in the right pocket of the jacket. A symbol was engraved on the hilt—

The emblem of the Second Guild.

Zhou Lang stared at the badge for three seconds.

After switching back to his own body, he didn't say anything, but as he passed by Han Yingying, he whispered two words.

"careful."

Han Yingying didn't press for details, but her vigilance immediately heightened.

The fourth stop is the "Lost and Found Station," where the task is to find your "lost item" on the platform. Each person's lost item is different—

Zhao Qiang lost a sock.

When he found it, the sock was being worn by an invisible person who was walking around.

"Can I exchange the lost item?" Zhao Qiang held up the sock covered in an unknown liquid, on the verge of tears.

"That's your stuff, be grateful," Zhou Lang said casually.

Han Yingying lost a piece of memory.

At the end of the platform, she found a glowing mirror, reflecting a scene—

A little girl stood in front of a large house, next to a man in a white coat. The man's face was obscured by a halo of light, making it difficult to see clearly, but the little girl's face—

It was herself.

Han Yingying stared at the mirror, something churning in her mind. Those blurry, fragmented memories began to piece together, like a torn jigsaw puzzle being restored by an invisible hand.

She remembered part of it.

That big house. That person in the white coat. And one more thing—

"Yingying, you must remember that you are different from others."

The mirror shattered, and the image vanished. Han Yingying stood there, her nails digging into her palms.

"Are you alright?" Zhou Lang walked over.

"...I remembered some things." Han Yingying looked up, her eyes slightly red, "but it's not complete, many parts are broken."

"No rush."

"I know there's no rush, but—" she paused, "I have a feeling that those memories are related to this game. Related to the source of the strangeness."

Zhou Lang didn't reply, but he remembered it.

An accident occurred at the fifth station.

The station is called "Judgment Station," and its mission is to vote for a "sinner." The person with the most votes will be punished—but the punishment isn't specified.

The purpose of this mission is obvious: to sow discord.

Six people sat around a round table in the center of the platform, each with a sheet of white paper and a pen in front of them. The vote was anonymous.

"Don't vote randomly, everyone," Lin Ke said first. "This mechanism is designed to make us fight amongst ourselves. As long as we all vote for the same non-existent name, we can avoid it."

"That makes sense," Sun Ming agreed.

"Then write 'none' for all of them," Zhao Qiang said, raising his hand.

The six people began to write. After Zhou Lang finished writing, he folded the paper and put it into the wooden box on the table.

The wooden box opened automatically, and six slips of paper flew out, unfolding one by one—

no.

no.

no.

no.

Wave after wave.

The fifth note contained Zhou Lang's game ID.

The atmosphere changed abruptly.

Zhao Qiang was the first to stand up: "Who wrote that? We agreed to write 'none' for everyone, who the hell wrote that?"

Nobody admits it.

Zhou Lang remained calm. He glanced around at everyone present—Lin Ke was frowning, Sun Ming was swearing, Zhao Qiang was slamming his fist on the table, and Han Yingying was staring intently at the woman in the windbreaker in the last row.

The woman in the windbreaker sat expressionless, her hands in her pockets.

The sixth slip of paper unfolds: None.

Five to one.

A system notification sounded: [Vote invalid; no majority vote was reached. Re-vote. Each person has thirty seconds.]

The second round of voting. This time, after Zhou Lang finished writing, he immediately showed the slip of paper to everyone—it said "None". Zhao Qiang and Han Yingying did the same, and Lin Ke and Sun Ming hesitated for a moment before showing theirs.

The woman in the windbreaker folded the note and threw it into the wooden box without showing it to anyone.

The results are in—

Five more "nothing" cards, and one "waves and waves".

Zhao Qiang was furious: "It's you!" He pointed at the woman in the windbreaker, "What exactly do you mean?"

The woman in the windbreaker finally spoke her second sentence: "It's none of your business."