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

After clearing the Horror Manor dungeon, Zhou Lang's score ranked among the top ten in the entire server.

Zhao Qiang stared at the leaderboard for a long time, then clicked his tongue and said, "Brother Lang, are you trying to reach the heavens?"

Zhou Lang ignored him and scrolled through the system notifications.

A red announcement was displayed in the center of the screen—

[Server-wide Announcement: The SSS-rank dungeon "Ragnarok" will open in 72 hours. Participation is mandatory for the top four teams; there is no refusal. Reward for completion: Ultimate Truth. Penalty for failure: Permanent elimination.]

Permanent erasure.

It's not like dying and starting over in a game; it's a real death.

Zhao Qiang's smile froze, and he remained silent for a long time.

Han Yingying remained calm, read the announcement twice, and asked a crucial question: "Who are the other three teams?"

Zhou Lang retrieved the information.

The first team, "The Tribunal," led by the captain codenamed "The Holy Arbiter," is ranked second in the entire server. This team slaughtered an entire faction of NPCs in an S-rank dungeon, employing extreme methods and earning a terrible reputation.

The second team, "Nightwalkers," led by the codename "Shadow," is ranked fifth. An intelligence-focused team, they excel at stealth and reconnaissance, and never engage in direct combat.

The third team, "Iron Wall," with the captain codenamed "Shield Mountain," is ranked seventh. They employ a defensive playstyle, capable of withstanding heavy damage and maintaining high energy consumption, resulting in the highest dungeon completion rate.

Zhao Qiang's expression grew increasingly grim as he looked at them: "They're all tough nuts to crack."

"Okay," Zhou Lang put his phone back in his pocket, "So don't waste these three days."

-

Seventy-two hours later, all four teams were teleported simultaneously.

Zhou Lang's team consists of six people: himself, Han Yingying, Zhao Qiang, Xiong Batian, and two new members: Lin Wan and Su Ming.

Lin Wan is a girl of few words, skilled at dismantling mechanisms and traps, her eyes always half-closed, as if she's dozing off at any moment. Su Ming is a retired soldier in his early thirties, with an old scar on his arm. He works efficiently, doesn't talk much, but every word he utters is to the point.

The moment the teleportation was complete, Zhou Lang sensed something was wrong.

Beneath my feet was a black stone floor, and above me was no sky—instead, a huge dome covered with densely packed runes, each one slowly rotating.

The four teams were scattered in a circular hall, with a stone pillar in the middle and a screen embedded in the pillar.

The screen lit up.

Welcome to Ragnarok.

[Dungeon Rules: There are seven levels in total. Each level has a guard; defeating the guard will grant you a key to pass through. The dungeon ends when all seven levels are cleared.]

[Special Rule: Attacks between players are unrestricted.]

The atmosphere in the hall changed drastically as soon as the last rule was announced.

The captain of the tribunal, the Holy Arbiter, scanned everyone present, his gaze finally settling on Zhou Lang. This man was tall, bald, with a vertical scar above his left eye, and a perpetually scrutinizing expression on his lips.

"What's this 'Lang Li Ge Lang'?" he called out Zhou Lang's game ID.

Zhou Lang turned to look at him.

"I heard you scared the ghosts to tears in the haunted manor?" The Inquisitor's tone was casual, but the members of the surrounding court had already distanced themselves from the fight.

"I didn't cry," Zhou Lang said, "I just screamed a lot."

Zhao Qiang muttered under his breath, "Isn't that just being scared and crying...?"

The Holy Arbiter stared at Zhou Lang for two seconds, snorted, and led the team toward the entrance to the first floor.

The other two teams also dispersed. The Nightwalkers moved silently, while the Iron Wall team advanced in an orderly formation.

Su Ming leaned closer: "Those people in the courtroom will make their move sooner or later."

"I know," Zhou Lang said.

"Then what should we do?" Xiong Batian asked.

"Let's get through this first. We'll deal with whoever's blocking our way later."

-

The guardian of the first level is a four-legged monster whose body looks like it has been roughly stitched together, with different parts belonging to different creatures—a wolf's head, a bear's forelimbs, a snake's tail, and human fingers growing from its body.

Those fingers were wriggling.

Zhao Qiang gagged on the spot.

"Don't throw up," Zhou Lang said, "it's a waste of your energy."

"I'll try my best... ugh—"

The four teams each take their own passage, and each passage contains an identical Frankenstein's monster.

Zhou Lang assigned Su Ming and Xiong Batian to hold off the enemy, Lin Wan to observe weaknesses, Han Yingying to provide remote support, and Zhao Qiang to cover the rear. He himself charged to the front.

The Stitches monster's attack patterns are extremely chaotic; its snake tail can suddenly lash out, and its bear paws have enough power to shatter stone pillars. However, its movements have one distinctive feature—there is a half-second pause between each time it switches attack points.

Zhou Lang seized that half-second.

The chainsaw started, its teeth biting into the seams of the stitched monster. The stitches were severed, the monster screamed and retreated, its body beginning to disintegrate.

Lin Wan's eyes finally widened: "The seam, attack the seam!"

Su Ming and Xiong Batian exerted their power simultaneously, and three minutes later, the Frankenstein's monster was scattered into a pile of parts.

The access key has been dropped.

First level, passed.

The difficulty increases progressively in the second and third levels, but remains largely manageable. Casualties begin to appear in the fourth level—the Iron Wall team lost two members, and a member of the Nightwalker team had his arm torn off by a guard.

The courtroom was undamaged, but Zhou Lang noticed that they had some equipment that didn't belong to them.

"They stole other people's things," Han Yingying said in a low voice.

"They didn't just steal things." Zhou Lang pointed to the wall of the passageway through the courtroom—there were drag marks on it.

The fifth floor.

There are no guards on this floor.

Instead, there was a closed room with a door on each of the four walls. The four teams entered from four directions and met in the center of the room.

A key was placed in the center of the room.

There is only one.

The text on the screen refreshes: [Only one access key is available for this floor. Please decide who owns it.]

The air suddenly became tense.

The Arbiter was the first to laugh: "Isn't that simple?"

The six members of the court quickly formed an encirclement. Their objective was clear—eliminate the weakest team first, then deal with the rest.

Captain Dunshan of "Iron Wall" adopted a defensive stance, but they were down two men, leaving a gap in their formation.

The Nightcrawler retreated directly to the doorway, intending to watch the show.

Zhou Lang stood still.

The Arbiter approached him: "Hand over your equipment, and I may grant you an extra level of life."

"Oh," Zhou Lang said, "then how many floors can you let us live?"

"Let's see how you perform."

"Alright," Zhou Lang nodded, took out an oil lamp from his pocket, "then you can see how I perform first."

Green light pierced the dim room.

The moment the oil lamp lit up, countless ghostly faces appeared on the four walls of the room. These weren't part of the level's design—the wandering spirits Zhou Lang had collected in the previous floors.

While passing through the trials, he casually collected all the ghosts along the way and put them into the oil lamp.

At the time, Zhao Qiang asked him, "Why are you accepting these?"

Zhou Lang said, "Just in case."

This is just in case.

Dozens of wandering spirits surged from the oil lamps and rushed toward the courtroom. These spirits could not cause physical harm, but they could cause mental disturbance—fear, hallucinations, and dizziness.