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

"What do you want to say?"

"I suspect the next dungeon will be coming soon," she said, putting down her cup. "And it won't be any easier than the Manor."

Zhou Lang didn't react much. Whether it was difficult or not made little difference to him. His way of thinking was never on the same level as normal people. While others were thinking about how to avoid ghosts, he was thinking about how to scare them.

"There's one more thing." Han Yingying hesitated for two seconds, "I've found some clues about your sister."

Zhou Lang's fingers stopped.

"explain."

"She went to a place the day before she disappeared—the Aoyama Shopping Mall. That shopping mall is now closed, but after the strange occurrences, the building was designated as a restricted area."

"Qingshan Commercial Building..." Zhou Lang repeated the name.

He remembered. His sister was wearing a white dress the day she disappeared, and she said she was going to buy something before leaving home. She never came back.

"Where did you get this message from?"

"My dad used to work in the municipal government, so I have access to the database," Han Yingying said casually.

Zhou Lang glanced at her. This girl's background was more complicated than he had thought.

"Thanks." He stood up.

"Aren't you going to finish your Americano?"

"I don't like bitter things."

Han Yingying watched his retreating figure, her lips twitching, but she ultimately didn't say anything—"You don't like bitter things, so next time I'll get you a sweet one."

On the fourth day, the dungeon arrived.

At 6 PM, a notification popped up on all players' screens simultaneously—

[New dungeon coming soon: Midnight Mall]

[Dungeon Rating: A+]

Recommended number of participants: 6-10 people

[Automatic matching countdown: 30 minutes]

Zhou Lang was flipping through a map in his dorm room when he saw the words "Qingshan Commercial Building" and frowned—it matched the clue Han Yingying had given him. This wasn't a coincidence, or rather, he didn't believe it was.

The phone rang; it was Han Yingying calling.

"You saw it?" Her voice was filled with barely suppressed urgency.

"Um."

"I got matched too. This instance was automatically assigned, and we just happened to be in the same group."

Where is Zhao Qiang?

"No. His matchmaking pool is different; he was assigned to a different instance this time."

Zhou Lang thought about it and realized that Zhao Qiang's strength was indeed questionable. Fine.

Thirty minutes later, the vision went black again.

When Zhou Lang regained his sight, he was standing in the lobby of a shopping mall.

The mall was huge, at least five stories high, with brand counters and escalators all around, and crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. At first glance, it looked no different from a normally operating mall, but upon closer inspection—

no one.

The mannequins in the display cases were dressed and posed, their smiles stiff. The lighting was cold, making the entire mall feel like an icebox. The background music was still playing; it was a children's song, the melody drawn out slowly, and the lyrics were out of tune.

"Little bunny, be good...open the door..."

If Zhao Qiang were here, he would probably have given in on the spot.

There were seven people standing in the hall, making a total of eight including Zhou Lang.

Han Yingying was three steps to his left, wearing a shopping mall sales assistant uniform with a name tag around her neck: Sales Assistant Han Yingying. She glanced down at her clothes, then at Zhou Lang—

Zhou Lang was wearing a security guard uniform. His name tag read: Security Personnel - Lang Li Ge Lang.

He looked down at his outfit and tugged at the collar; it was a little tight.

The other six people also each have their own identities—

A man in his early thirties, dressed in electrician's clothes, with an old scar on his face and a name tag that read "Maintenance Worker," looked around warily. This was teammate C.

A middle-aged man with a beer belly, wearing a manager's suit, looked terrified and kept wiping away sweat.

A little girl with pigtails, who looked about twelve or thirteen years old, was wearing a red coat and carrying a cartoon backpack. She wasn't crying, but she was gripping the backpack straps tightly with both hands.

A woman who looked like a teacher, around thirty years old, wearing glasses, carrying a stack of folders, and wearing a name tag that read "Training Instructor".

A tall, thin man in a white coat, whose name tag read "On-site Doctor," pushed up his glasses, his expression quite calm.

The last one—muscular, very muscular. Wearing a sports vest, his arms were bulging like they were filled with lead weights. His name tag read "Fitness Instructor." Zhou Lang glanced at him; the man's hands had thick calluses from his fists. Undoubtedly a boxer.

The eight people sized each other up, and the atmosphere was tense.

The panel then displayed a copy description—

[Background: The Qingshan Commercial Building was built fifteen years ago on the site of an abandoned cable car track. The cable car crashed in an accident, and to cover up the truth, the operating company demolished the track and built the commercial building on the site. The deceased passengers are trapped underground, forever reincarnated at the moment of the crash.]

[Mission Objective: Investigate and reconstruct the full truth behind the cable car accident within 24 hours.]

[Special Rule: The basement of the shopping mall contains the remains of a cable car track. One eerie entity is released every 2 hours. The source of these eerie entities is a passenger who died in the accident.]

[WARNING: An "Administrator" exists underground; level unknown. Please proceed with caution.]

Zhou Lang read the rules twice.

One ghost is released every two hours, making twelve in twenty-four hours. Add to that the "administrator" of unknown rank—

This dungeon is significantly more difficult than Horror Manor.

"Um... hello everyone." The middle-aged manager was the first to speak, his voice trembling. "My name is Lao Qian, and this is my first time entering a dungeon. May I ask... what's the deal with this game?"

the first time.

Zhou Lang mentally sentenced him to death—no, that's not very kind of him. Never mind, let's see how it goes.

"Let me explain." Teammate C stepped to the middle and explained the basic rules of the dungeon in a few words. He spoke crisply and clearly, showing that he was a veteran player.

"So we have twenty-four hours?" The female teacher pushed up her glasses. "What time is it now?"

Everyone simultaneously glanced down at the panel.

21: 00.

That means the deadline is 9 PM tomorrow night.

"One ghost every two hours," the boxer began, his voice rough like pebbles being sifted through a sieve. "The first ghost comes out at eleven. We have two hours of safety time, we need to hurry."

His analytical skills are completely at odds with his appearance.

Zhou Lang glanced at the man again, and the boxer noticed his gaze, grinning, "What, security guard, you're a trained fighter too?"

"No," Zhou Lang shook his head. "I'm just a security guard."

"Is that chainsaw standard equipment for security guards?"

Zhou Lang glanced down at his equipment inventory—a chainsaw, an oil lamp, scissors, and an identity disguise card. These items hadn't disappeared because of the change of instance.

"Our school has a relatively high level of security," he said without changing his expression.

The boxer paused for a moment, then burst into laughter.

Han Yingying rolled her eyes.

"Alright, enough of that." Teammate C clapped his hands. "Let's split into two groups to investigate. One group goes upstairs to see if there are any clues in the mall. The other group goes underground to find the entrance to the cable car tracks."

"I'll go underground," Zhou Lang was the first to speak.

"I'll go too," Han Yingying followed.