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

The two rushed out and saw the young girl slumped in the corridor, pointing to the window ahead. Outside, a cable car was slowly passing by. The car door was wide open, and it was full of people.

No, it's not a person.

The necks of those "passengers" were all crooked, their bodies were at wrong angles, some had their arms bent backwards, and some had their chins resting on the back of their heads. But their eyes were moving.

The cable car glided past the window and disappeared into the night.

"The sun has set," Zhou Lang said.

He was right. The last glimmer of light outside the window vanished, plunging the mountains into darkness. The cable car station lights flickered a few times, emitting a piercing crackling sound.

Han Yingying helped the girl up. The girl was trembling like a leaf, her lips were purple, and she couldn't speak.

"It's okay, it's safe inside the station," Han Yingying said.

Is it really safe? She herself wasn't sure.

The six people gathered in the waiting area and compiled the information they had found.

Su Min found a copy of the accident investigation report. Most of the content was blacked out, but one section was left unwritten: "Cause of the breakage of the steel cable in carriage No. 3: Deliberate cutting."

"Man-made," Niu Dahai cursed.

"And another thing," Su Min flipped to the back, "The investigation team found a pair of cable cutters in the cable car station warehouse, with the station manager's fingerprints on them. But the station manager has never been found."

The room was silent for a few seconds.

"So we need to find the site administrator for this instance?" Niu Dahai said.

"Find the truth," Han Yingying corrected. "The mission is to investigate the truth behind the accident, not to find someone. Perhaps the station chief is just one part of the process."

Zhou Lang remained silent. He leaned against the wall, lost in thought. Han Yingying noticed his fingers repeatedly rubbing something in his pocket.

"What are your thoughts?" she asked.

"When you take the cable car tomorrow, pay attention to car number three."

"Carriage number three is the one where the accident happened. You want us to sit in that one?"

"The rules say you have to ride the cable car once a day, but they don't say which one," Zhou Lang said. "I'll take number three, you guys take the others."

"This is too risky—"

"I am prepared."

Han Yingying was speechless at his words. He had said the same thing at the resort last time. Then she saw him walking around the corridor alone, holding a green oil lamp, like he was walking a dog.

"You can't always shoulder the burden alone."

"I don't plan to go alone." Zhou Lang glanced at her. "You'll meet me on the platform. If there's anything in carriage number three, I'll find a way to get it out."

Su Min, who was listening nearby, interjected, "I can help too."

Zhou Lang and Han Yingying both looked at her at the same time.

Su Min shrugged: "Anyway, I won't live more than 72 hours on my own. At least I have some direction if I follow you guys."

Han Yingying thought for a moment and said, "Okay."

That night was unbearably long. The cable car whirred intermittently all night, the gondolas gliding past and back from the platform, each time bringing a chilly gust of wind. No one dared to sleep.

When dawn broke, everyone's eyes were red.

Han Yingying used an old map she found at the station to make a simple division of the area. The cable car line runs from the foot of the mountain to the top, with a total of six stations: Yong'an, Halfway Up the Mountain, Viewing Platform, Eagle's Beak Cliff, Tianmen, and the End Point.

"Today's task is to take a cable car ride and observe the route for any unusual occurrences." She looked at everyone. "Remember, you can't refuse any NPC's requests. No matter how outrageous they seem, you have to agree."

"What if the NPC makes me jump down?" Niu Dahai asked.

"Then jump."

Niu Dahai thought she was joking and chuckled. But when he saw Han Yingying's expression, the laughter caught in his throat.

"She wasn't joking," Zhou Lang said.

Suddenly, the cable car station's loudspeaker blared, and a hoarse female voice announced: "Dear passengers, the Yong'an Cableway is about to depart. Please board in order. Carriages one through six will proceed sequentially."

Six cable car cabins slowly emerged from the maintenance passage and lined up on the platform. Each cabin can seat four people, and their exteriors are painted in different colors with clear numbers.

Carriage number three is red, and there is a welding mark on the door.

Zhou Lang walked over and opened the door.

The interior of the carriage was old, and the leather on the seats was torn in several places. But there was no bloodstains or anything unusual.

He turned back to Han Yingying and gestured: No problem. Then he sat down.

Han Yingying chose carriage number two, and Su Min went with her. Niu Dahai and the man with glasses sat in carriage number four, while the young girl sat in carriage number one—she absolutely refused to sit in a carriage near carriage number three.

The cable car started moving.

The steel cables creaked and groaned as the carriage swayed and climbed. The mountain view outside the window was quite nice, if one ignored the eerie elements.

When we arrived at the Mid-Mountain Station, the cable car stopped.

The female voice came over the loudspeaker again: "Half-Mountain Station has arrived. Passengers in carriage number three, please note that one passenger needs to board."

Han Yingying looked out the car window and saw a person standing on the platform of Banshan Station.

A middle-aged man in a suit. His face was gray, not a description—it was real gray, like it had been coated with cement.

He walked toward carriage number three.

Han Yingying's heart skipped a beat. She saw Zhou Lang adjust his posture in the carriage, making room for the ashen-faced man.

The gray-faced man got into the car and sat opposite Zhou Lang.

The cable car continued its journey.

Han Yingying stared intently at carriage number three, but due to the distance and the glass, she couldn't see what was happening inside.

Next stop, the observation deck. The cable car stopped again. The gray-faced man didn't get off.

An announcement came over the loudspeaker: "We have arrived at the observation deck. Passengers in carriage number three, please note that talking is prohibited inside the carriage."

New rules? Adding rules to the cable car operation?

Han Yingying frowned. She saw that the window of carriage number three was fogged up, and she couldn't see anything.

For the next three stops, the fog on the carriage windows remained.

Until the final stop, all carriages came to a complete stop, and the doors opened automatically.

Zhou Lang emerged from carriage number three. His face was a little pale, but he was unharmed. He carried something in his hand—a folded piece of paper.

"The gray-faced man gave it to me." He handed the note to Han Yingying.

The note contained only one sentence: "Under the carriage."

Han Yingying looked down at her feet, then at the number three carriage that was stopped on the tracks.

"Under the chassis of the carriage," Zhou Lang said. "He pointed several times. I couldn't speak at the time, I could only nod."

"That man—"

"NPC. He smiled at me before getting out of the car."

She smiled. Han Yingying wasn't really interested in what a gray-faced NPC looked like when they smiled.

They waited for the others to get off at the terminal station, and then Zhou Lang crawled under the chassis of carriage number three to take a look.

A minute later he climbed out, holding an iron box in his hand.

The box wasn't big, about the size of a palm, and the two letters "YA"—an abbreviation for Yong'an—were engraved on the metal sheet.

Open the box; inside is a photo and a set of keys.

The photo shows the cable car station manager and a group of workers, with the newly built cable car station in the background. The manager, wearing work clothes, stands at the front of the group, smiling happily.