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

They've caught up.

The Iron Hammer Society and the Dark Assassin Society members joined together, numbering about ten. The Star Alliance members didn't come; they were probably terrified by their escaped comrade.

"Zhou Lang!" The bald man's voice came from the mist, "Don't think you can escape! This instance is only so big; if you go down, we'll chase you down!"

Zhou Lang ignored him and continued walking.

However, the entrance to the fourth floor was blocked.

It wasn't the guild members who blocked it; the instance itself blocked it. At the end of the ramp stood a wall of flesh—literally a wall of flesh, composed of countless intertwined limbs, still writhing.

"We need to find the key to this floor to open the passage," Han Yingying said. "I sensed it; it's to the west, very far away."

"The people behind are catching up quickly," Zhang Yuan said.

Zhou Lang stared at the wall of flesh for a few seconds, then took out a chainsaw from his inventory.

"I sawed it open."

"Are you sure? That thing—"

The chainsaw is started.

The moment the saw blade pierced the wall of flesh, the entire third floor shuddered. The wall of flesh emitted a baby-like cry, a sound so loud it sent chills down one's spine. Zhou Lang didn't stop; the chainsaw continued cutting, blood and unidentified liquid splattering onto his face, but he didn't even blink.

Thirty seconds. A hole big enough for one person to pass through was cut out.

"Hurry up!"

Han Yingying crawled through first, followed by Zhao Qiang, then Lin Ke and Zhang Yuan. Zhou Lang brought up the rear. As soon as he crawled through, the flesh wall began to heal, the limbs intertwining again to seal the opening.

The bald man's cursing came from behind, muffled by the wall of flesh, becoming indistinct gurgling sounds.

"It won't hold them off for long," Zhou Lang said. "They'll find a way to get here."

Fourth floor.

The fog turned red.

The fourth level, shrouded in red mist, was much hotter than the levels above, like stepping into a giant steamer.

Zhao Qiang wiped the sweat from his forehead: "I have a bad feeling."

"When have you ever had a good feeling about something?" Lin Ke retorted.

Zhao Qiang thought about it and realized that there really wasn't one.

Han Yingying took a few steps forward and then suddenly stopped.

"The key to this floor isn't in a fixed location," she said. "It's being moved."

"move?"

"Being carried along by something."

Zhou Lang frowned. The moving key meant they had to chase it, and chasing something they didn't know in this level of visibility was too risky.

"Can you judge the speed?" he asked.

"It's not fast, but the route is confusing, like we're going in circles."

"Then let's set up an ambush." ​​Zhou Lang looked around and pointed to the position between two pillars. "Yingying, you determine its route, and we'll wait on its inevitable path."

Han Yingying closed her eyes, sensed for about two minutes, and drew a line on the ground: "It passes by here every three minutes."

Zhou Lang handed the chainsaw to Lin Ke and took the shears for himself. "Don't panic when you see something. Let it come closer, I'll cut it off."

The two minutes of waiting felt incredibly long. Nothing could be seen in the red fog; only the green light of the oil lamp could barely illuminate an area of ​​five or six meters.

Zhao Qiang counted the seconds: "Two minutes and fifty-eight, fifty-nine—"

Something burst out of the fog.

It was a hand. A hand without a body, its five fingers supporting it on the ground, crawling swiftly like a spider. The fourth key was wedged between its middle and ring fingers.

Zhou Lang made his move.

The scissors pierced the back of the hand with precision, pinning it to the ground. The hand struggled frantically, its five fingers squeaking against the concrete. Zhou Lang reached for the keys with his other hand, but the thumb of that hand suddenly bent and gripped Zhou Lang's wrist tightly.

His strength is outrageous.

Zhou Lang's wrist was being squeezed so hard it was cracking, but he gritted his teeth and didn't let go, forcefully pulling the key out from between his fingers.

Once the key was in hand, the hand went limp as if deflated, then turned into a puddle of black liquid that seeped into the ground.

Zhou Lang moved his wrist, revealing five deep red fingerprints.

"Four times now."

There are three left.

They found another one on the fourth floor. This one didn't take much effort; it was stuck in the keyhole of a van's steering wheel, and they just had to pull it out. Five in total.

When we got to the fifth floor, trouble started.

It's not the ghosts that are causing the trouble. It's the people.

The bald man and his men caught up. The wall of flesh didn't hold them off for long—one of the Dark Assassins' members had a Corrosion skill, which rotted a hole through the flesh wall.

"Zhou Lang, you can't escape!"

This time, they stopped wasting words and took action immediately.

The woman from the Dark Assassins Society struck first, throwing a knife straight at Han Yingying's head. Han Yingying turned her head to dodge, the blade grazing her ear and shaving off a few strands of hair.

"Protect Yingying!" Zhou Lang shouted, heading towards the two Iron Hammer Society members who were at the forefront.

Lin Ke and Zhang Yuan blocked the people on the right. Zhao Qiang—

Zhao Qiang's performance surprised everyone.

He pulled out an iron rod from somewhere and swung it at the knee of one of the tall, thin men from the Dark Thorn Society. The tall, thin man was knocked to his knees, and Zhao Qiang delivered another blow.

"I've been putting up with you guys for way too long!" Zhao Qiang shouted, his voice cracking, but his actions were anything but hesitant.

Zhao Qiang, who took control of the manor after being helped by Zhou Lang to replace the ghost, has a ruthless streak in his bones, but he usually hides it well.

But the difference in numbers is simply too great.

The melee lasted less than two minutes. Lin Ke was slashed in the shoulder, and blood soaked half of her clothes. Zhang Yuan fared even worse; surrounded and beaten by three people, he had two broken ribs and was curled up on the ground, gasping for breath.

"Stop!" The bald man stepped forward, looking at Zhou Lang and his group who were cornered. "Hand over the keys and items. This is the last time I'm saying this."

Zhou Lang, holding the scissors, stood protectively in front of Han Yingying. Zhao Qiang, leaning on an iron bar, stood to the side, blood trickling from his mouth, but he didn't back down.

The scene froze.

Just as the bald man was about to give the order—

A person emerged from the fog on the fifth floor.

No, three people.

The leader was a hooded woman whose face was obscured, and the union badge on her chest was an "X".

X Union.

The name has been circulating among gamers for a long time, but no one has ever seen any of their members. Legend has it that the X Guild has fewer than ten members, but each one is exceptionally skilled. Even more absurdly, no one knows who their guild leader is.

The bald man recognized the badge, and the fat on his face twitched.

"This has nothing to do with your X union," he said, but his tone had lost its previous arrogance.

The hooded woman ignored him and walked straight to Zhou Lang, glancing down at Lin Ke and Zhang Yuan lying on the ground.

She took two vials of medicine from her hood and tossed them to Han Yingying.

"Give them to use." The voice was young, with an unyielding calmness.

Han Yingying was taken aback for a moment before taking the potion. It was a high-grade healing potion, something that was priceless and unavailable on the market.

The hooded woman turned to the bald man.

"Walk."

Just one word.

The bald man gritted his teeth and glanced at the two people behind the hooded woman. The two men did nothing; they just stood there, but sweat began to bead on the bald man's forehead.

"I've got it." He said, then led his men back into the fog.

The footsteps faded into the distance.