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

A C-rank dungeon. For someone like Zhou Lang who has already completed high-difficulty dungeons, it shouldn't be too difficult.

Zhao Qiang leaned closer: "Brother Lang, you don't actually want to go, do you?"

"I want to go."

"Why not? You just finished one game, can't you take a couple of days off?"

Zhou Lang didn't answer the question. His reason for going was simple—he was short of money. Increasing fusion level required a lot of resources, and dungeons were the fastest way to make money. Moreover, the mortality rate of C-rank dungeons was relatively controllable, less than 20%.

He found the administrator and registered.

Han Yingying suddenly appeared out of nowhere: "I'll sign up too."

Zhou Lang looked at her: "Your blue shoes aren't broken in yet, are they?"

"It's fine to run."

"This isn't a question of whether or not to run."

"I know what I'm doing," Han Yingying said. "Besides, didn't you say that getting a C grade isn't difficult?"

Zhou Lang wanted to say when he had said that, but then he thought better of it and decided not to argue. Han Yingying's strength was actually quite good, and her performance in the last dungeon was also commendable, so letting her go wouldn't be a bad idea.

Zhao Qiang hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Then...then should I go too?"

"Forget about you," Zhou Lang said.

"Why should I?!"

"Your defensive item is a passively triggered type; it can only be used once per dungeon run. What if it triggers on the first day? How are you going to defend against it for the next six days?"

Zhao Qiang opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but found that there was indeed nothing wrong with the logic.

"Then be careful yourself." He looked dejected.

At 6 PM, all eight spots were filled. Zhou Lang received the briefing on the dungeon—

[Instance Name: The Mysterious House]

[Level: C]

[Synopsis: A group of art students from a small town's guesthouse arrives for a seven-day sketching trip. Seven strange things exist within the guesthouse. Surviving for seven days is the key to completing the challenge.]

[Rules: Safe during the day. Be wary of strange occurrences when in the guesthouse at night.]

[Entry Time: Tonight at midnight.]

Zhou Lang read the briefing over and over again twice.

Seven strange occurrences, seven days. One per day on average? Or do they all appear simultaneously? The briefing didn't elaborate, which is very frustrating.

A C-rank dungeon shouldn't be too outrageous, but the number "seven" made him a little concerned. Normally, a C-rank dungeon has three to five strange entities. Seven is already the maximum.

He sent Han Yingying a message: "Bring all consumables."

"I know."

"Put your shoes on properly."

"...You're so long-winded."

Zhou Lang tossed aside his phone and began packing his backpack. An oil lamp, a chainsaw, and scissors—these were his usual items. He also bought two flares and a bottle of holy water from the store. The holy water was purely defensive; splashing it on ghosts would temporarily incapacitate them, but it was only effective against those below Rank C.

At 11:50, he stood at the teleportation point at the school gate.

People arrived one after another. Han Yingying was the first to arrive, having changed into a pair of white sneakers—the blue-quality prop. They looked no different from ordinary sneakers.

Of the other six, Zhou Lang recognized two. One was Liu Yan, a junior who had completed two dungeons and was of above-average skill. The other was Sun Ting, a sophomore who was petite but supposedly possessed a very strong perception-based skill.

The remaining four were all unfamiliar faces. Three men and one woman, all looking quite young. One of the boys, with dyed blond hair, immediately asked, "Who's the team leader?"

No one answered.

The blond-haired guy then asked, "So, who's ever done a C-rank dungeon?"

Zhou Lang raised his hand. Han Yingying also raised hers. Liu Yan thought for a moment and then raised his hand as well.

"Okay, then which of you three will lead the team?" the blond-haired guy asked directly.

"Him," Han Yingying said, pointing to Zhou Lang.

Liu Yan glanced at Zhou Lang and nodded: "You can come. I've seen your previous clear record, an S-rank rating."

All eyes turned to them. An S-rank rating is the highest possible in a C-rank dungeon; no more than 5% of players can achieve it.

Zhou Lang neither refused nor stood on ceremony: "Okay. Once inside, follow orders and don't act alone. If you have any problems, talk to us during the day, and don't leave your room at night."

"Is it that simple?" asked the blond-haired man.

"Just getting out alive is enough; there's no need to make things more complicated."

At exactly twelve o'clock, the teleportation point lit up. A white light engulfed the eight people.

When he regained consciousness, Zhou Lang was standing on a stone-paved road.

Low hills surrounded the area, and the air smelled of grass and earth. The sky was gray, making it impossible to tell the time—no, the system clock in the lower right corner showed eight o'clock in the morning.

A three-story wooden building stands at the end of the road, with a faded sign hanging at the entrance: Anping Homestay.

The other seven people appeared around him one after another. Each of them carried a backpack and a drawing board—the disguise of art school sketching students.

"Was this disguise given to me by the system?" Sun Ting touched the drawing board, somewhat intrigued.

"Cover your identity," Zhou Lang said. "During the day, we're students here sketching; we can't give ourselves away."

Han Yingying was already looking around the guesthouse. The house wasn't old, but the color was dark, as if covered with a layer of dust. There were many windows, six on each of the second and third floors, but none of them were open.

"Let's go." Zhou Lang stepped forward.

Pushing open the wooden door of the guesthouse, the lobby was small. To the left was the reception area, and to the right was a rest area with several old sofas around a coffee table. Behind the reception desk stood a plump middle-aged woman with a smiling face.

"Oh, you must be art students? We've been waiting for you!"

NPC. Zhou Lang sized him up—normal pupils, normal skin, feet on the ground. A living person, or rather, a living person arranged by the system.

"Hello, landlady, we've booked a room for seven days," Zhou Lang said cooperatively.

"Yes, yes, eight people, four rooms, two people per room. All on the second floor. The third floor is not open for the time being, it's under renovation." The landlady took out four keys from the drawer. "201, 202, 203, 204, you can divide them up yourselves."

Four rooms, two people per room. Zhou Lang took the keys and divided the people into groups: he and Liu Yan shared a room, Han Yingying and Sun Ting shared a room, Huang Mao and a boy named Chen Lei shared a room, and the last two people—He Jun and the girl Lin Xiao—shared a room.

He Jun blushed slightly: "Isn't it inappropriate for me to share a room with a girl?"

Lin Xiao didn't care: "It's alright, we're at a life-or-death situation, who cares about this?"

This girl has a good attitude.

I went upstairs. The corridor was covered with a dark red carpet, worn and pilling. Several paintings hung on the walls—all landscapes depicting the surrounding mountains.

Zhou Lang opened the door to room 201. The room wasn't large, with two single beds, a bedside table in the middle, and a lamp on the table. The window faced the mountain behind the room, and the curtains were gray. The bathroom was on the right, clean but damp.

He put down his backpack and walked to the window to look out. A path wound its way up the hill behind the house, lined with trees whose names he didn't know.

"This place looks perfectly normal during the day," Liu Yan said, also looking around the room. "There's absolutely nothing ghostly about it."

"That's how it is with Class C hotels; daytime is the safe period," Zhou Lang said. "We need to take advantage of the daytime to thoroughly explore the guesthouse, especially the third floor."

"The proprietress said the third floor is under renovation—"

"Renovation my ass, the problem is with the places they don't allow you to go."

Liu Yan smiled: "That's true."

Zhou Lang called the eight people to the hall and assigned them their tasks for the day.