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

This skill might not work in the real world.

After showering, she dried her hair and sat down on the edge of the bed. It was 9:40. She set an alarm on her phone and crawled into bed.

My eyelids felt heavy, and I fell asleep in less than two minutes.

I don't know how much time has passed.

Something is throbbing in my head.

It wasn't the vague feeling of a dream, but an extremely clear "jump"—like someone flicked her temple with a finger.

[Player detected violating rule number 7: Players must not disclose dungeon information to non-participants after the dungeon has ended. Penalty: Forced entry into a penalty dungeon.]

Han Yingying suddenly opened her eyes.

She didn't reveal any information about the copy to anyone—etc.

neck.

Lin Xiaolu noticed the marks on her neck. She said they were mosquito bites, but the system's judgment criteria were clearly not based on what she said, but on whether she had exposed traces of the copy to non-participants.

"Does this count?"

No one answered her question. Her vision began to distort; the bedroom ceiling looked like crumpled paper, and the four walls seemed to be pressing inward.

White light.

It was white light again.

When her vision returned, Han Yingying was standing at the foot of a mountain.

A cold wind rushed into her collar. She looked down and saw that her pajamas were gone, and she was now wearing a windproof jacket and hiking pants, with hard-soled hiking boots on her feet.

A wooden sign stands in front of us:

"Welcome to Guimenling Mountain Resort. Please take the cable car to the summit resort. Note: The last cable car departs at 11:00 PM, please don't miss it."

The system panel reappears in the upper left corner of the view.

[Punishment Dungeon: Ghost Gate Ridge Cable Car]

[Mission Objective: To uncover the truth behind the cable car shutdown incident within 72 hours]

Number of participants: 6

【规则：①每天仅有三趟缆车，分别为上午8点、下午3点、晚上11点。②缆车运行期间不得打开车门。③不得在夜间（11点至次日6点）独自行动。④查明真相的玩家可提前离开副本。】

[Special Note: This is a penalty dungeon, one level harder than regular dungeons. There is no resurrection after death.]

Han Yingying read the rules three times and memorized each one.

Six cable car cabins, each seating four people, were parked in an open area at the foot of the mountain. Besides her, five other people were scattered nearby.

The first person I noticed was a bald, muscular man wearing a tight vest, his arm muscles looking like they were sculpted. He was squatting next to the cable car, inspecting the bottom of the cabin, muttering to himself.

A man and a woman stood nearby, seemingly a couple. The man wore glasses and looked rather refined; the woman had her hair in a ponytail and was looking around with her neck hunched.

There was also a tall, thin man wearing a black hoodie, his hat pulled low, leaning against the sign without talking to anyone.

The last one—

Han Yingying's gaze froze.

About ten steps away from her, a boy in a gray coat was taking things out of his pockets and checking them one by one. Gray coat, buzz cut, thin build but broad shoulders.

He looked up, saw Han Yingying, and paused for a second.

"What are you doing here?" Zhou Lang asked.

Han Yingying walked over: "Tell me what you're doing here."

"Punishment instance." Zhou Lang stuffed the things in his hand back into his pocket. "After the last instance ended, I called Zhao Qiang. It was too noisy on his end, so I said 'your manor's butler'—and then I was pulled into this."

Han Yingying: "..."

"And you?"

"My friend saw the injury on my neck."

Zhou Lang glanced at her neck but said nothing.

After a two-second silence, he said, "Then we're all in the same boat again. This time, team up with me."

"I was planning to look for you too," Han Yingying said.

The two exchanged information briefly. Zhou Lang still had the items he brought from the previous dungeon—an oil lamp, scissors, and a chainsaw discount coupon. Han Yingying had the "Spiritual Awareness" skill and 3000 Fear Points, but no items.

This instance has no in-game store. It's a penalty instance, so you have to rely on what you already have.

"Let's check on the others first." Zhou Lang walked towards the bald, muscular man.

The burly man stood up at the sound of footsteps; he was half a head taller than Zhou Lang. He looked Zhou Lang up and down, then smiled: "Also punished and brought in?"

"Hmm." Zhou Lang cut to the chase. "And you?"

"My name is Liang Tiezhu, and I practice boxing." The burly man patted his chest. "In the last dungeon, I was careless and took an item out without clearing the trace. My wife found it. And that's how I ended up here."

Zhou Lang nodded. This person spoke frankly and had the air of someone who had cleared a dungeon before—not the nervousness of someone entering for the first time, but a relaxed feeling of "since I'm already here."

"What's the background of that couple?" Zhou Lang gestured, tilting his head.

"I don't know." Liang Tiezhu shook his head. "I went over to talk to her just now. The man was alright, but the woman was trembling the whole time. It looks like it was her first time."

"What about the one in the black hoodie?"

"He ignored me. I called him twice, and he raised his hand as a greeting."

Han Yingying looked in the direction of the man in the black hoodie. He was still leaning against the sign, his hat covering most of his face.

"Never mind that for now," Zhou Lang said. "The first cable car departs at eight o'clock. What time is it now?"

Han Yingying looked at the panel: "7:12".

"Less than fifty minutes left." Zhou Lang looked around. At the foot of the mountain, besides the cable car station, there was a simple waiting pavilion and a small wooden cabin with its door locked.

He walked to the cabin and tried the door. It was locked. The windows were also sealed shut, and it was pitch black inside.

"There's something wrong with this room," Han Yingying suddenly said.

"What do you mean?"

She couldn't pinpoint the exact reason, but her intuition gave her a subtle feeling—not a warning of danger, but an intuition that "there are clues here."

"Make a note of it first, and we'll start using it once we get the tools." Zhou Lang didn't hesitate.

At 7:45, the six people gathered in front of the cable car station. The couple introduced themselves—the man was Fang Yuan, and the woman was Su Xiaoyu. Fang Yuan adjusted his glasses, his attitude neither humble nor arrogant; Su Xiaoyu clung tightly to Fang Yuan's arm, truly like a newbie entering a dungeon for the first time.

The woman in the black hoodie finally walked over from beside the sign and took off her hood. She was a girl, a few years older than Han Yingying, with short hair, deep-set eyes, and a blank expression.

"My name is Shen Luo," she said, only three words.

Zhou Lang glanced at her but didn't ask any further questions. He already had a rough idea of ​​who the six people were: Liang Tiezhu was a veteran player with solid combat skills; Fang Yuan was cooperative but his strategy was unknown; Su Xiaoyu was a burden; and Shen Luo… hard to say.

At 8:00 AM sharp, the cable car started moving.

Of the six carriages, only two were in operation. The first carriage carried Zhou Lang, Han Yingying, and Shen Luo, while the second carriage carried Liang Tiezhu, Fang Yuan, and Su Xiaoyu.

The cable car swayed and rose slowly. Through the glass windows, you could see the valley below; the fog was so thick that you could hardly see the bottom.

"This mountain isn't right," Shen Luo said.