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

Han Yingying opened her eyes.

The ceiling was white, and morning light streamed in through the gaps in the curtains. She lay on her bed, her phone beside her pillow, the screen showing 6:42 a.m.

I woke up from a dream again.

She stared at the ceiling for over ten seconds without moving. This feeling was all too familiar—it was always like this after a dungeon run, like waking from a long, drawn-out dream, only to find everything back to normal. There were no absences on her phone, her roommate was still snoring, and her class schedule was still packed full.

But this time it's different.

Han Yingying sat up and rubbed her temples. Something was swirling in her mind, blurry and impossible to grasp. She closed her eyes to recall—the basement, the iron gate, the green light of the oil lamp… she remembered all of these clearly. But what about before that?

The memories from the first instance were complete, as were those from the second. But when did the act of "waking up" itself start to feel strange?

She picked up her phone and checked the date. Three days had passed since the last instance ended. In those three days, she went to class, ate meals, and chatted with her roommates—everything seemed normal. But if you thought about it carefully—what specific things had she done in those three days?

The answer is ambiguous.

Like a video that has been fast-forwarded, she knows she went through it, but the details are all blank.

Han Yingying frowned. She had never noticed this problem before. Or rather, nothing had ever reminded her to pay attention. But during that dungeon run at the manor, Zhou Lang had said something—

Something's wrong with this game.

What was he investigating at the time? The way he looked at the butler didn't seem to be completing a task, but rather verifying some kind of suspicion.

Han Yingying changed her clothes and went out. The library opened at eight o'clock, and she arrived at seven-fifty, waiting at the entrance for ten minutes. She found a computer, sat down, opened a search engine, and typed in "horror games".

I didn't find anything.

It's not that there were no results—the search page was full of mobile game GG and horror movie recommendations, but not a single word about the actual game.

She tried a few more keywords: dungeon, ghost, skill terms.

Got nothing.

Not surprising. If this were easily searchable, it would have been trending long ago. Han Yingying changed her approach and opened the school forum. She remembered a post from her first year saying a certain dormitory building was haunted, with someone commenting that they had "played a very realistic game." She hadn't paid much attention then, but now she wanted to find that post—

The forum indicates that the post has been deleted.

Han Ying leaned back in her chair. What exactly was Zhou Lang investigating? That so-called "strange bug"...

My phone vibrated.

It wasn't a WeChat message. A line of black text popped up on the screen, exactly the same as last time.

The fourth dungeon is about to open.

[Countdown: 3 minutes.]

Han Yingying: "..."

Three minutes? Not even a buffer?

She quickly packed her things and headed out, but halfway there she realized there wasn't much to pack—she didn't need a backpack to enter the dungeon. But the momentum of her body made her already sling the bag over her shoulder.

Two minutes later, she sat on the steps at the library entrance, and the countdown on her phone screen reached zero.

The view darkened.

When the lights came on again, she was standing in a corridor.

Patterned wallpaper covered the walls, a dark red carpet covered the floor, and two closed doors stood on either side. At the end of the corridor was a mirror, in which she could see her reflection—wearing the clothes she had worn before entering the dungeon, carrying that extra backpack.

"Han Yingying?"

The voice came from behind her. She turned around and saw a familiar person—

Shen Tang.

She was in her early twenties, with short hair, wearing a sports jacket, and had a bright, alert look in her eyes. A relaxed smile played on her lips, a quality typical of a seasoned player. This was a teammate she'd met in the third dungeon; they'd worked well together back then.

"You're in this instance too?" Han Yingying was a little surprised.

"This is the third time I've run into you." Shen Tang walked over and looked her up and down. "Why are you carrying a backpack?"

"...Don't ask."

There were other people in the corridor. Several figures appeared one after another, and Han Yingying glanced around; most were unfamiliar faces. Then she saw two people who weren't so unfamiliar—

A tall, thin boy wearing glasses looked very nervous. Beside him was a slightly chubby girl who was looking around nervously.

Chen Tao and Li Meng.

My teammates in the second instance. To be precise, they were "half teammates"—they were too scared to contribute much, and Han Yingying and another person cleared the instance in the end. I haven't contacted them since.

Chen Tao clearly recognized Han Yingying as well, and his expression was complicated, a little embarrassed but also a little relieved.

"Han, Han Yingying..." He pushed up his glasses. "What a coincidence."

"It is quite a coincidence," Han Yingying said.

Li Meng leaned closer, her voice low: "What kind of dungeon is this? Why isn't there even a hint?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than an announcement came over the loudspeaker in the corridor.

Welcome to the Queen Hotel.

[Number of players in this instance: 8]

[The rules will be announced in the lobby. All players are requested to assemble in the lobby on the first floor within five minutes.]

[Latecomers will have one revival opportunity deducted.]

"A resurrection opportunity?" Chen Tao's voice rose a octave. "This dungeon has a resurrection mechanism?"

"Having a resurrection mechanism means people will die," Shen Tang said. "Let's go, let's go to the lobby first."

Han Yingying followed along, counting as she went—there were six players she could see in the corridor, plus herself and Shen Tang, making a total of eight. But there was one person she couldn't see at all.

What about Zhou Lang?

She took out her phone and glanced at it—okay, there's no cell phone signal in the instance, so she can't contact anyone.

Upon entering the lobby, eight people stood in a row. The lobby was decorated like the reception area of ​​a high-end hotel. There was no one behind the counter, but there was a stack of papers and eight keys on the counter.

Shen Tang walked over and picked up the paper to read it. Han Yingying also stepped forward.

The rules were written on the paper:

The Queen Hotel has five floors, with six rooms on each floor.

Each player is assigned a room. The period from 10 PM to 6 AM the following day is the "ghostly period," during which players cannot linger in the corridor for more than three minutes.

[Mission: Find the hidden "Queen's Crown" in the hotel. The wearer can designate one person to be eliminated.]

[One clue will be provided daily, hidden in different locations within the hotel.]

[Dungeon Time Limit: Three days. If the Queen's Crown is not found after three days, all players will be eliminated.]

Han Yingying read the rules twice. The core problem of this instance was obvious—"one person is eliminated." This meant that there was competition among the players, and the person who found the crown had the power of life and death.

"Wait a minute." A voice came from behind the crowd.

Han Yingying turned around.

Zhou Lang stood at the entrance of the lobby, one hand in his pocket, as if he had just stepped out of the elevator. His hair was a little messy, obviously indicating that he had just been teleported in as well.

He glanced at the people present, his gaze lingering on Han Yingying's face for less than a second before looking away.

"Have you read the rules?" He walked over and stood naturally next to Han Yingying.

"You're quite late," Shen Tang said.

"The elevator is too slow," Zhou Lang said.