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

As the white light faded, Zhou Lang opened his eyes.

Beneath his feet lay a gray stone path, and above him, a perpetually gloomy sky. A transit point in a bizarre world—he had been here several times before, but each time he felt an inexplicable strangeness about this place.

The streets were lined with buildings of varying heights, their doors and windows tightly shut, and signs displaying the names of various shops. Shops, auction houses, information stations... it resembled a proper town, but there was no wind, no birdsong, and even the air seemed still.

"Damn, we're finally out." Zhao Qiang slumped to the ground, panting heavily. "I swear, if anyone lets me into an S-rank dungeon again, I'll change my surname to theirs."

Han Yingying stood next to Zhou Lang, and her teammates A, B, and C appeared one after another. A was a tall, thin guy with glasses, codenamed "Mirror"; B was a short-haired girl, codenamed "Bangs"; C was the biggest, codenamed "Third Brother".

The three of them didn't look well when they came out. One of them had bangs and bandages wrapped around his arm, and the third brother's jacket was missing half a sleeve.

"It's good that you're alive." Mirror adjusted his glasses, his voice hoarse.

Zhou Lang glanced around and frowned. There were more players in the transfer station than before, gathered in twos and threes, glancing in their direction from time to time.

Not right.

"Let's go to the information station first," Zhou Lang said.

They hadn't gone ten steps when the road ahead was blocked.

Seven or eight people, all wearing dark blue jackets with a grinning skull embroidered on their left chests. The leader was a bald man with a centipede tattooed on his neck, whose eyes narrowed into slits when he smiled.

"Hey, isn't this the one who cleared the S-rank dungeon?" the bald man clicked his tongue. "You came out pretty quickly."

Han Yingying blocked Zhou Lang's path half a step in front of him, staring warily at the other side.

Zhao Qiang got up from the ground and asked in a low voice, "Who is this?"

A passing player whispered something, and Zhao Qiang's expression changed: "Mad Dog Gang? The one ranked second?"

"Call them the Skull Splitter Society," the bald man corrected him, his tone unfriendly. "Mad Dog is what others call them, but we don't mind." He pointed at Han Yingying, "You killed three of us in the dungeon."

Han Ying was slightly taken aback.

During the chaotic battle in the instance, she did take care of a few players who were blocking her way, but the situation was urgent at the time, and she didn't pay attention to who they were.

"Swords have no eyes in dungeons, if you die, blame yourself for being bad." Zhou Lang walked out from behind Han Yingying, his tone as calm as if he were saying that the weather was nice today.

The bald man's smile froze for a moment.

"Who are you?"

"Passerby A".

Zhao Qiang: "..." Can you please stop being so arrogant?

The bald man stared at Zhou Lang for a few seconds, then at Han Yingying, but ultimately didn't make a move. Players weren't allowed to attack each other in the transfer station; that was the rule. But before leaving, he left with a parting remark:

"Once we're out of the safe zone, I'd better not run into you."

After the crowd dispersed, Han Yingying noticed the huge, semi-transparent screens hanging on both sides of the street. Various images were scrolling across them—all live recordings from inside the instance.

She saw her own face on one of the screens.

In the video, she is wielding a sword against a deformed monster in an S-rank dungeon, her movements swift and precise. The caption reads: "Newcomer Han Yingying, clears her first S-rank dungeon, rating—perfect."

The comments flew across the bottom of the screen.

"This girl is fierce."

"Stop bragging, you were just lucky."

"How long can they keep jumping around after offending the Skull Split Society? I'm waiting to see them get their comeuppance."

"Those people from the Skull Split Society are insane; whoever touches them is doomed."

Han Yingying turned her gaze away from the screen.

Mirror leaned closer and lowered his voice: "The situation is bad. The Skull Splitter has a lot of influence in this area. I've heard that their leader's nickname is 'Skull Splitter,' and he's... not quite normal."

"How abnormal is it?" Zhao Qiang asked.

"Last time, someone stole a piece of equipment from him in the dungeon. He was cornered for three whole days after he came out. In the end, the person handed over the equipment and even paid him two thousand Weird Coins to settle the matter."

Zhao Qiang swallowed.

Han Yingying was silent for a while, then turned to look at the mirror, her bangs, and the third brother.

"Untie yourselves."

The three of them were taken aback.

"Following me will only get me implicated," Han Yingying said. "Will Lielong let me go?"

"What did you say, Sister Han?" Qi Liuhai was the first to object. "You saved my life in the dungeon, why are you untying me?"

"Exactly," the third brother said in a muffled voice, "We might as well fight it out."

The mirror didn't speak, but it took off its glasses, wiped them, and put them back on—a habitual action when making decisions.

"If I follow you, my chances of winning are higher," he said.

Han Yingying then looked at Zhou Lang.

Zhou Lang was squatting by the roadside studying a notice board that listed the rankings and territorial divisions of the major guilds. Without turning his head, he simply said:

"Stop dawdling and lead the way to the information station."

Zhao Qiang rolled his eyes. "Can't you say something like 'I won't abandon you'?"

I will not abandon you.

Zhao Qiang: "...I was talking to her."

Zhou Lang glanced at Zhao Qiang, his expression conveying the message: You're sick.

Han Yingying didn't mention the untying again.

wake up.

Han Yingying sat up in bed. It was still dark outside the window, and her phone screen showed 4:17 a.m.

It was that feeling again—ever since returning from the strange world, she felt something changing within her. Strength, speed, and… perception.

She could hear her roommate breathing in the next room and smell the lingering detergent odor from the washing machine at the end of the third-floor corridor. This would have been impossible a month ago.

The abilities gained in the dungeon are permeating into reality.

Han Yingying didn't go back to sleep. She got up, turned on her computer, and pulled up the information she had collected during this period.

Ever since she first entered the eerie world, she began recording every anomaly. At first, they were just small things: extra shadows under streetlights, reflections in mirrors that were delayed by half a beat, and goods that suddenly appeared and disappeared on supermarket shelves late at night.

But in the last two weeks, things have escalated.

In the alley near the south gate of the school, someone saw a non-existent door at 3 a.m. The emergency lights in the fire escape change color on their own—from white to green. Even more bizarrely, she saw someone hanging upside down on the fifth-floor wall outside a second-floor window of the library, crawling for three seconds before disappearing.

No one else noticed these things, or rather, those who did notice were afraid to speak up.

Han Yingying opened an encrypted folder containing her compiled timeline. The pattern of each strange occurrence was clear—the frequency was increasing. The first and second occurrences were fourteen days apart, the second and third eleven days apart, and the third and fourth only eight days apart.

She grabbed her coat and went out the door.

The campus was eerily quiet in the early morning, the streetlights casting long shadows. Han Yingying hurried towards the grove behind the library—the place where she had sensed the most unusual thing last time.

She stopped when she reached the edge of the woods.

The air had changed. The temperature plummeted, and her ears were ringing, as if something was interfering with her senses.