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

Before the operation began, Li Feng divided everyone into six teams.

Zhou Lang, Zhao Qiang, and Han Yingying were assigned to the third team, which included five other players, all of whom were veteran players around thirty years old. They were all taciturn and covered in strange-looking ghost artifacts.

"Third squad, take charge of the central assault and clear the factory's first-floor lobby," Li Feng's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

Zhou Lang gripped the chainsaw and followed the group into the factory through the main gate.

The moment the iron gate was pushed open, a strong stench of decay assaulted their nostrils. Zhao Qiang gagged beside him, while Han Yingying covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve.

The factory was much larger inside than it appeared from the outside, with ceilings ten meters high, rusty robotic arms extending from the walls, and the floor covered in black slime.

"There's movement," a bald man at the front of the line whispered.

Zhou Lang saw it—deep in the hall, seven or eight humanoid creatures were lying on a huge machine. Their bodies were stitched together from different pieces of flesh, the stitches were rough, and pus was oozing from the seams between the pieces of flesh.

Stitching Corpse Demon.

Samsung Ghost.

The intelligence said there were ten, and there are seven or eight in this hall alone.

"Damn it, wasn't Samsung supposed to be in there?" Zhao Qiang cursed.

The bald man raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop. He drew a bone knife from his waist and slashed it in the air.

An invisible ripple spread outwards.

Seven or eight stitched-up corpse demons turned their heads at the same time.

They had no eyes; their empty eye sockets were filled with black yarn, but each one was accurately "looking" in the direction of the third squad.

"Hit him!" the bald man roared.

Eight people attacked at the same time.

Zhou Lang activated the chainsaw and charged at the nearest stitched-up zombie. The chainsaw's teeth bit into the zombie's waist, shredding rotting flesh and splattering black blood. But the zombie did not fall; its two hands—one belonging to an adult male, the other to a child—grabbed the chainsaw's chain.

"It's fixing!" Han Yingying shouted.

Zhou Lang saw it; the cut waist was being stitched up at a speed visible to the naked eye. The black threads were automatically threading the needle, piecing the pieces of flesh back together.

Zhao Qiang rushed forward and slammed his fist into the corpse demon's head. The power enhancement doubled the force of the punch. The corpse demon's head tilted to an impossible angle, and the sound of its neck breaking was clearly audible.

But it's still moving.

The severed neck was pulled back into place with black thread, and the stitching continued.

"This thing is impossible to kill." Zhao Qiang took two steps back.

Zhou Lang quickly recalled the information: the ghosts would keep resurrecting, and the core of the dungeon had to be found to completely eliminate them.

"Stop arguing, push it in!" the bald man shouted.

The battle turned into a breakout. The eight people fought and retreated, or rather, fought and advanced. The stitched-up corpse demon was cut down and got up again, was scattered and pieced back together, like an endless swarm of cockroaches.

The third squad struggled through the hall and into the corridor at the back. The bald man used a ghost artifact to set up a barrier at the entrance to the corridor, temporarily blocking the pursuing corpse demons.

"Third squad reporting," Li Feng's voice came through the walkie-talkie. "What's the situation in the lobby?"

The bald man pressed the call button: "There are eight stitched corpse demons in the lobby, three-star level, which cannot be killed. We can only disperse them temporarily."

The walkie-talkie was silent for three seconds.

"Received. Attention all squads, the situation on the first floor is more serious than expected. Do not advance rashly on the second and third floors for now; await further instructions."

Zhou Lang leaned against the corridor wall, panting. The battle just now had taken a toll on his stamina. Although it only lasted a few minutes, the mental pressure from facing an unkillable monster was greater than the physical exhaustion.

"First squad reporting—we have lost two men." Another voice came through the walkie-talkie.

"Fifth Squad reports – Encountered a large number of one-star monsters, currently clearing them out."

"Second squad—"

A scream suddenly came through the walkie-talkie, followed by a barrage of gunfire and explosions, before finally fading into silence.

Everyone's expression changed.

"Second squad? Second squad, answer!" Li Feng's voice became urgent.

no respond.

Zhao Qiang and Zhou Lang exchanged a glance, both reading the same thing in each other's eyes—this operation was far more dangerous than they had anticipated.

A crashing sound came from outside the barrier. The stitched-up corpse demons began to attack the barrier set up by the bald man.

"We can't hold out much longer," the bald man said. "Go underground."

"Underground?" Zhou Lang frowned. "The core is on the third underground level. Shall we go straight there?"

"Don't go to the core, find the emergency exit," the bald man said. "This operation has failed; survival is the priority."

Cracks appeared on the barrier.

"Walk!"

The third squad ran down the corridor and found a staircase leading downwards. On the wall next to the staircase was a faded factory floor plan, labeled "B1 - Equipment Room", "B2 - Warehouse", and "B3 - Core Reaction Chamber".

"The emergency exit is on the east side of level B1," the bald man said, pointing to the map. "Let's go down, find the exit, and evacuate from the outside."

The group quickly went downstairs.

The basement level was quieter than expected, with no ghosts, only the buzzing of old equipment and flickering lights. But the quiet was more unsettling than the noise.

Halfway there, Han Yingying suddenly grabbed Zhou Lang's sleeve.

"On the ground," she whispered.

Zhou Lang looked down and saw drag marks on the ground. They were dark red and stretched all the way to the corner of the corridor ahead.

It wasn't blood, but some kind of dark red, viscous substance.

"Go around it," the bald man said.

The third team hugged the wall and went around the corner without checking the end of the drag marks.

The emergency exit is just twenty meters ahead. It's an iron gate with a sign that says "Emergency Exit".

The bald man strode up and pushed the door open.

The door didn't move.

He increased his strength. Still, it didn't budge.

"It's locked." The bald man's expression changed.

Zhao Qiang went over to help, and the two of them pushed together. The iron gate didn't budge.

"Let me do it." A tall, thin man stepped out from the group, wearing a pair of metal gloves, some kind of ghostly artifact. He punched the door, denting it, but it didn't open.

"This door is sealed by ghostly energy." The tall, thin man stepped back. "It's sealed from the inside."

The fact that it was sealed from the inside means there's something on the other side of the emergency exit.

Everyone fell silent.

"Let's go back and find another way," the bald man decided.

Just as they turned around, footsteps echoed from the depths of the corridor.

Many footsteps.

Irregular, dragging, like a group of people with broken legs crawling on the ground.

"Damn it—" Zhao Qiang cursed.

The Stitched Corpse Demon has caught up with them.

There were more than eight than before; now there looked to be at least a dozen. They surged in from both ends of the corridor, blocking the third squad in the middle.

The gates were blocked in front, and pursuers were behind.

"Prepare for battle." The bald man raised his bone knife.

Zhou Lang started the chainsaw. Zhao Qiang activated his power enhancement. Han Yingying retreated to the middle of the group, ready to provide healing at any time.

The battle broke out again.

This time there's no turning back; we have no choice but to fight.