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

Zhou Lang's chainsaw swept across, slicing down two corpse demons in one go. Zhao Qiang's fists tore the corpse demons to pieces. But they kept repairing themselves, kept getting up, and kept charging forward.

A corpse demon's claw slashed across Zhao Qiang's back, leaving three bloody gashes. Zhao Qiang groaned, but didn't stop.

"Heal!" Han Ying used her healing hand on Zhao Qiang. The wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, but she only had three chances a day, and each use reduced her chances.

Zhou Lang was attacked by two corpse demons at the same time. He blocked one with a chainsaw, but the claws of the other left a deep wound on his shoulder that exposed the bone.

The pain made him instinctively take a step back, while simultaneously pulling a defensive talisman from his pocket. The talisman activated, enveloping his entire body in a golden shield and deflecting the corpse demon's second attack.

However, the defensive spell only lasts for ten seconds.

"We can't hold on any longer!" someone in the group shouted.

Zhou Lang looked around, his mind racing. He couldn't be killed, he couldn't escape; being trapped here meant certain death. Unless—

He looked at the sealed iron gate.

"Zhao Qiang, block for me for ten seconds," Zhou Lang said.

"What are you doing?"

"Blow up the door."

Zhou Lang reached into his bag and touched the oil lamp. It was a ghost-igniting device that could release ghost fire. He had never tried concentrating the ghost fire into a single point before, but he had no other choice now.

Without saying a word, Zhao Qiang used his body to block Zhou Lang and knocked back the approaching corpse demons with a single punch.

Zhou Lang raised the oil lamp and twisted open the lamp cover. Green will-o'-the-wisps emerged from the wick. He placed his hand on the iron gate, guiding the will-o'-the-wisps into the crack in the door.

The door panel started to turn red.

Five seconds.

Zhao Qiang was struck by a claw, sent flying two meters and crashing into a wall. Han Yingying quickly treated him—she had used up her second chance.

Eight seconds.

The iron gate emitted a metallic, twisting sound. The seal began to crumble.

ten seconds.

"boom--"

The iron gate was blasted open by the will-o'-the-wisp, and everything behind it was blown to pieces.

"Hurry up!" Zhou Lang shouted.

The third squad filed into the emergency passage. The passage sloped upwards, leading straight to the ground. They ran desperately, the roar of the stitched-up corpse demon echoing behind them, but the sound grew fainter and fainter.

The exit is an open space behind the factory.

The moment he rushed out, Zhou Lang collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. Zhao Qiang lay beside him, his back soaked in blood. Han Yingying knelt on the ground, her face deathly pale.

Of the eight people in the third squad, six survived.

The other two remained underground forever.

Li Feng's voice came through the walkie-talkie: "All squads, operation terminated. Repeat, operation terminated. Immediately evacuate to the rendezvous point."

Zhou Lang looked at the sky. The sun was still high overhead, and although it was broad daylight, it felt cold.

More than fifty players went in, but only thirty-one returned to the rendezvous point.

Military vehicles were parked by the roadside, and medics were treating the wounded. Zhou Lang's shoulder wound had been simply bandaged, while Zhao Qiang's three wounds on his back required more than a dozen stitches. His face was blank, and he remained silent.

"Nearly twenty people died." Han Yingying sat on the curb, her voice trembling. "Those stitched corpse demons were not three-star level at all; they were at least four-star."

Zhou Lang remained silent.

The intelligence was incorrect, or rather, outdated. That instance is constantly getting stronger, and the monsters inside are also evolving.

This operation failed.

That evening, Zhou Lang lay on his hospital bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

The shoulder wound wasn't serious; after the treatment, the bone had begun to heal. But the feeling of helplessness in the face of an unkillable monster wasn't so easy to process.

The door to the ward was pushed open.

It wasn't a nurse who came in, but a woman in a dark blue trench coat. She was in her thirties, with short hair, a cold expression, and a strange metal badge on her waist.

"Zhou Lang?" the woman asked, her voice flat.

"Who are you?"

"Fang Ye, from the Bureau of Investigation." The woman pulled up a chair and sat down. "You did a good job in today's operation; someone has recommended you."

"Why would you recommend me for something?" Zhou Lang became wary.

Fang Ye took a document out of her bag and placed it on the bedside table.

"There's a problem with a C-rank dungeon," she said. "The dungeon is called 'The Mysterious House,' located in Duyang Town. It started showing abnormalities three months ago. Players who went in came out mentally unstable, and two of them went completely insane."

"Can a C-rank dungeon really drive people crazy?"

"That's why we need to investigate," Fang Ye said. "We suspect that a high-level anomaly has invaded this instance, causing some kind of... qualitative change within it."

"Why didn't you send your own people?"

"Sent." Fang Ye's expression didn't change much. "They haven't come back."

Zhou Lang: "..."

"The reward is very generous," Fang Ye said. "Ten thousand points of mystery, plus a three-star ghost artifact. If you can find out the cause of the anomaly and bring back information, I'll add another five thousand."

Fifteen thousand points of unpredictability, a three-star ghost artifact. This number tempted Zhou Lang, but it also made him more nervous—the higher the reward, the more dangerous the mission.

"Should I go alone?"

"No, I've put you in a team," Fang Ye said. "There are four people in total: you, your teammate Han Yingying, and two other candidates."

Where is Zhao Qiang?

"His injuries are too severe; he'll need at least two weeks to recover." Fang Ye stood up. "We're leaving the day after tomorrow; the meeting point is in the documents. I suggest you get some rest."

She walked to the door and paused for a moment.

"There's something I need to remind you—your two new teammates aren't ordinary people. One is a B-level player, and the other..." Fang Ye didn't finish his sentence, leaving the rest unsaid before leaving the room.

Zhou Lang picked up the documents from the bedside table and flipped through them.

The team roster has four names: Zhou Lang, Han Yingying, Song Nian, and Gu Yan.

He had never seen the last two names before.

"Bandage, did you hear that?" Zhou Lang said to the air.

The bandaged man's voice came from behind his cane: "A C-level dungeon, invaded by a high-level anomaly. If you go in, things might get even worse than today."

"Fifteen thousand," Zhou Lang said.

What's the use of money if you're dead?

"We'll see how things go." Zhou Lang closed the file. "Besides, if the problem with that instance isn't resolved, it'll affect more people sooner or later. You saw the situation in the Ghost Realm today; the eerie creatures are getting stronger, and the longer we delay, the more trouble we'll cause."

The bandaged man didn't say anything more.

Zhou Lang turned off the light and closed his eyes.

The images from the daytime were still replaying in my mind—the body parts stitched together with black thread, the joints that automatically reconnected after breaking, and the empty eye sockets that could accurately locate living people even without eyes.

Horror Game, what a fitting name.

Two days later, in Duyang Town.

The town is small; it takes less than half an hour to walk from one end to the other. It is surrounded by low mountains covered with dense trees. Most of the houses in the town are old-fashioned brick and tile structures, with a few new buildings standing out incongruously.

Zhou Lang and Han Yingying arrived at the town entrance by bus. Han Yingying carried a large sketchbook and wore an old sweatshirt stained with paint, making her look like an art student.

"Your disguise is quite convincing," Zhou Lang said. He was wearing a black hoodie, carrying a backpack, and holding a bag of art supplies—full of ghost artifacts.