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

Zhou Lang's heart sank. It seemed that the intelligence of high-level ghosts might far exceed their expectations.

"Don't get separated!" Zhao Qiang made a decisive decision. "Proceed with the original plan: quickly clear this building first, then immediately rendezvous with the other groups!"

Without further hesitation, the five groups rushed into the office building. The corridors were empty, save for the sound of their footsteps and heavy breathing. They searched every office and every storage room, finding nothing but dust and trash. They went all the way up to the rooftop on the third floor.

"Damn it, not a single ghost hair!" Zhao Qiang kicked the rusty iron railing in frustration.

Just then, a crackling sound came from the walkie-talkie, followed by intermittent shouts: "...East side...warehouse area...under attack...Samsung...repeated, Samsung...requesting..."

It's either Group Two or Group Seven! The sound was quickly swallowed up by the noise.

Samsung Ghost appeared so quickly? Zhou Lang and Zhao Qiang exchanged a glance, both seeing the seriousness in each other's eyes.

"Let's go!" Zhao Qiang said, "To the east warehouse!"

The five groups immediately rushed down the stairs. Just as they reached the corner on the second floor, the programmer in the lead suddenly braked, nearly colliding with the crossbowmen behind him.

"What's wrong?" Zhao Qiang asked.

The programmer pointed to the wall at the corner of the stairs, where, at some point, a crooked symbol had been drawn with a dark red liquid that looked like dried blood. The symbol was simple, like a circle with a cross in the middle.

The crossbowman leaned closer for a look, then shook his head: "Don't recognize it."

"It looks like some kind of mark," Zhou Lang said, his bad premonition growing stronger. He remembered the "hidden mission" mentioned in the intelligence file. Could this symbol be a clue?

There was no time to investigate further. The faint sounds of fighting and screams coming from the east reminded them that their comrades were fighting a fierce battle. The five groups continued their descent, rushing out of the office building.

The sight outside made them all stop in their tracks.

The once empty main road of the factory area was now filled with many shadowy figures. These were no longer the slow-moving, wandering corpses of before, but rather men and women dressed in various clothes, their movements relatively agile, yet all bearing expressions of pain or blankness. They were two-star ghosts, "possessed by vengeful spirits"! Their numbers... at least twenty, were slowly and deliberately approaching them from all directions.

Further away, in the direction of the eastern warehouse district, towering flames illuminated half the sky, while explosions, gunshots, and ghostly howls mingled together.

"We're surrounded," the crossbowman calmly stated the fact.

The programmer's face was deathly pale, his hands trembling. Han Yingying gripped the medical kit straps tightly. Zhao Qiang gripped the iron rod, his arm muscles bulging.

Zhou Lang took a deep breath—wait, he couldn't write it like that. He forcefully exhaled a breath of stale air, his gaze sweeping over the approaching vengeful spirits, then looking at the distant battlefield ablaze with flames.

"Charge to the warehouse area," Zhou Lang said, his voice low but exceptionally clear. "Dying at the hands of the Ghost King is better than being worn down by these bastards here. Stay close, don't fall behind!"

Without further hesitation, he abruptly started the chainsaw.

A piercing roar abruptly shattered the factory's deathly silence, the chainsaw teeth spinning wildly in the dim light. Zhou Lang charged ahead, the chainsaw like the fangs of a ferocious beast, slashing viciously at the foremost vengeful spirit. The spirit tried to dodge, but the chainsaw was too fast; the filthy work clothes, along with the twisted limbs inside, were shredded to pieces.

"Go!" Zhao Qiang roared, unleashing his full power. He swept his iron rod across, smashing away the two vengeful spirits that were attacking from the flanks.

The crossbowmen retreated while firing, each arrow taking down an enemy. The programmer's fingers tapped randomly, attempting to interfere again, but this time the effect was weak; these vengeful spirits seemed to lack any electronic components to disrupt them. Han Yingying followed in the middle, her face tense, ready to provide treatment at any moment.

Like a sharp knife, the five-man team, braving the ever-growing number of vengeful spirits, struggled to advance towards the eastern warehouse area. The roar of chainsaws, the muffled thud of iron bars, the whistling of crossbow bolts, and the howls of ghosts mingled together.

Zhou Lang's arms began to ache; the weight and recoil of the chainsaw were taking a heavy toll on his stamina. He hacked down one vengeful spirit, and before he could even catch his breath, another lunged at him from the side. Zhao Qiang managed to knock it away with a swift blow, but the other vengeful spirit's fingers grazed Zhao Qiang's back, leaving three bloody gashes.

"Brother Qiang!" Han Yingying exclaimed.

"Don't worry about me! Keep going!" Zhao Qiang roared, smashing the vengeful spirit's head with a backhand strike.

In the chaos, Zhou Lang caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye that the blood-red circle and cross symbol that had been on the wall outside their office building was now appearing on the wall of a warehouse in another direction. They were exactly the same.

What do these symbols mean?

He didn't have time to think it through, because the scene of the warehouse area ahead had already come into view.

Flames erupted from the windows of several warehouses. The open space in front of the warehouses was a scene of utter devastation. Several players' corpses lay there, and many more wounded were struggling. Several figures, significantly larger than ordinary vengeful spirits and clad in tattered armor or animal hides, were rampaging through the crowd. Three-star ghouls, "The Butcher"!

One butcher wielded a massive bone axe, cleaving a player in two, shield and all. Another butcher extended a giant, scaly claw and crushed the skull of another player.

Bloody and cruel.

All five groups froze on the spot. The programmer's legs went weak, and he almost knelt down. The crossbowman's finger hovered over the trigger, but he didn't fire. Han Yingying covered her mouth.

Is this the power of Samsung's Ghost?

"Let's...let's retreat..." the programmer stammered, "We can't win..."

"Where to retreat to?" Zhao Qiang's voice was also a little dry. "There are vengeful spirits everywhere behind us!"

Zhou Lang gripped the chainsaw handle tightly, his palms sweating. The roar of the chainsaw sounded so weak at this moment. The intelligence said there were ten three-star ghosts, and there were probably three or four here. Where was the ghost king, which was suspected to be four-star?

His gaze swept across the chaotic battlefield, then suddenly settled on a small, sturdy, isolated building deep within the warehouse district. The building was not on fire, and in the second-floor window, a vague, dark figure stood motionless, as if "watching" the massacre.

The Ghost King? Zhou Lang's heart skipped a beat.

Just then, the dark figure seemed to notice Zhou Lang's gaze and turned its head slightly.

There were no eyes, no facial features, only a writhing mass of darkness. But Zhou Lang clearly felt that he was being "watched".

A chilling sensation crept up my spine.

The feeling lasted only a moment before the shadowy figure at the window turned back to face the chaotic battlefield once more. It was as if the eye contact just now was merely Zhou Lang's illusion.

But he knew it wasn't.

"Ignore that!" Zhou Lang snapped back to reality and roared, "Move against the wall! Clear out the vengeful spirits and relieve the pressure on the warehouse area!"