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

The final level of the Ghost Realm dungeon was filled with the stench of decay and sulfur.

Zhou Lang kicked open the iron door to the third basement level, revealing a vast space—the boiler room of an abandoned factory had been transformed into the lair of the Ghost King. Black mycelium crawled all over the walls, and a pool of dark red liquid had accumulated in a depression in the floor.

The Ghost King stood in the very center of the room.

The thing was at least three meters tall, its body sewn with parts from different human bodies. Its face was pieced together; the left half was the face of a young woman, and the right half was that of an old man. It had four arms, each thicker than Zhou Lang's waist.

When more than fifty players broke in, only twenty-seven remained.

"Spread out!" Li Feng's voice came through the walkie-talkie. "First echelon, engage the enemy head-on; second echelon, find the core!"

Zhou Lang was assigned to the second group. He, Zhao Qiang, and Han Ying followed four other players around to the back of the Ghost King to search for the core of the dungeon.

The Ghost King let out a sharp howl and swung its two arms at the players in front of it. One player who reacted slowly was instantly smashed into a meat pie.

"The core is there!" Han Yingying shouted, pointing to a raised patch of ground beneath the Ghost King's feet.

Zhou Lang saw it too. The ground was glowing, with dark red veins extending outwards from the center, like blood vessels.

"How are we supposed to get across? The Ghost King is standing on top of it," Zhao Qiang cursed.

"Wait for an opportunity." Zhou Lang observed the Ghost King's movement patterns. This thing was large and slow to turn; as long as he could restrain it from the front—

The Ghost King suddenly turned his head to look in their direction.

Those spliced ​​eyes had no pupils, only two dark, gaping holes. It opened its mouth, revealing a mouthful of interlocking teeth, and let out a laugh.

It wasn't a howl, it was laughter.

"It has spotted us!" Before Zhao Qiang could finish speaking, the Ghost King had already stepped over.

"Scatter!" Zhou Lang rolled to the right, dodging the descending fist. A crater half a meter deep was punched into the ground.

Zhao Qiang used his strength enhancement, carrying a steel pipe as he charged forward, aiming a blow at the Ghost King's knee. The steel pipe bent, but the Ghost King showed little reaction.

"Are you kidding me?" Zhao Qiang was dumbfounded.

Han Yingying shouted from behind, "Don't fight head-on! Buy time! The core has been exposed!"

The Ghost King moved away. As it chased after the second group, the glowing ground beneath its feet was completely exposed.

Zhou Lang rushed forward without hesitation.

The chainsaw started, its blade cutting into the ground. The red veins seemed enraged, throbbing violently. The Ghost King let out an unprecedented howl behind him, turning and lunging forward.

"Zhao Qiang!"

Zhao Qiang and three other players stood in front of the Ghost King. Two of them were slapped away, but Zhao Qiang managed to withstand the attack for a second.

enough.

Zhou Lang pressed the chainsaw down to the bottom, cutting the red core in half.

The demon king's howl abruptly ceased. Its massive body froze in place, cracks spreading from its chest, crumbling like shattered porcelain.

Dungeon cleared - Level completed.

A white light enveloped everyone, and Zhou Lang felt a sudden weightlessness before finding himself standing at the entrance of the abandoned factory. The sunlight was so bright it was blinding.

Seventeen people survived.

Li Feng's expression darkened after counting the number of people. More than half of the team of over fifty had been wiped out. Even if the dungeon level was indeed high, the casualty ratio was still too terrible.

"The rewards will be credited to your accounts within two hours," Li Feng said. "You can disband now."

The crowd dispersed. Some sat on the ground gasping for breath, others were crying. A player, clutching his mangled left arm, was helped into an ambulance by a medic.

Zhou Lang leaned against the wall. He was in pain all over, but there were no fatal injuries. Han Yingying came over and used her healing hand technique on both him and Zhao Qiang.

"There's only one left, so be careful." She herself looked disheveled.

Zhao Qiang lay on the ground, groaning as he touched his ribs: "I think I broke two of them."

"Three roots," Han Ying corrected.

"...Thank you, that makes me feel much better."

The three were resting when several people approached. Leading them was a tall man in a black trench coat, who appeared to be in his early thirties. Behind him were two people, a man and a woman.

"Zhou Lang?" the tall man asked.

Zhou Lang looked up at him.

"My name is Lu Ming, vice president of the Soul Devouring Guild," the tall man introduced himself politely. "I saw your performance in the dungeon earlier. Interested in joining our guild?"

Before Zhou Lang could speak, two more groups approached. One group wore blue team uniforms, and the other white. The group in blue said, "We're from the Dawn Guild. Our guild leader would like to speak with you." The group in white said, "The Celestial Pivot Guild, would you like to consider it?"

Zhao Qiang sat up from the ground, his eyes wide. Three unions coming to snatch him away at the same time—this was quite a show of force.

"No," Han Yingying suddenly said.

Several people looked at her.

"We don't plan to join any union," Han Yingying said calmly.

Lu Ming raised an eyebrow: "And this is...?"

"My teammate," Zhou Lang said, "She's right, we don't have that plan for the time being."

The people from Dawn and Sky Pivot were alright; they exchanged a few polite words and left. Lu Ming didn't move. He stared at Han Yingying for a few seconds, then smiled: "Little girl, do you know what refusing the Soul Devouring Guild means?"

"I don't know," Han Yingying said. "Does it mean anything?"

"Our union is ranked second," Lu Ming said. "The benefits of joining us—"

"No need for introductions." Zhou Lang stood up. "I said I won't join, and that's final."

Lu Ming's smile vanished. He glanced at Zhou Lang, then at Han Yingying, and said, "Fine." He turned and left.

After taking a few steps, he turned back and said, "I hope you won't regret it."

Zhao Qiang and the others walked a distance before speaking: "What's wrong with this guy? He threatens people after refusing an invitation?"

Han Yingying shook her head: "The Soul Devouring Guild has a bad reputation. Some people rejected them before, and later got tricked in a dungeon."

"Then why did you refuse to my face?"

"If not to your face, then behind your back?" Han Yingying retorted.

Zhao Qiang: "...Alright then."

The next two days passed peacefully. The reward arrived—5000 points of Mystery and a two-star Ghost Artifact, the "Spider Silk Gloves." Zhou Lang gave the gloves to Han Yingying, whose melee abilities were the weakest; these gloves would increase her evasion rate.

But on the third day, things changed.

Zhou Lang received three messages. One was from the Dawn Guild, and another from the Celestial Pivot Guild; both contained similar messages—"Cooperation canceled, sorry."

He never discussed cooperation with either of these companies.

Zhao Qiang also received something similar. Even more outrageous, a batch of items he had previously listed on the exchange were all maliciously bought up at a lower price.

"It was done by the Soul Devouring Guild," Han Yingying said after checking the forum.

There's a post on the forum claiming that Zhou Lang and Han Yingying were greedy for credit and stole equipment during the cleanup operation, and even implying that they betrayed their teammates. The post was written in a very convincing way, and even included screenshots—of course, they were photoshopped.

"Damn," Zhao Qiang cursed, "These people actually believe that?"

"Whether you believe it or not is not important," Han Ying said. "What's important is that other guilds don't want to mess with Soul Eater. So they'd rather distance themselves from us."