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

Zhou Lang put down his phone, his face grim. Being smeared with dirty water felt terrible, but he had no way to retaliate at the moment. The Soul Devouring Guild was ranked second, with dozens of high-level players under its command. What could the three of them possibly use to fight against them?

"Bear with it for now," Zhou Lang said. "We'll talk about it when we're strong enough."

Han Yingying glanced at him but didn't say anything. There was a complex emotion in her eyes, as if she was thinking about something far away.

"By the way," she suddenly said, "have you guys noticed how... quiet it's been lately?"

"Quiet?" Zhao Qiang asked, puzzled.

"That's weird," Han Ying said. "Not a single weird thing has happened since the last instance ended. Don't you guys find that unusual?"

Zhou Lang was taken aback. He had been busy dealing with the troubles of the Soul Devouring Guild these past few days and hadn't noticed this.

But Han Yingying is right.

Since the horror game began, the frequency of bizarre events in reality has been increasing. Every three or four days, there are news reports of unusual phenomena in some place, or people going missing in some location. But in the days since the cleanup operation ended, nothing has happened.

It's too quiet.

"The calm before the storm?" Zhao Qiang said.

No one answered.

The silence lasted for a whole week.

Zhou Lang spent his days browsing forums, reading news, and following all information channels related to the supernatural. Nothing. It was as if horror games had suddenly had a change of heart and given everyone a break.

The bandaged man also disappeared. Not physically—he was still in the rented room, but hadn't said a word all day. When Zhou Lang asked him a question, he only replied with one word: "Wait."

What are you waiting for?

On the eighth day, the answer came.

That night at 11 p.m., Zhou Lang was getting ready for bed. Suddenly, a system notification popped up on his phone:

The eighth instance will open in 72 hours. Rank: S.

S-rank. Same as last time. Zhou Lang is used to it.

But then, a second notification popped up.

[WARNING: Large-scale, eerie fluctuations detected. All players are advised to be vigilant.]

Article 3.

[Warning: The intensity of the anomaly exceeds expectations. Current level assessment—]

The notification box suddenly shattered. Like a broken screen, the text turned into gibberish and then disappeared.

Zhou Lang stared at his phone screen. Everything was back to normal, as if nothing had happened.

"bandage."

"Coming." The bandaged man's voice came from behind. This time, it wasn't lazy; it carried an unusual tension.

"What was that just now?"

"System overload," the bandaged man said. "The eerie concentration is too high; the system crashed before it could assess the level."

Is that even possible?

"That was impossible before," the bandaged man said, "but it's happened now."

Zhou Lang grabbed his coat and headed outside.

"Where to?"

"Find Han Yingying and Zhao Qiang."

"You'll die if you go out."

Zhou Lang placed his hand on the doorknob and glanced back at the bandaged man.

"I'm not exaggerating." The bandaged man was unusually serious. "The eeriness outside is so intense that it's visible to the naked eye. If you go out alone, you'll be watched within ten minutes."

Zhou Lang hesitated for two seconds, then took out his phone and dialed Han Yingying's number.

It rang three times before being answered.

"Zhou Lang?" Han Yingying's voice was a little hurried, and there was the sound of wind in the background.

"Are you outside?"

"Yes, I just came out of the convenience store," Han Yingying said. "Something's wrong; there's fog on the street. There shouldn't be fog at this time of year."

"Go home, right away," Zhou Lang said.

"I know. I'm—"

Her voice trailed off.

"Han Yingying?"

Silence. Three seconds later, her voice came out again, very low: "Something is following me."

Zhou Lang gripped his phone tightly.

"What is it?"

"I can't see clearly. The fog is too thick. But I can hear footsteps, more than one."

Zhou Lang made a decision. He hung up the phone, rummaged through the cabinet for a chainsaw and an oil lamp, and stuffed a handful of defensive talismans into his backpack.

"Are you really going?" the bandaged man asked.

"nonsense."

Zhou Lang opened the door. The lights in the hallway flickered, sometimes bright, sometimes dim. There was a metallic smell in the air, like blood, but not quite. He shared his location with Han Yingying, then quickly went downstairs.

Once he stepped out of the building, he understood what the bandaged man meant by "visible to the naked eye."

Fog. So thick it was almost slicing. Visibility was less than five meters, and the streetlights were mostly swallowed up by the fog, leaving only a blurry yellow halo.

The location sent by Han Yingying was near a convenience store three blocks away.

Zhou Lang started running.

Two minutes later he arrived near the location. The convenience store's shutter door was half-closed, the lights inside were on, but there was no one there.

"Han Yingying?" he called softly.

"this."

The sound came from the alley next to the convenience store. Zhou Lang went around and saw Han Yingying squatting behind a trash can, holding a spider silk glove in her hand.

"Are you alright?"

"It's alright." She stood up. "Those things are gone."

"What is it?"

"I don't know." Han Yingying shook her head. "A shadow. Human-shaped. It walks silently, but... you can smell it."

Zhou Lang frowned: "What do you smell?"

"Sweet," Han Yingying said. "A very sweet, rotten smell."

"Let's go back first."

The two hurried back. They didn't encounter the shadows on the way, but the fog grew thicker. When they returned to Zhou Lang's rented room, Zhao Qiang was already squatting at the door.

"You two are finally back!" Zhao Qiang was covered in sweat. "What's going on outside? There's a hand sticking out of the wall in my building's hallway!"

"Let's go inside and talk."

The three entered the house. The bandaged man sat on the table and glanced at them.

Zhao Qiang was startled: "You've raised a ghost?"

"I am a ghost artifact," the bandaged man said coldly.

"Oh." Zhao Qiang readily agreed. "Alright. Can you tell me what's going on outside?"

The bandaged man ignored him and looked at Han Yingying: "You can sense a strange aura?"

Han Yingying nodded: "It started about three months ago. At first it was very blurry, but it's become clearer and clearer recently."

The bandaged man remained silent for a moment.

"This is not a skill that an ordinary player should have," he said.

Han Yingying didn't reply. Her expression was calm, but her fingers were gently stroking the edge of her spider silk glove.

Three days passed in terror. The fog lifted, and the eeriness subsided, but everyone knew in their hearts—this was just a rehearsal.

The eighth instance opened on time.

When the white light descended, Zhou Lang had already made all the preparations. He brought everything he could: a chainsaw, an oil lamp, a cane, defensive talismans, and healing potions.

He opened his eyes and found himself standing in a train station. The old station was deserted, the platforms empty, and the tracks stretching into the darkness.

Besides Zhao Qiang and Han Yingying, there was another person by his side.

A young woman. Short hair, wearing a combat uniform, with two daggers at her waist. She stood about five meters away from the three men, like a cat ready to pounce at any moment.

A system notification appeared before everyone's eyes:

[Eighth instance: The Last Train. Rank: S.]

Team members: Zhou Lang, Han Ying, Zhao Qiang, Zhong Yao.

[Mission: Board the train and reach the final stop alive.]