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

Zhou Lang glanced at her. Han Yingying's eyes darted around as she spoke, clearly hiding something. But he didn't press her. Everyone has secrets, especially in this kind of world.

After joining the Dark Tide Guild, they discovered that the strange occurrences were far more serious than they had imagined.

In the real world, new instance entrances are appearing every day. Anomalies that previously only occurred in provincial cities are now spreading to county towns and rural areas. The news is no longer concealing them; a global state of emergency has been declared.

"If this continues, the whole world will fall within six months," Shen Mo said.

Zhou Lang knew he wasn't exaggerating.

The guild tournament is their only way out. Only by reaching the finals can they unlock the SSS-level dungeon. And perhaps the answer to ending it all lies within the SSS-level dungeon.

The format of the guild tournament is simple: five-person teams battle in a closed, eerie space. The first team to eliminate all members of the opposing team or force them to surrender wins.

The Dark Tide Guild fielded a starting lineup consisting of Zhou Lang and his group of five. The guild leader was a woman in her forties, codenamed "Spider Queen." She always looked at people with her eyes half-closed, making it impossible to guess what she was thinking.

"I've seen the strength of the five of you," the Spider Queen said. "Our first opponent is the 'Rift' guild, ranked second."

"Drawing against the runner-up in the first round?" Lin Lei's mouth dropped open. "Was this draw rigged?"

"There's no draw for the Guild Tournament," the Spider Queen said. "The matchups are generated by the system."

It's the system again.

Zhou Lang began researching the Rift Guild a week before the competition. This guild had an extreme style—fierce attacks and ruthless methods, with several "accidental deaths" occurring in previous events. Officially, killing was forbidden on the field, but anything could happen in the bizarre space, and even if someone died, it would be impossible to find out who was responsible.

"Their captain is named Gu Ming, a four-star Ghost Weapon wielder," Han Yingying said, flipping through the intelligence report. "He's a melee fighter, extremely strong in close combat. Of the other four, two are support, one is ranged, and one is an assassin."

"What's the strategy?" Zhao Qiang asked.

"The intelligence says they usually use a split-and-flank tactic," Han Yingying said. "They use two supports to spread out the formation, let the assassins cut into the backline, and the captain suppresses from the front."

"So what's our strategy?"

Zhou Lang thought for a moment: "Don't spread out. The five of us will stick together and fight. We'll use Shenmo's stealth to find out the location of their assassins. Once we find the assassins, we'll focus fire and take them out quickly. The rest of them will be easy to deal with since they won't have any surprise attack options."

"It sounds pretty simple," Lin Lei said.

"Simple my foot." Zhao Qiang glared at him. "They're not stupid."

On the day of the competition, a strange space opened up.

The moment the five people stepped inside, Zhou Lang felt a heavy, eerie aura wash over him. The terrain of the space was a ruined city, with broken walls and rubble everywhere, making visibility very poor.

"Watch your formation, don't spread out," Zhou Lang whispered.

Following their established strategy, the five of them advanced in a diamond formation. Zhou Lang was at the front, Zhao Qiang was to his right rear, Han Yingying was in the middle, Lin Lei was to his left rear, and Shen Mo brought up the rear.

Nothing happened for the first three minutes.

It's too quiet.

"They're waiting for us to make a mistake," a silent voice came from the back of the line.

In the fourth minute, an unexpected change occurred.

It wasn't an assassin's attack—it was the ground. The ground beneath their feet suddenly cracked, a fissure tearing straight through the middle of the group, splitting the five-person formation in two. Zhou Lang and Zhao Qiang were thrown to the left, while Han Yingying, Lin Lei, and Shen Mo remained on the right.

The crack was three meters wide, and below it was churning black mist.

"That's their skill!" Han Yingying shouted.

Zhou Lang cursed. Rift Guild, Rift—damn it, that's where their guild's name comes from.

Before he could think of a solution, three figures rushed out from behind the ruins. Two lunged at Han Yingying, while one went straight for Zhou Lang.

It was Gu Ming who arrived.

The four-star ghost weapon in his hand emitted a dark red light; it was a broadsword with faint ghost faces floating on its surface. Gu Ming moved with incredible speed, the blade whistling as it slashed down.

Zhou Lang raised the chainsaw to take the hit head-on. The deafening clang of metal against metal made his ears ring and his entire arm go numb.

Gu Ming is stronger than him.

This is not a match for them.

"Zhao Qiang! Go help Yingying!" Zhou Lang shouted.

"You're all alone—"

"go!"

Zhao Qiang gritted his teeth, turned around and ran towards the edge of the crack. He activated his strength enhancement, leaped across the three-meter-wide crack, and landed on the other side.

Han Yingying's situation was dire. The Rift Guild's assassins were charging straight at her—not to defeat her, but to kill her. The dagger's trajectory clearly avoided her hands and feet, aiming directly for her throat.

Lin Lei dodged a shot from a ranged attacker using stealth footwork, but his teleportation cooldown was eight seconds long, rendering it practically useless in combat. Shen Mo activated stealth to flank, but the assassin was too fast.

Zhao Qiang arrived when the dagger was only ten centimeters from Han Yingying's neck.

He shielded Han Yingying with his body.

The dagger plunged into his chest.

The entire battlefield seemed to be in slow motion.

Zhou Lang heard Han Yingying scream.

Zhao Qiang looked down at the dagger embedded in his chest, then looked up at the assassin. A fleeting look of surprise crossed the assassin's face—he hadn't expected someone to use their body to block the attack.

"You fucking—" Zhao Qiang grabbed the assassin's wrist.

Power boost lasts for 20 seconds.

Zhao Qiang used all his remaining strength to crush the assassin's wrist. The sound of breaking bones echoed through the ruins, and the assassin screamed as he retreated.

Shen Mo appeared from behind and severed the assassin's Achilles tendon with a single stroke.

On the battlefield, Zhou Lang was being forced to retreat by Gu Ming. But he heard the commotion from Zhao Qiang's side and knew that the assassin had been crippled.

"There are two more." Zhou Lang gritted his teeth and resisted.

He only needed to stall Gu Ming while Shen Mo and Lin Lei dealt with the other two.

Two minutes later, all the support and ranged attackers from the Rift Guild were knocked down. Gu Ming was facing four people alone; no matter how strong he was, he couldn't win. He threw down his knife and raised his hands.

"I surrender."

The system announced that the Dark Tide Guild had won.

The eerie space dissipated.

Zhou Lang rushed towards Zhao Qiang immediately.

Zhao Qiang sat on the ground, his back against a broken wall. The dagger had been pulled out, and Han Yingying knelt beside him, desperately pressing her healing hand against the wound.

"It's no use," Zhao Qiang said.

His voice was calm, but blood was seeping from the corner of his mouth. The dagger was coated with a deadly poison, which was spreading through his body faster than his blood. His face was turning ashen at a visible pace.

"Shut up!" Han Yingying yelled. "Don't speak!"

"Yingying," Zhao Qiang called her name, "Listen to me."

Han Yingying's hands were trembling. Golden healing light covered the wound, but gray lines spread outwards from it uncontrollably.

"My wife... is called Sun Qing," Zhao Qiang said. "She lives in Anju Residential Area in the east of the city, in apartment 302. She doesn't know what I'm doing."