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

"What is this?" Zhao Qiang's voice was a little tense.

"The ceremony venue." Chen Lang's expression changed. "The intelligence didn't mention this."

"What do you mean?"

Before Chen Lang could answer, a heavy breathing sound came from deep within the workshop. It wasn't human breathing—it was too heavy, too loud, like a giant bellows in operation.

Something stood up in the darkness.

Shining the flashlight over, Zhou Lang could make out the outline of the thing, and his stomach churned.

A humanoid creature over three meters tall, its body stitched together from different human parts. Six arms, two legs, and three heads. The stitches are still clearly visible; they are thick, black threads, like embroidery needles magnified a hundred times.

"The Stitched Corpse Demon," Chen Lang said in a low voice. "A three-star anomaly."

We've arrived too early. According to the operation plan, the first phase is only to clear out the low-level anomalies on the periphery; the three-star anomalies should only be encountered in the second phase.

"All personnel on high alert—"

Before Chen Lang could finish speaking, the stitched-up corpse demon moved.

Its three-meter-tall body suddenly sprang up with a speed beyond what one would expect for its size. All six arms swung out simultaneously, sweeping across like six iron pillars.

"Scatter!" Zhou Lang shouted, instinctively rolling to the side.

The wind pressure swept over his head, and the six hands slammed into the metal frame behind him. The frame was flattened and deformed like a soda can.

Zhou Lang didn't have time to feel relieved. He saw two people in the group who hadn't dodged and were swept away by the arm, flying and crashing into the wall. Han Yingying had already run over.

"Zhao Qiang!" Zhou Lang shouted.

"Received!" Zhao Qiang activated his strength enhancement, his veins bulging from his forearm to his shoulder, and punched the stitched corpse demon in the knee.

The sound of bones cracking. The stitched-up corpse demon staggered, but didn't fall. Its three heads simultaneously turned towards Zhao Qiang, its six eyes shooting out a grayish-white light—

"Don't let it see you!" Chen Lang shouted.

Zhao Qiang instinctively closed his eyes and turned his head. The grayish-white light shone on the ground beside him, and the cement on the ground cracked and weathered at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Stone ability.

Zhou Lang started the chainsaw from the side. The motor roared, the saw teeth spun at high speed, and he aimed at the lower back of the stitched corpse demon—the place where the stitches were densest—and slashed it in hard.

The feel of the saw teeth cutting into flesh was strange; it didn't feel like cutting meat, but more like cutting rubber. The resistance was great, but a chainsaw is a chainsaw after all, and it managed to cut in more than ten centimeters.

The stitched-up corpse demon let out a shriek. Its three mouths opened simultaneously, producing a sound like three saws cutting through an iron plate at the same time.

It turned around.

Six arms reached out to grab Zhou Lang at the same time.

"Damn it." Zhou Lang released the chainsaw and jumped back, but they were too close. The fingertips of a third hand grazed his clothes, sending sparks flying.

No, there was no spark. It was the defensive talisman on his chest that shattered.

One talisman for one life.

Zhou Lang pulled away, his heart pounding like a drum.

This thing is much harder to deal with than I imagined.

Chen Lang's Soul-Slaying Blade cut in from another direction, making a deep gash on one of the arms of the stitched-up corpse demon. The arm drooped down, but it wasn't severed; the black stitches were still connecting it.

"Cut the sutures!" Zhou Lang shouted, "Cut those sutures!"

Chen Lang reacted quickly, twisting the blade to precisely sever the sutures on the arm. The arm immediately detached, twitched twice on the ground, and then remained still.

"It works!" Zhao Qiang shouted.

The third squad began their attack, focusing their firepower on cutting the stitches. But the Corpse Demon wasn't a wooden stake; it was moving, it was fighting back, its six—no, now five—arms flailing incessantly, each strike capable of killing.

In the midst of the chaos, Zhou Lang caught a glimpse of something unusual out of the corner of his eye.

Su Nian.

The girl in the school uniform stood in the corner of the workshop, not participating in the fight. She held the black die in her hand, her lips moving as if she were saying something.

Zhou Lang couldn't hear what she was saying, but he saw a very strange scene—

Su Nian's shadow moved. Not in the way it followed her body's movements, but rather—moved independently. The shadow detached from the ground, transforming into a black humanoid silhouette, which floated towards the Stitched Corpse Demon.

The black humanoid figure stuck to the stitched corpse demon's body, covering it like a membrane.

The stitching corpse demon's movements suddenly slowed down.

It wasn't just a little slower, it was at least three times slower. Attacks that were previously unstoppable became dodgeable, and those sweeping arms became like slow-motion replays.

Zhou Lang didn't waste the opportunity. He rushed forward, aimed the chainsaw at the suture line, and sliced ​​through it, severing both arms in three seconds. Chen Lang cut off the third and fourth arms from the other side. Zhao Qiang smashed one of its heads with a punch.

Ten seconds later, the Stitched Corpse Demon collapsed.

The workshop fell silent, with only the heavy breathing of everyone remaining.

Zhou Lang turned to look at Su Nian. The girl was pale and leaning against the wall, looking very weak, but she was not injured.

"What did you just do?" Zhou Lang walked over and asked.

Su Nian glanced at him: "Didn't you give me a defensive talisman? I helped you in my own way."

"I asked you what you did."

Su Nian was silent for a few seconds: "I told it that it's old and can't move anymore."

Zhou Lang: "What?"

"My skill," Su Nian said, "is called 'The Conman.' If the other person believes my lie, it will temporarily become the truth."

Zhou Lang stared at her for several seconds.

"Does the supernatural also 'believe' lies?"

"They'll fool people with low IQs," Su Nian said. "They can barely fool someone at the three-star level. But it's hard to say about anyone higher."

Zhou Lang didn't know what to say. This skill...

"Are you sure you only cleared three instances?" he asked.

Su Nian nodded.

Zhou Lang felt something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He didn't press the matter further and turned to examine the battlefield.

Two teammates who were swept away were seriously injured. Han Yingying had already used her healing powers twice to barely stabilize their injuries. However, one of them had several broken ribs, making it impossible for him to continue fighting.

"The wounded retreat," Chen Lang decided. "The rest of you continue the advance."

Eleven people have become nine. The first phase has only just begun, and two have already been lost, plus the three-star unit has mysteriously appeared in an unexpected location.

The walkie-talkie crackled with reports from other squads; the situation was dire. The first squad encountered two Stitched Corpse Demons, losing one member. The fifth squad was surrounded by a group of two-star Anomalies and was currently retreating.

The entire operation plan has fallen apart.

Commander Li Feng's voice came through the walkie-talkie: "Attention all squads, the intelligence is wrong. The distribution of the three-star monsters is wider than expected. The first phase objective has been adjusted to: ensure the safety of all teams, defend in place, and await reinforcements."

"Reinforcements?" Zhao Qiang cursed. "Where are the reinforcements coming from?"

No one answered him.

Chen Lang turned off the walkie-talkie and looked at the remaining eight people: "You can choose for yourselves, whether to stay and wait for reinforcements or continue pushing forward."

"Is waiting for reinforcements a reliable option?" someone asked.