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

The abandoned factory's iron gate was rusted and worn. As soon as Li Feng finished speaking, two soldiers stepped forward and pushed the gate open. The harsh sound of metal scraping against metal echoed through the wilderness.

More than fifty players filed in. Zhou Lang walked in the middle to the back of the line. Zhao Qiang protected Han Yingying as they walked on the left.

The moment Zhou Lang stepped across the threshold, his vision shifted. The surrounding ruins and overgrown weeds had all been erased. The glaring, stark white fluorescent lights stung his eyes.

The air was filled with the smell of musty cardboard boxes and cheap perfume.

Zhou Lang steadied himself. He gripped the chainsaw handle with his right hand.

There was no factory. There was no Li Feng. There was no large force.

He stood on the dusty marble floor. Above him hung a rickety sign: "Xintiandi Shopping Center - Basement Level 1".

There were only seven people around.

Han Yingying and Zhao Qiang were about half a meter away. The two were cautiously looking around.

The other five people are: a middle-aged man in a suit, a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl holding a dirty rag doll, a woman in a business suit, a young doctor in a white coat, and a man with a buzz cut who is nearly two meters tall and muscular.

The man with the buzz cut had calloused knuckles. He was a boxer.

The gaming terminal on my wrist vibrated. The screen lit up with scarlet text.

[Warning: Spatial turbulence detected. The coordinates of the originally planned instance "Ghost Realm" have been lost.]

[Forced connection to an unknown anchor point.]

[Current instance: Midnight cable car in the mall's underground.]

[Difficulty Assessment: S-Rank Mutation]

[Background: To cut costs, Hongyu Cable Car Company used substandard steel, causing the cable car to break mid-journey, killing thirty passengers. To cover up the truth, company executives bribed officials to build the "New World Shopping Mall" above the accident site, hoping to use the mall's positive energy to suppress the spirits of the dead. The passengers are trapped inside the cable car, reliving their deaths day after day.]

[Hidden Variable: Twin sisters were brutally raped and murdered by multiple security personnel during mall construction. Their bodies were impaled within a load-bearing wall three underground floors. The twins' resentment surged, devouring the souls of thirty deceased passengers and evolving into an S-level anomaly. As a result, all passengers were transformed into A-level beings.]

Main Mission: Within 24 hours, gather complete evidence to uncover the truth behind the cable car accident.

[Survival Rules: Every 2 hours, the mall will randomly release one A-level passenger. Please complete the investigation while evading pursuit.]

The terminal screen is off. Countdown begins: 23:59:59.

"S-rank?" The middle-aged man pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, his voice trembling. "Didn't the national intelligence say the highest rank was only four stars? What does S-rank even mean?"

"Four stars corresponds to Grade A." The boxer cracked his neck. "Grade S is five stars. We've hit the jackpot."

The doctor's legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground: "Five stars... how are we supposed to fight this? Where's Commander Li Feng? Where's the army? We need to go back!"

The woman in business attire clutched her handbag tightly, her face deathly pale, and remained silent. The girl clutching her doll had her head down, her expression unreadable.

Zhou Lang ignored the group's panic. He walked to the edge of the courtyard and looked down.

The mall has a hollow interior. All levels from basement level one to basement level three are clearly visible. On the lowest level, basement level three, where a supermarket or parking lot should have been located, two rusty iron tracks are conspicuously laid out.

A dilapidated red cable car was parked at the end of the tracks. All the windows of the car were shattered, and the doors were half-closed.

"Zhou Lang, what should we do?" Zhao Qiang leaned closer and whispered.

"Look for clues." Zhou Lang turned to the others. "Those who want to live, stay close. Those who don't, do as you please."

The middle-aged man quickly scrambled to his feet: "Young man, you seem experienced. My name is Wang Jianguo, I'm a boss. Take me out of here, and I'll give you five million!"

"Keep it to buy ghost money," Zhao Qiang sneered.

Zhou Lang led the way to the security room on the basement level.

The security room door was locked. Zhou Lang kicked it open.

The room was littered with cigarette butts and takeout containers. A work schedule and a security monitor hung on the wall. The monitor screen had long since gone black.

"Find the files. Don't overlook anything with writing on it." Zhou Lang rummaged through drawers and cabinets.

Han Yingying found a work journal in her desk drawer.

"There's a record here." Han Yingying flipped through the yellowed pages. "April 5, 2012, night shift. Old Liu and Old Li went to patrol the third basement level and brought back two lost girls. They were quite pretty. Old Liu said he was going to teach them a lesson."

Zhou Lang took the log and continued reading.

"April 6th. Something happened. Those two girls couldn't withstand the strain and died. The boss said we couldn't call the police, as it would affect the mall's opening. He told us to stuff the bodies into the load-bearing wall of Zone C."

Zhao Qiang cursed, "These beasts."

"This is the truth about the twins' deaths, not the truth about the cable car accident." Zhou Lang put the log into his inventory. "We need to find Hongyu Company's internal documents."

"drop--"

The terminal emitted a piercing beep.

Countdown: 21:59:59.

Two hours have passed.

The mall's loudspeakers crackled to life. A cheerful children's song echoed through the empty floors.

"Looking and looking for a friend, I found a good friend..."

Inside the cable car on the third basement level, a sickening metallic scraping sound could be heard.

A charred, twisted figure crawled out of the carriage. It had no face; its head consisted only of a gigantic mouth filled with sharp teeth.

Level A: Mysterious

It lay on the railway tracks, sniffed the air, and then, using its hands and feet, scrambled up the mall pillars like a spider, its target the basement.

"Run!" Zhou Lang grabbed a chainsaw and rushed out of the security room.

The doctor was a beat too slow; just as he reached the corner of the corridor, the ceiling above his head shattered on the spot.

A charred, blackened figure hung upside down from the ceiling, biting the doctor's head.

The sound of bones cracking rang out. The headless corpse fell to the ground, blood splattering onto the walls.

Wang Jianguo was so frightened that he wet his pants and scrambled up the stairs to the second floor. The woman in business attire screamed as she followed behind.

Zhou Lang didn't back down. He pressed the switch on the chainsaw. The motor roared, and the saw blade spun at high speed.

"bandage!"

A large amount of white bandages surged from Zhou Lang's body, wrapped around the pillar, and swung him into the air.

The chainsaw cleaved headlong into the charred black figure.

The figure swung its twisted arm to block. The jagged edges cut into its arm, sending sparks flying. Its bones were harder than steel.

"Power Enhancement!" Zhao Qiang charged out from the side and delivered a heavy punch to the figure's waist.

The figure was sent flying, crashing through the glass railing and plummeting straight down to the third basement level.

"Let's go!" Zhou Lang landed smoothly.

A-level anomalies aren't that easy to kill. This was just a temporary repelling.

The group ran down the escalator to the first floor.

The first floor houses the clothing and jewelry sections. Wang Jianguo slowed his pace as he passed a gold shop. The counter was filled with gold bars and diamonds.

"Don't touch it!" Zhou Lang warned.

Wang Jianguo ignored him, reached out and smashed the glass, grabbed a handful of gold bars and stuffed them into his pocket.

Just as he received the gold bars, the door to the fitting room deep inside the jewelry store opened.

A girl in a floral dress stood behind the door. Her neck was bent at a ninety-degree angle, and her head slumped limply on her shoulder.