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

The attic was filled with old furniture and boxes. He pretended to clean, but actually ransacked the place.

There is a hidden compartment at the bottom of the third box.

Inside the compartment was a key, brass in color, with the number "2" engraved on it.

Zhou Lang gripped the key tightly in his hand.

I've got the second lock.

He put the box back in its original position, cleaned the attic with peace of mind, and went downstairs.

During lunch, he peeked the key at Zhao Qiang under the table. Zhao Qiang nearly dropped his spoon.

"We'll take action tonight," Zhou Lang said in a low voice.

Han Yingying nodded slightly without stopping her chopsticks.

10 PM.

The three reunited in the basement. This time, Zhou Lang didn't light the oil lamp—ghosts were no longer the biggest problem.

They came to the mirror. There was a keyhole in the frame, right next to the small print.

Zhou Lang inserted the brass key and turned it once.

Click.

A crack appeared in the mirror.

It didn't break; it split open from the middle, opening to both sides like a door.

Behind the mirror is a passageway.

"Walk."

The passage wasn't long; at the end was a door. There was a third lock on the door—a black iron lock with an eye engraved on it.

Zhou Lang pulled out a chainsaw.

"Wait," Han Yingying stopped him. "The note said the butler would know if we broke the mirror. We didn't break it, but we opened it. What if it..."

He hadn't finished speaking.

Footsteps could be heard coming from the passage behind me.

It's heavy. It's slow. Step by step.

All three people turned around at the same time.

At the entrance of the passage, the figure of the butler appeared.

It was holding a pair of scissors.

These are not ordinary scissors.

It's the same pair of scissors Zhou Lang used to cut the first lock—when did he take it away?

The butler started walking forward.

Without hesitation, Zhou Lang started the chainsaw and cut into the third lock.

Sparks flew. The black iron lock was harder than the previous two; it took the chainsaw five seconds to break it.

The door opened.

Behind the door was a beam of white light.

"Jump!" Zhou Lang shouted.

Zhao Qiang was the first to jump in. Han Yingying followed closely behind.

Zhou Lang was the last one. He glanced back—the butler was already three steps away from him.

It stopped.

In those empty eye sockets, Zhou Lang saw something moving.

Then the butler said something that wasn't in accordance with any rules:

"Interesting. See you next time."

Zhou Lang jumped into the white light.

[Dungeon Cleared]

[Rating: S]

[Rewards being processed...]

When the dungeon results screen popped up, the first thing Zhou Lang looked at was his teammates' evaluations.

Zhao Qiang: A. Han Yingying: S. Himself: SS.

"What is SS?" Zhao Qiang rubbed his eyes. They had returned to the game lobby—a white virtual space.

"One level above S," Han Yingying said. "I checked, and there are no more than twenty publicly available SS ratings across the entire server."

Zhou Lang didn't reply. He was looking at the rewards list.

Fear level +800

[Obtained Item: Butler's Eyes (Can reveal loopholes in the rules, one-time use)]

[Title Obtained: Rule Breaker]

Interesting. He put the props away.

Other players gradually appeared in the lobby. Some were trading, some were forming teams, and many more were spamming the chat channel.

Zhou Lang noticed an announcement:

The sixth dungeon will open in three days, with an S-rank difficulty and a minimum of 8 players per team.

"Three days." Zhao Qiang looked at the announcement. "The last one just finished. This is way too rushed."

"It's not about rushing, it's about the changing patterns," Han Yingying said. "The intervals between the first five dungeons are getting shorter and shorter. The first two were two weeks apart, the second and third were ten days apart, and now it's just three days."

Zhou Lang also noticed this pattern.

"Let's get back to reality," he said.

The three players quit the game.

The real world.

Zhou Lang opened his eyes and lay on his bed in his rented room. His phone showed 3 PM.

He sat up and checked his phone. Three unread messages.

Zhao Qiang: "Brother Lang, I saw something in the lobby that I didn't tell you. Your ID has been flagged."

Zhao Qiang: "A guild called 'Dawn' is offering a reward of 1000 points for your information."

Zhao Qiang: "Do you want to change your name?"

Zhou Lang replied with a single word: "No."

Dawn. He'd heard that name before. The second-ranked player guild, what was its full name again—"Lu Ming," a veteran player who had survived six dungeon runs.

Why is a bounty placed on him?

Zhou Lang thought for a moment. It was most likely because of what happened in the last dungeon. His actions in the fifth dungeon were too conspicuous—scaring ghosts earned him an SS rating, which was publicly known on the leaderboard.

That's too high-profile.

But he doesn't intend to keep a low profile.

She kept a low profile and couldn't find her sister.

the next day.

Han Yingying sent a message: "Three people want to join our team, do you know them?"

Three screenshots are attached.

The IDs are "Akun", "Xiaomei", and "Lao Chen".

Zhou Lang didn't recognize them. He clicked on the three people's public profiles.

Ah Kun: Completed all five dungeons, highest rating A, class focus - melee.

Xiao Mei: Completed the dungeon four times, with one instance where she was rescued and forced to quit. Her highest rating is A, and her class is support.

Old Chen: Completed all five dungeons, highest rating S, profession direction - reconnaissance.

"Old Chen is not bad," Zhou Lang replied.

"The three of them are together, they should all come together."

Zhou Lang thought for a moment. The sixth dungeon is limited to eight people. With the three of them and these three, that makes six. We're still two spots short.

"Let them do it."

"Okay. Shall we meet as a team?"

See you in the lobby tomorrow.

The interview took place in the game lobby.

Ah Kun was tall, and his virtual avatar was bald. He spoke in a loud voice: "Brother Lang! I've heard so much about you!"

Zhou Lang: "Don't call me Brother Lang."

"What's your name?"

"Just call me by my ID."

"What a wild one! This is too much..." Ah Kun hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Alright, Brother Wild."

Zhou Lang gave up.

Xiao Mei is a short girl who speaks in a soft voice: "Hello, I'm Xiao Mei, I can heal you."

"How much can you add?" Zhao Qiang asked.

"It depends on the situation; at full health, it can recover 30%."

"That's enough," Zhou Lang said.

Old Chen spoke last. He was a middle-aged man with a beard and little expression: "I have a question."

"explain."

Why do you rate it so highly?

The question was very direct. Zhou Lang glanced at him.

"The methods are different," Zhou Lang said.

Old Chen waited for two seconds and realized that he didn't intend to continue explaining or ask any further questions.

This person is not bad.

"Do you have anyone to choose for the last two spots?" Han Yingying asked.

"Yes," Old Chen said, "but I suggest leaving it empty."

Why?

"This instance is an S-rank, eight-player limited instance. There will be a long queue. If we, as a group of six, enter as a full group of eight, the lone solo players will be placed in other groups. But if we leave two slots unselected, the system may randomly assign players—"

"You want to see who the system will put in," Zhou Lang interrupted him.

Old Chen glanced at him: "Right. I've been feeling that the matchmaking for the last few dungeons hasn't been quite right. Last time, someone was added to my team who didn't do anything the whole time, just kept track of other people's strategies. After the dungeon ended, we couldn't find that person's information anymore."