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

She recognized the location because it was marked on the map.

That's the headquarters address of the X Guild.

The memory she had just recalled told her that she had founded the X Guild herself.

Han Yingying's brain was working at lightning speed.

Her current identity, as perceived by the outside world, is that of the only max-level player to successfully exit the game. She hadn't remembered this information before, but now, the memories flooded back like water.

She created the X Guild, recruited members, established an intelligence network, and then... then she entered a certain instance, and then there was nothing.

When she woke up, she remembered nothing and re-entered the game as an ordinary player.

The woman in black who saved them said, "She'll find out later"—that woman was her subordinate.

Han Yingying's palms were sweating.

Should she tell Zhou Lang?

No.

She hesitated for three seconds, then made her decision. She wouldn't tell him.

It wasn't distrust; it was that she felt this matter was too significant. While most of her memories had returned, the crucial gap remained. She didn't know why she had lost her memory, or who or what force had caused it. Before figuring it out, speaking out rashly might cause unnecessary trouble.

and……

She had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

A vague sense of unease.

"Let's go." Zhou Lang packed his things. "It's time to deal with the normal process of this dungeon. The strange thing should be coming out soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, all the lights in the entire building went out.

Dungeon cleared. Rating: Perfect.

The moment Zhou Lang was teleported back to the real world, the first thing he did was check the system notification.

[Congratulations to player "浪里个浪" for completing the ninth dungeon run, rated "Perfect". Nine perfect ratings to date.]

[Special Note: Due to your top-ranked performance in all dungeons, the system has exceptionally granted you the qualification to participate in the guild competition ahead of schedule.]

Zhou Lang stared at the notification and remained silent for two seconds.

The Guild Tournament. Reaching the finals unlocks an SS-rank dungeon. This is what he's been searching for—the key to the game's final level.

His sister should be there.

Han Yingying received the same notification. All of her dungeon ratings were also the highest.

The two looked at each other and saw the same thing on each other's faces: they had finally waited for this moment.

"Brother Lang!" Zhao Qiang's voice came from behind, "Did you guys see the system notification? Guild Competition!"

Zhou Lang nodded.

Zhao Qiang rubbed his hands together, his face beaming with excitement. "What about me? Can I participate?"

Zhou Lang glanced at Zhao Qiang's stats. Zhao Qiang's dungeon ratings were mixed, ranging from excellent to good, which didn't meet the criteria for making an exception to participate.

"You need to complete three more SS-level dungeons," Zhou Lang said.

"Three times?!" Zhao Qiang's face fell.

Lin Yuan and Su Qing are the same; they are still far from being the best.

Lu Han had been qualified for a long time. He had consistently achieved perfect ratings since the fifth dungeon run, but he hadn't used the qualification until now. Zhou Lang had no idea what he was waiting for.

"Shall we go and participate first?" Han Yingying asked.

Zhou Lang thought for a moment and then opened the registration page for the union competition.

Tap down with your finger.

Registration failed.

[Reason: You are not currently a member of any union. The union competition requires participants to be union members.]

Zhou Lang stared at the line of text for five seconds.

"..."

Han Yingying received the same result. She showed the interface to Zhou Lang, her expression subtle.

"There must be a labor union," Zhou Lang said.

I previously declined those union invitations because I didn't want to be bound by them. Now, the rules have completely blocked that path.

Zhao Qiang gloated from the side: "Brother Lang, you used to be so arrogant, you wouldn't even go when people invited you—"

Zhou Lang glanced at him.

Zhao Qiang shut up.

"There's something wrong with this rule," Han Yingying suddenly said.

"What's the problem?" No one had ever mentioned before that the guild competition had to be participated as a guild. "Han Yingying pulled up the rules," she said. "Look here, the original text says 'players can participate individually or as a guild.' But in practice, the system doesn't allow individual registration."

Zhou Lang took it and read it through. Indeed, the rules were clearly stated in the text—individual participation was allowed.

"The rules and their implementation are inconsistent," Zhou Lang said.

This is another bug. Or rather, something is modifying how the rules are executed.

This is the same type of problem as the garbled text in the copy.

Zhou Lang mentally pieced together several things: the garbled text in the dungeon, the rule anomaly, the map from the real world, the X Guild...

Someone—or something—is manipulating the game system behind the scenes.

"Then what should we do?" Zhao Qiang asked, "Just find any union to join?"

"No." Han Yingying said quickly.

Zhou Lang glanced at her. Han Yingying met his gaze and looked away.

"Those unions just besieged us, it's not appropriate to join them now," Han Yingying offered as an excuse.

That's true. But Zhou Lang felt that Han Yingying rejected him too quickly, as if she already had another plan.

He didn't ask any further questions.

"I have a way," Han Yingying said.

"What method?"

"Join the X Guild."

The union training lasted for two weeks.

Zhou Lang's daily routine was simple—pull people into a simulation instance, throw them in, and those who came out alive were considered qualified.

"Brother Lang, that's too ruthless." Teammate Li Ming's legs were trembling when he came out of the simulation dungeon.

"Not ruthless." Zhou Lang flipped through a page of the skill manual in his hand without even looking up. "The real dungeons are ten times fiercer than this."

Li Ming wanted to say something, but after looking at Zhou Lang's expressionless face, he swallowed his words.

Zhao Qiang whispered to Han Yingying, "This is his way of showing concern for everyone, but his communication skills are a bit..."

"I can hear you," Zhou Lang said.

Zhao Qiang shut up.

The training was very effective. After two weeks, the union's overall combat strength improved significantly. In particular, Li Ming, Chen Tao, Zhang Wei, and Wang Lei made the fastest progress and were incorporated into the main team by Zhou Lang.

Li Ming, male, 27 years old, a retired soldier, with good physical fitness and strong mental resilience. Zhou Lang asked him to play in the front row.

Chen Tao, male, 32 years old, was formerly an emergency room nurse. He is steady-handed and meticulous, and is responsible for assisting and providing first aid.

Zhang Wei, female, 24 years old, studied psychology, has strong observation skills, and can judge the behavior patterns of ghosts from details.

Wang Lei, male, 29 years old, a former construction worker, is strong and quick-witted.

With the addition of Zhou Lang, Han Yingying, and Zhao Qiang, a team of seven was formed to compete.

The rules of the guild competition are simple: sixteen guilds will participate in an elimination tournament. Each match will take place in the same instance, and the team that clears the instance first will advance.

If two teams encounter each other in a dungeon, they can fight each other or ignore each other.

In other words—murder is not against the rules.

On the day of the draw, Zhou Lang's expression remained unchanged when he saw his opponent's name.

The Second Trade Union.