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

"They are innocent," Han Yingying said.

"There are no innocent people here," Zhou Lang said. "Only the dead and the living."

He walked out of the room and continued forward. The next room was 202, the door ajar. Zhou Lang pushed the door open, and a burnt smell wafted out.

There were two people standing in the room.

To be precise, they were two ghosts.

The man wore glasses, and the woman had her hair in a ponytail. Their bodies were charred black, their skin cracked open, revealing the flesh beneath. They stood motionless in the center of the room, like two statues.

Zhou Lang raised the oil lamp, and the green light shone on the two ghosts.

"You were implicated," Zhou Lang said. "You didn't start the fire, but you still died."

The two ghosts turned their heads, their empty eye sockets staring at Zhou Lang.

"We're just here on vacation," the male ghost said, his voice hoarse. "Why do you have to die?"

"Because you were unlucky," Zhou Lang said, "you ended up living in this building."

The female ghost suddenly screamed, a piercing sound that made one's eardrums ache. She lunged at Zhou Lang with astonishing speed.

Zhou Lang didn't dodge; he raised the oil lamp, and the green light instantly became blinding.

The female ghost froze in mid-air, as if frozen in place by something. She struggled, trying to move forward, but her body wouldn't budge.

"Your enemy isn't me," Zhou Lang said. "It's the arsonist."

"Who?" the male ghost asked.

"He was a working-class man," Zhou Lang said. "He pursued a waitress here, but she rejected him. So he raped and murdered her, and finally set the whole building on fire."

The two ghosts fell silent. After a while, the male ghost spoke: "Where is he?"

"The basement," Zhou Lang said, "was dismembered and flushed down the sewers. Now he's become one with this building, controlling the entire structure."

"We must kill him," the female ghost said.

"Yes," Zhou Lang said, "but you can't kill him. He's become one with the building; unless you destroy the entire building, he won't die."

"What should we do then?"

Zhou Lang thought for a moment: "Wait."

"What are you waiting for?"

"Wait until he shows a weakness," Zhou Lang said. "Since he can control this building, it means he has a weakness. Once we find that weakness, we can kill him."

The two ghosts exchanged a glance, then nodded. Their bodies began to fade, and finally disappeared into the air.

[Ding! Successfully appeased the little ghost couple, reward: Fear Value +200, item "Burnt Glasses".]

Zhou Lang put the glasses into his inventory. These glasses could see through illusions and were very useful in certain situations.

"How many are left?" Zhao Qiang asked.

"Two," Zhou Lang said. "A female college student who works part-time, and the mastermind behind it all."

The three continued walking and arrived at room 203. The door to this room was tightly closed, and a talisman was pasted on the door. The talisman had yellowed, and the writing on it was blurred.

Zhou Lang reached out to push the door, but it didn't budge.

"Is it locked?" Zhao Qiang asked.

Zhou Lang shook his head, staring at the talisman on the door, and suddenly understood something. This talisman wasn't for locking the door, but for sealing it.

The demon inside the seal.

"Step back," Zhou Lang said.

Zhao Qiang and Han Yingying took a few steps back. Zhou Lang took out scissors, aimed them at the talisman paper, and cut it.

With a snap, the talisman broke in two.

The door opened automatically.

It was pitch black inside; nothing could be seen. Zhou Lang carried the oil lamp inside, its green light illuminating the room.

The room was empty, without furniture or decoration, just four walls and a ceiling.

But the walls were covered with writing.

It was densely packed with the same sentence:

"I did nothing wrong."

"I did nothing wrong."

"I did nothing wrong."

……

Zhou Lang walked to the wall and examined the words closely. The words were carved with fingernails, and bloodstains could be seen in some places.

"Who wrote this?" Han Yingying asked.

"A female college student who was working," Zhou Lang said. "She was locked up here and then killed."

He turned and looked at the center of the room. There stood a girl in a waitress uniform, her head down, her face obscured.

Zhou Lang walked over and raised the oil lamp.

The girl raised her head, revealing a deathly pale face. Her face was covered in wounds, as if she had been slashed with a knife. Her eyes were red and bloodshot.

"Are you here to kill me?" the girl asked softly.

"No," Zhou Lang said, "I'm here to help you."

The girl laughed, a desolate laugh: "Help me? No one can help me. I'm already dead."

"I know," Zhou Lang said, "but you can take your revenge."

The girl's smile vanished, and she stared at Zhou Lang: "Do you know who killed me?"

"I know," Zhou Lang said. "A working-class guy pursued you, got rejected, then raped and murdered you, and finally set the whole building on fire."

The girl's body began to tremble, and her eyes became even redder, as if they were about to bleed.

Where is he?

"The basement," Zhou Lang said. "He was dismembered and flushed down the sewers. Now he's become one with this building."

"I'm going to kill him," the girl said, her voice becoming shrill. "I'm going to tear him to pieces."

"Sure," Zhou Lang said, "but you'll need help."

"What kind of helper?"

"The other ghosts," Zhou Lang said, "Guan Madam and the young couple, they all want to kill that person. Only by joining forces can you kill him."

The girl was silent for a moment, then nodded: "Okay."

Her body began to fade and eventually disappeared into the air.

[Ding! Successfully appeased the female ghost, earning the following rewards: Fear Value +300, Item "Bloodstained Uniform".]

Zhou Lang put the uniform into his inventory and turned to leave.

"There's only one left now," he said.

"The mastermind?" Zhao Qiang asked.

"Yes," Zhou Lang said, "and also the most difficult one to deal with."

The three returned to the lobby on the first floor. It was already 1 a.m., five hours before dawn.

The hall was quiet; all the ghosts had vanished.

Zhou Lang stood in the center of the hall, holding an oil lamp and looking around. He knew that the mastermind was here, in this very building.

"Come out," Zhou Lang said. "I know you're here."

no respond.

Zhou Lang waited a while, then said, "You killed so many people, but you don't dare to see me?"

Still no response.

Zhou Lang laughed: "Then I'll find it myself."

He walked towards the back of the hall, where there was a door with the words "Employee Passage" written on it. Zhou Lang pushed the door open, revealing a narrow corridor.

At the end of the corridor was an iron gate with three locks on it.

Zhou Lang took out the scissors and snip-snip-snip, broke all three locks.

He pushed open the door.

Inside was a huge space, like a warehouse. The floor was piled with all sorts of odds and ends: furniture, appliances, and other things I couldn't identify.

Zhou Lang walked forward with the oil lamp in hand. As the light swept across the ground, he saw some bones.

human bones.

Many were scattered on the ground, some still attached to flesh and blood.

"This is his stronghold," Zhou Lang said.

As soon as the words were spoken, the surrounding debris suddenly came to life. As if they had come alive, they automatically combined and assembled into a giant human figure.