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

This isn't game code. It's real-world code.

He hadn't figured out what this meant yet. But one thing was certain—the boundary between the copy and reality was thinning.

Han Yingying arrived, wearing a dark blue coat and with her hair tied back. She sat down opposite her, picked up the bottle of water, unscrewed it, and took a sip.

"About yesterday," Zhou Lang said, "did you see anything before the dungeon ended?"

Han Yingying put down the water bottle: "How did you know?"

"You weren't in the right state of mind at the time."

Han Yingying was silent for a few seconds. "I saw some images. Like memories, but not my current memories."

Zhou Lang didn't speak, waiting for her to continue.

"A laboratory. Someone is talking to me. But I can't hear them." She paused. "Zhou Lang, I don't think my 'insight' skill is awakened."

"Um."

"Don't you find it strange?"

"Strange." Zhou Lang picked up the water bottle, then put it down again. "But we don't have enough information right now to come to a conclusion."

Han Ying looked at him. She wanted to ask more—for example, why he always observed those abnormal things in the dungeon, or what exactly the bug he was investigating was. But she didn't ask.

She simply said, "If you need help, you can contact me."

Zhou Lang nodded.

The two sat for a while longer, exchanging a few trivial words. Then they each went home.

Zhou Lang felt unwell as he walked down the street.

Han Yingying didn't ask him why he asked her out, nor did she press him about what he was investigating. She acted as if she hadn't discovered anything and continued to act as if nothing had happened.

But he knew she wasn't stupid.

She must have discovered that he was hiding something. Her choice not to ask was to give him space.

This made him even more uncomfortable.

They're honest with you, but you're hiding things from them. Zhou Lang thought about this sentence structure and felt a bit like a jerk.

But he didn't want to talk about it yet. It wasn't that he didn't trust Han Yingying, but rather that if what he was investigating was true, the more people who knew, the more dangerous it would be.

Back at his lodgings, he opened his laptop and continued to organize the information he had collected.

Then a system notification popped up.

A matching copy has been detected and will be transferred shortly.

Zhou Lang glanced at the difficulty level displayed in the pop-up window.

S-class.

He froze for a moment.

Zhou Lang knew something was wrong the moment he was teleported.

An S-rank dungeon. He's only on his fourth dungeon and he's already encountered an S-rank? Is the system broken?

He stood in the pitch-black space, waiting a few seconds before the surroundings brightened. The walls were greyish-white, the ceiling high, and the floor black marble. It resembled an auditorium, but without windows.

[Instance: Courtroom]

[Difficulty: S]

[Objective: Survive seven rounds of trials without being found guilty]

Number of players: 9

Nine people?

Zhou Lang looked around. Zhao Qiang stood three meters to his right, his face ashen. Han Ying was on his left, having already finished reviewing the information on the panel, and was now looking around.

The remaining six people were scattered throughout the hall. Zhou Lang glanced around—the tall, thin man and the burly man were clearly among them. There was also a girl with a ponytail. The other three were unfamiliar faces.

The tall, thin man's expression was complex when he saw Zhou Lang. He strode over and said, "Holy crap, you guys got in too?"

The burly man followed, his voice deep: "This one is S-rank."

"I know," Zhou Lang said.

"We shouldn't be here." The tall, thin man's voice sounded panicked. "We just finished an A-rank dungeon! Why did the system give us an S-rank dungeon right away?"

The burly man's expression was grave: "Before I came in, I received a trade request. Someone offered me 300 points for a 'Dungeon Recommendation Ticket.' I accepted, and then—"

"You've been scammed," Zhao Qiang said.

The burly man shut up.

The girl with the ponytail stood behind the burly man, her eyes slightly red. She didn't speak, but her hands kept clenching her sleeves.

Zhou Lang looked at the other three strangers. Two men and one woman stood on the other side of the hall, showing no intention of coming over. One of the men, wearing a black hoodie, was looking in their direction with a scrutinizing expression.

"Ignore them." Zhou Lang looked away. "Let's study the rules first."

Seven rounds of trials. Not found guilty.

The system did not specify the standards for the trial, nor did it specify who would conduct the trial.

At the front of the hall stood a huge stone table, behind which were three empty chairs. Above the chairs hung three black masks, as if waiting for someone to wear them.

Zhao Qiang leaned close to Zhou Lang's ear and said, "I have a bad feeling."

"explain."

"Could the judges be... chosen from among us?"

Zhou Lang glanced at him. Although this kid was timid, he could sometimes think quite quickly.

Before he could answer, a crack appeared in the floor in the center of the hall, and a stone tablet rose from it. Inscriptions were carved on the tablet, and golden light shone through the carvings.

[Rules for the First Round of Trial:]

Three players are randomly selected as "judges," and the remaining players are "judges."

The judge must, within five minutes, select one "guilty" from among those being judged through questioning and observation.

The chosen "guilty" will lose a life.

Each player has three lives. Reaching three lives results in death.

[Note: The true "guilty one" is randomly assigned by the system. If the judge chooses the wrong person, they will lose their own life.]

After reading the rules, Zhao Qiang's face turned even paler: "Isn't this just a murder mystery game?"

"It's even more brutal than the murder mystery game," Han Yingying said. "If you choose the wrong judge, you lose blood yourself."

Zhou Lang was thinking about something else—the system "randomly designates" guilty people. Is this randomness truly random or is there a pattern? If there is a pattern, then he can live.

The words on the stone tablet have changed.

[First Round Judges: Player 4 (Strong Man), Player 7 (Man in Black Hoodie), Player 9 (Unknown Woman)]

[First round of guilty parties: already designated, identities concealed.]

[Trial begins. Five minutes remaining.]

The burly man's face fell.

He was thrust into the judge's seat and forced to sit behind the stone table. The man in the black hoodie walked over expressionlessly and sat in the middle. The strange woman hesitated for a moment, then sat down as well.

The remaining six people stood in front of the stone table, including Zhou Lang, Zhao Qiang, Han Ying, the tall and thin man, the girl with a ponytail, and a stranger who hadn't spoken yet.

The man in the black hoodie spoke first: "The rules say it's through questioning and observation. So, my question is—whose heart beats the fastest?"

No one answered.

The man in the hoodie smiled and said, "Silence is also a form of answer."

The burly man sat in the chair, his hands resting on the stone table, unsure of what to do. He glanced at the tall, thin man, then at Zhou Lang, looking troubled.

The unfamiliar female judge spoke up: "Do the guilty parties designated by the system know it themselves?"

Good question. Zhou Lang was thinking about that too.

The stone tablet flashed, and new text appeared: [The guilty party is aware of their own identity.]

This means that someone is acting.

Zhou Lang felt there was no "guilty" mark on his panel. He wasn't. He was one of the remaining five.

He began to observe.