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

At exactly three o'clock, Zhou Lang felt a wave of dizziness.

The scene before my eyes began to distort; the coffee shop disappeared, replaced by an unfamiliar space.

Welcome to the Mall Dungeon: Midnight Cable Car

[Dungeon Difficulty: A-level]

Number of participants: 8

[Passage Condition: Investigate the truth behind the cable car accident within 24 hours]

[Failure Penalty: Death]

[Instance Rules: A strange entity will be released every 2 hours. Please be careful.]

Zhou Lang opened his eyes and found himself standing in the atrium on the first floor of the mall.

There were five other people around, including Zhao Qiang and Han Yingying, and three unfamiliar faces:

A middle-aged man, wearing a suit, with a serious expression.

A little girl who looks about ten years old is holding a rag doll.

A woman who looked like a teacher, wearing glasses, appeared nervous.

"Eight people?" Zhao Qiang counted. "Where are the other two?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the elevator doors opened and two people stepped out.

One was a doctor in a white coat, and the other was a muscular boxer.

"Everyone's here," the middle-aged man said. "My name is Li Ming, and I'm the temporary team leader for this instance."

"Why are you the captain?" the boxer protested.

"Because I've been in the dungeon three times and survived each time," Li Ming said. "If you're not satisfied, you can go solo."

The boxer grunted and said nothing more.

"Let's start assigning tasks now," Li Ming said. "The mall has five floors in total. We'll divide into four groups, each responsible for one floor."

"Wait," Zhou Lang interrupted him, "I have a better idea."

Li Ming frowned: "What method?"

"Go straight to the second basement level," Zhou Lang said. "The cable car station is there, and so is the truth."

"Are you crazy?" Li Ming said. "The second basement level is the most dangerous; those twin sisters are there."

"So we need to go now," Zhou Lang said. "The instance has just started, the ghosts haven't been released yet, this is the best opportunity."

Li Ming was silent for a few seconds: "If you want to die, don't drag us down with you."

"Whatever." Zhou Lang turned and walked towards the elevator.

Zhao Qiang and Han Yingying followed.

The boxer hesitated for a moment, then followed.

"You guys..." Li Ming gritted his teeth, "Fine, I'll go too."

Finally, apart from the little girl and the female teacher, everyone else followed Zhou Lang into the elevator.

The elevator doors closed and it began to descend.

Zhou Lang looked at the floor display: 1, B1, B2.

The elevator has stopped.

The door opened, and all that was in front of me was darkness.

Zhou Lang took out an oil lamp and lit it.

Green light illuminated the second basement level.

This is a huge platform with two tracks in the center, and a cable car is parked on one of them.

The cable car doors were open, but it was pitch black inside, and you couldn't see anything.

"This is it," Zhou Lang said.

He walked toward the cable car holding a lamp.

The others followed behind, but no one spoke.

Zhou Lang walked to the cable car entrance and glanced inside.

The carriage was full of people.

Those people remained motionless, like statues.

But Zhou Lang knew they weren't human.

It's a ghost.

Ahead was a narrow passageway with rusty iron chains hanging on the walls, and the air was filled with the smell of decay.

Zhou Lang walked forward, holding the oil lamp. The green light illuminated the walls on both sides of the passage. The walls were covered with writing, densely packed, some of which was already blurred and illegible.

"These words..." Han Yingying leaned closer to look, "...looks like a diary?"

Zhou Lang stopped and carefully examined the writing on the wall.

"March 15, 1987, three more maids have gone missing today. The housekeeper said they stole something and ran away, but I don't believe it."

"On April 2, 1987, I heard strange noises in the basement, like someone was crying."

"On May 10, 1987, I saw the housekeeper drag a maid into the basement. The maid was screaming, but no one did anything about it."

The further along the text went, the more illegible the handwriting became, and the more outrageous the content grew.

"On June 1, 1987, I finally learned the truth. The manor owner was conducting experiments; he wanted to bring the dead back to life. Those missing servants were all..."

The words at the back were scratched off and were not clearly visible.

"Is the manor owner conducting human experiments?" Zhao Qiang's voice trembled.

Zhou Lang didn't speak and continued walking forward. At the end of the passage was a wooden door with a sign nailed to it that read "No Entry".

He pushed open the door.

Inside was a huge room filled with various instruments and utensils. In the center of the room was an operating table, on which lay a corpse, its body covered in tubes.

No, that's not a corpse.

When Zhou Lang got closer, he saw that the chest of the "corpse" was still rising and falling slightly.

"Still alive?" Han Yingying covered her mouth.

Just then, the "corpse" suddenly opened its eyes.

Those eyes had no pupils, only a deathly gray. It stared at Zhou Lang, its mouth opening and closing, emitting a hoarse sound.

"Kill...me..."

Zhou Lang stared at it without moving.

"Please...you..." the thing continued, "kill...me..."

Zhao Qiang took a step back: "What's going on?"

Zhou Lang observed the instruments around the operating table. The tubes were connected to various bottles and jars filled with an unknown liquid, which was slowly flowing into the "corpse's" body.

"This is to keep it alive," Zhou Lang said.

"Why do you do this?" Han Yingying asked.

Zhou Lang didn't answer. He walked to the other side of the room, where there was a table with a notebook on it.

He opened his notebook.

"Experimental Record Day 1: After the injection of the drug, the experimental subject experienced a strong rejection reaction, and his heart stopped beating three times, but he was revived each time."

"Day 7 of the experiment: The subject has lost consciousness, but bodily functions continue to operate under the influence of the drug."

"Experimental Log Day 30: The experimental subject showed abnormalities; the skin began to rot, but the vital signs remained stable. This proves that my theory is correct: death is merely a state that can be altered."

"Experiment Log Day 90: The test subject has completely lost its human characteristics, but it is still alive. I have succeeded; I have created immortality."

Zhou Lang closed his notebook.

"The manor owner wanted to create immortality," he said. "These servants were his experiments."

"What about the butler?" Zhao Qiang asked. "Was it also an experimental subject?"

"No," Zhou Lang shook his head, "the butler is an accomplice."

He remembered the empty eye sockets of the butler who had killed him, and the look in its eyes when it looked at him. That wasn't the look of an experimental subject; it was the look of someone who knew the truth.

"We need to find the owner of the manor," Zhou Lang said.

"Where is he?" Han Yingying asked.

Zhou Lang pointed to another door deep inside the room: "It should be in there."

The three walked to the door. This door was different from the previous one; it was pure black, with intricate patterns carved on it, and a piece of glass was inlaid in the middle, through which a faint light could be seen inside.

Zhou Lang reached out and pushed the door open.

The door remained completely still.

He tried several more times, but the door still wouldn't open.

"Is it locked?" Zhao Qiang asked.

Zhou Lang shook his head; he sensed something blocking the way behind the door. It wasn't a physical obstruction, but some kind of force.