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

The cleanup operation of the Ghost Realm dungeon lasted for two days and one night.

Zhou Lang survived.

Fifty-three people went in, and thirty-seven came out. Six of them were carried out; it's uncertain whether they will wake up.

Zhou Lang had used up eight bottles of healing potions, and all his defensive talismans had shattered. One chain of the chainsaw had broken, and his cane had several deep, bone-revealing scratches.

But he survived.

Zhao Qiang also survived, his right arm bandaged, and he walked with a limp. Han Yingying fared better than the other two, though her face was pale and her lips were almost bloodless.

"The reward has arrived." Zhao Qiang took out his phone and glanced at it. "500 points of Strangeness, and a two-star Ghostly Dagger."

Zhou Lang received it too. He got an extra reward for "excellent performance"—a three-star defense talisman. It was worth a lot of money, but he didn't plan to sell it.

It was already 3 PM when they got back to the city. The three of them found a noodle shop by the roadside. Zhou Lang ordered a bowl of beef noodles, and Zhao Qiang ordered two bowls. Han Yingying only ordered a cup of hot water.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Zhao Qiang asked, his mouth full of noodles.

"I have no appetite." Han Yingying held the cup in both hands, her knuckles still trembling slightly.

Zhou Lang didn't speak. He understood that feeling. While killing ghosts in the dungeon, the adrenaline was pumping, but only afterward did the fear begin to linger.

"Um..." Han Yingying suddenly spoke up, "Don't you guys feel like something's off about this dungeon?"

Zhou Lang looked up at her.

"How so?"

"The Ghost King," Han Yingying said in a low voice, "when the Ghost King was defeated, it said something. Did you hear it?"

Zhao Qiang shook his head: "I was on the third floor dealing with the stitched-up corpse demon at the time, so I wasn't there."

Zhou Lang put down his chopsticks.

He heard it.

As the Ghost King died, he uttered a muffled sentence: "...It shouldn't... be like this..."

The scene was too chaotic at the time, and most people didn't notice. Zhou Lang did notice, but he thought it was a ghost's struggle before it died.

"What do you think that sentence means?" Zhou Lang asked.

Han Yingying shook her head: "I don't know. But I always feel... this ghost is different from the ones I've encountered before."

"What's different?"

"They seem to be afraid of something," Han Yingying said.

Zhou Lang didn't reply. Ghosts are afraid? Afraid of what? Afraid of being killed by players? Isn't that normal?

But he kept it in mind.

After finishing their noodles, the three went their separate ways. As Zhou Lang walked along the street, he suddenly noticed there were many more pedestrians than usual. Shopping malls were having sales, couples were strolling hand-in-hand, and children were chasing pigeons in the square.

Everything is normal.

That's perfectly normal.

For the past few months, strange events have been occurring weekly in the neighboring province. These range from ghostly figures on the street to entire buildings disappearing. But after the ghost realm instance was cleared, all of these things seemed to vanish overnight.

Not for one day. Not for two days. Still not for three days.

On the fifth day, Zhou Lang began to feel that something was wrong.

"What do you think of the bandages?"

"What are you looking at?" came the weak voice from the chainsaw.

"The strange occurrences have disappeared. The whole city has become quiet."

"That's great!"

"Do you think this is a good thing?"

The bandaged man remained silent for a moment.

Do you know what happens before a storm?

Zhou Lang twitched his finger: "What do you mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything," the bandaged man said. "You wouldn't listen to my advice anyway."

Zhou Lang didn't press the matter further. He opened the system panel to check his status. Dungeon completion countdown: seven. Countdown to the next dungeon opening: three days.

The eighth instance will be available in three days.

He browsed the forum. Indeed, there were quite a few posts discussing the mysterious disappearances.

"It's been so quiet lately, is it because the horror games are over?"

"You're overthinking it. It's probably just because you cleared a few dungeons."

"Can any experts analyze what's going on here?"

Zhou Lang scrolled through several pages but found no valuable information. He left the forum and made a phone call to Zhao Qiang.

"Anything unusual on your end?"

"No," Zhao Qiang said. "It's eerily quiet. I asked a few players I know, and it's the same on their end."

Where is Han Yingying?

"I don't know, ask her yourself." Zhao Qiang paused. "By the way, she sent me a message saying she wants to team up with us for the next dungeon. What do you think?"

Zhou Lang thought for a moment and said, "Okay. She's quite capable, and having more people means more security."

"Then I'll tell her."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Lang lay down on the bed. There was a crack in the ceiling that had been there since he moved in and had never been repaired.

Three days. Three more days.

He had a feeling that these three days wouldn't be peaceful.

On the evening of the sixth day, Han Yingying sent a message.

Are you home?

"exist."

"Come out for a bit. I have something to show you."

Zhou Lang checked the time; it was 10 PM. He put on his coat, gathered his gear, and headed out. The agreed-upon meeting place was a convenience store two blocks away.

Han Yingying was already inside, sitting by the window with an unopened cup of coffee in front of her.

Zhou Lang pushed open the door and sat down opposite her.

"What is it?"

Han Yingying pushed her phone towards her. The screen displayed a surveillance video, though the quality was poor; it showed a corridor in a residential building.

"Look."

Zhou Lang stared at the screen. The corridor was empty and quiet in the video. After about ten seconds, the light at the end of the corridor began to flicker. Then...

A figure appeared.

No, that's not human. Its body shape resembles a human, but its gait is completely wrong. The joints of its limbs seem to grow backwards, and each step has a twisted angle.

"Where was this filmed?" Zhou Lang asked.

"Downstairs from my apartment," Han Yingying said. "This afternoon at five o'clock."

Zhou Lang looked up at her.

Han Yingying's expression was calm, but her fingers were clenched tightly under the table.

"I saw it in the stairwell when I got home," she said. "It didn't attack me; it just stood there watching me. It disappeared as soon as I drew my weapon."

"You're not hurt?"

"no."

Zhou Lang watched the video again. The way that thing disappeared was strange—it didn't walk away, it just vanished from the screen.

"This is no ordinary ghost," Zhou Lang said.

"I know." Han Yingying took the phone. "I went through all the known monster encyclopedias, but there was no match. It's a newly discovered species."

Zhou Lang leaned back in his chair.

The eerie disappearance lasted almost a week, and then a new type of ghost, never seen before, appeared. These two things combined were hardly a good omen.

"Does Zhao Qiang know?"

"I haven't told him yet. I'll talk to you first."

Why?

Han Yingying hesitated for a moment: "Because you're more calm. As for Zhao Qiang, all he'll do is yell about going to chop that thing up."

Zhou Lang had no way to refute it.

"Tomorrow is the eighth run of the dungeon," he said. "It's not realistic to track down that thing now. Let's clear the dungeon first and come out alive."

Han Yingying nodded: "That's what I meant too."