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

The crowd was silent for a few seconds, then the murmurs grew louder.

"Five thousand points of unpredictability... worth it."

"A two-star ghost weapon is not bad either; I happen to be missing one."

Li Feng raised his hand, signaling for silence.

"Now divide into groups of ten, with one military personnel accompanying each group. Each group will operate independently without interfering with each other. In case of emergency, use communication devices to contact each other."

A staff officer wearing glasses stepped forward and began calling out names to form groups.

Zhou Lang was assigned to the third group, while Zhao Qiang and Han Ying were not in the same group.

"Dude, what group are you in?" Zhao Qiang asked, leaning over.

"third."

"Damn, I'm fifth," Zhao Qiang cursed. "Han Yingying is seventh. We've all been eliminated."

Zhou Lang glanced at the other groups. A few faces were familiar, likely high-level players active on the forum. But most were unfamiliar, their expressions varying—some nervous, some numb, and some excited.

Zhou Lang, who was excited, took a second look—a bald, burly man with blue dragons and white tigers tattooed on his body, and a short knife at his waist, which faintly emitted a red light.

Ghost weapon.

"Gather up, third group, come here."

Zhou Lang walked over and stood with the other nine people. The military personnel accompanying the team was a lieutenant in his early thirties with a square face; he looked quite reliable.

"My name is Zhang Yuan, and I'm your liaison officer," the lieutenant said. "During the operation, I'll be responsible for communications and logistical support. I can't help with combat; that's mainly up to you."

He was very frank. Military personnel aren't players; they really don't have much combat power in dungeons.

The ten people in the third group looked each other over.

A woman in a leather jacket spoke up: "My name is Song Wan, mid-stage two-star, melee type. And you?"

Zhou Lang glanced around. The woman was in her thirties, tall, and wore a metal glove on her right hand with dark red patterns on her fingertips. It was a ghost artifact.

Others signed up one after another, along with their approximate skill levels. Most were between high-ranking one-star and early-ranking two-star, with two at mid-ranking two-star.

When it was Zhou Lang's turn, he hesitated for a moment.

It's hard to say what his actual strength is right now. The bandaged man's buff gives him a fighting chance against a three-star monster, but that's something he can't tell anyone else.

"Zhou Lang, late stage of one-star," he said.

The look in their eyes clearly changed.

A one-star player in the late game, currently at the bottom of the team.

Song Wan frowned but didn't say anything. Another man with a buzz cut spoke up directly: "Brother, how did you get recruited as a late-stage one-star? The minimum requirement for this operation is at least two-star, right?"

"It might be because we don't have enough manpower," Zhou Lang said.

The man with the buzz cut pursed his lips and said nothing more. But the meaning was clear—don't hold us back.

Zhou Lang didn't bother to explain. Strength is something that can't be talked about; words are useless.

"Alright, everyone, pay attention." Li Feng's voice came through the loudspeaker. "We'll all enter the instance in ten minutes. The instance entrance is at the factory gate. Once inside, each group will follow the designated route. The first phase objective is to clear out the low-level monsters on the first and second floors."

"Remember, ghosts can revive. They will respawn approximately fifteen minutes after being killed. Use this time difference to advance quickly and avoid lingering in battle."

"One more thing—" Li Feng paused for a moment, "The signal in the instance may be interfered with. If communication is interrupted, each group should assess the situation on its own, with survival as the priority."

Survival is the priority.

These four words made many people present look even more grim. To put it bluntly: if something goes wrong, figure out how to survive on your own.

Zhou Lang looked down and checked his equipment. The chainsaw was on his back, the oil lamp was clipped to his waist, the cane was tied to his left arm, and the healing potions and defensive talismans were in separate pockets on his chest.

"Ready?" The bandaged man's voice echoed in my mind.

"Um."

"Remember, don't reveal my presence unless absolutely necessary," the bandaged man said. "That officer is no ordinary person; there's something strange about him."

Zhou Lang made a mental note of this information.

Ten minutes passed quickly. The factory gate was pushed open by two soldiers. It was pitch black inside, and nothing could be seen. But Zhou Lang could feel a chilling aura emanating from it, like opening the door of a giant freezer.

"Set off."

The first group went in first.

Then comes the second group.

When it was the third group's turn, Zhou Lang followed the team toward the gate.

The moment I crossed the threshold, everything in my field of vision changed.

The factory walls had turned into rusty iron plates, and the floor was covered with a layer of sticky, unidentified liquid. The overhead lights flickered with a ghastly white light, turning on and off intermittently. There was a stench of decay in the air, mixed with the smell of rust.

"Hiss—" Someone gasped.

Zhou Lang looked around. They were standing in a long corridor, with a closed iron door on either side. At the end of the corridor, two paths branched off.

Zhang Yuan took out his communicator and tested it: "Signal is normal, headquarters can receive it."

"Go left as planned," Song Wan said. She glanced at the dungeon map in her hand. "The left side leads to the processing workshop on the first floor. Intelligence indicates there are two or three low-level monsters there."

The column began to move.

Zhou Lang walked in the middle, his eyes fixed on the iron gates on either side. The bandaged man said in his mind, "There's something behind the fourth door on the left."

Zhou Lang slowed down a beat.

He didn't say anything to remind him, but quietly reached for the oil lamp at his waist.

When you reach the fourth door—

"Bang!"

The iron gate was smashed open from the inside, and a monster covered in patches pounced out!

The man with the buzz cut at the front reacted the fastest, dodging to the side and simultaneously drawing a dagger to stab the monster. The dagger pierced the monster's abdomen, but the creature didn't care and opened its mouth to bite.

"Stitched Corpse Demon! Scatter!" Song Wan shouted, her metal gloves glowing red as she punched the monster's head.

The monster's head tilted to the side, and its body fell backward.

But then, heavy footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.

The second one.

The third one.

"Damn it, the intelligence said there were two or three, how come there are three all of a sudden?" the crew-cut man cursed.

Zhou Lang stood still, observing.

Three stitched corpse demons, three-star level. The team has two mid-two-star demons, so they should be able to handle it. He needs to conserve his strength now, since there are even tougher ones ahead.

But he glanced again at the stitches on the monsters.

That's interesting. The stitches are different colors; some are black, and some are red.

He kept this detail in mind.

The battle ahead lasted for about five minutes. The three stitched corpse demons were defeated and turned into a pool of black liquid.

"Fifteen minutes," Song Wan said, panting. "Hurry up."

The team sped up its advance.

Zhou Lang picked something up from the black liquid on the ground—a red thread. He rubbed it between his fingers; the texture was rough, like the tendon of some kind of animal.

"What is this?" he asked the bandaged man.

"The core connecting thread of the stitched-up corpse demons," the bandaged man replied. "The reason they can revive is because there's a main thread connecting them to the core of the instance. Cut that thread, and they won't revive."