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

Lin Mian did not refuse again.

Gu Yan leaned against the wall and waited for her. After Chen Ke had walked away, he said, "I found out something."

"About what?"

"It's a bug in the dungeons," he said. "Some players enter dungeons in abnormal ways. They're not invited through the game, but are suddenly pulled in from real life. And their memories are sometimes inaccurate."

Lin Mian's fingers paused for a moment.

"What kind of deviation?"

"I can't remember how I got in here," Gu Yan said. "Some people don't even remember which dungeons they've cleared before."

Lin Mian did not speak.

Because that's just who she is.

She couldn't remember when she first entered the dungeon, nor how many times she had cleared it. Fragments of memories lingered in her mind, but she couldn't piece them together. She had always thought it was due to poor sleep causing her memory lapses.

"Are you also—"

"I'm leaving now," Lin Mian interrupted him.

Gu Yan didn't stop her.

When Lin Mian woke up, the sunlight shone on her face.

Her phone showed 7 a.m. She was in her own bed, wearing the pajamas she had worn the night before, and everything seemed normal.

But she remembered the cable car. She remembered Gu Yan. She remembered Chen Ke.

Not a dream.

She sat on the bed in a daze for a while, then got up and checked the house: the living room, the kitchen, the balcony, and the bathroom.

There were no abnormalities.

Her stepmother was making breakfast in the kitchen when she turned around and glanced at her: "Up so early?"

"Um."

"Sit down and eat. I made porridge today."

Lin Mian sat down and stared at the white porridge in her bowl for a while. Her stepmother's movements and tone of voice were natural. Her stepsister was still asleep, and the door to her room was closed.

Everything was abnormally normal.

After breakfast, Lin Mian went out. She had arranged to have lunch with a friend named Zhou Lin, her college roommate, whom she had been talking about meeting up for a long time but hadn't been able to arrange.

At the dinner table, Zhou Lin kept talking about recent gossip: who broke up with whom, who changed jobs. Lin Mian listened, occasionally offering a comment.

"What's wrong with you lately?" Zhou Lin put down her chopsticks. "You seem distracted."

"It's nothing, I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"Why don't you go see a doctor? Don't tough it out." Zhou Lin put a piece of pork rib in her bowl. "You look pale too. Are you working too hard?"

Lin Mian shook her head: "I'm really fine."

She couldn't explain to Zhou Lin that she was being dragged into dungeons to fight monsters every night. If she said that, she would either be considered mentally ill or have a case of adolescent delusions.

After dinner, the two strolled around the mall. Zhou Lin bought a dress, while Lin Mian bought nothing. When they parted, Zhou Lin hugged her and said, "Call me if you need anything."

"understood."

On her way home, Lin Mian kept thinking about what Gu Yan had said.

Memory bias. Access to the copy was not performed correctly.

She genuinely couldn't remember many things. For example, when was the first time she entered a dungeon, and whether the codename "Sleep" was actually her. If so, why did she have no recollection of anything she had done before?

Pushing open the door, I saw my stepsister sitting on the sofa watching TV. She turned around and smiled at me, "Sis, you're back?"

"Um."

"Mom made your favorite sweet and sour pork ribs, and they're keeping them warm in the pot."

Thanks.

Lin Mian went into her room and closed the door.

She opened her phone and searched for keywords like "dungeon," "codename," and "sleep." She found nothing on social media platforms, and none on game-related forums. This information only circulated within the player community; outsiders had no access to it.

Forget it.

I took a shower and went to bed.

Sleepiness came again, just as quickly as yesterday. Lin Mian clenched her hands—she tried to resist, but her body wouldn't obey her. Her consciousness slipped away, layer by layer.

My last conscious thought was: Here we go again.

She landed in a very awkward manner.

Lin Mian's knee hit the concrete, and it hurt. She stood up, dusted off her pants, and looked around.

This is an abandoned amusement park.

The Ferris wheel was rusty, most of the paint on the carousel had peeled off, and the glass of the ticket booth was shattered all over the floor. The sky was overcast, making it impossible to distinguish between day and night.

A panel pops up:

Welcome to the dungeon: Eternal Night Paradise

[Instance Level: A]

[Completion condition: Find the exit of the park and successfully leave]

[Note: The park's operating hours are 20:00 PM to 06:00 AM. Please do not linger on the rides during operating hours. Outside of operating hours, please do not touch any staff members.]

Grade A.

Lin Mian frowned slightly. It was a level higher than last time.

Before she could think any further, a loud "bang" came from behind her. She turned around—Chen Ke was lying face down on the ground.

"Ouch...it hurts so much..."

Lin Mian went over and helped her up.

Chen Ke looked up and saw her, his eyes lighting up immediately: "Lin Mian!"

"You've been dragged into this too."

"Yes! I was just washing the dishes at home, and as soon as I turned off the tap, everything went black." Chen Ke brushed the dust off her clothes and looked around. "Where am I this time?"

"Amusement park. Grade A."

Chen Ke's face fell.

Footsteps sounded in the distance. Two people emerged from behind the carousel. The one in front was a man in his thirties, wearing a baseball cap and a brand-new windbreaker; he was clearly a well-prepared veteran. Behind him followed a tall, thin young man, around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, carrying a backpack and a notebook.

The man in the baseball cap paused for a moment when he saw Lin Mian and Chen Ke, then continued walking.

"Were you also pulled in here?"

"Um."

"My name is Wei Yi." He pointed to the person behind him, "This is Song Ye. We've been partners for a long time."

Song Ye adjusted his glasses and nodded at them.

"How's your dungeon experience?" Wei Yi asked, his tone more like an assessment than a polite formality.

"I've cleared Level B three times," Chen Ke answered honestly.

Wei Yi turned his gaze to Lin Mian.

Lin Mian thought for a moment: "It's enough."

Wei Yi sized her up for a few seconds, then didn't ask any more questions.

About five minutes later, another person appeared—Gu Yan. He walked over from the direction of the ticket booth, his hands in his pockets, and nodded slightly when he saw Lin Mian.

Lin Mian went up to her: "You're here too."

"Um."

The six of them are now together. No, wait—the panel shows six participants for this instance, meaning it's those five plus…

"There's one more person." Wei Yi noticed it too.

"Over there," Song Ye pointed in a direction.

On the other side of the carousel, a man was squatting on the ground studying something. Upon closer inspection, he was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a plaid shirt, with slightly messy hair.

"Feed," Wei Yi called out.

The middle-aged man looked up, his expression somewhat blank: "Huh? Oh."

He stood up and dusted off his knees. "Sorry, I was looking at this." He pointed to a line of small print on the ground.

Lin Mian squatted down to take a look.

The words were carved into the cement floor; they were very faint and not easily visible unless you looked closely.

"The staff will not leave after business hours."

Chen Ke leaned closer: "What does this mean?"

"Additional rules," Lin Mian stood up, "Touching staff during the day will kill you, but that doesn't mean staff will disappear during the day."