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

Su Wan opened her eyes.

The ceiling was white, and a sliver of light peeked through the curtains. The phone on the bedside table showed 7:13 AM.

It's this scene again.

She sat up, her pajamas clinging to her skin from the sweat on her back. The images from her dream were blurry, but the sense of familiarity remained—not the familiarity of "having had similar dreams," but the familiarity of "I actually experienced these things."

Su Wan stared at her hands.

Ever since leaving the third instance two days ago, she'd had this inexplicable sense of unease. In that instance, her reaction speed to the monsters was too fast. Not that she was quick on the spot, but… it was as if she already knew what to do.

"This is the third time," she said softly.

Every time she returned to reality from a dungeon, she woke up in a dream. Normal players have a clear awareness of exiting a dungeon—a system notification, a flash of white light, and the return of consciousness. But she didn't. Each time, she opened her eyes from a dream and found herself lying in bed.

That's not right.

Su Wan picked up her phone and opened the community forum for horror games. She typed "dungeon exit error" into the search bar, and dozens of posts popped up, mostly complaints about lag. She then typed "wake up from a dream," and only three results appeared, all of which were players sharing their dreams, which were not very valuable.

She changed the word: "Reality bug".

This time there were more results. The top post was titled: "Does anyone else feel that the real world is being invaded by something eerie?"

The post is very short:

The convenience store owner downstairs from my apartment has said the exact same thing for three days in a row. The words are identical. Am I remembering it wrong, or what?

Most of the replies below mocked the original poster: "Have you been playing too many dungeons?" "You need to take your medicine, bro." "You're obsessed with this game."

But one reply caught Su Wan's attention.

"You're not the only one. But don't say these things in public forums."

The user ID in this reply is a string of gibberish, and clicking on it displays "This user does not exist".

Su Wan took a screenshot.

She got up to wash up, her mind racing. If anomalies truly existed in the real world, then horror games would be more than just "games."

Just then, my phone vibrated.

Su Wan looked down—

System notification: [A new instance has been detected. Player Su Wan will be forcibly teleported in 30 seconds.]

"Hold."

She hadn't even had time to change her clothes; she was still clutching her toothbrush. A white light flashed, and the living room vanished.

-

When Su Wan opened her eyes again, she was standing in a pitch-black corridor.

There was water on the ground and a rusty smell in the air. There were iron doors on both sides of the corridor, each with a number, stretching from 001 all the way to the end.

The overhead lights are flashing.

"Fourth copy." She stuffed her toothbrush into her pocket—there was nothing she could do, it was all she had.

Footsteps sounded behind me.

Su Wan turned around and saw Gu Shen emerge from the darkness. He was wearing a black hoodie, his complexion was not good, and his hair was a bit messy.

"Were you also forcibly teleported?" Su Wan asked.

"Hmm." Gu Shen glanced at her, his gaze lingering on the toothbrush in her hand, but said nothing.

Another white light appeared, and Jiang Yu appeared. She was holding a half-eaten apple and looked very unhappy.

"I haven't finished my breakfast yet." Jiang Yu took a bite of his apple, chewed it a couple of times, and said, "Can't this stupid game have a little humanity?"

The trio has all arrived.

A system notification appeared before my eyes:

[Instance Name: Corridor Hospital]

[Dungeon Level: A]

[Objective: Find an exit and leave the hospital]

[Note: The corridor will reset every ten minutes. After the reset, all open doors will close, and all player positions will be shuffled.]

"Reset every ten minutes," Su Wan silently recited the rule.

Jiang Yu finished eating the apple and casually tossed the core on the ground: "So we have to find the exit within ten minutes?"

"Not necessarily," Gu Shen said. "It might take multiple resets to find the pattern."

Su Wan nodded. This kind of dungeon doesn't rely on raw strength, but on information gathering and logical reasoning.

"Let's go first, don't waste time."

The three walked down the corridor. Su Wan noticed that the numbers on the doors were not consecutive—001, 003, 007012… there were many skips in between.

Just as she was about to say something, a scream suddenly came from ahead.

It is a human voice.

The three exchanged a glance and quickened their pace to run over.

After turning a corner, Su Wan saw two people crouching in the corner. A man and a woman, both trembling.

Wang Lei and Fang Qing.

The two people Su Wan encountered in the second instance last time. Su Wan remembered them—average strength, not very brave, but they didn't let her down at crucial moments.

"What are you doing here?" Su Wan asked.

Wang Lei looked up and saw her, his face filled with relief: "Su...Su Wan? Oh my god, I thought I was going to die. That thing just came out of the door—"

"What is it?" Gu Shen interrupted him.

Fang Qing pointed to the depths of the corridor: "A ghost came out of door 012, chased us for a while, and then disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"It's like he suddenly disappeared," Fang Qing said. "He probably went through another door."

Su Wan looked at the light tube above her head. It was still flickering.

She estimated the time; about two minutes had passed since she entered the instance. Eight minutes left.

"Come with us," Su Wan said. "It's safer with more people."

Wang Lei immediately stood up: "Okay."

Fang Qing also got up, but hesitated for a moment.

The five continued walking forward. Su Wan was in front, Gu Shen brought up the rear, Jiang Yu walked in the middle, and Wang Lei and Fang Qing were on either side of Jiang Yu.

After walking for about two minutes, Su Wan stopped.

The corridor ahead forks. The left corridor is lit up, while the right corridor is completely dark.

"Which way?" Jiang Yu asked.

Su Wan didn't answer immediately. She was looking at the ground.

The floor of the left passageway is dry. The floor of the right passageway has water stains.

The corridor where they were initially located was also wet.

"Go to the right," Su Wan said.

"Why?" Wang Lei's voice trembled slightly.

"Areas with water on the ground are safe." Su Wan paused for a moment after saying this.

How did she know?

The thought only flashed through her mind. The information came so naturally, as if she had always known about it.

Gu Shen glanced at her but didn't ask.

The five people entered the passage on the right. Sure enough, the further they went, the brighter the lights became. At the end of the passage was a half-open door with the words "Inpatient Department" written on it.

Su Wan pushed open the door and went in.

Inside was a circular hall surrounded by wards. In the center of the hall was a nurses' station with a registration book on the table.

Su Wan walked over and opened the registration book. It was filled with names and ward numbers.

Her finger stopped on one of the lines.

"Su Wan - Room 302"

Her name is on it.

"What did you see?" Gu Shen walked over.

Su Wan closed the register: "Nothing much. Just looking for clues about an exit."

Gu Shen did not press the matter further.

The group dispersed to search the lobby. Su Wan walked to the door of ward 302, placed her hand on the doorknob, hesitated for a few seconds, and then pushed it open.

There was only one bed in the ward. There was no one on the bed, but the blanket was pulled back, and there was a human-shaped dent on the pillow.