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

"She's the source of this instance," the bandaged man said. "Kill her, and the instance will collapse."

Zhou Lang gripped the chainsaw tightly, but his hand didn't move.

"What's wrong?" Zhao Qiang asked.

"She's still a child," Zhou Lang said.

"She's not human anymore," Lin Yu said. "She's a ghost."

Zhou Lang certainly knew.

But looking at that young face, he still couldn't bring himself to do it.

"If we don't kill her, we'll all die here," Lin Yu said. "The choice is yours."

Zhou Lang was silent for a few seconds, then raised the chainsaw.

Just then, the girl suddenly opened her eyes.

The girl's eyes are red.

She looked at Zhou Lang with an innocent smile on her face.

"Brother, are you going to kill me?"

Her voice was very soft, as if she were pouting.

Zhou Lang's hand froze.

"Don't listen to her," the bandaged man said. "It's a ghost in disguise; she's trying to take advantage of you."

But the girl did not attack.

She simply lay in the coffin, gazing longingly at Zhou Lang.

"I'm so cold," the girl said. "Can you hug me?"

"Zhou Lang!" Lin Yu shouted, "Make your move!"

Zhou Lang gritted his teeth and started the chainsaw.

But just as the blow was about to land, the girl cried.

"I don't want to die," she said. "I just want to go home."

Zhou Lang's hand stopped again.

"Damn it," Lin Yu cursed, drawing his dagger. "I'll handle this."

She rushed toward the coffin, the dagger aimed straight for the girl's heart.

The girl did not dodge.

She just looked at Lin Yu, tears streaming down her cheeks.

The dagger stopped at the girl's chest, and Lin Yu's hand froze.

"What's going on?" the bald, burly man asked.

"I can't move," Lin Yu said through gritted teeth. "My body won't obey me."

The girl sat up and climbed out of the coffin.

She walked barefoot to Lin Yu and reached out to touch the dagger.

"It hurts so much," the girl said. "Does your sister want to kill me?"

Lin Yu wanted to back away, but her body wouldn't obey her commands.

"I meant no harm," the girl said. "I just want to find my mother."

"Where is your mother?" Zhou Lang asked.

The girl looked at Zhou Lang, her eyes redder.

"I don't know," she said. "Mom said she went to buy groceries and told me to wait at home. But she hasn't come back yet."

"How long have you been waiting?"

"A very, very long time," the girl said, "so long that I've forgotten who I am."

Zhou Lang suddenly understood something.

"Are you trapped here?"

The girl nodded: "It's so dark and cold here. I want to go out, but I can't."

"So you created a copy?"

"Dungeon?" The girl tilted her head. "I just want someone to play with me."

Zhou Lang looked around and understood what was going on.

This replica wasn't created by ghosts or monsters, but rather formed from the girl's obsession. She had been trapped here alone for too long, and her loneliness and fear materialized, eventually evolving into this replica.

"Do you want to go out?" Zhou Lang asked.

The girl's eyes lit up: "Is it okay?"

"Okay," Zhou Lang said, "but you have to let her go first."

The girl glanced at Lin Yu and loosened her grip.

Lin Yu immediately stepped back, her face grim.

"What are you doing?" she asked Zhou Lang.

"Negotiation," Zhou Lang said.

"Negotiate with ghosts and monsters?" the bald, burly man scoffed. "Are you crazy?"

"She's not an ordinary ghost," Zhou Lang said. "She's just a trapped child."

"So what?" the bald, burly man said. "A ghost is a ghost. Kill it and that's it."

He raised his giant axe and chopped at the girl.

The girl didn't move; she just looked at him.

The axe stopped in mid-air, and the bald, muscular man's body suddenly swelled up.

"Aaaaah!" he screamed as his body exploded into a cloud of blood mist.

The others were so frightened that they stepped back, their faces turning pale.

"See?" Zhou Lang said, "A direct assault won't work."

"So what do you want to do?" Lin Yu asked.

"Help her find her mother," Zhou Lang said, "or at least let her know where her mother went."

"On what grounds?"

"Because this is in our best interest," Zhou Lang said. "She doesn't mean any harm now, but if pushed too far, we'll all die."

Lin Yu fell silent.

Zhou Lang was right; the girl was too strong, and there was no chance of winning in a direct confrontation.

"Then how do we find her mother?" Zhao Qiang asked.

"Ask her first." Zhou Lang squatted down to be at eye level with the girl. "Do you remember your mother's name?"

The girl thought for a moment: "I think her name is... Yunyun?"

Where is your home?

"I don't remember," the girl shook her head. "I only remember there was a very big factory."

Zhou Lang's heart skipped a beat: "This factory?"

The girl nodded.

Zhou Lang stood up and looked at Li Feng: "What did this factory used to make?"

Li Feng was still trapped by the tentacles, his voice weak: "The pharmaceutical factory. It went bankrupt ten years ago."

Do you have an employee list?

"It should be there, in the archives."

Zhou Lang looked at the girl: "What's your name?"

"Little Rain," the girl said.

"Okay, Xiaoyu, wait for me a moment," Zhou Lang said. "I'll go find your mother for you."

The girl nodded obediently.

Zhou Lang turned and left, and Lin Yu followed.

"Are you really going to help her?"

"What else?" Zhou Lang said, "Stay here and wait to die?"

"But she's a monster."

"I know," Zhou Lang said, "but she was once a human being too."

The two left the room and walked back along the corridor.

A girl's voice came from behind: "Brother, come back soon!"

"Yes, I will," Zhou Lang said.

Back on the ground, Zhou Lang found Li Feng's deputy.

"I need the employee list for this factory from ten years ago."

"Why?" the deputy asked warily.

"Do as I say if you don't want to die," Zhou Lang said.

The deputy glanced at Zhou Lang, and finally made a phone call.

Half an hour later, an electronic file was sent to Zhou Lang's mobile phone.

Zhou Lang flipped through the list and found a woman named Zhang Yunyun.

"It's her."

The file states that Zhang Yunyun worked in a pharmaceutical factory ten years ago, but the factory later closed down, and she lost her job. The next record is that she died in an accident three months later.

Cause of death: carbon monoxide poisoning.

Zhou Lang continued reading and discovered that Zhang Yunyun had a daughter named Zhang Yu. She was seven years old at the time.

The mother and daughter lived in the factory dormitory. After the mother died, the daughter's whereabouts became unknown.

"Found her," Zhou Lang said. "Her mother is dead, from carbon monoxide poisoning."

"What about the girl?" Zhao Qiang asked.

"They're probably dead too," Zhou Lang said. "Right here in this factory."

"So she's been waiting for her mother to come back?" Han Yingying said. "But her mother is already dead."

"Yes," Zhou Lang said. "She didn't know her mother was dead. She only knew that her mother said she was going to buy groceries and would be back. So she kept waiting, until she herself became a ghost."

Everyone fell silent.

This story is so tragic.

"What do we do now?" Lin Yu asked.

"Tell her the truth," Zhou Lang said.

"Then what?"

"Then we'll see what she chooses," Zhou Lang said. "If she's willing to let go, the instance will naturally disappear. If she's not..."

"Then we'll die," Lin Yu replied.

Zhou Lang did not deny it.

He returned to the third basement level, where the girl was still sitting and waiting.

"Brother's back," the girl said with a smile. "Did you find Mom?"

Zhou Lang squatted down and looked at the girl.

"I found it," he said, "but I have something to tell you."