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

"What is this?" Zhao Qiang also saw it.

"A mark." Zhou Lang touched the engraving with his finger. "A mark for whom to see it?"

Is it for the supernatural? Or for previous customers?

He memorized all the symbols for the six rooms.

At 6:30 p.m., everyone returned to the guesthouse. Fang Yuan and Chen Mo brought back some information about the town.

"This town is strange," Fang Yuan said. "There aren't many residents, and they all say they don't know anything when you ask them. But an old man told me something—don't stay at that guesthouse."

"What else did the old man say?" Li Zheng asked.

"That's it. They left right after saying that, and we couldn't catch up with them."

Zhou Lang wondered, "Are the people in the town NPCs or real people?"

"NPCs," Chen Mo said, his voice flat. "I've tried it; they don't have player icons above their heads."

Okay, that confirms one thing—the entire town is part of the instance.

At seven o'clock, it was completely dark.

Sister Wang brought up a pot of tea: "Have some tea and get some rest."

"Sister Wang, where are you staying tonight?" Zhou Lang asked.

"The inner room on the first floor." Sister Wang smiled. "Don't worry, this house has been lived in for decades, it's very safe."

Whether you believe it or not is another matter. But Zhou Lang noticed that Sister Wang spoke without any abnormality—her expression, speaking speed, and eyes were all very natural.

If she is an NPC, she might not know that she is in a dungeon.

If she's also a mystery...

It's not certain yet.

At eight o'clock, everyone goes back to their respective houses.

Zhou Lang closed the door, bolted it, and then nudged the doorknob with a chair. He sat on the bed, facing the door.

System notification: [First night begins.]

The corridor was quiet for a while.

Nine o'clock. Ten o'clock.

At 10:30, Zhou Lang heard the sound.

It was very light. Like the sound of bare feet walking on a wooden floor.

One step. Two steps. Three steps.

They came from the other end of the corridor.

Zhou Lang didn't move. He stared at the gap under the door—the corridor was dark, the lights were off, and he couldn't see anything.

The footsteps stopped at his door.

Then--

dong dong.

knocking.

It wasn't heavy, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet night.

Zhou Lang did not respond.

dong dong dong.

Three times.

There was still no response.

There was silence outside the door for about ten seconds, then the footsteps moved away and went to the next room.

Zhao Qiang's room.

dong dong.

Immediately afterward, Zhao Qiang screamed in a low voice, "Don't drive! Don't drive! Don't drive!"

This is something I'm saying to myself.

Zhou Lang listened to the commotion next door and his lips twitched slightly.

The footsteps stopped for a moment at Zhao Qiang's door, then moved on. They headed towards room 204.

On the first night, the strange creature could only knock on the door; it couldn't break in.

After confirming this, Zhou Lang got out of bed, leaned against the door, and pressed his ear against the door panel.

There were more than one set of footsteps in the corridor. Faint sounds were coming from at least three directions.

Of the seven strange occurrences, how many appeared tonight?

He needs more information.

But tonight is not the time to take risks. Exposing our methods on the first day will put us on the defensive from then on.

He went back to bed and lay down.

The knocking on the door was intermittent six times throughout the night. No one answered each time.

Its daybreak.

System notification: [First night ended. Number of survivors: 6/6.]

When Zhou Lang went out, Zhao Qiang was already standing in the corridor, with dark circles under his eyes.

"Did you fall asleep last night?" Zhao Qiang asked, noticing that he seemed to be in good spirits.

"Um."

How could you sleep??

"I'll go to sleep when I'm tired."

Zhao Qiang's expression was a mix of admiration and despair.

Han Yingying came out of room 204, looking alright, much better than Zhao Qiang. She saw Zhou Lang and quickly walked over.

"Last night... when it came to my door, I heard it standing outside for a really long time." She lowered her voice, "longer than when it went to other people's doors."

Zhou Lang glanced at her: "What's that symbol on your doorframe?"

"Cube. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." He didn't explain.

But he made a note of it—the guests in the cube-shaped room were subjected to this strange attention for a longer period. Why?

This issue needs to be investigated and clarified today.

Breakfast was plain congee with pickled vegetables. Sister Wang is a good cook; the congee was thick.

The six people sat down in the restaurant, and the atmosphere was different from yesterday. After a night's rest, each person's face showed something different. Zhao Qiang was terrified, Fang Yuan was wary, Chen Mo showed no change but his grip on his chopsticks was a little tight, and Li Zheng was trying to remain calm.

Han Yingying is alright; at least she can eat normally.

"Let's talk about what happened last night," Li Zheng said, putting down his bowl.

Fang Yuan spoke first: "They came three times. The first time was at 10:30, and then again around 11:00 and 2:00 in the morning. Each time they just knocked on the door and didn't say anything."

"I did it three times too," Chen Mo said.

"Mine knocked four times," Zhao Qiang said with a bitter face. "The last time it knocked for a really long time; I almost thought it was going to break the door down."

Li Zheng: "I did it three times. What a load of rubbish!"

Zhou Lang was drinking his porridge, not even looking up: "Once."

Several people were looking at him.

"Once?" Fang Yuan repeated.

"Yes. It came for a bit and then left."

Zhao Qiang's expression twisted: "Why only once?"

"Maybe they think my room is hard to find," Zhou Lang said casually, continuing to drink his porridge.

He didn't intend to mention the bandaged ghost's reduced hostility. This was a trump card that couldn't be revealed lightly.

Han Yingying thought for a moment and said, "I did it twice. But the first time it stopped at the door for a long time. I timed it, and it was about five minutes."

"Five minutes," Zhou Lang noted. He and Han Yingying had only been noticed three times combined, while Zhao Qiang had been noticed four times. But Han Yingying received more attention.

One time, the quantity is small but the time is long; another time, the quantity is large but the time is short.

This means that the strange phenomenon that came was not the same one.

"Today's investigation focus," Zhou Lang put down his bowl, "is to find out who lived in this building and what happened there."

Li Zheng glanced at him. He was supposed to be the team leader, but from yesterday until now, he had found that this young man, who was not very old, had a much clearer mind than him.

"Do you have a direction now?" Li Zheng asked.

"The symbols on the door frames are different in each room," Zhou Lang said. "Also, the storage room on the first floor is locked."

Fang Yuan chimed in, "You mean, each room corresponds to a different kind of eeriness?"

"Possibly."

It might not be correct, but it's the most reasonable guess at the moment. Each room has a symbol, a strange one. Seven rooms... wait, how many rooms are there in this building?

Zhou Lang suddenly stood up.

"What's wrong?" Zhao Qiang was startled.

"Six rooms on the second floor. Seven strange things," Zhou Lang said. "Where's the extra one?"

It's quiet now.

The group exchanged bewildered glances. "Right, the six rooms on the second floor correspond to six symbols, but what about the seventh?"

"First floor." Chen Mo pushed up his glasses. "The room where Sister Wang lives."

Everyone glanced downstairs. The sound of Sister Wang washing dishes came from the kitchen—the sound of running water, perfectly normal.

"Don't jump to conclusions yet." Zhou Lang sat back down. "We need to confirm two things today. First, what's in the storage room on the first floor. Second, whether there are any symbols on the door frame of Sister Wang's room."