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

The chainsaw blade got stuck in the monster's kneecap. The monster had thick hide, and the chainsaw couldn't cut through it.

The monster swung the iron hook in its left hand, aiming for Zhou Lang's waist.

Zhou Lang pulled out the chainsaw and leaned back. The iron hook grazed the tip of his nose.

"Its bones are too hard," Zhou Lang shouted.

Zhao Qiang was forced to his knees by the monster's strength. The steel pipe bent.

Han Yingying stood behind, her hands glowing green. She threw the ball of light at Zhao Qiang. Zhao Qiang regained some strength and managed to push aside the iron hook.

Old Ma crouched behind the conveyor belt, watching the battle ahead. He touched a yellow talisman in his pocket. It was a life-sustaining talisman he had bought with his entire fortune. He intended to keep it for survival. But if these three people died, he wouldn't survive either.

Old Ma gritted his teeth and stood up. He threw the talisman at the monster.

"Set!" Old Ma shouted.

The talisman was pasted on the monster's back.

The monster paused for a moment. Less than two seconds.

But that's enough.

Zhou Lang put away the chainsaw and took out the Night Watcher's cane from his backpack.

He stepped onto the metal frame beside him and jumped up. His cane slammed heavily into the monster's gaping maw.

His teeth shattered. Black blood splattered on Zhou Lang's face.

The monster let out a scream and fell backward.

Zhao Qiang threw away the bent steel pipe, picked up a large rock from the ground, and smashed it into the monster's chest.

The monster twitched twice and then stopped moving.

The workshop was quiet. The only sound was the black blood flowing from the monster's corpse.

Zhou Lang wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve. He looked at the cane in his hand. This thing was better than a chainsaw for dealing with tough nuts.

Zhao Qiang gasped for breath and plopped down on the ground. The time for the strength enhancement was over, and he was now completely exhausted.

Han Yingying went over and treated Zhao Qiang.

Old Ma ran out from behind the conveyor belt with a fawning smile: "Brother, impressive skills. If it weren't for my talisman, this monster would have been really difficult to deal with."

Zhou Lang glanced at him. The immobilization talisman had indeed had some effect.

Liu Wei stood to the side, holding the rusty iron hammer, and said with his head down, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help you just now."

"As long as you didn't run away, that's fine," Zhou Lang said.

Zhou Lang walked to the monster's corpse. He squatted down and used his cane to poke at the monster's wounds.

He was looking for something. The intelligence report said that ghosts of three stars or higher have crystals inside their bodies. These crystals can be used to exchange for ghostly artifacts or to upgrade ghostly weapons.

He found a black stone, about the size of a thumb, inside the monster's gaping maw.

Zhou Lang put the stone into his pocket.

"This monster is strange," the bandaged man's voice rang out.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Lang asked in his mind.

"Its soul structure is incomplete," the bandaged man said. "It's not a naturally generated ghost; it was mass-produced by something. Moreover, its core logic is in a loop."

Speak like a human.

"It will come back to life."

Zhou Lang stood up. He looked at the corpse on the ground. Black blood was slowly flowing back into the wound.

"Let's go," Zhou Lang said.

"Where to?" Old Ma asked.

"Leave this workshop," Zhou Lang said. "It's going to come back to life."

Old Ma's expression changed. He glanced at the corpse on the ground, then turned and ran towards the exit ahead.

The five people went through the exit and entered a corridor.

The corridor is lined with enclosed rooms. The doors are labeled "Warehouse No. 1" and "Warehouse No. 2".

Zhou Lang pushed the door to Warehouse No. 1. It was locked.

"Use a chainsaw?" Zhao Qiang asked.

Zhou Lang shook his head. The chainsaw was too loud and would attract more monsters. His current goal was to find the core on the third underground level, and he didn't want to expend too much energy on the way.

Liu Wei walked over and took a wire out of his pocket.

"I used to be a locksmith," Liu Wei said.

He inserted the wire into the keyhole and poked it a few times. The lock opened.

Zhou Lang pushed open the door.

The warehouse was filled with wooden crates. The crates were covered in dust.

"Go in and rest for ten minutes," Zhou Lang said. Zhao Qiang needed to recover his strength.

Five people entered the warehouse and closed the door.

Han Yingying found a wooden box and sat down. She looked at Lao Ma and Liu Wei. Although these two were timid, they didn't stab her in the back at the crucial moment. Lao Ma used a life-saving talisman, and Liu Wei had tried to help earlier.

"Do you two want to team up with us regularly from now on?" Han Yingying asked.

Old Ma paused for a moment. He looked at Zhou Lang. Zhou Lang was inspecting the chainsaw chain and didn't say anything.

Old Ma waved his hand: "Girl, I appreciate your kindness. People like us aren't strong enough, we just want to get some guaranteed drops in low-level dungeons to make a living. If we follow your playstyle, we'll all be done for in there sooner or later."

Liu Wei nodded in agreement: "Yes. You guys are too strong. We can't keep up."

Han Yingying didn't try to persuade her further. Everyone has their own way of living.

After inspecting the chainsaw, Zhou Lang stood up. He walked to a wooden crate and used his cane to pry open the lid.

It was full of discarded mechanical parts.

Zhou Lang picked up a gear. Strange patterns were engraved on the gear.

"These are runes," the bandaged man said. "Runes used to control the machinery. This place might have been a factory for manufacturing monsters before."

Zhou Lang tossed the gear back into the box. He recalled a line from the intelligence report: "The core of the instance is located on the third basement level of the factory, personally guarded by the Ghost King."

These monsters are mass-produced, and their core is the control center.

But he discovered a problem. If the core was merely a control center, why would the monsters keep resurrecting? Resurrection requires enormous energy. Where would the core of an abandoned factory get its energy?

"This instance has a bug," Zhou Lang thought to himself.

"What bug?" the bandaged man asked.

"The law of conservation of energy," Zhou Lang said. "Monsters need energy to revive. When we kill monsters, they drop crystals, which we take, reducing the monsters' energy. But they keep reviving. Where does the energy come from?"

The bandaged man was silent for a moment: "You suspect that someone is supplying energy to this instance from the outside?"

"Or perhaps this copy connects to another, larger space," Zhou Lang said. He wanted to figure out the underlying logic of this horror game. He didn't believe it was just a simple killing game.

Zhou Lang didn't tell anyone his guess. No one would believe him anyway, and it would only cause trouble.

The break time is over.

Zhou Lang pushed open the warehouse door.

The corridor was quiet.

They continued walking. At the end of the corridor was a freight elevator.

The elevator doors were open. It was pitch black inside.

Zhou Lang raised the oil lamp, illuminating the interior of the elevator. There were no monsters.

"Does this elevator work?" Zhao Qiang pressed a button on the wall.

No response.

"No power," Liu Wei said.

Zhou Lang stepped into the elevator. He looked up. There was an inspection panel at the top of the elevator.

"Climb up," Zhou Lang said.

He stepped onto the elevator handrail, pushed open the inspection port, and climbed into the elevator shaft.

There are steel cables in the elevator shaft.

Zhao Qiang and Han Yingying followed them up. Lao Ma and Liu Wei also climbed up.

"Three underground levels." Zhou Lang gripped the steel cable and looked down. The bottom was nowhere in sight.

He slid down the steel cable.

The gloves rubbed against the steel wire rope, making a screeching sound.

After sliding for about ten meters, Zhou Lang stopped. He saw the elevator doors on the second basement level. The doors were closed.