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

The four people crossed the street corner and entered the central square.

The square was vast. The ground was paved with black metal bricks. In the very center stood a towering building that seemed to reach into the clouds. This was the central tower. The entire tower was made of reflective glass. At its very top, a green light shone.

The plaza was filled with holographic projections, playing recruitment notices from various guilds, along with high-value bounty posters.

Han Yingying stopped in her tracks, looking at a large screen in mid-air.

A leaderboard is displayed on the screen.

First place: Genesis Guild.

Second place: Black Gold Guild.

Third place: Divine Realm Guild.

Next to the leaderboard, a separate section was set up. It read "Legendary Players." Only one name was listed.

White nights.

There's no guild affiliation listed after the name. Only one line of stats: Solo clear of three S-rank dungeons. Whereabouts unknown.

Han Yingying stared at the name, her hand gripping the hilt of the short knife tightly.

"Do you know him?" Zhou Lang asked.

"I don't know it," Han Yingying said. "But I've dreamt about this name. In my dream, someone called me Bai Ye."

Zhou Lang remained silent. He stared at the main gate of the central tower. Two rows of fully armed guards stood outside, each carrying a heavy machine gun. Access required iris and fingerprint scanning; forcing one's way in was impossible.

He looked around. A huge red tent had been erected on the left side of the square. A long queue stretched outside the tent. Most of the people in the queue were ragged and emaciated.

A sign hung at the entrance of the tent: Black Gold Guild D-Rank Resource Dungeon Recruitment Office. Survival rate: 10%. Reward for completion: 10,000 points.

Zhou Lang walked toward the tent.

"Where to?" Old Ma asked.

"I'm signing up," Zhou Lang said.

Liu Wei's eyes widened. "Brother Zhou, that's the Black Gold Guild. We just killed their people. Going to sign up now? Isn't that just suicide?"

"The most dangerous place. The safest place," Zhou Lang said. "We need to go in. It's the only legal way."

Liu Wei shut up. He thought Zhou Lang was crazy. But he didn't dare to argue. He knew Zhou Lang's chainsaw was indiscriminate.

The four people were at the very back of the line.

The process was quick. The registration process was simple: fingerprint scan, receive a black metal collar, wear it around your neck, and then proceed to the passageway at the back of the tent.

It was Zhou Lang's turn.

The person in charge of registration was a woman. She was wearing a tight black leather skirt with a very low neckline. A name tag hung around her neck: Supervisor Li Na.

Li Na looked up at Zhou Lang. Her gaze swept over Zhou Lang's face, which was covered in black mud, and then landed on the chainsaw behind him.

"A disabled person?" Li Na tapped the table with her pen.

Zhou Lang remained silent.

Li Na stood up, walked around the table, and stood in front of Zhou Lang. She extended her hand, painted with red nail polish, and pressed it against Zhou Lang's pectoral muscles.

The muscles are very hard.

Li Na raised an eyelid. "Your physique is quite good. It's a pity your leg is lame. Carrying a broken chainsaw, you'd be too slow even to be cannon fodder in a dungeon."

Zhou Lang looked at her. "As long as you can kill someone."

Li Na laughed. She reached out to touch Zhou Lang's waist. Her fingers slid down his belt, stopping just short of safety.

"You've got quite a temper. Come to my room tonight. Let me see what else you can do besides murder," Li Na said in a low voice.

Zhou Lang didn't move. He was calculating the location of the carotid artery in Li Na's neck. If he made a move, he could cut it in half a second. But he didn't. His target was the red pass hanging from Li Na's waist.

Li Na pinched Zhou Lang's waist. Zhou Lang cooperated by turning slightly to the side. His fingers brushed against Li Na's waist. The red pass fell into his palm. The whole action went unnoticed.

Zhou Lang tucked the pass into his sleeve.

The other applicants nearby stared at Zhou Lang, each secretly calculating. This cripple was a dead man. None of the men Manager Li had his eye on lived more than three days. They were all drained dry and thrown into the scrap heap.

Li Na turned and walked back behind the table. She tossed four black metal collars to Zhou Lang.

"Put it on. Go inside," Li Na said.

Zhou Lang picked up the collars and distributed them to Han Yingying and the other two.

The collar was heavy. There were metal contacts on the inside. Zhou Lang touched it. Inside were miniature bombs and a locator.

He fastened the collar around his neck. Click. It was locked.

Han Yingying didn't hesitate. She put it on directly. Lao Ma and Liu Wei put it on with trembling hands.

The four people walked through the tent and entered the passage at the back.

The passage leads downwards.

The walls were gray concrete. A stark white fluorescent light shone overhead. The air grew increasingly cold.

Zhou Lang walked ahead. He touched the red pass in his sleeve. It was a high-level access card for the central tower. With this, he could go find Zhang Jianguo.

At the end of the passage was a huge iron gate. Two guards stood in front of the gate.

The guard checked the numbers on the collars around their necks. Then he opened the iron gate.

Inside is a huge underground space.

There were no opulent decorations. Only cold metal and intricate pipes. Countless transparent glass tubes stretched from the ceiling to the floor, through which flowed a green liquid.

It was exactly the same liquid as the one in the captain's cabin of the Ghost Ship.

The underground space was divided into many areas. Each area held dozens of people, like pigsties.

Zhou Lang and his three companions were pushed into area numbered 404. The iron gate was locked behind them.

The area was filthy. A layer of dry grass covered the ground. Several plastic buckets sat in the corner, emitting the stench of excrement.

There were already more than thirty people locked up inside. When the newcomer entered, a few of them looked up, their eyes filled with numbness.

Zhou Lang found a spot against the wall, sat down, put down his backpack, and placed the chainsaw beside him.

Han Yingying sat to his left. Lao Ma and Liu Wei squeezed to his right.

"What the hell is this place?" Liu Wei covered his nose. "We were supposed to be doing a dungeon run. Why are they locking us up?"

"We're waiting," Zhou Lang said.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Wait for them to choose the meat."

Zhou Lang looked at the transparent glass tubes. The tubes eventually converged into a huge reaction vessel in the center of the space. Above the reaction vessel was a suspended glass observation chamber.

Several people were standing in the observation room, wearing white coats, recording data.

Zhou Lang had excellent eyesight. He could make out one of the people's faces.

Zhang Jianguo.

Zhang Jianguo wasn't wearing a mask. He was dressed in a sharp suit, holding a glass of red wine, and talking to a man in a white coat next to him.

Zhou Lang touched the handle of the chainsaw. Found it.

The area suddenly fell silent.

A bald, muscular man emerged from the crowd. He was nearly two meters tall, his body entirely muscular, and he had a centipede-like scar on his face.

The bald man walked up to Zhou Lang and looked down at them.

"New guy. Do you know the rules?" the bald man said. His voice was like a broken gong.

Zhou Lang didn't look up. He was looking at the observation room where Zhang Jianguo was located. It was about a hundred meters away, separated by three layers of barbed wire and two patrol teams of guards.

Seeing that Zhou Lang ignored him, the bald man felt he had lost face. He raised his foot and kicked Zhou Lang's backpack.

Zhou Lang moved his hand.

He didn't pull out the chainsaw. He simply reached out his left hand and grabbed the bald man's ankle.