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

The three of them left the room and went upstairs.

There is only one room on the top floor, with a sign on the door that reads "No Entry".

Zhou Lang walked to the door and reached out to push it open.

The door wasn't locked.

He pushed open the door, and it was pitch black inside.

The light from the flashlight shone in, casting a huge shadow.

The shadow was three meters tall, lying in the center of the room, with eyes all over its back.

"Holy crap..." Zhao Qiang gasped.

The shadow slowly turned its head, and countless eyes were fixed on Zhou Lang.

"You...shouldn't have come here."

Its voice was deep, each word sounding as if squeezed out from the depths of its throat.

Zhou Lang didn't speak, he just stared at it.

"You're that S-class weirdo?"

"Yes," said the shadow, "I am the master of this place."

"Master?" Zhou Lang sneered. "You're just an intruder."

The shadow remained silent for a few seconds.

"You are very clever," it said, "but clever people often die the fastest."

"Is that so?" Zhou Lang said. "Then I'd like to see how you're going to kill me."

He raised the oil lamp.

The green light shone on the shadow, and the shadow let out a piercing scream.

"This is... a ghost-suppressing lantern?"

"Yes," Zhou Lang said, "It's specifically designed to deal with people like you."

The shadow's body began to contort, and countless eyes closed simultaneously.

"You think you can kill me like this?" it said. "How naive."

Its body suddenly swelled up, filling the entire room.

"I will show you what despair is."

Zhou Lang gripped the oil lamp tightly, preparing for battle.

But just then, a voice came from outside the door.

"stop."

Lin Xiufang appeared at the door, holding the human skin lantern in her hand.

"He's my benefactor," she said. "You mustn't hurt him."

The shadow stopped moving.

"Your benefactor?" it said. "Are you insane?"

"He's not crazy," Lin Xiufang said. "He promised to help me leave here."

"Leave?" The shadow laughed loudly. "You think you can still leave? You're already part of this instance!"

"Then destroy this instance," Zhou Lang suddenly said.

Everyone looked at him.

"What did you say?" the shadow asked.

"I said, destroy this instance," Zhou Lang said. "Since you're all trapped here, let's destroy it together."

"Are you crazy?" Zhao Qiang said.

"I'm not crazy," Zhou Lang said. "This is the only way."

He looked at Lin Xiufang.

"Do you want revenge?"

Lin Xiufang nodded.

"think."

"Then come with me," Zhou Lang said. "Destroy this instance, kill this S-rank anomaly, and then you'll be free."

Lin Xiufang remained silent for a long time.

Finally, she raised the lantern in her hand.

"Okay," she said. "I'll go with you." #Chapter 1

In front of me was a huge space.

The light from the oil lamp couldn't reach the end; all that could be seen were various debris scattered on the ground—rusty iron chains, broken planks, and some other indistinct objects.

The air was filled with the smell of decay.

"This is the basement?" Zhao Qiang covered his nose.

Zhou Lang didn't answer. He walked forward with the oil lamp in his hand. When the light swept across the wall, Han Yingying gasped.

The walls were covered with photos.

There were at least a hundred photos, densely packed together. They all featured the same woman, wearing a cheongsam and smiling gently. But in every single one, her face had been slashed with a knife.

"Look at Madam," Zhou Lang said.

He remembered the butler mentioning this name.

Continuing forward, the ground began to dampen, and each step made a pattering sound as they walked through the water. Zhou Lang stopped, the oil lamp illuminating the path ahead.

A huge pool of water came into view.

The pool was about ten meters square and filled with a black liquid that emitted a pungent stench. Something was floating on the surface of the liquid; Zhou Lang looked closer and saw it was hair.

A large amount of hair floated in the liquid like seaweed.

"What is this thing?" Zhao Qiang took a step back.

Zhou Lang walked around the pool and found a stone tablet at its edge. The tablet had inscriptions, but most of them were corroded, and only a few characters were barely legible:

"Drowned...children...husband..."

"She drowned," Han Yingying said, "Madam Guan."

Zhou Lang nodded. He squatted down and shone the oil lamp on the bottom of the pool. Through the black liquid, he could vaguely see the outline of a human figure at the bottom of the pool.

That must be Lady Guan's body.

"What do we do now?" Zhao Qiang asked.

Zhou Lang stood up and looked around. The basement was large, containing not only the pool but also other areas. He walked to the left, holding an oil lamp, where there was a wooden door.

The door wasn't locked; it opened with a gentle push.

Inside was a small room with more photos hanging on the walls. But this time it wasn't Mrs. Guan, but a child. A boy, about five or six years old, was laughing happily.

The date is written next to each photo.

Zhou Lang looked through the photos one by one and found that the dates were consecutive, from the child's birth to when he was five years old. But at a certain point, the photos suddenly stopped.

In the last photo, the child's face was crossed out with a red pen.

"The child is missing." Han Yingying stood behind Zhou Lang. "He's been abducted."

Zhou Lang turned around and looked at the corner of the room. There were some toys piled up there—building blocks, toy cars, dolls—all covered in dust. He walked over and rummaged through the pile of toys, finding a diary.

The diary's cover was moldy, but the words inside were still legible. Zhou Lang turned to the first page:

"Today is my baby's one-month birthday, and I bought him new clothes. He looks so cute when he smiles."

The following pages contained similar content, recording the child's growth. But on one particular page, the handwriting suddenly became messy:

"My child is missing. I've searched the whole town, but I can't find him. Reporting to the police didn't help either; they said he might have been abducted."

Scroll down to the next page:

"I found out it was him. He sold the child. He said we needed money and that the child would be a burden on us. I didn't believe him, but he admitted it."

The last page contains only one sentence:

"I'm going to kill him."

Zhou Lang closed the diary and put it in his inventory. This diary must have been written by Madam Guan, recording the events surrounding her child's abduction. And the murderer was her husband.

"So she was killed by her husband?" Zhao Qiang asked.

"It should be," Zhou Lang said. "Her husband was afraid that the affair would be exposed, so he drowned her in the pool."

The three returned to the pool. Zhou Lang stared at the black liquid in the pool, his mind racing. Madam Guan was the third ghost; to deal with her, they had to find her obsession.

Judging from her diary, her obsession was likely related to her child.

"We need to find the child's whereabouts," Zhou Lang said.

"But the children have all been abducted, where are we supposed to find them?" Zhao Qiang asked.

Zhou Lang didn't answer; he continued searching the basement, oil lamp in hand. Across from the pool, he found another door. This door was iron, secured with two locks.

Zhou Lang took out the scissors, and with two snips, the lock broke.