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

"What do you want to do?" The bandaged man sensed Zhou Lang's thoughts. "You wouldn't be thinking of...?"

"Yes, I want to kill it," Zhou Lang said. "Since this is a sacrificial ritual, the ritual will fail as long as the object of the sacrifice is killed."

"Are you crazy! That's..."

"I know it's dangerous," Zhou Lang interrupted the bandaged man, "but I have no choice. The butler has his eye on me. Rather than waiting to die, I'd better take the initiative."

He glanced at the time; it was three in the morning.

"It will be dawn in six hours. I need to finish all the preparations before dawn."

Zhou Lang, holding an oil lamp, walked towards the basement.

He was going there to find something—something that could kill his "master".

Chapter 8: The Truth About the Basement

The entrance to the basement was behind the kitchen, with a rusty iron door half-open, and a putrid smell emanating from the crack.

Zhou Lang stood in front of the door, the light of the oil lamp illuminating the inscription on the door.

"Those who enter this place are all sacrifices."

"That's pretty straightforward." Zhou Lang pushed open the iron gate, and the steps descended, disappearing into the darkness.

He carried the oil lamp down the steps, and with each step he took, his feet made a creaking sound.

The steps were very long; Zhou Lang counted them, and there were a full one hundred steps.

Finally, they reached the bottom, where a huge space lay before them. The walls were covered with chains, each chain ending in a desiccated corpse.

"Are these all previous players?" Zhou Lang asked.

"Yes." The bandaged man's voice trembled slightly. "They are all people who failed in their sacrifices, trapped here, never to leave."

Zhou Lang approached a mummified corpse, the light of an oil lamp illuminating its face.

It was a young face, with wide-open eyes and a gaping mouth, as if screaming silently.

"Are they still alive?" Zhou Lang asked.

"I suppose so," the bandaged man said. "Their souls are trapped inside their corpses; they can neither die nor live, and can only suffer eternally."

Zhou Lang remained silent for a moment before continuing to walk forward.

The basement was very large, and it took him a long time to reach the center.

There was a huge altar there, on which were placed all sorts of strange tools—rusty knives, blood-stained saws, and other things that Zhou Lang couldn't name.

"This is where the sacrifice takes place," the bandaged man said. "Every time a player dies, the butler brings the body here for the sacrifice ritual."

Zhou Lang walked up to the altar and carefully observed the artifacts.

Suddenly, his gaze fell on a groove in the center of the altar.

A black bead sits in the groove, its surface shimmering with an eerie light.

"What is this?" Zhou Lang reached out to take it.

"Don't touch it!" the bandaged man shouted. "That's the 'core'! It's what keeps the whole resort running!"

Zhou Lang's hand froze in mid-air.

"core?"

"Yes, every horror instance has a core. Destroying the core will cause the instance to collapse," the bandaged man said. "But at the same time, everyone inside will die!"

"Including me?"

"Including you!"

Zhou Lang withdrew his hand and looked at the black bead.

"What if I don't destroy the core, but instead take it away?"

"Take it?" The bandaged man paused for a moment. "Theoretically, yes, but the core has a self-protection mechanism; only the owner of the instance can touch it."

"The owner of the copy..." Zhou Lang mused, "You mean the thing in that black vortex?"

"right."

"What if I kill it and become its new owner?"

The bandaged man fell silent.

"Your idea is crazy," he said, "but it's theoretically feasible."

Zhou Lang smiled, turned and left the altar, continuing his search in the basement.

He was looking for a weapon that could kill his "master".

In a corner of the basement, he found an iron cage.

There was a person locked in the cage, or more accurately, half a person.

The man was only left with his upper body; his lower body was nowhere to be found. But he was still alive, his eyes fixed on Zhou Lang.

"Help...help me..." the man said in a weak voice.

Zhou Lang approached the cage, and the light from the oil lamp illuminated the man's face.

"Who are you?"

"My name is... Li Ming... I was among the last group of players to enter the manor..." Li Ming said with difficulty, "Please... kill me..."

Why?

"Because...because I don't want to live like this anymore..." Tears streamed down Li Ming's face. "I've been here for three months...enduring excruciating pain every day...please...give me a quick death..."

Zhou Lang looked at Li Ming and remained silent for a while.

"I can help you," he said, "but you must tell me how to kill the owner of this manor."

Li Ming's eyes lit up.

"You want to kill it?"

"right."

"Okay... I'll tell you..." Li Ming said, "The master has a weakness... it's afraid of sunlight... real sunlight..."

"Sunlight?" Zhou Lang frowned. "But this is a dungeon, where would we get sunlight?"

"Yes..." Li Ming said, "On the top floor of the villa... there's a skylight... from which you can see the outside world... If we can lure the owner there... at sunrise... it will be killed by the sunlight..."

"The skylight on the top floor..." Zhou Lang noted down this information.

"I've told you... now... kill me..." Li Ming pleaded.

Zhou Lang looked at Li Ming and took out scissors from his inventory.

"I'm sorry," he said, then plunged a pair of scissors into Li Ming's heart.

Li Ming's body twitched a few times before he lost his life.

A relieved smile appeared on his face.

"Skill triggered. Li Ming's gratitude value is 100, and he gains 500 points of Cunning!"

Zhou Lang was stunned for a moment.

"Can gratitude points trigger skills?"

"Of course," the bandaged man said. "The skill 'Death Threat' isn't just for scaring ghosts; it can be triggered by any action that causes a strong emotional response."

Zhou Lang nodded. He glanced at the time; it was four in the morning.

"It'll be dawn in two hours, I need to go back."

He turned and left the basement, returning to his room.

Lying in bed, Zhou Lang closed his eyes, his mind replaying everything he had seen that night.

The secret to killing the butler, the master in the black vortex, the altar in the basement, and the weakness Li Ming told him...

All the clues point to one conclusion—this manor is a huge trap, and all the players who enter are sacrifices.

"I must find a way to kill my master within ten days, otherwise..." Zhou Lang opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling, "otherwise I will also become a dried-up corpse in the basement."

Outside the window, the sky gradually brightened.

A new day begins.

Zhou Lang got up, washed up, and prepared to go to the third floor to continue working.

As he walked out of the room, he saw Zhao Qiang and Han Yingying also coming out, both of them looking rather unwell.

"Did you hear anything last night?" Zhao Qiang asked. "It sounded like someone was screaming."

"I heard it," Zhou Lang said. "It's Xiong Batian. He's dead."

"What?!" Zhao Qiang and Han Yingying were both startled.

"How did he die?" Han Yingying asked.

"I broke the rules by going out at night," Zhou Lang said. "So I was killed."

Their faces turned even paler.

"Now there are only the three of us left..." Zhao Qiang swallowed hard. "Seven days left... Can we really survive?"

"Yes," Zhou Lang said. "As long as you listen to me, you can survive."

He looked at the two of them with a determined gaze.

"From now on, we need to take the initiative."