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

"So this manor..." Zhao Qiang swallowed.

"It's a breeding farm." Zhou Lang stood up. "It specializes in breeding humans to provide life force for the manor owner."

"Then we..." Han Yingying's voice trembled.

"We are food too," Zhou Lang said, "but things have changed now."

He raised the oil lamp, its green light illuminating a corner of the room. There stood a figure, motionless.

It was to kill the butler.

"You shouldn't have come here." The butler's voice was hollow. "The secrets here are not for you to know."

"But we already know," Zhou Lang said. "Edward turned you into a monster and made you work for him. Do you hate him?"

The butler remained silent.

"You hate him," Zhou Lang continued, "but you can't fight back because he controls you. Right?"

"...Yes." For the first time, emotion appeared in the butler's voice. "I've been trapped here for over a hundred years, and every day I have to find new food for him. I want to escape, but I can't."

"What if someone could kill Edward?" Zhou Lang asked.

The butler abruptly raised his head, his empty eye sockets fixed on Zhou Lang: "You want to kill him?"

"I want to leave here alive," Zhou Lang said. "And to do that, I have to kill him."

"You can't kill him." The butler shook his head. "He's no longer human; ordinary methods won't work on him."

"What methods are effective?"

The butler remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking: "There is only one way. Kill him with his own power."

"What do you mean?"

"His power comes from the altar deep in the basement," the butler said. "That's where he performs his rituals, and it's the source of his power. If the altar is destroyed, he will lose his power and become an ordinary person again."

Where is the altar?

"Go further down, through three gates, and you'll see it," the butler said. "But there are traps he set there, and... his pets."

"What is it?"

The butler didn't answer, he just pointed to the ground.

Zhou Lang looked down and saw deep scratch marks on the floor, as if left by some wild animal.

"Those were his failed experiments," the butler said. "Those whose life force he drained but who didn't completely die became monsters that were neither human nor ghost. He kept them near the altar to guard them."

Zhao Qiang's face was as white as paper: "Should we...should we continue?"

Zhou Lang glanced at him, then looked at Han Yingying.

Han Yingying bit her lip, her eyes filled with fear, but even more so with determination.

"Continue," she said.

Zhou Lang nodded, then turned to the butler and asked, "Will you help us?"

The butler remained silent.

"I can't help you directly," it finally said, "but I can tell you that the core of the altar is a black stone. Once that stone is broken, Edward will lose his power."

"Anything else?"

"And..." the butler paused, "be careful of Emily."

"Emily?" Zhou Lang frowned. "Wasn't she dead?"

"She is indeed dead," the butler said, "but her soul is still trapped here, imprisoned by Edward. She hates Edward, but she hates all living people even more. Because she feels that it is the existence of the living that allows Edward to continue doing evil."

"So she'll attack us?"

"Yes," the butler said. "And she's more dangerous than those monsters because she's intelligent."

Zhou Lang pondered for a moment, then handed the oil lamp to Zhao Qiang: "Wait for me here."

"What?" Zhao Qiang was stunned. "You're going alone?"

"It's more convenient for me to do it alone," Zhou Lang said. "Besides..."

He didn't finish speaking, but Zhao Qiang understood.

Bringing them along will only hold us back.

"But..." Han Yingying wanted to say something.

"Trust me," Zhou Lang interrupted her, "I'll be back."

He turned and walked deeper into the darkness, his figure quickly disappearing into the shadows.

Zhao Qiang and Han Yingying stood still, holding up oil lamps, the surrounding darkness writhing like living things.

"He'll be alright, right?" Zhao Qiang asked softly.

Han Yingying did not answer, but clenched her fists tightly.

---

Zhou Lang walked down the corridor, where the scratches on the walls became more numerous and deeper. The air was filled with a rotten smell that made him want to vomit.

The first gate was an iron gate with three locks on it.

Zhou Lang took out the scissors and snapped them three times, breaking the lock completely.

Pushing open the door, I entered a huge room, the floor piled high with bones. Human bones.

Zhou Lang walked over expressionlessly, the bones under his feet making a cracking sound.

The second door was a wooden door with blood-red runes painted on it.

Zhou Lang picked up the chainsaw and sawed it open directly.

Behind the door was a narrower corridor, with iron cages hanging on the walls on both sides, and inside the cages were... things.

The creatures were huddled in the cage, their bodies twisted and deformed, unrecognizable. When they saw Zhou Lang, they began to frantically pound on the cage, emitting piercing screams.

Zhou Lang quickened his pace and walked through the corridor.

The third gate was a stone gate, as thick and heavy as a city wall.

Zhou Lang tried to push, but it didn't budge.

He stepped back a few paces, raised the chainsaw, and aimed it at the crack in the door.

The sound of a chainsaw echoed through the corridor, sparks flying everywhere. A crack appeared in the stone door, growing wider and wider.

boom--

The stone gate collapsed, raising a cloud of dust.

Zhou Lang went inside and saw the altar.

The altar was in the center of the room; it was a huge stone platform covered with intricate runes. At the center of the platform sat a black stone, its surface shimmering with an eerie light.

Zhou Lang walked over and reached out to take the stone.

"I knew you would come."

A voice rang behind him.

Zhou Lang turned around and saw a woman in a gorgeous dress standing at the door.

Emily.

Her face was as pale as paper, and her eyes had no pupils, only a deathly white.

"You look just like him," Emily stared at Zhou Lang, "like my father."

"I am not him," Zhou Lang said.

"I know," Emily smiled, a sinister smile, "but that doesn't matter. What matters is that you all deserve to die."

She reached out her hand, and the surrounding air began to distort.

Zhou Lang felt an immense pressure pressing down on him, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.

"Do you know how long I've been trapped here?" Emily's voice was filled with hatred. "Over a hundred years. For over a hundred years, I've watched my father kill people every day, watched those servants die one by one, and I couldn't do anything about it."

"That's not my fault," Zhou Lang said through gritted teeth.

“But you’re alive,” Emily said. “As long as anyone else enters this manor, Father will continue killing. So…”

Her hands clenched tightly.

Zhou Lang felt as if he had been hit in the chest with a heavy hammer, and he flew out and crashed heavily into the wall.

"So I'm going to kill everyone who comes in here alive," Emily said. "Including you."

Zhou Lang struggled to his feet, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

He looked at Emily and suddenly smiled.