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

"understood."

The second SS dungeon raid took place at the end of the third weekend. All three members emerged unscathed with excellent ratings. Chen Bo had long since removed his bandages and was walking with a brisk pace. His first question upon meeting was whether the cafeteria had grilled fish that day.

Zhao Ran: Yes.

"Okay, let's go eat first."

Zhou Lang listened from behind, then turned to look at Han Yingying.

Han Yingying was looking at the schedule of the guild competition. It was newly released and had just been pushed by the system. She frowned and turned the panel over to show him.

Our first opponent: The Second Guild.

Zhou Lang took it and scanned the entire schedule, looking at it for a long time. "You noticed that?"

"I noticed," Han Yingying said. "The first match is the hardest, and so are the ones after."

"The tournament group arrangement isn't random." Zhou Lang handed the panel back to her. "It's too much of a coincidence."

Han Yingying put the panel away and didn't say anything more. The schedule was right there, written very clearly. Every opponent of the X Guild was formidable. From the first round to the semi-finals, each match was more difficult than the last, as if someone had carefully studied the competition and deliberately chosen the opponents to include.

Having made this clear, there's no need to continue.

The first match of the guild competition will be held in the city center's dungeon arena.

The arena is a special building that appeared after the strange occurrence. The inner and outer spaces are not completely connected. People who enter will enter a standardized battle instance. The two sides fight in the instance, and the results are transmitted back to the big screen outside in real time. There are spectators outside the arena, but only the participants are inside.

When the six members of Guild X entered, Guild Two was already waiting.

Six people, all equipped with Grade A gear, stood in neat rows. The leader was a man in his thirties with short hair and an unsteady posture, his arms crossed in front of his chest. When he saw Han Yingying walk in, he looked over and said, "The X Guild has been making quite a splash lately."

"Thank you for your kindness." Han Yingying didn't stop.

Zhao Ran whispered, "The one leading the team is Luan Xu, the vice president of the Second Guild. He's a hard-hitting type, all his skills are enhancement-type, and he doesn't like to fight his way through.

"Who's that to his right?" Chen Bo looked at a tall man wearing metal arm guards, standing on the side of the line, somewhat separated from the others. He had a calm expression, but his eyes were constantly scanning the area.

"No file," Zhao Ran said. "Blank records, a new employee?"

"A newbie with Grade A arm guards," Chen Bo muttered to himself, then followed him into the arena to prepare.

The instance is set in an abandoned city with crumbling buildings, cracked ground, and a gloomy gray sky. Monsters are also present as obstacles. The rules are point-based: eliminating opposing team members earns points, and teams compete for three strongholds within the instance. The first team to reach 300 points wins.

Within the first thirty seconds, Zhou Lang realized something was wrong.

"They're heading south." He stared at the map. All the strongholds were in the east. The six members of the Second Guild didn't head towards the strongholds at the start; they went around them and headed south, and they were quite scattered.

"To outflank?" Zhao Qiang asked.

"It's more purposeful than a flanking maneuver," Zhou Lang said. "They don't intend to seize strongholds; they intend to eliminate people first."

Han Yingying made a quick decision: "Divide into groups. Zhao Qiang and Zhao Ran will go to the east to seize strongholds and secure points. Chen Bo will stay with us and must not act alone."

The two groups split up. Zhou Lang led Han Yingying and Chen Bo into the central area. When they reached a dilapidated building, Luan Xu came out of the building with two other people and blocked their way.

In a three-on-three match, the opposing team had a reasonable formation with no obvious weaknesses.

Luan Xu looked at Han Yingying, "You're Han Yingying? I heard you brought a new guild to the competition this time, you've got guts."

"Thanks for the compliment," Zhou Lang interjected, "but we won't chat."

Luan Xu ignored him and continued looking at Han Yingying. "This competition ends here for you."

Chen Bo muttered to himself, "This guy talks too much."

Then a fight broke out.

Luan Xu's fighting style was exactly as Zhao Ran had described: a pure frontal assault, stacking damage with skills, tanking attacks, and using the two flanks to distract the enemy; their coordination was excellent. Zhou Lang and Chen Bo went to entangle the two flanks, while Han Yingying engaged Luan Xu head-on.

The situation was at a standstill, with neither side able to widen the gap in the short term.

The problem lies with that tall guy.

He never appeared in Luan Xu's direction from beginning to end. Zhou Lang couldn't find him out of the corner of his eye on his left until he appeared—from behind Han Yingying, without any sound or system notification, he just appeared like that.

He was holding a knife.

It's not a skill-based weapon allowed in the dungeon; it's a genuine physical blade with its own independent energy fluctuations. It's completely out of sync with the dungeon's rules and shouldn't exist here.

The damage dealt by this weapon is not buffered by the instance itself.

Chen Bo was closer to Han Yingying. He reacted half a second faster than Zhou Lang, stepping across and blocking her with his entire body without making any unnecessary movements.

The knife pierced his side abdomen.

He didn't yell, steadied himself, pushed the tall guy away, and before the other guy could make a second move, he used the nearest skill at hand to send the guy flying, crashing into the stone wall of the ruined building. The other guy didn't get up again.

Luan Xu was stunned for a moment, and the entire Second Guild's formation fell into disarray. Taking advantage of this opening, Han Yingying pressed forward and forced Luan Xu into a position of disadvantage in points. Meanwhile, Zhao Qiang and Zhao Ran had already secured two strongholds, and their points continued to rise.

The system announced the end of the match, with Guild X emerging victorious.

After exiting the instance, Chen Bo sat down on the ground, pressing his hand to his side. Blood seeped from between his fingers. He glanced down at himself, then looked up at Han Yingying standing beside him. "This wound is still bleeding. It needs to be treated."

Han Yingying didn't speak, her eyes reddened, and she squatted down, "Chen Bo—"

"Don't make that face," Chen Bo interrupted her, "It's ugly, I don't like looking at it."

He removed his hand from the wound, looked at the seeping blood, and said, "There's something I need to clarify first. It's about my wife. She doesn't like going into dungeons, and she's been waiting for me outside for the past two years. If anything happens to me today, please tell her for me that I left quickly and didn't suffer much."

"You're still alive." Zhou Lang said softly from the side.

"I know I'm alive," Chen Bo glanced at him sideways, "just in case."

"The wound is not vital; it can be treated."

"That's good." Chen Bo pressed his hand back down, then gasped in pain, "...That fucking hurts."

The medical team rushed over, supporting the person and walking towards the back. Zhao Qiang followed, glancing back at Zhou Lang before setting off. Zhou Lang nodded to him.

Han Yingying stood up, looking in the direction Chen Bo had been pushed away, her hands clenched tightly, her nails digging into her palms.

Zhou Lang stood next to her and said, "The Second Guild used illegal weapons, and the competition organizers will intervene."

"Handle it," Han Yingying repeated the word, paused, and then...?"

"At least they won't be coming out for the next game."