The Mysterious Dungeon: A Survival Guide to the Twelve Talismans

Number of participants: 5

"A serial killer?" Zhou An felt a chill run down his spine.

However, Zhou An soon remembered his horse talisman.

So what if he's a serial killer? Could he possibly kill Zhou An?

If Zhou An really encounters a serial killer, he'll show the killer the power of talismans.

Zhou An then searched the room and found only a room key and a ten-yuan soul banknote.

The currency issued by the Heavenly Bank is called "Soul Money" instead of "Ghost Money," which is quite interesting.

Oh, and my own phone, fully charged, but with no signal.

He checked the time on the clock hanging on the wall with his phone, and sure enough, it was correct: 7:30 in the morning.

"Knock knock knock!" Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Zhou An immediately became alert.

"Mr. Zhou, we are holding a general meeting in our apartment building. Please gather in the lobby on the first floor within ten minutes." An old voice came from outside the door.

“Okay, right away,” Zhou An replied immediately.

Staying in the room, with no clues and the horse talisman on him, going out was the best option.

Zhou An did not go out immediately, but waited until the sounds outside the door had faded away before quietly opening the door.

A cool breeze blew in, making Zhou An shiver.

It was a gloomy corridor with a lamp on the ceiling, the light of which was rather dim.

He quickly surveyed the corridor and found it to be very long, with his room located at the very back, and the door bearing the number 410.

"Squeak~~!" At this moment, the door to room 409, which was opposite Zhou An's, opened.

A figure walked out.

When Zhou An saw the other person clearly, his pupils contracted sharply, and his heart started racing.

"Coo coo coo~~! A new guest has arrived! Wahaha, it smells so good, so good! Come visit my room sometime."

A strange man was making a gurgling laugh, and a fist-sized vertical pupil took up half of his face.

Below the vertical pupil is the mouth; it has no nose.

The man with vertical pupils didn't look at Zhou An. He closed his door and walked towards the elevator at the other end.

"Phew!" Watching the departing man with vertical pupils, Zhou An took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.

But it had no effect at all; my heart was still pounding wildly.

"Horse Talisman, I have a horse talisman." Zhou An silently chanted in his heart, and soon he calmed down.

Zhou An was no longer afraid and strode towards the elevator, quickly arriving at the elevator located in the middle of the corridor.

The elevator is stopped on the tenth floor; it will take a while to get down.

At that moment, three more terrifying guys arrived in front of the elevator.

They didn't speak, but stared at Zhou An with strange looks.

"The guy with vertical pupils in room 409, the big-headed monster in room 406, the toxic monster in room 404, and the snake woman in room 401." Zhou An silently wrote down their room numbers.

"Are there only four monsters on the fourth floor?" Zhou An asked.

"Hehehe... Human, you've got some nerve." The big-headed monster let out a strange, raucous laugh.

"Interesting, humans actually dare to talk to us." The toxic monster also let out a strange laugh.

"Hehe, you guessed right. There are only four monsters on the fourth floor." The snake woman flicked her snake tail and gave Zhou An a flirtatious wink.

"Ding-dong!" The elevator sounded and then slowly opened.

Zhou An looked inside and found four monsters, plus a middle-aged man who appeared to be human.

The middle-aged man remained calm, showing no fear whatsoever due to the monsters around him. He even glanced at Zhou An before turning his attention away.

The four monsters standing next to Zhou An entered the elevator.

The man with vertical pupils said, "The elevator is full, please take the next one."

Zhou An remained noncommittal. When the four monsters went up, the elevator was indeed full.

Three minutes later, Zhou An took the next elevator to the lobby on the first floor.

The apartment lobby wasn't small, and there were already more than fifty monsters gathered there.

Among them were four other humans, just like Zhou An.

Two of them were terrified, while the other two remained calm.

The sight of so many monsters gathered together made Zhou An's heart skip a beat again, and it took him a while to calm down.

"It's you, you old man! Driving on the highway, you've really gotten me killed!" Zhou An's expression changed as he approached, and he grabbed the old man by the collar.

"Hey hey hey, young man, what are you doing? What are you doing?" The old man grabbed Zhou An's arm with both hands, and his frightened expression eased a little.

"It's you, old man. Why did you have to drive on the highway in the middle of the night? You caused my car to overturn, and that's how I ended up in this dungeon."

Zhou An will never forget that face illuminated by the high beams.

"Ah...it's you, you beast! Driving so fast in the middle of the night scared this old man to death, and I ended up in this eerie place too."

"I'll beat you to death, I'll beat you to death!" The old man raised his hand and slapped Zhou An across the face.

Zhou An jerked his head back to avoid the old man's slap.

"Alright, everyone stop. The person is dead, what's the point of arguing? Let's think about how to survive in this instance first."

“Those monsters are watching,” the middle-aged man said in a deep voice.

The fifty-odd monsters were indeed staring intently at the five of them, as if they were looking at some delicious food.

"Hmph, damned old man." Zhou An snorted coldly and released the old man.

However, Zhou An remembered the word "strange" that the middle-aged man had said.

These monsters seem to be referred to as 'weird'.

"You beast, you damned beast, you scared this old man to death! If this were outside, I'd beat you to death!"

The old man also spat on the ground and glared fiercely at Zhou An.

"Trash." Zhou An left with these words and then ignored the old man.

Chapter 3 Cleaners and Pet Keepers

Zhou An looked at the middle-aged man: "Uncle, what do you mean by saying we're all dead?"

"Literally, to enter the instance, there is only one identity: the dead, whom you can call a player."

"Don't ask about anything else. Only if you can survive in this instance will you be qualified to know everything."

"Here's a piece of advice for you: don't reveal your name," the middle-aged man said in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, Zhou An, who had originally intended to continue asking questions, immediately shut his mouth.

It seems there are some taboos in this strange world.

"Waaaaah, where am I? It's so scary, I want to go back." Another newcomer, a woman in her late twenties, sobbed, her expression one of extreme fear.

But nobody cared about her.

Just then, the door to the administrator's room in the distance opened, and a middle-aged woman walked in.

This middle-aged woman, very middle-aged, is just like a dormitory supervisor in the real world.

But she exuded a strange aura.

When she appeared, all the monsters around her fell silent and dispersed, making way for her.

“Recently, a serial killer appeared in our apartment building. In the past month, he has killed more than ten residents, making our apartment building feel uneasy.”

“Our rent has been reduced again and again, now only half of what it used to be, but even so, the occupancy rate has dropped from 90% to 50%, and another tenant moved out yesterday.”

"Now, I'm offering a reward: whoever knows the killer's identity and brings me the evidence will receive a year's free accommodation in our apartment."

The apartment manager actually issued a reward notice.

"Administrator, are you serious? As long as you know my identity, I can stay for free for a year?" a strange voice shouted.

"Of course it's true. Whoever can kill the killer and bring me his head will get three years of free accommodation in our apartment."

"But you must remember, if you make a mistake, you will be punished for falsely accusing or murdering an apartment resident." The apartment manager's indifferent gaze swept over the strange crowd.

At this moment, all the eerie atmospheres dared not even breathe.

Zhou An didn't know what the consequences of falsely accusing and murdering residents would be, but he knew they would be unbearable for these strange occurrences.

Zhou An could tell that the apartment manager's fighting skills were definitely superior to all the strange people present.

At the same time, a notification sound appeared in Zhou An's mind.

[Three types of clearance missions have appeared.]

[1. Survive for five days to complete the game and return to the real world]

[2. Find out the identity of the apartment killer to pass the level and return to the real world]

[3. Defeat the apartment killer to complete the game and return to the real world]

The higher the difficulty of the task, the higher the score; the higher the score, the greater the reward.

"Alright, everyone disperse. You five new residents, come with me." The apartment manager's gaze fell on Zhou An and the others.

He then turned and walked toward his house, followed by an old man with only one leg who was standing to the side.

It's strange that this old man can walk on one leg—yes, he walks, not jumps.

The middle-aged man and another young man followed the apartment manager without hesitation.

These two, barring any unforeseen circumstances, are veteran players and must have already experienced other dungeons.

Upon seeing this, Zhou An immediately followed.

The old man and the frightened woman behind them also immediately followed.

The five people followed the apartment manager into her dormitory.

“You are the new residents today. You are a little different. I will charge you ten soul coins every day as rent.”

"Now, give me the rent." The apartment manager reached out his hand to ask for it.

The middle-aged man and the young man immediately took out a ten-yuan banknote from their pockets and handed it to the administrator.

Zhou An remembered that after waking up, he found ten yuan in the room, which he figured was the rent for the first day.

The old man and the woman weren't so foolish as not to search for the room; they also handed over the rent to the landlord.

"Very good. Pay me the room fee for tomorrow before I get off work each day. My get off work hours end at 6 p.m.

"By the way, Uncle Fu is resigning, and our apartment building is short-staffed."

"I don't know if the five of you would be willing to take on some positions. I can pay you wages and provide lunch," the administrator said again.

“Of course I would,” the middle-aged man nodded in response.

"We are short of cleaners right now. There are five of you, and each of you can clean two floors. The pay is ten yuan a day," the manager said.

The next instant, a notification sound appeared in Zhou An's mind.

Please select two floors from floors 1-10 to perform the cleaning work.

[Ding! Floors nine and ten have been selected]

[Ding! Floors 7 and 8 have been selected]

[Ding! The first and second floors have been selected]

Without hesitation, Zhou An immediately selected the 3rd or 4th floor.

The five humans had booked the entire ten-story building.

"There's also a zookeeper job, one hundred dollars a day. Is anyone willing to take it?" the manager said in a deep voice.