The Mysterious Dungeon: A Survival Guide to the Twelve Talismans

Looking at the old man again, a line of blood had appeared on his neck.

Zhou An's knife was too fast; the old man's body hadn't even had time to react yet.

However, Zhou An did not watch the old man die; instead, he reached out and grabbed the old man's neck.

When it is on the verge of death, activate the Horse Talisman to heal its wounds.

If it had been any slower, the old man would have really died.

A muffled thud!

Zhou An grabbed the old man's head and slammed him hard onto the ground.

"Ahhh!" The old man screamed in agony.

Before the old man could resist, Zhou An swung his knife and severed both of his hands and legs.

"Ah... my neck, my hands..."

Zhou An grabbed the other man by the collar, lifted him up, and looked him in the eye.

"You...who are you? Why aren't you dead? You're not human, you're a monster, you're a monster!" The old man looked at Zhou An in terror.

Clearly, clearly his dagger had already pierced the other person's neck, so why, why wasn't the other person dead, and why had the wound healed?

Moreover, shouldn't my head have been severed? Why am I still alive?

"Old man, you seem to be a veteran player. Tell me, why did you want to kill me?" Zhou An's tone was somewhat cold.

Who wouldn't be angry if they woke up to find their neck pierced by someone else?

"Don't want to talk? No problem, I'll let you try one of my tools." As soon as Zhou An finished speaking, he activated the Pain Storage Bead.

He unleashed the pain he had stored up in batches onto the old man.

"Ahhh!" the old man screamed again.

The screams hadn't stopped because Zhou An had stored up too much pain from severing his arm.

"Ah~~No~~I said~~No~~I said ah~~~" the old man screamed, seemingly trying to answer Zhou An's question.

But because it hurt so much, I couldn't even speak out.

Zhou An remained expressionless and silent, simply letting the old man endure the pain calmly.

About five minutes later, the old man's breathing weakened, and blood flowed all over the ground; he seemed to be about to die at any moment.

Upon seeing this, Zhou An activated the horse talisman to restore it.

After the recovery was no longer needed, Zhou An did not sever his limbs, but instead broke all of his hands and feet.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhh!" The old man screamed again.

However, compared to the previous weak screams, these screams were full of energy.

"Can we talk now?" Zhou An asked the old man with a faint smile.

"I'll talk, I'll talk..." The old man seemed to have grasped at a straw, afraid that Zhou An would continue to torment him.

"Tell me about your situation first, and also about why we weren't hit by a car. Tell me everything you know," Zhou An asked in a deep voice.

The old man quickly said, "Actually, once you settle your reward, you'll understand why I took action against you."

"Settlement bonus?" Zhou An was taken aback.

The next second, a series of notification sounds appeared in his mind.

[Congratulations to the player for clearing the multiplayer dungeon: The Murderer in the Apartment]

[With the help of the dog demon, the murderer was successfully killed. Rating: A]

(Rating): Divided into S, A, B, C, and D. Surviving for five days will earn a D rating. Learning the identity of the killer will earn a B or C rating. Killing the killer will earn an S or A rating.

Your level has been upgraded to LV1.

Your level has been upgraded to LV2.

Your level has been upgraded to LV3.

Your level has been upgraded to LV4.

[Upgrade]: S-level rating, can be upgraded five times; A-level rating, can be upgraded four times; B-level rating, can be upgraded three times; C-level rating, can be upgraded two times; D-level rating, upgrade one level.

[Unlock the following permissions: Inventory x6 (three slots are unlocked at level 1, with one additional slot for each level increase), character panel, contract slots]

[Player successfully assisted in killing the killer, received an A-level rating, 500 Soul Coins, and one Rule Item Blind Box.]

Chapter 13 Fixed Points of Death Range

[Host successfully cleared the dungeon. The Horse Talisman is automatically loaded in the real world with no loading restrictions.]

【Rule Skill Blind Box】: After use, you can randomly obtain a rule-related skill card.

[Item Slots x6]: Only items from the Otherworld can be placed in the item slots. Only one item is allowed per item slot. Note: There is no limit to the amount of Soul Coins that can be stored.

By the time Zhou An came to his senses, his inventory was already full.

"Whoosh~~!" A rain of props began to fall around Zhou An.

About thirty small props were scattered on the ground at Zhou An's feet.

Name: Zhou An

Age: 24

[Level]: LV4

Strength: 19 (10 points for an average adult male)

[Mental State]: 18 (10 points for an average adult male)

[Physical Condition]: 17 (10 points for an average adult male)

[Contract Slot]: None

[Skills]: None

Items: [Murder Knife] [Dismemberment Knife] [Pain-Saving Bracelet] [Feel-Free Bracelet] [Rule Skill Blind Box]...

Soul Money: 48530

Before Zhou An could even feel happy, a piece of information appeared in his mind.

After a long while, Zhou An digested the information, and then he stared blankly at the old man.

The old man was right. After Zhou An finished calculating the rewards, he already knew why the old man wanted to kill him.

Zhou An entered the instance after he died, and he will not be resurrected just because he clears the instance.

Zhou An is still considered a deceased person.

However, he can exist in the real world in a state similar to that of a soul.

Nothing in the real world can affect Zhou An, and Zhou An can hardly affect the real world either.

However, Zhou An can walk normally, climb stairs, etc., and would be injured or even killed if he fell from a height.

Most importantly, after completing the game, players cannot leave their death location by more than one kilometer.

In other words, even if you become a player and successfully complete the game, your activity range will only be one kilometer after you return.

However, there are two ways for players to leave their death location.

Firstly, killing another player will unlock your own fixed activity area.

This is why the old man attacked Zhou An as soon as he appeared.

Secondly, they sought out a human who could see these deceased individuals, and made a contract with them, becoming the contracted spirit of the spiritual covenant.

Most importantly, once a contract is signed with a living person, ghostly power can be generated within the body.

Players without a contract can only generate ghost power within their bodies after reaching level ten.

"So, you're a veteran player who wanted to leave the death zone, so you attacked me?" Zhou An's gaze towards the old man became somewhat strange.

"Yes, that's it. I've been dead for two months now, and I'm stuck here every day. It's so torturous."

"I can't see a soul, just cars whizzing by every day, and there's no food. I'm starving."

“You drove by, saw me, and then turned and braked. I was extremely excited because I could sign a contract with you.”

"I never expected you to die. You even dragged me into the dungeon. So I had no choice but to pretend to be a newbie so I could kill you after I cleared the dungeon."

"Stop torturing me, just kill me, just kill me." The old man looked at Zhou An with a pleading expression.

At that moment, the old man knew that he was doomed to die.

Looking at the scattered props around Zhou An, the old man realized that the person who killed the serial killer was most likely Zhou An.

"Old man, no wonder you reminded me repeatedly in the dungeon by cursing."

"One last question. Why did that veteran player remind me not to reveal my name?" Zhou An asked.

The old man spoke in a deep voice: "Have you read The Three-Body Problem? The Dark Forest Theory states that when players meet in real life, it's either you or me who dies."

"In the real world, killing a player will level you up and give you all of their items and Soul Money."

"Some players have successfully made pacts with living people. Once your name is exposed, they will track down that name and eventually find the location of your death."

The old man stopped there.

Zhou An also understood that once found, the other party would naturally come immediately to kill the player to level up and obtain their items.

"Old man, I really didn't expect that you had actually read The Three-Body Problem."

"However, everyone has met in the dungeon, even if they don't know each other's names, they can still draw what each other looks like."

"In that case, it doesn't matter whether the name is revealed or not." Zhou An still had a question.

"Don't worry, it's impossible. Although I remember, no matter what method you use, you can't make the image appear in the real world. Only the name can," the old man replied.

"Alright, that's enough chatting. I'll see you on your way." Zhou An already knew everything he needed to know, so there was no point in keeping the old man around.

The old man didn't say anything, but just stared intently at Zhou An.

Zhou An immediately drew his sword and sent the old man on his way.

The old man's life force vanished, and his entire body turned into ashes and disappeared into nothingness.

An item fell out, along with 50 Soul Coins; the item was an iron bucket.

That is, the iron bucket that Zhou An saw the old man carrying before the car overturned.

Your level has been increased to LV5.

[Successfully killed player Sun Miao. Death restriction lifted. You are now free to leave the death location.]

Zhou An picked up the iron bucket, the soul banknotes, and the old man's dagger.

He glanced at the attributes of the dagger and the iron bucket; they were quite ordinary.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou An picked up all the props on the ground and put them into the iron bucket.

With a thought, the iron bucket vanished from his hand.

Upon seeing this, Zhou An's face lit up with joy.

I just wanted to try it out, but I didn't expect to successfully exploit the bug.

Soon Zhou An thought of something else and quickly took out four fruits with all attributes from his pocket.

One fruit can be consumed for each level up, and Zhou An is now LV5, so he can eat all four fruits with all attributes.

Just as Zhou An was about to wolf down the fruits, he suddenly remembered the old man's words about not being able to find anything to eat and starving to death.

"Wait, could it be that we can't eat normal food? Even if I'm in a spirit state, I'll still go hungry..." Zhou An thought of a terrible problem.

The information indicates that the dungeon must be run every seven days, and the time is fixed with no possibility of delay.

Of course, if you encounter certain events like the old man, you will also be pulled into the instance and will not be affected by the seven-day rule.

It takes seven days to enter the dungeon, during which Zhou An is in a state of being unable to touch or engage with the real world.

This means Zhou An will have to go hungry for seven days.

Zhou An knew very well what it felt like to be hungry. He would become so hungry that his hands and feet would go weak if he missed two meals. That feeling was too unbearable.