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

"Fire," Wang Gang said.

A dozen automatic rifles fired simultaneously. Bullets rained down.

Han Yingying didn't dodge. She activated the energy shield from her spatial backpack. A blue, transparent wall of light appeared in front of her. The bullets hit the light wall and turned into scrap metal, falling to the ground.

Wang Gang was stunned. Energy shields were high-level items. Only the leaders of a few top guilds in the transfer station possessed them. How could this woman have one?

Han Yingying sheathed her lightsaber. With a thought, a single-soldier electromagnetic cannon appeared in her hand. The barrel was thick, and its weight pressed down on her shoulder.

She pulled the trigger.

A blue electromagnetic pulse shot out. It pierced through the first three soldiers. Their armor melted. They were gone without a sound.

Wang Gang stepped back. He discovered that the communication channel was down. The task panel from the main system was flashing and had turned into a bunch of gibberish.

"Scatter!" Wang Gang shouted.

The remaining soldiers hid on both sides of the corridor.

Han Yingying walked forward. The electromagnetic cannon charged. It fired again. A large hole was blasted through the metal wall of the corridor. Two soldiers were swept inside.

She didn't care who these people were. Anyone who blocked her way would die. Her current goal was to leave the underground and check the situation on the surface.

Wang Gang hid behind a load-bearing pillar. He glanced at his health bar. A graze of energy that had just grazed him had directly deducted half of his health. This wasn't right. The damage was excessive.

He pulled a high-explosive grenade from his waist. Pulled the pin. Throwed it.

Han Yingying watched the grenade fly towards her. She didn't use her shield. She raised her left hand and brought up the permissions panel. She clicked "Delete Item."

The grenade disappeared in mid-air.

Wang Gang stared at the empty corridor, completely bewildered. The items had vanished into thin air. This wasn't something a player could do.

Han Yingying walked to the load-bearing column. She pointed the gun at Wang Gang's head.

"What's going on outside?" Han Yingying asked.

"I don't know," Wang Gang said. He didn't dare move. "The streets are changing. The buildings are changing too. The system sent out a server-wide announcement saying that the real-world map is loading."

Han Yingying fired. Wang Gang's helmet shattered. The man fell to the ground.

She put away the electromagnetic cannon and switched to a regular assault rifle. The electromagnetic cannon was too heavy and slowed her down.

Go up the corridor. The original staircase is gone. It has been replaced by a spiral metal ramp. Red indicator lights are lit on both sides of the ramp.

The main system reset very quickly. The Changsheng Biotechnology Building has been completely transformed into a building within the game.

Han Yingying walked down to the ground floor. She pushed open the door.

The sky outside was red. There was no sun. No clouds. Only a layer of dark red mist shrouded the city.

Cars on the streets have turned into scrap metal. Asphalt roads are covered with black fungal carpets. The surfaces of skyscrapers are covered with tumors and bone spurs.

The real world is being swallowed up by the game. Or rather, the main system is forcibly overlaying the game's map onto real-world coordinates.

Han Yingying stood on the steps, looking at the red mist before her.

She felt the scene was familiar.

Images flashed through my mind. She was wearing a white lab coat, sitting in front of a computer. Rows of red code were displayed on the screen.

"Turn down the red fog concentration," Zhou Lang's voice said. "If it's too dense, players won't be able to see the path and will easily quit the game."

"This is a horror game," she said in her own voice. "The inability to see clearly creates a sense of oppression. Besides, the red mist limits the field of vision, reducing the server's rendering load."

Han Yingying touched her forehead. She remembered. This was the "Wasteland" map from the game. She and Zhou Lang designed it together.

Footsteps echoed through the red mist. Very frequent.

Several black-scaled monsters emerged from the mist. They were a size larger than before, and bone wings had grown on their backs.

The main system has increased the stats of regular monsters.

Han Yingying picked up her assault rifle and aimed.

Her goal was to traverse the wasteland and find the television tower in the city center. In this map's setting, the television tower was the only signal base station. From there, she could contact Zhou Lang again.

The monster spotted her. It roared and charged.

Han Yingying fired. The bullet struck the monster's black scales and ricocheted off. The armor thickened.

She stopped firing. She tossed the assault rifle back into her backpack. She activated two high-frequency vibrating knives. The blades emitted a buzzing sound.

She ran towards the monsters. The first monster pounced. Han Yingying slid in. Her twin blades slashed upwards, cutting open the monster's abdomen. Its internal organs spilled out.

The second monster flapped its bone wings, stirring up a gust of wind. Han Yingying dodged to the side, leaping up by stepping on a nearby abandoned car. Her blade pierced the monster's nape, severing its nerves.

The movements were crisp and clean, without any unnecessary exertion.

She knew these monsters' weaknesses all too well. Because those weaknesses were precisely what she had painstakingly typed out line by line in code back then.

"The base of the left wing. The artery is under the third scale," she murmured to herself.

With a swift stroke, the blade fell. The third monster's wing was severed. Black blood gushed forth.

In less than a minute, five monster corpses lay on the ground.

Han Yingying wiped the blood off the knife. She put one away, keeping the other in her hand.

Deep within the red mist, several figures were moving about.

Han Yingying gripped the knife handle tightly and walked over.

There were three players. Two men and one woman. They were wearing tattered beginner gear. They were carrying iron bars and fire axes. They were hiding behind an overturned bus, trembling.

Seeing Han Yingying approach, the three players shrank back.

"Don't kill us," one of the male players said. "We have no equipment."

Han Yingying stopped and looked at them.

"How did you get in?" Han Yingying asked.

"We were surfing the internet at an internet cafe. The screen went black, and that's how we ended up here," the female gamer said, crying.

Han Yingying understood. The main system not only covered the real-world map, but also forcibly pulled people from reality into the game. These people didn't go through any intermediary and directly became novice players.

There's no tutorial. No weapons. You're thrown straight into a high-difficulty map. The main system is purging the real-world population.

"Follow me," Han Yingying said. "Don't make a sound."

She turned and walked deeper into the red mist. These three people could serve as bait. If they encountered a high-level anomaly, they could buy her a few seconds. That was her current objective.

The three players exchanged glances. They quickly followed. They had just witnessed Han Yingying killing the monster. It was too fast; they couldn't even see her movements clearly.

The male player's name was Li Qiang. He was a game booster. He watched Han Yingying's retreating figure, making plans in his mind.

This woman's movement and attack style are definitely at a professional level or higher. And the knife she's wielding is clearly top-tier equipment. Following her greatly increases our chances of survival.

"Boss, where are we going?" Li Qiang asked in a low voice.

"The TV tower," Han Yingying said.

"There are a lot of monsters over there," Li Qiang said. "We just escaped from there. There was a huge flying bug that ate anyone it saw."

Flying insects. Han Yingying remembered. Those were elite monsters from the wasteland. Bloodthirsty Queen Bees.

"Perfect," Han Yingying said. "I need its wings."

Li Qiang shut up. He thought this woman was crazy.