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

The white light faded. Lin Qi stood on the gray floor tiles. He lowered his head. His left hand gripped the long knife. His fingers moved freely. His joints bent. He stretched. The bones emitted a faint grinding sound. His left arm was intact. The charred skin was gone. The carbonized muscle tissue had been replaced by new cells. His combat uniform was undamaged. The fabric fibers were tightly packed. The zipper was zipped up to the top. His collarbone was concealed by the collar.

She turned her head. Lu Chen stood a meter away. Lu Chen looked down at the terminal on his wrist. The screen was lit. Green data streams were moving. Lines of code scrolled down.

"Data reset," Lu Chen said, his voice flat. His fingers tapped on the virtual keyboard, entering a hexadecimal key. "The timeline has rolled back to before the finals."

"A nesting doll mechanism," Lin Qi said. She sheathed the long sword back into its scabbard at her lower back. The metal handguard rested against her spine. The short sword was tucked into a leather sheath on the side of her thigh. The clasp was fastened.

There were twelve people standing around. Their positions formed four triangles, representing four teams.

Three on the right. Big Zhuang. Skinny Monkey. Glasses. They're standing there, alive. Big Zhuang is scratching the back of his head. His short hair is prickly. Skinny Monkey is pushing up his black-rimmed glasses. The lenses are reflective. The man with glasses is holding a paper book. The pages are yellowed.

The other nine people were divided into three groups: Wang Hu's team, Zhao Qiang's team, and Sun Fei's team. They wore different colored combat uniforms and carried cold weapons and old-fashioned firearms.

A system announcement sounded overhead. It was a synthesized male voice, inorganic in nature, with a frequency fixed at 400 Hz.

"SSS-rank dungeon: The Silent City. The finals begin."

"Finalists: Four teams. Survival objective: Find the core control tower. Survival countdown: 24 hours."

Lin Qi listened without blinking. This game had no end. The outer sandbox shattered. They were thrown into the inner one.

Wang Hu walked over. He was 1.9 meters tall and weighed over 100 kilograms. His chest muscles bulged out of his tactical vest. He carried a wide-backed machete with an 80-centimeter blade. He looked at Lin Qi, his gaze lingering on Lin Qi's chest for two seconds. Then he looked down at Lin Qi's legs. His legs were encased in tactical trousers, the fabric clinging to his muscular physique.

"Lin Qi. Last time you guys hid in the back and picked off the weaker opponents. Don't even think about getting an advantage in this final." Wang Hu said. His vocal cords vibrated. Saliva sprayed out, landing on the gray bricks between the two of them, forming a circular water stain.

Lin Qi took a half step back, avoiding the trail of saliva. He didn't look at Wang Hu, but at the wall in front of him.

Dazhuang stepped forward, took two steps to the side, and blocked Lin Qi's path, his chest puffed out.

"Wang Hu, shut up. Seventh Sister's knife can slice you into pieces," Da Zhuang said, his hand resting on the fire axe at his waist. The wooden handle was soaked with sweat, its color darkening.

Wang Hu raised his broadsword. He slapped the back of the blade against his left palm, producing a cracking sound as metal struck flesh.

"We'll see," Wang Hu said, turning around and walking back to his own group.

The floor tiles beneath my feet trembled. The epicenter was ten meters underground. The surrounding walls rose up. The ceiling closed in from four directions, the seams fitting perfectly. The light source was cut off. Darkness descended.

The sunken terminal emitted a green light. Photons scattered in the air, illuminating an area of ​​three meters in radius.

A straight passage appeared directly ahead. The walls of the passage were made of rusted sheet metal, with reddish-brown iron oxide crystals on the surface. There was standing water on the ground. The water was black and smelled of a mixture of engine oil and blood.

"Let's go," Lin Qi said. He took a step forward. His left foot landed. The sole of his boot touched the black water. Water splashed up. Water droplets landed on his trouser leg. His right heel followed. His center of gravity shifted. His pace stabilized at one hundred and twenty steps per minute.

Wang Hu and his men rushed forward. The three of them ran up, their shoulders colliding with Lin Qi's right shoulder. Lin Qi braced himself, his waist muscles tightening to absorb the impact. The chassis didn't budge.

Wang Hu ran in the lead. The sound of his boots splashing in the water was chaotic.

The corrugated iron walls on both sides of the passageway made a scraping sound. Metal plates were being squeezed and deformed. Screws flew off, hitting the opposite wall and echoing with a clanging sound.

Lu Chen typed on the keyboard. Three red dots appeared on the screen. The coordinates of the red dots changed rapidly, moving closer to the location of the twelve people.

"There's something inside the wall," Lu Chen said.

A large hole appeared in the iron wall on the right, its edges jagged. Three mechanical dogs rushed out. They were about 1.5 meters long, their outer shells pieced together from scrap car parts. Their heads were car headlights, the bulbs glowing red. Their lower jaws were two serrated steel plates.

The first mechanical dog lunges at Wang Hu, who is at the front. Its hind legs launch it forward. It remains airborne for 0.5 seconds.

Wang Hu gripped the large cleaver with both hands. He used his waist to power the swing, rotating the blade to the right. The blade swept horizontally, striking the mechanical dog's neck armor. Sparks flew. The blade chipped. The recoil transmitted to Wang Hu's wrists. His hands split open at the base of his thumbs. Blood flowed.

The robotic dog had no pain code. Its head tilted. Its steel-plate jaws opened. It bit down on Wang Hu's left upper arm. The bite force exceeded two tons. Muscles and bones were severed. A large chunk of skin and flesh was torn off. An artery ruptured. Blood sprayed onto the rusty iron wall. Wang Hu opened his mouth. He roared. His vocal cords stretched to their limit.

The skinny monkey was in the middle of the group. He backed away. His heel slipped on a slippery pebble in the puddle. He lost his balance and fell into the water. Water splashed over his face.

The second mechanical dog stepped over Wang Hu's leg. It pounced on the skinny monkey. Its steel teeth bit into the monkey's neck. The sound of cracking cervical vertebrae rang out. The monkey's head separated from its torso. Its head rolled twice in the water. It stopped. Its eyes were open. Its pupils were dilated.

Lin Qi didn't save anyone. She pulled out the short knife from the side of her thigh. She gripped it with her right hand, thumb pressing down on the hilt. She pushed off with her right foot, sending water splashing out in a fan shape. She charged towards the third mechanical dog.

The mechanical dog leaped up. A red light illuminated Lin Qi's face. Lin Qi bent his knees and leaned back, gliding along the water's surface, passing under the mechanical dog's belly.

He raised his right hand. The short knife plunged upwards into the gap in the mechanical dog's abdominal armor. That was where the circuitry intersected. Using the momentum of the slide, he straightened his arm. The blade slashed backwards, severing the motherboard power cable and hydraulic lines. Black engine oil sprayed out, landing on Lin Qi's face.

The mechanical dog lost power. It fell into the water. The red light went out. Parts fell apart. Gears and screws fell off.

The entire process takes less than a second.

Wang Hu's two teammates raised their shotguns and fired at the mechanical dog that had bitten him. The steel pellets shattered the dog's high beams and pierced its motherboard. The mechanical dog fell.

Wang Hu clutched his left arm. Bone fragments were exposed at the cut. Blood dripped down. He leaned against the iron wall, sweat beading on his forehead. He turned to look at Lin Qi.

Lin Qi straightened up. She raised her left hand and wiped the machine oil off her face with the back of her hand. Black grease left a mark on her cheek. She looked down at the scattered parts on the ground.

Wang Hu was calculating in his mind. Lin Qi's sliding tackle and knife strike speed exceeded the physical limits of human muscle contraction. He couldn't do it. His original plan was to find a blind spot to take down Lin Qi and steal her long and short knives. Now the plan changed. He had no chance of winning in a head-on confrontation. He decided to use environmental traps.

"Skinny Monkey is dead." Da Zhuang squatted on the ground, staring at the headless corpse floating in the black water. The fire axe in his hand hung limply, the blade covered in mud.

Lin Qi glanced at the corpse. He wiped the short knife twice on the hem of his clothes and sheathed it.

"Keep going," Lin Qi said. He took a step forward, stepping over the wreckage of the mechanical dog. Lu Chen followed behind. The sound of keyboard typing echoed in the corridor.