Above the dry well, Zhao Feng was still shouting loudly.

"Stone, how is it? What's inside?"

Zhang Shi pretended not to notice anything amiss and loudly replied, "There's nothing here, just some wooden plaques with words carved on them. I'll put these things away, and you can hurry up and pull me up."

Zhang Shi dared not look up again, fearing it might cause trouble. Instead, he told everyone what he had just seen in the group chat and instructed them not to show it.

Upon seeing the message, Ge Dalong casually glanced at everyone, but did not notice the fourth figure. He then spoke up to remind Zhao Feng.

"Brother Feng, keep an eye on things, wait for Zhang Shi's signal, then we'll all pull him up together."

Upon seeing Zhang Shi's message, Zhao Feng's expression clearly changed. He stared intently at the situation down in the well, showing no reaction whatsoever to Ge Dalong's words.

Wu Qing stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder. Zhao Feng then came to his senses, glanced at Wu Qing, and slowly nodded, gripping the rope tightly with both hands.

Down in the well, Zhang Shi discovered that these wooden blocks could not be put into the system's inventory, so he took out a wooden bucket and put all the wooden blocks into the bucket.

Zhang Shi counted them; there were eighteen wooden blocks in total, and each one had a different inscription.

Mustering his courage, he glanced up again. The weapons at the wellhead had disappeared, and the three people above were staring intently at the bottom of the well with varying expressions.

Zhang Shi shouted loudly, signaling the crowd to pull him up.

Upon receiving the signal, Zhao Feng suddenly exerted all his strength, pulling the rope and charging in the opposite direction. Ge Dalong and Wu Qing couldn't help, and Zhang Shi was pulled up by Zhao Feng.

Seeing that Zhang Shi was unharmed, Zhao Feng finally relaxed, calmed his tense emotions, spat, and cursed.

"This dungeon is really weird. If you ask me, let's just give up."

Zhang Shi stepped forward and patted Zhao Feng on the shoulder, offering words of comfort.

"This is just the beginning. As long as we follow the rules, nothing should happen."

Outside the dark red wooden door, four people sat around the door, taking out the eighteen wooden blocks brought out of the dry well one by one.

Ge Dalong glanced at it and made a judgment.

"This looks like a couplet; I can try to rearrange it."

After squatting on the ground and fiddling with the pieces for a while, Ge Dalong neatly arranged the eighteen wooden blocks to form a couplet.

First line: In the depths of the netherworld, shadows are lost.

Second line: A soul wanders in the dark forest.

Horizontal scroll: But all is suffering

Everyone felt a chill run down their spines after seeing this couplet.

Wu Qing's brows furrowed even more, and she gripped the iron spear in her hand so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

Zhang Shi mustered his courage and tried placing the wooden sign on the wooden door. As if attracted by a magnet, the wooden block was firmly stuck to the door.

Following the order arranged by Ge Dalong, Zhang Shi placed the eighteen wooden blocks one by one.

"Creak~"

The wooden door slowly opened as the last piece of wood was placed.

Wu Qing's face turned deathly pale. She bit her lip and, no longer caring about her image, hid behind Zhang Shi and cautiously peered into the doorway.

Zhang Shi pushed the door open, revealing the scene inside.

Looking around, the houses in the village were dilapidated, and many had even collapsed, becoming ruins.

As the wooden door slowly opened, a musty, damp smell wafted out. The four of them covered their noses and carefully stepped into the village. The stone path beneath their feet, though mottled, remained sturdy, leading them deeper into this forgotten land.

Zhao Feng led the way, wielding the giant flint axe, cautiously scanning his surroundings, wary of any unforeseen events. Zhang Shi followed closely behind, gripping Lao Duan tightly, activating his True Concentration Technique to search the surroundings, ready to respond to any emergencies.

Wu Qing was clearly frightened. She followed closely behind Zhang Shi, her hands clenched into fists, trying her best to remain calm.

Ge Dalong hadn't forgotten the strange things that happened after Zhang Shi went down the well. He took out his magic wand and checked the team interface while covering the rear.

"The mission has been updated!" Ge Dalong whispered, breaking the silence.

Zhang Shi looked at the task panel and found that the task prompts had indeed changed.

Task 2: Find out why the village of doubt has been abandoned.

Seeing that the dungeon finally had a clear direction, Zhao Feng had an idea and strode towards the village.

"Everyone be careful. This village looks deserted, but there might be some danger," Zhang Shi warned.

——

The four walked through the narrow street, with dilapidated mud houses on both sides. Most of the doors and windows were broken and in disrepair, and occasionally the furniture inside could be seen through the cracks, as if telling the story of the prosperity and hustle and bustle that this place once had.

However, the village was deathly silent at this moment, and even the wind seemed to bypass the area, unwilling to disturb the silence.

Having been in the wilderness for over ten days, they finally saw civilization, only to be met with such a bizarre scene, leaving everyone somewhat disappointed.

"Look, there's light over there!" Wu Qing suddenly shouted, pointing ahead.

Following the sound, everyone looked and saw a faint light piercing through the darkness in the ruins not far away, appearing and disappearing intermittently. The light seemed to have a strange attraction, drawing people unconsciously closer.

"It might be a clue to the mission. Let's be careful and go take a look," Ge Dalong said, quickening his pace.

The four carefully made their way through the ruins and finally arrived at what appeared to be the village's ancestral hall. The hall's door was ajar, and the beam of light shone through the crack. Ge Dalong gently pushed the door open, and an even stronger musty smell wafted out, but along with it came an indescribable, mysterious aura.

The ancestral hall was empty, except for a dilapidated stone table in the center, on which sat an oil lamp, its wick flickering and emitting a weak but steady light. Beside the stone table lay several yellowed ancient books and a string of rusty keys.

“It seems this is what we’ve been looking for.” Ge Dalong picked up the key and examined it carefully. “The shape of this key suggests it’s used to open some important mechanism.”

Zhang Shi stepped forward, took the key, and scanned the ancient book with his pen. Several lines of text immediately appeared on the mirror: "Hidden in the village, underground. The key opens, and the truth is revealed."

This was the first time Dingzhen had encountered this kind of prompt, and after sharing the information, Zhang Shi carefully pondered it for a while.

"Underground? Could there be a basement here?" Zhao Feng asked in surprise.

Ge Dalong nodded, looked around as if searching for something, and finally his gaze fell on a stone slab in the corner of the ancestral hall.

He walked over, stepped on the stone slab, felt its texture, and then stepped on it again. As if triggering some kind of mechanism, the stone slab slowly sank, revealing a staircase leading underground.

The four men exchanged glances, picked up their weapons, and headed underground.

Just as everyone was about to step into the underground staircase, the previously calm sky suddenly changed drastically.

In an instant, the clouds in the sky became even thicker, and could even be described as black clouds.

A sudden gust of wind blew by, carrying away the dust from the courtyard of the ancestral hall.

A wild beast's roar came from above, breaking the eerie silence.

Zhang Shi looked up and saw a skinny black tiger climb down from the courtyard wall and land outside the ancestral hall. Its face was ferocious, its fangs bared, and it stared at the four of them menacingly.

Zhang Shi immediately became alert and performed an appraisal on it.

"Ding! Identified at a glance as: Corpse-Eating Black Tiger."

【Ghoul-Eating Black Tiger (Green): Panel (Unknown) Ability Value: 45】

[A refined-level elite monster, mutated due to long-term consumption of corpses, possessing some special abilities.]

Zhang Shi shared the information with the others, held Lao Duan in front of him, and gave everyone a wink, signaling them to step back.

Unexpectedly, this action seemed to anger Black Tiger.

It roared and charged towards Zhang Shi.