Chapter Summaries

Lin Nieran agreed to help System 007 save a world threatened by anomalies in exchange for a wish, despite learning he had only five years left. After signing, the system scanned him and diagnosed him with several mental illnesses, leaving him to wonder whether his condition had worsened or he had gained another presence in his head.

• A news broadcast announced that the anomaly in Jiang City's eastern district had engulfed the former Sushui residential area and designated it a Class C Danger Zone.
• Lin Nieran chatted with a group of teenage purgers and his masked companion, then heard System 007 speak to him for the first time.
• System 007 told Lin Nieran that the world would be destroyed in five years and that he was its best candidate to prevent it.
• Lin Nieran reviewed the cooperation agreement and signed it, accepting tasks in exchange for rewards and an unconditional wish if he saved the world.
• System 007 scanned Lin Nieran and listed several diagnoses, prompting him to question whether his mental state had worsened or he had acquired another presence in his head.

Lin Nieran bound the Persona System, learned how its cards and Fame worked, and used his first draws to obtain items he later sold. He began planning how to earn Fame and save the world, whose upheaval had begun ten years earlier.

• 007 bound the Persona System to Lin Nieran and explained that he could control identity cards by merging part of his mental power into them.
• Lin Nieran learned that performing as personas and earning positive reactions would grant Fame, then spent his 10,000 beginner Fame on ten draws.
• Lin Nieran sold a serrated knife to a customer for fifty thousand while stopping the masked young man from attacking him.
• 007 found Lin Nieran lounging and asked about his task to earn 1,000 Fame; Lin Nieran considered how to advance beyond the initial task and save the world.
• 007 asked whether Lin Nieran planned to contact the protagonist, as Lin Nieran recalled that his world had undergone a great upheaval ten years earlier.

Lin Nieran rejected relying solely on the world’s chosen protagonists and planned a grand opening to earn fame while helping save humanity. Meanwhile, Wang Ningshui’s squad entered the Water Ghost anomaly at an abandoned swimming facility, where they reviewed its deadly rules before beginning their mission.

• 007 explained that the anomalies were spreading too quickly for the planned protagonists to grow strong enough in time, so the world had called on Lin Nieran to help.
• Lin Nieran decided to assist the protagonists without making them his only plan and said he needed a grand opening.
• Wang Ningshui led four squad members to investigate the newly spreading Class C Sushui danger zone at an abandoned swimming facility.
• Tao Yu set a two-hour timer outside the building while Wang Ningshui’s team prepared to enter.
• The squad reread the Water Ghost’s known killing rules, and Wang Ningshui reassured Tao Yu that their prior knowledge would keep them safe.

Tao Yu was nearly killed by the water ghost’s shower illusion, but an unseen attacker’s blade wound jolted her back to reality. At the pool, Fang Yue became entranced and struggled toward the water as Wang Ningshui weighed whether to let him go.

• Tao Yu and Wang Ningshui split from the others to investigate the showers and lockers after warning the team about the water ghost’s rules.
• A shower switch clicked, and Tao Yu saw an illusion of a showerhead pouring dissolving water over her.
• An unseen attacker cut Tao Yu’s cheek, snapping her out of the water ghost’s enchantment before she stepped beneath a cluster of showerheads.
• Tao Yu and Wang Ningshui rushed to the pool after hearing the team shout that Fang Yue was trying to jump in.
• Wang Ningshui and two teammates struggled to restrain the entranced Fang Yue, whose unnatural strength dragged them toward the pool.
• Wang Ningshui told the others to let Fang Yue go if they could not stop him.

Fang Yue was rescued from the pool after a mysterious man’s saber dispelled the water ghost’s illusion. The man frightened Team 5 into fleeing, then warned them that the water ghost was about to wake up while remaining behind.

• Fang Yue’s arms broke as Wang Ningshui and the others tried to restrain him, and he plunged into the pool while Wang Ningshui held on to his leg.
• A mysterious man’s saber split the pool water and drove off the illusion that had made the team believe Fang Yue had dissolved.
• Tao Yu broke free of the hallucination and alerted the others that Fang Yue was still alive, and they pulled him from the water.
• Fang Yue told the team that entering the water had not dissolved him and that the danger was an illusion.
• The man in black pointed his saber at Team 5 and told them to die, making them flee before he caught up and warned them the water ghost was about to wake.
• The team started moving again, but Wang Ningshui looked back and saw that the man remained by the pool.

As rain caused the water ghost anomaly to grow more dangerous, the black-clad young man stayed inside the swimming pool building while Lin Nieran waited for a key audience to arrive. The Calamity Crossing Team reached the stranded team, whose members looked to An Ying for help.

• The black-clad young man told Wang Ningshui that the anomaly was about to expand as rain began falling.
• The pool’s water rose into a canopy, and a drop melted Tao Yu’s clothes, prompting the team to flee with the unconscious Fang Yue.
• Wang Ningshui learned that backup was on its way, including the Calamity Crossing Team, while the black-clad young man remained inside.
• Lin Nieran told the young man to wait until the most important audience arrived, as the water ghost tried to seep outside.
• An Ying arrived through the rain, asked what had happened to Fang Yue, and was greeted with relief by the team.

An Ying and Team 5 tried to stop the water ghost from merging with the rain, but a mysterious young man emerged and killed it. After the young man disappeared, An Ying asked Wang Ningshui for the recording because he suspected the man had deliberately delayed the fight.

• An Ying and Wang Ningshui realized the water ghost was escaping and might merge with the rain, so An Ying directed Team 5 to contain it.
• A young man in black emerged from the swimming pool and charged into the water, dragging the water ghost's true form out with him.
• The water ghost's illusions nearly affected the group, but An Ying's shot jolted everyone back to reality.
• The young man repeatedly struck the water ghost with his saber until it could no longer recover, then picked up a transparent piece of mucus as the rain eased.
• The young man vanished before Team 5 could learn his name, and An Ying asked Wang Ningshui to send him the recording because he suspected the young man had delayed killing the creepy.

An Ying returned to headquarters and discussed the mysterious green-eyed man who had killed a water ghost with his teammates. Their suspicions deepened when they noticed a dark red mark on the man's earlobe in the recording.

• An Ying arrived at headquarters and joined Qin Rang, the pink-haired girl, and the brown-haired young man to review Wang Ningshui's recording.
• An Ying and his teammates considered whether the man had deliberately revealed himself and whether he was targeting the boss's possession.
• Qin Rang pointed out that the man's weapon resembled a Tang horizontal saber, while An Ying said it carried no weird entity's aura.
• The pink-haired girl asked Qin Rang to pause the recording at seven minutes and fifty-six seconds, and the group spotted a blurry dark red mark on the man's right earlobe.

After An Ying left, Lin Nieran explained that he had deliberately made Moonlit Night kill the water ghost uncanny to leave the protagonist group wary and curious. Moonlit Night returned with an uncanny item, and 007 departed to visit other worlds while leaving the system’s functions behind.

• Lin Nieran told 007 that he planned to keep Moonlit Night mysterious and earn fame without relying on the protagonist group’s trust.
• Lin Nieran reviewed his status and saw that his fame had risen to 2,209 as he began working toward the 10,000-point task.
• Moonlit Night returned to Lin Nieran’s shop after evading his pursuers and gave him the remaining use of the weather card.
• Lin Nieran told Moonlit Night to rest in his room and said he would use another identity card for future encounters.
• Moonlit Night gave Lin Nieran the suppressed water ghost uncanny, which Lin Nieran kept as material for forging.
• 007 announced that it would visit other worlds, leaving behind a less intelligent system with its functions intact.

Lin Nieran planned to draw the protagonist group’s attention by appearing mysterious, then chose Sushui District as the setting for his next move. Before dawn, a crisis brought people to his shop to repair their weird-forged weapons, and he prepared to help them.

• Lin Nieran learned that Moonlit Night had copied tea-making from the wealthy and marked the first step of his plan as successful after his summon had helped kill a weird entity.
• Lin Nieran reviewed the ten-pull’s results and planned to plant suspicion in the protagonist group by appearing threatening and letting them investigate him.
• Lin Nieran chose the recently designated Sushui Danger Zone as the place to build a relationship with the protagonist group.
• Before dawn, a crowd urgently gathered outside Lin Nieran’s shop as the Jiang City official cleanser base prepared for an emergency.
• Lin Nieran put on his father’s weapon-repairing gloves and told the crowd to leave their weird-forged weapons with him.

Lin Nieran prepared for the dangerous Heaven · Addiction instance, where a hundred participants would face a rising threat, and decided to activate a new persona card himself. The chapter left Moonlit Night setting out to hunt strange entities while Lin Nieran focused on drawing power for the coming instance.

• A woman brought Lin Nieran a damaged blade and explained that she had narrowly escaped a wild strange entity in the Sushui Danger Zone.
• San Shen and Old Man Xun discussed the new hundred-person instance in the Qihua Danger Zone, which would be livestreamed and could prove deadly.
• Lin Nieran gave the woman, San Shen, and Old Man Xun fruit candies before they left for the instance.
• The system warned that the protagonists could suffer casualties in Heaven · Addiction and said its shop would unlock at 10,000 fame points.
• Moonlit Night volunteered to hunt strange entities for shop points, and Lin Nieran agreed to leave it to him.
• Lin Nieran took out a card depicting a timid black-haired boy and decided to activate it by injecting his own mental power.

The Calamity Crossing Squad entered the open, hundred-player anomaly instance Heaven · Addiction as players outside the Qihua Danger Zone waited and feared the anomalies approaching them. Inside, the squad found a die and arrived in a dilapidated settlement beneath a blood moon, where Qin Rang picked up a colorful flyer.

• Tao Yuan, Qin Rang, Sheng Qingqiao, and An Ying entered the anomaly instance, but it did not begin even after more than a hundred players arrived.
• Lin Nieran watched the official livestream and realized that the instance was open, while hammer-wielding anomalies approached the players still outside.
• Sheng Qingqiao and Tao Yuan bickered as Qin Rang and An Ying searched the area, finding a die beneath a table.
• Tao Yuan identified the die as one commonly used at gambling tables and guessed the setting might be a gambling house or underground establishment.
• The scenery came into focus, revealing a blood moon and a sprawling settlement of dilapidated buildings.
• Qin Rang caught and unfolded a colorful flyer from the trash and scrap paper blowing across the ground.

Tao Yuan, Qin Rang, Sheng Qingqiao, and An Ying entered a silent gambling-house instance and found a rule telling them to keep quiet. On the third floor, a man died after triggering a fatal rule, and Tao Yuan spotted a dark eye watching them from a corner.

• Qin Rang warned the group that the instance contained several gambling houses and that they should be careful around gambling.
• Sheng Qingqiao found the first street rule, which ordered them to keep quiet, and the group followed it as they approached Gambling House · Spring.
• An Ying spotted someone on the third floor, where a man screamed as living gambling weights tore into him and the puppeteer watched from hiding.
• The puppeteer tossed a weight toward the entrance, and ghost hands erupted from the injured man's body as the group reached the third floor.
• An Ying blocked the flying weight with his umbrella, while Sheng Qingqiao tried to help the man and Qin Rang concluded that he had triggered a fatal rule.
• The man died and his body flattened into a pile of skin; as Tao Yuan searched the room, she noticed a dark eye in the corner.

The Calamity Crossing Squad discovered Bai Yang hiding behind a gambling table and questioned whether he was human or an eerie being. Though he claimed to be a frightened survivor, Sheng Qingqiao and the others remained suspicious of how he had gone unnoticed.

• Tao Yuan and her companions found a young man hiding behind a gambling table, and Sheng Qingqiao split the table open to expose him.
• Qin Rang tried to question the silent young man, while Sheng Qingqiao noticed the unsettling rabbit doll in his arms.
• An Ying threatened the young man with his bamboo umbrella, and he identified himself as Bai Yang and said he was human.
• Bai Yang said he came from the Molan Danger Zone, had arrived only days earlier, and hid after an eerie being was drawn to the room.
• Bai Yang explained that fear had made his legs give out, but Sheng Qingqiao rejected his account and the squad suspected he had concealed himself with some kind of trick.

Bai Yang joined Qin Rang’s group after they investigated a death linked to one of the gambling tables. The group searched the third floor, found no further clues, and paused at a dangerous outside staircase while An Ying looked for another route upward.

• Tao Yuan saw that a person outside had been torn apart and urged the group to focus on discovering the strange world’s rules.
• Qin Rang invited Bai Yang to join the team, and Sheng Qingqiao persuaded him to come along; Bai Yang’s fame rose as the group’s livestream watched.
• Tao Yuan deduced that the dead man had triggered a rule connected to gambling, and Bai Yang said he had seen him rummaging at a disturbed table before he was attacked.
• Qin Rang’s group searched the third floor’s gambling rooms but found no clues, then headed toward the fourth floor.
• An Ying went to look for another way upstairs, while Bai Yang worried that he might be in danger; Tao Yuan said he was the group’s fastest runner.

Bai Yang joined Qin Rang, Sheng Qingqiao, Tao Yuan, and An Ying as they searched for a way up through a building in a survival instance. When they climbed the only available route, a ladder outside the building, the lights went out and a formless supernatural entity attacked them.

• Bai Yang explained that he had been pulled into the instance unexpectedly and revealed that his doll was a supernatural object that could protect him from weak entities.
• An Ying reported that the floors were separated by the power of the rules and that there was no other way up, so the five chose the long ladder outside the building.
• The building and their surroundings plunged into darkness as they started climbing, and Bai Yang claimed he had night blindness and could not see the stairs.
• A cold, invisible presence landed on Sheng Qingqiao's shoulder, then seemed to breathe against Bai Yang's neck, prompting Bai Yang to run upstairs.
• An Ying's umbrella attack passed through the formless entity and rebounded as energy, so he warned the others to flee and chased after Bai Yang.

Bai Yang and the Calamity Crossing Squad escaped a staircase creature by entering a lit floor, then split up to search its gambling rooms. Meanwhile, Lin Nieran considered how to use the livestream to raise his fame and make a stronger impression.

• Tao Yuan, Qin Rang, Sheng Qingqiao, Bai Yang, and An Ying fled a staircase where uncanny creatures clung to their shoulders, then escaped into a lit corridor that made the creatures disappear.
• The group speculated that the stairs and gambling rooms had separate rules, then split up to search the floor and assigned Bai Yang rooms near the stairwell.
• Bai Yang tested the chips, confirmed that touching one did not trigger a rule, pocketed some, and found no other clues in the empty card rooms.
• Lin Nieran learned that his fame had stalled below 3,400 and decided he needed a stronger impression on the livestream viewers, possibly by bringing Moonlit Night into the instance.
• 007 warned Lin Nieran that Doll Boy's low combat power would make it difficult to play the pig to eat the tiger.

Bai Yang discovered that the staircase anomaly was triggered by spending more than five minutes resting in the dark, then encountered a deformed anomaly as the first round of the death game began. After rejoining Qin Rang and the others, he learned that they were trapped in an open hundred-person instance where people and anomalies could both become threats.

• Bai Yang tested the dark staircase and realized that resting there for more than five minutes triggered the shoulder anomaly.
• Bai Yang searched the floor, took a red lantern, and saw the announcement that the first round of the death game had begun.
• A long-limbed anomaly carrying a huge nail hammer appeared at the corridor's end, and Bai Yang fled down the staircase with the lantern.
• Bai Yang returned to Qin Rang and the others, and Tao Yuan reported that their signal to the outside world had been cut off.
• Qin Rang explained that the open hundred-person instance would bring in replacements as people died, while Tao Yuan warned that other humans could also become dangerous.
• An Ying said that actively hunting anomalies could slaughter people, and the group remained uncertain about what the first round would involve.

Bai Yang and the others faced a monster whose gaze controlled anyone who saw it and whose question could trigger certain death. Bai Yang broke its hold with Tao Yuan’s chainsaw and killed it, uncovering a playing card that may be connected to the cards missing from the floor.

• Bai Yang told Tao Yuan and the others that he had encountered a monster upstairs and was unsure whether it had spotted him.
• When the group opened the door, they met a long-haired monster that fixed their gaze and asked, “Did you... see me?”
• As the group struggled not to answer, Bai Yang seized Tao Yuan’s chainsaw and attacked the monster.
• Bai Yang repeatedly cut the monster apart until it dissolved, freeing the others from its control.
• Bai Yang picked up a three of hearts card from the monster’s remains, and An Ying asked to examine it.

Bai Yang helped the group survive an aberration whose gaze controlled its victims, while Lin Nieran planned to escalate the danger in the instance. The group grew suspicious of Bai Yang and then encountered an even taller aberration blocking their path.

• Bai Yang explained that he had avoided the aberration’s control by chance, while a mint candy from a card draw had actually let him resist its gaze and act freely.
• As Bai Yang’s fame rose, Lin Nieran decided that Moonlit Night should join the instance with the second batch of players and that the balance would be broken.
• Tao Yuan, An Ying, and Qin Rang discussed Bai Yang’s unexplained resistance and suspiciously clean clothes, then agreed to find a chance to test him.
• The group examined the dead aberration, found a three of hearts card with no apparent energy, and kept it as a potentially important item.
• The group left the corridor with lanterns, but a towering black-haired aberration blocked their way and asked, “Did you... see me?”