Chapter Summaries

Mi Chuchu, Lin Yi, and Qin Rang finished their cocoa-bean work and discussed the orphanage’s exploitation and a possible investigation. Lin Yi decided to join Qin Rang’s group, then spotted Disciplinarian Directors carrying black bags into the Dining Hall and encountered Wang Ding, who offered to go with him.

• Mi Chuchu used a Weird Object to keep others from hearing her and learned from Lin Yi and Qin Rang that the orphanage made children shell cocoa beans for a sponsor’s factory.
• The three finished their assigned crates, and Lin Yi and Qin Rang went to the courtyard, where Qin Rang hinted that he planned to investigate what happened after the children ate their buns.
• Qin Rang warned Lin Yi to stay away if he did not want to get involved, but Lin Yi decided to join the investigation after talking with Lin Nieran.
• Lin Yi saw several Disciplinarian Directors carrying black bags into the Dining Hall, then ran into Wang Ding, who said he would go with him.

Wang Ding and Lin Yi followed the teaching directors into a hidden underground passage and found rules for a dangerous hopscotch game. Wang Ding triggered a flame tile and then fell into a spike pit, where a protective barrier kept him safe but trapped him below.

• Wang Ding gave Lin Yi an invisibility item, and the two followed the teaching directors into a concealed passage beneath the dining hall.
• Lin Nieran warned them to stop before they stepped onto a trap, and Wang Ding used glowing glasses to reveal the floor tiles.
• Lin Yi found the hopscotch rules, which required stepping across safe tiles and warned that three triggered punishments would cost ten points.
• Wang Ding stepped onto a dangerous tile, but his protective Weird Object shielded him from the flames.
• Wang Ding followed Lin Yi's next suggestion and fell into a pit of spikes, where his barrier kept him unharmed but unable to climb out.

Wang Ding and Lin Yi escaped the locked room by blowing open its door, then blended into the crowd before the Disciplinarian Directors could catch them. After Tao Yuan found them, Yuan Xi introduced himself as Lin Yi’s former friend, and Lin Yi fixed his gaze on the child beside him.

• Wang Ding and Lin Yi abandoned their attempt to cross the room’s squares and found the entrance door would not open.
• Wang Ding attached an Explosive Pack Weird Object to the door, blasted a hole through it, and used another Weird Object to hide their escape.
• Wang Ding and Lin Yi slipped into the crowd outside as the Disciplinarian Directors rushed toward the explosion; the blast also cracked the deity statue.
• Tao Yuan found Wang Ding and Lin Yi, and they pretended they had only arrived after hearing the commotion.
• Yuan Xi approached them, said he had skipped class, and revealed that he and Lin Yi used to be friends; Lin Yi stared at the child beside him.

Lin Yi reunited with Yuan Xi at the orphanage and learned that the statue they had secretly approached was highly protected. After Yuan Xi warned Tao Yuan to avoid Lin Yi, the three left the crowd, and Tao Yuan began wondering about Lin Yi’s appearance and past.

• Lin Nieran told Lin Yi that the quiet boy beside Yuan Xi was Wu Liang and that Wu Liang would understand if Lin Yi introduced himself.
• Lin Yi told Yuan Xi that they used to be friends but were not anymore, while Yuan Xi blamed their separation on Lin Yi’s low score.
• Yuan Xi said the orphanage’s directors treasured the statue of the god and would punish anyone who damaged it, making Lin Yi and Wang Ding worry about the explosion they had caused nearby.
• Yuan Xi privately warned Tao Yuan to stay away from Lin Yi, but Tao Yuan rejected his advice and left with Lin Yi and Wang Ding.
• Lin Yi told Tao Yuan that Yuan Xi had been his classmate and was lucky enough to remain B-Rank, while Tao Yuan studied Lin Yi’s face and wondered why he had been injured.

After the bomb destroyed the secret door, the children gathered in the Prayer Room while Mr. Xie ordered the staff to keep the Orphanage Director from investigating. Flower Language overheard his warnings and secretly gave Lin Yi a Recording Weird Object, leaving him with evidence of the staff's conversation.

• Tao Yuan praised Lin Yi's appearance, and he told her and Wang Ding that children with high scores were often adopted.
• The children were summoned to the Prayer Room, where Mi Chuchu invited Flower Language to join the group after Flower Language heard Lin Yi's name.
• The children found the bomb and the remains of the secret door displayed before the disciplinarian directors and administrators.
• Mr. Xie scolded the staff, ordered them to prevent the Orphanage Director from investigating, and asked for the latest arrivals' list.
• Flower Language used Thorns to pass Lin Yi a Recording Weird Object, and Lin Nieran told him he could keep it or let someone else listen.

Lin Nieran and the others listened to the Orphanage Director investigate the bombing, while his power revealed blurry footage of Lin Yi and Wang Ding fleeing the orphanage. The group avoided punishment because no one could identify them, but the director and Mr. Xie began searching for the culprits.

• Qin Rang played back the group’s conversation after Wang Ding activated a Silencing Weird Object, and they realized surveillance footage could expose them.
• The Orphanage Director arrived, and Tao Yuan and Wang Ding detected the organization’s Fox Pattern on his forearm.
• The director used black energy to reveal footage of two blurry figures, identified as Lin Yi and Wang Ding, escaping after the wooden door was blasted open.
• Lin Yi, Wang Ding, Flower Language, Tao Yuan, and the others received a notification that they were under the director’s scrutiny, but they suffered no punishment because they were not identified.
• Mr. Xie offered to arrange adoptive families for anyone who revealed the truth, while the director promised forgiveness to whoever admitted their mistake.

After a boy falsely accused Qin Rang and Lin Yi of causing the explosion, the Orphanage Director intervened before his unstable ability teleported him away. The group returned to the Cocoa Pod workshop, where Wang Ding shared the rules he had discovered.

• A shabby boy accused Qin Rang and Lin Yi of carrying a bomb, but the Orphanage Director challenged his account and dismissed the accusation.
• Lin Nieran realized the director could see him, and 007 suggested the director’s space ability might be able to send him home.
• The director was involuntarily teleported away, while Mr. Xie punished the boy for making a false accusation and warned Qin Rang and Lin Yi that the investigation would continue.
• The group returned to work, and Tao Yuan showed Lin Yi and Qin Rang Mi Chuchu’s Weird Object armor as she smashed Cocoa Pods.
• Lin Yi and Qin Rang agreed to join the group that night in exchange for knives and food, and Wang Ding handed everyone a sheet listing rules he had found in the workshop.

Tao Yuan and the others compared three conflicting sets of rules at the Chocolate Orphanage and prepared to use Weird Objects to check which rules were true. The chapter ended with Director Chen asking about the Organization Forum, where no new information had appeared.

• Mi Chuchu and Tao Yuan discussed entering the workshop after work, while An Ying revealed that she had found the Instance rules near the Back Mountain.
• Qin Rang and Lin Yi agreed to show the others how to reach the Back Mountain the next day.
• The group compared the Orphanage, Dining Hall, and workshop rules, noting contradictions about chocolate and the Orphanage Director.
• Lin Yi and Qin Rang explained that C-Rank children received preferential treatment and that a child who reported stolen work had disappeared.
• Wang Ding and Tao Yuan brought out Weird Objects to verify which rules were correct.
• Director Chen asked his subordinate about the Organization Forum, and the subordinate said there had been little news since the new year.

Outside the livestream, Tao Yun and Director Chen discussed tracking the missing figures and arranging help to find Cheng Shanshi. In the Orphanage Instance, Lin Yi and the others finished their work, compared their dangerously low scores, and considered how to get through the night without losing their places.

• Tao Yun told Director Chen that the Tang Family could check whether Cheng Shanshi had entered an Instance near the Orphanage.
• The six workers processed all the Cocoa Pods and went to the Dining Hall, where Wang Ding used a Soundproof Weird Object so they could talk.
• Lin Yi grew drowsy after eating while Lin Nieran promised to give him something good that night.
• An Ying asked everyone about their points, and Lin Yi warned that anyone below 60 points would have nowhere to stay.
• The group discussed sneaking out after the Disciplinarian Directors checked the rooms, then learned An Ying had only 51 points after entering the forbidden Back Mountain.

Lin Yi moved to the crowded Area F and tasted sweet chocolate from Lin Nieran for the first time. After lights-out, Lin Nieran spotted Wang Ding and An Ying searching outside, then discovered the Disciplinarian Director Aberration’s black threads creeping into the orphanage.

• Lin Yi moved his belongings from Area D to a bed in Area F to avoid losing points.
• Lin Nieran gave Lin Yi pieces of sweet chocolate, and Lin Yi savored the taste before going to sleep.
• After the lights went out at nine, Lin Nieran saw Wang Ding and An Ying searching the grounds with Weird Objects.
• Lin Nieran identified black threads entering through a window as the regenerating True Form of the S-Class Disciplinarian Director Aberration.
• The black threads spread through the corridor and under the doors as 007 quietly called to Lin Yi.

Lin Nieran used a protective item to bring Lin Yi out of his room while Wu Liang and Flower Language fought in the corridor. The fight stopped when Lin Yi told them their Master was with him and promised to raise their Monthly Points Quotas.

• Lin Nieran confirmed Lin Yi was awake, shielded him, and prepared to lead him out of the room.
• Wu Liang left his room and cut through the Black-Line Weirds as he searched for his missing friend.
• Flower Language confronted Wu Liang, and they fought with Thorns and a scalpel, both injuring each other.
• Lin Yi opened his door, saw the fight, and briefly froze at the sight of the blood and Weirds.
• Lin Yi told Wu Liang and Flower Language that their Master was beside him and offered to increase their Monthly Points Quotas by ten thousand.
• Wu Liang pulled the knife from Flower Language's eye, and Flower Language pulled the Thorns from Wu Liang's chest as they stopped fighting.

After reuniting with Lin Yi, Wu Liang, and Flower Language, Lin Nieran sent Lin Yi downstairs to meet the Calamity Crossing Squad while he followed separately. The squad took shelter in the Dining Hall from the living black threads, and Black Cat arrived with a ball of yarn but encountered something as he tried to enter.

• Flower Language and Wu Liang confronted Lin Yi, then recognized him and learned that Lin Nieran was with him but invisible to them.
• Flower Language told Lin Yi that Puppet had killed the teaching director assigned to him, prompting Lin Nieran to suspect he knew where Puppet was.
• The four members of the Calamity Crossing Squad fought through the black-thread creatures, but Mi Chuchu's attempt to burn them failed.
• The squad retreated into the Dining Hall, where the black threads stopped at the entrance and Tao Yuan warned the others not to look at the moving sculpture.
• The black threads receded outside, and Wang Ding began to explain where he had found a place before a black ball of yarn struck the entrance.
• Black Cat caught the ball of yarn and approached the Dining Hall, but something happened when he tried to enter.

Lin Yi, Flower Language, and Wu Liang escaped the pursuing black lines into the Dining Hall, where the group argued over who had provoked them. Lin Yi then revealed that the Orphanage screened arrivals and classified those with physical or mental conditions as F-rank.

• Black Cat tried to bring a ball of yarn into the Dining Hall, but it vanished when he crossed the threshold.
• Lin Yi, Flower Language, and Wu Liang fled down the stairs with eerie black lines pursuing them, then escaped into the Dining Hall, where the lines could not enter.
• Flower Language and Wu Liang blamed each other for attracting the lines and nearly fought until Tao Yuan, An Ying, and Lin Nieran intervened.
• Lin Yi explained that he had gone to investigate something outside his window and encountered Flower Language and Wu Liang, who were fighting before the black lines appeared.
• Mi Chuchu told Lin Yi that she and the others knew Flower Language and Wu Liang, while Wang Ding explained An Ying's albinism.
• Lin Yi said that everyone entering the Orphanage underwent a full-body examination and that those deemed physically or mentally unwell were classified as F-rank.

Wang Ding and Tao Yuan chose to investigate the basement, and the group set out with Qin Rang, Flower Language, and Wu Liang. Lin Nieran woke in An Ying's body and joined them, while Flower Language and Wu Liang recognized him as their lord and friend.

• Wang Ding recalled Lin Yi's childhood diagnosis and learned from Lin Yi that Lily Hospital had diagnosed him.
• Tao Yuan and Wang Ding decided to search the basement rather than risk the Back Mountain or waste time looking for the surveillance room.
• Tao Yuan invited Flower Language and Wu Liang to join the search, and Mi Chuchu returned carrying Qin Rang.
• The group headed out, and An Ying woke Lin Yi, causing Lin Nieran to find himself in An Ying's body.
• Flower Language and Wu Liang recognized Lin Nieran, and he asked the group whether their unusual Weird Objects had been custom-made.

Lin Nieran took control of Lin Yi’s body and joined the group as they entered the hidden passage leading to a square-stepping game. The others grew suspicious of his changed behavior while Wang Ding began testing the squares, and Lin Nieran kept Qin Rang from taking unnecessary risks.

• Lin Nieran asked 007 about taking over Lin Yi’s body and realized Lin Yi had voluntarily fallen asleep inside it.
• Wang Ding opened the hidden door, and the group entered the underground passage; a child appeared outside and promised a show that night.
• Wang Ding explained the square-stepping game’s dangers while signaling that Lin Yi seemed different, and the others quietly agreed to be cautious.
• Qin Rang offered to test the squares, but Lin Nieran pulled him back and persuaded him to wait with him.

The group struggled to identify a safe route across the squares, and Lin Nieran suggested trying the third one. Black Cat transformed into Mo Lan and safely landed there, leaving the others to follow while Qin Rang discovered that the cat could become human.

• Tao Yuan hesitated at the first row of squares because she could not reach it with her shortened legs and the group did not know which tiles were safe.
• Lin Nieran felt the stone tiles and suggested the third square, sensing that the other choices were dangerous.
• Black Cat leaped onto the third square, transformed into Mo Lan, and landed safely.
• Tao Yuan and Wang Ding accepted the third square as safe, and Tao Yuan stepped onto it.
• Qin Rang noticed Mo Lan's transformation, and Lin Nieran called him a cat demon, prompting Mo Lan to insist that he was a cat.

The group tested a shifting pattern of safe squares as they crossed the passage beneath the orphanage. Tao Yuan asked Qin Rang about rumors surrounding the orphanage, and he began to share what he knew.

• Lin Nieran convinced the young Qin Rang that his unusual behavior was normal.
• Tao Yuan, Black Cat, and the others debated which square to take, and Mo Lan stepped safely onto the square Wang Ding had previously fallen through.
• Tao Yuan and the others realized that the safe-square pattern changed, then continued forward to gather clues.
• Wu Liang sensed multiple bodies underground, and Qin Rang suggested there was more beneath the orphanage than bodies.
• Tao Yuan asked Qin Rang about rumors concerning the orphanage, and he began to tell the group what he knew.

Qin Rang and Lin Nieran told the others about their difficult pasts at the orphanage and the children who vanished after adoption. The group grew suspicious of the orphanage’s frequent adoptions, but Wu Liang’s reply left the possibility of organ trafficking unresolved.

• Qin Rang said adopted children returned with forced smiles and escorts, while many older children never came back.
• Lin Nieran explained that he and Qin Rang had been ostracized, and Qin Rang confirmed he had mocked his classmates’ intelligence.
• Qin Rang revealed that Lin Yi had fought back against bullies and been demoted repeatedly, while Flower Language and Wu Liang offered violent threats against the bullies.
• Qin Rang said adoption days happened weekly and that girls were adopted more often than boys.
• Mi Chuchu and An Ying suspected illicit trafficking, but Flower Language questioned whether organ trafficking explained the orphanage’s ranking system and the number of children.
• An Ying asked whether the children were suitable for organ transplants, and Wu Liang answered that he was a proper doctor.

Tao Yuan and Mo Lan triggered a bomb but survived with help from Flower Language, while the group learned more about the orphanage’s rules and Lin Nieran’s abandonment. An Ying noticed a mismatch between Lin Nieran’s account and his later schooling, then learned that high-scoring children could attend the orphanage’s own elementary school.

• Tao Yuan and Mo Lan stepped on a bomb square, but Flower Language’s vines pulled them to safety after Tao Yuan’s defensive Weird Object activated.
• Tao Yuan and Wang Ding studied the route diagram, while Mi Chuchu took over navigating the squares.
• Qin Rang and Lin Nieran explained that children who were neither adopted nor reclaimed by family before turning eighteen had to take lifelong jobs in the orphanage, and losing too many points could also trap them there.
• Lin Nieran recounted how his father sent him to buy a cake and disappeared, after which Grandma took him in and eventually sent him to the orphanage.
• An Ying questioned how Lin Nieran later attended school, and Lin Nieran explained that children with high scores could attend the orphanage’s elementary school.

Mi Chuchu triggered a trap that drenched the group, and the others recovered while Mo Lan and Wu Liang fought over a towel. Lin Nieran and Qin Rang devised a plan involving Cat Boy and prepared to try it.

• Qin Rang explained that the Orphanage Director had taken in abandoned and rescued children, and the group connected this to the Orphanage's rules.
• Mi Chuchu stepped onto a grid square, triggering a wave that knocked her down and soaked everyone nearby.
• The group dried off, then discovered Cat Boy clinging to the ceiling; he leaped down and attacked Wu Liang after Wu Liang took Lin Nieran's towel.
• Mi Chuchu recovered from a bump on her head, while Wang Ding said the password was likely seven or nine and that they did not need to continue yet.
• Lin Nieran and Qin Rang thought of a plan involving Cat Boy, pulled An Ying aside to discuss it, and prepared to try it.