Chapter Summaries

Bai Yang and the others escaped an anomaly whose voice and gaze could control them, then encountered another with similar powers. When Sheng Qingqiao exposed a fox-shaped mark on Bai Yang’s neck, the group recognized its resemblance to the mark on the person who killed the Water Ghost, but Bai Yang urged them to keep moving as the anomaly closed in.

• The group shut their eyes to resist the anomaly’s gaze and fled toward the staircase, where Bai Yang pulled Qin Rang away from a lantern handle.
• Tao Yuan identified the anomaly’s gaze and voice as its killing rules, while Qin Rang stopped An Ying from attacking and urged everyone to leave.
• Bai Yang claimed the rabbit doll protected him from mental abilities and told the group he had colleagues rather than teammates.
• Sheng Qingqiao’s attention exposed a fox-shaped mark on Bai Yang’s neck, which Qin Rang and the others recognized as resembling the mark on the Water Ghost’s killer.
• As the anomaly asked whether they had seen it and its bewitching power intensified, Bai Yang straightened his collar and urged the group onward.

Bai Yang and Qin Rang’s group entered a corridor after the human-skin paper warned of Weirds, only to find themselves surrounded by a large number of Toddler Weirds. Their attacks failed to destroy the creatures, and Sheng Qingqiao began testing them with his flames while the group watched Bai Yang closely.

• Qin Rang pressed Bai Yang to explain who he was, but Bai Yang said they would not be enemies and walked through the doorway first.
• Tao Yuan’s human-skin paper warned that four high-danger Weirds were nearby, then showed that one had been killed, prompting the group to enter the corridor.
• The group encountered dozens of Toddler Weirds, and Tao Yuan explained that they followed each step and could trigger a certain-death rule if they caught up.
• An Ying shot at several Toddler Weirds, but each one disappeared and then re-formed, while Sheng Qingqiao prepared to test them with his flames.
• Sheng Qingqiao’s flames proved cold to Bai Yang, and An Ying explained that they only targeted Weirds as Bai Yang recognized the display as a test of him.

Sheng Qingqiao fought waves of Toddler Weird shadows while Tao Yuan identified their connection to the corridor lights. An Ying covered the lanterns, and Qin Rang put on the Evil Ghost Mask as the shadows faded.

• Sheng Qingqiao drew the Toddler Weirds close, broke their blood-draining threads, and burned them with his great saber without taking the steps that would trigger their rule.
• The Toddler Weirds reappeared, and Tao Yuan, An Ying, and Bai Yang smiled to escape a flame that targeted those who were not smiling.
• Sheng Qingqiao fought another wave as Tao Yuan deduced that the enemies were shadows copying the Toddler Weirds, and Bai Yang warned that extinguishing the lights could trigger the stair Weird.
• Qin Rang ordered An Ying to cover the lanterns, and the Toddler Weird shadows faded as the corridor darkened.
• Qin Rang put on the Evil Ghost Mask, and its red eye sockets flared as his aura turned inhuman.

Qin Rang used the Evil Ghost Mask to destroy the Toddler Weirds, but a long-limbed Weird with a spiked hammer attacked the group as they prepared to leave. Just as the group weakened it, Bai Yang recognized someone, and a huge blade of light descended through the corridor.

• Tao Yuan warned that the Evil Ghost Mask could amplify Qin Rang’s violent emotions, but the others joked about her strength as a support.
• Qin Rang nullified the Toddler Weirds’ rule with the mask, tore them apart until they faded, and collected a seven of spades playing card.
• A long-limbed Weird with a spiked hammer appeared at the stair entrance and struck An Ying’s umbrella, pulling the group toward it with its rule.
• An Ying, Qin Rang, and Tao Yuan coordinated their attacks, discovered the Weird resisted physical damage, and weakened one of its rules with Qin Rang’s mask.
• Lin Nieran, controlling Bai Yang, reflected that the protagonists were reliable before Bai Yang suddenly recognized someone.
• A massive crescent of snow-bright blade light descended through the corridor; the spiked hammer passed through it, and the approaching light brought searing pain.

Bai Yang and the Calamity Crossing Squad survived the blade light and encountered Moonlit Night, who revealed that he and Bai Yang belonged to the same mysterious organization. As Moonlit Night’s sudden attack struck, Bai Yang’s rabbit doll shielded him, leaving the group facing a new threat.

• The group retreated from the rule-bound blade light, which erased the hammer-wielding eerie creature and vanished after a silver bell rang outside.
• Moonlit Night appeared at the doorway with a red lantern, and Bai Yang recognized him and challenged why he had come to Sushui District.
• Moonlit Night accused Bai Yang of hiding behind the group and suggested he might betray their organization, while Bai Yang argued with him about their mission.
• Sheng Qingqiao stepped between Moonlit Night and Bai Yang, and Tao Yuan tried to calm the exchange before Qin Rang removed his Evil Ghost Mask and asked Bai Yang for an explanation.
• A blade of light suddenly slashed toward Bai Yang, but his rabbit doll grew large, shielded him, and was split apart by the attack.

Bai Yang unleashed his rabbit uncanny object after Moonlit Night attacked it, and the giant rabbit wrecked the casino and nearby buildings. The moon’s chains restrained the rabbit, which Bai Yang then made disappear, while he and Moonlit Night recognized the moon’s intervention.

• Moonlit Night slashed Bai Yang’s rabbit, and Bai Yang threatened him before restoring the doll and ordering it to attack.
• The rabbit grew enormous, tore through the casino, and terrified survivors across the instance, including San Shen.
• Bai Yang rode atop the rabbit as it fought Moonlit Night and demolished nearby buildings, forcing Sheng Qingqiao, An Ying, and Tao Yuan to flee.
• Crimson chains appeared from the rubble and bound the rabbit’s paws, revealing the moon’s power had intervened.
• Bai Yang and Moonlit Night recognized the moon’s involvement, and Bai Yang shrank the rabbit until it vanished.

After Bai Yang and Moonlit Night disappeared, Qin Rang’s group found the Gambling House · Spring rules and discussed the pair’s power while authorities began investigating them. Bai Yang and Moonlit Night rested elsewhere, and Bai Yang sent Moonlit Night to follow the group and keep them alive.

• Qin Rang’s group searched the rubble for Bai Yang and Moonlit Night, then Tao Yuan found a sheet listing four rules for Gambling House · Spring.
• Qin Rang, Tao Yuan, Sheng Qingqiao, and An Ying examined the rules and wondered about Bai Yang and Moonlit Night’s abilities and relationship.
• Viewers reacted in shock to Bai Yang’s enormous rabbit, while the authorities ordered Xiao Wu to investigate the two men, the rabbit uncanny, and the tattoo.
• Bai Yang and Moonlit Night rested in a separate house after their fight, and Bai Yang told Moonlit Night to follow Qin Rang’s group and make sure they did not die.
• Moonlit Night warned Bai Yang that the instance’s energy was dangerous, then criticized the system for the rabbit’s short-lived power.

Lin Nieran opened the temporary system shop after his Fame exceeded 10,000 and bought a Parasitic Spirit (Wrath) for Bai Yang to use. He found a discounted Dimensional Territory he wanted but lacked the points to afford it, so he began recycling strange objects and planned to have Moonlit Night kill more strange entities.

• Lin Nieran opened the temporary system shop and bought the Parasitic Spirit (Wrath), which he sent to Bai Yang through a card.
• Bai Yang used the Parasitic Spirit and cleared 007's name, while 007 explained that the moon's rule would restrain Bai Yang only temporarily.
• Moonlit Night left to kill more strange entities at Bai Yang's request, while Lin Nieran examined the shop's discounted products.
• Lin Nieran decided the Dimensional Territory would make an ideal hidden base for his organization, but its 100,000-point price was far beyond his balance.
• After 007 suggested recycling strange objects, Lin Nieran exchanged a battered straw sandal, a Silent Radio, and a little yellow flower for a total of 3,800 points.

Lin Nieran drew several items from the card pool, including a B-rank Specter identity card that he activated and named Flower Language. Meanwhile, Moonlit Night and Tao Yuan’s group learned that the gambling house’s top floor was likely the arena where gambling was permitted, as a new game began.

• Lin Nieran spent Fame on card draws, received a B-rank Specter identity card, and activated it as Flower Language.
• Moonlit Night continued through the street, noted the cards dropped by strangenesses, and saw a notice announcing the end of the first manhunt round and the start of a gambling game.
• Tao Yuan showed Qin Rang the flyer’s promise of a grand prize and connected it to the gambling house’s conflicting rules about gambling.
• An Ying reasoned that gambling was allowed only in a particular context, likely the game arena on the top floor.
• Tao Yuan’s group recalled surviving repeated encounters with strangenesses and finding that Gambling House · Spring had risen beneath the moon again.

The group returned to Gambling House · Spring and climbed to the top floor, where they had to choose one of four game rooms. An Ying entered Game Room No. 2, High or Low, and found himself in a luxurious hall filled with masked servers.

• The group debated how to obtain gambling money, and Tao Yuan suggested using chips or playing cards dropped by weird creatures.
• Old Man Xun revealed that a second batch of players had entered the instance and warned that a third batch might already have arrived.
• The group reached the top floor as registration for the first round of gambling began and discovered four game rooms.
• Sheng Qingqiao sensed danger behind every door, so An Ying chose the nearest one, Game Room No. 2.
• The room automatically deducted 100 chips for An Ying's ticket and pulled him inside, where he found an opulent hall with masked servers.

An Ying entered Game Room No. 2, where Moonlit Night claimed he had been ordered to protect him and warned that he would die without help. Meanwhile, Sheng Qingqiao entered Game Room No. 1 and recognized a sane eerie being beneath its guillotine.

• An Ying received incomplete rules from attendant 004 and waited for the remaining players at door No. 2.
• An Ying spotted Moonlit Night on the second floor and confronted him about Bai Yang.
• Moonlit Night said he was there to protect An Ying, revealed that An Ying's teammates had entered separate doors, and warned that he had seen An Ying's death in the future.
• Sheng Qingqiao entered Game Room No. 1, where a guillotine triggered his instincts and visions of his own death.
• Sheng Qingqiao noticed a woman in a bloodstained white dress beneath the guillotine and realized she was a sane eerie being.

An Ying exchanged information about the Weirds and their rules with a woman from Gambling House · Autumn before the game entrances closed. The game room then began its first half, requiring every guest to find a playing card within twenty-four hours, while An Ying already held the eight of hearts.

• An Ying learned from a woman from Gambling House · Autumn that other gambling houses had similar rules and that different Weirds could appear when rules were broken.
• An Ying and the woman traded information about the Hearts, Diamonds, and Spades Weirds, and discussed how playing cards might determine who survived.
• The woman warned An Ying that her team would fight him if they met as enemies in the next round, then left for the upper floors.
• When the countdown ended, Weirds appeared outside the game rooms, and a suited NPC announced the rules of Game Room No. 2.
• The NPC explained that guests had twenty-four hours to find a playing card before the card-comparison half of the game; the highest-ranking card would earn its holder safe passage.
• The guests began searching for cards, while An Ying stayed behind, confident because he already had the eight of hearts.

An Ying searched for playing cards when the second round of the survival hunt began, forcing him to flee three Weirds alone. Moonlit Night killed several Weirds and narrowly avoided a deadly card trap, while An Ying kept dodging attacks and carried a wounded woman through the chaos.

• An Ying found no cards in several rooms, then saw two teams fighting over a four of clubs on the fifth floor.
• The second round began, and three Weirds appeared on the sixth floor; An Ying fled while another team faced them.
• Moonlit Night killed the spiked hammer Weird repeatedly until it dropped a king monster card, then collected a seven of hearts and narrowly avoided a rule hidden in the five of spades.
• People trapped in a gathering place realized Weirds had surrounded them, while An Ying darted through the sixth floor and stairs to evade attacks.
• An Ying grabbed a woman who ran out after him, dodged a spiked hammer, and threw her several meters away from the attack.

An Ying used the anomalous [Eye] to stop three anomalies and protect a woman who had been targeted by them. After the woman escaped, he let [Eye] devour two immobilized anomalies and picked up the playing cards it spat out.

• An Ying slapped a woman to keep her from looking at the black-dressed anomaly, then used his bamboo umbrella to weaken its influence over her.
• An Ying awakened [Eye], whose eyeballs stopped most living beings who looked at it, and ordered the woman to close her eyes and flee.
• The woman attached a withered creature’s foot to her leg, grew a third leg, and ran ahead as the hammer-wielding anomaly chased her.
• An Ying stayed behind and ordered [Eye] to eat the black-dressed anomaly and the anomaly with the long tongue.
• [Eye] swallowed both anomalies, spat out the five of hearts and six of clubs, and retracted into An Ying’s brain.

An Ying fought a powerful weird, then nearly died after breaking a hidden rule against resting for more than five minutes. After surviving another attack, he hesitated over a valuable card until Moonlit Night appeared and warned him not to reach for it.

• An Ying learned that blood let the claw-hammer weird locate its target, killed it, and obtained the ten of diamonds.
• An Ying woke after resting to two rule violations and used the Heart of Rules to dispel the weirds attacking him.
• An Ying realized he had triggered a hidden rule by resting for more than five minutes and forced himself to recover using frequent alarms.
• An Ying fought off the Toddler Weirds and found the nine of spades, but hesitated before taking it.
• Moonlit Night appeared above An Ying and warned him that knowing when to be satisfied was wise.

An Ying met Moonlit Night, who offered to help him with a dangerous nine of spades card. Meanwhile, Sheng Qingqiao remained protected in Lucky Twenty-One by a mysterious woman in white, whose rose thorns killed anomalies and turned them into cards.

• An Ying startled Moonlit Night with his bamboo umbrella, and Moonlit Night revealed he had been hiding above him.
• Moonlit Night asked about An Ying’s battered condition and offered to help him deal with the nine of spades.
• In Lucky Twenty-One, players stayed trapped inside a barrier of rose thorns surrounding the woman in white.
• The woman in white called an anomaly a traitor after it touched a thorn, and the vines drained it until it became a playing card.
• Sheng Qingqiao denied the other players’ teasing claims that he had a relationship with the woman, explaining that she had approached him and offered protection.

Bai Yang kept Tao Yuan and the other players trapped on his plush rabbit while it fought Weirds, as Moonlit Night left An Ying behind and revealed his plan to kill him for points. After the second death-chase round ended, An Ying and the few survivors discussed a candy that had protected one woman from a Hearts Weird, leading An Ying to suspect Bai Yang was connected to a hidden organization.

• Bai Yang refused Tao Yuan’s request to let the players down from the rabbit, which continued crushing and swatting Weirds while carrying them.
• An Ying confronted Moonlit Night for refusing to help, but Moonlit Night disappeared from the game room and went outside the instance.
• Moonlit Night drew his saber and said he intended to kill An Ying to gain enough points for his Master.
• The second death-chase round ended, and An Ying and a small group of survivors regrouped after more than half the players had died.
• A woman said a candy had protected her from a Hearts Weird, and An Ying connected its effect to Bai Yang and resolved to investigate him and Moonlit Night.

After the first half ended, the host brought new players into the casino and began a high-card contest in which winners could steal their opponents’ cards. An Ying was freed from his restraints and waited as players began attacking one another for cards.

• An Ying returned to the first-floor hall, where the host announced that players without cards had lost their eligibility for the second half.
• The host brought in new players, who had to pay a price to receive cards; one newcomer cut off his own arm and obtained one.
• The high-card contest began, and the host warned that players left without cards after the first round would become NPCs.
• An Ying noticed Moonlit Night was missing and saw that injured, unarmed players were vulnerable targets.
• A tall, gaunt man shot a one-armed player dead and took his cards, prompting the other players to grow tense.

An Ying stopped the players from trying to seize his high-ranking cards by warning that stealing them would violate the arena’s ban on cheating. As the countdown continued, he considered how the rules and the unseen jokers might affect the game.

• A player revealed that An Ying had high-ranking cards, prompting several people to propose taking or destroying them.
• An Ying reminded the group that stealing cards would count as cheating, which could bring a death sentence, and warned that he could hold out for ten minutes.
• Most players sat back, but seven people without cards considered attacking injured players instead; one then began plotting to steal a card with an invisibility-granting uncanny object.
• An Ying realized the kneeling NPCs and the card-holding NPC were also watching for cheating, making unnoticed theft difficult.
• With seven minutes left to choose a card, An Ying reasoned that the arena might contain one standard deck and wondered where the two jokers were.

An Ying won his first card match with the queen of spades and refused to loot his opponent’s seven of diamonds. Chen Xiu then defeated the cheating guest 44, looted his cards, and the first round ended with the players learning that losing a match could cost them their lives.

• An Ying submitted his queen of spades and was matched against guest 30, whose card was a seven of diamonds.
• Guest 30 died after refusing to reveal his card before the countdown ended, and An Ying won the match but refused to loot the seven of diamonds.
• Chen Xiu faced guest 44 and revealed her six of hearts against his seven of spades.
• The host exposed guest 44’s cheating and killed him, allowing Chen Xiu to loot his seven of spades and the leftover seven of diamonds.
• The first round ended after half an hour, and the players understood that those who lost their only card could die.