Chapter Summaries

Tan Xingyun, Xu Xiuman, Li Kang, and Xu Xi debated whether to trust a woman in red who offered to guide them through the foggy woods. After testing her with a staged refusal, they let her into the car, leaving Xu Xi impressed by his teammates’ acting and uneasy about the newcomer.

• Xu Xiuman warned that the fog made the woods dangerous, while Tan Xingyun and Li Kang considered whether the woman in red was a clue or a trap.
• Xu Xiuman suggested testing the woman before letting her into the car, and Tan Xingyun asked Xu Xi for his opinion.
• Xu Xi said he had no objections, and his teammates relaxed at his answer.
• Tan Xingyun offered the woman joss paper and told her they could not give her a ride, but she refused the money and agreed to wait for another car.
• Xu Xiuman and Li Kang persuaded Tan Xingyun to let the woman in, and she sat beside Li Kang as he edged closer to Xu Xi.

Tan Xingyun let the woman in red ride with the group through the fog-covered woods, where their senses were distorted and they could not trust their view of the road. With her guidance, they reached the edge of the forest, but the village ahead still seemed dangerous.

• Tan Xingyun asked the woman in red where she was going, and she described the route to her village and chatted about being a bridesmaid.
• Xu Xi wondered whether the woman in red was a human NPC as the others gradually relaxed around her.
• The woman in red warned Tan Xingyun that the car had veered off course, and the trees appeared to move as he followed her directions.
• The woman in red guided the car through the misleading woods until the group reached the forest's edge and saw the village ahead.

Tan Xingyun tested whether treating the woman in red as a wedding guest would earn them a reward, and she returned with wedding candy. He shared the eight candies evenly among the teammates before they continued their journey.

• The woman in the red dress paid Li Kang for the ride and headed toward the village without inviting the group to the feast.
• Tan Xingyun gave the woman joss paper as a wedding gift, and she accepted it before going to fetch them wedding candy.
• Tan Xingyun explained that he had tried giving a wedding gift because the group had earlier obtained clues by actively engaging with people in the instance.
• The woman returned with eight candies, and Tan Xingyun accepted them and divided them evenly among himself, Xu Xiuman, Li Kang, and Xu Xi.

Xu Xi and the others divided the hell money left by the vanished woman in red, then approached a tunnel that Li Kang sensed was dangerous. With fog blocking every alternate route, they prepared to enter it, while viewers took comfort in Xu Xi's record of clearing an instance in 2 minutes and 48 seconds.

• Xu Xi discovered that the travel money from the woman in red had turned into hell money, and the group split the eight bills evenly.
• Xu Xiuman spotted a tunnel ahead, and Li Kang warned that his instincts told him it was dangerous.
• Tan Xingyun and Xu Xiuman confirmed that the fog left them no way around the tunnel.
• Tan Xingyun encouraged the group to face the tunnel, and they prepared to enter while Li Kang placed his hopes in Xu Xi.

Xu Xi and his companions encountered a fake Li Kang in the tunnel, but Tan Xingyun identified the real one by asking about his life outside the instance, and they drove on. Just as they reached the tunnel exit, Xu Xi returned to the confrontation for a third time, after a previous attempt ended with their car exploding.

• A second sedan rammed toward Tan Xingyun's car, forcing him to swerve into the tunnel wall, and its driver revealed himself as another Li Kang.
• The two Li Kangs each claimed the other was fake, so Tan Xingyun tested them with questions about Li Kang's birthday and father.
• The Li Kang with the group answered that his father was Li Deping, and the other Li Kang repeated the answer, but Tan Xingyun and Xu Xiuman remained wary of the stranger.
• Tan Xingyun restarted the car and drove away with the group, leaving the fake Li Kang behind as he repeated that they would die.
• After reaching the point where the tunnel exit came into view, Xu Xi returned to the confrontation for a third time and recalled that their car had exploded during the first attempt.

Xu Xi used clues from the earlier loops to negotiate for ownership of the fake Li Kang's car, which he suspected was the only vehicle that could leave the tunnel. The group drove it out successfully, escaping the tunnel without losing anyone.

• Xu Xi got out of the car and warned Tan Xingyun, Xu Xiuman, and Li Kang that something was wrong with it.
• Xu Xi said the fake Li Kang might be telling the truth about his car being the only one that could leave the tunnel, even if he was still a fake.
• Xu Xi asked the fake Li Kang what it would take to make the car no longer his and offered to buy it with paper money and incense.
• Tan Xingyun, Xu Xiuman, and Li Kang added their paper money and incense, but the fake Li Kang still said it was not enough.
• Xu Xi offered their original car as collateral, and the fake Li Kang accepted, transferring ownership of his car to the group.
• Xu Xi motioned for everyone to get in, and they drove out of the tunnel safely.

Xu Xi’s group escaped the tunnel after he bought the fake Li Kang’s car, and the others credited him with solving the danger. The four reached the funeral home and cleared the instance, leaving Tan Xingyun hoping they could team up again.

• Xu Xi realized the tunnel rollbacks had revealed several ways to survive, though his solution had cost him all their joss paper and incense.
• Tan Xingyun, Xu Xiuman, and Li Kang inferred that Xu Xi had noticed clues about the fake car and rescued them from the tunnel.
• Xu Xi stayed silent while his teammates praised him and discussed the journey, and the viewers interpreted his reserve as the bearing of an expert.
• The four encountered no further bizarre incidents and arrived at the funeral home.
• White rings appeared beneath their feet, and the four vanished as the instance was cleared; Tan Xingyun said he hoped they would team up again.

Back in the Player Space after his second instance, Xu Xi reviewed his teammates and his death-rollback ability, then discovered the effects of the items he had brought back. Meanwhile, his rapid clears made him famous in the real world, where players began discussing him online.

• Xu Xi returned to the Player Space, reflected on his six deaths in the second instance, and reviewed his three reliable teammates: Tan Xingyun, Xu Xiuman, and Li Kang.
• Xu Xi reasoned that his ability returned him to a point leading to his death and called it “death rollback,” deciding he would keep testing its limits when necessary.
• Xu Xi identified the patterned wedding candy as a cure for negative statuses and the white candy as a remedy for physical injuries, while the spirit money was special currency for instances.
• Xu Xi considered whether to wait for the third instance or enter early after putting the items away.
• Xu Xi’s second instance boosted his real-world fame, and online users discussed his speedrunning reputation in a thread about him.

Xu Xi entered a new mountain instance, while streamer Ji Yang watched his livestream and praised his potential. News that top-ranked Zhang Song had died deepened viewers’ fears, but Ji Yang insisted that humanity could still witness new miracles.

• Xu Xi chose to enter another instance early and arrived halfway up a mountain with four teammates.
• Viewers flooded Xu Xi’s livestream, while Ji Yang streamed his own commentary on Xu Xi’s performance.
• Ji Yang described Xu Xi as having heaven-defying talent and the potential to become a god.
• Viewers reported that Zhang Song, the top-ranked player, had died in a hellishly difficult instance where every player was wiped out.
• Ji Yang urged viewers not to lose hope, suggesting that a player might still go farther than anyone expected.

Xu Xi and four teammates crossed a mountainous wilderness after spotting an approaching rainstorm, while Ji Yang explained that the storm and terrain hinted at a possible mudslide. After hours of walking, the group reached a destination in the forest, though its nature remained unclear.

• The five players inspected their hiking gear and reacted to the burly man's interruption of the refined man's introduction.
• The high-ponytailed woman warned that a rainstorm was coming, and the refined man cautioned that the steep, sparsely vegetated slopes could trigger a mudslide.
• The burly man led the group toward a distant dense forest, and Xu Xi followed without offering an opinion.
• Ji Yang told his livestream viewers that the rainstorm was the instance's hint and explained why the forest was likely a safe destination.
• After walking for hours through most of the forest, the group stopped to rest, but the burly man said they had reached their destination.

Xu Xi and his teammates entered an abandoned inn to investigate after a sudden downpour drove them inside. They explored its dim first floor by candlelight, where Xu Xi found a wall covered in mostly unreadable rules.

• The group spotted an abandoned inn in the woods and decided to enter together when a thunderstorm began.
• Xu Xi assessed the personalities of his four teammates as they followed the burly man's lead into the inn.
• The gentle-looking man lit a candle at the reception desk, then stopped the burly man from using another candle.
• The teammates examined the inn's first floor, and Xu Xi found a sheet of faded rules on the wall.

Xu Xi found a faded rules notice at the inn, but the short-haired woman with glasses claimed the clue before he could report it. The group examined the inn’s guest register and discussed the five guests whose rooms remained occupied, while Ji Yang’s viewers debated whether Xu Xi cared about recognition or his teammates’ safety.

• Xu Xi read part of a faded notice on the wall before the short-haired woman with glasses pushed in to inspect it.
• The refined man and the burly man showed the group a guest register, a pen, and keys found in a reception cabinet.
• The group saw that rooms 103, 202, and 204 were still marked occupied, with five guests listed and no checkout information.
• The short-haired woman with glasses reported finding the unusual rules notice without mentioning Xu Xi had found it first.
• Ji Yang analyzed the woman’s attempt to prove her value and considered that Xu Xi might not care about recognition or helping his teammates survive.

Xu Xi confronted the short-haired woman with glasses after she took credit for his clue, then joined the others in deciphering the inn’s cryptic warnings. The players split into teams to investigate rooms whose guests had never checked out, with Xu Xi paired with the woman with the high ponytail as they prepared to explore the dark inn.

• Xu Xi mildly pointed out that the short-haired woman with glasses had found the same clue he had, making her stiffen.
• The scholarly man and the others interpreted the rules as warnings about nighttime knocks, trust, and being discovered by strange beings called “they.”
• The burly man proposed splitting up to investigate room 103 and rooms 202 and 204, and the short-haired woman with glasses joined him and the scholarly man.
• Xu Xi and the woman with the high ponytail formed the other team without discussing their choice.
• The players lit candles at the reception desk and separated in the storm-darkened inn, wary of the unknown beings and unwritten forbidden rules.

Xu Xi and the woman with the high ponytail searched room 103 and found a flashlight and a boy’s diary describing his grandmother’s mutation after she opened the door at night. As they left with the diary, a tall figure with long arms noticed their candle and began approaching them.

• Xu Xi opened room 103, where he and the woman with the high ponytail searched for clues.
• Xu Xi found a working flashlight, and the woman found a diary hidden among clothes beneath the table.
• They read the boy’s entries, which described his grandmother growing monstrous after answering a nighttime knock and then dismembering and eating him.
• The pair decided to take the diary and meet the others by the stairs.
• Xu Xi saw a tall, long-armed figure climbing the stairs, and it turned toward them after the woman emerged with the candle.

Xu Xi returned to an earlier moment, extinguished the candle, and discovered that the figure feared the flashlight’s beam, though the short-haired woman with glasses died upstairs. As the others questioned how he knew to put out the candle, Ji Yang suggested Xu Xi had noticed there were no candles in room 103, and the viewers began comparing the rooms.

• Xu Xi woke after returning to the moment before the figure reached the stairs and immediately pinched out the candle.
• Xu Xi shouted a warning upstairs, then shone his flashlight at the figure, which shrieked and vanished.
• The burly man and the refined-looking man came downstairs and reported that the short-haired woman with glasses had been killed.
• The woman with the high ponytail and the two men asked Xu Xi how he knew to extinguish the candles.
• Ji Yang told the livestream viewers that Xu Xi must have noticed a detail: room 103 had a flashlight but no candles, and viewers noted rooms 202 and 204 had none either.

Ji Yang argued that Xu Xi may have deliberately enraged the candle-attracted creature with his flashlight, causing it to kill the woman with glasses, though he admitted he had no proof. Meanwhile, Xu Xi struggled to explain how he had identified the candle as the danger, but the refined man inferred his reasoning and the others began to view him with suspicion.

• Ji Yang explained that the innkeeper had withheld candles because candlelight attracted the creature, and that flashlights affected it too.
• Ji Yang suggested Xu Xi might have deliberately used his flashlight to make the creature rush at the woman with glasses, while warning the others to protect his remaining teammate.
• Ji Yang admitted his theory was unproven and speculated that Xu Xi either still needed the other two players or had simply acted with the situation.
• Xu Xi wondered how to explain that he knew the candle had attracted the creature, since his real reason was that he had died once before.
• The refined man concluded that Xu Xi had noticed the guest rooms lacked candles, and the burly man and the woman with the high ponytail began to understand his supposed reasoning.

Xu Xi and the others compared clues from the inn, including a missing-person notice, disturbing phone recordings, and a diary describing a transformed guest. They remained unsure what the inn’s rules meant or what had happened to its guests and innkeeper.

• The refined man urged the group to cooperate and discuss their clues, while Xu Xi let him believe he had understood why the candle attracted the strange figure.
• The burly man showed the group a missing-person notice found in room 202, linking the missing woman to Yang Wu, her likely younger brother.
• The refined man played recordings from a phone found in room 204, revealing that its owner had conspired with his mother to push a woman off a cliff, only for her to return unharmed.
• The woman with the high ponytail shared a diary describing how an elderly guest in room 103 had transformed and eaten their grandson.
• The burly man pointed out that the group still did not know what “they” referred to in the inn rules, how the clues connected, or where the guests and innkeeper had gone.

The group pieced together the inn's apparent rules and learned that the creatures could imitate people and infect them. Xu Xi realized he might have been infected in his previous run and wondered whether his flashlight had provoked the creature that killed the woman with glasses.

• The refined man used the diary to connect Wang Xiuping's mutation to her opening the door after a nighttime knock.
• The burly man and the refined man concluded that the creatures could mimic human voices and appearances.
• The refined man inferred that guests should not open their doors at night, trust anyone, or let the creatures know they had been discovered.
• The group suspected that Wang Xiuping had been infected and transformed into a creature, but Yang Wu and his missing sister remained unexplained.
• Xu Xi realized that infection might have caused his death in the previous run and wondered whether his flashlight had provoked the creature that killed the woman with glasses.

The players suspected that something had escaped from Room 101 and planned to trap the White Humanoid in a locked room. The Burly Man singled out Xu Xi to light a candle, but the High-Ponytail Woman volunteered instead.

• The High-Ponytail Woman said Room 101's door had been shut before the players entered Room 103 but seemed unlocked when they returned.
• She suggested that something had released the White Humanoid from Room 101 after the players split up, and the Burly Man found that Room 101's key was missing.
• The Refined Man proposed luring the White Humanoid into a candlelit room and locking it inside.
• The Burly Man told Xu Xi to light the candle because he had not joined the group's discussion.
• The High-Ponytail Woman volunteered to go instead.

Xu Xi volunteered to lure the White Humanoid into Room 106, but the creature appeared at the door as soon as he lit the candle and knocked him unconscious. He awoke back at the moment before opening the door, with the creature still outside and his next move uncertain.

• The High-Ponytail Woman offered to light the candle, but Xu Xi took the lighter and volunteered instead.
• The Refined Man chose Room 106 for the candle and Room 103 as their hiding place, while he and the Burly Man questioned Xu Xi’s motives and the High-Ponytail Woman recalled his role in the Short-Haired Woman with Glasses’s death.
• Xu Xi entered Room 106, placed and lit the candle, then headed for the door to lure the White Humanoid inside.
• When Xu Xi opened the door, the White Humanoid was standing right outside; its shriek struck him unconscious.
• Xu Xi woke at the moment before opening the door, and the White Humanoid knocked from outside as onlookers argued over what he would do.