Chapter Summaries

After Xu Xi cleared the instance, the Shining Players hosts and experts celebrated and analyzed how he had survived and exposed the plot. The discussion left the reason he predicted Gao Zhuang’s arson unexplained, while viewers speculated about Xu Xi’s Mountain God favor buff.

• Song Yan announced that Xu Xi had become the first player to clear an instance on Shining Players, and Ge Ying and Cao Hongbo praised his performance.
• Cao Hongbo analyzed the players’ expressions after they left the Mountain God Temple, noting that several seemed affected by the Mountain God and that the Curly-Haired Woman’s death unsettled the Man in a Suit and the Young Man in a Duckbill Cap.
• Ge Ying suggested the Man in a Suit and the Young Man in a Duckbill Cap had joined forces to escape the price of their wishes, and that Xu Xi had recognized the Duckbill Cap player’s plan at the clinic.
• Ge Ying said he could not explain how Xu Xi knew Gao Zhuang would set a fire, but explained that calling the police exposed Gao Zhuang and the Shamaness and prevented the sacrifice.
• The hosts praised Xu Xi’s quick thinking, while viewers speculated that Shining Players had poisoned him and caused his Mountain God favor buff.

A discussion thread celebrated Xu Xi ending the Shining Players' hundred-kill streak and analyzed how he survived the village instance. The posters concluded that Xu Xi had seen through the other players' schemes, though they could not explain how he anticipated the barefoot doctor's arson.

• A J Province resident celebrated the Shining Players' defeat, and commenters discussed the dangers of the village instance and its poisoned food.
• A commenter explained that the Young Man in a Duckbill Cap died after Village Chief Zhu led people to destroy the Mountain God Temple.
• A self-proclaimed master theorized that the players who wished to the Mountain God planned to escape the price by killing players who had made no wishes.
• The master explained how the Young Man in a Duckbill Cap and the Man in a Suit joined forces, then targeted the Young Woman in a Long Dress and Xu Xi.
• The commenters concluded that Xu Xi had watched the players' schemes unfold and used Village Chief Zhu to get the Young Man in a Duckbill Cap killed.
• The commenters wondered how Xu Xi predicted the barefoot doctor's arson, but the master admitted he did not know.

Ji Yang celebrated Xu Xi’s successful instance clear and prayed for his continued success. In the Player Space, Xu Xi learned about the fourth mixed-nation team competition and decided to enter its solo selection, hoping for another chance to climb the stairs.

• Ji Yang saw that Xu Xi had cleared the instance and eagerly followed the online excitement surrounding him.
• Ji Yang secretly lit incense and prayed that Xu Xi would go further and become a source of hope for Huaguo.
• Xu Xi received a message explaining that players had to clear a difficult solo selection instance before they could be considered for the fourth mixed-nation team competition.
• Xu Xi learned that clearing the competition could bring three months without mandatory instances, up to three items, and the removal of pollution from a player’s city.
• Xu Xi decided to enter the selection, partly because clearing it or the competition would let him climb more stairs.

Xu Xi entered a high-difficulty solo instance on Yongning West Street, where he had to spot anomalies and choose a direction at the end without turning back. After looping once and noticing shadows embracing in Sunny Department Store, he chose the right alley and paused at its exit after spotting a difference.

• Xu Xi read the instance rules and learned to turn left if he saw no anomalies or right if he did, with no turning back.
• Xu Xi walked down Yongning West Street, found no unusual shops or residences, and chose the left alley at the end.
• Xu Xi emerged onto an identical street, saw the sign change from Level 0 to Level 1, and realized the street was looping.
• Xu Xi spotted two embracing shadows in a lit second-floor window of Sunny Department Store and chose the right alley.
• Xu Xi reached the right alley's exit and stopped when he noticed something different.

Xu Xi continued through the looping street, judging anomalies and finding cryptic messages after each correct choice. On level 4, he picked up a bundle of banknotes, was killed by a black humanoid, and Rolled back to the moment before taking them.

• Xu Xi returned to the street on level 2, found the figures at Sunny Department Store gone, and correctly judged that there was no anomaly.
• Xu Xi reached level 3, heard unexplained metallic clinking throughout the street, and correctly judged the level before finding another cryptic message.
• On level 4, Xu Xi found Huarong Supermarket’s owner kowtowing beside a collateralized loan agreement and bloodstained banknotes.
• Xu Xi picked up the banknotes, whereupon a faceless black figure appeared, stabbed him, and killed him.
• Xu Xi used Rollback to return to the moment before he picked up the banknotes.

Xu Xi continued through the street as its anomalies revealed more of the history behind the mortgaged supermarket and a grieving woman. At level 8, her corpse appeared hanging from the supermarket sign, but Xu Xi remained calm and kept moving.

• Xu Xi reached the former Huarong Supermarket, now called Juxing Supermarket, and avoided its falling sign.
• Xu Xi inferred that the kneeling man and the sobbing woman might be the couple seen at Sunny Department Store, and wondered whether debt or gambling had ruined them.
• At level 8, Xu Xi encountered falling joss paper and eerie opera singing as the street grew cold.
• A corpse wearing the sobbing woman's familiar dress dropped from the supermarket sign and stared at Xu Xi.

Xu Xi escaped the horrifying alley and encountered an injured black cat on Level 11, whose warning helped him avoid a car after he used Rollback. He took the cat and its bell with him, then read a message suggesting the bell had been a woman's last salvation before discovering the instance had sealed the route behind him.

• Xu Xi reached the alley wall, where the message revealed that the despairing woman had hanged herself, then continued to Level 10 and recovered from the frightening scene.
• On Level 11, an injured black cat tugged Xu Xi toward the roadside, and a car struck him before his consciousness faded.
• Xu Xi used Rollback to lift the cat and sidestep the car, then thanked and gently petted it.
• The black cat gave Xu Xi its bell, and he carried the cat to the wall, where the message said that a woman's only remaining salvation had also left her.
• Xu Xi suspected the cat had belonged to the woman, then found that the entrance alley had become a wall and he could not return.

Xu Xi gave the black cat’s bell to the blood-soaked woman and received a fruit knife before moving on. On Floor 14, he collected banknotes needed in a later loop and triggered a swarm of Little Black Men.

• Xu Xi struggled through rising blood toward the end of the street as a woman in a nightgown watched him.
• Xu Xi gave the woman the bell from the black cat, and she vanished after handing him a fruit knife.
• Xu Xi reached Floor 13, then saw a corpse and scattered banknotes at the entrance to a supermarket on Floor 14.
• Viewers warned Xu Xi that the banknotes were needed in a later loop, so he picked them up and triggered many Little Black Men.

After using Rollback to escape a deadly loop, Xu Xi collected the banknotes, fought off the dark figures, and discovered that the fruit knife enhanced his abilities and could harm them. He continued through the levels, confirming anomalies and gathering clues about the doomed family, then reached level 9, where he had previously been trapped.

• Xu Xi found the supermarket owner dead and hesitated over whether to collect the blood-soaked banknotes before dark figures surrounded him.
• Xu Xi used the fruit knife to kill several attackers, escaped the rest, and discovered that the knife boosted his physical abilities and could hurt the creatures.
• Xu Xi photographed the supermarket and confirmed that the woman in the dress, the woman in the nightgown, and the man were a family who had all died by suicide.
• Xu Xi passed through levels 0 to 8, identifying anomalies including intimate silhouettes, metal clashes, sudden thorns, and a bruised boy.
• Xu Xi reached level 9, the place where he had been trapped during the previous loop.

Xu Xi cleared the ninth loop by recognizing that the paper money was needed to satisfy the woman in the qipao. He suspected she owned Sunny Department Store and had been involved with the supermarket owner, but the story of her and the boy remained unclear.

• Xu Xi realized the manhole covers had not appeared in earlier loops and regretted how the repeated anomalies had muddled his memory.
• Viewers discussed how Xu Xi avoided the manhole and thornbushes, and analyzed the paper money as a clue to the loops’ stories.
• Xu Xi gave the woman in the qipao enough paper money to pass the ninth loop, and a message said she had chosen to lose herself after sinking into the mire.
• Xu Xi connected the woman in the qipao to the silhouette at Sunny Department Store and guessed she had been involved with the supermarket owner.
• Xu Xi speculated that the boy outside the store might have been the woman’s son, but he still could not determine what had happened to them.

Xu Xi completed the second story, learning that the qipao-clad woman had drawn the supermarket owner into illegal gambling and that Tao had killed a man while defending her. He then entered the third story, where blood-red streets, animal fur, and injured cats confronted him, and he left the cats behind as giant hands seized them.

• On Floor 11, Xu Xi saw the injured boy trembling outside Sunny Department Store while laughter came from inside.
• On Floor 12, Xu Xi heard a woman's scream and saw blood splatter the store's second-floor window.
• On Floor 14, Xu Xi read a newspaper report explaining that Tao had killed Li while defending Yang, who had been involved in gambling and prostitution.
• On Floor 15, Xu Xi obtained a photograph of the qipao-clad woman smiling with her son, and the second story ended.
• On Floor 1 of the third story, Xu Xi crossed a blood-red street covered in warm, breathing animal fur.
• On Floor 3, Xu Xi dodged giant hands reaching for him and the injured cats, escaped into the alley, and watched the hands seize the cats.

Xu Xi survived a trap on Floor 7 by pretending to fall for it, then found the black cat dead in the street on the next Floor 7 loop. Its death and the alley’s message suggested a link between the cat and someone’s lost hope as he continued onward.

• On Floor 5, Xu Xi ran from a giant falling needle and suspected the strange loops involved a cat trafficker.
• On Floor 7, Xu Xi let a figure snare him in a net, then stabbed it with his fruit knife and escaped after it turned to ash.
• Xu Xi read the alley’s message describing the net as a cage and an abyss, strengthening his suspicion that a cat trafficker was behind the trap.
• In another Floor 7 loop, Xu Xi found the black cat from an earlier loop crushed in the street, with its broken legs and damaged bell suggesting it had been deliberately harmed.
• Xu Xi read that the cat’s death had taken away someone’s last glimmer of hope, then continued to Floor 9, where a dark shape suddenly fell at his feet.

Xu Xi uncovered how Zhou Cheng had abused and killed Orange Treasure and the black cat, then watched someone take revenge by torturing Zhou Cheng to death. He continued through the levels and obtained the third photograph, while viewers worried that Zhou Cheng might also have harmed his girlfriend.

• Xu Xi found the injured orange cat that had been thrown from the second floor and learned it was Orange Treasure.
• Xu Xi connected Zhou Cheng's work troubles and breakup to his cruelty toward Orange Treasure and the black cat.
• At Level 13, Xu Xi saw Zhou Cheng dying after someone had thrown him from the same apartment building.
• Xu Xi received the message, "It takes a villain to punish a villain," and continued onward.
• At Level 15, Xu Xi obtained the third photograph as viewers speculated about Zhou Cheng and his girlfriend.

Xu Xi explored another sequence of street loops and found a beaten boy connected to a family that appeared to exclude him. After repeatedly losing to the boy, Xu Xi managed to enjoy the milk tea before moving on, with a new message hinting at a gentle presence in the boy’s life.

• Xu Xi crossed loops of falling garbage and unstable ground, finding clues that the story might involve the boy from an earlier loop and bullying.
• Xu Xi saw a couple walking with two boys, but the floor’s message described them as a family of three; he suspected the family was blended and one boy was unwanted.
• Xu Xi found hired attackers beating the boy who had trailed behind the family, and the message called him a mistaken, superfluous existence.
• Xu Xi drank the milk tea on the next floor, but the boy appeared and defeated him; after restarting, Xu Xi returned for more milk tea until he was satisfied.
• Xu Xi passed the milk tea without interest and read a message saying that she had driven away the gloom surrounding him.

Xu Xi uncovered how the boy had become a bully after enduring abuse, then gathered four photograph fragments in a maze and cleared the instance. The chapter ended with a massive door appearing to carry him onward.

• Xu Xi found evidence that the boy had killed the men hired to attack him and later bullied the son of the woman in the qipao.
• Xu Xi saw that the boy had run over a man in revenge and later stood in floodwater holding a newspaper about the woman and her son.
• Xu Xi found a photograph showing the boy apart from a smiling family of three, then read that the four intertwined tragedies could not be undone but that his future still held hope.
• The four photographs burned and became fragments scattered through a maze, where black shadows chased Xu Xi.
• Xu Xi collected all four fragments, which formed a massive door bearing a message that he had cleared the instance.

A player forum discussed who might be selected for the next mixed-team competition, with many believing Xu Xi could secure Huaguo another win. In Player Space, Xu Xi reflected on relying instinctively on Rollback and decided he had been too cautious about using it.

• Players on the forum guessed who would be selected for the mixed-team competition and debated the strengths of Hang Ze, Zhang Tian, the Little Bro, and Xu Xi.
• Forum users recalled the previous competitions, including the Little Bro's victory and the Elimination Card he won for Huaguo.
• Xu Xi realized he had stopped keeping track of how often he used Rollback, especially after using it repeatedly to get milk tea in his solo instance.
• Xu Xi examined the fruit knife from his latest instance and learned that it enhanced his physical abilities and could harm some ghostly creatures.
• Remembering how Rollback helped him collect every fragment and clear the instance, Xu Xi decided he had been too conservative and considered using the ability more proactively.

The fourth mixed-nationality team tournament began selecting its participating countries and players, and Huaguo’s contestant was Xu Xi. His selection sent Huaguo viewers into a frenzy, while Ilira recognized him as the record-setting player known as 248.

• Ji Yang streamed the tournament’s opening and discussed whether Xu Xi might be selected, while admitting he hoped Xu Xi would not be chosen.
• Hosts Jiang Jin and Yao Han introduced the tournament broadcast and its expert commentators, Lin Miao and Luo Zongyun.
• God Hunt selected eleven countries, including Huaguo, and revealed Xu Xi as Huaguo’s contestant.
• Huaguo viewers flooded the livestream with messages celebrating Xu Xi and repeating 248, while Ilira remembered his two-minute-forty-eight-second instance record.
• Ji Yang joined the viewers in typing 248 and believed Xu Xi would survive to the end.

Xu Xi entered a mixed-team competition after suspecting God Hunt had chosen him because of his Rollback anomaly. He and ten other players learned they had to survive three days at an abandoned camp on Tanersheng Island, where challenges and eliminations would determine the winner.

• After receiving the competition notice, Xu Xi suspected God Hunt was targeting him but decided to see what would happen if he used Rollback more actively.
• Xu Xi arrived in an enclosed cabin with ten other players, where Winniever proposed cooperation and a woman in a leather jacket rejected the idea.
• Viewers around the world reacted to Xu Xi’s selection, with many Huaguo netizens celebrating his record while foreign viewers compared him with their own contestants.
• A host told the players that they would spend three days at the abandoned Fitali camp on Tanersheng Island, completing challenges until only one contestant remained to win five million.

Xu Xi and the other players arrived at the island for what appeared to be a survival show, but Xu Xi suspected the instance held dangers beyond the announced challenges. During the camp’s blessing ceremony, the shaman reacted violently to a case full of skeletons and warned everyone not to enter and to leave as soon as possible.

• The scruffy director told the players they would face challenges at the camp and be safely removed if they withdrew or were eliminated.
• A blue-eyed young man questioned the meaning of elimination, and the director clarified that it did not mean death.
• Xu Xi suspected that surviving the three days and following the production crew’s rules would not be enough to clear the instance.
• The players followed the crew to a blessing ceremony, where a shaman attempted to draw a blood rune on a case packed with skeletons.
• The shaman convulsed, smeared the rune, and began attacking people while shouting warnings to stay out and leave; the scruffy director ordered the crew to pull him away.

Xu Xi appeared as Huaguo’s contestant, and television experts praised his intelligence and ability to clear instances. After the shaman’s blessing ritual went wrong, Xu Xi withdrew from the competition rather than enter the suspicious camp, while the other ten players stayed.

• Huaguo viewers flooded the broadcast with comments about Xu Xi, and experts Lin Miao and Luo Zongyun described his exceptional abilities.
• Lin Miao and Luo Zongyun judged that the wary players were unlikely to cooperate and that Xu Xi could succeed alone.
• The shaman’s blessing ritual stopped after an unexpected incident, and the production staff ordered the contestants to change into prison uniforms.
• Xu Xi decided to withdraw, saying he was easily scared and giving up the five-million prize.
• The sloppy man agreed that Xu Xi could skip entering the camp but said he had to wait for the production team’s filming to finish.
• The other ten players chose to continue into the camp.