Recaps

Five players entered an S-rank instance and planned to follow an existing walkthrough to defeat the Headless Knight, with Qi Lin’s Boundary System ability and Han Rui’s acting skills giving them confidence. As they approached Qingshui Village, the Headless Knight appeared in broad daylight, before they had gathered the sword or Holy Water.

• Lin Feng recognized Qi Lin from a previous instance, and Su Su and Han Rui introduced themselves to the famous former singer.
• Yan Dahai urged the group to clear the instance using the available walkthrough, and Qi Lin agreed.
• Qi Lin revealed that he had a Boundary System ability, and the group planned to find the sword and Holy Water before nightfall.
• Lin Feng proposed posing as messengers of the goddess to persuade the villagers to help, and Han Rui volunteered to act because she had studied acting.
• As the group headed toward Qingshui Village, they heard hoofbeats and saw the Headless Knight surrounded by eerie green flames in broad daylight.

The group entered the village and Han Rui convinced its fanatical inhabitants that they were messengers of the goddess. They learned where the sword that could slay the Headless Knight was kept, but it vanished before they could take it, and Qi Lin suspected the thief might be the old man who led them there.

• The group saw the Headless Knight during the day, and Qi Lin reasoned that his appearance might give them an advantage.
• The five entered the village and Han Rui claimed they were messengers sent by the goddess to save the villagers.
• When a villager questioned Han Rui, she denounced him as a blasphemer, and the villagers burned and ate him.
• An old man told Han Rui that the longsword was in his house and led her and Yan Dahai inside.
• Qi Lin spotted faint scorch marks forming a trail of footprints near the old man's home, then heard that the sword had disappeared.
• Qi Lin connected the footprints to the missing sword and feared the old man might have taken it.

Qi Lin suspected the Headless Knight had stolen the sword the group needed to clear the dungeon, but the five decided to keep going and retrieve the holy water. They found the villagers attacking them in a frenzy after the goddess statue and its holy-water pool had been destroyed.

• Qi Lin pointed out scorch-mark footprints and suggested the Headless Knight had stolen the sword, and the group resolved to fight on despite the risk.
• Yan Dahai led the five toward the goddess statue to collect holy water while it was still daytime.
• The group encountered enraged villagers, and Han Rui killed one after he lunged at her, but the others kept advancing.
• Qi Lin spotted that the goddess statue had been smashed and its pool destroyed, with scarlet liquid mixing with the spilled holy water.
• The group realized the destruction of the statue had driven the villagers into a frenzy.

After the villagers attacked them, Qi Lin’s group escaped into the eastern forest with Su Su’s help and decided to focus on surviving for three days. They feared the Headless Knight had anticipated their movements, and the sound of approaching hooves left them facing a possible encounter.

• The group found the goddess statue shattered and the sword, Holy Water, and other supplies missing, then the villagers surrounded them.
• Qi Lin chose the eastern forest as an escape route, and Lin Feng broke a gap in the villagers’ encirclement so the group could flee.
• Qi Lin briefly held the villagers back with a barrier, but they broke through and continued chasing the group.
• Su Su used her ability to grow thorny vines into a net that trapped the villagers, giving the group time to travel deeper into the forest.
• Near the dungeon’s edge, Qi Lin’s group decided to hide and survive until the three days were over, while wondering how the Headless Knight knew their plans.
• Hoofbeats sounded nearby, matching the sound the group had heard when they first encountered the Headless Knight.

The group realized the Headless Knight was anticipating their guide-based plans and decided to leave their hiding place for his lair. Shen Hao, using the Knight’s Mental Perception, watched them and planned to deepen their despair for Fear Points.

• The group heard the Headless Knight approach twice, but each time the hoofbeats faded before he found them.
• Yan Dahai proposed that the Headless Knight had read or anticipated their guide, so they should stop following it and abandon the woods.
• The group agreed to go to the Headless Knight’s lair, hoping to find something that could help them survive.
• Shen Hao used Mental Perception to sense the group and reflected on how his power had helped him sabotage their chances.
• Shen Hao chose not to kill them yet, planning instead to push them toward despair and shatter their last hope for more Fear Points.

Yan Dahai led the group to the Headless Knight’s lair, suspecting that the tree might conceal another way to defeat him. After their digging found nothing, Su Su sensed the tree’s roots reaching toward something far underground to the east, and offered to lead them there.

• Yan Dahai brought Qi Lin, Lin Feng, Han Rui, and Su Su to the Headless Knight’s lair before nightfall.
• Yan Dahai guessed that the Headless Knight’s corpse might be buried beneath the dead tree and could be burned to defeat him.
• The group dug a pit around the tree but found no remains, and Yan Dahai suggested they stop.
• Su Su used her mental power to sense that the roots converged deep underground and stretched east for dozens of meters.
• Su Su sensed that the roots connected to something and offered to take the group there.

Su Su led the group to a hidden underground space they believed held the Headless Knight’s remains, but the coffin they found was empty. As hoofbeats sounded above, Lin Feng leaped out of the pit to confront the Headless Knight, determined to fight even if he died.

• Su Su identified a spot beneath the tree, and Yan Dahai and Lin Feng dug through the ground and broke apart the roots covering a hollow space.
• Yan Dahai led the group underground, where they searched the root-filled chamber and Han Rui spotted an object in the darkness.
• Lin Feng confirmed the object was a coffin, and the group opened it, only to find it completely empty.
• Yan Dahai despaired, and Lin Feng struck the coffin in anger as the others lost hope.
• Hoofbeats sounded above, and Lin Feng jumped out of the pit to fight the Headless Knight.

Lin Feng regained his will to live after the Headless Knight nearly killed him, and Qi Lin’s group pulled him behind a barrier to prepare a united fight. The Headless Knight then revealed that he had been disguised as Lin Feng, striking Qi Lin and plunging the group into despair.

• Lin Feng challenged the Headless Knight, but the knight’s near miss restored Lin Feng’s fear of death.
• Lin Feng fought back with his beast ability, but the Headless Knight sent him crashing to the ground.
• Qi Lin and the others shielded Lin Feng with a barrier, and the group resolved to face the Headless Knight together.
• As the group prepared to let the knight inside the barrier, the apparent Lin Feng slashed Qi Lin with a bloodthirsty blade.
• Yan Dahai realized the attacker was the Headless Knight in disguise, and the group understood they had been deceived again.

Shen Hao, possessing the Headless Knight, killed Qi Lin and then pursued the fleeing survivors. Lin Feng died after charging the knight and being burned by its soul-consuming flames, while three prey remained at nightfall.

• Qi Lin died as the rot spread through his body, and the barrier shattered.
• Shen Hao withdrew Possession, and Lin Feng learned that he had killed Qi Lin while controlled by the Headless Knight.
• Lin Feng attacked the Headless Knight as Su Su and the other two survivors fled in separate directions.
• The Headless Knight passed through Lin Feng and pursued Su Su, while eerie flames ignited Lin Feng and burned him to death.
• Shen Hao gained 500 Fear Points from Lin Feng's death and found that the Headless Knight's spirit attribute had risen to 540 at night.

Shen Hao’s Headless Knight hunted down Su Su and killed her by igniting her with Soulfire, earning 1,200 Fear Points. With Xiaobai pursuing the other woman, Shen Hao turned his attention to Yan Dahai.

• Shen Hao sent Xiaobai to track one fleeing prey and chose Su Su as the Headless Knight’s first target.
• The Headless Knight repeatedly cut off Su Su’s escape, while she panicked at the thought of suffering the same kinds of deaths as Qi Lin and Lin Feng.
• Su Su tried to stab herself with a dagger, but the Headless Knight caught the blade and took it from her.
• The Headless Knight embraced Su Su, passed through her, and left Soulfire inside her, causing her to burn to death in terror.
• Shen Hao gained 1,200 Fear Points from Su Su’s death and decided to pursue Yan Dahai while Xiaobai went after the remaining woman.

Yan Dahai fled the Headless Knight, then turned to fight when he realized escape was hopeless. The Knight killed him with Soulfire, and Shen Hao received 1,000 fear points as he focused on his final remaining prey.

• Yan Dahai heard Su Su's scream and ran in fear, thinking of his young daughter as the Headless Knight pursued him.
• Yan Dahai stopped fleeing and sent his ghostly souls to attack the Headless Knight, but Soulfire burned them to ash.
• The Headless Knight rode through Yan Dahai, setting him ablaze until he died screaming.
• Shen Hao gained 1,000 fear points for Yan Dahai's death and noted that only one prey remained.

Han Rui, fleeing the Headless Knight, followed the Puppet Girl to his tomb, hoping to find a way to survive. Trapped there with the Headless Knight, she killed herself rather than let him kill her.

• Han Rui, exhausted and despairing, stopped running and considered killing herself, but could not bring herself to do it.
• Han Rui met the Puppet Girl, trusted her, and followed her to the Headless Knight's lair beside the Undead Tree.
• The Puppet Girl led Han Rui into the Headless Knight's tomb, then disappeared into the darkness.
• Han Rui tried to escape the tomb, but the Headless Knight forced her back down and revealed himself by a green flame.
• Han Rui found no way out and cut her own throat as the Headless Knight approached.

After leaving an S-rank instance, Shen Hao gained Mental Perception and Soulfire, upgraded his perception, and prepared to join another instance. Xia Bing then called him to take part in an operation because a teammate had died and returned at level 4, unaware Shen Hao had killed him.

• Shen Hao left the completed instance and returned to the real world, where he matched for another instance.
• Shen Hao discovered he had gained Mental Perception and Soulfire, and spent 1,000 Fear Points to extend Mental Perception's range to 75 meters.
• Shen Hao checked his Fear Points, then went out for breakfast.
• Xia Bing called Shen Hao and asked him to come to the guild for an operation after a level 21 teammate died in an instance and returned at level 4.
• Shen Hao recognized the teammate as the Soul-type Ability User he had killed and agreed to arrive in thirty minutes.

Shen Hao learned that the Blood Banquet Guild and Blood Moon Guild had both put him at the top of their wanted lists, though their planned operation in an S-rank dungeon would keep them occupied for now. Xia Bing then began briefing him on the mission he had been summoned to join.

• Shen Hao arrived late at the Alliance Guild branch, where Xia Bing told him the other mission members had already left.
• Xia Bing warned Shen Hao that the Blood Banquet Guild and Blood Moon Guild wanted him dead because he had survived being offered as a sacrifice to the Blood Banquet Guild's evil god.
• Shen Hao offered to act as bait again, but Xia Bing said the Alliance Guild would not abandon him and that the two organizations were focused on a major operation.
• Xia Bing explained that the organizations planned to enter an S-rank-or-higher dungeon, possibly to pursue a goal connected to their evil gods, using items that enabled dungeon entry.
• Xia Bing stopped answering Shen Hao's questions and began explaining the mission.

Shen Hao expected to watch from the sidelines while the Alliance Guild captured Wu Cheng, but the operation erupted into chaos when Wu Cheng unleashed a blood-red giant’s domain. Shen Hao realized he could no longer just tag along.

• Xia Bing told Shen Hao that the Alliance Guild planned to capture Wu Cheng, a level 20 Ability User wanted for a string of murders, and assigned Shen Hao to help guard the hotel perimeter.
• Shen Hao waited in the hotel lobby, playing on his phone while the operation began upstairs and frightened guests fled.
• After a heavy impact outside sent panicked guests rushing back into the hotel, Shen Hao went outside and saw Wu Cheng surrounded by Alliance Guild Ability Users.
• Wu Cheng charged at one of the guild’s level 20 members, who exploded into a mist of blood, then manifested a blood-red giant whose domain trapped everyone and stopped them from moving.
• Shen Hao realized he would have to take part rather than remain a bystander.

Wu Cheng used his blood-colored giant’s domain to slaughter the Alliance Guild members while Shen Hao gained Fear Points from their terror. As the trapped survivors panicked, Wu Cheng targeted Shen Hao, who considered using Soulfire against the phantom.

• Xia Bing warned the Alliance Guild that Wu Cheng’s domain made him effectively invincible, after two of their high-level Ability Users had already died.
• Wu Cheng killed more guild members with the blood-colored giant, and Shen Hao gained hundreds of Fear Points from the crowd’s fear.
• The trapped guild members blamed their leaders and pleaded for help, but Xia Bing’s assurance that Chairman Sun was coming did not calm them.
• Wu Cheng’s cruelty drove a young man mad, and he then fixed his gaze on Shen Hao.
• Shen Hao realized Wu Cheng would not spare him and wondered whether his Soulfire could kill the phantom.

Wu Cheng targeted Shen Hao, who used Soulfire to attack the blood-colored giant possessing him. After the flames briefly faded and the giant's power intensified, Shen Hao ignited them again, leaving the giant burning and its domain weakening.

• Wu Cheng chose Shen Hao as his next target, and Shen Hao decided to use Soulfire rather than spend his Fear Points on Gaze into Death.
• Shen Hao ignited dark green flames within Wu Cheng, burning him and the blood-colored giant and weakening the barrier's suppressive force.
• The flames gathered around the giant's arm, which fell and burned to ash before the fire went out, allowing the giant's domain and killing intent to grow stronger.
• Wu Cheng threatened to kill everyone, but Soulfire erupted again and engulfed him and the giant before the giant could act.
• The blood-colored giant recognized a terrifying ancient aura in the flames as its form dimmed and melted, and its wavering domain began to release its hold on the crowd.

After Soulfire killed the blood-colored giant, Shen Hao joined the guild members in demanding compensation for the disastrous mission. A week later, he received cash and a largely useless Gold Member title, then learned he had been matched with a new instance.

• Soulfire burned the blood-colored giant to ashes, ending his domain and earning Shen Hao 2,000 Fear Points.
• The survivors blamed Xia Bing for the mission’s disastrous outcome, and Shen Hao joined their demands for an explanation and compensation.
• Sun Wanli apologized to the guild members and promised compensation for everyone who took part in the operation.
• A week later, Shen Hao received 300,000 in cash and the honorary title of Gold Member from the Alliance Guild.
• Shen Hao learned he had been matched with a new instance.

Shen Hao bought and studied the expensive guides for the S-rank Dragonstone City dungeon, learning about its executioner boss, dangerous nighttime fog, and patrol routes. The later teams’ guides mostly recommended hiding and slacking off, leaving Shen Hao with no new information about how to clear the dungeon.

• Shen Hao purchased the Dragonstone City guides for over a million yuan, leaving him with less than a million of his prize money.
• Shen Hao read that the dungeon required surviving for 24 hours and that the executioner patrolled the city center, while black fog made the city dangerous at night.
• Shen Hao learned that later teams had mapped the executioner’s route and hiding spots, and that the boss was weakest at night.
• Shen Hao read that the third team had survived safely by hiding in the boss’s territory at night and treating the dungeon as a sightseeing trip.
• Shen Hao found that the fourth and fifth teams, and those after them, had mostly slacked off and made small improvements to the map.

Shen Hao read the guides for the tenth instance, which described the old man, the Executioner, and the prison inside the Executioner's cage. He entered the instance the next day, now serving as its new boss and knowing the old guides were outdated.

• Shen Hao read a guide explaining that the old man could grant a blessing and that the Executioner guarded a cage containing a prison.
• Shen Hao found a later guide describing the cage's hidden space and another guide that laid out how to enter it, find the Moon Goddess, and defeat the Executioner with her blessing.
• Shen Hao realized that the instance had gained a new boss, making the existing guides worthless to the teams attempting to clear it.
• Shen Hao prepared to enter the instance the next day and eagerly awaited being pulled into the game world.

Shen Hao became the Executioner, a powerful undead dungeon boss tasked with hunting players and killing the prisoners who claimed to be gods. When the players entered the dungeon, he set out to kill the old man who offered them a blessing.

• Shen Hao entered the gloomy dungeon and took over the Executioner's body.
• He inspected the Executioner's attributes and learned that his scythe could drag targets into an execution chamber to torture them.
• Shen Hao discovered his tasks: kill every player in the dungeon and kill the prisoners in the cage.
• After the system announced the players' arrival, Shen Hao decided to ambush the old man who would give them a blessing.

Zhou Xinyu joined Wang Shan, Feng Sen, and Jiang Zhichao in an S-rank dungeon, where they chose to pursue a full clear and went looking for a deity’s dependent whose blessing could strengthen them. When they found his usual spot empty and discovered fresh blood in the street, a corpse suddenly fell from the sky.

• Jiang Zhichao offered to guide Zhou Xinyu through the dungeon, and the group agreed to try to clear it.
• Feng Sen explained that a deity’s dependent could grant them a temporary 50% increase to their base attributes, so the four set out to find him.
• The group reached the old man’s usual location, waited, and searched nearby buildings, but found no sign of him.
• Zhou Xinyu spotted a fresh pool of blood in the street, and Jiang Zhichao wondered if it belonged to the old man.
• Wang Shan warned the others to look out, and a corpse fell from the sky.

Feng Sen and the others found the old man from the dungeon guide dead in the street and suspected a mysterious figure had targeted them. They decided to wait until night to enter the danger zone, but as they made plans, a figure appeared nearby.

• Feng Sen searched the surrounding rooftops, then examined the corpse and identified it as the old man from the guide.
• Feng Sen concluded that someone had killed the old man and thrown his body from a great height after the group arrived.
• Jiang Zhichao, Wang Shan, and Feng Sen decided they could still clear the dungeon by reaching the goddess in the cage, while Zhou Xinyu warned that the mysterious killer made the plan dangerous.
• Feng Sen drew a rough map and the group agreed to wait until night before entering the danger zone, with Zhou Xinyu reluctantly going along.
• A figure appeared on the street, and Feng Sen urged the others to approach it.

Feng Sen and his teammates confronted a powerful man in black, who revealed himself as the dungeon boss and attacked them with his scythe. The boss tore Feng Sen’s soul from his body.

• Feng Sen warned the group that the motionless man in black might be the killer, and Wang Shan charged him.
• Wang Shan’s strongest punch failed to move the man, who grabbed Wang Shan’s arm and nearly crushed it.
• Zhou Xinyu’s nails could not harm the man, while Feng Sen freed Wang Shan with a surprise attack and the team regrouped.
• The group decided to retreat, but the man in black produced a scythe, confirming he was the dungeon boss.
• The boss swung his scythe at Feng Sen and tore his soul from his body.

The Executioner dragged Feng Sen’s soul into the Execution Chamber and tortured him until he passed out, then returned him unharmed to reality. When Feng Sen saw Shen Hao approaching again, his terror drove him to stab himself in the heart.

• The Executioner pulled Feng Sen into the Execution Chamber, where a spiked, snakelike restraint cut into his body.
• The Executioner gouged out Feng Sen’s eye, and Feng Sen passed out before Shen Hao ended the execution.
• Shen Hao returned to reality while the other three survivors fled, and Feng Sen later woke up uninjured.
• Feng Sen saw Shen Hao approaching again, panicked at the thought of enduring the torture once more, and stabbed himself in the heart.