Chapter Summaries

Shen Hao entered the Qingshan Hospital instance and discovered that its Horse-Faced Butcher BOSS was already dead. A system panel revealed that Shen Hao had become a Demon who replaced each instance’s original BOSS, and he began the hunt as the game’s new killer.

• Shen Hao recognized the instance as Qingshan Hospital and wondered why he had started alone in the Horse-Faced Butcher’s basement.
• Shen Hao found the Horse-Faced Butcher’s corpse in the corridor and confirmed its heart had been removed.
• Shen Hao learned that his Demon class let him replace instance BOSSes, inherit their powers, and gain fear points by frightening others.
• Shen Hao put on the Horse-Faced Butcher’s mask, picked up its axe, and prepared to hunt when the system announced the hunt had begun.

Five newcomers entered the Qingshan Hospital instance and agreed to use a guide’s plan to steal and burn the Horse-Faced Butcher’s heart. They began luring the monster out of the hospital’s main building, and the chapter ended as he appeared.

• Chen Shan introduced the team to the Qingshan Hospital mission and reassured them that it was a high-clear-rate newbie benefits instance.
• Chen Shan rejected Yang Yi’s risky plan to mess with the Horse-Faced Butcher and proposed luring him away while others stole his heart.
• Chen Shan assigned himself and Yang Yi to steal the heart while Zhang Yunxi, Xu Xiaonan, and Zhao Zhicheng drew the monster out.
• The five found supplies in a storage room and made torches, then Chen Shan reviewed the plan with the team.
• Zhang Yunxi and Xu Xiaonan raised torches while Zhao Zhicheng struck an iron basin, and the Horse-Faced Butcher emerged from the main building.

Shen Hao used the Horse-Faced Butcher’s torch weakness as a trap, terrifying Zhang Yunxi until she passed out and earning Fear Points. He carried her away and headed to stop the two remaining players from stealing the butcher’s heart.

• Shen Hao slowly approached Zhang Yunxi, Zhao Zhicheng, and Xu Xiaonan while earning Fear Points from their fear.
• Shen Hao pretended to fear their torches, then disarmed them and chased the three players.
• Zhang Yunxi injured her ankle while fleeing, and Shen Hao caught her and frightened her unconscious without killing her.
• Shen Hao gained 100 Fear Points from Zhang Yunxi, reached level 1, and carried her over his shoulder.
• Shen Hao kept the box containing the Horse-Faced Butcher’s heart and set out to confront the two players trying to steal it.

Chen Shan and Yang Yi followed a guide to burn what they believed was the Horse-Faced Butcher’s heart, but the mission did not end and the monster returned. Shen Hao killed both men and Zhang Yunxi through terror, then left to hunt the two survivors still remaining.

• Chen Shan and Yang Yi entered the basement and burned the black object they found in the Horse-Faced Butcher’s room, expecting to complete the instance.
• Chen Shan and Yang Yi heard the Butcher approaching, discovered a burned corpse resembling him beneath the bed, and found Zhang Yunxi hiding behind the door.
• The Horse-Faced Butcher appeared, wounded Yang Yi with his axe, and killed him before killing Chen Shan.
• Shen Hao gained 170 Fear Points from Chen Shan and Yang Yi, while Zhang Yunxi woke to the bloody scene and died from extreme fear, earning Shen Hao another 100 Fear Points.
• Shen Hao reached level 2 with 30/200 experience points and left, noting that two survivors remained.

Xu Xiaonan and Zhao Zhicheng tried to kill the Horse-Faced Butcher by trapping him in a burning storeroom, but he outsmarted them. Zhao Zhicheng died buying Xu Xiaonan time to escape, leaving her alone and pursued.

• Xu Xiaonan and Zhao Zhicheng concluded the others had failed to burn the butcher’s heart and decided to set a fire trap in the storeroom.
• Zhao Zhicheng prepared the flammable room and volunteered to lure the Horse-Faced Butcher inside while Xu Xiaonan waited to ignite the doorway.
• The Horse-Faced Butcher entered the storeroom but stopped short, revealing that he was intelligent and would not fall for their plan.
• The butcher turned toward Xu Xiaonan, who had emerged to help start the fire, and chased her as Zhao Zhicheng shouted for her to run.
• Zhao Zhicheng grabbed the butcher’s legs to delay him, but the butcher killed him with his axe while Xu Xiaonan fled alone.

Shen Hao stalked Xu Xiaonan through the hospital, terrifying her until she broke down and jumped to her death. After completing the mission and earning Fear Points, he returned to the real world.

• Shen Hao followed Xu Xiaonan through the hospital, intending to prolong the hunt and earn more Fear Points.
• Xu Xiaonan barricaded herself in a room and hid beneath a bed, hoping to survive until dawn.
• Shen Hao secretly entered the room and waited above Xu Xiaonan as she slept, then startled her when she noticed the open window.
• Xu Xiaonan saw Shen Hao on the bed, lost hope, and jumped from the window to her death.
• Shen Hao received Fear Points for Xu Xiaonan's fear, despair, breakdown, and suicide, then returned home after the mission ended.

After returning from the Qingshan Hospital instance, Shen Hao inspected his new attributes and abilities, then queued for another instance and studied the players' forum. He found a post describing the hidden Horse-Faced Butcher and the deaths he had caused, and looked forward to more players encountering demons.

• Shen Hao checked his rewards and discovered that he had gained four levels, the [Undying 1] ability, and the Bloodthirsty Axe.
• Shen Hao found that he could barely lift the axe without the Horse-Faced Butcher's attributes, so he returned it to his inventory.
• Shen Hao matched with another instance and decided he would later infiltrate the Paradise Alliance.
• Shen Hao browsed the forum and read a player's account of two bosses in the Qingshan Hospital instance and a return from death.
• Shen Hao recognized the poster as one of the men he had killed in the basement and anticipated that more players would encounter demons.

Shen Hao gained Fear Points from terrified passengers on his bus, then confronted a blood-soaked Ability User who took everyone aboard hostage. After an official attacker struck the man with a needle, Shen Hao survived his counterattack and killed him, gaining more Fear Points as the passengers fled.

• Shen Hao recognized the girl he had terrified in the Paradise dungeon and learned that she attended his school.
• A wounded Ability User boarded the bus, threatened the passengers, and forced the driver to keep moving while Shen Hao collected Fear Points from their fear.
• The man declared everyone on the bus hostage, and Shen Hao reached level 5 as the panic intensified.
• A silver needle pierced the Ability User, who then attacked Shen Hao in a dying attempt to kill a passenger.
• Shen Hao struck the man, survived his blow to the heart, and killed him with an axe before the passengers rushed off the bus.

After Shen Hao killed a dangerous ability user on a bus, he met Paradise Player Alliance member Xia Bing and left without trouble. That evening, he found blood-red handprints covering his home and suspected the dead man’s accomplices had come for revenge.

• Shen Hao’s Immortal Body healed his wound, and he introduced himself to Xu Xiaonan, a fellow Thriller Paradise player.
• Xia Bing identified herself as a member of the Paradise Player Alliance, praised Shen Hao for stopping the attacker, and gave him her contact information.
• Shen Hao and Xu Xiaonan registered with the police, then exchanged phone numbers while talking about school and Thriller Paradise.
• Shen Hao arrived late to morning study without being scolded, relying on his reputation as a well-behaved student.
• Shen Hao returned home that evening and discovered blood-red handprints covering the walls and ceiling, leading him to suspect the bus attacker’s accomplices were seeking revenge.

Shen Hao matched into the C-rank Haunted Town dungeon and obtained a guide from Xia Bing after agreeing to join the Alliance Guild if he survived. The guide revealed that Haunted Town had become unusually safe, leaving Shen Hao worried that its low difficulty would weaken him as the boss.

• Shen Hao learned that his next dungeon was the C-rank Haunted Town and worried because he could not access the Alliance's guides.
• Shen Hao called Xia Bing, who offered him a guide on the condition that he join the Alliance Guild after clearing the dungeon.
• Shen Hao asked Xia Bing about the man he had killed on the bus and the bloody handprints in his home, but she said he would learn more as an Alliance member.
• Xia Bing emailed Shen Hao the guide, and he read about Haunted Town's history and its dollmaker, whose spirit became the dungeon's boss.
• Shen Hao learned Haunted Town had earned the nickname Mercy Town after two years without a death, and he feared another easy dungeon would be bad for him as its boss.

Shen Hao entered Haunted Town as its new boss, gained the ghost’s powers, and began changing the instance to make it more dangerous. Four experienced players arrived, including level-nine Cheng Xu, who was hoping to clear the instance and awaken as an ability user.

• Shen Hao arrived in the burned-out town, met the doll girl, and realized he could control her through transparent threads.
• Shen Hao received the instance boss’s ghostly attributes and the Possession ability, then left with the doll to rearrange the town’s dangers.
• Cheng Xu, Zhang Zhiqiang, Zhao Yuqing, and Jiang Yue appeared in Haunted Town and introduced themselves as experienced players.
• Cheng Xu explained that clearing the instance would let him awaken as an ability user, while Zhao Yuqing warned that their unusually high levels and easy assignment seemed suspicious.

Cheng Xu, Zhang Zhiqiang, Zhao Yuqing, and Jiang Yue began the Haunted Town instance and planned to survive until dawn by staying together at a crossroads. When a doll attacked far more often than the guides described, they realized the instance might have been strengthened.

• Cheng Xu warned the group to follow the instance’s taboos and proposed avoiding the dangerous hidden mission.
• Cheng Xu led the group to set up a camp at an open crossroads, where a doll appeared and then vanished.
• The doll returned in combat form and attacked Cheng Xu, but he dodged its steel nails.
• The doll attacked Jiang Yue twice, cutting her arm during the second attack.
• Cheng Xu and Jiang Yue noticed the doll’s unusually frequent attacks, and Zhao Yuqing suggested that the instance had been strengthened.

Cheng Xu and the others abandoned the guide’s original plan after the doll repeatedly ambushed them, and they tried to trap and burn it instead. The doll escaped with help from its owner, and Cheng Xu concluded that the injured group had only one option left: go to “that place.”

• Cheng Xu, Zhao Yuqing, Jiang Yue, and Zhang Zhiqiang agreed to adapt their plan and gather together materials to trap and burn the doll.
• The group set traps in a wooded area, but Cheng Xu’s Demon Blade missed the doll as it fled into their fishing net.
• After the group trapped the doll, the owner attacked: a blade knocked the Demon Blade away, another cut the net, and water doused Zhao Yuqing’s lighter.
• The doll stabbed Zhang Zhiqiang and escaped, while Cheng Xu and the others realized the instance’s rules had changed and the owner was interfering.
• Cheng Xu said their injuries left them unable to withstand further attacks or kill the doll, so they had to go to “that place.”

Jiang Yue, Cheng Xu, Zhang Zhiqiang, and Zhao Yuqing took refuge in the courtyard to survive Haunted Town until dawn. When the system failed to announce their victory, they discovered the inward-opening gate had taken them to a hidden map and a new mission.

• Cheng Xu led Jiang Yue, Zhang Zhiqiang, and Zhao Yuqing to the courtyard refuge after all four agreed it was their best chance to survive.
• The group entered the courtyard and house, searched for danger, then waited safely as dawn approached.
• After sunrise, the system did not announce that they had cleared the dungeon, and Jiang Yue noticed the courtyard gate now opened inward.
• Zhao Yuqing led the others outside, where they found the town restored and empty of people.
• The system announced that they had entered a hidden map and must explore it and resolve the crisis facing the town's residents.

Shen Hao’s hunt drove four veteran players into the hidden map of Haunted Town, where they searched for survivors and encountered increasingly dangerous dolls. After a resident was killed and dolls surrounded them, Cheng Xu urged the group to fight their way toward the town school.

• Shen Hao gained 70 fear points as Zhang Zhiqiang, Cheng Xu, Zhao Yuqing, and Jiang Yue realized they were trapped in Haunted Town and decided to seek survivors.
• The four searched the deserted town and were attacked by a doll that fled when Cheng Xu drew the Demon Blade.
• A resident emerged from an alley and told them that dozens of survivors remained at the town school, but a spider-legged doll killed him before he could finish explaining.
• More dolls appeared on the rooftops, and Cheng Xu told the others to fight their way out and head for the school.

Cheng Xu, Jiang Yue, Zhao Yuqing, and Zhang Zhiqiang fled a horde of monstrous dolls toward the school, where the dolls could not enter. After Zhang Zhiqiang was killed, the remaining three met the school residents and were told they could speak with the mayor once he was free; soon, they were summoned to see him.

• Jiang Yue used her oil lamp to lead the group toward the school, but it went out before they reached the gates.
• A doll speared Zhang Zhiqiang's leg and dragged him away, then stomped on his forehead, killing him.
• Cheng Xu used the Demon Blade to cut through a doll's arm, disabling it and helping the others reach the school, where the dolls stopped outside.
• The three survivors searched the school and found residents in the administration building, who said the mayor was busy with a dying person.
• The residents took Cheng Xu, Jiang Yue, and Zhao Yuqing to a dormitory to wait, then returned to say the mayor was ready to meet them.

After possessing the injured Zhang Zhiqiang, Shen Hao headed for the school while Cheng Xu, Jiang Yue, and Zhao Yuqing learned how Xu Jing’s ghost had trapped the town. The mayor lured the players into a dark storeroom and shut them in with a crowd of hungry residents, forcing them to flee.

• Zhang Zhiqiang crawled away from the puppets, but one approached and stepped on his hand, making him scream and break the instance’s taboo.
• Shen Hao possessed Zhang Zhiqiang’s body and set off for the school, intending to confront whatever was inside.
• The mayor told Cheng Xu, Jiang Yue, and Zhao Yuqing that Xu Jing had become a malicious ghost after townspeople burned him and his puppets, and that a person living at the school kept the monsters out.
• The mayor led the three players to a boarded-up storeroom, then locked them inside and admitted the residents planned to use them as food.
• Cheng Xu cut through the door with the Demon Blade, but found sixty or seventy armed residents waiting outside, so he and the others fled.

Cheng Xu, Jiang Yue, and Zhao Yuqing escaped the residents and learned that Xu Jing had created the monsters but kept them out of the school. They found Xu Jing unconscious in a locked room, and Zhang Zhiqiang claimed he could wake him.

• Cheng Xu, Jiang Yue, and Zhao Yuqing hid from their pursuers in a classroom and captured two residents, who explained that the mayor wanted to eat outsiders and that Xu Jing kept the monsters from entering the school.
• Cheng Xu killed the two residents after learning Xu Jing's location, and the three headed for the dormitory area.
• Cheng Xu, Jiang Yue, and Zhao Yuqing encountered Zhang Zhiqiang, who had survived his earlier fight and killed two men; he joined them on the way to Xu Jing's room.
• The four killed the guards outside Xu Jing's room, broke through its locks, and found Xu Jing unconscious and badly burned on a bed.
• Zhang Zhiqiang said he had a way to wake Xu Jing.

Zhang Zhiqiang, possessed by the instance boss, killed the vegetative Xu Jing instead of saving him, triggering a fight with the residents and unleashing Xu Jing’s evil side. As darkness fell, Zhao Yuqing revealed the mayor had concealed the truth about the curse, and the residents turned against him.

• Zhang Zhiqiang revealed he had a pill to revive the man, then cut off the man’s head and admitted he was not Zhang Zhiqiang.
• The mayor and the residents accused Cheng Xu, Jiang Yue, and Zhao Yuqing of killing the man, then attacked them inside the house.
• Darkness spread across the sky, making the residents stop fighting and fear what was coming.
• The mayor explained that the dead man was Xu Jing’s benevolent side and that his evil side would now be unrestrained.
• Zhao Yuqing accused the mayor of hiding that Xu Jing’s curse could be lifted by sacrificing the people who had framed him, and the residents surrounded the mayor.

The puppets completed their revenge on the residents, then surrounded Jiang Yue, Cheng Xu, and Zhao Yuqing. The three prepared to fight, but Zhao Yuqing was swiftly struck down by a puppet, leaving their survival uncertain.

• The residents turned on the mayor after learning he had framed Xu Jing, but a puppet impaled him with a drill and crushed his head.
• As night fell, stronger puppets hunted down the residents while Jiang Yue, Cheng Xu, and Zhao Yuqing watched in fear.
• Zhao Yuqing urged the others to fight, and Cheng Xu drew his Demon Blade while she merged a powerful demon’s blood into her body.
• After the residents were killed, the puppets surrounded the three, and Zhao Yuqing charged one of them with her new strength.
• A puppet transformed its arm into a spiked club and knocked Zhao Yuqing down, while another puppet carrying a chainsaw appeared beside her.