Chapter Summaries

Bai Zhi accepted a Jar Merchant’s deal to borrow an Elite Level weapon in exchange for finding a [Mysterious Stone], then left the Station with the [Magic Type] handgun. He arrived in a storm-darkened wilderness for his next Dungeon, alone and unsure where his Teammates were.

• The Jar Merchant offered Bai Zhi an Elite Level weapon if he returned a [Mysterious Stone] within three Dungeons, and warned that the gun would return if he failed or died.
• Bai Zhi concluded that the Jar Merchants and the White-haired Man in Sunglasses were powerful Players from destroyed worlds, then left the supermarket with the [Magic Type].
• One-eyed Player expressed disappointment that Bai Zhi had not been thrown out of the supermarket.
• Bai Zhi considered improving his shooting skills and boarded the train, carrying the [Magic Type] and [Silver Reaper].
• Bai Zhi arrived in a muddy, contaminated wilderness beneath dark storm clouds and found no other living creatures nearby.
• Bai Zhi wondered whether his Teammates were elsewhere and opened the System Interface for information about the Dungeon.

Bai Zhi explored the Domain of Delirium, a dangerous wilderness where Players could rescue survivors, investigate the area, and collect Puzzle Cards. He found a wrecked vehicle containing the remains of a family who had died while fleeing.

• Bai Zhi checked the Dungeon interface and learned its difficulty ranged from B to S, its objectives, and the warnings about monsters and evacuation points.
• Bai Zhi considered why Players had been scattered and reflected on his past encounters with Otherworld Players.
• Bai Zhi set off across the boggy wilderness and began drawing a personal map.
• After trudging through the mud for over half an hour, Bai Zhi discovered a battered off-road vehicle with a figure inside.
• Bai Zhi examined the vehicle and found the dry bones of a father in the driver's seat and a mother embracing their two children in the back.

Bai Zhi repaired an abandoned vehicle and drove through the wilderness, where he found and picked up Xu Lian, a Player he had met before. As they traveled, Xu Lian showed him her Game id and worried that his Teammates were staring at her.

• Bai Zhi inspected the stranded vehicle, burned the four skeletons’ remains, and used Ouyang Xiu to repair the car.
• Bai Zhi changed his wet shoes and drove through the wilderness with a Shadow Guard at the wheel.
• Bai Zhi found Xu Lian by the roadside, offered her a ride, and gave her a quilt to warm up.
• Xu Lian told Bai Zhi she had entered the Dungeon over half an hour earlier and showed him her Game id, [No Yay ▪ Yay!].
• Xu Lian asked Bai Zhi in a whisper whether his Teammates disliked her because they had been staring at her.

Bai Zhi and Xu Lian encountered an apparent Anomaly in the wilderness when Xu Lian saw two figures in the car that vanished after Bai Zhi fired at them. They left the damaged car behind and rode the Plush Cat deeper into the wilderness, where Bai Zhi suspected dangers remained hidden in The Mist.

• Xu Lian said she saw two fierce people in the car’s back seat, but Bai Zhi found it empty and asked where they were.
• Xu Lian warned that the figures were pouncing on Bai Zhi, so he fired a Magic Type bullet behind him and wrecked the rear of the car.
• Bai Zhi found no enemies and learned from Xu Lian that the figures vanished when he fired; she said she had seen them when she opened the passenger-side door.
• Bai Zhi suspected they had been caught in an Anomaly and decided they needed to escape the wilderness quickly.
• Bai Zhi brought out the Plush Cat, and Xu Lian climbed onto its back with him as they set off across the wilderness.
• Bai Zhi watched the overcast sky as they traveled, noting that the rain still had not fallen and that dangers might remain buried in The Mist.

Bai Zhi and Xu Lian rode the Plush Cat across the wilderness, and Bai Zhi asked Xu Lian to look for [Mysterious Stone] during their Dungeon explorations. As night and rain approached, they found a ruined city, and Bai Zhi decided they should enter to search for survivors.

• Bai Zhi told Xu Lian to watch for [Mysterious Stone], which he needed for a mission from the jar Merchant at the S-rank Station.
• Bai Zhi reflected on the Dungeon’s unexplained lack of activity and wondered what had happened to his other Teammates.
• As the sky darkened and rain began, Bai Zhi and Xu Lian discovered a ruined city in the wilderness.
• Xu Lian resisted entering the pitch-black city, but Bai Zhi argued it would be safer than camping outside.
• Bai Zhi said they were entering the city to find survivors, not their other Teammates.

Bai Zhi and Xu Lian took shelter from a violent storm in a ruined building, where Bai Zhi helped warm her and set up a tent so she could change. A lightning flash revealed a disturbing shadow: the figure inside the tent had removed her own head.

• Bai Zhi and Xu Lian entered a ruined building as heavy rain began and took shelter on the seventh floor.
• Xu Lian shivered in her soaked clothes, so Bai Zhi boosted her stats and used the Plush Cat to block the wind and rain.
• Bai Zhi used [Magic Type] and [Ignite] to start a fire while his shadows searched the building.
• Xu Lian pleaded with Bai Zhi to set up a tent so she could change clothes, and he eventually agreed.
• A flash of lightning showed Bai Zhi the shadow of the figure inside the tent removing her head from her neck.

Bai Zhi sheltered Xu Lian from the storm in an abandoned building and tried to make sense of the strange events surrounding her. When white worms crawled from beneath her scarf and burned in the fire, he asked for tofu to eat.

• Xu Lian changed into dry clothes and thanked Bai Zhi for rescuing her from the storm.
• Xu Lian shared her map with Bai Zhi, revealing that she had explored only one route while her map appeared blank.
• Bai Zhi said they would investigate for survivors after the rain stopped and explained that the Safe Evacuation Point refreshed every six hours.
• Bai Zhi wondered whether Xu Lian might already be dead, then saw white worms crawl out from beneath her scarf and fall into the fire.
• Xu Lian guarded her scarf as Bai Zhi calmly asked whether she had any tofu.

Bai Zhi and Xu Lian were attacked by invisible entities that only Xu Lian could see, and their attempt to fight back failed. They were left injured and forced to flee the ruined room.

• Xu Lian shared instant noodles with Bai Zhi and warned him that two figures from the car had followed them.
• Xu Lian saw the figures split into separate body parts and dragged Bai Zhi out of the path of an invisible attack that shattered the campfire and set their tent alight.
• Bai Zhi fired seven enhanced bullets toward the attackers, but none hit, and the remaining half wall collapsed as the storm poured into the room.
• In the darkness, the entities clawed Xu Lian's right hand and disappeared again.
• Bai Zhi examined Xu Lian's severe wound and decided they had to leave for another room.

Bai Zhi deduced that the Anomaly made people’s visions turn into reality, with its effects growing stronger the more they believed in what they saw. He blindfolded the injured Xu Lian and sent her out of the ruined city on Plush Cat, leaving himself behind as the downpour fell.

• Bai Zhi treated Xu Lian’s wounds and explained that the Anomaly affected people who gathered, with weaker people suffering more severely.
• Bai Zhi deduced that the Anomaly distorted sight and gradually made visions real, so he blindfolded Xu Lian to stop her seeing the Monsters.
• Bai Zhi explained that the ruined city likely contained real Monsters as well as those born from people’s fantasies, and that he had other ways to tell them apart.
• Bai Zhi gave Xu Lian a raincoat and told her to ride Plush Cat to the Safe Evacuation Point when its location appeared.
• Bai Zhi sent Xu Lian away from the city on Plush Cat as torrential rain poured down, while he stayed behind.

Bai Zhi reasoned that the Anomaly turned human fantasies into Monsters and that Players may have contained it by isolating the city. When fantasy-born Monsters attacked him, he fought back and escaped a Rocket Launcher strike.

• Bai Zhi extinguished the campfire and watched the rain-soaked city, concluding that the Anomaly could make frightening fantasies real and that any survivors were likely underground or blind.
• Bai Zhi suspected the Players had isolated the city and that a Monster created to devour other Monsters had left it nearly deserted.
• As Monsters drawn by the being from Xu Lian's fantasy approached, Bai Zhi entered the stairwell to test his combat abilities.
• Someone hurled more than a dozen grenades through the entrance, blasting Bai Zhi off the collapsing rooftop, but the [Holy Spirit Pendant] shielded him.
• Bai Zhi fired a barrage of enhanced Bullets into the stairwell, leapt to a nearby rooftop, and shot at the entrance with [Silver Reaper].
• Bai Zhi jumped from the rooftop as a Rocket Launcher round destroyed the place where he had been standing.

Bai Zhi fled a missile strike and a mecha-clad girl who pursued him with a Gatling gun, using stored acceleration Skills to escape. He realized she might be a Player who had willingly become a Monster to protect the city’s surviving residents.

• Bai Zhi escaped a missile explosion by leaping from a house and melding into the shadows.
• Bai Zhi activated two Skills stored in his Acceleration Totem and raced away as gunfire followed him.
• Bai Zhi used God's Perspective to identify his pursuer as a purple-haired girl in mecha armor carrying a Gatling gun.
• Bai Zhi suspected the girl had willingly let herself be transformed into a Monster to protect the city’s survivors.

Bai Zhi escaped the Mechanized Girl, then reunited with Xu Lian as she fled a vast horde of Flayed Monsters. He brought her back into the city to search for survivors while the Mechanized Girl fought the horde, leaving them hidden in a dilapidated building as they waited for the Safe Evacuation Point to appear.

• Bai Zhi escaped the Mechanized Girl, who stopped pursuing him at the city’s edge and returned to the city.
• Xu Lian and the Plush Cat reached Bai Zhi while fleeing thousands of fast-moving Flayed Monsters emerging from the Wilderness.
• The Mechanized Girl began bombarding the Flayed Monsters as they approached the city.
• Bai Zhi covered Xu Lian’s eyes and took her back into the city to search for survivors without attracting the Mechanized Girl.
• Bai Zhi and Xu Lian stopped on the second floor of a dilapidated building while Xu Lian waited for the Safe Evacuation Point to appear.

Bai Zhi and Xu Lian set out to find survivors in the city while avoiding the Mechanized Girl, using Xu Lian’s summoned Mangy Dog to track them. Bai Zhi blindfolded himself and carried Xu Lian as they followed the dog, while Xu Lian privately wondered whether he was interested in her.

• Bai Zhi explained the Orchardist Dungeon to Xu Lian and prepared to search the city for survivors.
• Xu Lian revealed her item-finding Skill and summoned Xiao Pi, whose first search led him to Bai Zhi.
• Bai Zhi suggested searching for blind survivors, and Xu Lian sent Xiao Pi to look for them.
• Bai Zhi put on an eye mask and carried Xu Lian so they could keep up with Xiao Pi.
• Xu Lian speculated that Bai Zhi might be interested in her as they followed Xiao Pi.

Bai Zhi and Xu Lian followed the Mangy Dog to a ruined library, where they met Tian Huo and her brother Tian Kong. After learning that the city had become a Dungeon, Tian Huo rejected the idea that they wanted to leave.

• Bai Zhi carried the injured Xu Lian through the rain as the Mangy Dog led them toward the City Center.
• The Mangy Dog entered a ruined library and was cut down by Tian Kong, who demanded that Bai Zhi and Xu Lian leave.
• Tian Huo stopped Tian Kong and invited Bai Zhi and Xu Lian inside to shelter from the rain.
• Bai Zhi introduced himself and Xu Lian as Players from another world and asked whether Tian Huo could help them rescue survivors.
• Tian Huo recognized the Large-scale Campaign Quest, confirmed the city had become a Dungeon, and asked why they would want to leave.

Bai Zhi questioned Tian Huo about the ruined city and the Domain of Delirium, learning that Puzzle Cards were used to build an Exile Zone for dangerous Anomalies. Tian Huo explained the Zone’s regions and risks while the group prepared to evacuate the survivors.

• Tian Huo explained that 124 survivors, including her Little Brother, lived underground and could leave with Bai Zhi; she asked where the Safe Evacuation Point was.
• Bai Zhi said a Safe Evacuation Point would appear on the map in about three minutes and refresh every six hours, then asked Tian Huo about the Domain of Delirium and Puzzle Cards.
• Tian Huo explained that Puzzle Cards were a specialty of her world and that the Domain of Delirium was an Exile Zone assembled from cards of several ranks to seal dangerous Anomalies.
• Tian Huo described the Exile Zone’s seven regions, including the Core Zone, and said its six Safe Evacuation Points corresponded to regions around the Core Zone.
• Bai Zhi explained that the Plains Terrain was considered relatively safe because its Anomaly could be controlled by closing one’s eyes, then told Xu Lian to stop speaking until she learned the common knowledge.

Bai Zhi questioned Tian Huo about the loss of control over the Domain of Delirium and why she remained behind. Tian Huo revealed that the authorities had sealed the place while abandoning those inside, and she angrily rejected the justification that sacrificing a few would save many.

• Tian Huo explained that the Domain of Delirium had been assembled with Puzzle Cards to contain anomalies, and named its seven zones.
• Bai Zhi asked Tian Huo why she would not leave and whether she had turned the Purple Haired Girl into an anomaly.
• Tian Huo admitted that she was the Purple Haired Girl's Disciple and had been the one to twist her into her current state.
• Bai Zhi asked whether the Domain of Delirium had slipped out of its creators' control, and Tian Huo confirmed it had.
• Tian Huo said the authorities had sealed the Domain and abandoned its survivors, then angrily rejected the idea that their sacrifice was justified for the greater good.

Tian Huo explained how the [Domain of Delirium] fell into crisis and how her Master sacrificed herself to save a city’s inhabitants. She left Bai Zhi with the story of how her Master became an inhuman creature, while Tian Kong was sent away to prepare for evacuation.

• Tian Kong accused Tian Huo’s Master of forcing his sister to suffer for her sense of justice, and Tian Huo ordered him to prepare everyone for evacuation.
• Tian Huo explained that the [Domain of Delirium] went out of control after an unknown incident in [Death Space], forcing its regions to be sealed to prevent Anomalies from entering the world.
• Tian Huo told Bai Zhi that the abandoned city had been brought into the [Domain of Delirium] for processing after an Anomaly outbreak, which she had visited with her Master and two other Patrol Envoys.
• The Patrol Envoys identified the city’s Anomaly rules and saved many residents, but the outbreak made evacuation impossible without a sacrifice.
• Tian Huo’s Master Devoured the Curse Origin and had Tian Huo mutate her, saving hundreds of thousands of people while the other Patrol Envoys returned with the credit.

Bai Zhi deduced that the other Patrol Envoys had framed Tian Huo and might still be trying to silence the survivors in the Domain of Delirium. Tian Huo admitted she could not defeat them and threatened to kill herself rather than let them control her fate.

• Tian Huo explained that her Master’s faction had been left behind during the evacuation because it had the fewest political and business connections.
• Tian Huo said the other Patrol Envoys had blamed her for her Master’s death and tried to seize the Research Achievements entrusted to her.
• Bai Zhi deduced that the other Patrol Envoys had arranged for Tian Huo’s Master to sacrifice herself, then framed Tian Huo and tried to eliminate the witnesses.
• Bai Zhi warned that the Patrol Envoys might still target the survivors in the Domain of Delirium to prevent them from returning to the Real World.
• Tian Huo admitted she could not defeat the Patrol Envoys and said she would kill herself rather than let them decide her fate.

Bai Zhi learned that Tian Huo hoped to save her Master by removing and destroying the Curse Origin, then tested whether the Pitch Black Rubik's Cube was the same object. The cube caused a dangerous reaction in Tian Huo, while [Seeing First Frost] continued riding toward the city.

• Bai Zhi deduced that Tian Huo's Master had left her a valuable inheritance and that Tian Huo had considered dying to keep it from her enemies.
• Bai Zhi told Tian Huo that the Safe Refuge had opened elsewhere and that [Seeing First Frost] was expected to reach the city in about half an hour.
• Tian Huo identified [Seeing First Frost] as a dangerous Player with a Perfect Level summon called [Earth Horse] and said she would hold him off while the others escaped.
• Tian Huo explained that her Master had become a source of Anomalies after fusing with the Curse Origin, and that she needed to remove and destroy it to revive her.
• Bai Zhi showed Tian Huo the Pitch Black Rubik's Cube, and it caused blisters to rise under her skin before the reaction subsided.

Bai Zhi searched the Wilderness for a Safe Evacuation Point and went to meet the second Player, Marionette▪Withered Heart. He found her struggling to manage her Wooden Puppets, then introduced himself and proposed a deal.

• Bai Zhi sent a Shadow Guard to follow a flashy Player on a White Horse and rode the Plush Cat toward the other Player's location.
• Marionette▪Withered Heart arrived in the rainy Wilderness and summoned Fire Puppet and Water Puppet to help her make camp.
• Fire Puppet accidentally burned itself while trying to keep Marionette▪Withered Heart warm, prompting her to scold it over the repair costs.
• Bai Zhi approached Marionette▪Withered Heart on the Plush Cat and said he wanted to discuss a deal.
• Marionette▪Withered Heart showed her identity card after recognizing Bai Zhi as handsome.