Chapter Summaries

Bai Zhi investigated the hotel’s mutations and learned that Li Changyu and Big Sister's Panties had arrived much earlier than expected. Li Changyu secretly warned him not to open the door that night, leaving Bai Zhi wary as two more Players approached through the rain.

• Bai Zhi warned the Girl to avoid the hotel’s food and water, then took Compressed Biscuits downstairs with her.
• Bai Zhi found Li Changyu in the lobby while the Girl walked alone into the rain.
• Li Changyu said Big Sister's Panties had checked in before him and that they had both already eaten takeout.
• Li Changyu offered Bai Zhi a cigarette, then left a hidden message warning him to watch out for Panties and not open the door that night.
• Bai Zhi considered the Players’ strange conditions and saw two figures approaching the hotel through the rain.

Bai Zhi discovered a quest tied to the polluted Noah’s Ark while the rain-soaked Players gathered at the hotel. Music from the Girl and a violent commotion next door left him investigating Room 8601, where he found an unknown young man badly wounded and unconscious.

• Chang Xi and Yan Yue arrived at the hotel soaked, and Yan Yue borrowed Bai Zhi’s bathroom.
• Bai Zhi found the words [Noah's Ark] in the Hotel Guide, triggering the optional quest World's Request to find and remove the hotel’s final core.
• Bai Zhi considered whether the front desk manager was the world’s chosen initiator and resolved to test him when he had a chance.
• Bai Zhi heard music from the Girl and realized she might be alerting West Pavilion Gardener and the others trapped in the Closed Loop, despite the danger of exposing them.
• A howl and crashing sounds came from Room 8601, followed by silence and a bloodied Room Card appearing in the hallway.
• Bai Zhi used the Room Card to enter Room 8601 and found an unfamiliar young man hanging in midair, one arm severed and himself unconscious from blood loss.

Bai Zhi and the others discovered that the injured young man was Big Sister's Panties, a Player who had entered the Dungeon hoping to earn Points alongside the S-rank Players. After he woke, his regretful account left Bai Zhi still wondering whether he or Protagonist Aura was the real source of the trouble.

• Bai Zhi explained that Old Otaku, rather than Protagonist Aura, had caused the earlier trouble, and Fireworks of Romance and Chang Xi gathered to help wake him.
• Chang Xi's attempt to splash cold water was interrupted when Fireworks of Romance's hand jerked, spilling the water; the young man woke briefly before a washbasin knocked him unconscious again.
• Bai Zhi found more than a dozen eyes beneath the young man's shirt, while he and Chang Xi compared him to a many-eyed monster.
• The young man woke again and lamented that he had entered the Dungeon to mooch Points, revealing that he was Big Sister's Panties and held the Elite Level Title Protagonist Aura.

Bai Zhi questioned Panties about his injuries and the apparent death of Old Otaku, then searched Room 8601 for clues. He found evidence that Panties may have been contaminated through food, but the trash can began shaking as Bai Zhi left.

• Panties told Bai Zhi that Old Otaku had died in the Closed Loop World and returned as an Undead Living Corpse, while injuries from that world remained in the Real World.
• Panties explained that he had lost his left shoulder and grown eyes across his body, but could not remember how his arm had been taken.
• Girl returned to the room soaked, and Bai Zhi left to investigate Room 8601 after Fireworks of Romance declined to go with him.
• Bai Zhi found a bloodstained axe, murky mineral water, and a takeout bag in Room 8601, but did not find Panties's severed hand.
• As Bai Zhi shut the door to leave, the trash can in Room 8601 began to tremble.

Bai Zhi and the other Players analyzed the contaminated world, concluding that ordinary people’s minds lived in the True Dream World while their bodies moved through a mutated reality. They decided to proceed cautiously, with three days to survive, while Panties faced a four-day requirement.

• Girl told Bai Zhi that the outside world was deteriorating and the hotel was temporarily safe.
• Bai Zhi suspected Panties and Old Otaku had been assimilated, and pointed out that Old Otaku could not know the True Dream World was a Closed Loop if Li Changyu had never spoken to him.
• Bai Zhi theorized that ordinary people experienced a normal world in the True Dream World while their bodies were unconsciously controlled in the contaminated Real World.
• Bai Zhi said the Players’ physical mutations and declining Sanity Value reflected the world’s slow destruction, though the group had no way to prevent further mutations yet.
• Bai Zhi noted that his group had to survive three days, while Panties had said he needed to survive four days.

Bai Zhi and the other Players watched the city collapse into chaos as its inhabitants lost consciousness, then prepared the hotel for a possible power failure. The chapter ended when West Pavilion Gardener reported finding Li Changyu in extremely bad condition.

• The Five Players stayed together overnight and took turns keeping watch while monitoring Panties.
• West Pavilion Gardener, Li Tong, and OriginDeficit arrived and reported that people across the city were collapsing, causing widespread crashes, fires, and destruction.
• Bai Zhi concluded that the world was nearing ruin and sent the others to gather supplies while warning them to watch out for [Gelina].
• The city fell quiet beneath heavy rain, and Bai Zhi's group prepared for a power outage and broke through a wall to reorganize the hotel rooms.
• Bai Zhi found the hotel manager collapsed, and West Pavilion Gardener and OriginDeficit later told him they had found Li Changyu in extremely bad condition.

Bai Zhi questioned Li Changyu, who had been reduced to a talking head, about his injuries and missing memories, but his account and Panties’s could not be reconciled. The Players locked both men up to prevent either from causing further trouble, while Gelina remained missing.

• Bai Zhi found Li Changyu displayed as merchandise with only his head remaining and asked what had happened to him.
• Li Changyu said an unknown person injected him after he nearly died, and that he sometimes lost control of his body and memory.
• OriginDeficit recounted that Li Changyu had lost control before going upstairs, then later woke up as a head; Li Changyu and Panties each denied knowing what had happened.
• Bai Zhi brought the Players together in Rooms 8602 and 8603 for a confrontation between Li Changyu and Panties.
• After neither man provided decisive evidence, Bai Zhi and the other Players bound Panties to a table and locked Li Changyu inside a glass case.

Bai Zhi and the other Players argued over who should claim the [Dim Ark Heart] from the temporary emergency quest while keeping watch in the hotel. Bai Zhi proposed taking the reward himself, but a polite knock at the door interrupted them.

• Bai Zhi and OriginDeficit returned to the eighth floor, where the Players had secured the room and lit a campfire against the worsening storm.
• West Pavilion Gardener proposed that the Players agree not to seize the quest reward from whoever completed the quest, while Li Tong and Li Changyu insisted that Gelina should not be allowed to claim it.
• West Pavilion Gardener offered to buy the [Dim Ark Heart] for the Blood Cross Society, and Li Tong countered with an offer from the Relevant Department while accusing the Blood Cross Society of harming Binhai City.
• Chang Xi and Fireworks of Romance joked about how humans argued in a dangerous situation, as Bai Zhi tried to stop West Pavilion Gardener and Li Tong from fighting over the reward.
• Bai Zhi said he would complete the quest first and take the [Dim Ark Heart] himself, and a polite knock sounded at the door.

Bai Zhi and the others prepared for an unknown visitor after a knock sounded at their door, and OriginDeficit attacked it with controlled rubble. They found a bloodied severed hand beneath the debris, while the nature of the threat remained unclear.

• Chang Xi offered to look through the peephole, but OriginDeficit warned that doing so could be fatal.
• Bai Zhi explained that the group had likely been exposed and that the entire world had become their enemy.
• OriginDeficit used Spiritual Energy tethers to hurl rubble from Room 8601 at the visitor, but the tethers vanished on contact and the knocking stopped.
• Bai Zhi and the others went into the hallway, where they found blood and a pile of rubble outside Room 8603.
• OriginDeficit lifted the remaining rubble and revealed a severed hand smashed into a bloody pulp.

Bai Zhi and the others encountered living severed hands that could Devour Spiritual Energy and captured one for study. As they considered how the creatures might multiply and overwhelm them, Bai Zhi warned that their Survival Quest had only just passed its halfway point.

• OriginDeficit crushed a crawling severed hand beneath falling stones after the group discovered it could move.
• West Pavilion Gardener spotted more than a dozen Severed Hands rushing through the corridor, and the group defeated them.
• Bai Zhi trapped a surviving hand in a fish tank and transferred it with [Puzzle Card ▪ Swap], consuming far more Spiritual Energy than expected.
• Li Tong and Chang Xi wondered whether Li Changyu’s missing body might have become a more powerful creature with its own followers.
• West Pavilion Gardener warned that countless living body parts could drain the Players’ Spiritual Energy, but Bai Zhi pointed out that only a day and a half of their three-day Survival Quest had passed.

Bai Zhi and the other Players tested a parasitic hand and learned that the creatures devoured Spiritual Energy, evolved, and easily destroyed Protective Shields. They waited through the night as their defenses failed, and dawn brought another Player's mutation.

• Bai Zhi ordered the Players to test the hand and search the room while keeping the bound Panties isolated.
• Bai Zhi, West Pavilion Gardener, Li Tong, and Chang Xi found that the hand was fragile but rapidly consumed Spiritual Energy and grew stronger by absorbing it.
• Fireworks of Romance discovered hundreds of eyes crowding the window, and Bai Zhi ordered the Players to stay inside until dawn.
• Bai Zhi sent out Shadow Guards and a Shadow Puppet to explore, but the creatures killed them quickly despite his attempts to protect the Puppet.
• At dawn, another Player's body underwent a mutation.

Fireworks of Romance discovered a face growing on her forehead, and the group realized physical mutations could drain or stop the recovery of Spiritual Energy. Bai Zhi traced her mutation to a small wound from a washbasin, leaving the group concerned that injuries might trigger further changes.

• Fireworks of Romance noticed a tiny human face forming on her forehead in the mirror.
• Bai Zhi and the others examined her and found that her attributes were normal, but using a Skill did not restore the Spiritual Energy it consumed.
• West Pavilion Gardener and Bai Zhi concluded that physical mutations could drain Spiritual Energy and might prevent it from recovering.
• Chang Xi asked why only Fireworks of Romance had mutated, and Bai Zhi suggested that injuries were the common factor behind the mutations.
• Fireworks of Romance remembered that a burr on a washbasin had pricked her finger, and she realized that the minor wound had triggered her mutation.

Bai Zhi learned that the extra limbs infecting the Players were part of a dangerous Curse and agreed to let World's End Singer use [Sound of Life] to put the hotel's smaller Monsters to sleep. After the song ended, she discovered that it had no effect on Bai Zhi, and Chang Xi began waking first among the others.

• Bai Zhi concluded that wounds sustained after escaping the Closed Loop had let a Curse take root, causing the Players to grow extra limbs that could Devour Spiritual Energy and hinder its recovery.
• World's End Singer offered to put the smaller living Monsters to sleep with [Sound of Life], and Bai Zhi asked her to cover the hotel.
• World's End Singer played her Red Guitar, lulling everyone except Bai Zhi into sleep while Bai Zhi sent Shadow Guards and a newly created Shadow Puppet to search the hotel.
• World's End Singer told Bai Zhi that [Sound of Life] affected every living being, then paused as Chang Xi began to wake.

After the Sound of Life transformed the hotel and the outside world into a chaos of living organs, Bai Zhi organized the awakened Players to clear the hotel and search for Gelina. While inspecting the street, he saw a monster made of limbs and explained that it was riding a bus.

• The Sound of Life ended, leaving organ creatures throughout the world dormant, and the Players woke restored to full condition.
• Bai Zhi assigned Fireworks of Romance and Chang Xi to guard the room while he and World's End Singer teamed up with West Pavilion Gardener, Li Tong, and OriginDeficit to clear the hotel.
• Bai Zhi's team cleared floors and gathered supplies while avoiding noise that could attract the variants outside.
• On the ninth floor, Bai Zhi spotted a creature assembled from limbs on the street and told World's End Singer it was riding a bus.

Bai Zhi and the others finished searching the hotel but found no trace of Gelina, and the West Pavilion Gardener feared she had disassembled herself to hide among the Organ Variants. Gelina revealed herself indirectly, promised to return for the West Pavilion Gardener, and triggered an explosion in the next room.

• Bai Zhi and the others finished clearing the hotel without casualties but found only signs that Gelina had escaped or was hiding.
• The West Pavilion Gardener warned Li Tong and OriginDeficit that Gelina might have deliberately disassembled herself into small Organ Variants.
• Gelina's voice suddenly came from an unknown location, and OriginDeficit and Li Tong moved into defensive positions.
• The West Pavilion Gardener ordered Gelina to come out and settle things between them.
• Gelina said she would return to capture the West Pavilion Gardener's heart and snapped her fingers, causing an explosion in the room piled with Organ Variants.

Bai Zhi deduced that Gelina had the Ark Heart and was monitoring the group, while the hotel’s hidden Manager was already dead. The chapter ended as a phone rang, apparently confirming that Gelina had heard their conversation.

• Bai Zhi discussed how Gelina could control the Organ Variants while remaining hidden, and proposed that luck rather than mysterious power explained her advantage.
• Bai Zhi theorized that the hotel Manager had injected Li Changyu and was the world’s Savior, but that Gelina had killed him and taken the Ark Heart.
• Bai Zhi suggested that Gelina’s apparent ability to split into many bodies was a performance using recordings or loudspeakers, and that she had been hiding nearby.
• Bai Zhi concluded that Gelina could monitor the group through the Ark Heart and said she should call; the phone rang before he finished.

Gelina taunted West Pavilion Gardener over the Ark Heart and escaped before Bai Zhi’s Shadow Guard could find her. As the Players waited together, a seemingly trivial question from Fireworks of Romance began a series of terrifying aberrations.

• Gelina called West Pavilion Gardener, demanded the Ark Heart in exchange for grotesque conditions, and hinted that she held information about who would return safely.
• Gelina ended the call when she sensed Bai Zhi’s shadows approaching and fled again.
• Bai Zhi explained that Gelina possessed the Ark Heart, while West Pavilion Gardener revealed that he had once saved her.
• The Players passed the time in the room as Bai Zhi ate the system-provided Compressed Biscuits and drank Mineral Water.
• Fireworks of Romance wondered who had taken her chicken leg, beginning a series of terrifying aberrations.

As Bai Zhi searched the hotel for Gelina, Li Changyu and Li Tong vanished from the room one after another. Bai Zhi realized the disappearances might be caused by a new anomaly and found that the Girl had also disappeared.

• Fireworks of Romance ate to cope with the face growing on her forehead while Bai Zhi searched the hotel for Gelina.
• Bai Zhi discovered that Li Changyu's head had vanished from the Quarantine Zone.
• West Pavilion Gardener suspected Gelina had taken Li Changyu's head, but Bai Zhi questioned her motive.
• Li Tong disappeared from the bed when no one was watching him.
• West Pavilion Gardener suspected a new anomaly made people disappear when they were unobserved, and Bai Zhi found the Girl gone from the corner.

Bai Zhi used a distracting explanation about a guitar to get the others moving, then shot two tables that concealed the missing people. The gunfire revealed Li Changyu’s mangled head and exposed the hidden source of the disappearances.

• Bai Zhi argued that the disappearances were not caused by people failing to watch one another, then teased the group with an irrelevant reference to Menelaus Theorem.
• West Pavilion Gardener, Fireworks of Romance, and OriginDeficit pressed Bai Zhi to explain his deduction about the guitar.
• Fireworks of Romance pulled Chang Xi from the bed, and OriginDeficit stood up to inspect the guitar.
• Black&White drew a handgun and shot the tables beside Fireworks of Romance and in the Quarantine Zone.
• The gunfire shattered the tables, spilling food and chicken bones from one and revealing Li Changyu’s bloodied head by Panties’s feet.

Bai Zhi deduced that the desks and Beds had come alive and swallowed Li Tong and World's End Singer, then explained Noah's Ark and its connection to World Consciousness. After the group tried to protect themselves from other objects, the Infirmary restored Li Changyu, who woke demanding that OriginDeficit take a Figurine from his Inventory.

• Bai Zhi inspected the destroyed desks and Beds, found Li Tong's blood and clothing, and concluded that Li Tong and World's End Singer had been swallowed into Noah's Ark.
• Bai Zhi asked West Pavilion Gardener whether Noah's Ark had consciousness, and West Pavilion Gardener explained that most worlds had World Consciousness, also known as the Heavenly Dao.
• Bai Zhi admitted he had lied about finding a guide on the Guitar and said he had inferred the desks were alive because a chicken drumstick had vanished from one.
• Bai Zhi told OriginDeficit to put Li Changyu's badly injured head in the Suitcase and bring him back, while West Pavilion Gardener changed clothes and Panties struggled against a biting chair.
• The Suitcase restored Li Changyu's head, and he woke up asking OriginDeficit to take a Figurine out of his Inventory.