Chapter Summaries

Bai Zhi worried that the Doll Princess’s growing power would soon make Anna a dangerous source of contamination, and he planned to find a way to address it. Before leaving, he asked Qingyi to watch over Anna and promised to take her out after he returned.

• Bai Zhi bought breakfast for seven to avoid eating Dead Zero’s cooking and to make sure Tian Huo had enough food.
• Bai Zhi recalled Tian Huo’s disastrous shopping and cooking, Qingyi’s infamous cooking, and Anna’s doll-related pranks.
• Bai Zhi concluded that the sleeping Doll Princess’s power was growing and that Anna might become a massive contamination source within months.
• Dead Zero arrived and was disappointed that Bai Zhi had already bought breakfast instead of letting her make noodles.
• Bai Zhi asked Qingyi to keep an eye on Anna, then promised to take her out and repay her with a Ragdoll.

Dead Zero explained the rules governing controlled Games and the privileges granted to Players as she took Bai Zhi to the Relevant Department’s base in Xinglong Center Mall. There, she began explaining that Inheritors carried the will of Players who had died before them.

• Dead Zero told Bai Zhi that clearing a Game granted control over it and that Games provided valuable resources and equipment.
• Dead Zero gave Bai Zhi the new laws for Players, explaining that Players received leniency and assistance when they acted against people with criminal records.
• Dead Zero took Bai Zhi to the Relevant Department’s trading center inside Xinglong Center Mall and explained its secured upper floors.
• Dead Zero told Bai Zhi that Zhuge Yun arranged the formations protecting the floors and confirmed that he was an Inheritor.
• Dead Zero explained that Inheritors inherited the will of Players who had died before them.

Bai Zhi learned from Dead Zero that the Inner World had once been the Heavenly Court and that the Underworld preserved inheritances from powerful Players. Dead Zero revealed that her sheathed blade, Night Blade, was an Epic weapon chosen from the Underworld, and said Bai Zhi could seek an Inheritance Weapon there if he passed his Qualification Review.

• Bai Zhi questioned Dead Zero about whether the Underworld, Heavenly Court, and Western Heaven existed, and she explained that the world's ancient divine realms had been severely damaged.
• Dead Zero confirmed that the Inner World had once been the Heavenly Court and explained that the Eighteen Levels of Hell were independent of the Underworld, created by Eastern and Western Gods to imprison Anomalies.
• Dead Zero said that Hell's deepest levels held the most terrifying Anomalies, including Evil Gods in Avici Hell, but admitted she did not know what enemy had ended the Mythological Era.
• Dead Zero drew Night Blade from the Void and explained that it was a sealed Epic weapon and one of many inheritances kept in the Underworld.
• Dead Zero told Bai Zhi that, if he passed his Qualification Review, he could visit the Underworld and choose an Inheritance Weapon of his own.

Dead Zero brought Bai Zhi to the Relevant Department’s base for a qualification review ahead of the Underworld opening. She revealed she was Level 24 and urged him to aim for first place in the Points Ranking because its Unique Title reward was connected to Divinity.

• Dead Zero explained that the Underworld would open in half a month and warned Bai Zhi about the high death toll among players who entered.
• Bai Zhi learned that independent player organizations could cooperate with the Relevant Department and that their representatives would attend the gathering.
• Zhuge Yun appeared in the elevator and introduced himself as Xiao He’s rumored boyfriend; Dead Zero cut down his avatar and explained that he had set up an isolation formation.
• Dead Zero led Bai Zhi to the base’s qualification review area and showed him her Level 24 Player Information and Sudden Death Immortal title.
• Dead Zero advised Bai Zhi to claim first place in the Points Ranking because its Unique Title reward was related to Divinity.

Dead Zero led Bai Zhi through Binhai City's central base toward the Qualification Review, but they sensed an Anomaly in the Archives Room. Bai Zhi deciphered a warning from two injured Clerks and looked at the computer screen, where his face appeared in the glow.

• Dead Zero explained that the base monitored Binhai City and led Bai Zhi to the Qualification Review on the twenty-ninth floor.
• Dead Zero and Bai Zhi entered the Archives Room and sensed that something was wrong with two Clerks typing at their computers.
• Bai Zhi played his Suona, but the Clerks kept typing, and Dead Zero said the floor's overseer should have noticed the Anomaly and summoned help.
• Bai Zhi stopped Dead Zero from investigating and approached the Clerks, discovering that their hands were mangled as they continued typing.
• Bai Zhi deciphered the Clerks' message warning him not to look at the screen, then looked at the computer and saw his reflection.

Bai Zhi and Dead Zero investigated the Archives Room, where two Clerks transformed into cockroaches after the computers crashed. A call brought a warning that something had escaped from a sealed research institute, but the message cut off before revealing what could stop it.

• Bai Zhi saw the two Clerks' inhuman faces as they collapsed and released a swarm of cockroaches, then froze two other threats with Ice Bombs.
• Bai Zhi and Dead Zero left to find Zhuge Yun, who had not arrived, and Bai Zhi took Dead Zero's phone to contact someone.
• Bai Zhi discovered his own number was saved in Dead Zero's contacts as boyfriend, then called the contact labeled Emotional Guidance.
• A Doctor's recorded message claimed that Zhuge Yun had sealed the research institute after something escaped and warned that it could destroy the world.
• The phone began smoking and exploded before the Doctor could reveal what could restrain the escaped thing, and Bai Zhi asked Dead Zero if he had to pay for the phone.

Bai Zhi deduced that he and Dead Zero had entered the Game controlled by Zhuge Yun, disguised as a research institute in crisis. They concluded that an escaped Meme was the threat they needed to contain and set out to clear the Game.

• After a phone exploded and a corpse changed bizarrely, Bai Zhi and Dead Zero considered whether the emergency was a tasteless prank.
• Bai Zhi asked Dead Zero whether she had played the Game before and learned she had killed Zhuge Yun more than a hundred times.
• Bai Zhi deduced that Zhuge Yun had pulled them into the Game after Dead Zero killed him near the elevator, altering its setting and characters to hide it.
• Dead Zero explained that they could leave the Game by dying or clearing it, and that detailed walkthroughs were kept in the Archives Room.
• Bai Zhi outlined the research institute's crisis and suspected that the escaped threat was a dangerous Meme capable of destroying the world.

Bai Zhi and Dead Zero escaped the Out of Control Research Institute Game by destroying the facility instead of following its cure-and-containment route. They returned to the elevator, where Zhuge Yun faced Dead Zero’s sword and threatened to beat up Bai Zhi.

• Dead Zero asked whether Bai Zhi had been infected by the screen-borne Meme, and Bai Zhi proposed blowing up the research institute to clear the Game quickly.
• Bai Zhi explained that the Meme spread through screens, causing hallucinations and bodily destruction, while he and Dead Zero passed more than a hundred infected people.
• Bai Zhi and Dead Zero triggered a series of explosions that destroyed the research institute and completed the Game in 32 minutes with a C evaluation.
• Bai Zhi and Dead Zero reappeared in the elevator, where Zhuge Yun began congratulating them.
• Dead Zero reached for her sword, and Zhuge Yun threatened to beat up Bai Zhi if she slashed at him again.

Zhuge Yun explained that he had arranged Bai Zhi and Xiaoqiu’s game entry to help bring them together, then admitted someone had asked him to target Bai Zhi. The man behind that request confronted Bai Zhi and demanded he cut ties with Xiaoqiu, leaving the two on the brink of a fight.

• Zhuge Yun told Bai Zhi about his long history with Xiaoqiu and said he had helped approve Bai Zhi’s Night Watchers applications.
• Zhuge Yun admitted he had put Bai Zhi and Xiaoqiu into Out of Control Research Institute together at its lowest difficulty to give them time alone.
• Zhuge Yun said someone else had asked him to target Bai Zhi, and a muscular man entered and claimed responsibility.
• The muscular man demanded Bai Zhi leave Xiaoqiu, but Bai Zhi named an enormous price and refused to back down.
• The muscular man challenged Bai Zhi to a real fight and swung a punch at him as Bai Zhi lounged on the sofa.

Bai Zhi fought Platinum Star in Zhuge Yun’s office after Platinum Star demanded that he leave Xiaoqiu alone. Dead Zero arrived and revealed that Platinum Star was her father, leaving Bai Zhi stunned.

• Platinum Star attacked Bai Zhi and challenged him to survive three minutes using any means while Platinum Star fought only with his fists.
• Zhuge Yun went to Dead Zero for help, warning that his office was being wrecked and claiming Bai Zhi’s life was in danger.
• Bai Zhi used his Handgun, Puzzle Card, and God's Perspective to keep Platinum Star at a distance and badly scorch and freeze him.
• Dead Zero arrived to find Bai Zhi calmly drinking tea while Platinum Star stood battered in the ruined office.
• Dead Zero confronted Platinum Star and called him her father, leaving Bai Zhi shocked.

Bai Zhi completed his registration and obtained information and resources from the Relevant Department, though his visit ended with an awkward confrontation with Dead Zero’s father. As Bai Zhi and Dead Zero left, they discussed cooperation with Otherworld Players and Zhuge Yun’s role in bringing her father to the office.

• Dead Zero’s father arrived at the wrecked office, fought Bai Zhi, and left after Zhuge Yun questioned how badly he had been beaten.
• Dead Zero confirmed that the departing man was her father, apologized to Bai Zhi, and said she would handle things with him herself.
• Bai Zhi reflected that his visit had secured classified information, books, and a way to make up for Intelligence needed for his Skill.
• Bai Zhi and Dead Zero encountered March-shi and Between Heaven and Earth's Mountains and Seas being escorted toward the Reception Hall.
• Dead Zero explained that the sibling pair sought survival resources for their famine-stricken world, and Bai Zhi questioned the dangers of using Campaign Quests to communicate between worlds.
• Zhuge Yun defended his part in bringing Dead Zero’s father to the office and insisted that he had no romantic intentions toward her.

Zhuge Yun explained why the Inner World had concealed Anomalies and Players, then asked Bai Zhi to sell the [Dim Ark Heart] to the Relevant Department. Bai Zhi demanded to know what it was for, and Zhuge Yun began explaining its connection to a Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land.

• Zhuge Yun complained about his lack of control over his love life, then claimed he had helped Bai Zhi and Dead Zero by arranging private time and alerting the others.
• Zhuge Yun and Dead Zero explained that Inheritor selection in the [Underworld] was dangerous and that Dead Zero's father had failed his trial.
• Zhuge Yun told Bai Zhi that the Inner World had kept Anomalies and Players secret, but the truth would likely become public within months as countries prepared for Large-scale Campaign Quests.
• Zhuge Yun asked Bai Zhi to sell the [Dim Ark Heart] to the Relevant Department, offering two pieces of Epic Level equipment or items.
• Bai Zhi refused to discuss a deal without learning what the [Dim Ark Heart] could do and demanded compensation for the dangerous Game and wasted time.
• Zhuge Yun conceded and asked Bai Zhi whether he knew the term 'Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land.'

Bai Zhi learned that Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands had become monster-filled Purgatories, and Zhuge Yun wanted the Ark Heart to help protect large-scale shelters from Anomalies. Bai Zhi refused to give it up, and Zhuge Yun explained that the world’s situation remained extremely grim.

• Bai Zhi asked Zhuge Yun whether the Ark Heart could create a Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land and ward off Anomalies.
• Zhuge Yun explained that most Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands had been overrun by monsters, including the one whose entrance was suppressed at the Orphanage.
• Dead Zero confirmed that the dangers inside those places were why her father had once hurriedly carried away a Train.
• Zhuge Yun said he wanted the Ark Heart as the core of a formation to protect shelters planned to hold tens of millions of people.
• Bai Zhi refused to sell the Ark Heart because he had other uses for it, and Zhuge Yun accepted his decision.
• Zhuge Yun said the surviving Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands had been lost, leaving only the dangerous [Eighteen Levels of Hell] relatively intact.

Bai Zhi learned that Dead Zero’s father had been affected by Spiritual Energy contamination from repeatedly entering the Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land, then took Dead Zero back to the Seaview Villa. He planned a shopping trip with Qingyi, Anna, Dead Zero, and Xia Wen, leaving them to get ready.

• Bai Zhi and Dead Zero left the mall, and she apologized for her father’s behavior.
• Dead Zero explained that her father had become excessively protective after repeated exposure to Spiritual Energy contamination inside the Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land.
• Bai Zhi took Dead Zero to KFC for lunch, where she ordered several deluxe kids’ meals.
• Bai Zhi and Dead Zero returned to the Seaview Villa, and Qingyi and Anna went upstairs to change for the promised outing.
• Bai Zhi invited Xia Wen shopping, and she agreed after learning he would cover the expenses.
• Bai Zhi told Xia Wen to change before the group headed out.

Bai Zhi used a flawed Attribute Potion to learn [Clock] and tested how the Skill manipulated time. He and Anna and Qingyi prepared for a shopping trip in extravagant outfits, while Xia Wen and Dead Zero followed along.

• Bai Zhi sold his ten Achievement Points to Zhuge Yun for 1,000 Game Coins and examined the three flawed potions he had received.
• Bai Zhi used the Attribute Potion to raise his Intelligence to 20 and lower his Constitution by one, meeting the requirement to learn [Clock].
• Bai Zhi tested [Clock], discovering that its fixed Time Zone occupied one cubic meter and that slowing time cost Spiritual Energy.
• Anna and Qingyi dressed up for the outing, so Bai Zhi changed into a new outfit and switched his Title to [Prince].
• Xia Wen complained to Dead Zero that she felt like a Maid beside the elaborately dressed trio, and Dead Zero suggested they leave.

Bai Zhi, Dead Zero, Xia Wen, Anna, and Qingyi went on an outing to Binhai City's amusement center. The outing began with awkward seating arrangements and ended with Bai Zhi and the two lolies drawing a crowd, while Dead Zero and Xia Wen were overlooked.

• Xia Wen took the passenger seat by claiming she got carsick, while Dead Zero rode in the back with Anna and Qingyi.
• Anna and Qingyi invited Bai Zhi to sit between them, and Dead Zero took over driving after Xia Wen objected.
• Dead Zero drove the group to Binhai City's largest amusement center, enduring awkward conversation with Xia Wen along the way.
• Bai Zhi, Anna, and Qingyi attracted attention from visitors because of their striking looks and outfits.
• Xia Wen watched the crowd gather around the trio and remarked that she had expected this, while she and Dead Zero went unnoticed.

Bai Zhi took Anna, Qingyi, Xia Wen, and Dead Zero around the amusement park, where Dead Zero found unexpected enjoyment in the day’s leisure. After a chaotic ring-toss game, Xia Wen and Dead Zero rejoined the others, who were being approached by a man urging them to debut.

• Bai Zhi escaped the attention of tourists with Anna and Qingyi, while Qingyi clung nervously to his hand and Anna grabbed his other hand.
• Bai Zhi led the group through the amusement park’s attractions, and Xia Wen and Dead Zero joined in despite Dead Zero’s initial doubts about the outing.
• Dead Zero realized that relaxing at the amusement park felt unexpectedly pleasant after years of constant work.
• Bai Zhi failed to win any prizes at ring toss, while Anna and Qingyi won toys and Dead Zero’s powerful throw damaged one of the prizes.
• Xia Wen pulled Dead Zero away after the ring-toss mishap, and they found a man urging Bai Zhi, Anna, and Qingyi to consider debuting.

Bai Zhi took Qingyi, Anna, Xia Wen, and Dead Zero to ride the Ferris Wheel at the amusement center. As the cabin neared its highest point, Qingyi kissed Bai Zhi, invoking a legend about lovers who kiss there staying together forever.

• Xia Wen suggested that they go to an all-you-can-eat hot pot restaurant, but Anna asked to ride the Ferris Wheel first, and Bai Zhi agreed.
• Xia Wen paired up with Dead Zero for the Ferris Wheel ride, while Bai Zhi boarded another cabin with Qingyi and Anna.
• Bai Zhi explained the Ferris Wheel legend, then told Qingyi and Anna that the story was made up to sell tickets.
• As their cabin rose, Anna gazed in wonder at the amusement center, and Bai Zhi noticed Qingyi's unfocused expression.
• Near the Ferris Wheel's highest point, Qingyi closed her eyes and kissed Bai Zhi.

Bai Zhi spent the day at the amusement park and around the city with Qingyi, Anna, Xia Wen, and Dead Zero, while Qingyi secretly kissed him on the Ferris wheel. When they returned to the villa late that evening, Night Owl and Campus Belle were still missing inside the B-rated Dungeon called Ghost Story Collection.

• Qingyi kissed Bai Zhi on the Ferris wheel, then blushed and avoided his gaze while Anna grew suspicious.
• Bai Zhi and the others finished their amusement park visit and watched fireworks as they drove away.
• Dead Zero subdued drunken thugs at the hot pot restaurant, and the police arrived to arrest them.
• The group visited the pet rescue station to check on the dog, or Cat, that had eaten Qingyi's noodles, then Xia Wen filled the car with supermarket snacks.
• Bai Zhi returned to the villa around half past nine and found Night Owl and Campus Belle had not come back from the B-rated Dungeon, Ghost Story Collection.

Bai Zhi checked the Ghost Story Collection Dungeon, then visited the Virtual Gym to see how its new Red-haired Loli coach had revived the facility. He learned about the arena’s training options and watched the coach defeat another Player, while the Dungeon remained uncleared.

• Bai Zhi checked the Ghost Story Collection Dungeon’s status and decided to look again the next morning.
• Bai Zhi headed to the crowded Virtual Gym to see its new Red-haired Loli coach.
• Bai Zhi watched the coach effortlessly defeat a Player in an Arena Training Match.
• Bai Zhi learned that Players could customize arenas and training grounds, and that the coach offered a Perfect Level equipment reward for defeating her in a public challenge.
• Bai Zhi observed the defeated Player leave satisfied and considered how profitable the coach’s arena challenge was.