Chapter Summaries

Bai Zhi pursued leads on recruiting Wandering Players and made an investment proposal to the jar Merchant before returning to the Real World. He checked on his friends, reflected on Qingyi’s bold behavior, and discovered that his new Elite Title, Blood Butcher, could prevent his damage from being healed normally.

• Bai Zhi left the arena, considered bringing the Red-haired Loli into the Shadow World, and went to find the jar Merchant.
• Bai Zhi persuaded the jar Merchant to consider an investment by offering the Dim Ark Heart, then left the Inner World.
• Bai Zhi returned to the Real World and reassured Xia Wen and the others that Xiao Yi and their companions would likely return the next morning.
• Bai Zhi thought about Qingyi’s behavior on the Ferris Wheel and inspected the Blood Butcher Title, which required slaughtering over a million lives and made his damage unhealable through normal means.
• A cautious knock sounded at Bai Zhi’s door as he pondered the Title’s requirements and the power of the Ancient God▪Life.

After a disturbing Nightmare left Anna afraid that the [Doll Princess] was influencing her, she went to Bai Zhi for help. Bai Zhi reassured her and promised to protect everyone, and Anna asked to sleep beside him.

• Anna dreamed that she turned the people at the amusement park, including Bai Zhi, into dolls and removed Bai Zhi's head.
• Anna told Bai Zhi that after waking, she had wanted to turn Qingyi into a doll and feared she might hurt the people she loved.
• Anna revealed that she had heard [Doll Princess] calling her and worried she should return to living alone.
• Bai Zhi told Anna not to worry and promised that he would stop [Doll Princess] if He appeared.
• Anna asked to sleep beside Bai Zhi because she felt safe with him.

Bai Zhi realized Anna remained under the Doll Princess's control despite escaping her nightmares, and he resolved to learn more about Evil Gods. After Anna and Qingyi slept beside him, Anna woke free of the Doll Princess's voice and sought reassurance that Bai Zhi would stay with her.

• Bai Zhi considered how Anna's status as the Doll Princess's Retainer left her vulnerable to the Evil God and wondered about the sealed Evil God in the Eighteen Levels of Hell.
• Qingyi joined Bai Zhi and the sleeping Anna in bed, and her teasing kept Bai Zhi awake through the night.
• Anna told Bai Zhi that her nightmares and the Doll Princess's indistinct voices had disappeared, then asked to sleep beside him every night.
• Bai Zhi told Anna to alert him if the nightmares returned and promised he would not let down anyone who trusted him.
• Anna gave Bai Zhi a good morning kiss and asked whether he would leave her, and Bai Zhi reassured her that she could trust him.

Bai Zhi dealt with Dead Zero’s breakfast and a new emergency at Noah’s Ark while Qingyi and Anna prepared to enter the Shadow World. As Xia Wen rushed downstairs with news of another crisis, Bai Zhi’s warning to the two girls was cut short.

• Dead Zero made Bai Zhi breakfast, reminded him that he owed her a phone, and borrowed his car after Zhuge Yun called her to Noah’s Ark.
• Bai Zhi tried to improve Dead Zero’s leftover noodles, but Qingyi and Anna both collapsed after tasting them.
• Qingyi told Bai Zhi that she and Anna planned to enter the Shadow World for two or three days to resolve a problem there.
• Bai Zhi agreed to let them go but warned them not to push themselves too hard.
• Xia Wen hurried downstairs and told Bai Zhi that something huge had happened.

Bai Zhi and Xia Wen investigated the changed Ghost Story Collection Dungeon and boarded a train to enter it. They arrived inside an enormous, empty library, with a tightly shut door behind them.

• Bai Zhi checked the Ghost Story Collection Dungeon and saw that its difficulty had risen to A-rank while only three players remained inside.
• Xia Wen told Bai Zhi that players were pulled into a book containing twenty ghost stories and had to survive the story they entered; she suspected Xiao Yi and the others were trapped inside.
• Bai Zhi bought a ticket, and other players, including two from the Tombstone Apartment world, appeared on the ticket list.
• Bai Zhi and Xia Wen met on the train and traveled to the Dungeon together.
• Bai Zhi and Xia Wen stepped off the train into a vast, empty library and found a tightly shut door behind them.

Bai Zhi and Xia Wen explored a vast Library Dungeon and met the other Players, whose identities and unusual books hinted that the Dungeon differed from its reported description. After the full team assembled, Chronicler challenged Bai Zhi to see who could clear the Dungeon faster.

• Bai Zhi and Xia Wen found the Library filled with hundreds of thousands of books and went to meet their Teammates at its central table.
• Bai Zhi and Xia Wen met Gemini sisters Xiao Yue and Xiao Xiao, who explained that each book revealed its contents only when opened.
• Bai Zhi drew a book titled Postpartum Care of Sows, while Xia Wen found a Human Skin Book and Xiao Yue showed them a Spellbook.
• Bai Zhi noticed something in the Library and deflected attention by claiming he had a stiff neck.
• Instant and Chronicler arrived, and Chronicler challenged Bai Zhi to a race to clear the Dungeon.

Bai Zhi and the other Players entered the Ghost Story Collection Dungeon and learned that its first story, “Monster,” required four participants. As the registration countdown began, Bai Zhi warned them that the story’s protagonist might be the one most likely to die.

• The Chronicler challenged Bai Zhi, but he declined and waited with the others for the Dungeon to begin.
• The Players examined the Library’s rules and chose books, with Xia Wen receiving a Human Skin Book.
• The system introduced the A-rank Ghost Story Collection Dungeon and revealed that its completion rate was 64%.
• A holographic book began the first story, “Monster,” but its opening text stopped before the story’s setting was fully revealed.
• The system opened registration for four roles and warned that injuries would carry over, while items could bring Monsters or Curses back to reality.
• Bai Zhi asked who would enter the story and warned that protagonists in Ghost Stories often died more miserably than supporting characters.

Bai Zhi briefed the other Players on how to act in The First Story, then entered a complete role-playing scenario as Shawn, a wealthy student headed to pick up his girlfriend Annie for a Christmas party at his mountain villa. He wondered whether Xia Wen was playing Annie and worried that he might not recognize his teammates among the twelve guests.

• Bai Zhi explained that the Players should behave like ordinary people, avoid breaking the ghost story’s tone, and cooperate against the Anomalies.
• Bai Zhi speculated that The First Story was a blizzard-bound mountain villa scenario with invisible Monsters.
• The Countdown ended, and Bai Zhi, Xia Wen, Instant, and Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part vanished into the story while A Pure Smile, Shy Blushing Cheeks, and Chronicler remained behind.
• Bai Zhi awoke in a moving car with Shawn’s memories and learned that he was a wealthy university student on his way to pick up his girlfriend Annie.
• Bai Zhi drove through the snowy town toward Annie’s home, unsure whether she was Xia Wen and concerned that he might not recognize his teammates among the party’s twelve guests.

Bai Zhi drove through the snow-covered town to pick up Annie for a rave party, only to discover that Complete Role-playing Mode had placed Xia Wen in Annie’s body. As they headed toward the mountain villa, Xia Wen struggled with her unfamiliar body and asked whether Bai Zhi was really himself.

• Bai Zhi wondered whether the town’s residents were ordinary people whose memories and lives had been manipulated by the Anomaly.
• Bai Zhi arrived at Annie’s house and found Xia Wen role-playing as Annie in an unfamiliar female body.
• Bai Zhi waited while Xia Wen changed clothes, then drove her toward the mountain villa for the rave party.
• Xia Wen nervously asked whether Bai Zhi was really himself, and he explained that she had not encountered Complete Role-playing Mode before.
• Xia Wen complained that Annie’s body was heavy and difficult to balance, then caught Bai Zhi looking at her chest.

Bai Zhi and Xia Wen discussed how the Anomaly’s role-playing rules differed from the system’s before arriving late at a Mountain Villa party. As the storm intensified, the four teammates stayed alert for the Monster and the danger of failing to earn a high enough score.

• Bai Zhi explained to Xia Wen that the Anomaly’s role-playing mode was crude and that the system’s power had helped her choose her identity.
• Bai Zhi delayed their departure for an hour, teasing Xia Wen about staying in character, and they eventually reached the Mountain Villa an hour and a half late.
• The Friends teased Bai Zhi and Xia Wen, while Bai Zhi identified [Instant] as Abel and [Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part] as Victoria.
• Bai Zhi recognized that their roles formed a story called [Monster], with Shawn meant to set Abel and Victoria up.
• As the party began, Bai Zhi and the other three teammates remained on guard while the snowstorm grew stronger outside.

After Bob was found twisted to death in the villa’s bathroom, Bai Zhi and [Instant] tried to keep the survivors safe as panic spread. The group armed themselves and briefly calmed down, but at 8:24 p.m. Eric spat a finger wearing a Ring from his wine.

• Bob disappeared after going to the restroom, and another guest found his twisted, bloodied body in the Second Floor bathroom.
• Bai Zhi urged everyone to return to the room, while [Instant] stopped Eric and two others from fleeing and warned that the snow and lost communications made escape impossible.
• Bai Zhi proposed retrieving the villa’s Hunting Rifles, and he and [Instant] returned from the Third Floor with both guns and ammunition.
• The eleven survivors gathered under Bai Zhi and [Instant]’s guard, and the villa remained quiet for an hour.
• At 8:24 p.m., Eric drank red wine and spat out a finger wearing a Ring.

After Bob’s severed finger appeared in Eric’s wineglass, a supernatural creature trapped the group in a game of Cat and Mouse. Eric was dragged away in a car that then vanished into the snowy night, leaving the survivors stranded at the villa as Bai Zhi prepared to discuss their next move.

• Joshua recognized the severed finger as Bob’s, while Eric urged everyone to flee and Shanna told him to be quiet.
• Explosions sounded below, and when Eric opened a window, Joshua grabbed what appeared to be Bob’s twisted corpse; Bai Zhi and Shanna shot it apart.
• Bai Zhi and Shanna saw Eric trapped in a car below as an unseen creature dragged him inside, then drove away through the villa’s gate.
• Victoria suggested escaping in another car, but Bai Zhi saw that the apparently intact vehicles had reverted to wrecks.
• Joshua asked what to do with Bob’s shattered corpse, and Bai Zhi told the others to throw it out the window before discussing their next move.

The survivors split into three groups after failing to agree on how to deal with the Monster, and Joshua fled into the snow hoping to reach town. Bai Zhi told Xia Wen that the people who left were Cannon Fodder and that the Monster would come for them later, while Shana’s fate remained uncertain.

• The remaining ten people divided into three groups, with Bai Zhi and Xia Wen joining Rohard’s group, Shana leaving with Joshua’s group, and Xiao Yue joining the third group.
• Joshua took a snowy trail down the mountain and reached the road, where he accepted a ride in a black sedan.
• Joshua recognized the car stereo’s song from the vehicle that had taken Eric and saw a twisted face beside him.
• Xia Wen asked Bai Zhi whether they would fight the Monster, and Bai Zhi told her that the people who had left were Cannon Fodder and would not escape.
• Xia Wen questioned what that meant for Shana, but Bai Zhi said he did not know.

Bai Zhi discussed whether the people trapped in the books should be rescued, while Claude was attacked in a snowbound cabin and saved by Abel. The danger outside the Villa continued as the group split between staying to fight and fleeing through the blizzard.

• Bai Zhi gave Hunting Rifles to Shawn, Annie, Rohard, and Smith, who stayed at the Villa to confront the Unknown Monster.
• Bai Zhi told Xia Wen that the people trapped in books might have chosen their lives willingly and that rescuing them might not help them.
• Claude fell into a hidden pit, twisted his foot, and took shelter in a Small Wooden House.
• Seven or eight hands seized Claude in the darkness, but Abel burst in and threw a Molotov cocktail, freeing him.
• Abel and Claude escaped the Small Wooden House into the snow.

Abel rescued Claude from the burning wooden house and tried to lead him back to the villa, but the mountain’s strange spatial distortions trapped them in a loop. As they reached a stalemate, Victoria appeared, holding the broken Nylon Rope.

• Abel found Claude outside the burning Small Wooden House, rescued him, and warned him that he had been targeted.
• Abel led Claude toward the villa, but they returned to the burned wooden house despite continuing through the storm.
• Abel tied Nylon Rope to a tree and tested the route, discovering that uphill and downhill paths somehow led back to the same place.
• Abel and Claude followed the rope in opposite directions but reappeared beside the tree without meeting along the way.
• The Nylon Rope snapped, and Victoria emerged from the wind and snow holding the severed rope.

Shanna, Victoria, and Claude returned toward the villa while an invisible Monster followed Claude through the snow. At the villa, Bai Zhi explained his theory about the Dungeon’s scoring and urged Xia Wen to feign death and gather alcohol, leaving their plan for a “splendid story” unclear.

• Victoria caught up with Shanna and Claude, and Shanna recovered the rope after Claude briefly saw it as a bloody intestine.
• The group traveled back without encountering the Ghost Wall, while invisible handprints appeared beside Claude’s footprints as a Monster walked alongside him.
• Rohard and Smith saw Bob’s corpse disappear from the villa yard, suggesting the Monster had returned.
• Xia Wen asked Bai Zhi whether they should prepare for the remaining hours, and he explained that the system’s scoring rules were separate from the Anomaly’s rules.
• Bai Zhi theorized that players were actors altering an existing story for an audience, then told Xia Wen to feign death if danger came and to put alcohol in her Inventory.

Claude was dragged beneath the snow by the Invisible Monster, and Victoria challenged Bai Zhi over his refusal to save the people in danger. After the group suspected the Monster had entered the villa, Bai Zhi proposed spreading flour across the floor to reveal its movements, and Abel agreed to accompany Smith to get it.

• Claude discovered the Invisible Monster’s handprints beside him, then vanished silently into the snow as it dragged him away.
• Abel and Victoria returned to the villa, where Victoria confronted Bai Zhi about failing to save the people who had disappeared.
• Victoria recalled her world’s dark history and her belief that even a small possibility offered hope, while Xia Wen urged her to trust Bai Zhi.
• Bai Zhi learned from Rohard and Smith that Joshua might have met disaster and that the Invisible Monster could already be inside the villa.
• Bai Zhi proposed spreading flour across the villa’s floor to reveal the Monster’s tracks, and Smith said he would go to the first floor with Abel to retrieve it.

Victoria, Moonlit, and the survivors faced an invisible Monster that killed and abducted people throughout the villa. After Moonlit realized it could walk on ceilings, the group fled into the snow, where Victoria accused Shawn and Abel of being Monsters, while Xia Wen discovered that the Black Shadow might be a Shadow Guard.

• Victoria found Mike and Mary missing from the Basement, with blood and a strange smile left behind, and the survivors later saw six bodies hung outside the villa.
• The power went out, and the Monster entered the room along the ceiling, dragging away Rohard, Smith, and Xia Wen despite Instant firing at it.
• Bai Zhi, Moonlit, and Victoria escaped into the snow, where Bai Zhi explained that the Monster could be hurt but paralyzed its victims by touching them.
• Victoria accused Shawn and Abel of being Monsters, while Xia Wen, apparently caught in a hanging rope, suspected the Black Shadow was a Shadow Guard.

Bai Zhi explained to Xia Wen how he had impersonated the Monster and hidden the missing people, while Shawn tried to make Victoria accept the Gift of God. Abel turned against Shawn and detonated explosives beneath the villa, leaving Victoria to flee the burning wreckage.

• Bai Zhi told Xia Wen that Bob had become the real Monster, the missing people were unconscious, and he had used his Skills and Shadow Guards to stage the apparent deaths.
• Shawn told Victoria that he and Abel had become higher lifeforms after accepting the Gift of God, then demanded that she join them or die.
• Victoria refused Shawn’s offer and called him a lunatic, so Shawn ordered Abel to kill her.
• Abel attacked Shawn instead, revealing his defiance and declaring that he had chosen the villa as their burial ground.
• Abel’s explosives detonated beneath the villa, the hanging bodies fell, and Victoria ran toward the entrance and the light.

Bai Zhi explained how he had rewritten the Monster story and used an Electric Baton to capture the others without harming them. Chronicler revealed that the Library’s book had recorded a different version of events, then it opened to a new page.

• Bai Zhi told Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part that Black&White had killed the original Monster and impersonated it to change the story.
• Bai Zhi explained that the original plot would have infected and killed all twelve people, but he had altered its course.
• Bai Zhi admitted that he had used an Electric Baton to knock out the others while capturing them as the Monster.
• Chronicler said the book had recorded a version where Bai Zhi was the villain, Instant was the male protagonist, Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part was the Heroine, and Xia Wen was an Extra.
• The book opened to a new page as Bai Zhi asked Chronicler what happened next.