Chapter Summaries

Bai Zhi comforted Tong as she recounted killing her closest friend after the horrors of the Underground Prison, then punished the Wolf Gang and freed the prisoners. He returned to his room and prepared for the town’s destruction, which he expected to happen the next day.

• Tong told Bai Zhi how she and her best friend had survived together until her friend begged Tong to kill them both, and Bai Zhi comforted her.
• Hyena returned to the Wolf Gang headquarters and challenged Bai Zhi over his attack, but Bai Zhi said the gang was guilty and drew [Radiance].
• Bai Zhi released the survivors from the Underground Prison and set it ablaze.
• Bai Zhi carried the sleeping Tong back to his room and considered how to prepare for the town’s expected destruction tomorrow.

As the White Mist engulfed the town, Bai Zhi learned that the Players and the Wolf Gang’s Boss had already abandoned it. He discovered that the fog caused people to fuse with nearby objects through skin contact, and realized [Radiance] had already merged with his right hand.

• Bai Zhi woke Tong and prepared to leave as the fog thickened, deciding that fleeing into the wilderness would be too dangerous.
• A Corpse Rat told Bai Zhi that the Players near the Town Center and the Wolf Gang’s Boss had left days earlier.
• Bai Zhi carried Tong through the fog toward the Wolf Gang’s off-road vehicles, hoping to leave with experienced hunters.
• Bai Zhi saw people fused with walls, floors, and other objects, and inferred that prolonged skin contact with nonliving things caused the effect.
• Bai Zhi discovered that [Radiance] had assimilated with his right hand and tore it free, ripping away a layer of skin.

Bai Zhi fled through the fog as a chained Giant Black Shadow appeared and attacked, while Tong succumbed to a horrifying mutation and left him behind. He then appeared in a white room with restored hands and a new timed set of choices.

• Bai Zhi carried Tong through the thickening fog, avoiding the injured and hostile people he encountered.
• A Giant Black Shadow emerged amid countless Chains, which dragged [Beat Up Doll] into the fog and destroyed its Durability.
• Bai Zhi sheltered in a house as Tong's eyes turned black and her body began to mutate.
• Tong tore off her own arm, fled into the fog, and left Bai Zhi holding her mutated hand.
• Bai Zhi appeared in a white room with restored hands, a 30-minute Countdown, and a paper containing three Multiple Choice Questions.

Bai Zhi and Ling Xiaoyi compared their failed attempts to survive the fog disaster and shared what they had learned about Tong and the dungeon. Ling Xiaoyi left them without a way to clear it, but with clues about protecting Tong and the danger of her losing trust.

• Bai Zhi checked his 25 Retry Chances and chatted with Shrimp Meat, who explained that Tong had killed him after the fog affected him.
• Ling Xiaoyi explained that the fog caused Anomaly mutations and advised using a Protective Suit and oxygen tank to avoid exposure.
• Ling Xiaoyi said the dungeon's Protagonist was Tong and suggested meeting her early, earning her Trust, and preventing her from learning that her Friend had disappeared.
• Ling Xiaoyi revealed that fleeing town with Tong and hiding with her until the disaster passed both failed, while letting events unfold caused Tong to Darken and restart the story.
• Ling Xiaoyi said the book near the Garbage Heap suppressed Anomalies but did not stop the Chains, and that saving Tong's Friend without Tong caused Tong to attempt suicide.
• Bai Zhi and Ling Xiaoyi agreed to punish Shrimp Meat after she teased them about being an adulterous couple.

Bai Zhi learned that the Giant Black Shadow’s changing approach was likely connected to Tong, then began a new hunter scenario as a Scavenger three days before the city’s destruction. He rode toward the Thick Fog to investigate the shadow and test his suspicions.

• Ling Xiaoyi explained that the Giant Black Shadow appeared from different directions each time, even when the group prepared an ambush along its usual route.
• Black&White suggested that the shadow’s movements were affected by Tong, and Night Owl confirmed it had appeared farther away when Tong was with them.
• Bai Zhi woke in the wilderness as a Scavenger and recalled that hunters had suffered heavy losses as the Thick Fog advanced toward town.
• Bai Zhi regretted missing a chance to rob the Wolf Gang’s Boss and the Players from the Town Center, who had entered the fog the previous day.
• Bai Zhi rode his motorcycle toward The Mist to investigate the Giant Black Shadow and determine why it targeted Tong.

Bai Zhi encountered a dying man at the Mist Wall, then returned to town and wiped out the Wolf Gang to reach Tong’s Dungeon prison. He asked the figure representing Tong’s memories for help saving her, but it insisted she could not be saved, and Bai Zhi rejected its claim.

• Bai Zhi reached the Mist Wall, where a dying man emerged from the mist, spoke of humanity destroying itself, and burned to ash after throwing away a card and pulling a ring from himself.
• Bai Zhi returned to town, found that the Doctor had vanished, and concluded that the Dungeon replaced characters.
• Bai Zhi killed the Wolf Gang members, took the Key from Hyena, and entered the Underground Prison.
• Bai Zhi found a Girl with missing hands and feet where he had once found Tong, then explained the repeating Dungeon and asked the figure representing Tong’s memories to help save her.
• The figure said Tong could not be saved and should be killed, but Bai Zhi argued that people who understand darkness yearn for light.

Bai Zhi learned that Tong’s suffering was tied to an Evil God Retainer and that the being controlling the Dungeons demanded proof before giving her a chance. After freeing the Underground Prison’s survivors and burning it down, he headed to the Garbage Heap to investigate further, where he fell into a trap.

• Bai Zhi confronted the being in the Underground Prison, which told him Tong had chosen her fate and challenged him to prove there was another chance for her.
• Bai Zhi concluded that Tong might be an Evil God Retainer and decided to seek clues at the Town Center using the Access Card.
• Bai Zhi found Tong’s dead Friend, freed the survivors, and burned the Underground Prison to ashes.
• Bai Zhi went to the Garbage Heap where Tong and her Friend had lived, stepped into a hidden pit, and heard someone demand to know who he was.

Bai Zhi told Tong that Xing had died and that he had avenged her, leaving Tong devastated in the home she and Xing had built. He went to the market to buy supplies for Tong, then returned to find the cave wrecked and began cleaning it.

• Tong brought Bai Zhi to the hidden cave she and Xing had spent five years building and asked where Xing was.
• Bai Zhi told Tong that Xing had died and that he had avenged her.
• Tong ordered Bai Zhi to leave, and he left the cave, deciding not to take her from her home.
• Bai Zhi went to the market to buy protective supplies for Tong as he prepared for the fog expected in three days.
• Bai Zhi returned to find the cave wrecked and Tong hiding beneath an old quilt, so he began cleaning up.

After Tong woke to find her destroyed home restored, Bai Zhi stayed nearby and tried to comfort her with food and stories. In the morning, Tong found him inside her home, and he left after promising to return with lunch.

• Tong woke beside the campfire and told Bai Zhi to leave her home, but he said he had come to take care of her.
• Bai Zhi sat outside the cave and talked to Tong while preparing food and telling stories.
• Tong listened to Bai Zhi through the night, ate some flatbread, and fell asleep beside the campfire.
• Tong woke alone and hurried outside, where she found only the small stool Bai Zhi had left behind.
• Tong turned back and found Bai Zhi drinking from a kettle inside; he said he would return around noon with food and left.

Bai Zhi explored an abandoned Underground Base and discovered that Experiment Zero, a tortured test subject with extraordinary vitality, had escaped a year earlier. He realized the hundreds of missing staff and Players had fused with the base and were the source of the malicious gazes watching him.

• Bai Zhi used an access card to enter the Underground Base beneath the Town Center, where the facilities still operated despite the apparent absence of people.
• Bai Zhi felt increasingly intense malicious gazes following him through the base and prepared [Radiance] and Bullets in case their source attacked.
• Bai Zhi found records identifying the Giant Black Shadow as Experiment Zero, a test subject held for ten years because of its unparalleled vitality and recovery.
• Bai Zhi learned that Experiment Zero escaped a year earlier and that over ninety percent of the base's staff, including several Players, vanished during the incident.
• Bai Zhi realized the missing people had fused with the Underground Base and were watching him from all around.

Bai Zhi uncovered how Experiment Zero and Eden had caused the Underground Base’s disappearances, then fought his way out as the base began to mutate. Meanwhile, Tong nearly succumbed to Eden’s influence while waiting for him, but Bai Zhi returned and collapsed beside her, covered in blood.

• Bai Zhi found records showing that Experiment Zero’s changes had driven Staff members to madness and suicide, and that they had named the higher existence Eden.
• Bai Zhi deduced that Experiment Zero had become Eden’s Retainer, escaped a year earlier, and likely returned because Tong had also been chosen as a Retainer.
• As the Underground Base began assimilating its surroundings, Bai Zhi loaded Radiance and prepared to fight his way out rather than be absorbed.
• Tong waited at Garbage Mountain for Bai Zhi, began hearing Eden’s three strange syllables, and started to Darken.
• Bai Zhi returned, dispelled the strange voice in Tong’s mind, and collapsed beside her, covered in blood.

Bai Zhi woke up badly wounded after escaping the Underground Base and discovered that Tong had rescued and cared for him. Once he recovered enough to move, he planned to prepare for the city's destruction, but Tong stopped him, so he stayed to tell her a story.

• Bai Zhi woke in Tong and Xing's shelter, weak and severely injured but still alive after escaping the Underground Base.
• Tong woke, gave Bai Zhi water and porridge, and cared for him while he recovered over the next day.
• Bai Zhi thanked Tong and prepared to leave that night to get ready for the city's destruction, which was two days away.
• Tong grabbed Bai Zhi's hand, and he stayed by the campfire to tell her about Lu Zhishen.

Bai Zhi prepared to protect Tong from the thick fog that would engulf the city the next morning and planned to ambush Experiment Zero. He left Tong in a hidden Safe House after promising to bring her back, then set out to dig pits outside the city.

• Bai Zhi woke beside Tong, and she accidentally knocked him to the floor when she hurried to get up.
• Bai Zhi took Tong's hand and brought her with him to find a safer place, explaining that the fog would arrive the next morning.
• Bai Zhi drove several Vagrants from a house and spent the day building an underground Safe House with Tong's help.
• Bai Zhi told Tong to stay hidden in the Safe House while he went to stop the Monster, but she asked to go with him.
• Bai Zhi promised Tong he would bring her back, and they sealed the promise with their pinkies before he left to dig pits.

Bai Zhi hid underground to observe the fog and the chains drawing Experiment Zero closer. He discovered the experiment was a gigantic black iron house, then entered through its unlocked door.

• Bai Zhi dug pits outside the city and hid in an underground cave to wait for the fog.
• At dawn, a thick fog rolled in from the Wilderness, and Bai Zhi watched the chains approach through it.
• Bai Zhi saw humans and Strange Beasts fused with chains, suffering eternally while being dragged forward.
• The Girl put on her Protective Suit, hid in the underground Safe House, and prayed.
• Bai Zhi saw that Experiment Zero was a giant black iron house covered in chains.
• Bai Zhi pushed open the house’s unlocked door and stepped inside.

Bai Zhi entered the dark building and met the Book Spirit, who explained that Tong was being drawn into Eden and asked him to kill her to fulfill her wish. The Book Spirit revealed that she was using Tong’s painful memories to keep her from being completely absorbed by Eden.

• Bai Zhi found a hall filled with Light Screens showing the Players’ progress through the Dungeon, including Lin Xiaoyi, Ling Xiaoyi, the Campus Belle, and Instant.
• The Book Spirit appeared and asked Bai Zhi to kill Tong, saying that he had gained Tong’s Trust.
• Bai Zhi questioned the Book Spirit about the Grand Library, Eden, Tong, and Experiment Zero, and learned that Tong had eaten Experiment Zero.
• The Book Spirit explained that Eden was an Evil God’s realm that fulfilled wishes but trapped everyone who entered.
• The Book Spirit said Eden was corrupting the book and that Tong’s painful memories were keeping her from being completely absorbed.

Bai Zhi learned that [Eden] trapped its Retainers in a perfect illusion punctuated by unbearable horrors, and that Tong’s entry into it could only be stopped by death. Distrusting the Book Spirit’s account, he examined her original book, then returned to discussing how to save Tong.

• Girl woke from a nightmare beside Xing, who reassured her and shared lunch with her in a peaceful bamboo grove.
• The Book Spirit showed Bai Zhi Tong’s idyllic life in [Eden] and a simulated glimpse of its hidden horrors, explaining that Retainers endured them eternally.
• The Book Spirit explained that Tong’s Final Ritual would complete when she had no regrets or unhappiness, and that her nightmares only delayed it.
• Bai Zhi asked whether a message could wake Tong, but the Book Spirit said the only way to save her was to kill her.
• Bai Zhi questioned the Book Spirit’s honesty and asked to inspect her original body; she revealed the Legendary item [Corrupted Gospel of Truth], whose origin was [There is a Library].

Bai Zhi questioned the Book Spirit about stopping Tong’s Final Ritual and learned that killing Tong was the only sure way to save her. He offered the [Pitch Black Rubik’s Cube] as power on an Evil God’s level, and the Book Spirit agreed to use it to send him into Tong’s world as the ritual neared completion.

• The Book Spirit explained that Tong had already become a Retainer, taken revenge, and begun the Final Ritual before she found the Book Spirit.
• Bai Zhi asked about summoning [Eden] by its true name, and the Book Spirit warned that only chosen Retainers knew such names and that reciting one without the right ritual could bring a deadly Curse.
• The Book Spirit said the Final Ritual would finish in ten minutes and that killing Tong before then was the only way to save her.
• Bai Zhi asked whether power on an Evil God’s level could counter the ritual, then showed the Book Spirit the [Pitch Black Rubik’s Cube].
• The Book Spirit identified Water of Origin and Rootless Wood as a way to send Bai Zhi into Tong’s world, and Bai Zhi urged her to act quickly.

Bai Zhi entered the Girl’s world to stop her from going to Eden, but his attempts were reset and then blocked by a duplicate of himself. The duplicate and the world were erased, returning Bai Zhi to the hall, where he found the Book Spirit trying to eat the Magic Cube.

• The Book Spirit warned Bai Zhi that entering Eden carried a less than one percent chance of success, but he insisted on saving the Girl and keeping his promise.
• Bai Zhi arrived in the Girl’s world with his powers and Inventory unavailable as Xing urged the Girl to board a flower carriage bound for Eden.
• Bai Zhi carried the Girl away from the carriage and asked whether she remembered him, but the scene reset before he could explain the danger.
• Bai Zhi returned as an invisible Specter and persuaded the Girl not to board, but a duplicate of him appeared and tried to take her to Eden.
• The duplicate turned to ash, the driver and Passengers were erased, and the world shattered, sending Bai Zhi back to the hall.
• Bai Zhi found the Book Spirit holding the Magic Cube near her mouth as if she intended to eat it.

Bai Zhi returned from the collapsing world after stopping the Final Ritual, and the Book Spirit explained that [Eden] had abandoned Tong and severed its power. Tong survived when the Magic Cube absorbed that power, while the Book Spirit prepared to merge with her and sleep; Bai Zhi was left responsible for caring for Tong.

• Bai Zhi returned to find the hall’s Light Screens shattering as the Book Spirit rushed to check on the ritual.
• The Book Spirit told Bai Zhi that [Eden] had abandoned Tong as its Retainer and that Tong still carried dangerous power that could turn her into an Anomaly.
• The Magic Cube absorbed the ownerless power from Tong, and the Book Spirit suppressed her urge to seize and consume it.
• The Book Spirit said she would merge with Tong to sustain her life and asked Bai Zhi to care for her while she slept.
• The Book Spirit warned Bai Zhi not to make a move on Tong before fading away.

After the Ghost Story Collection Dungeon ended, Bai Zhi returned to the collapsing Library and reunited with the other Players. He left with Tong and the others, while the Book Spirit remained hidden and questions about it went unanswered.

• Bai Zhi found Tong unconscious in the fog-shrouded town, carried her into a house, and took the Gospel of Truth back to the Library.
• Bai Zhi returned to find Instant had tied up Chronicler and knocked her unconscious after she tried to kill herself.
• Xia Wen asked Bai Zhi what had happened to Tong, but Bai Zhi said they would talk after returning.
• Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part explained that cursed Items could be reclaimed by the system, and Bai Zhi offered to buy them at ten percent above the system's price.
• The Players opened their Destiny Cards, and Bai Zhi gathered five Elite Level pieces of equipment for Pluto.
• Instant, Chronicler, Moonlit Snow, Dark Clouds Part, A Pure Smile, Shy Blushing Cheeks, and Xia Wen returned before Bai Zhi left the collapsing Library and took the still-sleeping Tong out of the Real World.