Chapter Summaries

Wen Xishu exposed Old Zhou’s past and persuaded his dead children to abandon their visit, earning an Invitation Letter without anyone having to die that round. As Chen Ming’s turn began, Wen Xishu deduced that he had organized the game and that the powerful red-clad ghost was his late wife, leaving him to face their story and the role Aquarius played.

• Wen Xishu revealed that Zhang Qiang had betrayed his police superior, and the water ghost drowned Zhang Qiang as Xiao Ya recovered.
• Wen Xishu exposed Old Zhou’s history of trusting outsiders over his children, and Old Zhou’s dead son and daughter-in-law knocked at the door.
• Wen Xishu urged the ghosts to leave, and the gramophone announced that a ghost who abandoned a visit would let the group survive without drinking; Wen Xishu received an Invitation Letter.
• Chen Ming began his turn, and Wen Xishu deduced that he had organized the game and that the powerful red-clad ghost was his late wife.
• Wen Xishu asked Chen Ming to explain his relationship with his wife and the part Aquarius had played.

Wen Xishu exposed Chen Ming’s claim that the Ghost God Altar protected the city, arguing that Chen had sacrificed people to pursue his dead wife. As the Red House approached, Wen Xishu and his companions drank the blue liquor, and Wen revealed that Sagittarius had truly killed Chen Ming’s wife.

• Chen Ming recounted how he used his power to strengthen belief in ghosts, then worked with Aquarius to build the Ghost God Altar and establish order by judging evildoers.
• Chen Ming explained that the Red-Clothed Female Ghost was his wife and that the Ghost Festival turned the dead into Aquarius’s servants.
• Wen Xishu challenged Chen Ming, arguing that the trials would target less serious offenders over time and that Chen had used justice as an excuse to sacrifice people for his wife.
• Chen Ming summoned the Red House to kill Wen Xishu and the others, while Wen, Xiao Ya, A Fei, and Old Zhou drank the blue liquor.
• Wen Xishu admitted that he had fabricated the story about Sagittarius, then revealed that Sagittarius really had killed Chen Ming’s wife.

Wen Xishu defeated Chen Ming and the Red-Clothed Female Ghost with Sagittarius's help, then learned Sagittarius had glimpsed a new path to revelation. Despite Sagittarius warning that his weakened abilities made the Desire Tower dangerous, Wen Xishu chose to enter it rather than return to the Bunker.

• Wen Xishu attacked the Red-Clothed Female Ghost, but her hallucination trapped him until Sagittarius arrived and killed her with a sapphire-blue arrow.
• The Red-Clothed Female Ghost sacrificed herself to protect Chen Ming, and Wen Xishu confronted him with the truth about the Netherworld before Chen Ming died.
• Sagittarius sensed a new path involving faith and good and evil, and Wen Xishu suspected the Madman's Dice let Sagittarius temporarily break the Three Towers' rules.
• Wen Xishu decided to use an Invitation Letter to enter the Desire Tower, even though Sagittarius warned that Ghost City's ghosts, Aquarius's influence, and Wen Xishu's weakened powers could get him killed.

Wen Xishu entered the Desire Tower as A Fei and began investigating the ghosts spreading through Ghost City, intending to stop Chen Ming before his plan could take hold. At the hospital, he unexpectedly encountered Leo, who seized his equipment and left him searching for a way to survive without fighting.

• Wen Xishu chose A Fei as his Desire Tower identity, gaining access to his memories and information about valuable characters without a Mandatory Mission.
• Wen Xishu discovered that A Fei had stopped spying on people and that ghost rumors were spreading, while A Fei’s ghostly parents tried to warn him to leave the city.
• Wen Xishu used A Fei’s abilities to locate Chen Ming at the hospital and decided to kill him before his plan could unleash the ghosts.
• Wen Xishu encountered Leo, Leon, whose overwhelming aura caused people in the hospital to collapse in fear.
• Leo forcibly took the Scorpion Dagger, Chaos Libra, Arena Bull Horn, Compass, and Starfall die from Wen Xishu, then demanded to know who he was.

Wen Xishu talked his way through a dangerous encounter with Leon, persuaded him to investigate Chen Ming, and received the Lionheart Brand as a token. After Leon left, Wen Xishu wondered whether their future conflict with Scorpio was already being shaped, while notifications showed Virgo and Leo’s favorability rising and Aquarius’s falling.

• Wen Xishu introduced himself as a Bunker explorer who had worked with Leon in the future, and explained his mission to help Lord Virgo resolve a crisis in the city.
• Leon revealed his Three Towers Sequence 34, Disarmed Before the King, and returned Wen Xishu’s confiscated items after hearing his view that humans and Constellations could work together.
• Leon checked Chen Ming’s office, killed Chen Ming, and told Wen Xishu that their meeting had already changed history.
• Leon gave Wen Xishu the Lionheart Brand, which could earn his approval or a reward depending on Wen Xishu’s future conduct.
• After Leon vanished, Wen Xishu reflected on his reluctance to fight him and received notifications that Virgo and Leo’s favorability had increased while Aquarius’s had decreased.

After changing Ghost Knocking and clearing the fifty-second floor, Wen Xishu unlocked the Trial of the Heart and answered questions about his choices, strength, and companions. His reward was the Slaughter Sequence 57: Self-Only State, a powerful ability that weakened nearby allies in exchange for boosting his own strength.

• Wen Xishu changed Ghost Knocking into a trial that tested whether Chen Ming could recognize his wife, while the change weakened Aquarius's influence over good and evil.
• The Black Deception Head told Wen Xishu that his high completion level seven unlocked the Trial of the Heart as a new reward option for tower climbers.
• Wen Xishu entered the Trial of the Heart and answered questions about Ghost City, right and wrong, personal strength, and his view of companions.
• The Trial of the Heart awarded Wen Xishu Slaughter Sequence 57: Self-Only State, which weakened nearby allies and let him gain their abilities while greatly increasing his attributes.
• Wen Xishu considered using future heart inquiries to obtain upgrades for existing items such as the Madman's Dice.

After reaching Completion Level seven, Wen Xishu rested before returning to the Wen Family Old Residence, where a message from Wen Chaohua’s photograph confirmed that Wen Xishu and the fool were both his younger brothers. Wen Chaohua began explaining his search for a way to make his brother whole, but the chapter ended before he revealed who had given him the method.

• Wen Xishu learned that his Completion Level seven achievement had unlocked richer Three Towers exploration rewards for Bunker residents.
• After resting, Wen Xishu warned Instructor Yin Ze’s students not to underestimate the Strange Tower and learned that his Sequence’s aura made others reluctant to approach him.
• Wen Xishu visited the Wen Family Old Residence and saw that the Old Principal had arranged for the Wen family’s belongings to be restored.
• Wen Xishu’s increased Magic Resistance caused Wen Chaohua’s image to step out of the photograph and speak with him.
• Wen Chaohua confirmed that Wen Xishu and the fool were both his younger brothers, then recounted his search for a way to make his brother whole.

Wen Xishu learned that Wen Chaohua had become Gemini’s Twinborn and that Gemini’s plan involved a deception, but the recording cut off before revealing the truth. Meanwhile, Albert completed his questioning of the heart and discovered that it had restored some of his lost youth, prompting him to seek out Wen Xishu.

• Wen Chaohua explained Sinland’s role in sending souls into other worlds and revealed that Gemini had asked him to become the other Twinborn.
• Wen Chaohua said Gemini promised that their combined authority could solve Wen Xishu’s problem, but the recording ended before he could explain the deception.
• Wen Xishu resolved to keep climbing the towers and waited several days in the Bunker for the Old Principal.
• Albert returned from floor 98 of the Slaughter Tower and answered questions about his martial path, the gods, and what he valued most.
• Albert noticed that the wrinkles on his forehead had disappeared and realized the questioning of the heart had given him more years.
• Albert thanked Wen Xishu for the surprise and left to speak with his fellow traveler.

Evelyn shared what she had learned about the Ruinbringers and prepared to resume climbing the Desire Tower, leaving Wen Xishu to help Xiao Jin recover. Wen Xishu reunited with Xiao Jin in the Healing House, and the two began to reconnect.

• Evelyn told Wen Xishu and Wen Renjing that the Ruinbringers had an organization and a source connected to Pisces, and she planned to investigate further in the Desire Tower.
• Evelyn urged Wen Renjing to learn from Wen Xishu and support him, then shared her experience climbing the Desire Tower before taking Wen Xishu to the Healing House.
• Evelyn explained that Xiao Jin had regained his composure but was weighed down by self-doubt and guilt over trying to kill Wen Xishu, then left to resume her journey without waiting for the Old Principal.
• Wen Xishu found Xiao Jin in the Healing House and reassured him that he did not blame him, then asked him to share his secret and suggested they go meet Nissen and Yue Yun.

After Xiao Jin recovered his memories, he explained his origins and chose to leave the Slaughter Tower for the Strange Tower, where his new transformation ability might serve him better. Albert returned with renewed youth, and Wen Xishu asked whether he had noticed anything inexplicable around several key events in Wen Xishu’s past.

• Xiao Jin told Wen Xishu, Nissen, and Yue Yun that he had been created from fused powers, split into good and evil twins, and conditioned by Old Jin and Evelyn to restrain his violent nature.
• Wen Xishu concluded that Xiao Jin had tried to kill him after sensing the Heart of Fusion, and he reassured Xiao Jin that he remained their friend and Mr. Jin’s family.
• Xiao Jin revealed that he could assume other people’s appearances and gain some of their powers, then announced he wanted to transfer to the Tower of Deception Academy and climb the Strange Tower.
• Albert returned younger after completing a trial of the heart and told Wen Xishu that the Bunker had entered its second stage.
• Wen Xishu asked Albert whether he had witnessed anything inexplicable around Wen Xishu’s brother’s Strange Tower climb, Wen Xishu’s imprisonment, or the year Wen Xishu was born.

Wen Xishu questioned Albert about his brother and the Strange Tower, then entered a new survival mission in the Land of Dust. When the Bunker saw his name vanish from the Ladder Ranking and feared he was dead, Wen Xishu was still alive, facing a swarm of Hanged Men in the mission’s opening stage.

• Wen Xishu told Albert that the Wen Family Old Residence contained Strange Tower-like phenomena, and Albert explained how tower power could give obsessions physical form.
• Albert could offer no explanation for Wen Xishu’s unusual birth or imprisonment, and Wen Xishu showed him the Lionheart Brand Leo had left behind.
• After Wen Xishu left, the Bunker saw his name disappear from the Ladder Ranking and feared he had died, while Zheng Zai, A Miao, and Wen Xiange urged everyone to keep faith.
• Wen Xishu began the mission “The Child in the Land of Dust” with the risky Dare to Try Four option and the Fourth Evil option.
• Wen Xishu entered a dusk-shrouded alley and encountered Hanged Men whose gravitational field forced him to retreat.

Wen Xishu died in the Land of Dust while confronting the Hanged Men and awakened in the Eternal Hunger Kitchen, where he uncovered clues to Charlie’s childhood and began planning a rescue. The chapter left him swinging toward the enormous refrigerator, which he believed was the first obstacle to overcome.

• Wen Xishu fought the Hanged Men, inferred that their stage held clues to the Land of Dust’s story, and mutated near death to hear sounds from nine locations before the Hanged Men killed him.
• Wen Xishu awoke in the Eternal Hunger Kitchen with new rope-producing holes from his death-related curse and used them to hang from the ceiling.
• Wen Xishu observed the Glutton, his mother’s voice, and the kitchen’s objects, then interpreted them as signs of Charlie’s unmet need for love and his parents’ material demands.
• Wen Xishu concluded that the Glutton embodied Charlie’s longing for love and resolved to rescue Charlie, beginning with the dangerous refrigerator.

Wen Xishu survived the Eternal Hunger Kitchen, gained the Glutton’s power through death, and reached the Wall of Refusal, where he recognized Charlie’s despair and chose to retreat rather than force his way through. After dying there and absorbing the wall’s power, he returned to the Clock Tower with his resolve to save Charlie intact.

• Wen Xishu learned that Charlie had written “spark” as his best friend and headed for the refrigerator as the Glutton finished eating.
• Wen Xishu’s shadow was sucked into the refrigerator but pulled its door shut, stopping the food from appearing; the Glutton remained hungry and unleashed a devastating attack.
• Wen Xishu mutated into a centipede, deliberately let the Glutton kill him, and woke in the Land of Termination with the Glutton’s hunger and strength.
• Wen Xishu found Charlie’s crying beyond the Wall of Refusal and realized its arms embodied the child’s fear of being hurt, so he chose not to break through by force.
• The Wall of Refusal absorbed Wen Xishu, and after his third death he returned to the Hanged Man stage with the wall’s many-armed power.
• Wen Xishu resisted despair by remembering his purpose, then set off toward the Clock Tower to save Charlie.

Wen Xishu defeated the Hanged Men again and explored the Clock Tower, uncovering Charlie’s guilt over the death of his puppy, Spark. After repairing Spark’s teddy bear, he brought it to life, and the chapter ended with Wen Xishu asking Spark how they could leave the Clock Tower.

• Wen Xishu used the Scorpion Dagger and his shadow to defeat the Hanged Men, then entered the Clock Tower while the enemies slowly re-formed behind him.
• Wen Xishu found an unsent letter to Anya and learned that Charlie blamed himself for failing to save her.
• Wen Xishu repaired a tape recorder and heard Charlie’s memories of his puppy Spark and his father refusing to help save the dog.
• Wen Xishu repaired Spark’s teddy bear, and a ray of sunlight fell on it before the bear came to life and introduced itself as Spark.
• Wen Xishu defeated two Hanged Men attacking Spark, then asked Spark whether it knew Anya and how to leave the Clock Tower.

Wen Xishu and Spark entered Dreamland Academy, where mirrors lured them with illusions of rescue, desire, and hidden truths. Wen Xishu resisted the Faceless Girl and reached a biology classroom that suggested Charlie had been harmed by shame-based puberty education, where he began searching for a way to open the lock over the heart.

• Spark led Wen Xishu through a hidden door behind the Clock Tower, clearing its first chapter and entering Dreamland Academy.
• Wen Xishu entered a corridor of mirrors that invaded his mind with illusions of Albert and women he knew, while Spark saw a beautiful Samoyed.
• Wen Xishu resisted the mirrors' temptations and ignored illusions of Old Jin and Wen Chaohua offering answers about his past and authority.
• The Faceless Girl approached Wen Xishu, but he used the Wall of Refusal to knock her away and continued down the corridor.
• The mirrors revealed a mocked boy Wen Xishu suspected was Charlie, then led him to a biology classroom displaying a locked heart and shame-focused puberty lessons.
• Wen Xishu inferred that Charlie may have been scarred by shame-based education and began searching the classroom for a way to open the lock.

Wen Xishu uncovered Charlie’s traumatic memories of being mocked and shamed for an innocent love letter, then crossed a deadly corridor of Faceless Ones. He opened the gymnasium door and found Mourning Shadow · Anya waiting inside, as the unsent letter began to glow.

• Wen Xishu found a paper key in Charlie’s desk and used it to unlock the heart on the anatomy chart, recovering Charlie’s memories of the humiliating love-letter prank and its aftermath.
• Wen Xishu and Spark entered a corridor of shifting Faceless Ones, and Wen Xishu deduced that they represented the unpredictable mockery and punishment Charlie feared at school.
• Wen Xishu sent his shadow ahead to discover the corridor’s pattern, then stabbed himself with the Scorpion Dagger and sprinted through without touching the Faceless Ones.
• Wen Xishu reached the gymnasium, opened its chained door, and entered a mourning hall where Mourning Shadow · Anya appeared.
• The unsent letter in Wen Xishu’s hand began to glow as he faced Anya and wondered why she had become a monster.

Wen Xishu endured Mourning Shadow Anya’s attacks and relived the painful history of Anya and Charlie, discovering that facing her grief rather than evading it opened a path into her heart. After Charlie’s apology letter reached Anya’s diary and revealed that she had forgiven him, Wen Xishu understood how to reach the self-loathing child in the Land of Dust.

• Anya repeatedly struck Wen Xishu with Mirror Blade Storm, black thorns, and Embrace of Mourning, while he endured the attacks to experience her memories.
• Wen Xishu discovered that surviving Anya’s attack pattern opened a passage into her memories, where he witnessed Charlie’s loneliness, his friendship with Anya, and his fearful retreat when she asked for a hug.
• Wen Xishu learned that Anya had died by suicide after Charlie stepped back, and that Charlie buried his guilt over her death and Spark’s departure inside the clock tower.
• Wen Xishu entered a dusty attic and used Charlie’s apology letter to illuminate Anya’s diary, revealing her affection for Charlie and her final despair.
• Wen Xishu realized Anya had forgiven Charlie and determined how to break through the wall of refusal to reach the self-loathing child in the Land of Dust.

Wen Xishu brought Anya’s doll and Charlie’s apology letter out of the school, then reunited Spark, Anya, and the Glutton with Charlie’s other childhood keepsakes to satisfy the Glutton’s hunger. After entering the Wall of Refusal and obtaining the Invitation Letter, he was pulled into the Constellation Meeting, where the Constellations prepared to persuade him to choose a future for Charlie.

• Wen Xishu left the mirror world with Anya’s doll and led Spark and Anya through a door into the Eternal Hunger Kitchen.
• Wen Xishu showed the Glutton Spark and Anya, and their affection eased its hunger until it became a doll resembling Charlie as a child.
• Wen Xishu gathered Teddy, the Doll, and the Toy Doll, then entered the Wall of Refusal and received the Invitation Letter.
• The Wall of Refusal transported Wen Xishu to the Unknown Land, where Scorpio welcomed him to a Constellation Meeting attended by sixteen figures.
• Scorpio told Wen Xishu that nearly all the Constellations wanted to persuade him to make a choice that favored them and changed Charlie’s fate.

Wen Xishu met the Constellations, who each tried to recruit him by offering a vision for Charlie and the Land of Dust. He rejected Leo’s demand to pursue strength through isolation and, at the chapter’s end, questioned whether Scorpio’s imagined happy ending could satisfy Scorpio too.

• The Constellations convened to discuss Charlie, and Aries, Taurus, and Gemini each described what they wanted Wen Xishu to do.
• Aries asked Wen Xishu to spread Charlie’s influence and help him become a god, while Taurus offered power in exchange for expanding the Land of Dust.
• Gemini told Wen Xishu to follow his heart and warned him to think carefully within the Bunker rather than speak openly in the Three Towers.
• Leo urged Wen Xishu to join him and pursue strength without relying on emotional bonds, but Wen Xishu refused.
• Virgo asked Wen Xishu to help give the women who had suffered a good ending and encouraged him to follow his heart.
• Scorpio offered to create a game world where Charlie could live happily with Spark and Anya, and Wen Xishu asked whether a fabricated happy ending could satisfy Scorpio personally.

Wen Xishu met with Scorpio, Aquarius, and Pisces while deciding how to save Charlie. He rejected Aquarius’s plan to turn Charlie evil, then accepted Pisces’s Time Annotation and returned to choose how to save him.

• Wen Xishu confronted Scorpio about using him in a game, and Scorpio left after calling them partners and promising his knife would help him.
• Sagittarius forfeited his meeting, so Wen Xishu spoke with Aquarius instead.
• Aquarius tried to persuade Wen Xishu to let her turn Charlie evil during the apocalypse and good again afterward, but Wen Xishu refused, insisting that past atrocities could not be erased.
• Aquarius angrily vowed to turn Charlie evil anyway, and Wen Xishu ended their meeting.
• Pisces revealed that Wen Xishu had changed Charlie’s future and gave him a Time Annotation that could take the Invitation Letter back to a critical point in time.
• Wen Xishu accepted Pisces’s gift, returned to the conference room, and prepared to choose how to save Charlie.