Chapter Summaries

After defeating Pestilence, Zhang Heng and Fan Mei Nan searched his phone for clues to Fan Mei Nan’s sister, whom they believed might contact him again. They returned to their city to continue the search, while Zhang Heng kept Han Lu’s uncertain fate from her so she would not lose hope.

• Han Lu, Fan Mei Nan, and Zhang Heng left the hospital and reunited in the car after Zhang Heng retrieved his belongings.
• Zhang Heng and Fan Mei Nan reasoned that Fan Mei Nan’s sister might contact Pestilence again, and Zhang Heng found the rider’s phone but no suspicious contacts.
• Zhang Heng used a video of Pestilence speaking to help Fan Mei Nan learn to imitate his voice, then promised Han Lu they would find a solution within five days.
• Zhang Heng decided the group should return to their city, where Fan Mei Nan’s sister might confront the Three Great Guilds, and arranged for the Game Point to ship the bone bow and crown.
• Fan Mei Nan urged Zhang Heng to tell Han Lu that the Death Dreamscape might have no solution, but Zhang Heng chose to preserve her hope until they had exhausted their options.

After killing Pestilence, Zhang Heng noticed his healing had improved but could not tell what else had changed. He tried to get help for Han Lu’s Death Dreamscape curse, but two days later she was still unable to sleep and was nearing exhaustion.

• Zhang Heng showered and discovered the needle mark from his IV had vanished, then considered the unexplained changes in his body.
• Shen Xixi paid for Zhang Heng’s tea, told him about her Stranger Things public account, and invited him to seek help there.
• Zhang Heng asked the account what to do about Han Lu’s strange photograph, but its response offered no solution he could use.
• Zhang Heng waited two days without hearing from Fan Mei Nan about the woman in sunglasses.
• Zhang Heng visited Han Lu after more than eighty hours without sleep and found her exhausted, irritable, and desperate for even one hour of rest.

Zhang Heng and Fan Mei Nan captured the woman in sunglasses before she could carry out her plan with Pestilence. Zhang Heng drove her away and prepared to extract the solution to Death Dreamscape from her.

• Han Lu told Zhang Heng she feared dying alone, and Zhang Heng promised she would survive.
• The woman in sunglasses checked the meeting site and saw a crowned figure with a longbow before Pestilence arrived disguised as Director Kuang.
• The woman in sunglasses urged Pestilence to recreate the Spanish flu, but he stunned her with a disguised stun gun and cuffed her.
• Zhang Heng appeared, loaded the unconscious woman into a Polo, and drove away while avoiding her hired driver.
• Zhang Heng considered how to get the solution to Death Dreamscape from the woman in sunglasses.

Fan Mei Nan questioned the woman in sunglasses about how to undo Death Dreamscape, but learned that she had only delivered it to Set, who copied it to spread chaos. The woman did not know where Set was, and Fan Mei Nan checked in with someone through her earpiece.

• Fan Mei Nan held the woman in sunglasses captive and asked her to explain how to undo Death Dreamscape.
• The woman in sunglasses insisted she did not know how to undo it and said she had never blamed Fan Mei Nan for their childhood separation.
• The woman revealed that Set had obtained Death Dreamscape through her and copied dozens of versions to spread chaos.
• The woman said she did not know where to find Set and asked how Fan Mei Nan had Pestilence's phone number.
• Fan Mei Nan ignored the question and reported through her earpiece that the ring was not reacting, asking whether the other person had heard everything.

Zhang Heng learned that The woman in sunglasses could not help lift Han Lu’s curse and returned to find Han Lu drinking and struggling to accept that she would die. Han Lu refused to hear more about failed leads, called it the end, and warned Zhang Heng that Fan Mei Nan cared deeply about him.

• Fan Mei Nan removed the Oath Rings from herself and The woman in sunglasses, and Zhang Heng used Small Knife to free the woman and let her leave.
• Fan Mei Nan warned The woman in sunglasses not to contact The rider on the white horse again because he would never reply.
• Zhang Heng took Fan Mei Nan home and then returned to Han Lu’s apartment at three in the morning.
• Han Lu became furious when Zhang Heng tried to explain that The woman in sunglasses had no answer about Death Dreamscape, then admitted she still wanted to live and could not accept dying.
• Han Lu told Zhang Heng she did not want to hope for another solution and observed that Fan Mei Nan cared about him, while he seemed to have little emotion left.

Zhang Heng asked Shen Xixi for help saving Han Lu from the Death Dreamscape, and she offered to use an item that could let them enter Han Lu’s dream. Shen Xixi arrived with two teammates, and they prepared to make one final attempt to help Han Lu.

• Zhang Heng reflected on his growing emotional and physical changes while Han Lu sat dejected after smashing a wine bottle.
• Shen Xixi contacted Zhang Heng and explained that her group had obtained a D-rank item related to Morpheus that could let people enter another person’s dream.
• Zhang Heng agreed to join the attempt and sent Shen Xixi Han Lu’s address.
• Shen Xixi arrived with Rabbit and Li Bai, recognized Zhang Heng, and learned that Han Lu had not closed her eyes for four days.
• Zhang Heng told Shen Xixi that Han Lu was in the bedroom and had agreed to cooperate with one final attempt.

Han Lu swallowed a petal from Shen Xixi’s black flower to enter a Death Dreamscape, and Zhang Heng, Shen Xixi, Rabbit, and Li Bai prepared to follow her into the dream. The four swallowed the remaining petals and lay down beside her, leaving their attempt to explore the dream about to begin.

• Han Lu swallowed a black flower petal and went to sleep, after explaining that she had left a will and a video in case she did not wake up.
• While waiting, Li Bai talked about how he spent his Game Points supporting his family, and Rabbit warned him about the danger of being reckless.
• Shen Xixi asked Zhang Heng about killing Zhavielcha, and they agreed that they had helped each other during their recent encounters.
• Zhang Heng gave Shen Xixi Earring Man’s phone number and declined her invitation to join her group, while offering to help if she faced trouble.
• Shen Xixi confirmed that Han Lu was unresponsive, then Rabbit divided the remaining petals among the four players.
• Li Bai, Rabbit, Shen Xixi, and Zhang Heng swallowed their petals and lay down to enter Han Lu’s dream.

Zhang Heng entered Han Lu’s dream and searched for her after finding her apartment empty and apparently abandoned in a hurry. He reached her office, where she was absent and the phones had lost signal, as a huge cloud began to cover the sun.

• Zhang Heng resisted the black petal’s drowsiness and woke alone in Han Lu’s apartment, where he found signs that she had left in a hurry.
• Zhang Heng found that his props were gone and his phone had no signal, so he left a note for Shen Xixi and went to search for Han Lu.
• Zhang Heng observed that the dream reproduced the real world in detail but reflected Han Lu’s subconscious, including her inability to smell flowers because of childhood rhinitis.
• Zhang Heng went to Han Lu’s office, where the receptionist said Han Lu was absent and revealed that phones had been without signal for two hours.
• Zhang Heng saw a huge cloud cover the sun while two office workers discussed the weather and Han Lu’s dislike of workplace romances.

Zhang Heng searched for Han Lu in her dream world and followed a taxi lead, only to discover a tsunami racing toward the city. He warned the taxi driver and looked for higher ground as the wave approached.

• Zhang Heng left Han Lu's office after the receptionist could not tell him where else she went.
• Zhang Heng hailed a taxi and offered the driver five hundred yuan to recall Han Lu's destination.
• The driver took Zhang Heng toward the airport, but a traffic jam stopped them before they arrived.
• Zhang Heng climbed onto the taxi roof and saw a tsunami sweeping toward the city, overturning cars and uprooting trees.
• Zhang Heng warned the driver to run and searched for higher ground while the road remained blocked.

Zhang Heng escaped the first tsunami wave by reaching the museum’s third floor, then survived the surge and backwash as the city flooded. Stranded in the devastated city with no trace of Han Lu, he sought safer ground and waited to see whether another wave would come.

• Zhang Heng ran into the museum to escape the approaching tsunami and reached the third floor just as the first wave shattered the lower floors’ windows.
• A second, larger wave struck the museum, sweeping away the little girl and forcing Zhang Heng to cling to a pillar.
• Zhang Heng stayed conscious underwater until the current weakened, then surfaced to find the streets submerged and the city transformed.
• Zhang Heng pulled a floating door panel close so he could rest and conserve his strength in case another wave arrived.
• Zhang Heng realized the tsunami had erased his clues to Han Lu and decided to find a safer place while hoping she had escaped.

Zhang Heng survived the tsunami dream and awoke in a seemingly ordinary city recreated from Han Lu’s childhood, where he searched for clues about her past. He recognized Rabbit from Shen Xixi’s team, who was relieved to find someone she knew.

• Zhang Heng reached a five-star hotel after the tsunami, found water and dry clothes, and waited as the city remained flooded.
• After twelve hours, the strange clouds dispersed, and Zhang Heng fell asleep before waking in a city that looked as it had in the seventies or eighties.
• Zhang Heng realized the dream had shifted to Han Lu’s childhood but knew little about her life in that era.
• Zhang Heng watched a plaza where a girl danced freely and noticed other things that seemed to reflect what Han Lu had envied.
• Rabbit found Zhang Heng in the plaza and asked where they were.

Zhang Heng and Rabbit searched Han Lu’s childhood dream for clues, but a new disaster interrupted them when three giant dragons attacked the city. Zhang Heng stayed behind to follow Han Lu’s mother as Rabbit fled with the crowd toward an air-raid shelter.

• Rabbit told Zhang Heng they had entered another of Han Lu’s dreams and explained that their dream-entering item had only one flower bud available.
• Zhang Heng and Rabbit gathered details about Han Lu’s childhood from passersby, then followed Han Lu’s mother in hopes of finding where Han Lu lived.
• When strange clouds appeared, Zhang Heng told Rabbit to seek safety while he continued following Mother Han.
• Fifteen minutes later, three giant dragons attacked the city, and one burned a bus and swept the street with flames.
• Zhang Heng called for an air-raid shelter, while Rabbit was carried toward its entrance by the panicked crowd and realized Zhang Heng was no longer beside her.

Zhang Heng rescued Han Lu’s mother from the panicked crowd and carried her through a street engulfed by a dragon’s fire into the Air-raid Shelter. He left her alive but unconscious in a safer part of the Underground City.

• Zhang Heng noticed Han Lu’s mother fall and get trampled as the crowd fled toward the Air-raid Shelter.
• Zhang Heng forced his way against the crowd, lifted Han Lu’s mother, and saw a dragon target the shelter with its Dragon Flame.
• Zhang Heng ran into the area the dragon had just burned, carrying Han Lu’s mother through the heat and poisonous smoke.
• Zhang Heng slipped through the shelter’s partially melted doors and reached a safer area underground.
• Zhang Heng set Han Lu’s mother down and found that she was breathing but unconscious from inhaling carbon monoxide.

Zhang Heng and Rabbit searched for Han Lu in her childhood dream while investigating the destructive disasters linked to the Death Dreamscape. As the clouds cleared and another dream cycle began, they agreed to meet at a square in the next dream.

• Zhang Heng explained that the dream recalled Han Lu’s thirteenth birthday and that her mother had gone looking for her after canceling their zoo trip.
• Rabbit suspected the dragons and other disasters were intrusions caused by the Death Dreamscape, and she and Zhang Heng set out to find Han Lu before she was harmed.
• Zhang Heng and Rabbit hired a local guide and searched three places Han Lu’s mother had named, but they did not find her.
• Zhang Heng abandoned the final search location when a dragon landed nearby and the clouds began to clear.
• Rabbit and Zhang Heng agreed to meet at a square that would later become an IKEA, and the third dream cycle began.

Zhang Heng arrived in Durham during another dream and searched for Han Lu at Durham University. With her roommate’s help, he headed to the Oriental Museum after learning it was a place Han Lu went when she felt distressed, while strange clouds signaled that his time was running short.

• Zhang Heng learned that he was in Durham, England, and took a taxi to Durham University, leaving the driver unconscious in the trunk after he could not pay the fare.
• Zhang Heng met Han Lu’s short-haired roommate, who recognized that he was looking for Han Lu and agreed to help him find her.
• Zhang Heng and Han Lu’s roommate checked the tennis courts, but Han Lu was not there.
• Zhang Heng asked where Han Lu might hide if she were scared, and her roommate suggested the Oriental Museum.
• Zhang Heng urged her to take him to the museum as strange clouds appeared earlier than before and his dreams grew shorter.

Zhang Heng brought the short-haired girl to the Oriental Museum, where Rabbit said Han Lu had already left and warned that the disasters were coming sooner. After the girl departed, Zhang Heng accused Rabbit of being Hypnos in disguise, and she challenged his deduction by asking how he could explain the disasters she had experienced.

• The short-haired girl told Zhang Heng about her past relationship and her quiet hobbies, and he assured her she would find happiness in the future.
• Zhang Heng and the short-haired girl arrived at the Oriental Museum, where she paid his admission using Han Lu's tab.
• Zhang Heng encountered Rabbit and Freddy, and Rabbit said Han Lu had left fifteen minutes earlier and that the disasters were occurring at shorter intervals.
• Zhang Heng sent the short-haired girl away, then accused Rabbit of being Hypnos based on her failure to mention her teammates and her choice of their previous meeting place.
• Rabbit denied Zhang Heng's accusation and asked how he explained the disasters she had experienced.

Zhang Heng realized the disasters in Han Lu’s dreams were defenses against Hypnos, but Rabbit corrected him: they targeted every outside invader, including Zhang Heng. As Agent Smith entered the museum, Zhang Heng faced a new threat while Rabbit prepared to use his identity to reach the others.

• Zhang Heng explained that Han Lu’s disasters were meant to destroy memories and information that could help Rabbit find her.
• Rabbit admitted she was Hypnos and said she planned to deal with Zhang Heng before using his identity to reach Shen Xixi and the others.
• Rabbit sent Freddy to attack Zhang Heng, but Zhang Heng defeated him and slammed him through a museum display case.
• Agent Smith entered the museum after a fight outside, and Rabbit identified him as the dream’s next disaster.
• Rabbit corrected Zhang Heng’s theory, explaining that the disasters targeted all outside invaders, including him.

Zhang Heng and Rabbit fought Smith and his multiplying copies in the museum, until Rabbit used her harmonica to put everyone to sleep. She then tried to reveal the dream hidden in Zhang Heng’s heart, but what she saw terrified her.

• Smith assimilated a museum employee, while another Smith attacked Rabbit and Zhang Heng.
• Zhang Heng evaded Smith’s attacks and struck him with a bronze sword, but Smith snapped the weapon in two.
• Rabbit feigned defeat, put one Smith to sleep, and tried to leave, but returned when she found dozens of Smith copies outside.
• Rabbit played her harmonica, putting Zhang Heng and the Smiths to sleep despite Zhang Heng piercing his own eardrum.
• Rabbit invoked Hypnos to reveal Zhang Heng’s hidden dream, then trembled in horror at the nightmare she glimpsed.

Zhang Heng woke in the real world after the Death Dreamscape and learned that Han Lu had escaped its curse, though no one knew why Hypnos had spared them. He stayed behind while Shen Xixi left for school, with the mystery of the dream unresolved.

• Zhang Heng woke beside Han Lu at her home and confirmed with Shen Xixi that they had left the dream.
• Shen Xixi explained that Han Lu had awakened after the third dream, while Zhang Heng alone remained asleep.
• Zhang Heng told Shen Xixi that Hypnos had disguised himself as Rabbit and later played a harmonica that made everyone collapse.
• Zhang Heng and Shen Xixi exchanged what they knew but could not explain Han Lu's escape or Hypnos's actions.
• Shen Xixi agreed to keep Han Lu's survival secret and invited Zhang Heng to join her effort to organize players.
• Shen Xixi left for school as dawn broke, while Zhang Heng stayed to wait for Han Lu to wake.

Hypnos confronted an old man about the gods’ game and the threat of a powerful, widely known being. The old man offered to help Pasithea and deal with Set, while insisting that his own plan remained under control.

• Hypnos woke in his cabin after Pasithea’s harp music calmed him, then found an old man waiting in the living room.
• The old man reminisced about Pasithea and warned that forgotten old gods would eventually disappear.
• Hypnos accused the old man of betraying their side and argued that they should have fought their opponents directly instead of accepting the game.
• Hypnos revealed that he had chosen Shen Xixi as a possible candidate for Pasithea but had encountered something terrifying in a dream.
• The old man asked Hypnos to forget what he had seen, and Hypnos angrily warned that the being’s growing fame could lead to disaster.
• The old man said he had a plan and offered to find Pasithea another agent and stop Set from copying Hypnos’s Death Dreamscape.