Chapter Summaries

Li Qi and Li Qiao investigated the isolated village and discovered that its residents and surroundings seemed trapped in a repeating day. Suspecting the anomaly might be connected to the nearby ancient ruins, Li Qi chose to remain for two more days despite Li Qiao’s unease.

• Sun Yu told Li Qi about the villagers’ shortage of candles and explained that Old Man Wu’s family had refused to lend any.
• Li Qiao reported that the village held seven households and twenty-five people, and that its residents believed she was Sun Zhongguo’s distant niece.
• Li Qi concluded that the village’s strangeness likely came from a strange object or special phenomenon, rather than contamination, and decided to search for the ancient ruins for two more days.
• The next morning, Sun Zhongguo repeated his actions and words from the previous day, and the breakfast table was arranged exactly as before, leading Li Qi to suspect a loop.
• Li Qiao asked Li Qi whether they were trapped in a loop, but he chose to stay and promised to retreat to Dream Town if danger arose.

Li Qi and Li Qiao spent days investigating the village’s repeating cycle before Sun Yu recovered memories of being trapped in it. Her memories revealed that several villagers, including Old Man Wu’s family, had originally been outsiders who arrived later.

• Li Qi and Li Qiao found no connection between the cycle and contamination, the Sun Family, or a strange item, and confirmed that it began at three in the morning.
• A week after Li Qi arrived, Sun Yu began recognizing the day’s events and, prompted by Meng An, remembered the cycle and the siblings’ true identities as outsiders.
• Li Qiao questioned Sun Yu about strange people or events, but Sun Yu initially identified Li Qi and Li Qiao as the only suspicious people she remembered.
• Li Qi hypnotized Sun Yu to recover her buried memories, and she recalled that Old Man Wu’s family, a reporter couple, and a five-person Exploration Team had arrived later and become part of the village.
• Li Qi matched the reporter couple and four members of the Exploration Team to village households, but could not account for the fifth team member.

Li Qi investigated the suspicious Exploration Team and found evidence that its members had come prepared for severe cold and possibly tomb raiding. He encountered their missing fifth member, who appeared and vanished repeatedly, leading Li Qi to suspect the man disappeared whenever someone saw him.

• Li Qi questioned Sun Yu about when the cycle began, but she could not remember, so he ended the hypnosis and went to inspect the households again.
• Li Qi passed a young reporter couple clearing snow and, finding nothing unusual about them, continued to the Exploration Team's building.
• Li Qi searched the building while the four team members ignored him and found elderly people's belongings, children's toys, winter gear, a Luoyang Shovel, and a compass engraved with the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
• A disheveled fifth man ambushed Li Qi with a Baseball Bat, then vanished before the woman cooking noodles entered and failed to notice Li Qi.
• The missing man reappeared and vanished again after Li Qi caught his Baseball Bat, and Li Qi suspected that being seen caused the man's disappearance.

Li Qi escaped the village’s Sweet Dream cycle and found the real village buried under snow, where the Exploration Team had died with strange threads above their heads. At Old Man Wu’s house, he learned that the strange object Dreamweaver was trapping the village and suspected Sun Yu owned it.

• Li Qi threw the Sloppy Man, then found himself in a frozen version of the village where the man had become mindless and the Exploration Team leader lay dead.
• Li Qi discovered transparent threads above the dead villagers and saw that deep snow had buried nearly the entire village.
• Li Qi went to Old Man Wu’s house, one of the only places with a clear path, and found the old man conscious despite a thread above his head.
• Old Man Wu explained that his Discernment Glasses kept him aware and identified Dreamweaver as the strange object trapping the village in Sweet Dreams.
• Li Qi guessed that Sun Yu was the owner of Dreamweaver, and Old Man Wu responded with a knowing smile.

Li Qi learned that Old Man Wu was a former archaeology member of the Society of Ancient Ruins who had turned against its leadership and had been searching for the vanished ruins. Old Man Wu gave Li Qi a file containing the organization’s location and information, but their hope of using it to retaliate faded when Li Qi revealed that pollution had likely destroyed the major Underground Cities.

• Li Qi questioned Old Man Wu about his identity, and Old Man Wu said he had once been responsible for archaeology within the organization.
• Old Man Wu revealed that the ancient ruins had vanished worldwide and that he had left the organization’s headquarters to search for them.
• Old Man Wu retrieved a sealed file with the organization’s coordinates and records, and Li Qi confirmed he could read the documents.
• Old Man Wu explained that he had preserved the file after leaving the headquarters and resented the organization’s leaders for abandoning the search for the ruins.
• Li Qi admitted that he could not attack the organization alone, and Old Man Wu suggested sharing the file with other countries’ supernatural organizations.
• Li Qi told Old Man Wu that the Society of Ancient Ruins had spread unstoppable pollution through major Underground Cities, leaving Old Man Wu devastated.

Zhao Hong regained his memories of the Ancient Ruin Society after Little Bug called him and warned him of its plan to destroy humanity. As Little Bug and Knight Errant prepared to face capture on Ancient Ruin Island, a message from Zhao Hong revealed a way into Dream Town.

• Zhao Hong answered Little Bug's call and remembered his connection to the Ancient Ruin Society.
• Little Bug warned Zhao Hong that the Society had sealed off Ancient Ruin Island and was plotting a conspiracy that could doom the world.
• Knight Errant stopped Little Bug from using the Barrier-Free Phone for too long, and Little Bug explained that she had hoped to ask Meng An for shelter in Dream Town.
• Little Bug and Knight Errant, cornered and low on time, began preparing to play a game together as the Luminous Pearl's barrier faded.
• Both Game Consoles displayed a message from Zhao Hong containing the method for entering Dream Town.

Li Qiao searched for Li Qi and helped Zhao Hong bring two women into an isolated area of Dream Town, while Li Qi discovered Sun Yu’s spider-like Complete Form and entered her Sweet Dream. Inside the dream, he woke beside Sun Yu and began answering her question about breaking the cycle.

• Li Qiao realized the returning Li Qi was an impostor and searched Dream Town, where Zhao Hong asked her for three entry qualifications for friends trapped by the Unknown Organization.
• Li Qiao gave Zhao Hong access to an isolated area, and Kate later reported that two unfamiliar women had appeared there.
• Li Qi examined the webs around Sun Yu’s home and found Sun Yu transformed into a spider, with her dead parents inside cocoons.
• Li Qi entered Sun Yu’s Sweet Dream using a strand of web and his Spirit Silk Thread.
• Sun Yu heard the childlike Meng An ask whether everyone needed to break the cycle, then saw that his gaze had become mature.

Li Qi learned from Knight Errant and Little Bug's records that the ancient ruins organization had triggered the global disasters and deliberately released the contamination sealed in the Twelve Core Ancient Ruins. He decided to preserve the information and plan for a future confrontation, then turned his attention to Sun Yu and the Dreamweaving Strange Object.

• Sun Yu saw Meng An wake in a mature state and wondered about his identity before he asked where his sister was.
• Li Qiao explained that Knight Errant and Little Bug had escaped the ancient ruins organization, and Li Qi welcomed them into Dream Town after confirming they were not contaminated.
• Knight Errant gave Li Qi a Tablet Computer containing records of the island, including the organization's disasters, its retreat, and its release of the contamination sealed in the Twelve Core Ancient Ruins.
• Li Qi concluded that the ancient ruins organization was responsible for the apocalypse and resolved to destroy it only after he had enough power and information.
• Li Qi asked Liu Cheng to preserve the Tablet Computer, then went to find Li Qiao and Sun Yu to address Sun Yu's situation and investigate Dreamweaving.

Li Qi helped Sun Yu break the villagers’ cycles within her dream while letting her hold on to her final happy moments. Sun Yu accepted that she was dying, revealed the direction of the missing ruins and the strange grocery store where she found her spiderweb-like headscarf, then rejected Li Qi’s offer to save her and sent him back to reality.

• Li Qi stopped Sun Yu from confronting the possibility that her world was a dream, then helped her break the villagers’ cycles by encouraging them to act differently.
• As Sun Yu’s dream approached its happy ending, Li Qiao questioned whether they should let her remain in it, and Li Qi sent her back to Dream Town.
• Sun Yu admitted to Li Qi that she knew the world was a dream and could not accept her family’s deaths or her own ending in the snowy mountains.
• Sun Yu pointed Li Qi toward the dream’s darkness, saying the moving ruins had disappeared in that direction, and explained that she had obtained her headscarf from a special grocery store.
• Li Qi offered to save Sun Yu by bringing her to Dream Town, but she refused, entrusted dream weaving to him, and told him not to follow her example before he returned to reality.

After Sun Yu died, Li Qi claimed Dream Weaving and entered the Dream World to search for the ancient ruin she had described. He found the Strange Item Grocery Store and tried to force open its sealed warehouse door.

• Li Qi offered Old Man Wu shelter in Dream Town, but Old Man Wu chose to stay with the Sloppy Youth and warned Li Qi to flee if the ancient ruin proved too dangerous.
• Sun Yu died after holding on for two more days, and Dream Weaving fell from her head as the spider silk around the house vanished.
• Li Qi put on Dream Weaving and entered a sunlit dream, following a cobblestone road in the direction Sun Yu had indicated.
• A 1990s-style grocery store appeared across the road, and Li Qi entered despite the powerful attraction coming from the strange objects inside.
• Li Qi found no shopkeeper, climbed over the checkout counter, and discovered that the warehouse door would not open even when he used strengthening magic.
• Li Qi kicked the sealed warehouse door hard.

Li Qi accepted NPC authority from the phantom and discovered that the Grocery Store was an Adventure Shop with a game-like system. He took control of the shop as its temporary shopkeeper, sent the Death Scythe back to guard the warehouse, and watched the World Spirit vanish.

• The phantom rescued Li Qi from the Death Scythe and explained that she could give him Special Guide authority to access the shop's core.
• Li Qi used Rule Observation to touch the shop's Threads of Rules and received Guide NPC authority, leading him to suspect the world was a game.
• With his new sight, Li Qi saw the Adventure Shop's core, the Death Scythe's level, and the information above his own head.
• The World Spirit restrained the Death Scythe while Li Qi touched the core and became the temporary shopkeeper.
• Li Qi ordered the Death Scythe back to the warehouse, but the displeased World Spirit disappeared before he could question her.

Li Qi considered whether the world was a game and concluded that biting the World Barrier might reveal the truth, but he needed an Anchor Point to return afterward. He found Strange Items that could help him prepare, and set out for Dream Town to sign a Devil's Contract.

• Li Qi reasoned that the five civilizations might be successive game versions, while questioning whether the world was truly a game.
• Li Qi decided to leave the world as a soul and bite the World Barrier, but realized he needed an Anchor Point to return.
• Li Qi examined Strange Items from past civilizations and inferred that the Second Civilization had focused on Beast Taming.
• Li Qi speculated that an autonomous game system might have changed its Power System and caused each civilization's apocalypse.
• Li Qi chose the Devil's Contract and Heart of Holy Light, planning to use a Substitute Doll to avoid the Heart's cost, then headed to Dream Town.

Li Qi tried to bite into the World Barrier and was swallowed by darkness, while five years passed in the apocalypse as humanity survived underground. Zhao Hong visited Dream Town and found that Meng An had finally awakened.

• Li Qi followed his soul's hunger to a spot on the World Barrier, ate part of the world, and fell unconscious.
• Humanity formed underground cities, learned to relocate them using Strange Items, and endured five years of recurring contamination attacks.
• Zhao Hong ordered a response to fast-moving Contact-Type Contamination near his Underground City, and the Third Action Team stopped it.
• Zhao Hong returned to Dream Town to check on Meng An, who had been acting like a robot since his main consciousness disappeared five years earlier.
• Meng An greeted Zhao Hong, and Zhao Hong wept with joy at seeing him awake.

After awakening from five years of sleep, Li Qi gained the Player Qualification talent, which preserved his skills and converted learning into levelable abilities. He learned that humanity was still fleeing increasingly frequent pollution, then prepared to leave the world after settling a final matter at the Ancient Ruins Association.

• Li Qi examined his Player Panel and realized Player Qualification granted permanent mastery and let him turn what he learned into skills.
• Li Qi asked Zhao Hong about the five years he had missed, and Zhao Hong explained that humanity detected pollution in advance and relocated the Underground City whenever necessary.
• Zhao Hong told Li Qi that humanity had moved six times, including twice that year, as pollution incursions became more frequent.
• Li Qi told Zhao Hong he planned to leave but promised to return after handling his affairs.
• Li Qi called Knight Errant and Little Bug and had them take him to the Ancient Ruins Association headquarters to settle old debts.

Li Qi entered the Dream World with Dreamweave and found a hidden Core Ancient Ruin, where the World Spirit explained the player quest and revealed her connection to Zhang Fengyun. Li Qi learned that his grandmother had merged with the World Will after sensing he had changed, and the World Spirit had repeatedly guided and helped him; he then entered the ruin with her.

• Li Qi entered the Dream World at the vanished Ancient Ruin Island and found a hidden ancient ruin atop the floating ice.
• The World Spirit explained that the Twelve Core Ancient Ruins were dungeons players had to conquer to seal the pollution and bring back the sun.
• Li Qi recognized the World Spirit as resembling Zhang Fengyun, and she explained that his grandmother had merged with the World Will through the Heart of the World.
• The World Spirit revealed that Zhang Fengyun had sensed Li Qi was no longer himself and believed he had awakened past-life memories.
• The World Spirit explained how she had guided Li Qi to Dreamweave, the Grocery Store, and temporary NPC Authority, and Li Qi entered the ancient ruin with her.

Li Qi defeated the ruins’ monsters, learned that the Main System’s fifth update would lead to the world’s destruction, and activated the seal to slow the apocalypse. He found Ancient Ruin Island in ruins and discovered through Brigina’s memories that her power struggle had destroyed the Ancient Ruin Society.

• Li Qi cleared the ruins’ level-120 monsters and learned from the World Spirit that the world was managed like a game by a higher-dimensional company.
• Li Qi defeated the qilin Lord Boss and learned that the Main System’s fifth update would collapse the system and destroy the world in the short term.
• Li Qi asked about the Ancient Ruin Society, then activated the seal, increasing World Salvation Progress to 1/12.
• Li Qi and the World Spirit found Ancient Ruin Island devastated, with Brigina as its only visible survivor.
• Li Qi investigated Brigina’s memories and learned that her ambition and repeated use of the Gate of Life caused her to lose control and bring down the Ancient Ruin Society.

Li Qi discovered that Star Core, an Ancient Ruin Society strange object, planned to preserve the Main System and rule the New World, a plan the World Spirit admitted might work. Distrusting Star Core and its collective consciousness, Li Qi used the Golden Key to connect with it and overwhelmed its will with his amplified soul power.

• Li Qi beheaded Brigina after finding her wandering the ruined Ancient Ruin Island.
• Li Qi and the World Spirit found a replica Main System Core in the society’s deepest underground facility.
• Star Core revealed that it was the World Management Center, a strange object holding administrative permissions and backups of Ancient Ruin Society members.
• The World Spirit explained that Star Core’s plan to preserve the Main System’s power might be feasible, though unlikely.
• Li Qi drove the Golden Key into Star Core and used its amplification with Player Qualification to overwhelm the Star Core Will.

Li Qi used the Golden Key to devour the star core and gained part of the Main System’s authority, learning that the system would soon reset. He revealed a plan to save the world by reaching the civilization outside it, then gathered time-related strange items and asked the World Spirit about the Black Domain.

• Li Qi used the Golden Key to painfully plunder the star core’s soul and consciousness, and the World Spirit recoiled in fear.
• After absorbing the star core, Li Qi became a figure of light and gained part of the Main System’s authority.
• Li Qi told the World Spirit that the Main System would reset, but said the world could be saved if its connection to the system was severed from outside.
• Li Qi explained that he could reach the outside world through death and reincarnation, but needed to overcome the world’s limited remaining time.
• Li Qi dismantled the Clock of Time Stasis and other time-related strange items, combining their ability cores into one.
• Li Qi asked the confused World Spirit whether she had heard of the Black Domain, then realized her world had no Three-Body Problem.

Li Qi activated a plan to envelop the Apocalypse World in a Black Domain, slowing its time, while repairing Yi Cheng’s damaged core and learning the history of its five civilizations. After the Light Domain covered the world, he found the enormous World Bubble connected to it and entered by biting through its World Barrier.

• Li Qi explained his Black Domain plan to the World Spirit, who agreed to let him try.
• Li Qi froze time in Dream Town, removed and crushed Mu Xi’s Reincarnation Pearl, and restored Yi Cheng’s damaged Undead Core.
• Li Qi sent a sphere of wondrous-item abilities into the Main System Core, then searched the Sea of Worlds for the Apocalypse World’s connected world.
• As the Light Domain enveloped the Apocalypse World, Li Qi witnessed the struggles of its first four civilizations and learned how their remnants shaped the Fifth Civilization.
• Li Qi found a World Bubble as large as Jupiter compared with the Apocalypse World and bit through its World Barrier, falling inside.

Hongye infiltrated the Richie Starship to gather intelligence on the Ninth Imperial Princess, but her attempt to plant a listening device near Richie's seat was interrupted. Richie arrived and stopped the guards from arresting her, leaving Hongye instantly captivated by him.

• Hongye boarded the Richie Starship under an arranged identity to spy on the Ninth Imperial Princess during its journey to the frontier.
• Hongye took a server job in the Princess's Private Restaurant and spent several days looking for a place to hide a Listening Device.
• Hongye approached the seat reserved for Richie, and the steward kicked her down and ordered the Royal Knights to investigate and arrest her.
• Richie arrived and told the steward that there was no need to make a fuss, then allowed Hongye to look at him in person.
• Hongye became infatuated with Richie, but the steward slapped her again.