Chapter Summaries

Yu Sheng, who had been living for two months in an unfamiliar version of Boundary City where he alone could see strange things, encountered a malicious freezing rain on his way home. A many-eyed frog attacked him, and Yu Sheng died after it pierced his heart.

• Yu Sheng avoided a tall, shadowy figure beneath a streetlamp and took a detour through an old alley.
• Rain began falling, and the temperature plunged as the raindrops turned painfully sharp.
• Yu Sheng found the street deserted and tried to get help at a nearby door, only to discover it was painted onto a wall.
• A nearly one-meter-tall frog covered in eyes rose from the water and attacked Yu Sheng with its tongue.
• Yu Sheng dodged and lunged at the frog with his collapsible baton, but its tongue pierced his heart, killing him.

Little Red Riding Hood investigated a localized Rain Frog attack that killed Yu Sheng, while Captain Song and Doctor Lin arrived to examine the scene. They found Yu Sheng’s identification unreadable, and the chapter ended with Captain Song’s team preparing to return to the Bureau with Doctor Lin.

• Little Red Riding Hood found Yu Sheng’s corpse and reported that a localized Rain had spawned a Rain Frog and then detached from The Crossroads.
• Captain Song and Doctor Lin arrived with the Special Operations Bureau team, and Doctor Lin identified the victim as Yu Sheng, twenty-four years old.
• Doctor Lin and Little Red Riding Hood discovered that grime obscured Yu Sheng’s identification card, leaving his identity details unreadable at the scene.
• Little Red Riding Hood said there did not seem to have been any victims, and Doctor Lin expressed relief.
• Captain Song’s team restarted their van and prepared to return to the Bureau with Doctor Lin.

Yu Sheng returned home after apparently dying at the hands of Frog, only to find himself alive and unharmed. When he investigated a strange noise in the dark, he heard a young woman laugh from behind the permanently locked room’s door, revealing that someone might be inside.

• Yu Sheng remembered Frog tearing out his heart, but confirmed he was alive and had no wounds.
• Yu Sheng returned to his old house, checked his chest, and fell asleep on the living room sofa.
• A loud thud woke Yu Sheng, and he discovered the house lights had gone out.
• Yu Sheng searched the house and found everything normal except the locked room at the end of the second-floor hall.
• Yu Sheng tried the locked doorknob and heard a young woman laugh from inside, making him realize someone was there.

Yu Sheng discovered that a mocking voice came from the locked room in his Safe House, and a vivid dream of chopping at its door left him with a real back injury and an invisible doorknob. He opened the room and found only a painting, whose hidden occupant answered when he called out.

• Yu Sheng heard laughter behind the locked door, took an axe, and tried to break it open, but the door remained unharmed.
• A second voice inside complained that Yu Sheng might chop its speaker first, and Yu Sheng strained his waist as his final axe strike revealed a flash near the hinge.
• Yu Sheng woke on the sofa with the same back injury and realized that his experience had not been an ordinary dream.
• Yu Sheng returned to the second floor, found an invisible doorknob at the spot from his dream, and opened the previously unyielding door.
• Yu Sheng searched the empty room, noticed a skirt hem in a framed painting, and heard a guilty voice reply, “Not here!”

Yu Sheng confronted Eileen, a doll trapped inside a painting, and questioned her about the strange events in his house. Eileen explained that she had been sealed in the painting after an accident and did not know how it ended up in his home.

• Yu Sheng threatened to burn the painting, prompting Eileen to emerge from it.
• Eileen introduced herself as one of Alice's Dolls from Alice's Cabin and said she had once been part of a group.
• Yu Sheng accused Eileen of causing his strange dream, the locked room, and the irritating laughter, while joking that Alice's Cabin lowered housing prices.
• Eileen said she had been trapped inside the painting after an accident, lost contact with the other dolls, and had no control over where the painting was hung.

Yu Sheng questioned Eileen about the painting, her strange dream, and the laughter he had heard, while deciding whether to trust her. He carried her frame toward the living room, then sent it clattering down the stairs because his injured back could not manage the descent.

• Eileen suggested Yu Sheng might have bought the painting cheaply and forgotten about it, while Yu Sheng wondered if someone else had once owned his house.
• Yu Sheng asked whether Eileen had caused his dream of chopping at a locked door, and she explained that she had entered it to seek help escaping the painting.
• Eileen blamed the teddy bear for the strange laughter, but it did not laugh when she poked it, leaving Yu Sheng unconvinced.
• Yu Sheng carried Eileen's frame toward the living room as she chattered and asked about his home, his name, and his back.
• At the stairs, Yu Sheng placed the frame at the top and let it tumble down, while Eileen screamed at him.

Yu Sheng learned how Eileen could escape the oil painting, but he refused to help her immediately because he did not trust her. He left her watching television in the dining room while he prepared dinner, and Eileen said she would ask again once they knew each other better.

• Yu Sheng carried Eileen's painting downstairs and asked how someone could free her from its seal.
• Eileen explained that finding her original body was the best option, while making a temporary body required unusual materials and alchemy.
• After Yu Sheng objected, Eileen admitted ordinary materials could work, though the ritual still required his blood and some alchemy.
• Yu Sheng asked about the third escape method, but Eileen said it came with a price and discouraged him from trying it.
• Yu Sheng said he needed time to decide whether to help, and Eileen accepted his answer before asking him to turn on the television.
• Yu Sheng set Eileen's painting by the dining table, switched on the television, and began making dinner.

Yu Sheng tried to enjoy a quiet dinner with Eileen before taking out the trash, but opening his front door transported him to a desolate wilderness. He realized the door had sent him somewhere unfamiliar again, and Eileen's voice reached him from home as she asked when he would return.

• Yu Sheng cooked dinner while Eileen watched television, then set out an empty bowl and food for her to pretend to smell.
• Yu Sheng finished eating, left the dishes to soak, and carried the kitchen trash outside.
• Yu Sheng opened the front door and found himself in a cold valley among ruins, with a sinister forest and mountains surrounding him.
• Yu Sheng realized opening the door had transported him to an unfamiliar wilderness, and Eileen's voice asked when he was coming back because the television had lost its signal.

Yu Sheng found himself stranded in a strange valley and learned from Eileen that he had fallen into an Otherworld. He also discovered that Boundary City, where he had believed he lived normally, was itself an Otherworld, while Little Red Riding Hood searched Wutong Road for signs of a passage.

• Yu Sheng reached the ruins of a temple for shelter and contacted Eileen, who confirmed she could speak to him through their connection.
• Eileen told Yu Sheng he had likely fallen into an Otherworld, then revealed that he should already know about them because he lived in one every day.
• Little Red Riding Hood searched Wutong Road with her wolves and reported to the Special Operations Bureau that she had found no sign of an open passage or anything that escaped.
• Yu Sheng recalled Eileen's explanation of Otherworlds and realized his home in Boundary City was an abnormal realm beyond the ordinary world.

Yu Sheng searched the Otherworld for an exit while Eileen explained how to recognize one, but a monstrous beast appeared and devoured him. As he died, Yu Sheng bit the beast and ended his connection with Eileen.

• Eileen told Yu Sheng that Otherworld exits could be found near the Original Landing Point and warned him to trust his spiritual intuition.
• Yu Sheng and Eileen discussed how his home might itself be an Otherworld, and Yu Sheng realized its doors might not lead where he expected.
• Yu Sheng searched the clearing outside the ruined temple but found no obvious exit, then headed farther into the valley.
• A giant beast took shape after Yu Sheng heard its breathing and saw its misty outline, then attacked him.
• As the beast tore him apart, Yu Sheng bit into it and told Eileen he was hanging up before dying.

Yu Sheng revived after dying in the ruined temple and realized he could use repeated deaths to learn the Otherworld’s rules and escape. As he set out to explore, the giant beast appeared again, and he warned Eileen that he was about to lose contact.

• Yu Sheng returned from the darkness, recovered in the ruined temple, and found the beast gone from the bloodied ground outside.
• Yu Sheng spoke with Eileen, learned that only about half an hour might have passed, and said his injuries had healed.
• Yu Sheng headed into the Otherworld and told Eileen he was happy to be there because dying repeatedly might help him discover its rules and find a way out.
• Yu Sheng promised to try making Eileen a body, then admitted his sculpting experience was limited to watching online videos.
• Yu Sheng spotted the giant beast by the roadside and told Eileen he was about to hang up again.

Yu Sheng fought the giant beast after discovering he could predict its attacks, endure severe injuries, and heal, but the creature eventually tore him apart. As he awaited death, a girl rushed in to save him and accidentally obliterated everything below his neck with a headbutt.

• Yu Sheng dodged the beast’s first attack, blocked its claw, and discovered that his injuries healed while he fought.
• The beast bound Yu Sheng with its tongue, but he tore free and stabbed one of its eyes with a shard of rock.
• Yu Sheng’s hunger awakened, and he bit into the beast, believing he could return and learn to defeat it after each death.
• As the beast ate him, Yu Sheng heard a girl call out that she was coming to save him and briefly realized there were other people in the valley.
• The girl charged into Yu Sheng with a subsonic headbutt, destroying everything below his neck as he protested that she had missed.

After returning from death, Yu Sheng studied the boundary between darkness and reality, hoping to understand how he could escape the Otherworld. In the ruined temple, he found the fox-eared girl who had headbutted him, starving and scavenging his kitchen waste, and their eyes met.

• Yu Sheng drifted through the darkness, recalling the fox-eared girl, the monster, Eileen, and his home in Boundary City.
• Yu Sheng reasoned that he had entered an Otherworld centered on himself and focused on learning how to return to the normal world.
• Yu Sheng woke in the ruined temple and tried to remember the instant he crossed back into reality.
• Yu Sheng noticed someone moving outside and cautiously spotted the fox-eared girl searching the ruins.
• Yu Sheng watched the starving girl eat scraps from his kitchen-waste bag, then met her gaze as she noticed him.

Yu Sheng met a starving fox-tailed girl among the temple ruins and gave her bread and chocolate instead of letting her eat garbage. After eating, she introduced herself as Huli.

• Yu Sheng reminded the fox girl that they had met earlier, but she did not seem to remember him.
• Huli asked to eat the kitchen scraps because she was hungry, and Yu Sheng stopped her.
• Yu Sheng gave Huli two bread rolls, and she devoured them while he warned her to slow down.
• Yu Sheng asked Eileen whether a fox spirit could eat chocolate, then gave Huli the last piece.
• Huli thanked Yu Sheng and introduced herself by saying her name was Huli.

Yu Sheng learned that Huli and the others had been stranded in the valley after their Immortal Boat crashed, though her memories of the disaster were confused. The chapter ended with Huli’s stomach hurting after she ate chocolate and biting Yu Sheng when he tried to take it away.

• Yu Sheng introduced himself to Huli, who said she and others had come from the sky aboard a large boat that crashed into the mountain.
• Huli explained that the land had become poisonous and that a powerful enemy had killed the other survivors, leaving her alone and hungry for a very long time.
• Huli called Yu Sheng her benefactor for giving her food and wondered whether he was an Immortal because his bitten finger had healed.
• Yu Sheng learned that the Immortal had been a tour guide leading a group of monsters on the Immortal Boat.
• Huli complained that her stomach hurt after eating chocolate, and she bit Yu Sheng when he tried to take it away.

After Huli tasted Yu Sheng’s blood, he glimpsed her memories and realized her hunger was being stirred by a monstrous presence. Huli transformed and attacked the creature instead of Yu Sheng, but it impaled her as she urged him to run.

• Huli apologized for biting Yu Sheng, whose wound healed with unnatural speed.
• Yu Sheng sensed Huli’s memories and overwhelming hunger through the blood she had swallowed.
• Huli remembered killing Yu Sheng during their first meeting and began to lose control as her hunger surged.
• A grotesque monster emerged behind Huli and urged her to feed on Yu Sheng.
• Huli transformed into a demon fox and attacked the monster, which pierced her with black spikes and bone fragments.
• Wounded and bleeding, Huli told Yu Sheng to run.

Yu Sheng attacked the fleshly monster to distract it and free Huli, but discovered he could open a door that carried him away from the ruined temple. He emerged near No. 66 Wutong Road, leaving Huli alone and still tormented by hunger.

• Yu Sheng hurled a bluestone slab at the monster and dodged its snake-tail counterattack while Huli remained trapped.
• Yu Sheng charged the monster, let its tail pierce him, and bit into it despite being battered through the ruins.
• A golden doorknob appeared, and Yu Sheng opened a door that carried him and the snake tail away; the closing door severed the tail.
• The monster rampaged through the temple before calming and dissolving, while Huli woke and ate scraps, then dug into the rubble as hunger overwhelmed her.
• Yu Sheng awoke by the roadside near No. 66 Wutong Road and saw the fading gate and Huli before they vanished.

Yu Sheng returned to Boundary City mortally wounded and collapsed inside his home after greeting Eileen. Meanwhile, Captain Song and Li Lin investigated Wutong Road’s unnatural lack of occult traces, and the bloodstain they discovered vanished before they could collect it.

• Yu Sheng carried the still-wriggling severed tail home, greeted Eileen, and collapsed as she screamed.
• Captain Song and Li Lin arrived at Wutong Road to investigate an Otherworld alert that had disappeared.
• Captain Song explained that Little Red Riding Hood had found the area disturbingly free of abnormal traces and planned a permanent monitoring station.
• Li Lin spotted a shrinking dark-red stain on a wall, but it vanished before he could sample it.

Song Cheng and Li Lin investigated an invisible anomaly on Wutong Road that erased memories, disrupted their equipment, and disabled their scooters. Yu Sheng returned from the darkness to his home, where Eileen greeted him.

• Song Cheng noticed that the bloodstains had vanished and warned Li Lin that something was interfering with their thoughts.
• Li Lin used a depth detector to spot a house-sized outline, but the device burned out when he reached toward it.
• Song Cheng decided to report the anomaly to the council, and he and Li Lin found their electric scooters had stopped working.
• Yu Sheng reflected on whether Eileen and Huli remembered his deaths as he drifted through the darkness toward the living world.
• Yu Sheng crossed back into his living room at No. 66 Wutong Road, and Eileen called out that he had finally returned.

After returning from Nightfall Valley, Yu Sheng told Eileen about the Otherworld and learned that its monsters were entities that could be killed but would regenerate. Eileen explained that professionals handled Otherworld incidents, but she could not explain why none had contacted Yu Sheng yet.

• Yu Sheng returned home carrying the severed tail of the monster and stowed it in the kitchen sink.
• Yu Sheng recounted his encounter with Huli and the flesh monster in Nightfall Valley, but left out his death and resurrection.
• Eileen explained that Otherworlds generated entities, which were dangerous products of their rules and could regenerate after being killed.
• Eileen advised Yu Sheng to seek professionals who dealt with Otherworlds and said official departments and civilian groups operated in the city.
• Yu Sheng wondered why no professionals had contacted him after the Otherworld reaction, and Eileen admitted she did not know.