Recaps

Cheng Shi awoke as prisoner number six in a Grand Inquisition prison, where every inmate wore an iron Prison Helmet. As the red-clad prisoners began to assess their situation, one teammate revealed he was a Prophet, while Cheng Shi privately trusted his own prophecy that he would win the trial.

• Cheng Shi woke in a cage wearing an iron Prison Helmet and discovered he was the sixth of six red-clad prisoners.
• Cheng Shi observed that prisoners of matching uniform colors were held together in numbered rings, while guards in Grand Inquisition uniforms patrolled the prison.
• A prisoner in Cell Five complained that his helmet could not be removed and wondered if Order was responsible.
• Teammate One claimed his prophecy showed that only the person who had locked on the helmets could undo Order's shackle.
• Cheng Shi recognized Teammate One as a fellow follower of Destiny and recalled his own prophecy that he would win the trial.

Before the Special Trial, Cheng Shi used a prophecy to foresee his victory and switched to a Warrior Mask to prepare for danger. In the prison trial, the captives introduced themselves, traded suspicions and jokes, and began discussing their restraints and possible cooperation.

• Cheng Shi used the Singer Mask to prophesy that he would win the Special Trial, then changed into a Warrior Mask before entering it.
• Li Yi introduced himself as Prophet 2269 and urged his cellmates to trust one another based on his prophecies.
• The Room 2 player mocked Li Yi, called himself Ji Er, and refused to commit to cooperation.
• Gao San introduced himself as Civilization, Warrior, Ladder 2071, described his attempts to study the Prison Helmet, and advised everyone to use it as protection.
• Cheng Shi suspected that Gao San followed Truth, though he wondered whether Gao San was an unusually unstudious follower.

Cheng Shi watched his prison teammates reveal their identities and grew suspicious as several of them claimed the path of Nothingness. The chapter left him wondering whether Zhao Si and Su Wu were truly believers of Destiny or hiding something.

• After Zhao Si's joke sparked laughter, prison guards whipped the prisoners, while Cheng Shi pretended to be stupid and Ji Er drew their attention by cursing.
• Ji Er stabbed himself in the thigh to heal, revealing that he was a Battle Marshal, then insulted Gao San when he asked for help.
• Zhao Si introduced himself as a Nothingness Mage with Ladder score 2333, prompting Cheng Shi to suspect he might be a Master of Trickery.
• Su Wu revealed that he was a Nothingness Hunter with Ladder score 2196 and identified himself as The Final Stroke, a Hunter of Destiny.
• Zhao Si then said he was a screenwriter, a Mage of Destiny.

Cheng Shi tested his fellow prisoners by claiming to follow Deception, openly performing an Edict of Passage while leaving his teammates unsure which of his statements were lies. The prison’s knights then arrived and dragged away two rival prisoners who each claimed to be the true heir to the Thorn Tribe.

• Cheng Shi introduced himself as a follower of Nothingness, then revealed that he was a follower of Deception and an acrobat.
• Ji Er, Gao San, and Li Yi questioned Cheng Shi about his strange gestures, his identity, and how he would cooperate with the others.
• Cheng Shi prayed with a white Mask to complete his Edict of Passage, then touched his helmet’s nostril again and left the others guessing whether he had lied.
• A squad of knights entered the prison and dragged away two prisoners who each accused the other of impersonating the Thorn Tribe’s heir.

Cheng Shi learned that he and the others were imprisoned in Montrani’s Deathmatch Arena, where condemned prisoners were forced to fight until only one survived. Li Yi explained the arena’s rules, and Ji Er revealed that Li Yi had used a strange playing card to make a prisoner tell the truth, prompting Cheng Shi to suspect he was a Mage.

• Cheng Shi questioned his white-uniformed cellmate about escaping, then learned that Iron Law Knights were in Montrani for the annual Deathmatch Arena and that a Chief Judge would pardon the winner.
• Cheng Shi recognized Montrani as the birthplace of the New Law Faction and recalled enduring a trial there under absurd laws.
• Li Yi told the group that prisoners sentenced to Death Sentence were made to fight one another until a lone survivor earned a pardon and might join the Punishment Knights.
• Ji Er pointed out that Li Yi had placed a playing card with a drawn mouth on Cheng Shi’s cellmate to make him reveal information.
• Cheng Shi realized that a playing card like that was associated with the Mage profession, the Singer of Deception.

Li Yi revealed that he was the Magician and proposed escaping the prison by exploiting a special open day for Montrani’s nobles. The group began discussing a plan, but Li Yi first asked Zhao Si and another person to share their information.

• Li Yi admitted he was the Magician and said his two prophecy cards had truthfully identified Su Wu as an ally, then suggested Ji Er might be a Clown.
• Gao San urged the prisoners to cooperate and escape, while Cheng Shi warned that Iron Law Knights and a Chief Judge guarded the arena.
• Li Yi revealed that nobles would visit the prison that night and proposed using the event to distract the guards and escape.
• Li Yi showed an Honest Card attached to his chest to support his claim, leaving Ji Er silent.
• Zhao Si asked for Li Yi’s plan, and Li Yi asked Zhao Si and another person, whom he called the Teacher Screenwriter, to share their information first.

The prisoners and players discussed how to escape Death Sentence by exchanging identities during the chaos of the arena, but the plan remained incomplete. A prisoner revealed he had a large-area Miasma Bomb and offered to use it to incapacitate the prison, leaving Cheng Shi intrigued by the Priest’s methods.

• Su Wu told Gao San that Gao San’s Destiny’s End was beneath their feet, angering him.
• Zhao Si shared accounts of prisoners disputing their identities and wealth, prompting the players to connect the stories to the trial objective.
• Cheng Shi proposed that the players exchange prison uniforms and identities during the chaos to win the trial together.
• Li Yi praised the group’s cooperation, while Su Wu questioned how they would carry out the plan safely.
• A prisoner offered to use a Miasma Bomb to fill the prison with sleep-inducing smoke for three minutes, and Cheng Shi became interested.

The players prepared to use Purification Cards and switch identities to survive the final Death Sentence duel, but the plan collapsed when the knights selected the red-uniformed prisoners for a simultaneous fight. A burst of ordinary War Fog triggered a brief prison battle, and when the fog cleared, a red-uniformed prisoner lay dead as the knight captain insisted someone had exploited the chaos.

• Li Yi gave the players Purification Cards, while Gao San proposed dividing the prison into areas and avoiding one another after switching identities.
• The knights returned with a mangled corpse and began selecting prisoners for another Death Sentence duel, including the red-uniformed players.
• Ji Er's cell area filled with ordinary War Fog, and several players' glowing Purification Cards revealed their positions to the knights.
• Punishment Knights fought prisoners in the fog until higher-ranking knights dispersed it with Order's radiance.
• The fog cleared to reveal shattered cells, wounded guards and prisoners, and a dead red-uniformed prisoner; the knight captain denied killing him and accused someone of exploiting the chaos.

After the fog cleared, Cheng Shi realized that Su Wu had been killed and Li Yi had vanished, while an attacker disguised as Ji Er had struck several people. The knights brought the final Death Sentence battle forward and sealed the scene, leaving the players and guards suspicious of one another.

• Cheng Shi dodged an attack that sounded like Ji Er, wounded the attacker, and used a Purification Card to draw the guards away from himself.
• Cheng Shi discovered Su Wu dead with a Purification Card on his back, while Li Yi and the final card were missing.
• Cheng Shi, Zhao Si, and Gao San searched for Li Yi and suspected one another as Ji Er acted terrified and denied causing the chaos.
• Apol reported fighting an agile assassin in the fog and showed three gunshot wounds, warning that the incident might be a planned assassination.
• The high-ranking knight ordered the final Death Sentence battle to begin early, barred everyone from leaving, and demanded that Su Wu’s killer confess.

Cheng Shi and Zhao Si tried to identify who had caused the prison chaos as the Iron Law Knights forced the players into death matches. Gao San was killed by Ji Er, revealing Ji Er as the one behind the trap.

• The Iron Law Knights confirmed that Su Wu was dead and dragged the red-uniformed players to the arena for simultaneous death matches.
• Gao San approached the frightened Ji Er in the arena and said he had to stay alive, while Ji Er begged him not to kill him.
• Cheng Shi and Zhao Si secretly exchanged messages and each concluded that the other had not caused the chaos, leaving Ji Er or Gao San as the likely culprit.
• Less than ten minutes later, the Iron Law Knights dragged back Gao San's corpse, revealing that Ji Er had killed him and had orchestrated the trap.

Cheng Shi realized that Zhao Si had used deception to make the knights mistake him for No. 4, and he pieced together that several supposed players had staged escapes. He concluded that Ji Er was a victim of Deception, while he himself was the lone clown left in the arena.

• The knights identified Cheng Shi as No. 4 and dragged him toward the arena instead of choosing Zhao Si.
• Cheng Shi realized Zhao Si was a Master of Trickery and suspected that the prison’s vanished rats signaled the Beast Tamer’s escape.
• Cheng Shi concluded that Su Wu and the Final Stroke were fabricated, and that the magician, Beast Tamer, and acrobat had all escaped through deception.
• Cheng Shi recognized Gao San as an acrobat who had faked his death and escaped the final death match.
• Cheng Shi realized he was the only true clown and identified Ji Er as a Deception Assassin and victim.

Cheng Shi realized Ji Er was a victim whose Fatal Reversal could reflect a fatal attack, and he concluded that Ji Er had used the ability to kill Apol. In the arena, Cheng Shi exposed Ji Er’s identity and began a battle of deception, ending with the revelation that Ji Er also had the Master of Deception talent.

• Cheng Shi deduced that Ji Er was a victim who could return fatal damage to its source, and that Ji Er had used the ability against Apol.
• Cheng Shi reasoned that Gao San had likely faked his death after discovering Ji Er’s identity or weakness.
• The Iron Law Knight dragged Cheng Shi from prison into the arena, where Ji Er awaited him and the Chief Judge watched from the VIP seats.
• Cheng Shi taunted Ji Er by calling him a victim protected by Him, making Ji Er realize his identity had been exposed.
• Cheng Shi inferred from Ji Er’s reaction that he possessed the Master of Deception talent and prepared for their contest of lies.

Cheng Shi tried to unsettle Ji Er by suggesting Gao San had the Master of Deception talent, causing Ji Er to conclude that Gao San had faked his death as an acrobat. Cheng Shi attacked, but Ji Er recognized his weak combat ability, wounded him, and destroyed his attempt to heal, leaving the duel unresolved.

• Cheng Shi pressured Ji Er with taunts, but Ji Er ran backward to keep his distance.
• Cheng Shi suggested Gao San might have the Master of Deception talent, and Ji Er realized Gao San had faked his death and escaped as an acrobat.
• Cheng Shi charged Ji Er with surgical knives, but Ji Er deflected the attacks and recognized that Cheng Shi was not a combat profession.
• Ji Er guessed that Cheng Shi was a Priest and attacked him, then exploited Cheng Shi's fatigue to cut him repeatedly and knock him down.
• Ji Er taunted Cheng Shi into trying to heal, then shattered the bottle of Past Prosperity with a flying blade and forbade him from using items.

Cheng Shi used a planted die and Destiny’s power to recover and kill Ji Er, who mistook him for a Battle Marshal and hesitated to reflect his attack. The deathmatch ended with Ji Er decapitated and Cheng Shi standing over his corpse.

• Ji Er wounded Cheng Shi with poisoned throwing knives and taunted him, believing Cheng Shi was hiding a healing trump card.
• Cheng Shi claimed he had become a Decay Priest and a Battle Marshal in earlier rounds, revealing that his lies were genuine and making Ji Er suspect he had the Lies Like Yesterday talent.
• Cheng Shi used Edict of Passage and a die buried in the mud to invoke Destiny’s favor, restoring his strength as he attacked Ji Er with a scalpel.
• Ji Er hesitated, convinced the attack was a trick meant to provoke him into reflecting damage, and prepared to retaliate.
• Cheng Shi’s slash severed Ji Er’s head, killing him instantly.

Cheng Shi survived Ji Er’s death match and discovered that Zhao Si had escaped by using Deception to leave a mimicking Punishment Knight in his place. An explosion in the prison interrupted the final match, but the Chief Judge declared all death-sentence prisoners guilty and ordered the Iron Law Knights to execute them on sight.

• After Ji Er’s death, deputy captain Grindel expressed interest in recruiting Cheng Shi to the Iron Law Knights.
• Cheng Shi recognized that Zhao Si had used Abstract Mimicry to escape, leaving a Punishment Knight in his place.
• Explosions beneath the arena shook the prison and threw the spectators and guards into chaos.
• The mimicking Punishment Knight woke and lunged at Cheng Shi as he waited for the judges to rule on the interrupted match.
• The Chief Judge sentenced every death-sentence prisoner in the arena to immediate execution and ordered the Iron Law Knights to kill them on sight.

Cheng Shi escaped the Iron Law Knights by triggering a catastrophic arena collapse with his talent, then used a Dice to swap himself into the underground ruins. He survived the collapse and wondered whether his teammates had escaped and what the prophecy meant.

• The Punishment Knight tried to kill Cheng Shi, but Cheng Shi stabbed him in the throat and stole his armor.
• Cheng Shi activated Destiny Also Has Divergent Paths, causing a weakened support pillar to collapse and the arena to fall, burying the Iron Law Knights and spectators.
• Cheng Shi avoided the falling timbers and used his Dice to swap himself into the underground ruins.
• Cheng Shi drank Past Prosperity, healed his injuries, and cleared space among the rubble.
• Cheng Shi wondered whether his teammates had survived, then killed a green-eyed rat that emerged from the ruins.

Cheng Shi discovered that the mouse was Li Yi, whose Soul Parasite talent had left him inhabiting a dead mouse. Li Yi agreed to guide Cheng Shi to a possible exit in exchange for help finding a corpse, and Cheng Shi set off with him locked in a cage.

• Cheng Shi threatened the mouse and learned from its writing that it was Li Yi, not Su Wu, and that he had used Soul Parasite to inhabit the mouse.
• Li Yi revealed that his cards were Soul Parasite Cards and explained that he could return to human form by parasitizing a corpse.
• Cheng Shi challenged Li Yi's claim that he knew an escape route, but Li Yi identified him as a Master of Deception.
• Cheng Shi struck Li Yi for hiding that information, then agreed to collaborate: Li Yi would guide him and help with deception, while Cheng Shi would find him a corpse.
• Cheng Shi locked Li Yi in a mouse cage, and Li Yi indicated he could help remove Cheng Shi's Prison Helmet after regaining his true form.
• Cheng Shi hung the cage from his waist and began digging toward the escape route.

Cheng Shi dug through the rubble with Li Yi’s rat to escape the prison as rescuers approached, while Su Wu and Gao San discovered a hidden Tower of Reason laboratory and argued over its documents. Their standoff ended when Cheng Shi broke through the ceiling and landed in the lab, delighted to find them.

• Cheng Shi struggled to dig through the rubble with Li Yi’s rat, fearing the approaching rescue forces would make their escape impossible.
• Su Wu, transformed into a rat, found an underground laboratory beneath Montrani’s prison and recognized the Tower of Reason emblem on its documents.
• Gao San crawled into the laboratory, and he and Su Wu negotiated over the documents and what lay beyond the office door.
• Su Wu bluffed Gao San into holding back, and they began haggling over how to divide the documents.
• Cheng Shi broke through the laboratory ceiling with Li Yi’s rat cage and landed beside Su Wu and Gao San.

Cheng Shi killed Su Wu’s mouse with Thunderclap Judgment, then joined forces with Gao San to investigate the hidden laboratory beneath the arena. As footsteps approached, they used Gao San’s concealment item to hide, while Cheng Shi prepared to recruit another helper.

• Cheng Shi mistook Su Wu’s mouse for Li Yi’s clone and killed it with Thunderclap Judgment before Li Yi clarified that it was not his.
• Cheng Shi used Su Wu’s death to intimidate Gao San and proposed cooperation, then spotted the Tower of Reason’s emblem among the laboratory documents.
• Gao San offered to help Cheng Shi uncover the laboratory’s secrets, and Cheng Shi agreed after secretly rolling the Dice and getting a one.
• Hearing three people approaching, Cheng Shi and Gao San erased traces of their presence and hid beneath Gao San’s Skin of the Silent Lizard.

Therius inspected a damaged laboratory office while the Law Givers searched for the intruder, unaware that Li Yi and Cheng Shi’s group had infiltrated the laboratory. After capturing one attendant, Cheng Shi began interrogating him about the experimental materials.

• Two Law Givers froze the office under the power of Order, and Therius examined the damaged ceiling and experimental documents.
• One Law Giver reported that an intruder had dug through the ruins and left traces of Thunder Punishment, possibly identifying the intruder as Grindel.
• Li Yi revealed his disguise as Figor, stabbed the attendant, and used Gao San to restrain him.
• Cheng Shi confronted the captured attendant and began questioning him about the experimental materials.

Cheng Shi and his companions interrogated Nisik, who revealed that the Grand Inquisition had secretly run Life Assimilation experiments on Death Sentence prisoners to create controllable war machines. The chapter ended with Nisik identifying the Grand Inquisition’s Chief Judge, Lord Kainlaur, as the Great One behind the operation.

• Cheng Shi threatened Nisik with a Chaotic Precipitate and persuaded him to answer their questions.
• Nisik revealed that the laboratory used Death Sentence prisoners as experimental materials, and Li Yi and Gao San confirmed he was telling the truth.
• Nisik explained that the Life Assimilation Experiment made prisoners absorb the power of others they killed, producing powerful, controllable warriors.
• Cheng Shi questioned the experiment’s methods, but Nisik could not explain its many apparent inconsistencies.
• Nisik identified Lord Kainlaur, Chief Judge of the Grand Inquisition, as the Great One he had mentioned.

Cheng Shi uncovered that the laboratory’s experimental proposals were fake and suspected the real experiment lay beyond the office door. He agreed to cooperate temporarily with Li Yi and Gao San, then used Nisik’s corpse to learn the laboratory’s security arrangements.

• Cheng Shi had Nisik read the experimental proposal and concluded that both the documents and Nisik’s account described a false experiment.
• Cheng Shi proposed that he, Li Yi, and Gao San cooperate, but Gao San challenged his bluff about the Shadow Oath Pill and urged mutual trust.
• Li Yi argued that Cheng Shi had more reason to fear them, while Cheng Shi privately relied on the fear he had collected to ensure his Thunder Punishment could hit them.
• Cheng Shi agreed to trust Li Yi and Gao San temporarily, and Li Yi snapped Nisik’s neck.
• Cheng Shi questioned Nisik’s corpse about the laboratory’s defenses, and Nisik revealed its patrol routes and defensive deployment.

Cheng Shi, Li Yi, and Gao San entered the laboratory and discovered rows of tanks containing identical copies of the same people. The sight made Li Yi question who among them was real, and Cheng Shi suggested he might be the real Li Yi.

• Cheng Shi, Li Yi, and Gao San entered the laboratory after arguing over who would lead the way.
• Gao San uncovered a tank containing a white-haired old man who opened his blood-red eyes, while Cheng Shi and Li Yi watched from the doorway.
• Cheng Shi and Li Yi uncovered more tanks and found a red-haired young man and another old man identical to the first.
• Gao San and Li Yi uncovered rows of tanks filled with multiple identical copies of people, all without Prison Helmets.
• Li Yi questioned whether Cheng Shi and Gao San were really who they claimed to be, and Cheng Shi suggested that he might be the real Li Yi.

Li Yi, Cheng Shi, and Gao San concluded that Chaos was distorting their perceptions and continued deeper into the laboratory. They encountered Therius, the laboratory’s true master, while Gao San fled into a separate room and found another Therius.

• Li Yi and Gao San reasoned that they were not Cheng Shi’s experimental clones and agreed that Chaos was confusing their identities.
• Cheng Shi, Li Yi, and Gao San continued through the laboratory, with Gao San reluctantly taking the lead.
• A culture vessel shattered, and Therius emerged from behind the spilled liquid.
• Li Yi and Cheng Shi challenged Therius, who accused them of wearing the Gladiator Masks he had made.
• Gao San ran into a dark room, where the lights revealed Therius, whom he recognized in horror.

Cheng Shi, Li Yi, and Gao San learned that Therius’s laboratory cultivated life slices from Death Sentence convicts as part of an experiment funded by the Grand Inquisition. Therius revealed the experiment’s name, leaving its purpose and the Deathmatch verdict unresolved.

• Cheng Shi and Li Yi rejected one Therius’s invitation to remove their arena masks and followed Gao San’s trail instead.
• Cheng Shi and Li Yi found Gao San with a second Therius, who explained that both men were Therius, but one was a substitute.
• Therius described life slices as fragments of a person’s personality, memories, and life foundation that could be cultivated into another version of that person.
• Therius said the Grand Inquisition’s sponsor had used Order’s game to make Death Sentence a law so the laboratory could legally capture enough experimental subjects.
• Therius revealed that the experiment was called the Divinity Sprouting Experiment.