Chapter Summaries

Lu Ban and Stone assessed Sunset Town’s poverty and weak defenses, while Lu Ban saw little chance of recruiting residents to resist the Demon Tide. The chapter ended with Lu Ban dodging a whip from a duke’s knight who had come to seize a hundred townspeople to build a palace.

• Lu Ban and Stone walked through Sunset Town and concluded that its few impoverished residents lacked the skills and resources to build the Gray Tower or defend the town.
• Stone reflected on meeting Mr. Trist again, and Lu Ban told him that Trist would likely be gratified by the path Stone had taken.
• Stone found that contaminated water had ruined the crops, while a farmer dismissed the idea that townspeople could build defenses against monsters.
• Lu Ban and Stone returned toward the Baron's Mansion and encountered soldiers demanding one hundred able-bodied young men to build the duke’s palace.
• Lu Ban asked the red-armored knight whether he had come to defend Sunset Town, and the knight tried to whip him.
• Lu Ban dodged the whip and told Stone and the others that the knight had attacked first.

Lu Ban stopped the red-armored knight Brown from seizing workers and used the Silver Pen's Last Words to make him obedient. After learning that the duke was building palaces and the kingdom's nobles were exploiting everyone, Lu Ban decided that saving the Night Country would require more destructive methods.

• Brown whipped Lu Ban, but the wound closed around the whip and terrified Brown and his soldiers.
• Lu Ban seized Brown's sword hand and used the Silver Pen's Last Words to make Brown want to be his dog.
• Brown knelt and explained that the duke had ordered laborers seized to build another palace.
• Lu Ban questioned Brown's soldiers and concluded that the nobles were draining the kingdom while its people and troops remained unprepared.
• Lu Ban decided education could not save the Night Country and remembered things he had seen in Silence Department Store.

Lu Ban devised a way to recruit motivated laborers to help save the Night Country and investigated a monster-filled mud pit in the Black Forest. He altered the pit, intending to use it to bring players from his world into the Night Country.

• Lu Ban realized he needed professional, proactive workers and decided that players from his world were the answer.
• Lu Ban asked Baron Jero to lead him and the others to a mud pit in the Black Forest, bringing Brown along.
• A tentacled monster emerged from the mud, but Xiya pulled it out and destroyed it while Trist protected Baron Jero.
• Lu Ban spent half an hour writing information onto the mud pit, changing something about it.
• Lu Ban said he knew highly motivated laborers called players and planned to recruit them.

Lu Ban explained how he would summon players by projecting their consciousness into mimetic creatures in the swamp, then waited while Shi Ming promoted the new game. Shi Ming recruited testers for a closed test scheduled to begin the next morning, and players reacted excitedly to the announcement.

• Lu Ban told Stone, Trist, and Xiya that his gaming device could let players descend into the Night Country by projecting their consciousness into mimetic creatures.
• Lu Ban said the swamp was ready as a spawn point but that they needed to wait for promotion before summoning players.
• Lu Ban sent Shi Ming documents announcing an open-world game and asking him to recruit the first batch of testers for a closed test the next morning.
• Shi Ming posted the testing announcement on forums and social-media platforms and invited well-known players to try the game.
• Players erupted with excitement after seeing the announcement.

Three hundred testers, including Old Eggplant, began the closed beta for Cage, Morning Star’s new online open-world game. Old Eggplant entered through the mysterious door and found himself in a muddy forest among other players, where a red-armored knight ordered them to get up.

• Shi Ming and other forum users reacted to Lu Ban’s tester recruitment and speculated about Cage’s genre and setting.
• Old Eggplant received a direct download code and found a new, immovable door beside Soul Summoning in the virtual device.
• Old Eggplant and other Uploaders discussed theories that Cage was set in the Night Country and would offer a vast, highly interactive world.
• The selected testers began the closed beta the following evening, and Old Eggplant pushed open the door after it had loosened.
• Old Eggplant was pulled from a mud pit into a shadowy forest alongside other raggedly dressed players, where a red-armored knight ordered them to get up.

Brown led the 346 summoned players out of the mud pit and toward town, while Old Eggplant took charge of the group. After one player explored the forest and returned from death, Old Eggplant persuaded everyone to follow Brown and meet the baron.

• Brown asked the summoned people to line up and count themselves, and Old Eggplant reported that 346 were present.
• Brown appointed Old Eggplant to manage the players, then led them through the Black Forest toward town.
• One player ran into the forest, was killed by a man-eating flower, and returned from the mud pit excited to report that the world had no invisible walls.
• Old Eggplant persuaded the eager players to follow the main storyline instead of exploring, and Brown said he would take them to meet the baron.

Old Eggplant and the other players reached Sunset Town, where Baron Gero recruited them to build defenses and fight monsters. After Lu Ban sent them to gather materials in the Black Forest, Old Eggplant obtained a sword from Brown and led a group of players into the forest.

• Old Eggplant and the players left the Black Forest and reached the impoverished-looking Night Country.
• Baron Gero asked the players to help build a fortress and facilities for fighting monsters in Sunset Town.
• Lu Ban told the players to search the Black Forest for useful materials, prompting them to plan their first forays.
• Old Eggplant persuaded Brown to give him a sword, and nearby players rushed to follow him toward the Black Forest.
• Old Eggplant raised his sword and led several players into the forest to defend Sunset Town.

Old Eggplant led players into the Black Forest to fight a patch of deadly flowers, but they repeatedly died and lost their equipment. By evening, they had learned the flowers’ attack patterns and prepared for one last attempt to retrieve Old Eggplant’s sword.

• Old Eggplant and the players entered the Black Forest and were overwhelmed by a patch of flowers and thorny vines.
• The players crawled out of the mud and discovered that Old Eggplant’s sword had dropped among the monsters.
• Old Eggplant organized repeated attempts to distract the flowers and recover the weapons, but the group was defeated each time.
• As the players kept dying and trying again, they improved their reactions and learned some of the monsters’ attack patterns.
• By evening, Old Eggplant rallied the exhausted players for one final attempt before they would give up and return to village work.

Old C tried to trigger hidden content by helping a farmer work his field, and the players soon joined in helping the townspeople. As the players logged off for the night, Lu Ban returned to the Baron's Mansion to question the awakened Jost.

• Old C helped a farmer hoe his field, expecting to earn a hidden quest reward.
• The farmer invited Old C home for a meal, and other players rushed to help with farm and town chores.
• The townspeople wondered why the travelers were helping them, while Baron Jero watched in disbelief and Lu Ban explained that the players were easy to satisfy.
• Lu Ban waited for the players' power supplies to run low and planned to prepare rewards before they returned.
• The players logged off after night fell, and Lu Ban went back to the Baron's Mansion to speak with the awakened Jost.

Jost studied an Abyssal Flower vine with Xiya’s help and learned how to make a potion that destroyed it. He learned that Xiya came from the future, where Frost had disappeared, and asked her to help him create a system of magic for everyone.

• Jost examined specimens of the twelve Demon Tides while Xiya explained that her era used Glimmer Potion to suppress Abyssal Flowers.
• Xiya identified the ingredients for Glimmer Potion, and Jost brewed it; the solution made an Abyssal Flower vine wither and disintegrate.
• Jost deduced that Xiya came from the future and learned that the Abyssal Flowers had not been eradicated there.
• Jost lamented that only twelve Demon Tides remained after ancient mages destroyed their lords, and Xiya told him Frost had disappeared in her era.
• Jost asked Xiya to help create a system of magic for everyone, but she said she did not know whether it was possible.

Xiya explained how the magic net used a three-way handshake to grant magical knowledge while containing its contamination. Jost and Trist failed to connect to it, but Jost formed a theory about how it worked and proposed imprisoning the gods.

• Xiya explained the magic net's three-way handshake and how it protected mages from most contamination.
• Jost praised the magic net and asked to sign an agreement so he could try entering it.
• Jost recited the prayer and saw a starry void where one distant star flickered before he returned to the laboratory.
• Xiya explained that magical knowledge came from the gods, and Jost and Trist were unable to enter the magic net.
• Jost suggested that the gods might bear the contamination for magic users and proposed imprisoning them.

Jost explained that the Demon Tide might let people access knowledge safely by transferring its pollution to imprisoned, mad gods, but he could not solve how its restrictions and administration would work. Lu Ban brought in the player Only Knows a Little Bit to explain computer networks to Jost.

• Jost argued that knowledge carried pollution and proposed imprisoning mad gods to bear the pollution within the Demon Tide.
• Jost realized that the Demon Tide both granted and restricted magic, but struggled to explain how it could have sane administrators while treating every node equally.
• Lu Ban returned with Stone and said the Demon Tide resembled networks in his world, offering to find a player who could explain them.
• Stone summoned the science-popularization player Only Knows a Little Bit, who vomited after entering the Baron’s Mansion.
• Lu Ban brought Only Knows a Little Bit to Jost and asked him to explain computer-network structure and logic.

Only Knows a Little Bit explained computer networks to Jost, who connected the idea to distributing magical pollution among mages. After being made a knight-errant, Only Knows a Little Bit returned to the mansion and heard Jost propose a magic network.

• Only Knows a Little Bit explained server-based networks and communication speeds to Jost.
• Lu Ban asked Baron Jero to keep Only Knows a Little Bit with Jost to help with his research.
• Baron Jero appointed Only Knows a Little Bit as an advisor and granted him the rank of knight-errant.
• Only Knows a Little Bit logged off, posted about his appointment, and researched computer networks before returning to the game.
• Jost proposed treating each mage as a network node so that magical pollution could be distributed among more people.

Old Eggplant and the other players decided to use fire against the deadly flowers in the Black Forest, improvising torches from extra clothes. After they set the flower patch ablaze, they fled as the fire began spreading toward them.

• Old Eggplant realized the flowers were living plants and proposed burning them, then borrowed a candle flame from a farmer.
• The players lit a bonfire but found their damp branches too weak to ignite the forest properly.
• Old Eggplant tested whether starting clothes remained after death, and the players repeatedly died to duplicate their outfits.
• Old Eggplant tore the extra clothes into strips, wrapped them around sticks, and led the players back to the flower patch with torches.
• Old Eggplant and the players threw their torches into the flowers, setting the patch alight.
• When the fire began spreading toward them, Old Eggplant shouted for everyone to run.

Old Eggplant and the players cleared part of the burned Black Forest and returned monster remains to Lu Ban, who rewarded them with weapons and magically accelerated grain seeds. Old Eggplant brought the seeds back to the fields and, lacking farming knowledge, logged out to look up how to farm.

• Old Eggplant returned at dawn, found the forest fire had burned away a large area, and began clearing the land with the other players.
• Old Eggplant and several players brought charred vines to Baron's Mansion, where Stone directed them to Lu Ban for a reward.
• Lu Ban gave the players battered weapons, which they eagerly divided among themselves.
• Lu Ban gave Old Eggplant grain seeds that would mature in three days, and Old Eggplant returned to the fields with them.
• The players admitted none of them knew how to farm, so Old Eggplant logged out and searched the Old Days Video Network for farming instructions.

Old Eggplant studied real farming videos, then returned to the Night Country and helped sow an entire bag of seeds. After learning how other players were developing Sunset Town, he returned to his fields eager to keep farming.

• Old Eggplant searched for farming videos and watched several before returning to the Night Country.
• He recruited others to help sow the seeds, then logged off when his helmet battery was nearly depleted.
• While his helmet charged, Old Eggplant read news and forum posts about players fighting monsters, working farms, and developing Sunset Town.
• He ate his takeout, put his helmet back on, and returned to the Night Country.
• Old Eggplant surveyed the fields and the Black Forest, gripped his hoe, and declared that farming was fun.

Only Knows a Little Bit, Jost, and Xiya developed a magic-net design that could distribute contamination, but they lacked the powerful nodes and thousands of mages needed to operate it. As a distant curse illuminated the forest, Jost explained how powerful mages left destructive spells behind when they chose to die, and Trist contemplated his own dwindling reason and possible future sacrifice.

• Only Knows a Little Bit explained computer networks to Jost, who proposed distributing contamination among everyone connected to a magic net while retaining powerful nodes to store its core magic.
• Xiya agreed that the design required thousands of mages and speculated that mage towers amplified connections to the magic net and stored knowledge and contamination.
• Lu Ban considered whether Charlotte or Bao Bao could serve as powerful nodes, then decided not to involve them because they might upload dangerous knowledge.
• Trist noticed a vast thunderstorm over the forest, and Jost identified it as a curse left behind by a powerful mage.
• Jost described how Agni the Fire-Burner became a tornado of fire and identified the distant lightning as Solar the Thunderous's curse.
• Trist reflected that his reason was running low and wondered whether he would eventually sacrifice himself and leave something behind for the world.

Old Eggplant celebrated a bountiful harvest in Sunset Town as the crops rapidly matured and the players helped store the surplus grain. Then ominous clouds and crimson lightning appeared over the Black Forest, and Jost warned that migrating monsters might attack despite the Demon Tide not being due for six months.

• Old Eggplant watched the Night Country’s crops mature in days, and the townsfolk ate bread made from the harvest.
• Old Eggplant and the players helped Sunset Town accumulate grain and build a makeshift storage place because the town lacked a granary.
• Old Eggplant noticed the purple storm over the Black Forest had vanished and dark clouds with crimson lightning were approaching.
• Trist feared the sky signaled a Demon Tide and recalled the monsters he had faced in the Night Country.
• Jost said the Demon Tide was not expected for six months but warned that migrating monsters might pass through the forest and attack Sunset Town.

Brown and the players faced a swarm of giant insects attacking Sunset Town. After the players’ first defense was overwhelmed, Brown overcame his fear and charged the insects, which suddenly burst apart before reaching him.

• Brown prepared his knights to defend Sunset Town as the players gathered at the fields’ edge, eager to fight.
• Old Eggplant hid behind a field ridge while the storm and strange sounds swept through the forest.
• A swarm of giant, multi-eyed insects emerged from the bushes and attacked the players.
• The insects overwhelmed the players’ front line and surged across the fields toward Sunset Town.
• As the townspeople fled and Brown stood frozen, he raised his sword and charged the swarm.
• The insects in front of Brown suddenly burst apart like balloons.

Xiya stopped the insect swarm and explained how monster remains contaminated the land. She taught Jost the Spirit Torch spell, while Lu Ban recognized its flame as resembling Purifying Flame.

• Xiya crushed the attacking insects with magic, and the remaining swarm retreated into the forest.
• Old Eggplant returned to town and found Brown and the townspeople unharmed, but the contaminated wheat was growing into a horrifying crop.
• Xiya explained to Jost that monster remains spread contamination and described the Spirit Torch, which burned a mage’s soul to create purifying flames.
• Xiya demonstrated the Spirit Torch, then wrote down the spell’s details for Jost.
• Lu Ban told Xiya and Jost that the Spirit Torch’s flame resembled a purifying force he knew called Purifying Flame.