Chapter Summaries

As the Demon Tide approached, Jost prepared to activate the magic net while Old Eggplant and the players braced themselves to defend Sunset Town. The Blood Moon rose and a vast swarm of flying insects descended on the Night Country, leaving the battle about to begin.

• Old Eggplant read forum discussions about the coming Demon Tide and considered how the players could help establish the magic net and defend the Night Country.
• Jost made the magic net’s final preparations in the Gray Tower and told Xiya she could now enter it.
• Old Eggplant logged into the Night Country as the sun dimmed and a crimson Blood Moon rose over the Black Forest.
• The Demon Tide spread across the Night Country, while the ruler, townspeople, and Court Mages reacted with fear.
• Old Eggplant watched countless flying insects surge from the forest toward Sunset Town as similar swarms closed in across the world.

Old Eggplant and the players faced the overwhelming Thousand-Legged Demon Tide as it advanced on their fortifications. The artillery barely affected the swarm, and Trist raised his revolver as a streak of light appeared.

• Old Eggplant saw the endless wall of insects and despaired at humanity's chances against the Demon Tide.
• A player urged the others to hold out for three days, and Wang Hao fired the first cannon from the fortress.
• The cannonball failed to harm the distant swarm, but its shot spurred the players to prepare their defenses.
• The Demon Tide swallowed a forest fire and continued advancing as artillery from the fortresses opened fire, killing only a few insects.
• Stone doubted the artillery could stop the swarm, while Trist raised his revolver and a streak of light split the darkness.

As the Insect Tide overwhelmed the defenders at Sunset Town, Trist’s beam carved a temporary breach in the swarm, and Lu Ban’s plan brought blazing sunlight that ignited the insects. Humanity gained a brief advantage, but Zheng Li noticed the swarm was moving strangely.

• Knight Brown and the other defenders despaired as the Insect Tide advanced on the fortress.
• Trist’s beam struck the swarm, evaporating and burning insects and opening a massive breach in its wall.
• Lu Ban ordered Old Eggplant to delay artillery fire for one minute while the insects drew near.
• Zheng Li watched as genuine sunlight swept over the swarm, setting the insects ablaze.
• Old Eggplant ordered the artillery to fire, and the shells intensified the flames and halted the swarm’s advance near Sunset Town.
• Zheng Li said the sunlight could last for three days, then noticed that the insects were moving strangely.

The Thousand-Legged swarm blocked out the sunlight and overwhelmed the watchtowers, while Xiya explained that the Demon Tide’s queens would keep being replaced. As the swarm reached the main fortress and Xiya stepped forward to face it, the players prepared to fight on despite losing their artillery.

• The insects sacrificed themselves to form a barrier against the sunlight, allowing the swarm to resume its attack on the fortress.
• Xiya explained that Thousand-Legged queens hatched new swarms and were eventually replaced, making the Demon Tide impossible to exterminate permanently.
• The swarm overwhelmed the watchtowers, devoured players, and brought one tower crashing down.
• The revived players gathered near Sunset Town as the swarm reached the main fortress and humanity ran out of shells.
• Stone warned that the area would become a wasteland within half a day, and Xiya stepped to the observation platform’s edge and raised her hand toward the swarm.

Xiya, Lu Ban, and the defenders fought to hold back the Demon Tide surrounding Sunset Town. The Kingdom's Sixth Pale Knight Order arrived by royal command, and the battle entered its most intense stage.

• Xiya blasted the insects with repeated flashes, halting their advance at the front while the swarm continued encircling Sunset Town.
• Lu Ban fired Speech Bullets from Last Words into the swarm, but their effect was small against its vast numbers.
• Flames, lightning, and stone giants attacked the insects from behind the fortress, revealing a group of armored mages with the Night Country's flag.
• Xiya and Jost identified the newcomers as the Pale Knights, and their leader announced that the Kingdom's Sixth Pale Knight Order had come to reinforce Jost by royal command.
• The Pale Knights raised their flag and stood firm as the swarm crashed into them, then burst through it behind a protective magical barrier.
• The players' supernatural items began transforming, disorienting, freezing, and otherwise attacking the insects as the battle intensified.

As the Demon Tide overwhelmed the Night Country, Jost completed the final ritual for the magical network but hesitated to ignite it. When the Gray Tower survived a barrage of explosive insects, he found the resolve to become the tiny flame the world needed.

• Swarm attacks devastated the Night Country, while the Pale Knights and players helped defend Sunset Town.
• Jost completed the final ritual and questioned whether he could decide on his own to ignite it.
• Mutated explosive insects appeared far earlier than expected, destroying defenses and badly damaging the Gray Tower.
• Jost climbed to the Gray Tower's summit as Xiya failed to stop every insect from reaching it.
• Seeing the battered tower still standing, Jost realized that he himself had to be the tiny flame.

Jost completed the magic net by accepting the corruption and binding his fate to the Gray Tower, while countless people prayed and joined their wills to his. The Spirit Torch blazed across the Night Country, beginning a thousand years of resistance against the monsters and the gods.

• Jost realized the magic net required a sacrifice and chose to bear the corruption and witness the sacrifices of generations of mages.
• Jost invoked the wills and curses of Agni the Fire-Burner, Floural the Unyielding Flower, and Jensen the Questioner as he forged a pact with every mage.
• Jost promised to answer the prayers of all who reached for him, and the great mages of the past chose to join their wills to the net.
• Xiya, Trist, players, townspeople, mages, and livestream viewers prayed toward the Gray Tower, completing the third handshake.
• The pale flame atop the Gray Tower blazed into the Spirit Torch, making magic accessible to everyone and igniting humanity's resistance.
• Jost's voice reached the true culprit through the Spirit Torch, and he cursed the gods.

The magic network spread across the Night Country, offering knowledge and power in exchange for sacrifices during the Demon Tide, as mages and ordinary people began connecting to it. Xiya realized that Jost had become a deity and burned himself for thousands of years to create the network and protect the world.

• The magic network appeared across the Night Country, and some mages accepted its contract and ignited Spirit Torches, driving back insects and protecting soldiers.
• Threads carried knowledge to ordinary people, who chose whether to connect to the network and accept the cost of sacrificing themselves when the Demon Tide came.
• Countless lights spread across the Night Country, marking the start of an age in which ordinary people shared the burden of resisting the Demon Tide.
• Old Eggplant accessed the network's knowledge and understood how magic could manipulate the world's underlying laws.
• Xiya realized that Jost had transformed himself into a deity and had burned himself atop the Gray Tower for thousands of years to build the network.

The Spirit Torch’s Pale flames drove back the swarm and burned a vast area of the Black Forest, establishing the Gray Tower at the cost of human lives. After the Blood Moon ended, Old Eggplant emerged from the game with a new ability to conjure flame.

• Stone realized the magic network had given Trist knowledge of how to imprison gods, and Trist imprinted it before it vanished.
• The Spirit Torch’s radiance drove back the swarm, dimmed the Blood Moon, and burned open more than a thousand miles of Black Forest around the Gray Tower.
• Lu Ban understood that the Gray Tower’s power came at the price of lives, while Zheng Li watched the sacrifice and reflected on whether he could make the same choice.
• Three days later, the Blood Moon faded, and Old Eggplant removed his helmet after experiencing months of events in the Night Country.
• Old Eggplant snapped his fingers in a dark bathroom and produced a flame from his fingertip.

After the Blood Moon ended, Lu Ban completed the mission, while Trist chose to remain in the Night Country and sacrifice himself to help save Lu Ban’s world. Trist said farewell to Lu Ban, Stone, and Xiya before returning to his fate.

• The Blood Moon vanished, the Demon Tide mission was completed, and Lu Ban gained the option to return.
• Xiya and Stone considered ways to save Trist, but Trist explained that he had accepted his sacrifice and believed it could save Lu Ban’s world.
• Trist told Lu Ban that the magic network had given him the knowledge to seal the Old Ones and complete the events that led to the seal at Jiangcheng Mountain.
• Trist bid farewell to Lu Ban, Stone, and Xiya, then disappeared as he returned.

Trist returned to the settlement and accepted that his sacrifice would save the world, while Stone later grieved and recorded what had happened. Back in reality, Xiya returned to Gray Tower, reflected on Jost’s endless torment, and considered studying the magical network.

• Trist saw the settlement begin at noon and shared coffee with Stone, deciding to postpone telling him about his fate.
• Stone later returned to the Detective Agency, broke down in grief, and wrote everything down in his notebook.
• Xiya returned to her room in reality and went to Gray Tower, where she saw the Spirit Torch burning above the tower.
• A group of students recognized Xiya and asked her to sign her book, and she said she might write a study of the magical network.
• Xiya looked toward the forbidden zone beneath Gray Tower and asked Jost whether he was watching her.

After returning from The Silent Land, Lu Ban received a Magic Net Fragment and learned that his next Career Development Task required him to build the Magic Net’s influence in this world. As players discussed their experiences in The Cage, one reported strange sounds and the ability to make sparks with their hands.

• Lu Ban reflected on Trist’s chosen death and decided to look after the descendants of the Nine Streams, then messaged Tang Yu to ask if she needed help.
• Lu Ban sent Tang Yu a Morning Star gift after interpreting her reply that everything was fine as a sign that she might be hiding trouble.
• Lu Ban examined the Magic Net Fragment and realized it could help recreate the Magic Net, though he still lacked the knowledge and sacrifices needed to build it.
• Lu Ban read the Career Development Task, which required him to raise Magic Net influence to 10,000,000.
• Lu Ban browsed players’ discussions of The Cage and noticed one player claim they could make sparks with their hands after leaving the game.

Old Eggplant, newly able to conjure flames, searched online for others with supernatural abilities and was scammed while trying to join a secret group. After he dismissed the stranger at his door, Lu Ban appeared inside his living room.

• Old Eggplant tested his fire ability, worried he might be imagining it, and posted online about his transformation.
• After joking replies, a stranger privately claimed to share his powers and invited Old Eggplant to a disguised website.
• Old Eggplant paid several fees to access the supposed secret forum, then discovered the stranger had deleted him and realized he had been scammed.
• When someone at the door claimed to be Lu Ban, Old Eggplant refused to believe him and insulted him.
• Old Eggplant turned away and found Lu Ban standing in his living room.

Lu Ban recruited Old Eggplant to help test a Magic Net built on Morning Star, using it to spread supernatural knowledge and gradually prepare the world for threats from other worlds. A week later, Old Eggplant updated his device and found a new application called The Silent Land.

• Lu Ban visited Old Eggplant, confirmed that he could create a flame, and told him that connecting to the Magic Net made such spells possible.
• Lu Ban marked Morning Star as able to connect to the Magic Net and told Old Eggplant to wait for instructions and update the device in a week.
• Lu Ban used a Magic Net Fragment to create server terminals that stored contamination as information and could spread it through virtual-reality helmets.
• Lu Ban selected thirty-five mutated test players whose Magic Net connections had given them weak supernatural abilities.
• Old Eggplant updated Morning Star, put on his helmet, and discovered the new application The Silent Land.

Old Eggplant entered the Silent Land and chose the Friend Under the Bed mission, based on Lu Ban’s famous video. After exploring a realistic but unsettling apartment, he found a frightening eye among the clothes that turned out to be a print on a hoodie, then grew curious about what might be under the bed.

• Old Eggplant examined the Silent Land’s door, entered, and saw three missions, including Friend Under the Bed.
• Old Eggplant left the game to rewatch Lu Ban’s video and wondered whether he could explore other worlds from Lu Ban’s works.
• Old Eggplant returned to the game and chose Friend Under the Bed, arriving in a realistic apartment where the security door would not open.
• Old Eggplant explored the room and apartment, then mistook an eye printed on a hoodie for a real one before calming down.
• Old Eggplant remembered the video’s hint about something under the bed and looked toward the gap beneath it.

Old Eggplant tried to endure a midnight mission in a dark room, but a furry insect leg and unsettling sounds from the wardrobe terrified him. After something seemed to hover over him and scratch beneath the bed, he sprang up.

• Old Eggplant spotted a furry insect leg retreat beneath the bed, then checked the empty space and found only dust.
• As midnight approached, Old Eggplant turned off the light, saw another insect leg, and lay down to count his heartbeats.
• Old Eggplant heard the wardrobe open and something crawl out, then heard sluggish footsteps approach his bed.
• Old Eggplant became unable to move as a warm presence seemed to lean over him and pass down his face and body.
• Old Eggplant felt something scratch at the bed board like a many-legged insect, and he sprang up.

Old Eggplant failed the Friend Under the Bed mission and found signs that a spider-like creature had emerged from the shirt in the wardrobe. After spotting a spider on his shoulder in the real world, he returned to the game, while Lu Ban studied how player exploration increased the Magic Net's influence and considered what lay beneath his own bed.

• After the mission failed, Old Eggplant found that the eye print had vanished from the shirt, which was dark red and missing part of its design.
• Old Eggplant saw many-legged tracks and scratches beneath his bed before the mission restarted.
• Old Eggplant took off his helmet, then found a large spider on his shoulder in the bathroom and watched it disappear.
• Old Eggplant questioned whether the game was real and put his helmet back on.
• Lu Ban saw the Magic Net's influence rise as players explored the mission and noted that the thing beneath the bed often reflected what each player feared.
• Lu Ban looked beneath his own bed while thinking about the doll he had encountered.

Lu Ban repeated the heartbeat-counting game to investigate the wardrobe monster and discovered it fed on fear. After he grabbed it, the creature vanished, leaving a doll under his bed.

• Lu Ban examined the clown doll and reasoned that greater exploration of the game could have revealed the eerie entity’s origin and rules.
• At midnight, Lu Ban counted his heartbeats and separated his consciousness from his body as an invisible substance covered him.
• A thin, dark creature crawled out of the wardrobe and absorbed the substance, easing Lu Ban’s fear before turning to leave.
• Lu Ban grabbed the creature, which shriveled and vanished into the wardrobe as its door slammed shut.
• Lu Ban searched the wardrobe, then found a Lan Lan Lu doll under the bed and theorized that the creature fed on fear.

Lu Ban realized that aberrations could operate in virtual worlds and considered using Morning Star to study and contain them. After searching online for paranormal locations, he found a supposedly haunted villa and decided to investigate it.

• Lu Ban concluded that the wardrobe monster absorbed fear and excreted toys, and recalled finding one during his first mission.
• Lu Ban reasoned that aberration rules could affect people in virtual worlds without giving the creatures real-world benefits, and considered using players to discover their weaknesses.
• Lu Ban searched online for paranormal locations and found that several urban legends were adaptations of his own works.
• Lu Ban read a post about a villa linked to a businessman who murdered his wife and her lover, and decided to go there.

Lu Ban visited a villa along the Ling River with a history of deaths and misfortune, and decided to buy it. He sensed that its accumulated pollution had formed an Anomaly, and the bathroom mirror showed dark figures standing beside him.

• The person in charge explained that the court-auctioned villa was costly, difficult to finance, and infamous for a murder and ominous rumors.
• Lu Ban asked whether anyone had died there before, then noticed a presence in the bathtub and said someone had died in it too.
• Lu Ban examined the records and learned that several former owners had suffered grisly deaths, arrests, or other misfortunes.
• Lu Ban decided to buy the villa and asked whether he could sleep there that night.
• Lu Ban sensed enough pollution to form an Anomaly and saw several dark figures beside him in the bathroom mirror.