Chapter Summaries

Lin Yu tried to pressure the Chancellor into offering useful information, but the Chancellor instead appealed to Second Generation Freud and was killed. Lin Yu and Second Generation Freud realized the body might be a decoy, and she found that it was an old, preserved corpse from the Prison Mountain Realm.

• Lin Yu threatened the Chancellor and demanded information in exchange for a chance to survive.
• The Chancellor offered Second Generation Freud First Generation Jung’s location and secret information about First Generation Freud.
• Second Generation Freud detected the Chancellor’s deception with her Soul Power and killed him before Lin Yu could stop her.
• Lin Yu and Old Zheng suspected the Chancellor had escaped, noting his composure and the strange aura that appeared after his death.
• Second Generation Freud found a preservation formation in the corpse and identified it as the long-dead body of a native of the Prison Mountain Realm.

Lin Yu and Second Generation Freud realized the Chancellor had escaped in a body that was likely not his original one, weakening Schreiber’s Trial but leaving it intact. Lin Yu stayed in Shenzhen to pursue his unfinished business and called Li Hua to begin closing the net around the Chancellor.

• Lin Yu concluded that the Chancellor’s shriveled corpse had been his original body or another exceptionally well-matched body, and speculated that the Copper Furnace might consist of Natives who had taken Player identities.
• Second Generation Freud learned that the Chancellor had escaped and worried that his survival would weaken Schreiber’s Trial against the Emperor; Old Zheng admitted his plan had not gone as intended, though the Trial could still continue.
• Second Generation Freud offered Lin Yu a chance to rejoin the Psychology Society and warned him that the Diviner’s plans in the Ten Realms could be beyond his ability to handle.
• Lin Yu declined to leave Shenzhen, saying he had unfinished business, and set out to find the Chancellor.
• Lin Yu switched to the Director’s phone, called Li Hua, and said it was time to close the net.

Lin Yu confronted Chancellor in his Safe House after tracing properties through Hacker, then explained how Sherlock’s final riddle identified Chancellor as the mole. Chancellor attacked, but Lin Yu restrained him and revealed that lingering effects from Zhu Ming and Schreiber had let him suppress Chancellor’s energy.

• Chancellor escaped his destroyed doppelganger and hid in a Shenzhen Safe House, planning to kill Lin Yu before his disguise was exposed.
• Lin Yu found Chancellor with Hacker’s help and explained that he had investigated properties held under Chancellor’s identity.
• Lin Yu said Sherlock’s riddle, “VII/120,” had pointed to Chancellor, though it could not serve as evidence for Order because only Lin Yu could solve it.
• Chancellor tried to force the confrontation into a fight, but Lin Yu pinned him against the wall and demanded he hear the riddle’s explanation.
• Chancellor questioned how Lin Yu could suppress a super Tier 3, and Lin Yu revealed he had activated lingering Causal venom and Mental Seeds from Zhu Ming and Schreiber.

Lin Yu explained how Fu Luo’s puzzle identified Secretary as the traitor within Order’s senior leadership. Secretary argued that the clues were not evidence, but Li Hua entered and said he had heard Secretary admit to his crimes, offering to witness against him.

• Lin Yu restrained Secretary and explained that VII pointed to Veil Valetti, whom he had encountered with Fu Luo in the Barren Realm.
• Lin Yu linked 120 and the surname Valetti to the film The 120 Days of Sodom and its character the President.
• Lin Yu explained that the President clue pointed to Secretary as the traitor among Order’s four senior leaders.
• Secretary acknowledged that Sherlock had investigated him but argued that Lin Yu’s deductions were not substantive evidence.
• Li Hua entered the apartment and said he had overheard Secretary admit to his crimes, offering to testify against him.

Li Hua confronted the Secretary about betraying Order, and the Secretary explained that he believed the final trial would doom their world unless powerful gods were created. He revealed that Lin Zhao had stalled the previous trial through her death, but Lin Yu rejected the Secretary’s claims and said he did not believe him.

• Lin Hua questioned the Secretary about abandoning Order, and the Secretary said memories of the Copper Furnace and the final trial had driven his actions.
• The Secretary said passing the final trial could make their world part of the death game, while failing it might erase the world entirely.
• The Secretary defended killing colleagues and targeting players as necessary sacrifices to create more gods and preserve some chance for their civilization.
• Li Hua asked why the Secretary targeted Lin Yu, and the Secretary said he feared Lin Yu might resurrect his sister.
• The Secretary claimed Lin Zhao had stalled the previous final trial through her death and warned that resurrecting her could restart it and destroy their world.
• Lin Yu said the Secretary had no evidence and that he did not believe him.

Lin Yu and Li Hua fought the Secretary after he revealed his connection to Copper Furnace and tried to kill Lin Yu to protect his secrets. They defeated him, but the Secretary died after claiming he had still achieved his objective.

• Lin Yu rejected the Secretary's account of Lin Zhao's sacrifice and said he would wake her to learn the truth, prompting the Secretary to attack with the Chancellor's hidden half-soul.
• Lin Yu destroyed much of the Secretary's body and soul, but the Secretary used ink-written rules to stop their bleeding and restore his vitality.
• Li Hua warned Lin Yu about the Secretary's [Exclusive item: Public Authority], but the Secretary used its seal to impose a rule that would kill anyone who used supernatural energy.
• Lin Yu resisted the seal's effects with the Rule Code and attacked the Secretary with Water Control Witchcraft, while Li Hua froze the water and the Secretary's body with his cane.
• Li Hua said the Secretary would face the organization's judgment, but the Secretary claimed his objective had been achieved, dropped the seal, and died.

After the Secretary died, Lin Yu and Li Hua concluded that his death was a deliberate sacrifice tied to an unseen plan. Shenzhen shifted into a new state, and the Diviner, Leng Jing, appeared to announce an officially authorized instance called [Shenzhen Pursuit].

• The Secretary died after declaring that he had sacrificed himself, and Lin Yu and Li Hua suspected his death was meant to trigger a hidden change.
• Lin Yu and Li Hua noticed the Secretary’s [items] remained because the Death game appeared to judge him as having died in a world or [instance], suggesting one of his items might still be operating.
• The sky over Shenzhen turned gold and grayish white, and Lin Yu sensed that he was becoming separated from the city’s mental power network as its players were affected by the reality changes.
• The Diviner, Leng Jing, emerged in the sky, and his voice announced that Shenzhen had become the officially authorized [instance] [Shenzhen Pursuit].

After the Diviner transformed Shenzhen into an artificial Death game instance, Lin Yu and Li Hua tried to assess their situation and identify the world around them. Lin Yu left Li Hua behind and confronted Old Zheng, asking him to explain what he had been keeping from him.

• The Death game recognized the Diviner’s artificial Shenzhen instance, turning the city into a faded, stripped-down landscape and disconnecting Lin Yu from the mental network of Shenzhen’s residents.
• Lin Yu and Li Hua discussed the instance’s unknown location and the reality loopholes that had become stable passages spewing energy from the Ten Realms.
• Li Hua agreed to let Lin Yu contact a private source, while Lin Yu joked that he was going to change clothes and left the bathroom.
• Lin Yu went to the Secretary’s rented bedroom and pulled Old Zheng from his Item Space instead of contacting a Marauders informant.
• Lin Yu confronted Old Zheng about the secrets he had withheld, and Old Zheng immediately admitted, “Boss, I’m guilty!”

Lin Yu questioned Old Zheng about the Diviner and the Lord of Mist Island’s living soul, learning how Old Zheng’s experiment had nearly enabled a player to create Death game [Instances]. He concluded that the Diviner had advanced that unfinished work by creating Copy Shenzhen and having the Death game recognize his rules.

• Old Zheng apologized for withholding information and promised to organize what Lin Yu needed to know, but Lin Yu clarified that he wanted to ask about the Diviner.
• Old Zheng explained that the Diviner had once sought cooperation through Ling Xian and Wundt while Old Zheng was planning against the Lord of Mist Island.
• Lin Yu theorized that the Diviner had targeted the Lord of Mist Island’s living soul because it could help create [Instances], and Old Zheng confirmed that the soul had a special connection to Mist Island’s world will and the Death game.
• Old Zheng said he had used the soul to make the Asylum on Mist Island 36th Island count as an [Instance] venue, hoping to use the Death game to drive trials and growth, but the experiment was cut short.
• Old Zheng concluded that the Diviner had taken his unfinished experiment further by creating an [Instance] as a player and getting the Death game to recognize his rules.

Lin Yu and Old Zheng realized that Diviner had created an officially recognized Instance in Shenzhen and was bringing Ten Realms allies into it. Lin Yu warned that Diviner would target isolated Players, but Li Hua had already ordered everyone to assemble.

• Old Zheng analyzed that the Instance could not be destroyed and that the Players would have to meet its Clearance Conditions.
• Diviner explained that the Instance was a replica of Shenzhen, that Players could clear it by surviving 24 hours or killing a living being, and that Ten Realms allies would soon enter.
• As mist spread through the city and black vortices gathered energy, Diviner vanished after declaring that the same rules applied to him.
• Lin Yu and Old Zheng worried that Diviner's powerful allies would attack isolated Players, so Lin Yu decided everyone needed to regroup immediately.
• Lin Yu told Li Hua that Diviner was likely planning to pick them off one by one, and Li Hua said he had already ordered everyone to assemble.

Lin Yu, Li Hua, and their allies assessed the crisis in Shenzhen and planned to gather scattered forces as the battle against Emperor worsened. After Lin Yu announced he could not continue with the group and might have to leave alone, the story left his next move unresolved.

• Li Hua told Lin Yu that Order and the Night Watcher were gathering nearby members, while Feng Shui Master and Grandmaster remained trapped fighting an increasingly powerful Emperor.
• Lin Yu explained that Diviner’s Instance could not be broken structurally and that they had to follow its clearance conditions.
• Yin Lan, Robin, and Carrier Pigeon arrived, and Li Hua revealed that he and Lin Yu had killed Secretary, a mole from Copper Furnace.
• Li Hua showed Yin Lan evidence from his Card Counter, and Lin Yu offered to reproduce his memories; Yin Lan accepted their account provisionally.
• Carrier Pigeon agreed with Li Hua’s plan to gather nearby allies, but Lin Yu said he might have to leave the group and go alone.

Diviner’s instance plunged Shenzhen’s scattered battles into chaos as powerful Ten Realms beings attacked the Convention Center, Chongming and Nicholas, and the Psychology Society. While Second Generation Freud fought Meiniedok and his allies, Qianhuan tried to persuade Swordsman and Bifang to stop fighting the Freedom Alliance.

• Ren Gu and Good Night saw the Third Island Lord of Mist Island arrive at the Convention Center, where two more dangerous figures soon appeared; Good Night’s attack was thrown back, leaving them facing a dire threat.
• Okfielst’s mana doppelgangers surrounded Chongming and Nicholas’s team, and Okfielst injured Nicholas before revealing that Diviner had sent him after them as valuable bounties and materials.
• Second Generation Freud confronted Meiniedok at Skinner’s bar after he attacked the Psychology Society, but First Generation Jung and an armored fighter joined the battle and forced her into a bitter fight.
• Qianhuan stopped fighting Swordsman and Bifang and urged them to consider that Diviner’s instance had trapped them all and that something beneath the battlefield might be waiting to take advantage of their conflict.

Swordsman and Bifang halted their fight and temporarily joined the Freedom Alliance as they investigated the powerful being emerging from Diviner’s vortex. The newcomer revealed himself as Demon Ancestor Gantuo, who said he had come to fulfill an agreement with Diviner.

• Swordsman and Bifang stopped fighting, and Bifang agreed to cooperate temporarily with the Freedom Alliance against their common enemy.
• Xiao Yun assessed the energy in the vortex as potentially containing authority or world will, while Old Wu and Comedian agreed they could not identify it.
• Li Nian returned Bifang’s stolen [Real Exam], and the group briefly teased her about her upcoming college entrance exams.
• Swordsman recognized the energy as the evil-of-heaven-and-earth cultivation used by snake yaoguai in the Dark Prison, and Chen Le recalled the Sun-Disc Moon-Melting Saint Lord.
• A chained, pitch-black man emerged from the vortex, but Swordsman said he was not the female Sun-Disc Moon-Melting Saint Lord.
• The newcomer named himself Demon Ancestor Gantuo and told Diviner he had come to fulfill their agreement.

The Emperor faced Gu Mo and Jian Cunyi as the Diviner’s summoned allies began arriving in the Instance. The Goddess of Shadow, Pain, and Nightmare intervened on the Emperor’s side, but a mysterious female voice challenged her from above.

• The Emperor deduced that the Diviner had brought Demon Ancestor Gantuo into the Instance through a breach in the Prison Mountain Realm’s outer barrier.
• Gu Mo and Jian Cunyi pressed their attack on the Emperor, gaining strength from the Instance while he warned that the Diviner’s allies could soon come to his aid.
• Gu Mo unleashed a powerful punch at the Emperor, but the Goddess of Shadow, Pain, and Nightmare appeared and used darkness to blunt the blow.
• The Goddess of Shadow offered to fight Gu Mo and Jian Cunyi, and the Emperor let her choose her opponent.
• A female voice emerging from streaming green garbled characters challenged the Goddess of Shadow to fight her instead.

The Diviner revealed that he had captured Lin Yu and planned to turn the Instance into a permanent passage that would let him control the Players and influence the Ten Realms. Lin Yu’s apparent capture proved to be a distraction: the genuine God of Games and Rules arrived inside the Instance and threatened the Diviner’s allies.

• The God of Games and Rules appeared through streams of garbled data, while the God of Shadows, the Emperor, Gu Mo, and Jian Cunyi prepared to fight.
• The Diviner used [Gold Seeker] to locate and drag Lin Yu out of the data, prompting Jian Cunyi and Gu Mo to try to reach him.
• The Diviner explained that the Instance linked passages between four realms and would become a permanent route under his control, supporting his plan to become a god and manipulate the Ten Realms.
• Lin Yu laughed and pointed out that the Diviner had wasted a powerful combat asset on him, as the Instance’s streets and buildings began to turn into data.
• The genuine God of Games and Rules appeared atop a building in central Shenzhen and vowed to kill the Diviner’s allies and destroy his plan.

Lin Yu impersonated Shen Bingmiao and used the powers of Game and Rule to help the Freedom Alliance fight Demon Ancestor Gantuo, but the belief he gathered did not awaken Senior Sister. He then appeared at Skinner’s bar to help Second Generation Freud, who rejected his offer and confronted First Generation Jung.

• Lin Yu used Qin Siyu as his decoy and transformed himself into Shen Bingmiao, convincing Shenzhen’s powerful visitors that the God of Games and Rules had appeared.
• The belief surrounding Lin Yu failed to revive Senior Sister Shen Bingmiao’s consciousness, so he turned his attention to the battle below.
• Lin Yu used Game and Rule to slow and burden Demon Ancestor Gantuo with visible status effects, then left the four Tier 4 fighters to continue the fight.
• Lin Yu arrived at Skinner’s bar, where Second Generation Freud was fighting First Generation Jung, Eighth Pillar Meiniedok, and an armored Weirdo.
• Second Generation Freud accused Lin Yu of helping the Diviner, then refused his assistance and activated her Heart Domain, Dead Instinct, after First Generation Jung taunted her.

Lin Yu witnessed Second Generation Freud activate her destructive Heart Domain, Dead Instinct, and helped her counter a hidden alchemical device before leaving the bar. He then intervened at a factory, rescued Nicholas and Chongming from Okfielst, and used a tracking bomb to strike the Demon as it fled toward the Abyss.

• Second Generation Freud activated Dead Instinct, causing intrusive urges and breakdown across living beings and objects, including herself and her three opponents.
• Lin Yu found a volatile alchemical device above the bar, stabilized it with his Rules, and explained it had been prepared to explode under Dead Instinct; he then left.
• Lin Yu appeared above a factory and found Nicholas and Chongming gravely wounded while fighting the Second Pillar, Okfielst.
• Lin Yu immobilized and weakened Okfielst, then dropped an alchemical bomb empowered with lock-on and tracking traits from his Game Authority.
• Okfielst fled toward the Abyss, but the bomb struck it at the vortex and detonated; Lin Yu told Nicholas and Chongming to recover and rendezvous with Gambler.

Ren Gu and Good Night drove back the Mist Island creatures with Lin Yu’s help, while Lin Yu reached the battle in the sky and confronted the Diviner. The Diviner revealed a hidden insurance mechanism that threatened to kill more than half the Players and keep the passages to the Ten Realms open, forcing Lin Yu to choose what to save.

• Ren Gu weakened the two mysterious creatures with Rules while Good Night kept fighting the lord of Third Island.
• Lin Yu arrived, modified Ren Gu’s Rules, and sent the Mist Island creatures back through their vortex; Ren Gu left to meet Li Hua.
• Lin Yu found the Diviner holding the Director while the Emperor and the God of Shadows suppressed Grandmaster and the Feng Shui Master.
• The Diviner revealed that he had arranged for high-ranking Marauders members to evacuate and activated hidden Formations throughout the Shenzhen replica.
• The Diviner threatened to kill more than half the Players and keep the passages to the Ten Realms open, then demanded that Lin Yu choose which half would survive and what to do about the passages.

Lin Yu recognized that the Diviner had set the unstable space to collapse in under thirty minutes, forcing Order and the Night Watcher to kill each other. He arranged for Jian Cunyi to identify the formations while Gu Mo held off the Emperor and the Diviner, then summoned Zhu Ming to confront the Diviner.

• Lin Yu realized the Diviner’s formations would destroy the space in less than thirty minutes and that the resulting crisis was designed to make Order and the Night Watcher violate their principles.
• The Diviner argued that people under extreme pressure would abandon their ideals, while Gu Mo insisted they could uphold them.
• Lin Yu asked Jian Cunyi to map the Prison Mountain Realm formations and told Gu Mo to protect him for ten minutes.
• Gu Mo strengthened herself by incorporating the World Will into her body, then fought off the Emperor’s shadow guards and a rain of arrows.
• Lin Yu explained that Zhu Ming had already arrived, and the God of Desire emerged with his divine rank and authority restored.
• The Diviner claimed the God of Desire’s tricks would not work on him, but Zhu Ming warned him not to underestimate a true god’s authority.

Lin Yu and the God of Desire attacked Diviner with the authorities of Desire, Game, and Rule, but Diviner used Fate to dispel their effects. Lin Yu then revealed that his true attack was Data Deletion, using his Death game administrator permissions to erase Diviner.

• Lin Yu restored the God of Desire’s divine standing, allowing him to bind Diviner with golden thorns, turn him to gold, and regress his body toward childhood.
• Lin Yu applied Instant Death to Diviner through the Death game, rapidly draining his life and soul.
• Diviner used his Heart Domain and a projected complete form of Fate to temporarily negate the effects of Desire, Game, and Rule.
• Diviner discovered that half his body had been digitized and was disappearing through a separate attack.
• Lin Yu identified the attack as Data Deletion and explained that his Game authority granted him Death game administrator permissions.