Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian fell through a trapdoor into a room of spikes and learned that a toxin was supposedly killing him, leaving him with an hour to survive a deadly game. He crossed the spike-covered floor and headed toward the only exit.

• Fu Qian entered the old house and fell through a trapdoor onto a bed of spikes.
• Fu Qian realized the fall had been deliberately staged and received a mission to find a way to win the game.
• A recording accused Fu Qian of self-deception and claimed the spikes had injected him with a toxin that would kill him in an hour.
• Fu Qian assessed the room, dismissed the recording’s accusations, and slowly crossed the spike-covered mesh toward the opposite door.

Fu Qian found a recorder and a taunting collectible in the room, then learned that the next locked door required him to retrieve a key through a hole guarded by spinning blades. He realized he had to identify the blades’ brief pauses without a watch, while the recording challenged his ability to keep a cool head.

• Fu Qian found a miniature recorder and a hidden superhero figurine beneath the table, then pocketed the collectible.
• Fu Qian opened the door and entered a short metal passage ending at a locked door with a small hole.
• The recorder explained that spinning blades guarded the key and paused for only five seconds, warning that touching them would make the key unreachable.
• Fu Qian inspected the curved hole and listened for the mechanism, but the thick door kept him from hearing its movements.
• Fu Qian heard another metallic ding and considered tracking time by counting his heartbeats, a method he knew Jigsaw expected him to use.

Fu Qian calculated the timing of the blade trap by tracking his heartbeat, then reached into the door and retrieved the key. He opened the door and found light beyond it.

• Fu Qian reasoned that Jigsaw intended him to use his heartbeat to time the blade and considered how poison and fear could disrupt his pulse.
• He measured his pulse at sixty-six beats per minute, then confirmed it remained steady at sixty-five.
• Fu Qian reached into the door after his sixty-first heartbeat, found the key, and pulled his arm back before the blade struck.
• He unlocked the door and pushed it open, revealing a lit space beyond.

Fu Qian passed Jigsaw’s first trap and reached a flooded corridor where corrosive liquid blocked the way to an exit. As he examined the books meant to help him cross and climb to the window, he noticed their unusual arrangement.

• Fu Qian found the key dangling beside spinning blades and listened to Jigsaw’s recording congratulating him for passing the first test.
• Fu Qian followed the arrow and discovered a pool of corrosive liquid, an exit door, and a high window beyond it.
• Fu Qian learned that Jigsaw had left books for him to use as stepping-stones and possibly stack into a platform.
• Fu Qian tested the liquid with a finger, felt it burn his skin, and decided to look for another solution before risking his hand.
• Fu Qian examined the books and noticed that the top and bottom books faced in opposite directions.

Fu Qian decoded the book arrangement as a keypad code and escaped the corrosive-liquid room, only to find himself in an apartment resembling his own. Jigsaw announced a final test, and Fu Qian discovered a motionless young woman lying in the bedroom.

• Fu Qian recognized that Jigsaw had arranged twenty books in alternating directions to encode two possible four-digit Morse codes.
• Fu Qian used the books as stepping stones to cross the liquid, then tried the keypad combinations and unlocked the door with 6714.
• Fu Qian entered an ordinary-looking apartment and wondered whether different escape routes led to different places.
• Jigsaw appeared on the television and told Fu Qian that he had reached an unreachable space and earned the final test.
• Fu Qian noticed the apartment resembled his own and followed Jigsaw's suggestion to look in the bedroom, where he found a motionless young woman.

Fu Qian discovered that the antidote would trigger a blade trap aimed at the woman downstairs, whom Jigsaw identified as his classmate Trica. With only enough antidote for one person and sunset less than ten minutes away, Fu Qian faced the choice of taking it himself or giving it to Trica.

• Fu Qian climbed into the upper room and found a vial labeled as the antidote beside a metal box.
• Jigsaw revealed that taking the antidote would trigger a trap that would kill the person lying on the bed downstairs.
• Fu Qian asked who the woman was, and Jigsaw identified her as Fu Qian's classmate Trica.
• Jigsaw revealed that Trica was also poisoned and would die by sunset without the antidote.
• Jigsaw told Fu Qian that the vial contained only enough antidote for one person and asked him to choose who would receive it.

Fu Qian outwitted Jigsaw’s test, moved Trica out of the death net’s path, and drank the antidote while she watched. Trica revealed that she had staged the test as his admirer, though Fu Qian had truly been poisoned.

• Jigsaw challenged Fu Qian to choose between saving Trica and completing the test, and Fu Qian moved her out from under the death net.
• Fu Qian drank the antidote in front of Trica, who then sat up and revealed herself as Jigsaw.
• Fu Qian explained that he had suspected Trica was behind the test and described how her performance had given her away.
• Trica said she had staged the test to prove Fu Qian was genuinely different, and admitted she had not been poisoned.
• Trica confirmed that Fu Qian’s poison was real and that he would have died without the antidote.

Fu Qian learned that Trica had arranged the deadly test to force him to “transform,” then took her car keys instead of punishing her. After completing the test, he drove around to memorize the neighborhood and returned to school before ten.

• Fu Qian questioned Trica about the antidote, the consequences of leaving early, and whether she had set up the test herself.
• Trica explained that Fu Qian had completed the game but would face another test because he had missed its most important challenge.
• Fu Qian received a new task ordering him to return to school by 10 p.m.
• Trica offered to make amends by undressing, but Fu Qian demanded her car keys instead.
• Fu Qian drove around the neighborhood to locate the police station and learn the area before returning to school before ten.

Fu Qian went to the school at night for a task and followed Daniel, Media, and Teacher Joseph into a classroom. When he learned that Daniel was trying to kill Media, he received a new task to ensure she survived and saw Daniel confront Joseph.

• Fu Qian hid on campus and watched a balding man enter a school building before Daniel arrived and followed him.
• Media came to the school, and Fu Qian guessed that she and Daniel were meeting for a tryst while the balding man planned to catch them.
• At ten, Fu Qian completed his task and received a new one requiring him to ensure Media survived, so he followed the three.
• Fu Qian reached the classroom and saw Daniel strangling Media with a rope as Teacher Joseph took a picture and startled them with a flash.
• Daniel released Media, who collapsed and struggled to move, then confronted Teacher Joseph about the supposed tryst.

Daniel cornered Joseph and Media in the classroom, then persuaded Joseph to help him kill Media after threatening to expose their affair. As Joseph attacked the helpless Media, Fu Qian prepared to enter the room.

• Daniel confronted Joseph and accused him of planning to photograph and blackmail him, while Media accused Joseph of pursuing his students.
• Daniel described how his family could conceal Media's disappearance and claimed he would soon make another person suffer.
• Joseph offered to kill Media in exchange for Daniel sparing him, and Daniel told him to hand over the camera.
• Daniel agreed to the arrangement, then urged Joseph to take advantage of Media before killing her.
• Joseph silenced Media and licked her face while Daniel watched and handled the camera.
• Fu Qian listened outside the door, then cleared his throat and coughed before entering.

Fu Qian interrupted Daniel and Joseph as they tried to kill Media, but Daniel used the chaos to murder Joseph and leave Media in his grasp.

• Fu Qian arrived while Joseph and Daniel were attacking Media, and Daniel accused Media of conspiring with him.
• Fu Qian explained Daniel’s accusation to Media, who denied setting him up and realized Daniel had tried to kill her over it.
• Daniel showed Fu Qian an envelope of Media’s private keepsakes, but Fu Qian showed no jealousy and returned it to Media.
• Daniel ordered Joseph to restrain Media as she tried to escape through the window.
• Daniel took a photograph of Joseph and Media struggling, then snapped Joseph’s neck and told Media she could go.

Daniel killed Joseph and negotiated a wary silence with Media, who protected herself by photographing the two of them beside the body. Fu Qian then drove Media toward home, though her danger had not yet passed and his mission remained incomplete.

• Daniel killed Joseph and used a photograph of Media struggling with the body to pressure her into keeping the night secret.
• Media took a photograph of herself with Daniel and Joseph's body, creating evidence that left both her and Daniel vulnerable to suspicion.
• Daniel let Media leave the scene, and she climbed out through the window.
• Media followed Fu Qian to his car, gave him her address, and rode with him toward home.
• Media thanked Fu Qian for helping her, while he remained aware that his mission was not complete.

Fu Qian refused a mission directing him to wait at Media’s home to be arrested and instead disguised himself and evaded the police. After the police cars passed without finding him, the mission failed and cost him 32 Sanity Value.

• Media asked Fu Qian whether Daniel had caused trouble for him and whether that was how he had injured his foot, but Fu Qian gave her little detail.
• Media wondered whether Fu Qian thought she was a whore, and he replied that she had already followed the Slaanesh path.
• A mission prompted Fu Qian to wait at Media’s home to be arrested by the police, so he stopped the car early and made Media get out.
• Fu Qian changed into prepared clothes, abandoned the car, and scattered his old clothes in different trash cans as he returned to watch the area.
• Police cars drove past without stopping, and Fu Qian received a mission-failure notice that deducted 32 Sanity Value.

After losing 32 Sanity, Fu Qian realized mission failure penalties were rising exponentially and set out to evade Sheriff Stan while investigating why the sheriff was pursuing him. He planted a false trail toward Daniel’s family and left the police to uncover whatever secrets they were hiding.

• Fu Qian received a mission to evade Sheriff Stan until dawn and calculated that another failure could leave him with too little Sanity to stay sane.
• Fu Qian suspected Sheriff Stan was searching for him because of the corpse behind the storage-room door, then watched Stan arrive to see Media.
• Fu Qian slipped away through the shadows, deciding he needed to stir up trouble to uncover more information.
• Fu Qian hired a taxi to take him near Daniel’s classmate’s home, then hid nearby instead of going inside.
• Fu Qian let the taxi driver leave without him, creating a false trail for Sheriff Stan to follow toward Daniel’s family.

Fu Qian received a new quest to find Daniel and decided to approach Chief Stan for answers. After going to the police station, he was searched and questioned about whether the Warren family had sent him, leaving him to insist that he acted on his own.

• At dawn, Fu Qian received the quest to find out Daniel's whereabouts and wondered whether Chief Stan had made Daniel disappear.
• A waitress mistook Fu Qian's watchful behavior for romantic interest, but he left after learning she wanted to meet him.
• Fu Qian took a taxi to the police station, despite the driver's alarm, to speak with Chief Stan.
• Chief Stan had officers search Fu Qian and, once they found no weapons or recording devices, asked if the Warren family had sent him.
• Fu Qian told Chief Stan that he spoke only for himself.

Fu Qian negotiated with Chief Stan at the police station, using the Warren family and Joseph as leverage to learn where the man behind a door had left his belongings. He left with an address and a temporary truce that reduced the immediate danger to Daniel.

• Fu Qian told Stan that Joseph was in the Warren family's hands and watched Stan's reaction, concluding that Stan had been behind Daniel's disappearance.
• Fu Qian claimed he would have the Warren family kill Joseph and said Daniel would remain hidden until Joseph's death was confirmed.
• Fu Qian bluffed that he only wanted the belongings of the man behind a door, and Stan gave him an address.
• Fu Qian left the station believing the meeting had bought time and that Stan would not contact the Warren family directly.

Fu Qian searched Stan’s address and found a locked diary belonging to Edral, a predecessor who had become trapped by completing every task without losing Sanity Value. The diary confirmed Fu Qian’s suspicions about how the Furnace’s prompts worked, and he recognized Edral’s name among Media’s former lovers.

• Fu Qian entered the unlocked, ransacked house at the address Stan had given him and concluded Stan had likely left the door open to obscure his traces.
• Fu Qian found a locked notebook on the desk and opened it with a piece of wire.
• Fu Qian read Edral’s diary, which described a series of easy tasks that kept coming without an apparent end.
• Fu Qian inferred that Edral had never received the prompt about escaping the Furnace because he had completed every task without losing Sanity Value.
• Fu Qian remembered seeing Edral’s name among Media’s photographs of her former lovers.

Fu Qian examined Edral’s notebook and concluded that the mission had trapped and killed him, then visited Media to ask about Edral. Media remembered their relationship fondly but said they eventually broke up.

• Fu Qian found that Edral’s notes confirmed the mission prompts led nowhere and decided to investigate how Edral had died.
• Fu Qian visited Media at home and learned the police had questioned her after the events at school.
• Media explained that she remembered Edral as a dazzling, considerate young man and showed Fu Qian photographs of him.
• Media said that she and Edral eventually broke up.

Fu Qian questioned Media about her past with Edral and learned that prompts had guided her actions, leading him to suspect the world itself directed people and trapped outsiders. He pieced together how Edral’s relationship with Media, Joseph’s jealousy, and the school’s actions had led to Edral’s death, while wondering why his own tasks had grown more dangerous.

• Media told Fu Qian that Edral had become irritable, ended their relationship, and left without saying goodbye, though he had contacted Joseph.
• Media explained that a prompt had told her to leave her bag behind, which led to her meeting Edral, and said people commonly received prompts.
• Fu Qian realized that prompts guided people’s behavior and considered whether the world was operating like a broken game.
• Media said she had not known Joseph was following her, but recalled that he resented her interactions with students.
• Fu Qian connected Edral’s tasks, his relationship with Media, Joseph’s jealousy, and the school’s cover story to Edral’s imprisonment and death.
• Fu Qian wondered why his tasks had shifted from simple instructions to a potentially deadly game with Trica.

Fu Qian questioned Media about Edral’s behavior and learned that Edral’s interest in destroying anomalies had seemed like madness to her. After the school found a corpse behind the storeroom door, Fu Qian took two kitchen knives and asked Media whether she had a car.

• Fu Qian asked Media whether failing to follow the guidance could get someone killed, and she said such failures left her with regret.
• Media explained that Edral had become fascinated with anomalies and had asked whether the storeroom door could be torn down, an idea she considered madness.
• A phone call informed Media that a corpse had been found behind the storeroom door, and Fu Qian realized events were moving faster than he had expected.
• Fu Qian picked up two kitchen knives, held them against Media’s neck, and asked whether she had a car.