Recaps

Bo Shuo and the other examinees arrived at a remote mountain village after an avalanche and were given a set of lodging rules. The chapter left them realizing they had entered a dangerous rule-based instance.

• Bo Shuo arrived in a snowy mountain setting as the exam began and learned the group had to survive for three days.
• The examinees followed the Village Chief into Snow Mountain Village after spotting it through the storm.
• Bo Shuo observed that thirty examinees were present, including Sang Yu, a C-class lone wolf.
• The Village Chief brought the group to a small house and welcomed them to Snow Mountain Village.
• The Village Chief issued five lodging rules involving nighttime curfews, Aunt Wang, a wedding, red candles, and red strings.
• The examinees recognized that the rules meant they were in a rare, low-clearance rule-based instance.

Bo Shuo encountered Xi Guici, whose aura matched that of the deity who had killed 007’s previous hosts, then received a partnership offer from Sang Yu. The chapter left Bo Shuo reviewing Sang Yu’s powerful skill while she waited anxiously for his answer.

• The examinees watched Bo Shuo, whose cold and dangerous presence made them wary.
• Xi Guici introduced himself, and 007 warned Bo Shuo that Xi Guici carried the aura of the deity who had killed its previous hosts.
• Bo Shuo gave Xi Guici only his surname and withdrew, while Xi Guici recognized him as a fellow madman and became excited.
• Sang Yu approached Bo Shuo and asked to partner with him, saying she was useful.
• Bo Shuo accepted Sang Yu’s panel and saw that her Shadow Escape skill was exceptionally powerful.

Bo Shuo stopped an examinee from saying that the tall man was dead in front of Aunt Wang, preventing a possible violation of the rules. After Aunt Wang left, the examinees remained wary of the tall man and the room’s dangers.

• A tall man went outside after eight at night to ask Aunt Wang for charcoal, testing the rule against leaving rooms after dark.
• Aunt Wang brought charcoal and warmed the room, while 007 revealed that the tall man had returned behind her in a bloodied, ruined state.
• The tattooed man recognized the tall man as dead, but Bo Shuo silenced him before he could say the word in front of Aunt Wang.
• Bo Shuo warned the tattooed man with a threatening look, and the examinees realized that mentioning death could trigger Rule Five.
• After Aunt Wang left, the examinees exchanged wary glances and stayed silent about the tall man.

Bo Shuo and Xi Guici’s confrontation ended when their bed collapsed, but a scream from a nearby room drew Bo Shuo and the other examinees to a blood-soaked scene. A mutated man charged at them, and the chapter ended with Sang Yu warning Bo Shuo to watch out.

• Bo Shuo pinned Xi Guici down, but their bed collapsed before Xi Guici could get off it.
• Xi Guici asked Bo Shuo whether he had been a doctor, and Bo Shuo mocked him for making small talk.
• Bo Shuo heard a scream from the neighboring room and forced its door open as the examinees gathered behind him.
• Bo Shuo and the others found a tall, blood-covered man eating an NPC’s corpse and biting off his own hands.
• The mutated man charged at the group, and Sang Yu warned Bo Shuo to watch out.

Bo Shuo left the gruesome scene after killing the monster and rejected Xi Guici, who had tried to give him a surgical knife. Later, Bo Shuo woke to a ghostly wedding procession carrying a crying bride, and grabbed 007 to record it.

• The examinees and NPCs saw the remains of the monster Bo Shuo had killed, and they were terrified of him.
• Xi Guici handed Bo Shuo a Silver White surgical knife, but Bo Shuo threw it aside and shut Xi Guici out.
• Xi Guici picked up the knife, transformed it into a rose, and crushed it to dust.
• Bo Shuo woke to a nighttime wedding procession of Paper Figurines carrying a bride who cried that she had been wronged.
• Bo Shuo grabbed 007 and forced him to become his recorder.

Bo Shuo and Sang Yu survived the Ghost Bride’s attack by extinguishing their red candle and lighting a white one. In the morning, Xi Guici admitted he knew some of the rules, then cut off an examinee’s pointing hand when the man accused him of withholding information.

• The Ghost Bride’s sedan chair attacked rooms, killing Zhang Yi, Lu Yiji, Zheng Chenggong, and Ning Hua.
• Bo Shuo extinguished the red candle and lit a white one, diverting the sedan chair from his room.
• The survivors emerged at dawn, and Sang Yu showed Bo Shuo the red string required for the wedding banquet.
• An examinee accused Xi Guici of hiding what he knew about the rules, and Xi Guici admitted he knew some of them.
• Xi Guici severed the accuser’s pointing hand, leaving him screaming on the ground.

Bo Shuo joined Aunt Wang’s wedding procession and rescued a girl from a man beating her. The other examinees realized the girl wore a red string identical to theirs, while Bo Shuo remained unaware of the clue they thought he had noticed.

• Aunt Wang led the wedding guests through the winding village and told them to wear red strings.
• Bo Shuo spotted a woman and girl being abused by a man as the procession passed.
• Bo Shuo cut the man’s foot with his scalpel, stopping him from kicking the girl, then rejoined the procession.
• Aunt Wang heard the scream but found no explanation and continued leading the group.
• Sang Yu and the other examinees admired Bo Shuo for noticing the girl’s red string, and 007 pointed it out to him.
• Bo Shuo compared the girl’s red string with his own and found them identical.

Bo Shuo questioned Aunt Wang about the village’s strange wedding customs, then discovered that the wedding banquet resembled a funeral. Inside the venue, he found paper guests and two rules posted on the wall, while the reason behind the bizarre ceremony remained unclear.

• Bo Shuo challenged Aunt Wang about the locked homes and the wedding, provoking her anger and a surge in her hostility toward him.
• Bo Shuo concluded Aunt Wang wanted the group dead but was being prevented from acting, and the group reached the banquet venue.
• The Village Chief ushered the examinees into a silent, funeral-like gathering where spirit money and white decorations replaced wedding ornaments.
• Bo Shuo entered the gloomy basement banquet hall, where paper figurines with scarlet eyes stared at the guests.
• Bo Shuo noticed the posted Wedding Banquet Rules, which required guests to finish their food and not leave during the banquet.

During the wedding banquet, the villagers transformed into monsters and attacked the examinees, while Bo Shuo discovered that wearing a Red String stopped them from hunting him. The crisis briefly eased, but the chapter ended as the Skinny Man caught his breath.

• Xi Guici insulted the Village Chief, then told Bo Shuo to investigate the back mountain for information.
• The wedding banquet began, and the paper dolls lifted the coffins to stage the newlyweds’ bow to heaven and earth.
• The villagers transformed into fur-covered monsters and attacked the examinees, killing one who tried to flee through the door.
• Bo Shuo realized the monsters targeted people without Red Strings and tied his own Red String around his wrist to stop their pursuit.
• The Skinny Man and other examinees put on their Red Strings, halting the monsters’ attacks as the Skinny Man let out a breath of relief.

After the candidates ate the Ghost Bride’s food, they were transported to separate locations, leaving Bo Shuo alone in a bridal cabin with the Ghost Bride. He avoided her attack by denying he was her husband, and she mistook him for a wedding guest while searching for her missing groom.

• Bai Ziheng and Xiao Qi ate first, prompting the other candidates to eat the strange dishes while Bo Shuo refused his portion.
• Xi Guici offered Bo Shuo a steak, which Bo Shuo also refused, and 007 gave it to Sang Yu instead.
• After the food was eaten, the surroundings shifted and Bo Shuo lost consciousness, waking alone in a red bridal cabin as his Corruption Value began to rise.
• The Ghost Bride emerged from behind the bridal canopy and asked Bo Shuo whether he was her husband.
• Bo Shuo denied being her husband and insulted the man she had mistaken for him, causing the Ghost Bride to calm down and call him a wedding guest.
• The Ghost Bride complained that Little Bugs had impersonated her husband, then sat before the vanity.

Bo Shuo comforted the Ghost Bride, learned she wanted to kill her missing husband, and promised to help find him. After she gave him a wooden comb and the scene shifted, he freed the other Examinees from a basement where the Ghost Bride had imprisoned them.

• Bo Shuo called the Ghost Bride Chen Zhiruo and told her she should never have suffered what happened to her.
• Chen Zhiruo asked Bo Shuo to find her husband, then revealed that she wanted to kill him because she did not want to marry him.
• Bo Shuo promised to help Chen Zhiruo find her husband, and she gave him a B-rank wooden comb that could mark entry into the Ghost Domain during the exam.
• Bo Shuo reappeared in a basement where the Ghost Bride had tortured and restrained the other Examinees, then used his scalpel to free them.
• The Examinees warned Bo Shuo about the Ghost Bride, and he interrupted them before explaining what he knew.

Bo Shuo exposed and killed the Ghost Groom, who had been disguised as an examinee, completing the Ghost Bride’s bonus question. The Ghost Groom revealed himself and angrily demanded to know how Bo Shuo had seen through his disguise.

• The Ghost Bride showed open affection toward Bo Shuo and hostility toward the other examinees.
• Bo Shuo spotted that the wounded examinee in the corner was labeled “npc: Ghost Groom” and stabbed him in the throat.
• The examinees panicked as the corpse rose and tore off its disguise, revealing the Ghost Groom.
• The Ghost Bride recognized the Ghost Groom and reacted with fury.
• The Proctoring System announced that Bo Shuo had completed the bonus question to help the Ghost Bride find the Ghost Groom for 20 points.
• The Ghost Groom accused Bo Shuo of uncovering his disguise with only an hour left before the Ghost Marriage was complete.

The Ghost Groom drank a blood-colored liquid and used the Ghost Bride’s Soul Contract to raise his strength, forcing Bo Shuo and the examinees to flee through the collapsing Ghost Domain. Bo Shuo drew the Ghost Groom’s attacks away from the others while searching for a way to escape the unstable domain.

• The Ghost Groom drank a blood-colored liquid, rose from C-rank to pseudo-B-rank, and drained the Ghost Bride through their Soul Contract.
• Bo Shuo pulled the Ghost Bride aside and led the group toward the entrance as the Ghost Domain began collapsing.
• 007 told Bo Shuo that they needed to return to reality and marked weak points in the Ghost Domain for him to destroy.
• Bo Shuo sent the Ghost Bride in the opposite direction and evaded the Ghost Groom’s attacks to keep the others out of danger.
• The examinees stayed clear of the fight and survived as the destroyed buildings began resetting.

Bo Shuo destroyed the Ghost Domain and defeated the Ghost Groom, then was teleported behind the mountain and encountered Xi Guici in a cave. The chapter ended with Xi Guici recognizing Bo Shuo and playfully approaching him despite being held at knifepoint.

• The Ghost Groom charged Bo Shuo in a final, self-destructive attack, but Bo Shuo struck its vulnerable point and used its momentum to destroy the Ghost Domain.
• The rescued examinees and investigating High-Rank Examinees witnessed Bo Shuo's victory and were stunned by his strength.
• Bo Shuo used 10,000 Emotion Points to repair his battered body after being teleported behind the mountain.
• Xi Guici followed his remembered route to the sacrificial point, detected blood near a cave, and entered it.
• Bo Shuo held Xi Guici against the cave wall with his scalpel, but recognized his voice; Xi Guici abandoned resistance and teased him about their fated meeting.

Bo Shuo and Xi Guici uncovered the village’s history of trafficking women and sacrificing newborn girls, triggering a faction task that pitted them against each other. Xi Guici was assigned to the White Faction, while Bo Shuo’s Black Faction teammate Sang Yu approached the cave.

• Bo Shuo recognized that Xi Guici had deliberately entered this Exam Venue and questioned his intentions.
• Bo Shuo connected the village’s sacrifices and ghost marriages to generations of women who had been trafficked and wronged.
• The Proctoring System activated a 50-point Faction War, assigning Bo Shuo and his listed teammates to stop the sacrifice and help the wronged souls take revenge.
• Bo Shuo realized Xi Guici belonged to the opposing White Faction, and Xi Guici offered to give up the task if Bo Shuo wanted him to.
• Xi Guici sensed someone approaching, and Bo Shuo spotted Sang Yu on the map as she stealthily neared the cave.

Bo Shuo, Sang Yu, and 007 followed Bai Ziheng and Xiao Qi into the Village Chief’s house while discussing God’s Chosen candidates and Xi Guici’s unknown identity. Inside, Bo Shuo traced the familiar scent of the Red String to a dusty wooden board.

• Sang Yu spotted Bai Ziheng and Xiao Qi hiding near the Village Chief’s house and warned Bo Shuo about their ranks and abilities.
• 007 explained that God’s Chosen candidates gained power from the Deities they served, and warned Bo Shuo that he could not become one while at odds with them.
• Sang Yu said she and Bai Ziheng were the only God’s Chosen candidates she knew of in the exam, and that Xi Guici seemed unusually powerful and dangerous.
• Bai Ziheng and Xiao Qi picked the lock and entered the Village Chief’s house, and Bo Shuo and Sang Yu followed them inside.
• Bo Shuo recognized the fishy-sweet scent of the Red String in the house and followed it to a dusty wooden board that 007 pointed out.

Bo Shuo and Sang Yu searched the Village Chief’s house for clues about the sacrifices, but the Village Chief returned and transformed into a B-rank Ghost. A noise exposed their hiding places, forcing them to flee as the Village Chief pursued Bo Shuo.

• Bo Shuo found evidence of human sacrifices, including the remains of baby girls, while Bai Ziheng and Xiao Qi searched upstairs.
• Bo Shuo spotted the Village Chief returning, and he and Sang Yu raced upstairs to hide as Bai Ziheng and Xiao Qi arrived.
• The Village Chief burst into the house and transformed into a huge, black-furred beast.
• A glass marble exploded, revealing Bo Shuo and Sang Yu’s hiding place and drawing the Village Chief toward them.
• Bo Shuo ran through the cramped room to evade the Village Chief while Sang Yu used her speed and Talent Skill to avoid being caught.

Bo Shuo learned that the White Faction was hunting down Black Faction candidates, then raced to the Shaman’s home to find the prayer needed for the sacrifice. He and Sang Yu entered the hut and found the Shaman’s corpse, but the prayer’s location remained unknown.

• Bai Ziheng and Xiao Qi tried to escape the enraged Village Chief, but the gate shut and Sang Yu told them Mr. Bo wished them to enjoy themselves.
• Bo Shuo watched Zhang Hu’s final video and realized the White Faction had regrouped to hunt isolated Black Faction candidates.
• Several Black Faction candidates died, leaving five Black Faction members and ten White Faction members.
• The Proctoring System announced the Shaman’s death as a triggering node and revealed that the priest’s prayer was hidden somewhere in the Shaman’s home.
• Bo Shuo and Sang Yu reached the Shaman’s hut and found the Shaman’s corpse among the crude furnishings and crawling red worms.

Bo Shuo’s coordinates were exposed after he obtained the Prayer Paper, drawing the White Faction examinees toward him. He hid with Sang Yu and ordered her to move the villagers’ Blood Altars, while Xu Ji Mo organized the examinees to attack when the coordinates appeared again.

• The Proctoring System exposed Bo Shuo’s coordinates for thirty seconds and started a ten-minute countdown.
• A rescued examinee identified Bo Shuo as the Prayer Paper holder, but Xu Ji Mo revealed that he had contracted the Ghost Groom and took charge of the White Faction group.
• Bo Shuo hid with Sang Yu in an abandoned Small House and decided to use the villagers to disrupt the coming attack.
• Bo Shuo told Sang Yu to infiltrate villagers’ homes and bring their Blood Altars to the Small House.
• When Bo Shuo’s coordinates appeared again, Xu Ji Mo sent three teams forward from different directions.

Bo Shuo lured the berserk villagers to the abandoned house and confronted Xu Ji Mo after refusing his offer to join Flowing Light. The villagers began breaking in as Xu Ji Mo attacked Bo Shuo, leaving the examinees trapped in a fight against both threats.

• Xu Ji Mo demanded that Bo Shuo hand over the sacrificial manuscript in exchange for a recommendation to Flowing Light, but Bo Shuo insulted him.
• A siren sounded as villagers discovered their missing Blood Altars and followed the traces Bo Shuo had left to the abandoned house.
• The system warned that all NPC villager factions had entered berserk mode, and the villagers began breaking through the house's walls.
• Bo Shuo told Xu Ji Mo that only his group would die there and cut Xu Ji Mo's neck with a scalpel.
• Xu Ji Mo summoned his ghost weapon, a long sword, and attacked Bo Shuo as the villagers surged into the house.

Bo Shuo used illusions to expose Xu Ji Mo’s contracted Ghosts and fled from them, but his Emotion Points were running low and Xu Ji Mo cornered him. Just as the Ghosts closed in, Sang Yu arrived with the deranged Village Chief and a horde of villagers pursuing her.

• Xu Ji Mo discovered that Bo Shuo had filled the area with straw-and-stone illusions, then summoned his contracted Ghosts to find and attack the real Bo Shuo.
• Bo Shuo fled from the Head-splitting Woman, One-eyed Butcher, and Ghost Groom while his Emotion Points rapidly dwindled.
• Bo Shuo stopped at a fork in the road, making Xu Ji Mo suspicious even as the contracted Ghosts continued toward him.
• A group of villagers led by the deranged Village Chief appeared, chasing Sang Yu toward Bo Shuo.
• Bo Shuo saw Sang Yu arrive and considered using the Ghost Bride's Wooden Comb.

Bo Shuo and Sang Yu realized the villagers were hiding women to sacrifice, and Bo Shuo decided to leave the Ghost Domain early. When the coordinates were exposed, the White Faction discovered that Bo Shuo was right beside them.

• The Ghost Bride ignored Sang Yu, became more humanlike, and thanked Bo Shuo for freeing her from the Ghost Groom.
• The Proctoring System detected Bo Shuo's use of the Ghost Domain and ordered examinees to return to Snow Mountain Village within five minutes.
• Sang Yu explained that the shortened sacrifice would still work and that they needed to rescue the intended victims to stop the ritual.
• Bo Shuo learned that Sang Yu had seen no women among the villagers and decided they would leave the Ghost Domain before the countdown ended.
• Xu Ji Mo cursed Bo Shuo after losing a contracted ghost and suffering injuries during the White Faction's clash.
• The White Faction saw Bo Shuo's coordinate overlap with their own and realized he was nearby.

Bo Shuo persuaded the White Faction candidates to trade with him by arguing that neither faction’s task required them to take sides. After securing their agreement, he was confronted by Xu Ji Mo, who followed him to the Village Chief’s house and questioned his motives.

• Bo Shuo offered the White Faction a trade on the condition that they accept his plan.
• Bo Shuo claimed the factions’ tasks did not truly conflict and that the candidates could complete them without joining either side.
• Bo Shuo secretly relied on the White Faction not knowing that the sacrifice could proceed without the Prayer Paper, though at reduced strength.
• Xu Ji Mo confronted Bo Shuo and asked why he was pretending to be a good person and involving himself in the conflict.
• Xu Ji Mo followed Bo Shuo toward the Village Chief’s house, leaving Bo Shuo afraid he might attack him.

Bo Shuo and Xu Ji Mo found villagers killed with a scalpel resembling Bo Shuo’s, leading Bo Shuo to suspect Xi Guici. At the Village Chief’s courtyard, Bo Shuo concealed himself and pulled Sang Yu away from a group of bloodied, seemingly controlled villagers.

• Bo Shuo and Xu Ji Mo noticed their journey to the Village Chief’s house had become suspiciously easy, and Bo Shuo received Sang Yu’s message asking for help.
• They found several dead villagers and saw that one had been killed with a scalpel matching Bo Shuo’s, so Bo Shuo identified Xi Guici as the likely culprit.
• Xu Ji Mo explained that Xi Guici was a lone newcomer blacklisted by the major guilds, while Bo Shuo showed little interest in his warning.
• Bo Shuo used Emotion Points to create a Concealment Cloak when synchronized figures approached the Village Chief’s courtyard, and Xu Ji Mo hid with a Ghost Talent Skill.
• Bo Shuo recognized Sang Yu among the bloodied villagers being manipulated like puppets and grabbed her shoulder to keep her from following them.

Sang Yu, Bo Shuo, and their companion discovered the village’s underground chamber, where they found the sacrificed girls and clues to a planned escape. As they investigated a hidden carving, something stirred in the darkness, and Bo Shuo realized the unlit eastern corner was covered in damp black hair.

• Sang Yu, Bo Shuo, and their companion descended into the basement and found dozens of girls tied with red strings, several of whom had died from the cold.
• Sang Yu gave recovery potions to the girls who were still alive and covered them with a warm blanket.
• Bo Shuo found a concealed carving and recognized its marks as escape routes drawn by the abducted villagers.
• A rustling sound approached, and Bo Shuo noticed that the eastern corner had no visible candlelight.
• Bo Shuo pointed 007 toward the corner and discovered that the apparent patch of shadow was made of damp, sticky black hair.