Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo battled Jiang Feng aboard the ship after trapping the Red Bracelet Player in the shifting Study Room. The fight spilled into the air above the sea, where Xu Huo used the shelter to bear down on Jiang Feng as they fell.

• Xu Huo trapped the Red Bracelet Player in the shifting Study Room, while Jiang Feng used an Electric Shock Device to wake himself from the Spiritual World.
• Jiang Feng attacked Xu Huo with a Tornado, but Xu Huo blocked it with the Door of Severed Relations and Weakening Rubber before countering with his sword.
• Jiang Feng chased Xu Huo into the air, freed himself from the Kite String, and pursued him on a flying vehicle.
• Xu Huo disabled Jiang Feng's vehicle with the Jammer, and Jiang Feng grabbed Xu Huo as they fell toward the sea.
• Xu Huo tied Jiang Feng to the falling shelter with the Strings, warped his dagger with the Diamond Glove, and climbed inside after the shelter door knocked Jiang Feng's gun away.

Bai Kou and Hugo faced off aboard the ship as Captain Matt transformed its layout, scattering the Players. When a blast destroyed part of the ship and giant mutated octopuses surrounded it, the survivors learned the ship was protected by a special Potion.

• Hugo killed Jiang Feng's sister with a scalpel, and Captain Matt restored the Seaweed-covered ship while rebuilding its missing seventh floor.
• Xu Huo entered the ship as its shifting layout separated the Players, then slipped into a new corridor to avoid being caught between Bai Kou and the High-level Players.
• As Players fled toward safer floors, Xu Huo chose to stay and watch, but a powerful blast destroyed the newly formed seventh floor and drove him and others against the windows.
• The sea turned into corrosive Black Water, and giant mutated octopuses surrounded the ship and attacked Players who went into the water.
• The Black Bracelet Player explained to Serin that District 011 coated the ship with a special Potion to protect it from large mutated marine species.

After the ship transformed again, Xu Huo and the other Players were trapped aboard as the sea around them turned deadly. The Players suspected District 011 had brought them here to prevent their escape, while Xu Huo tried to keep suspicion from turning into violence.

• Hugo killed Jiang Feng's sister, and Captain Matt transformed the ship, restoring its seventh floor and shifting its interior.
• Xu Huo returned inside as Bai Kou and Hugo held back, and the Players scattered in search of safer places aboard the ship.
• A powerful force destroyed the restored seventh floor and drove Xu Huo and other Players against the windows.
• The sea turned into boiling black water filled with giant mutated Zhang that melted or attacked Players who entered it.
• Serin calmed the trapped Players by vouching for himself, and Xu Huo explained that he and the bloodied Black Bracelet Player had changed bracelets for safety.

Xu Huo and the Players tried to regain control of the item ship and escape the Seaweed-covered waters, but the lower decks were flooded and the ship was damaged in a fight with mutated giant squids. Xu Huo proposed expanding the ship so Captain Matt could steer it out of danger.

• Xu Huo, Serin, and the others decided to find Lu Yun’s fuel, clear a path to the control room, and try to restore the ship’s course.
• The Players used fuel powder to drive back the Seaweed and descended in a lift, but black sludge trapped them on the Third Floor.
• Bai Kou fell from the Sixth Floor and used a Potion to kill Seaweed on the Fifth Floor before attacking Hugo with an energy cannon.
• The tattooed strong man deflected Bai Kou’s shots into the sea, where the explosions roused giant squids that struck the ship and flooded the Fifth Floor.
• Lu Yun and the others adjusted the ship’s course, but its automatic systems overrode them and destroyed two engines, forcing Lu Yun to relinquish control.
• Xu Huo suggested expanding the ship and relying on Captain Matt to steer it out of the sea if the giant squids attacked again.

Xu Huo and the others deployed the ship’s floors as flooding and giant mutated octopuses threatened to overwhelm them, while Captain Matt used Lightning Jellyfish venom to kill the creatures. Aboard the ship, nobles discussed Madam Butterfly, the New Wheel Cult, and whether religion could help control Evolved Humans.

• Bai Kou used a potion to kill the seaweed growths, then fired her energy cannon at Hugo and the ship’s central shaft, but the tattooed strong man deflected the shots into the sea.
• Xu Huo joined Lu Yun and the others in the control room, where they found the ship’s course change had damaged two engines and the controls had to be disabled.
• Xu Huo argued that deploying the ship’s floors could help them escape the flooding, and a short-haired female player pressed the deployment button.
• Giant mutated octopuses surfaced and attacked the ship, slicing off part of a floor and crowding around the hull.
• Captain Matt released Lightning Jellyfish, whose venom killed the giant mutated octopuses, while Duke Tar explained Madam Butterfly’s background to the nobles.
• The long-haired nobleman said District 011 did not need religion, but the freckled nobleman argued that religion could help control Evolved Humans.

After Xu Huo’s instance authorization was approved, the Seventeenth Hospital instance descended onto the ship and trapped its Players. The group realized the E-class instance was a mental-type one shaped by Bai Kou’s strength, and Asis tested whether they could break out.

• The Seventeenth Hospital instance landed on the ship, crushing its upper floors and forcing Matt and the others into the instance.
• Hugo tried to use a Space Decomposition Ray Tower to destroy the instance, but Bai Kou’s S-class space-time item prevented it from working.
• Hugo accused Bai Kou of being a Tracker of the Platinum Eye and sent syringes flying at her; Bai Kou knocked them aside and altered the apparent distance between them.
• Matt recognized the environment as a mental-type Random Instance, and Asis explained that its difficulty depended on its owner’s mental strength.
• Vison Meny proposed breaking through the instance, and Asis threw a metal cube forward with Forceful Strike to test the idea.

A mental-type Random Instance trapped the players aboard the ship, while Bai Kou’s presence suppressed Hugo’s cannon and the group struggled to find a way out. Xu Huo and the others discovered that the instance offered three possible tasks, but had not yet chosen one.

• Hugo tried to use the Space Decomposition Ray Tower to destroy the E-class instance, but Bai Kou’s S-class space-time item suppressed it.
• Bai Kou attacked Hugo with syringes and distorted the apparent distance through the mental-type instance.
• Asis Werner tested the instance’s boundary with a metal cube and concluded the group could escape only by destroying the instance space.
• Captain Matt warned that the ship was out of his control and might be heading toward a zone where spaces converged.
• Xu Huo and the other players learned they could choose between receiving psychological treatment, killing a Doctor, or finding the hospital entrance.

Lu Yun and the other players searched the hospital for a safe route through the instance, while repeated sightings of a figure made them question what was real. They discovered the hospital's apparent second floor lay beside a corrosive sea, but still could not tell whether the figure was an illusion or a trap.

• Lu Yun warned that the visible entrance might be a hallucination, and the players searched the hospital instead of trying to force their way out.
• Serin opened the access-control door to the second floor, and another player damaged its lock so it could not trap them.
• The players found rooms bearing their names and rested near the nurses' station after failing to find an exit or a way to the third floor.
• Chen Zi and several players chased figures that appeared in the hallways, but each time the figures vanished before they could catch them.
• Lu Yun stopped two players from jumping after a red-bracelet figure and pointed out that the window opened onto a corrosive sea.
• Serin concluded that the hospital was beside the sea, and Lu Yun advised the players not to cross the hospital's boundaries.

Xu Huo and the other White Bracelets searched the hospital for the Dungeon exit, then discovered that its corridors and windows concealed a dangerous illusion over a corrosive sea. Meanwhile, the Red Bracelets were trapped as patients and began looking for a way to escape.

• Serin and the other players failed to open the hospital's main entrance, so Lu Yun suggested that the apparent door might be an illusion and led them to search the hospital.
• The players disabled the stairwell lock, explored the second floor, and found wards bearing their names, but no route to the Third Floor or a clear exit.
• After resting by the nurses' station, the players repeatedly spotted and chased a figure wearing a Red Bracelet, but it escaped through a window above a corrosive sea.
• Serin realized that forcing open the hospital entrance might have let the sea flood in, and Lu Yun advised everyone to stay within the hospital's boundaries.
• The White Bracelets decided to rest, while the Red Bracelets were confined as patients; attackers were seized by guards, and two players died trying to escape through windows.

Xu Huo used the hospital Dungeon to weaken Players’ defenses and draw them into believing its illusions, while Bai Kou helped keep the strongest Players contained on the top floor. The White Bracelet wearers’ floor had already filled with increasingly vivid horrors.

• Xu Huo injected Ellison with a Syringe and questioned him after his resistance gave way to uncertainty.
• Xu Huo explained how the psychiatric Treatment Room, fake doctors, and weakened abilities lured Red and Black Bracelet wearers into the Dungeon’s illusions.
• Xu Huo divided the Players into groups and opened parts of the hospital so White Bracelet wearers could find their targets.
• White Bracelet wearers began imagining ghosts, monsters, and other horrors, transforming their floor into a grotesque hospital landscape.

Xu Huo manipulated Players in the mental Dungeon by deepening their belief that they were patients in a hospital, weakening their defenses and steering them toward the psychiatric Treatment Room. The chapter left the Players sinking further into the illusions as the hospital grew more real in their minds.

• Xu Huo injected Ellison with the Syringe and began questioning him as a patient.
• Xu Huo had sorted the Players upon entry, sending the strongest Players, Captain Matt, and Bai Kou to the top floor while dividing the others into groups.
• Xu Huo used illusions and guided the White Bracelets to fill their floor with imagined horrors.
• Xu Huo led the Red and Black Bracelets toward the psychiatric Treatment Room, where their inability to use items and Abilities weakened their resistance.
• Xu Huo planned to make the hospital increasingly complete through the Players' imagined staff and Monsters.

Xu Huo used the Seventeenth Hospital’s mental effects and Bai Kou’s help to isolate Hugo and test his abilities. Hugo destroyed Xu Huo’s imagined monsters and Blood Aberrations with an awakening item, leaving Xu Huo hidden nearby as their fight continued.

• Xu Huo asked Bai Kou about Hugo’s abilities and learned that Hugo could turn small objects into scalpels and spread an infectious disease through touch.
• Bai Kou reinforced the hospital with metal and changed its layout through her Spiritual World, then sent Hugo to Xu Huo.
• Xu Huo retreated through the hospital and used imagined monsters and Blood Aberrations to attack and distract Hugo.
• Hugo tested the Blood Aberrations with his scalpels, then used an item to relocate and found another one waiting.
• Hugo struck a Tuning Fork, turning the monsters and Blood Aberrations to ash and restoring the hospital’s original appearance.
• Xu Huo remained hidden downstairs while Hugo’s Tuning Fork revealed a countermeasure to mental attacks.

Hugo pursued Xu Huo through the Dungeon, but Serin intervened and used his abilities to trap and blind Hugo. As the three escaped Hugo’s spreading bacteria, Xu Huo used Bai Kou’s metal passage to strike Hugo from behind and flee.

• Hugo attacked Serin after Serin refused to let him pursue Xu Huo, and their fight gave Xu Huo time to prepare.
• Hugo broke through Xu Huo’s defenses, slashed his throat, and ripped out his heart, but Xu Huo survived and grabbed Hugo’s arm.
• Serin trapped Hugo in a glass cage with corrosive water and used Repentance and Punishment to blind him.
• Hugo spread bacteria through the corridor, forcing Xu Huo, Serin, and Lu Yun to flee in different directions.
• Xu Huo returned through Bai Kou’s metal passage, slashed Hugo across the back, and ran.

Xu Huo exploited Hugo’s blindness and the Dungeon’s illusions while waves of Red Bracelets and Black Bracelets fought the B-class Player, steadily exhausting his Abilities and artifacts. Hugo eventually retreated after killing many attackers, and Xu Huo sent another group after him.

• Xu Huo identified the limits of Hugo’s weapon-making Ability and the costs of his disease-releasing power, then used illusions to mislead Hugo as he tried to escape through the floor and ceiling.
• Xu Huo sent Red Bracelets and Black Bracelets to attack Hugo, and the ensuing battle filled the hallway with blood and bodies as both sides suffered heavy losses.
• Xu Huo adapted his imagined Monsters to resist some bacteria after Hugo repeatedly released the disease and weakened his own hand.
• The attackers used a series of Abilities and artifacts to slow and trap Hugo, but Hugo broke free, killed a Red Bracelet, and escaped.
• The surviving Players hesitated to pursue Hugo, so Xu Huo sent another group to continue wearing down his combat strength.

Xu Huo used the ship’s Red and Black Bracelets to wear down the blind, injured Hugo with waves of attackers. Hugo kept surviving and killing his pursuers, and the chapter left him surrounded by Black Bracelets who recognized him as the Doctor and attacked anyway.

• Xu Huo analyzed Hugo’s Abilities and items, then used illusions and Monsters to restrict him while keeping his distance.
• Xu Huo sent Red and Black Bracelets to attack Hugo, and Hugo killed many of them while suffering injuries and exhausting his resources.
• Xu Huo adapted the Monsters to resist some pathogens as Hugo’s hand turned black and he shifted to close combat.
• Hugo escaped one group of attackers, but Xu Huo sent another group after him to continue wearing down his strength.
• A group of Black Bracelets surrounded Hugo and attacked for his items before one recognized him as the Doctor from the Ghastly Sound Knights.

Bai Kou pursued Whale and Hugo through the Seventeenth Hospital as the fighting between Asis Werner and Mona Dog’s group escalated around them. The collision of their battles damaged the hospital and ended with Whale’s energy bomb blasting both him and Mona Dog away.

• Bai Kou trapped Whale and Hugo with metal and invisible barriers, but Whale broke free and carried Hugo toward the first floor.
• Mona Dog used a blood-marked black spike to target Asis Werner, while Asis tried to destroy the Dungeon with a glowing triangle.
• Xu Huo opened a window to send the triangle out of the hospital, but it soon returned as Whale, Hugo, and Bai Kou entered the battlefield.
• Whale knocked the black spike aside, and Bai Kou blocked it with her sphere, breaking it and reducing its length.
• Mona Dog fought Asis at close range, but Whale crashed into her while fleeing Bai Kou, and his energy bomb exploded, blasting them both away.

Xu Huo reclaimed the hospital Dungeon after killing Hugo and sending the surviving Players away, then entered the Clown City arena’s E-class instance, “Evil Contest.” There, he learned that Players had seven days to kill targets, contaminate a water source, and plant a battle flag while the city forced blindfolded residents toward the Protective Wall.

• Xu Huo used Director's Right to try to catch Hugo off guard, but Hugo sensed him and attacked with the Dirty Needle before Bai Kou snapped his neck.
• Xu Huo used The Power of Writing to draw the Players’ attention, judged that they had cleared the Dungeon, and sent them back to the ship; Bai Kou then left the hospital.
• Xu Huo reclaimed the Dungeon, took the item sewn beneath Hugo’s skin, and entered Clown City using the Ticket to Clown City.
• The game announced the tasks and deadline for the “Evil Contest,” then a mechanical hand pushed Xu Huo from his pod into a crowded arena.
• A woman protested being sent beyond the Protective Wall, but a robot scanned her records and confirmed that she had reported receiving firearms training.

Xu Huo learned how the cleaning mission worked and joined Siming, Er Gou, and Zhuo Wangsun to prepare for it. As Zhuo Wangsun declined a soldier’s offer to cooperate, Xu Huo urged the group to accept in exchange for local knowledge about the area beyond the wall.

• Xu Huo learned that soldiers formed their own teams, had little training, and needed to buy better equipment themselves for the dangerous cleaning mission.
• A female Player explained that the full-immersion goggles could not be removed without a key and warned Xu Huo about the blinding High-Beam Lights beyond the wall.
• Xu Huo discovered that Moving Metal had been contaminated and met Siming, Zhuo Wangsun, and Er Gou, who explained why Players used their nicknames.
• Zhuo Wangsun bought upgraded Protective Suits and weapons for the group after Siming and Er Gou found the equipment too expensive.
• A man leading a group of soldiers offered to work with the Players, and Xu Huo urged Zhuo Wangsun to accept because the soldiers knew the area beyond the wall.

Xu Huo and three other Players prepared for Clown City's cleanup mission and joined a soldier team's group after learning they lacked local knowledge. They left the venue with Yi Mao as the group's leader and a mix of Players and specialists.

• Xu Huo learned that soldiers had to buy better equipment and that removing the full-dive glasses would leave them blinded by the High-Beam Lights outside the wall.
• Xu Huo discovered that items in his Storage Compartment had been contaminated, then met Players Siming, Zhuo Wangsun, and Er Gou, who explained why they used nicknames.
• Zhuo Wangsun bought high-grade Protective Suits and weapons for the group while Siming and Er Gou struggled to afford equipment.
• Yi Mao offered his team’s local knowledge about the area beyond the wall, and Xu Huo advised the others to accept.
• Yi Mao introduced himself as the team's leader and named its two local Players and other members with specialized skills.

Xu Huo joined Yi Mao’s team for Clown City’s cleanup mission and learned about the city’s layered design, social system, and reward for capturing an Alien alive. At the protective wall, the team received an assigned zone and a sparse map before heading into the cleanup area.

• Yi Mao gave Xu Huo and the other Players miniature bombs and medical kits, then recruited two more Players before leading the team toward the protective wall.
• Xu Huo observed Clown City’s stacked levels and learned from Zhuo Wangsun and others how the city’s architecture and social benefits worked.
• Yi Mao promised to give the team the reward money if they captured an Alien alive, while Xu Huo introduced himself as Lao Wu and met the other recruits.
• The team reached Clown City’s protective wall, passed through electronic identity checkpoints, and received holographic glasses and maps for their assigned cleanup zones.
• Xu Huo inspected the map and found that it lacked details about Alien activity and supplies, while Kang Yongjie criticized the mission’s organization.