Recaps

Xu Huo learned that the government planned to defend Capital City and establish a district government without relying on him to destroy the A-class Random Instance. The painted woman told him how she had escaped the circus city and sold Big Mao to pay for passage aboard a ship.

• Xu Huo told Nie Xuan that the Wisteria instance had collapsed partly by luck and warned that Capital City's A-class instance might not be as easy to destroy.
• Nie Xuan informed Minister Ji and the officials that Xu Huo had no reliable solution, and they resolved to defend Capital City and move ahead with establishing a district government.
• Xu Huo learned through the painted woman that the government considered Capital City's survival essential to the district's future.
• The painted woman admitted that she had picked up Suitcase Man's Instance Authorization Letter because it was valuable, but said she had not told anyone about it.
• The painted woman recounted hiding from Suitcase Man, escaping the circus city with Big Mao, and boarding a ship in District 039.
• When the ship's staff discovered that the painted woman and Big Mao had no tickets, she sold Big Mao to someone who agreed to pay for them.

The painted woman and Big Mao recounted how they returned to District 014 and found Xu Huo during his fight with Jin Feixue. As Xu Huo recovered, reports from Capital City revealed that many victims had been trapped in isolated pockets of vacuum, and the Special Defense Department faced a growing mystery.

• The painted woman and Big Mao followed a group of Players through a teleportation passage to District 014, then tracked Xu Huo to Capital City.
• The painted woman watched Xu Huo fight Jin Feixue and stopped Jin Feixue from escaping after Xu Huo was blasted away.
• The painted woman gave Xu Huo a flower and told him that more than ten Players had arrived, with additional groups expected.
• The Special Defense Department found that the fog's mild toxin could not explain the deaths of young, healthy people, many of whom were social elites on its preferred list.
• The Special Defense Department discovered that most young victims had suffocated after the air around them was instantly removed, leaving them isolated in a vacuum-like space.

The Special Defense Department concluded that deaths in Capital City were linked to keeping the population balanced between young and middle-aged people and dependents, but player numbers complicated their calculations. As the dungeon remained unsolved, Xu Huo left the Safe Zone and urged the Xiang siblings to view ordinary people from a player's perspective.

• Team Leader Ming explained that the dungeon's population ratio was effectively 1:1 and that sending away people from one age group could cause deaths among another.
• Nie Xuan suggested that players distorted the population calculations, so Team Leader Ming ordered a count of players while warning that players might eventually suffocate too.
• Minister Ji proposed evacuating government personnel, but the old man argued that their departure could collapse society and urged them to accept the risks of serving as pioneers.
• After resting for two hours, Xu Huo left his room as the Xiang siblings briefed him on the dungeon's danger to players.
• Xu Huo told the Xiang siblings to look at ordinary people through the eyes of players, then left the Safe Zone.

Xu Huo witnessed people dying from a sudden loss of air as panic spread through the city, while Players clashed over attempts to evacuate civilians. Two Players stealing from a Mall intervened when Brother Wang attacked Xiaomei, then asked her if she was hungry.

• Xu Huo watched an old man suffocate and die, as nearby Players and civilians struggled with their fear and grief.
• Players who could evacuate people became sought after, and the Special Defense Department and military clashed with Players trying to send civilians away.
• The government issued a notice forbidding Players from evacuating people on their own, provoking anger among those afraid of being left behind.
• Two Players broke into a Mall jewelry store and followed Brother Wang from the lounge to a Warehouse where Xiaomei was hiding.
• Brother Wang attacked Xiaomei, but the two Players stopped him and killed him before asking Xiaomei if she was hungry.

Xiaomei’s attempt to escape with two Players ended in a deadly robbery, while fear and rumors drove Capital City’s residents into unrest. Xu Huo returned to the Safe Zone and told Minister Ji that the game world was dominated by Players.

• Xiaomei led two D-class Players to the Mall owner’s home, where their break-in triggered an alarm and the owner shot one of them before they fled, leaving his elderly father dead.
• The owner reported the crime, and the Special Defense Department received photos of the two Players and Xiaomei as rumors spread that the government was abandoning the city and sacrificing residents.
• Xu Huo watched residents gather and fight in the streets as Special Defense Department Players broke up the unrest and threatened to knock out anyone who resisted.
• A team leader greeted Xu Huo on a rooftop, and Xu Huo left with the painted woman for the Safe Zone.
• Minister Ji asked Xu Huo whether he had figured out how to clear the instance, and Xu Huo replied that the game world was dominated by Players.

Xu Huo considered how District 014’s upcoming fusion would shift power from ordinary people to Players while the country’s leaders negotiated a new balance. The negotiations remained unresolved when Xu Huo arrived and asked whether they had reached an agreement.

• Minister Ji accepted Xu Huo’s explanation, and Xu Huo returned to the room prepared for him.
• Government officials, Players, and representatives of influential factions negotiated how power would be divided as District 014 faced fusion.
• Minister Ji lost his position as head of the Special Defense Department but remained as a substitute minister with support from Nie Xuan and Team Leader Ming.
• Zong Lanzhi argued that Players were more valuable than ordinary people and that policies should favor Players, prompting objections from senior officials and Nie Xuan.
• The officials asked Xu Huo to join them, and the Players stood as he entered and asked whether they had reached an agreement.

Xu Huo and representatives of District 014’s Player organizations negotiated how Players would share power with the existing government. The Players won control over key departments and resource distribution, while the original government retained a temporary role in technical work.

• Xu Huo argued that Players should lead the Sub-district Government without separating themselves from ordinary people, and Xiao Yue called for rights and support for Players’ families.
• The elderly negotiator agreed that Players would become independent of existing government departments and subject to oversight rather than direct orders.
• The parties negotiated separate Player departments, an independent supervisory body, limits on family-based government appointments, and roles for Gray Players and Players with suspended status.
• The negotiators agreed that Players would control resources, train and screen new Players, and secure legal protections and compensation for Players and their families.
• The original government tried to retain control of weapons research, but Zong Lanzhi insisted that Players take priority, and the Players prevailed, leaving government technical staff in a temporary supporting role.

Xu Huo revised the proposed government structure to protect ordinary people and balance Players’ power in District 014. After defending his proposals, he left the meeting without further objections.

• The negotiations gave Players control of key government positions, National Resources, foreign strategy, and the renamed Enforcement Headquarters.
• Xu Huo told the Secretary to divide Surveillance Department personnel and voting seats evenly among Players and government officials, and to balance Player training base leadership between Players and non-Players.
• Xu Huo proposed that the Chief Executive and his secretaries be non-Players, prompting questions about former government Players and the Enforcement Headquarters’ Third Department.
• Xu Huo said he was representing ordinary people and argued that Players and non-Players both belonged in District 014’s government system.
• The former government officials accepted Xu Huo’s proposals, while Zong Lanzhi held back despite his ambitions.

Xu Huo helped reshape Capital City's government and evacuation response as suffocation deaths surged again. He and Nie Xuan discussed the dangers of handing power to self-interested Players, while Xu Huo accepted rare items and requested more IOUs from the Special Defense Department.

• Zong Lanzhi, Xiao Yue, and the former government officials agreed to Xu Huo's proposed transfer of positions to Players.
• Suffocation deaths fell briefly after the government structure changed, then surged again, prompting Zong Lanzhi to order more people evacuated from Capital City.
• Xu Huo watched the evacuation and told Nie Xuan he suspected the Sub-district merger was not over.
• Nie Xuan suggested Xu Huo kill opportunistic Players, but Xu Huo argued that ambitious Players would eventually be worn down by Dungeons and the burden of governing.
• Nie Xuan offered Xu Huo a list of rare items as payment and commendation, and Xu Huo accepted while asking for additional IOUs.

As suffocation deaths and attacks spread through Capital City, the government disclosed the Dungeon situation and tried to control the unrest by dividing the city into sealed zones. The plan backfired when residents in one zone began suffocating en masse, prompting Nie Xuan to order the blockades disabled.

• Nie Xuan discussed the Special Defense Department’s selected items with Xu Huo and said more goods might become available after the outbreak of fused Dungeon instances.
• As suffocation deaths rose, Players attacked government Players to seize container items, and the government disclosed the Dungeon situation to calm them.
• Despair spread among ordinary residents, who protested at Special Defense Department offices while suicides, killings, and other incidents increased.
• The government divided the city into sealed zones with Players’ instruments, but people in one zone containing six residential compounds suddenly began suffocating in large numbers.
• Nie Xuan ordered the instrument blockades disabled after residents in the sealed zone continued to suffocate.

A few seconds of delay by Zong Lanzhi’s Players caused mass suffocation deaths in two lockdown areas, and Xu Huo forced them to face the consequences. With the instance still threatening the city, Xu Huo ordered the evacuation effort to continue and left Zong Lanzhi to answer to the grieving survivors.

• Nearly half the people in two areas suffocated after the Players responsible delayed following the government’s order.
• Team Leader Ming attacked Zong Lanzhi, but Nie Xuan intervened, and Xu Huo took the group out of the Safe Zone.
• Xu Huo brought Zong Lanzhi and the others to the corpse-filled streets, where they saw the deaths their delay had caused.
• Xu Huo asked whether suffocation deaths had spread and ordered Nie Xuan and Team Leader Ming to evacuate people using container items.
• Xu Huo told Zong Lanzhi that others would judge him and ordered him to help care for the dead.
• An old woman pleaded with Zong Lanzhi for food and asked whether he had seen her grandson.

After a deadly evacuation mistake, Minister Ji explained why the government would use Zong Lanzhi’s error to limit his political influence rather than remove him. Xu Huo searched the city for clues, rescued poisoned residents in a location item, and stopped several people fleeing with Special Defense Department personnel.

• Zong Lanzhi ordered Jiang Ke and the other Players to move the bodies and civilians to safety as the Special Defense Department evacuated the area.
• Minister Ji told Nie Xuan that Zong Lanzhi’s mistake would force him to make political concessions, and warned Nie Xuan to control his anger.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman found poisoned residents in a villa district’s location item, and Xu Huo gave them Antidote before summoning the Special Defense Department.
• A young woman recognized Xu Huo as Big Shot X, but her excitement brought back her poisoning symptoms and she collapsed.
• Xu Huo instructed the rescue team to move the residents outside the location item before treating them.
• Xu Huo used a Mental Portal to return several escapees carrying Special Defense Department personnel, and his mental pressure forced them to their knees.

Xu Huo uncovered a scheme to abduct Special Defense Department players and discovered that a pharmaceutical company planned to hypnotize them into working for it. As the department investigated the company, a mysterious illness spread through a hospital and someone demanded ransom for hostages.

• Xu Huo interrogated men who were capturing government players for cash, killed one, and learned of several handoff locations and more than twenty other captors.
• Xu Huo used the painted woman to lure two players to a meeting point, defeated them, and learned they worked for a pharmaceutical company with a hidden local manager.
• Xu Huo handed the players to the Special Defense Department and went to the company, but found its abducted personnel and captives gone.
• The Special Defense Department tracked down company recruits and discovered a cache of hypnotic drugs and brainwashing equipment intended to lure department players into working for the company.
• Team Leader Ming investigated the trading platform while Nie Xuan checked the department's headcount, and a hospital outbreak forced authorities to seal off the building and nearby streets.
• Someone publicly challenged the government to pay ransom for his hostages, though the authorities did not know who he meant.

Xu Huo helped stabilize District 014 as the government addressed threats and the Platinum Eye settled after fighting. He then reviewed efforts to fix a stalled Dungeon and left the painted woman to settle for an area near Ting City instead of Capital City.

• The authorities found the planted bombs, arrested the threat-makers and other plotters, and kept the poisoned victims alive with Potions.
• Xu Huo helped handle troublesome Players as District 014 grew calmer after Jin Feixue’s death and the merger’s peak passed.
• Bai Kou and the former mayor’s side drove back factions led by the Lang family, restoring the Platinum Eye to the mayor’s hands.
• The Suitcase Man escaped another pursuit in District 013, and Xu Huo chose not to reveal the location of his Super Dungeon.
• Xiang Yao reported that government reforms had stopped new suffocation deaths, though the Dungeon had stalled; Xu Huo told him to establish a temporary Sub-district Government.
• Xu Huo offered the painted woman an area near Ting City, but refused her request for Capital City.

After the A-Rank Random Instance "National Resources" was cleared, Xu Huo returned to Ting City and reunited with his companions. As they discussed the future of District 014, Gu Yu warned him against joining the Sub-district Government and getting caught in political infighting.

• The fog lifted after the Dungeon was cleared, and the city’s residents celebrated the return of sunlight.
• Yan Jiayu reunited with Xu Huo and Big Mao, learned that Jin Feixue was dead, and concluded that the Ghastly Sound Knights were likely finished.
• Xu Huo took the painted woman back to Ting City, where he reunited with Gu Yu and later met Yu Qingqing for a meal.
• Yu Qingqing said she wanted to join the Sub-district Government for its benefits, but Xu Huo warned her that government work required following rules.
• Gu Yu explained that she had moved districts to protect her family and advised Xu Huo to avoid government factional struggles, while Yu Qingqing argued that his strength meant he should not have to avoid anyone.

Yu Qingqing told Xu Huo that Tang Guangbo had been secretly writing and drawing in the air and that she had lost her memory after recording him. Xu Huo warned her to stay away from Tang and then monitored District 014’s Dungeons as the district’s transition continued peacefully.

• Gu Yu left for another city after telling Xu Huo she would think over his advice.
• Yu Qingqing showed Xu Huo a video of herself entering Tang Guangbo’s office twice, though she remembered only the first visit.
• Xu Huo explained that Tang Guangbo was an Outer District Player whose mental-evolution research was under government surveillance, and warned Yu Qingqing to avoid him.
• Yu Qingqing gave Xu Huo a box of supplies, and the painted woman tasted and discarded a bottle labeled as a fertility formula.
• Xu Huo checked news and Dungeon reports, noting that District 014’s merger had remained peaceful and that Random Instances posed the greatest danger.

Xu Huo returned home to reunite with his family and spoke privately with Ms. Fang about her relationship with Tang Guangbo and the truth about Xu Zhi’s death. The family shared a meal, and Tongtong gave Xu Huo a birthday present before Xu Huo offered to make up for missing Tongtong’s birthday.

• Xu Huo returned to his family after their relatives were brought back from temporary item spaces.
• Xu Huo spoke with Ms. Fang, who apologized for neglecting him and advised him not to sacrifice his life for revenge over Xu Zhi.
• Xu Huo told Father Xu not to interfere with Ms. Fang’s choices, then distracted Ms. Yu by revealing that Father Xu had hidden money in Tongtong’s toys.
• Ms. Yu scolded Father Xu and Tongtong, then served dinner to the family.
• Tongtong gave Xu Huo a little golden horse bought with his New Year’s money, and Xu Huo offered to give Tongtong a present in return.

Xu Huo visited Tang Guangbo, who had been experimenting on himself to advance Mental Evolution. Tang explained that his research was driven by the extraordinary mental resistance of an ordinary person, and warned that breaching the brain’s defenses would leave people transparent in the game world.

• Xu Huo gave Tongtong colorful passive-trigger shields and magic-trick devices, while Father Xu warned him not to spoil the boy.
• Xu Huo left home and brought a small bag of fruit to Tang Guangbo’s office, where a pair of stationed Players let him in.
• The office transformed into a decaying, foul-smelling space, and Xu Huo escaped Tang’s trap by opening a Mental Portal.
• Tang Guangbo emerged and told Xu Huo that his self-experiment had partly worked, though few people could endure the process of Mental Evolution.
• Tang Guangbo described an ordinary Evolved Human who resisted a Potion during interrogation and used his mental power to give false information.
• Tang Guangbo said he wanted to protect people’s private thoughts and secrets, warning that people would become transparent if their brains’ defenses were breached.

Xu Huo discussed the Mental Defense Line and the dangers of exposing a Spiritual World’s core with Tang Guangbo, who advised him to create a hidden core. After returning home to find the Xu and Yu families hosting guests, Xu Huo was asked by the painted woman whether she could visit the District Government building while he was busy.

• Xu Huo asked Tang Guangbo whether A-class wormhole instruments could probe consciousness, and Tang Guangbo explained the Mental Defense Line’s protection against memory access and mental interference.
• Xu Huo described the Wisteria instance, where sleeping people’s mental bodies could kill one another, and Tang Guangbo speculated that the dream state had loosened their defenses.
• Tang Guangbo told Xu Huo that a Mental Evolver’s Spiritual World core was linked to the Mental Defense Line and urged him to create a decoy core to hide his real one.
• Xu Huo considered the implications of breaching the Mental Defense Line and decided that creating another core was worth trying.
• Xu Huo returned home to find relatives and friends of the Xu and Yu families visiting, then went to his room.
• The painted woman emerged from under the bed and asked Xu Huo whether she could play at the District Government building while he was busy.

Xu Huo reviewed Super Evolution information and inspected the items provided by the Special Defense Department, including the intelligent items Dream Lover and Ineffectual Rage. After examining Whale’s and Jin Feixue’s belongings, he discovered a game item in Jin Feixue’s Storage Compartment.

• A stranger invited Xu Huo to a Ticket Dungeon in District 014 and offered him two-thirds of its loot, but he set the message aside.
• Xu Huo examined the time-related, lifesaving, and mental items from the Special Defense Department.
• Xu Huo released Dream Lover, discovered it was dim-witted and fond of apples, and put it into his item slot.
• Xu Huo decided not to release Ineffectual Rage because it attacked its holder and could go berserk.
• Xu Huo opened Whale’s and Jin Feixue’s belongings and found a game item in Jin Feixue’s Storage Compartment.

Xu Huo opened Jin Feixue’s Mystery Box and obtained a Temporary Pass, which let him inspect nearby train routes and sub-districts. While searching Jin Feixue’s belongings, he also found records showing that Jin Feixue, Dou Shengnan, Bai Tiaoyi, and Whale suffered from a serious premature-aging condition.

• Xu Huo used the Lucky Dice before drawing from Jin Feixue’s Mystery Box.
• Xu Huo obtained a Temporary Pass that allowed unrestricted train travel and revealed nearby station routes on his Personal Panel.
• Xu Huo examined Jin Feixue’s remaining artifacts and instruments, including a Violin and a defense artifact that absorbed and weakened attacks.
• Xu Huo found documents showing that Jin Feixue had been researching a treatment for premature aging, a condition that affected many players.
• Xu Huo read records identifying Jin Feixue, Dou Shengnan, Bai Tiaoyi, and Whale as people who had developed the condition, with Whale falling ill first.

After learning that Wang Xiaohui was trapped in the Wang Family Manor’s dangerous sealed Dungeon, Xu Huo reluctantly agreed to hear Wei Mang’s plea. The Dungeon expanded and showed signs of being mental-type, leaving Xu Huo facing a growing rescue crisis.

• Xu Huo received Wei Mang’s request to rescue Wang Xiaohui from a manor where entrants disappeared, and he referred the matter to Nie Xuan.
• After Nie Xuan reported that the manor was an exceptionally powerful A-grade sealed Dungeon, Wei Mang broke into Xu Huo’s residential compound and begged him to save Xiaohui.
• Xu Huo brought Wei Mang inside, where Wei Mang explained that two rescuers had entered separate spaces and suspected the Dungeon was connected to the manor’s past.
• Wei Mang said Xiaohui’s baby had been taken somewhere safe and offered Xu Huo the promised reward.
• Nie Xuan reported that the Dungeon had expanded to trap Xiaohui’s paternal uncle, his Players, and Enforcement Department Players, and that it might be a mental-type Dungeon.

Xu Huo learned the Wang Family Manor’s grim history and examined the game item “Ice and Snow World” that Wei Mang offered him. After testing its three-second protective effect, Xu Huo agreed to leave with Wei Mang to rescue Wang Xiaohui.

• Wei Mang told Xu Huo the manor’s history of killings, misfortune, and Wang Xiaohui’s confinement and untreated injury.
• Xu Huo learned that players inside the manor had sent back little information and asked Wei Mang to seek more details from the Wang family’s relatives.
• Nie Xuan confirmed that no new messages had arrived and left, while Xu Huo asked him to leave two people outside to provide support.
• Wei Mang offered Xu Huo the game item “Ice and Snow World,” which Xu Huo activated and tested for three seconds.
• Wei Mang said Wang Xiaohui mattered more than the item, and Xu Huo said he would change clothes before they left to rescue her.

Xu Huo, Wei Mang, and the painted woman entered the expanded Wang Family Manor instance, where the clearance mission was to kill their reflections. They explored the deserted manor and found mirrors that distorted their appearances, leaving the painted woman startled by her reflection.

• Xu Huo and Wei Mang arrived at Wang Family Manor and learned that the instance had expanded and no one had returned with new messages.
• The painted woman arrived, and Xu Huo invited her and Wei Mang to enter the instance while Enforcement Department players waited outside.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman entered from the left while Wei Mang took the right entrance, and Xu Huo received the mission to kill his reflection.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman explored the empty manor, where he sensed dense Space Power and mental power throughout.
• The painted woman examined a mirror in a girl's room and exclaimed that she did not look good in it.

Xu Huo and the painted woman investigated the manor’s strange reflections while questioning Wang Chengren, who accused Wang Xiaohui of killing the Players. After following his account through a Tea Hall and a garden, they encountered another Wang Chengren emerging from the path and diving into the Lake.

• Xu Huo noticed his reflection behaving strangely in a mirror and left without touching it.
• Wang Chengren emerged from the Lake, accused Wang Xiaohui of killing the Players, and asked Xu Huo and the painted woman to save him.
• Xu Huo questioned Wang Chengren about where he had seen Wang Xiaohui and led him to a moon gate and nearby Tea Rooms.
• Xu Huo spotted his distorted reflection in a Glass Bottle and warned that the camera lens was also a mirror.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman crossed the garden and reached another lakeside, where a second Wang Chengren appeared and plunged into the Lake.