Recaps

Xu Huo led a Special Defense Department team through the cinema after identifying an illusion that had altered their senses, while Country Y’s Players prepared to target him. A painted woman disguised herself as Tracy and killed a guard, taking his signal button.

• Xu Huo stopped a Player from shooting at the rabbit doll, exposed that the group’s senses were being affected, and agreed to stay with the team leader as they advanced to the Third Floor.
• A Player who had escaped the doll warned the Players on the Ninth Floor that Xu Huo was formidable and unaffected by his item.
• The blond man identified Xu Huo as their target, left the card game to check on his teammates, and triggered a protective shield when a sticker of a female ghost attacked him.
• The painted woman transformed into a blonde beauty and lured a Player who mistook her for Tracy.
• The painted woman trapped the Player in paper, killed him with blades, and took the signal button from his chest.

Xu Huo and the Special Defense Department Players became trapped in a mirror maze on the Third Floor, where Captain Wang and another Player were swallowed by a mirror. As the group tested the maze, Xu Huo knocked several Players down and sent them into confusion, leaving them facing strange moving lights.

• The painted woman folded the button transmitter into a paper Frog, sent it hopping down the corridor, and stored the Player's corpse in a Cabinet.
• Xu Huo and the Special Defense Department Players found the Third Floor sealed by mirrors, and Captain Wang led the group into the maze.
• Captain Wang and another Player were sucked into a mirror after he tried to retrieve his rubber adhesive, while the others' gunfire ricocheted and injured two teammates.
• Xu Huo tested the mirrors with a marble and reasoned that the group might find a way through without splitting up.
• A burly Player began passing through another mirror, but Xu Huo suddenly knocked several Players over, and fist-sized patches of light moved toward them in the darkness.

Xu Huo and the Special Defense Department players fought their way through the Mirror Maze, where Xu Huo broke the maze apart and confronted the woman in red. The chapter ended with their fierce battle resuming as she attacked him with Love Me Heart to Heart.

• Xu Huo covered the mirrors with artifact fabric, stopping the bouncing lights, and the group found the corpse of a player who had left with Captain Wang.
• A mirror swallowed Xu Huo and 3973, and Xu Huo used the Whispering Ball and a grenade to pull the Third Floor into his Spiritual World and destroy its floor.
• As the mirrors fell, the Special Defense Department players reunited and saw the woman in red; Captain Wang attacked her with an artifact, but she knocked it aside.
• Xu Huo fought the woman in red with the Water Knife Gun and Bright Red Sword, while she used a shield and Refusal Charm to defend herself.
• The two fighters clashed and separated, and the woman in red threw a red string at Xu Huo with Love Me Heart to Heart.

Xu Huo fought the woman in red through her poisonous weapon and mirror maze, then left Captain Wang’s group behind to reach the upper floors. He found Tongtong and the painted woman captive among masked players on the eighth floor.

• The woman in red attacked Captain Wang and 3973 with poisonous confetti, but Xu Huo disarmed and trapped her before she escaped through a hole in the floor.
• Xu Huo turned the woman’s mirror maze against her and poisoned her, forcing her to flee despite gunfire from the Special Defense Department outside.
• Captain Wang learned that the person using 3304’s uniform was likely Xu Huo, who had come to rescue his younger half-brother.
• Xu Huo climbed to the eighth floor and found Tongtong and the painted woman bound and blindfolded before several masked players, including the woman in red.

Xu Huo confronted a Country Y Player who had taken Tongtong and demanded the Antidote, while a painted woman was killed during the standoff. Xu Huo exposed the enemy’s illusion and battled him, ending with the crew cut man unleashing a swarm of bees.

• A golden-haired crew cut man held Tongtong at gunpoint and demanded the Antidote from Xu Huo, then killed the painted woman when Xu Huo refused.
• Xu Huo noticed the floor beneath the crew cut man forming a spiral staircase, sending him falling through it, then confronted a second crew cut man who had disguised himself with an illusion.
• Xu Huo deduced that the illusion had prevented the other figures from speaking and warned that an A-grade contaminant could spread through Country Y.
• The crew cut man attacked with metal objects, sand tornadoes, and shock waves, while Xu Huo used doors to evade and counter his attacks.
• The crew cut man’s copper bell swallowed Xu Huo’s legs, but Xu Huo used “Like repels like!” to destroy the prop and push them apart.
• The crew cut man released an artificial Honeycomb and a swarm of bees, and Xu Huo tossed the Desert Windmill onto the ground.

Xu Huo fought through several Players on the eighth floor, overcoming their items and killing one while the man with the buzz cut escaped. He reached the Secret Room and found the painted woman with Tongtong, who was safe and able to walk.

• Xu Huo used linked doors to turn the attackers' weapons against their own teammate, then fought off their items and attacks.
• Xu Huo resisted the buzz-cut man's poison, injured him, and pursued him through a wall before another Player blinded him with a mirror.
• Xu Huo used Plant's Lament to overwhelm the man with the buzz cut and his companion, then killed the companion while the man escaped.
• Xu Huo recovered his sight, climbed into the Secret Room, and followed the painted woman's ringing phone.
• Xu Huo found the painted woman trying to hide Tongtong in a drawer, and Tongtong confirmed he could walk.

Xu Huo rescued Tongtong from the Secret Room and left him with the Special Defense Department before setting out on another plan. After learning about a newly opened smuggling route, he decided to travel overseas with Lichun and prepared for the risks ahead.

• Xu Huo and the painted woman carried Tongtong out of the Ninth Floor, and Xu Huo entrusted him to Team Leader Wu and the Special Defense Department.
• Xu Huo drove to the former base while Nie Xuan learned that Zheng Liang's friend had uncovered a new smuggling route and ordered it monitored.
• Zheng Liang gave Xu Huo the route information, and Xu Huo said he would take Lichun and needed identity documents for one person.
• Gu Yu offered to help Xu Huo prepare supplies, and he told her he would compensate the players and that she should monitor her condition.
• Xu Huo finished his preparations and searched the bounty platform for Space Artifacts because the Five or Five Open Air Window had already been used once.

Xu Huo assessed his limited funds and posted a list of targets and supplies on the Vanguard Player Forum, making the Special Defense Department realize he planned to act in Country Y. Minister Fan approved support for him, and Team Leader Wu delivered a huge reward and valuable supplies, including a B-class item whose history hinted at a curse.

• Xu Huo judged the items taken from Country Y Players and decided he needed more supplies, so he posted a list of requested information and targets on the Vanguard Player Forum.
• Minister Fan and the team leaders discussed Xu Huo's apparent plan to enter Country Y, and Team Leader Lu argued that the Special Defense Department should support him without officially directing his actions.
• Minister Fan ordered the department to upload an encrypted file to the forum and send Xu Huo approved items, Potions, and White Cash.
• Team Leader Wu delivered Xu Huo a hundred million White Cash, forty-six kinds of Potions, and five items, including three B-class items.
• Xu Huo inspected the first B-class item, The Shortest Distance Between Two Points Is a Straight Line, which was associated with the deaths of three Artificers.

Xu Huo accepted five weakening items and a selection of Potions from Team Leader Wu, then shared White Cash with his companions. He learned that Yan Jiayu had survived the Random Instance, acquired a C-class item, and wanted to travel with him to Country Y, but he was leaving the next day.

• Team Leader Wu explained the five items selected to weaken opponents, and Xu Huo accepted them along with several useful Potions.
• Xu Huo and Team Leader Wu parted on friendly terms without discussing Tongtong's kidnapping or the reservoir's Antidote.
• Xu Huo gave his companions five hundred thousand White Cash each and set aside shares for those who had not returned.
• Zhou Ning told Xu Huo that Yan Jiayu had been seriously injured after killing three Twin Serpent Players in the Random Instance.
• Yan Jiayu explained that she had broken her leg kicking an item and gained a powerful C-class item, then asked Xu Huo to travel to Country Y with her.
• Xu Huo declined Yan Jiayu's invitation because he was leaving the next day.

Xu Huo and Lichun joined a group of Players trying to cross Country X’s southern border using Brother Sun’s Ability. The crossing began under cover of the cards, but the group was still approaching the second fence as time ran short.

• Xu Huo and Lichun met several Players at the border, where Brother Sun sold them cards that let them cross safely for a limited time.
• Brother Sun secretly gave the painted woman a blue card with a four-minute timer before the group set off.
• The six Players crossed the first fence and hid in a hole to avoid a mobile security camera on the second fence.
• As the cards’ time dwindled, the burly man and another Player climbed out despite the young Player urging them to wait.

Xu Huo crossed out of Country X, abandoned a group of Players to be detained by the military, and secretly boarded a chartered plane to Country Y. During the flight, Country Y Player Karbi Nix confronted him about his identity and purpose, and Xu Huo proposed discussing a deal after they arrived.

• Xu Huo and the painted woman crossed the mountains while the Bald Player, the young Player, and two foreign Players argued about Country X and its Special Defense Department.
• After a military force surrounded the group, Xu Huo and the painted woman hid until the four Players were taken away, then continued toward the city.
• Xu Huo used fake documents arranged by Zheng Liang and boarded a Country Y charter flight disguised as the wealthy Mr. Qi.
• Karbi Nix introduced himself and asked Xu Huo where the real Mr. Qi was; Xu Huo said he was at a hotel and offered to discuss a deal after reaching Country Y.
• Nix asked whether the plane could land at a military airport.

Xu Huo evaded Nix’s attempt to poison him and used a Space Artifact to bypass Y Country’s defenses and enter a newly operational Safe Zone. He began an attack on the Safe Zone, intending to destroy its metal structure and undermine the refuge Y Country had built.

• Xu Huo and Nix discussed Y Country’s epidemic, the Alien threat, and the place of Players in District 014.
• Xu Huo detected poison in the liquor offered by Nix’s flight attendant and confronted Nix about it.
• After spotting an island, Xu Huo used a Space Artifact to leave the plane and cross into Y Country, while Nix pursued him and the plane began breaking apart.
• Xu Huo landed in the middle of a leadership conference inside a Safe Zone and pulled several people into his Spiritual World as bullets swept through the room.
• Xu Huo escaped into an empty office, prepared to use Life Core against the Safe Zone’s metal structure, and relied on Three Seconds of Life to restrict its Space Artifacts.

Xu Huo and the painted woman escaped the destruction of the Country Y Safe Zone, but Nickus tracked him to another Safe Zone and attacked. The painted woman deflected Nickus’s electric pellets, and the fight continued as both men made their next moves.

• A mysterious effect caused the conference building and other metal structures across the Safe Zone to crumble, and players searched the ruins for the intruder.
• Xu Huo disguised himself, reunited with the painted woman, and slipped through the ruined gate as crowds fled the Safe Zone.
• Nickus returned and ordered checkpoints set up, but Xu Huo used The Shortest Distance Between Two Points to escape to another Safe Zone.
• Nickus pursued Xu Huo to a plaza, where the painted woman caught his electric pellets and flicked them back at him.

Xu Huo evaded Nyx while the painted woman fought the players, and the Safe Zone began collapsing as metal throughout the city turned to powder. Nyx found Xu Huo hiding in a shop and confronted him about the deaths of ordinary people.

• Xu Huo used his items to defend himself from Nyx, escaped into a shop, and hid in its warehouse through his Spiritual World.
• Players arrived and attacked Nyx and the painted woman, but the painted woman escaped their traps and killed several players.
• The painted woman entered a building, where players discovered metal crumbling from a chandelier and began evacuating people.
• Metal supports across the Safe Zone turned to powder, causing buildings and underground structures to collapse as rescue convoys arrived.
• Nyx sensed Xu Huo behind the break-room door and challenged him over the innocent people who had died; Xu Huo argued that ordinary people suffered for the mistakes of governments and players.

After Xu Huo’s attack destroyed two Y Country Safe Zones, Y Country’s leaders debated retaliation and security while protests spread and X Country celebrated the collapse. The Y Country government publicly blamed a suspected X Country Player, but the Special Defense Department refused to confirm the accusation.

• Nicks confronted Xu Huo over the attack, but the painted woman entered and the presence in the room reminded Nicks that one good turn deserved another.
• Y Country’s leaders learned that only two intruders had destroyed the Safe Zones, and an analysis suggested the attack had been a warning that spared the nearby Alien base.
• Y Country’s leaders argued over whether to declare war, then set the proposal aside and assigned Nicks to find ways to protect the Safe Zones from future attacks.
• After rescue efforts ended, protests and riots spread across Y Country while people in X Country celebrated the Safe Zones’ destruction.
• The Y Country government released a photo of Xu Huo and challenged the Special Defense Department, which refused to engage or confirm the accusation.

The Special Defense Department discussed Xu Huo’s attack on a Safe Zone in Country Y, debating how to protect his family and manage the consequences. Nie Xuan said Xu Huo had shown restraint, and Minister Fan asked for the detailed report on the Black Rain incident.

• Minister Fan celebrated the public-relations impact of the attack while the Country Y official angrily ended their call.
• Nie Xuan warned the leaders that Country Y’s Elite Players could identify Xu Huo from his revealed items and past encounters.
• Nie Xuan said the Player who had leaked information about Lichun’s Super Artifact had been dealt with and the evidence destroyed.
• Minister Fan ordered Xu Huo’s family to be moved periodically and asked Team Leader Lu to look after Yu Qingqing.
• Jiang Qiao defended Xu Huo as a trustworthy hero, and Nie Xuan said his actions in Country Y had been a lesson rather than revenge.
• Minister Fan asked whether the detailed report on the Black Rain incident was ready.

Nie Xuan presented the Special Defense Department with a theory that Xu Huo had influenced or gained access to the Seventeenth Hospital instance, while privately burning his handwritten notes. On a bus, a burly Player confronted other passengers and froze just as he reached for an injured Player.

• Nie Xuan reported that the Seventeenth Hospital Random Instance had caused nearly eighty deaths and suggested Xu Huo’s past and mental Evolution might be connected to it.
• The department debated whether Xu Huo owned the instance or possessed an item that could open it, and Minister Fan assigned Nie Xuan to lead the interference operation without linking Xu Huo to the Attack Incident.
• Nie Xuan told Team Leader Lu that he doubted Xu Huo owned the instance, then agreed to enter an instance the next morning and burned the final page of his handwritten notes in his office.
• On a bus to the county town, a burly Player argued with a braided-haired woman and tried to take the seat of a bloodied Player.
• A nearby young Player tried to stop the burly man from starting a fight, but the burly man abruptly froze as he reached for the injured Player.

Xu Huo and six other Players arrived in Sifang Palace City and learned they had entered the seven-day D-class survival instance Co-Eye. With night approaching, they began looking for places to stay while tensions surfaced among the group.

• Xu Huo endured his worsening arm injury during the bus ride to the remote county seat.
• The Players received the instance briefing, which described Sifang Palace’s dwindling population, religious customs, and midnight deadline to find lodging.
• Tian Kunwen proposed that the Players cooperate, and six of them introduced themselves while a seventh Player walked away.
• Fu Danhong criticized Yi Pei, and the two argued about whether the group should trust one another.
• Xu Huo urged the Players to find lodging first, and Tian Kunwen agreed that they should settle in before discussing their next steps.

The group searched for lodging in the county, where residents insisted that each household could host only one guest and directed anyone wanting to stay together to the hotel. After checking into the hotel, Xu Huo argued that the group should split up because the county’s rules might make staying alone safer.

• Wei Xian and the others found that residents refused to rent rooms to multiple guests, and an auntie offered Fu Danhong a room only if she stayed without Wei Xian.
• The group followed Yi Pei’s suggestion and went to the hotel, where the manager required one guest per room while the building was being disinfected.
• Two players who had checked in earlier hurried out and warned the group not to stay, while another player said the hotel was safer than the guesthouses.
• Tian Kunwen concluded that the hotel and guesthouses seemed similarly dangerous, and the players discussed the risks of grouping up in the instance.
• Xu Huo chose a room by himself and explained that the county’s one-guest rule might make splitting up safer, despite Yi Pei’s warning that staying alone also carried risks.

Xu Huo and the other players searched for You Jun after he disappeared when answering a midnight knock at the hotel. They found no trace of him inside and debated whether to risk searching outside in the fog.

• Xu Huo refused to go out that night, but a sudden knock woke him at one in the morning.
• Xu Huo found Wei Xian searching for You Jun, who had vanished after opening his door to someone knocking.
• The players questioned Fu Danhong and Tian Kunwen, then considered how You Jun could have disappeared without making a sound or resisting.
• Xu Huo, Yi Pei, and Wei Xian found the hotel manager absent and checked the register, discovering Liu Shiyan had stayed longer than he claimed.
• Fu Danhong and Tian Kunwen failed to get information from Fang Penghui, and Fu Danhong refused to search outside for You Jun.

Xu Huo and the other players investigated the disappearances in Sifang Palace City, while Xu Huo searched for clues in the woods. He found a broken religious carving that contradicted the Dungeon’s background information, then heard someone call out behind him.

• Xu Huo and the others learned that three players had gone missing overnight and agreed to search for clues in separate groups.
• Yi Pei questioned locals about Sifang Palace City, while Xu Huo decided to investigate the woods for traces of You Jun.
• Xu Huo met the braided girl, learned that her older brother made the county’s best-selling handicrafts, and arranged to visit her home to buy some.
• Xu Huo encountered Fang Penghui in the woods and uncovered a broken Stone Carving after Fang left.
• Xu Huo noticed that the carving and the lack of religious signs in the county conflicted with the Dungeon’s description, then heard someone call to him.

Xu Huo investigated why the county’s residents seemed wary of eyes while helping stop a player from assaulting a family. Back at the hotel, Tian Kunwen reported that the residents worshipped a god in their bedrooms.

• Xu Huo and Xiaoyun’s brother encountered a player attacking an old man and a little girl, and Xu Huo blinded the attacker before another player pulled him away.
• Yi Pei arrived to support Xu Huo, and the attackers left; Xu Huo gave the old man White Cash and went with Yi Pei to buy carvings from Xiaoyun’s family.
• Xu Huo noticed that Xiaoyun’s brother carved lifelike eyes but local residents avoided mirrors, so he ordered wooden mirror frames and asked about supply runs.
• Xu Huo told Yi Pei that the residents might be avoiding eyes, while Yi Pei noted that they knew little about their religion despite welcoming guests.
• The players gathered in Fu Danhong’s room, where Tian Kunwen said the residents worshipped a god in their bedrooms.

Xu Huo and the other players investigated the disappearances in Sifang Palace City, where locals worshiped gods whose idols were hidden in wooden cabinets. After the manager revealed little under Fu Danhong’s questioning, Xu Huo reviewed Yi Pei’s recording and began examining how the idols might be seen.

• Tian Kunwen and Fu Danhong explained that players who opened the wooden cabinets often disappeared, and the group considered whether You Jun had seen an idol.
• Xu Huo and the others seized the manager and questioned him; under Fu Danhong’s item, he said the missing people had shown disrespect to the gods but claimed he knew nothing about You Jun.
• The players discussed whether a local or another player had knocked on You Jun’s door, and whether the gods punished people who attacked locals.
• Xu Huo accepted medicine from Yi Pei and borrowed her recorder before returning to his room to investigate.
• After listening to the recording and noticing the locals avoided discussing their gods, Xu Huo ordered small mirrors from the front desk.

Xu Huo investigated the locals’ fear of mirrors and learned that young people left the county and never returned. At the cemetery pool, he encountered Cao Dong, who warned him that disturbing statues in the woods could leave someone marked.

• Xu Huo revisited the grandmother and granddaughter, offered them fruit, and found that they were frightened of mirrors.
• Xu Huo questioned local families and learned that avoiding mirrors was a strict local custom.
• A boy guided Xu Huo toward the cemetery pool and said that the dead were sunk there, but that young people usually left and never came home.
• The boy’s grandmother stopped him from questioning the fate of his parents and warned him not to leave like the other young people.
• Xu Huo met Cao Dong in the woods, and Cao Dong warned him not to turn over the statues because doing so could mark him.

Xu Huo investigated the hotel’s disappearances and suspected that seeing something through the peepholes or in the rooms might trigger them. He persuaded Yi Pei to help test the peephole that night, where the chapter left them preparing to investigate the danger.

• Cao Dong told Xu Huo that the hotel’s wall carvings seemed to come alive at night, and Xu Huo questioned whether the manager was frightening players.
• Eight new players arrived at the hotel and booked five rooms, while Xu Huo and Yi Pei discussed the disappearances and the dangers of sharing rooms.
• Xu Huo revealed that he had realized Yi Pei’s eyesight was poor, and Yi Pei confirmed that she could hear footsteps outside before You Jun disappeared.
• Xu Huo and Yi Pei reasoned that the reliefs, mirrors, and peepholes might be connected to the disappearances, including those of players whose doors were not knocked on.
• Xu Huo proposed testing the peephole when the manager knocked that night, and Yi Pei agreed to help because she suspected the dungeon’s danger involved seeing something unusual.