Recaps

Xu Huo hid in the Pigsty as the Skin Stripper entered the Factory at night, but the killer’s oppressive presence left him unable to move until a piglet drew the Skin Stripper away. Meanwhile, Peng Fengnian hid above the Workshop and hoped Xu Huo would distract the killer, while Zou Weichang slipped out of the Players’ room and entered the Fur Room.

• Xu Huo chose the Pigsty, hid beneath pigskin, and used meat-wrapped rats to prepare a distraction as night fell.
• The Skin Stripper entered the Pigsty in a clean lab coat, and his gaze overwhelmed Xu Huo with fear until a piglet squealed and drew him away.
• The Skin Stripper sensed a new smell, left the Pigsty to hunt it, and Xu Huo found he could not escape the Factory through the surrounding darkness.
• Peng Fengnian hid atop the Gate Wall, hoping Xu Huo would attract the Skin Stripper’s attention while he waited for a chance to reach the Players’ rest room.
• Zou Weichang used his Darkness Under the Lamp Ability to leave the Players’ room unnoticed, cross the Workshop, and enter the Fur Room.

Zou Weichang discovered that Xu Huo had misled him and became trapped in the changed Dungeon, while Peng Fengnian was discovered by the skin stripper. The skin stripper captured Zou Weichang and prepared to skin him using the Nape of Destiny.

• Peng Fengnian hid from the skin stripper, injected himself with Black Potion, and collapsed as the skin stripper found him and left for the Fur Room.
• Zou Weichang realized Xu Huo had tricked him and that the Dungeon had changed, trapping him inside the skin stripper's bedroom.
• The skin stripper approached the bedroom, and Zou Weichang escaped on his Skateboard before crashing into a hide that transformed him into a tiger.
• The skin stripper dragged Zou Weichang to the Workshop, stomped his hands, and hung him from a heated hook piercing the back of his neck.
• The skin stripper explained how the Nape of Destiny and Sober Iron Hook immobilized Zou Weichang, then prepared to skin him within two hours.

Xu Huo returned to the players’ room after the night’s violence and found Zou Weichang skinned alive and Peng Fengnian traumatized. The players accused Xu Huo of misleading them, but he defended his advice and left the group, while they planned to search the Secret Room at daybreak.

• Xu Huo found Peng Fengnian hanging on the wall and Zou Weichang skinned alive in the Workshop.
• Peng Fengnian attacked Xu Huo, and Yang Can and Xian Dazhi helped restrain him as he described watching Zou Weichang being skinned alive.
• Peng Fengnian accused Xu Huo of giving false information, but Xu Huo argued that Zou Weichang had ignored the warning to wait until daytime.
• Xu Huo explained the difference between Red Nose Karl and the nighttime skin stripper, then ended his cooperation with the group and left.
• Peng Fengnian told the others to rest and search the Secret Room after daylight, while Xu Huo returned to the Pigsty and told Red Hair to promise good behavior.

Xu Huo arranged a plan with Sima Xiao Er while testing whether human skin could clear the dungeon, then left the factory as the other players searched for the hidden layer. Qin An found human skin inside a pelt and cleared the dungeon, but the skin stripper recognized Xu Huo’s scent as belonging to the escaped Little Piglet.

• Xu Huo helped Sima Xiao Er remove the pigskin fused to his body and explained a plan to lure out the skin stripper.
• The skin stripper ordered Tang Pei and the others to process Zou Weichang’s body while Xu Huo left the factory with Yang Can.
• Sima Xiao Er retrieved a picture from the hidden room, while Qin An searched the pelts and found a hidden layer of human skin.
• Qin An and the ticket-holding players received notice that they had cleared the dungeon with a shared D rating.
• The skin stripper recognized Xu Huo’s scent as that of the escaped Little Piglet, and Xu Huo hooked a large fish.

Xu Huo and the players ambushed the skin stripper in the Workshop, breaking his left leg with Tang Pei’s Ability. Xu Huo then used the Woman Painting to pressure him into agreeing to attack the players, leaving the confrontation poised to continue.

• Xu Huo spotted a fire at the Factory, and the skin stripper dragged Yang Can back to investigate.
• The players sprang their trap in the Workshop, but the skin stripper broke free and destroyed Qin An’s whip and part of the beam.
• Tang Pei used her Ability to mirror the skin stripper’s injury and break her own left leg, leaving his leg broken as well.
• Sima Xiao Er told Xu Huo that the human skin that cleared the Dungeon had been hidden among the animal pelts.
• Sima Xiao Er threatened to burn the Woman Painting unless the skin stripper freed the people in the Pigsty, but the skin stripper lunged at him and the players restrained him.
• Xu Huo persuaded the skin stripper that the woman in the painting was only an item, and the skin stripper agreed to attack the players.

The skin stripper appeared in the Workshop and slaughtered or wounded the Players and captives, turning their rescue attempt into a desperate escape. As the survivors fled toward the Warehouse, Xu Huo confronted the skin stripper with burning firewood.

• Yang Can led the captives from the Pigsty into the Workshop, where the skin stripper removed their hides and freed them.
• Sima Xiao Er threatened to burn the painting unless the skin stripper released the six children, but another skin stripper appeared and attacked the group.
• The skin stripper badly wounded the Players, killed several captives, and sent Xu Huo crashing through the Fur Room and into the bedroom.
• Sima Xiao Er carried two children toward the Warehouse, while Tang Pei was killed trying to follow with children in her arms.
• Peng Fengnian used the Eye of the Strong to protect himself and Qin An, but a pelt turned Qin An into a Shar-Pei and dragged him out of the safe zone.
• Xu Huo aimed burning firewood at a suspended wolf pelt as the skin stripper prepared to kill Qin An.

Xu Huo destroyed the wolf hide that served as the core of the D-class instance, causing the Factory to collapse and eject everyone inside. Back in Ting City, he collected his rewards and began investigating the hide's significance by calling Peng Fengnian.

• Yang Can used Fair Trade to free Qin An from the skin stripper's dog hide, and Qin An warned everyone that wearing a hide suppressed Abilities and items.
• Xu Huo burned the wolf hide and taunted the skin stripper, whose attack shredded the hide and triggered the instance's collapse.
• Peng Fengnian sent Sima Xiao Er to deliver a box to Xu Huo, then vanished as the Warehouse was swept into darkness.
• The instance forcibly removed everyone to the Golden Light Building, where Xu Huo took the box from Sima Xiao Er and left.
• Xu Huo returned to his rental apartment, treated his injuries, and received credit for completing all three tasks plus the Gentleman of Light Medal and a special item.
• Xu Huo concluded that the wolf hide contained the instance's core and used the Paper Phone to contact Peng Fengnian.

Xu Huo questioned Peng Fengnian about the game’s districts, passes, Dungeons, and Evolution Potions, learning more about the world beyond his newly opened game site. He explained that his claim of being connected to the Field family had been a bluff, and the call ended with Peng Fengnian impressed by how Xu Huo had deceived the skin stripper.

• Peng Fengnian told Xu Huo that players usually stayed within their own wormhole point and explained how fixed Dungeons, Random Instances, and the Paper Puppeteer worked.
• Xu Huo revealed that he was an E-class player whose world had only recently begun producing Evolvers, and Peng Fengnian reacted with disbelief that he had collapsed a D-class Dungeon.
• Peng Fengnian explained that Evolvers needed Evolution Potions to survive and that higher evolution rates required stronger grades of Potion.
• Xu Huo explained that he had pretended to be related to Carroll Field to frighten the skin stripper into leaving the area and stop the Dungeon from taking people there.
• Peng Fengnian realized that Xu Huo had successfully deceived the skin stripper and praised his ability to exploit the situation.

After returning from the Random Instance, Xu Huo examined his rewards and considered what the E27 wormhole point revealed about the game’s wider multiverse. He tested his new Abilities, confirmed his next instance was 34 days away, and finally inspected the Gentleman of Light Medal and white Mask.

• Peng Fengnian thanked Xu Huo for his help, explained that he had to return to District 009, and Xu Huo stored the fireproof, waterproof box and read the Paper Phone’s information.
• Xu Huo considered how wormhole points might connect different universes and concluded that the game’s vastness left open the possibility of finding a way to address the flaws in Evolution Potions.
• The game awarded Xu Huo the Rampaging Bison Ability, and he tested its strength by cracking the tile and concrete beneath his foot.
• Xu Huo received the Good Friends Score Ability and tested it by calling Yuan Yao, whose score rose from 4 to 5 after he recognized Xu Huo.
• Xu Huo reviewed his cash, Potions, Self-Healing Agents, and 34-day countdown, then took out the Gentleman of Light Medal and white Mask.

Xu Huo discovered that the Painted Woman had escaped from the Dungeon and followed him home, then tested his enhanced stamina. Team Leader Wu visited with research supplies and an apology from Sima Xiao Er, and Xu Huo asked whether their Antidote could counter the toxin carried by the Aliens aboard the Preliminary Train.

• Xu Huo used the Twisted Mask and found the Painted Woman in his rental, where she agreed to help with housework and gave him the Gentleman of Light Medal.
• Xu Huo tested his Tireless Legs by running in the Nature Park and concluded that further physical evolution would help him reach their limits.
• Xu Huo returned home and found Nie Xuan, Special Affairs Personnel, and Team Leader Wu waiting for him.
• Team Leader Wu thanked Xu Huo for rescuing nearly forty people, and Sima Xiao Er apologized for the mistaken arrest.
• Team Leader Wu gave Xu Huo Evolution Potions, muscle enhancers, and an Antidote that could delay the effects of the toxin in Evolvers.
• Xu Huo asked whether the Antidote would work against the toxin carried by the Aliens aboard the Preliminary Train.

Team Leader Wu offered Xu Huo a place on the Vanguard Player team and a Safe Zone for his family, but Xu Huo agreed only to trade information and materials. He discovered that the painting in his hallway had become a sentient item, named her Lichun, and took her out shopping as Ting City continued to mourn its dead.

• Team Leader Wu explained that Safe Zones were limited and invited Xu Huo to join the Vanguard Player team, but Xu Huo offered cooperation without joining the research institute's command.
• After Team Leader Wu left, a woman emerged from a hallway painting; Xu Huo learned she was an unowned item and tried unsuccessfully to persuade her into his inventory with the Medal.
• The painted woman bought breakfast with two yuan, and Xu Huo found the words identifying her as a woman painted by Hua Yu Lichun, then named her Lichun.
• Xu Huo took Lichun to the police station to turn in a wallet and spoke with Zhao Biao, who said several colleagues had died.
• Seeing mourners and reports of cases throughout Ting City, Xu Huo let Lichun choose a skirt but limited her budget to five hundred yuan.

Xu Huo met Yuan Yao, learned about his ability to hide while following people, and asked him to investigate an online account. After shopping with Yuan Yao and Lichun, Xu Huo realized someone was following them and went with Yuan Yao to his place.

• Xu Huo caught Yuan Yao following him and learned that Yuan Yao's Hide and Seek ability helped him stay unnoticed when hiding in plain sight.
• Yuan Yao told Xu Huo about an online gathering for Players, and Xu Huo asked him to find the address behind an account that had posted about the gathering and buying a Ticket.
• At a hot pot restaurant, Xu Huo introduced the painted woman as his mute, intellectually disabled relative, Lichun, and Yuan Yao offered to buy her a phone.
• After dinner, Yuan Yao bought Lichun a phone and took her and Xu Huo shopping until nightfall.
• Lichun warned Xu Huo that someone was following them, and Xu Huo led the group toward Yuan Yao's place while a taxi driver reported tracking him to Sister Ning.

Xu Huo and Yuan Yao discovered that a man they had captured was connected to the Holy Sword Society, then trapped him when he attacked their villa. A woman with snake-like abilities rescued the man and accused Xu Huo of taking her younger brother, leaving Xu Huo questioning her about how she knew he was a Player.

• Yuan Yao uncovered chat logs showing that the short, thin man had joined the Holy Sword Society by submitting an Allegiance Pledge.
• A catlike attacker entered the villa and tried to strike Xu Huo, but Xu Huo and Yuan Yao trapped him.
• The attacker escaped their hold and charged Yuan Yao, but Xu Huo beat him down and injured his arm.
• A woman used black snakes and a giant python illusion to pull the short, thin man away from Xu Huo.
• Xu Huo caught the woman, who denied knowing the Holy Sword Society and demanded to know where he had taken her younger brother.

Xu Huo learned that Zhou Ning and Huzi were searching for Zhou Ning’s missing brother, A Xiao, and uncovered evidence that the Holy Sword Society had lured him away. He agreed to help Zhou Ning use herself as bait, gave her a Hair Growth Potion to test her Ability, and sent her away to prepare for their plan.

• Xu Huo subdued Zhou Ning and Huzi, then learned they were looking for A Xiao and that he had vanished after arranging a Ticket trade.
• Xu Huo revealed he had found A Xiao’s wallet and learned from the forum records that a new Holy Sword Society member had lured A Xiao out and used him as an Allegiance Pledge.
• Zhou Ning offered to act as bait so Xu Huo could help rescue her brother, while Huzi argued that the society threatened Players in general.
• Xu Huo agreed to help, gave Zhou Ning a Hair Growth Potion to test her Ability, and told her to return the next day without contacting the person behind the Bait Post.

Xu Huo assessed Zhou Ning’s group and planned a night operation to rescue Zhou Xiao from the Bait Post’s Players and the Holy Sword Society. After learning that one target was a Cannibal Player, he split the group and prepared to move out.

• Xu Huo moved Yuan Yao and the painted woman to a busier neighborhood, then visited Zhou Ning with them.
• Xu Huo warned Zhou Ning’s group about the risks of fighting stronger Players and asked about their abilities.
• Tian Yun described his speed ability, and Yu Xiaoyu explained that he could make his body light but became physically weak.
• Huang Junjie reported that the Bait Post Player had contacted a man with a triangular sword tattoo, who was a Cannibal Player and had just killed someone.
• Xu Huo arranged to set out after dark and divided the group, sending Zhou Ning and Yuan Yao to Huang Junjie while Hu Wenhu, Tian Yun, and Yu Xiaoyu went with him.

Zhou Ning, Yuan Yao, and Huang Junjie attacked Brother Zhao, a member of the Holy Sword Society, but he escaped with a blade despite being injured. Xu Huo sent the others into Jiayi Residential Area to pursue him while he drove toward the construction site.

• Brother Zhao told the middle-aged man that he had been accepted by the Holy Sword Society but still needed to prove he could kill people.
• Zhou Ning attacked Brother Zhao with her hair after the middle-aged man let her into the apartment, but Brother Zhao fought back and charged at her.
• Zhou Ning transformed into a giant python, and Brother Zhao used the middle-aged man as a shield while Yuan Yao stabbed him from behind.
• Brother Zhao grabbed Yuan Yao by the throat, but Huang Junjie arrived, cut Brother Zhao's wrist, and forced him to flee through the window.
• Huang Junjie reported Brother Zhao's injuries to Xu Huo, who told Hu Wenhu and the others to move into the residential area while he headed to the construction site.

Zhao Sheng was captured after a chase through Ting City, and Xu Huo used him to bargain with the Holy Sword Society for Zhou Xiao’s release. The Society sent Cao Yan, Ma Yu, and several others to investigate and kill or capture Xu Huo’s group.

• Zhao Sheng fled his pursuers through the neighborhood, but Yan Jiayu knocked him unconscious at the construction site.
• Xu Huo placed a Balloon over Zhao Sheng’s face and called the Holy Sword Society’s boss using Zhao Sheng’s phone.
• Xu Huo offered to exchange Zhao Sheng for Zhou Xiao and warned that the group would keep targeting the Society if it refused.
• The Society’s boss sent Cao Yan, Ma Yu, and seven or eight others to find out whether Xu Huo had backing, with orders to kill the group if they did not.

Zhou Ning and her allies ambushed Holy Sword Society Players at the construction site, while Xu Huo fought Ma Yu on the second floor. Xu Huo drove Ma Yu toward the balcony and stopped him from escaping, but Ma Yu lunged for his Dragon Toy Gun.

• Zhou Ning’s group rescued Zhou Xiao and retreated into the building after the tower-crane lights went out.
• Xu Huo ordered the team to kill intruding Players when possible and killed one Player on the second floor.
• Xu Huo confronted Ma Yu, whose Dragon Toy Gun fired real flames, and learned that the Holy Sword Society had given him the weapon.
• Xu Huo fought Ma Yu through the second floor while Huang Junjie drew off another attacker.
• Xu Huo forced Ma Yu back from the balcony window, but Ma Yu lunged for his Dragon Toy Gun.

Xu Huo and Huang Junjie killed Ma Yu as the woman from the crane arrived, while Zhou Ning’s group regrouped on the first floor and split up to face the approaching Holy Sword Society players. Yan Jiayu killed the young rich man, and the painted woman transformed beside Zhou Xiao as the others went to fight.

• Xu Huo took the Toy Gun from Ma Yu, then joined Huang Junjie in killing him after Ma Yu blew a whistle to summon the woman from the crane.
• Zhou Ning reunited with Zhou Xiao, who apologized for disobeying her and trying to trade for a Ticket.
• Yan Jiayu struck the young rich man trapped in Zhou Ning’s Hair Serpent until she killed him.
• Zhou Ning’s group divided up to intercept the Holy Sword Society players approaching from different directions.
• The painted woman transformed into a tall woman in a red dress and high heels while she remained with Zhou Xiao.

Xu Huo and Huang Junjie fought Cao Yan, whose evolved poison badly injured Huang Junjie. Xu Huo forced Cao Yan to produce an antidote, which neutralized the poison, while her fate remained unresolved.

• Xu Huo trapped Cao Yan with his strings and flames, but she spat poison at Huang Junjie, badly corroding his face and hands.
• Xu Huo treated Huang Junjie with Self-Healing Agent and threatened Cao Yan with death and capture by the Special Affairs Bureau until she agreed to help.
• Cao Yan revealed that she could produce poison within her body and offered to betray the Holy Sword Society in exchange for her freedom.
• Cao Yan produced a medicinal bead, and Huang Junjie swallowed it despite the risk.
• The antidote neutralized the poison and formed a white shell over Huang Junjie's damaged skin, which Cao Yan said would come off in three days.

Xu Huo questioned Cao Yan about the Holy Sword Society and proposed that mutated creatures might help Cannibal Players evolve without eating people. After Cao Yan revealed Old Eagle’s location and escaped, Xu Huo asked Liu Jia where another Player had gone.

• Xu Huo questioned Cao Yan about the Holy Sword Society, learning that Old Eagle led sixteen Players in Ting City and had recruited them by advertising game items online.
• Cao Yan revealed that the Society had eaten at least six ordinary Players and that she had become a Cannibal Player after the Preliminary Train.
• Xu Huo suggested that Aliens and other mutated creatures might provide the energy Cannibal Players needed to evolve, and released Cao Yan from his restraints.
• Cao Yan told Xu Huo that Old Eagle was on the Third Floor of Guangde Mall and could turn invisible, then left wearing Xu Huo’s shirt.
• Huang Junjie questioned Xu Huo about his theory and the possibility of Cao Yan seeking revenge, and Xu Huo asked Liu Jia where the other Player on the Second Floor had gone.

Xu Huo and his allies defeated the Holy Sword Society members who came to trade prisoners, capturing one alive and learning that another had escaped. After Zhou Ning and the others left, Xu Huo spotted a Balloon and called Nie Xuan about an opportunity.

• Yan Jiayu saved Zhou Ning, killed a Cannibal Player, and confirmed that the other Holy Sword Society members on the first floor were dead.
• Xu Huo reunited with the group, found the corpses, and had Liu Jia bring in the captured middle-aged man.
• The man called for Miss Cao Yan, but the painted woman appeared instead, and Zhou Ning bound him.
• Xu Huo counted nine Holy Sword Society members: seven dead, one captured, and one escaped; Zhou Ning's group handed over their items and Potions before leaving.
• Xu Huo went outside, spotted a Balloon drifting over the city, and called Nie Xuan about the opportunity.

Zhao Sheng returned to the Holy Sword Society’s base at Guangde Mall, unaware that the Special Affairs Bureau had followed him and surrounded the building. As Nie Xuan entered the mall to confront a rampaging Cannibal Player, several Bureau personnel and soldiers had been killed.

• Zhao Sheng reached Guangde Mall and warned Old Eagle and the remaining Holy Sword Society members that they were being targeted.
• Old Eagle realized Zhao Sheng had led the attackers to them, but Special Affairs Bureau personnel launched a tear-gas assault before the Society could respond.
• Old Eagle fled as the members scattered, while Special Forces captured several Players and Nie Xuan ordered a sniper to kill one who broke through the perimeter.
• Zhao Sheng and two others hid on the second floor, but the burly Player jumped down and impaled a Bureau agent with an iron rod.
• The burly Player killed a Special Forces soldier and attacked more personnel as Nie Xuan entered the mall to stop him.

Nie Xuan’s forces raided the Holy Sword Society’s base at Guangde Mall, killing its murderous new member and searching for its leader, Old Eagle. Old Eagle escaped the destruction but was wounded and pursued, while Xu Huo followed him; the chapter ended as someone called down to Old Eagle from above.

• Nie Xuan used Unbreakable Nails to trap the burly man despite his Elastic Rope, killed him, and arrested the remaining Holy Sword Society members.
• Nie Xuan learned that Old Eagle was missing and ordered his forces to demolish the Mall while searching for him.
• Xu Huo watched from a nearby building, suspected Old Eagle was hiding inside, and later followed his escape route.
• At three in the morning, Special Affairs Bureau players entered the Mall, forcing the wounded Old Eagle to flee while they pursued him.
• Old Eagle used a Fake Golden Pipe to fill several streets with sound-muffling smoke, but someone called to him from above as he moved away.

Xu Huo fought Old Eagle in the fog, discovered how the Ruby Long Sword worked, and used his items to disarm and restrain him. As Xu Huo prepared to finish the fight, Old Eagle realized the painted woman was a Super Artifact, and Xu Huo unleashed a wall of fire.

• Old Eagle blocked Xu Huo’s ambush with a metal shield and cut through a building with the Ruby Long Sword before fleeing into the fog.
• Xu Huo pursued Old Eagle, worked out that the Long Sword could cut only the first target in its path, and overwhelmed him by hurling objects at him.
• Old Eagle turned invisible, but Xu Huo used the Lighter on his shadow and kept pelting him until he revealed himself to attack.
• Xu Huo broke Old Eagle’s right arm, lifted him with the Strings, and used a paper painting to restrain him, but Old Eagle escaped with his metal shield.
• The painted woman transformed into a living person and grabbed Old Eagle’s shield, prompting him to recognize a Super Artifact as Xu Huo sent a wall of fire toward him.