Recaps

Xu Huo killed Old Eagle, a D-class Player and Holy Sword Society member, then examined his items and questioned the painted woman about her interest in him. After returning to the hotel, Xu Huo told his companions that the Holy Sword Society had been partly captured and killed, and they turned to dividing the loot.

• Xu Huo broke Old Eagle's limbs, killed him as the authorities approached, and escaped before the Special Affairs Bureau arrived.
• Xu Huo checked Old Eagle's player profile and items, including a token marking him as a prospective member of the Holy Sword Society.
• Xu Huo asked the painted woman why she followed him, gave her the Gentleman of Light Medal, and told her to act more like a True Man.
• Xu Huo returned to the hotel near dawn and told Huang Junjie, Yuan Yao, Liu Jia, and Yan Jiayu that some Holy Sword Society members had been captured and others killed.
• Huang Junjie and Liu Jia discussed the threat of Cannibal Players, while Yan Jiayu urged the group to divide the loot.

After the group defeated the Cannibal Players, Xu Huo and his companions divided their loot and celebrated their success. Liu Jia and Yan Jiayu prepared to leave, while Xu Huo later browsed the Vanguard Player Forum and found a thread about trading items.

• Xu Huo and the others counted the loot from the Cannibal Players and divided the items, Potions, Tickets, and cash among themselves.
• Yan Jiayu revealed that her Stone Staff was a Dharmachakra she called the Stone Rolling Pin, and explained that she was a Professional Monk who had returned to secular life.
• Liu Jia said she would enter a Dungeon with someone from the Special Affairs Bureau, and Yan Jiayu prepared to catch an early train.
• Xu Huo gave Huang Junjie a room in his apartment, while Yuan Yao bought the apartment across the hall and hosted a victory feast.
• After everyone dispersed, Xu Huo logged into the Vanguard Player Forum and noticed a thread about trading items.

Xu Huo investigated a shadow that emerged from his computer and learned of similar sightings at Film City. After a famous actress quit the production over the apparitions, Xu Huo told Cai Zhiyuan he was thinking of changing jobs.

• Xu Huo found a Seven-Color Glove for trade, then woke to a shadow in his room and asked Yuan Yao to trace the forum post's address.
• Yuan Yao traced the post to a sealed Haunted House, while Huang Junjie warned the group it might be a trap.
• Before dawn, Xu Huo watched a featureless shadow crawl out of his computer, approach his bed, and vanish when it froze in apparent fear.
• Xu Huo went to Film City for work, where Cai Zhiyuan told him a famous actress had quit after she and her assistant saw a shadow that cameras failed to capture.
• Xu Huo noticed a computer bag in the actress's assistant's hands and told Cai Zhiyuan he was thinking of changing jobs.

Xu Huo realized someone was luring Players to the Haunted House and left with Huang Junjie, while Gu Yu went inside and confronted two people she mistook for harassers. A mysterious force then made Gu Yu, the young man, and Shen Xin disappear.

• Xu Huo asked Nie Xuan about other Random Instances in Ting City, then met Huang Junjie at a nearby Coffee Shop.
• Huang Junjie reported seeing a man and a woman watching the Haunted House, and Xu Huo recognized a celebrity nearby as Gu Yu.
• Xu Huo concluded someone was luring Players to the Haunted House and left with Huang Junjie, while a security camera followed their cab.
• Gu Yu entered the Haunted House and attacked a young man and woman, accusing the man of harassing her.
• The young man called out Shen Xin, who vanished along with him, and a mysterious force then made Gu Yu disappear too.

Xu Huo confronted Wang Chaoqing and Nian Hongan, who had been luring him to the Haunted House, and learned that the Villa swallowed people and produced their belongings. The Villa's danger had spread beyond the building into its Front and Back Yards.

• Xu Huo followed Wang Chaoqing to the Haunted House and waited outside while Wang Chaoqing tried to lure him in.
• Xu Huo caught Wang Chaoqing outside the Villa, restrained him with Strings, and forced Nian Hongan to come out.
• Nian Hongan offered Xu Huo the Colored Glove, and Xu Huo beat both men and demanded to know what was inside the Haunted House.
• Nian Hongan admitted that people disappeared inside the Villa and that belongings and items later appeared there.
• Wang Chaoqing revealed that the Villa had expanded from the building into the Front and Back Yards, which had begun swallowing people too.

Xu Huo entered Decibel Town and joined survivors on a bus where noise could summon deadly Aliens. As they struggled to stay quiet and search for food, Xu Huo warned Wang Chaoqing that the group could eat him if they ran out of options.

• Xu Huo stopped Nian Hongan and Wang Chaoqing from making noise outside a gas station and warned them to stay still.
• A bus arrived, and the two men boarded before Xu Huo; its passengers explained that the town's three guards were Aliens and that they must not act together.
• Lin Pei introduced Xu Huo to the bus's other passengers, including Shen Yi, Shen Xin, Ke Liang, Wu Qiuyi, and Gu Yu.
• Lin Pei explained that dolls and bells across town made dangerous noise when touched, the bus could not stop, and several passengers had already died.
• When Wang Chaoqing worried that the group would starve, Xu Huo said they could eat him if they could not find food.

Xu Huo challenged the other bus passengers’ trust, then followed Wu Qiuyi to a Clock Shop where they found evidence of a deadly Alien attack. They left the shop after Xu Huo discovered a riddle, and a clock announced it as the town’s lunchtime question.

• Xu Huo accused Lin Pei’s group of possibly eating people, prompting the passengers to separate and distrust one another.
• Wu Qiuyi left the bus with Xu Huo and took him to a Clock Shop, where they found blood and a dead man’s remains.
• Xu Huo examined the unusual prints and concluded that the town’s Aliens were larger and more dangerous than those on the Preliminary Train.
• Xu Huo theorized that sound or vibration sensors and security systems helped the Aliens respond to disturbances.
• Xu Huo found a riddle asking how many clocks the Clock Master had made, and a wall clock announced it as the day’s lunchtime question.

Xu Huo tested the town’s noise rules and solved the Clock Shop’s puzzle challenge without triggering an Alien, then returned with food for the bus passengers. Wu Qiuyi learned that the two men who lured Players into the Dungeon had not caused all the earlier deaths, and the group neared the East Gate.

• Xu Huo threw a Doll at the Clock Shop Bell, confirmed that the noise did not attract Aliens, and returned to answer the clock’s riddle.
• Xu Huo deliberately gave three wrong answers, received chocolate and a Lollipop, and shared the chocolate with Wu Qiuyi.
• Xu Huo and Wu Qiuyi caught up with the bus, where Wu Qiuyi announced that they had found food and Xu Huo distributed the chocolate.
• Xu Huo revealed that Wang Chaoqing and Nian Hongan had tricked him into entering a Dungeon, and Gu Yu and Shen Xin recognized them as the Peeping Toms behind the post.
• Wu Qiuyi beat Wang Chaoqing and Nian Hongan over the deaths of people she knew, but Xu Huo stopped her and the two men explained that they had only recently begun luring Players.
• Shen Xin helped Wu Qiuyi up as the bus approached the East Gate, and Ke Liang realized he had been the first person tricked by the post.

Xu Huo and the other Players examined the East Gate and learned that a powerful Alien had torn apart a car with its bare hands. Concluding that they would have to confront or trap an Alien to escape the town, Xu Huo asked for a map to help devise a plan.

• Wu Qiuyi explained how she and Xu Huo had obtained chocolate by answering a riddle, while Lin Pei and Ke Liang said Xiao Heng had warned them that answering riddles could be fatal.
• Lin Pei showed the group the East Gate and the wreckage of the car Brother Liu had tried to ram into it.
• Xu Huo identified the car wreckage and handprints as evidence of an Alien far stronger than the one in the Clock Shop.
• The Players debated why Xu Huo and Wu Qiuyi had survived the riddle, and Lin Pei suggested that the number of people present might have mattered.
• Xu Huo argued that the group needed to kill or trap an Alien before attempting to escape, then asked whether anyone had a map of the town.

Xu Huo and Lin Pei investigated the town’s Riddle Mechanisms and found clues that Clock Master Nice’s town had been built for children despite its prisonlike rules. At midnight, Xu Huo answered two questions correctly but failed the third, leaving the Doll’s quiz unfinished.

• Lin Pei showed Xu Huo the town model and explained that Nice’s Riddle Mechanisms asked questions about everyday details.
• Xu Huo concluded that Nice had likely brought a child to town and decided to search Nice’s home for a clue to opening the gate.
• Xu Huo examined the ransacked mayor’s office and noticed the Great Bell’s second hand reflecting moonlight toward the West Gate.
• At midnight, the Doll asked how many clocks Nice had made, and Xu Huo answered 20,001 correctly to win a Folded Star.
• Xu Huo correctly answered that Nice’s favorite meat pie was strawberry and received a Strawberry Mirror, then answered that Nice’s favorite game was solving puzzles and was marked wrong.

Xu Huo escaped a blind alien and discovered evidence that one was being held in a cage beneath a house. He and Lin Pei discussed how sounds attracted the town’s aliens, but the creatures’ numbers and containment remained uncertain.

• Xu Huo used a doll’s cries to distract the blind alien, then watched it follow a town announcement into a small house.
• Xu Huo found a metal cage passage beneath the house’s chimney and discovered several human heads hidden in the ashes.
• Lin Pei reunited with Xu Huo, who explained that the house had likely kept an alien confined during the puzzle-solving period.
• Xu Huo and Lin Pei reasoned that sounds could attract aliens and that at least three might be in the town, while Xu Huo wondered whether they could be contained.

Xu Huo and the others organized a town-wide search for materials to block the Ground Cages while carefully avoiding the rule against three people gathering in public. In a clock-filled house, Xu Huo found family photos and a death certificate stating that Logan Nice and Molly Ye had died in a car accident.

• The group debated how to find and deal with the Aliens, then Xu Huo proposed searching for metal to block the Ground Cages.
• Xu Huo mapped the town, and the group arranged staggered searches while keeping two people on the bus.
• Xu Huo searched several unusually bare, spotless homes and noticed a clock with a reflective crystal in its second hand.
• Xu Huo entered a house filled with broken clocks and recognized the old man in a photo as Master Nice.
• Xu Huo found family photos upstairs and a death certificate naming Logan Nice and Molly Ye as victims of a car accident.

Xu Huo searched Master Nice’s home for clues about Perfect Evolution and discovered a Stopwatch dial that could rewind his death by three seconds. As he left the building, a Black Arrow pierced his heart.

• Xu Huo found papers showing that Logan Nice and Jasmine Ye had researched the dangerous Aftereffects of the Gene Improvement Potion.
• Xu Huo discovered clippings and notes hidden behind the nursery’s doodles, including a note suggesting that true Evolution existed and that Master Nice had found a way to achieve Perfect Evolution.
• Xu Huo searched the clocks in Master Nice’s home but found no clues until a dial fell from the Great Bell.
• Xu Huo learned that the dial, Three Seconds of Life, could rewind him to three seconds before his death, with twenty uses available.
• Xu Huo opened the door to leave the building, and a Black Arrow pierced his heart.

Xu Huo survived repeated attacks from a Flying Arrow that passed through walls and doors, then returned to the Bus and suspected one of his fellow players was responsible. The players debated why the attacker had targeted him, while Xu Huo concluded it was likely connected to his visit to Master Nice's Residence.

• Xu Huo dodged a Flying Arrow that had killed him moments earlier and fought off more arrows as he escaped the house.
• Xu Huo used the Bell to test for his hidden attacker, then waited in the open until the Bus arrived.
• Xu Huo boarded and told the players he had found a Black Metal room in Master Nice's Residence and had been attacked.
• Xu Huo suspected the attacker was one of the players on the Bus and said the Flying Arrow could strike through enclosed spaces.
• Shen Xin suggested the attacker wanted to keep the group in Decibel Town, while Xu Huo silently linked the attack to his visit to Master Nice's Residence.

Xu Huo proposed using riddles to safely retrieve Black Metal and explained how the group might avoid Aliens. As the Players carried out a plan to locate the Aliens, Lin Pei and Wu Qiuyi questioned Xu Huo’s claims and decided to watch him closely at Master Nice’s house.

• Xu Huo persuaded the group to search for riddles in child-friendly shops, reasoning that the Aliens were eventually lured back to the Ground Cage.
• Wu Qiuyi, Lin Pei, and Ke Liang got off the Bus to scout while Shen Yi kept watch from the roof.
• Xu Huo questioned the remaining Players about their movements, and they denied attacking him or knowing much about the town.
• Lin Pei told Wu Qiuyi he suspected Xu Huo knew too much and might be stirring up distrust, but Wu Qiuyi decided to verify his claims at Master Nice’s house.
• Ke Liang signaled from nearby, and Wu Qiuyi threw a pebble at a toy on the street corner.

Lin Pei and Wu Qiuyi tracked an Alien to a Church, then the group discussed their plans and learned that wealthy organizations were already hiring Players to explore Dungeons. Xu Huo reflected on how Evolvers could reshape society, though their reliance on Evolution Potion might keep them under control.

• Lin Pei and Wu Qiuyi followed an Alien to a Church and found a passage beneath a statue with round holes in its metal walls.
• After returning to town, Lin Pei reported that the group had found only two Aliens while searching two-thirds of the area.
• The group split up plans to search for puzzles and debated who should remain on the Bus, then shared Xu Huo's remaining Lollipop.
• Gu Yu explained that the government could arrange Dungeon expeditions for wealthy clients and that conglomerates had begun hiring Players.
• Lin Pei and Gu Yu predicted that strong Players would eventually gain influence, while Xu Huo questioned whether Players could escape control as long as they needed Evolution Potion.
• Gu Yu asked everyone about their Evolution rate.

Gu Yu invited Xu Huo to join her and the Player Mutual Aid Association in Capital City, arguing that Players survived better by working together. Xu Huo agreed to inspect Master Nice’s residence with her but remained unconvinced that Players needed to trust one another.

• Gu Yu explained how high evolution rates could help Players obtain Potions, and Wang Chaoqing asked Lin Pei to sell him P0 Potions.
• Xu Huo and Gu Yu waited near Master Nice’s residence for clocks to chime and pose puzzles, while Gu Yu recorded their locations and questions.
• Gu Yu recognized Xu Huo’s profile, offered to help him find work in Capital City, and invited him to inspect Master Nice’s residence with her special item.
• At Master Nice’s residence, Gu Yu examined the hole in the floor and discussed a Player whose sense of smell could track objects.
• Gu Yu proposed that she and Xu Huo team up and invited him to join the Player Mutual Aid Association, while Xu Huo argued that Players only needed a shared goal.

Xu Huo and Gu Yu uncovered a blueprint beneath the wallpaper in Decibel Town, revealing the town’s wiring and automatic Ground Cage switches. They found no way to disable the switches without risking the gates, then regrouped with Lin Pei, who reported that the group had found the Alien that attacked them at Town Hall.

• Gu Yu tried to recruit Xu Huo into the Mutual Aid Society, but he questioned her motives and argued that the society could not protect players or turn the tide for humanity.
• Gu Yu fired colored bullets at the wallpaper, exposing Black Metal and a blueprint hidden beneath it.
• Xu Huo identified the blueprint as Decibel Town’s wiring diagram, which showed Ground Cages, automatic Electric Switches, and power lines running to the gates and Enclosure Wall.
• Xu Huo explained that the switches could not safely be disabled and that finding underground access would be difficult, so he and Gu Yu searched the room further before leaving.
• Xu Huo and Gu Yu returned to Main Street and met Lin Pei and the others aboard the Bus; Lin Pei said they had found the Alien that attacked them at Town Hall and believed only three Aliens were in town.

Xu Huo and the others studied the blueprints for the main gate switch and prepared to block the Ground Cage. The group began their plan at Master Nice’s Residence, where Xu Huo used the Bright Red Sword to cut through the Black Metal as his companions distracted the Doll.

• Xu Huo and Gu Yu shared what they had learned from the blueprints, and the group considered whether the main gate switch might be underground.
• Wang Chaoqing identified differences in the pencils used on the blueprints, helping Xu Huo distinguish the separate circuit for the Enclosure Wall.
• The group agreed to block the Ground Cage and divided roles, with Xu Huo and Gu Yu cutting the Black Metal while the others provided a distraction and kept watch.
• Wu Qiuyi approached the Doll during the dinner riddle and asked whether a wrong answer would bring punishment.
• After the group signaled that everyone was in position, Xu Huo used the Bright Red Sword to cut three squares from the room’s inner wall.

Xu Huo and Gu Yu used a powerful sword to cut Black Metal and helped the group prepare to block the Aliens while solving puzzles. At a Household Shop, Xu Huo correctly answered a deadly question about Master Nice’s favorite game and received a watch, but the clock immediately posed another question.

• Xu Huo and Gu Yu cut Black Metal with Xu Huo’s sword, carried it to Ground Cages, and used it to cover an entrance while Wu Qiuyi’s group moved on to another puzzle.
• Xu Huo made traps around the covered entrance to wound any Alien that tried to push the metal aside.
• Shen Xin found the Household Shop marked by a Blue Wreath and triggered a question about Master Nice’s favorite game.
• With only five seconds to answer, Xu Huo said Master Nice’s favorite game was making clocks, and the clock declared him correct.
• The clock rewarded Xu Huo and Shen Xin with a Gem-inlaid Watch, then asked who Master Nice hated most in his life.

Xu Huo answered Master Nice’s riddles and received a green P0T Evolution Injection that might enable Perfect Evolution. Meanwhile, suspicion over a dangerous riddle escalated into accusations between the groups, leaving their partnership close to breaking apart.

• Xu Huo answered that he would not kill an Evolver turned Alien and received a P0T Evolution Injection as his reward.
• Shen Xin confronted Wu Qiuyi over a riddle that nearly got their group killed, but Wu Qiuyi insisted she had remembered it correctly and left with Lin Pei.
• Xu Huo told Shen Xin that he did not trust Wu Qiuyi and Lin Pei, then returned to the Bus with her as night fell.
• After Shen Xin explained what had happened, Shen Yi and Gu Yu confronted Lin Pei, Wu Qiuyi, and Ke Liang over the near-fatal riddle.
• Gu Yu accused the others of sabotaging their partners and possibly wanting Xu Huo’s item, while Lin Pei cast doubt on Xu Huo’s account of being attacked.

Xu Huo and the other Players argued over the missing Alien and the possibility that someone had attacked him, then agreed to reveal their Abilities so they could work together. As the group traveled by bus, Xu Huo remained unsure who was responsible, and the chapter ended when Gu Yu caught Wang Chaoqing reaching for the Potion.

• Lin Pei accused Xu Huo of inventing the attack to hide that he had kept the rewards, and Xu Huo tossed the black gemstone watch, Magnifying Glass, and Syringe onto a seat.
• Gu Yu and Shen Yi demanded that the group reveal their Abilities to reduce the risk of betrayal while they searched for the remaining Alien.
• Ke Liang demonstrated his jumping Ability, Wu Qiuyi imitated bird calls, and Lin Pei, Gu Yu, Shen Yi, Shen Xin, Xu Huo, Wang Chaoqing, and Nian Hongan each described their Abilities.
• Gu Yu told Xu Huo that Shen Yi and Shen Xin having the same Ability seemed suspicious, but Xu Huo reasoned that their claims could be real or false and that secrecy alone proved little.
• As the bus carried the Players through the darkness, Gu Yu slapped Wang Chaoqing's hand away from the Potion, waking everyone.

Xu Huo and the others answered a clock puzzle and prepared a trap to lure and burn the Alien at the East Gate. As the group paused to eat, Wu Qiuyi confronted Xu Huo for seeming unconcerned about their deaths.

• Xu Huo correctly answered that Master Nice made 20,001 acknowledged clocks and learned that the final one had been built in town.
• The group discussed how to trigger the East Gate Alien and chose to prepare the Gas Station as a backup place to burn it.
• Xu Huo proposed laying gasoline-soaked cloth along a cleared route, and the group divided up to gather materials and set traps.
• After Gu Yu and Shen Xin left to find food, Wu Qiuyi accused Xu Huo of treating their friends' deaths too casually, and he admitted he was brushing her off.

Xu Huo and the other players tried to lure the Alien into a trap, but it survived the fire and attacked them. As the group improvised a new plan, Wu Qiuyi volunteered to distract it while Xu Huo headed toward Main Street.

• Wu Qiuyi confronted Xu Huo over the deaths of her family and boyfriend, but he told her that she had chosen to keep living and left her with Gu Yu and the other woman.
• Xu Huo spotted Nian Hongan's mangled corpse near the East Gate, and the players fled into town as the Alien emerged from the woods.
• Xu Huo and Shen Yi lured the Alien toward a gasoline-soaked carpet, but it dodged Xu Huo's sword and leaped onto him; Gu Yu and Shen Yi helped pull him to safety.
• The Alien overpowered Shen Yi, but Xu Huo pulled him away with his Strings, and Shen Xin blasted the creature back with Panda Impact.
• Xu Huo ordered the others to lure the Alien toward the remaining gasoline, while Wu Qiuyi rang the bells to draw it away and Xu Huo headed for Main Street.

Wu Qiuyi and the others tried to weaken and lure the small Alien toward Xu Huo, but it repeatedly escaped their attacks and injured several of them. As Xu Huo prepared to face it on Main Street, the Alien suddenly changed course after the trapped Aliens roared from inside the Ground Cage.

• Wu Qiuyi, Gu Yu, Shen Yi, Ke Liang, Lin Pei, and Shen Xin attacked the small Alien with oil, fire, guns, and a net, but it broke free and wounded them.
• The Alien smashed Gu Yu's Prop Gun, escaped Lin Pei's net, and left him with a metal bar through his foot before Shen Xin drove it away with a Sparrow Call.
• Wu Qiuyi used the Sparrow Call to lure the Alien toward Main Street while the others slowed it down, and Lin Pei secretly went in the opposite direction.
• Xu Huo waited on Main Street with the Bright Red Sword as Wu Qiuyi drew the Alien closer and Shen Yi threw her a Rope Bullet.
• The Aliens trapped in the Ground Cage woke and roared, causing the small Alien to stop and veer away from Xu Huo.