Recaps

Xu Huo confronted Lu Huizhi over the experiments on children and challenged the claim that some had to be sacrificed to save others. As Players converged on the laboratory, Xu Huo used bombs to draw attention, and the underground facility was exposed beneath the city lights.

• Xu Huo reviewed records showing that two child test subjects had become violently unstable, while Chi Minghong slapped Lu Huizhi after seeing the footage.
• Xu Huo copied the records and accused Lu Huizhi of using the threat posed by the children as an excuse to discover how Dr. Zhang created highly intelligent children.
• Lu Huizhi searched for the control panel to release the prisoners, but Xu Huo and Huang Lun noted the danger and the difficulty of evacuating everyone.
• Huang Lun took out a bomb from the B-class Player killed at Snow White Villa, and Xu Huo threw it down the corridor.
• Xu Huo threw more bombs as Players rushed into the laboratory, and the remaining energy plant building shifted aside, exposing the underground facility and its rooms.

Xu Huo and Chi Minghong escaped the energy plant with test subject R17 and a woman who claimed to be his mother. After learning that Liao Lian had died ten days earlier, Xu Huo sensed someone approaching from the woods.

• A High-level Player ordered the government players to kill anyone who left the energy plant, and the Holy Sword Society struggled to break through the blockade.
• Xu Huo rescued R17 from government players outside the Fence, while Chi Minghong carried the woman to safety.
• The group returned to Snow White Villa and found the aircraft and its four passengers gone.
• R17 refused to go with the woman and admitted he had only pretended to trust her to escape; Xu Huo told him to speak honestly.
• The woman revealed that she had been bought and said Liao Lian had died ten days earlier.
• Xu Huo sensed someone approaching from the southwest side of the woods.

As Zhou Yuanzhu and the other Players hid in the woods, she explained the Holy Sword Society’s split and its rumored search for flawless Potions developed by Dr. Wu. Their debate over the Society’s motives was interrupted when aircraft from the Government Hall bombarded the forest, apparently targeting someone ahead of them.

• Zhou Yuanzhu led the injured Players into the woods to hide near the villa and avoid a possible new Dungeon.
• The Players complained about their losses and discussed rumors about the Holy Sword Society and its divided factions.
• Zhou Yuanzhu and the others discussed Dr. Wu’s rumored flawless Potions, the Game Government’s pursuit of him, and the Society’s reasons for fighting.
• The Players debated whether the Holy Sword Society’s actions were selfless or driven by its own interests.
• An aircraft fired shells into the forest, and the Players realized the bombardment was aimed beyond them.

Xu Huo and Chi Minghong escaped Government Hall players with Zhou Yuanzhu’s help and entered an underground passage beneath Snow City. Xu Huo knew Zhou Yuanzhu was hiding something, but followed her because he wanted information about the Holy Sword Society and Dr. Wu.

• A Defense Artifact destroyed the attacking aircraft, and Zhou Yuanzhu’s group retreated while Xu Huo and Chi Minghong fought Government Hall players in the forest.
• Xu Huo used an artifact to return to the shelter, helped Chi Minghong fend off an attacker, and agreed to follow Zhou Yuanzhu to a hiding place.
• Zhou Yuanzhu led Xu Huo, Chi Minghong, and the boy to an abandoned cabin and revealed a teleportation device connected to an underground passage.
• The boy called Zhou Yuanzhu a liar, but Xu Huo followed her because he wanted her information about the Holy Sword Society and Dr. Wu.
• Zhou Yuanzhu guided the group through an abandoned sewer pipe and out through a garbage chute, warning them to avoid attracting attention.

Xu Huo and his companions entered a storage room where the Holy Sword Society had been waiting, and Zhou Yuanzhu revealed himself as their ally. Uncle Guan explained the Society’s operation and confirmed that single-use devices could teleport players between sub-districts, leaving Xu Huo to assess the success of their mission.

• Xu Huo and Chi Minghong brought the frightened woman out of the underground passage and disguised themselves to reach the storage room with Zhou Yuanzhu.
• Six Holy Sword Society players blocked the exit, and Zhou Yuanzhu joined them as their injured members waited inside.
• Xu Huo recognized the raincoat-wearing man from their previous encounter, and the man told Uncle Guan that Xu Huo had entered and left the Entertainment Building with Dong Jingxuan.
• Uncle Guan said he had been watching Xu Huo because he had undergone both spiritual and spatial Super Evolution.
• Uncle Guan explained that the Holy Sword Society had attacked the New Xiangyang Energy Plant to expose human experiments, though the evidence had already appeared on Dimension Below.
• Uncle Guan confirmed that the Society possessed nearly all single-use spatial passage devices, and Xu Huo concluded that their operation had succeeded.

Xu Huo learned that the Holy Sword Society opposed the Game Government and sought to uncover Stellar Group’s secrets, then heard the members’ painful histories. As the Society discussed its purpose, the woman from Zone 002 asked to join despite not being a Player.

• Xu Huo questioned Uncle Guan about Snow City’s trap and the cost of destroying the large-scale spatial transporter.
• Uncle Guan explained Stellar Group’s influence over the game and shared the Holy Sword Society’s suspicion that Dr. Wu had once been one of its founders.
• Uncle Guan told Xu Huo that the Society wanted to expose Stellar Group and give Players a chance to understand the truth.
• Uncle Guan introduced members whose families had been destroyed, who had been enslaved, or who had been forced into dangerous roles.
• Xu Huo said their noble character did not need tragedy to justify it, and the woman from Zone 002 asked to join the Society by helping with everyday affairs.

Xu Huo and Chi Minghong took shelter with the Holy Sword Society, where Chi Minghong used Xu Huo’s Potion to save a poisoned Player. Uncle Guan then offered Xu Huo information about Dr. Wu or an S-version potion in exchange for more of the medicine.

• Uncle Guan let Xu Huo and Chi Minghong stay hidden, while Ruan Qiyan told a Zone 002 woman to find somewhere safe rather than join the Holy Sword Society.
• A poisoned Player died, and another critically injured man began vomiting black blood despite Ruan Qiyan giving him Antidote.
• Chi Minghong gave the injured man Xu Huo’s Potion, which eased his symptoms and eventually cleared the poison.
• Xu Huo refused to name the Potion or sell more, explaining that he had little and it did not last long.
• Uncle Guan took Xu Huo aside and offered information about Dr. Wu or an S-version potion in exchange for the medicine.

Xu Huo traded Antidote with Uncle Guan for information about Dr. Wu and a vial of Evolution Potion, then the Government Hall cornered the Holy Sword Society. A spatial passage pulled Xu Huo, the boy, Chi Minghong, and the others into a B-level high-risk Random Instance, where they would be trapped for fourteen days.

• Xu Huo and Uncle Guan bargained seven bottles of Antidote for three pieces of information about Dr. Wu and a vial of Evolution Potion.
• Uncle Guan said Dr. Wu was one person, might be a Perfect Evolver over two hundred and twenty years old, and might possess game privileges.
• The storage room exploded as Government Hall Players surrounded the building, and Ruan Qiyan recognized a battered prisoner as a Holy Sword Society member.
• Xu Huo told Chi Minghong to give the boy a non-Player ticket and an address, while a spatial passage opened and pulled the woman into it.
• A strange force stopped the group from using their tickets, and Xu Huo, the boy, Chi Minghong, and the Holy Sword Society members were sucked into the passage.
• The game announced that they had entered a B-level high-risk Random Instance with no mission requirements, and the ticket passage would reopen in fourteen days.

Xu Huo and the others were thrown from a spatial passage nearly ten thousand meters above the ground, where falling buildings and explosions made the descent deadly. He rescued several children, then joined Uncle Guan’s effort to pull a group of survivors clear of the debris; fifty-one people survived the landing.

• Xu Huo used his items to dodge falling buildings while carrying a boy, and he lost sight of Chi Minghong and the Holy Sword Society members amid the explosions.
• Xu Huo took a baby from a trapped couple and used World in the Painting to save two more children, while the couple was crushed by falling debris.
• Xu Huo prepared for landing by strapping the boy to his back and wrapping the infant in his clothes, then spotted Uncle Guan carrying a group of survivors.
• Uncle Guan gave You Xuewen a metal box that pulled several groups away from the falling buildings as the others cleared debris.
• Xu Huo helped the group retreat from the danger zone, and fifty-one people survived, though two had broken necks.

After surviving a disastrous fall into a high-risk Random Instance, Xu Huo and the others tried to prepare for the dangers of an unfamiliar, dark forest. As dawn approached and the strange black rain grew heavier, Xu Huo planned to leave with the two children.

• Xu Huo released the two poisoned children from the Picture Frame, treated them with Antidote, and regrouped with Uncle Guan and the other survivors.
• Uncle Guan asked Zhou Yuanzhu to contact their companions for supplies, while the group gathered samples and discussed finding food and shelter.
• Many ordinary survivors left despite Zhou Yuanzhu's warning, and one woman explained that they blamed Zone 002's government for abandoning them but could not feel grateful to their rescuers.
• Xu Huo slashed the eyes of two men who kept staring at the boy, knocked them unconscious, and warned everyone to keep quiet so their sounds would not attract beasts.
• Xu Huo checked the time, updated his requests on Dimension Below and the bounty platform, then marked out a protected area and told the boy to eat and rest before they left.

Trapped in a high-risk dungeon after Zone 002’s attack, Xu Huo and the Holy Sword Society faced a sudden swarm of Starving Wolves and other Mutant Beasts. Xu Huo stayed outside the bar to fight as beasts surrounded both shelters, while he sensed even larger creatures approaching.

• The Holy Sword Society members realized they had been forced into a high-risk dungeon and worried that their companions in Snow City had also been attacked.
• Xu Huo put the boy and baby in his safe house and prepared to defend it when he sensed danger.
• Starving Wolves rushed from the forest, killing and devouring the returning Zone 002 residents.
• Uncle Guan opened his bar as people fled inside, while Xu Huo used Sword Qi to cut down the attacking beasts.
• Zhou Yuanzhu urged Xu Huo to enter the bar, but he stayed outside and she shut the door as the beasts pressed against it.
• Xu Huo sensed larger Mutant Beasts approaching and concluded that the surrounding sub-district was overrun.

Xu Huo used a mountain of Mutant Beast corpses to conceal himself and spread a bacteria Potion through the horde. As the bar faced increasingly fierce attacks, the contamination began turning the Mutant Beasts against one another.

• Xu Huo killed Mutant Beasts around the shelter until their corpses buried it and formed a mountain beneath him.
• Uncle Guan and the others discussed the danger of the super-large Aliens and planned to attack some once their props arrived.
• Xu Huo poured diluted bacteria Potion onto the corpse pile, then flew to the bar and spread attractant over the bodies of mutant rhinos he had killed.
• The attractant drew Mutant Beasts away from the bar and made them eat their fallen companions, while other beasts began fighting over the corpse pile.
• The contaminated flesh infected the Mutant Beast horde, and the plague began spreading among them.

Xu Huo rescued Chi Minghong and a young girl from beneath a collapsed building and brought them back to the shelter as the Aliens renewed their attack. The Aliens continued trying to force their way inside, while someone asked whether an artifact could seal the door completely.

• The Aliens stopped feeding and began calling to one another, prompting Xu Huo to use a Communicator to check for signals.
• Xu Huo received Chi Minghong's call for help and headed to the crash site where she was trapped with a young girl.
• Xu Huo drove the Aliens back with "Soul Bewitching" and freed Chi Minghong and the girl by reducing the metal debris to powder.
• Xu Huo carried them back to the shelter, killed Aliens pursuing them, and shut the door as a horde surged after them.
• Uncle Guan and the others secured the door again, and a shelter occupant asked whether an artifact could barricade it completely.

Xu Huo and the others sheltered survivors in a bar while tensions over the disaster gave way to the urgent need for food and water. As the Aliens outside reorganized and enormous, rapidly mutated beasts appeared, Xu Huo recognized that the high-risk Dungeon was designed to kill everyone inside.

• A Zone 002 survivor blamed the Players for the disaster, but Chi Minghong reminded him that Zone 002 had prospered by taking resources from other Sub-districts and urged everyone to stop arguing.
• Uncle Guan distributed the bar’s limited water, and Ruan Qiyan gave a hungry girl a cookie as the survivors confronted their lack of supplies.
• Chi Minghong thanked Xu Huo for rescuing her and declared him her friend.
• Xu Huo watched the Alien groups reorganize, with smaller beasts falling back to make room for larger Mutant Beasts.
• Xu Huo observed that rapidly mutated, gigantic Aliens were appearing in unusual numbers and concluded that the high-risk Dungeon was meant to kill everyone who entered.

Xu Huo left the shelter with two children stored in his Picture Frame, carrying them through the Alien swarm and into a scorching region beyond the woods. He and Tan Qi reached cracked, barren land where the black rain grew heavier.

• Xu Huo decided to leave the shelter, and when no one else volunteered, he stored the rescued girl and a boy in his Picture Frame.
• Xu Huo retrieved the children, carried them away from the forest, and left the reorganized Alien swarm behind.
• Tan Qi asked Xu Huo whether he had taken him for experiments, then offered to share what he knew about the Laboratory.
• Xu Huo warned Tan Qi to say less, and they entered a barren area of cracked earth beyond a rift valley.
• Xu Huo noticed that the black rain was heavier in the scorching wasteland than near the woods.

Xu Huo investigated the black filament hills, then returned toward the forest and found Chi Minghong and the others trapped inside a rolling bar surrounded by Aliens. The bar was flipped by a charging pack of mutant rhinoceroses, and two people were torn apart while the survivors remained under attack.

• Xu Huo discovered that the low hills were piles of black filaments still spewing from open vents, and he decided not to investigate below.
• Tan Qi reported that the baby had bitten through its pacifier, so Xu Huo had him feed the infant crushed crackers.
• Xu Huo turned back toward the forest and found the bar rolling toward a cliff as Aliens pursued it.
• Explosives stopped the bar briefly, but Uncle Guan, You Xuewen, and Lin Qiao struggled to fight off the gigantic Aliens surrounding it.
• A pack of mutant rhinoceroses charged the bar and flipped it, and two people who fell out were seized and devoured by the beasts.

As Aliens and Mutant Beasts threatened the bar, Uncle Guan used a powerful item to kill hundreds of attackers while Xu Huo searched for food. The group realized that exposure to the rain might be triggering a Gluttony Urge, potentially turning the people from Zone 002 into Aliens.

• Uncle Guan released a ring of diamond-shaped objects that sliced through the Mutant Beasts and Aliens surrounding the bar.
• After the attack subsided, Chi Minghong warned the people inside that her defensive item was nearly depleted, while Xu Huo reported finding healthier vegetation beyond the woods.
• Several people fought over a few biscuits, and even a child was kicked away as the hunger among the group worsened.
• Xu Huo suspected the rain had triggered the Gluttony Urge and warned that other water sources and plants might carry the same danger.
• Xu Huo explained that the hunger could turn the people into Aliens, since gluttony was also a characteristic of Aliens.

Xu Huo and the others escaped the Aliens and crossed into a barren wilderness, where they learned that only ticket holders could leave the high-risk instance after fourteen days. During a rest, Xu Huo discovered that the girl had bitten the boy while overcome by hunger and warned her not to do it again.

• Xu Huo reassured the group that surviving the fourteen days might let them escape the instance without becoming Aliens, while Uncle Guan distributed biscuits under strict rules.
• When the Aliens stampeded northwest, Uncle Guan put away the bar and the group hurried through the woods after they vanished.
• Xu Huo and the others emerged into a vast, barren wilderness with no visible buildings or tall plants.
• Xu Huo explained that the instance had no nearby exit and that only people with tickets could leave when the passage opened after fourteen days.
• During a rest, Xu Huo found blood on the girl and bite marks on the boy, then warned the girl he would knock out her tooth if she bit anyone again.

Xu Huo and Uncle Guan’s group continued through the rainy wilderness while weighing the risks of helping hungry refugees and learning that food in the Sub-district could make them hungrier. As dusk approached, the group prepared to dig a place to rest, and Xu Huo brought out his tool robot to help.

• Xu Huo shared supplies with Tan Qi and the others, then discussed the refugees and the limits of Uncle Guan’s ability to feed them.
• Xu Huo checked Dimension Below and learned that the group was near the E20 wormhole point, where food could worsen hunger, while an account offered advice on surviving fourteen days in exchange for a B-class item.
• Chi Minghong told Xu Huo that the refugees planned to hide in a dugout for the night before moving on, and the group set out again after resting.
• Xu Huo let Chi Minghong and Tan Qi take turns holding the balloon-tethered children, while Zhou Yuanzhu and Ruan Qiyan argued about the usefulness and cost of robots.
• As the group prepared to dig a hole at dusk, Xu Huo took out the tool robot he had received from the game to help.

Xu showed Ruan Qiyan several robots and explained how blueprints and extra parts could be used to build and modify them. Ruan Qiyan wanted to study the blueprints but decided to speak with Chi Minghong first.

• Xu showed Ruan Qiyan an excavator-like robot and another machine, and Ruan Qiyan admired their capabilities.
• Xu offered to let Ruan Qiyan study his blueprints and said the robot could be modified with extra parts.
• Xu mentioned that Chi Minghong had been asking about Ruan Qiyan, and Ruan Qiyan decided to talk to him before looking at the blueprints.
• Xu demonstrated how the robot worked, and Ruan Qiyan watched with keen interest.

Xu Huo and the others were ambushed by underground Mutant Beasts that dragged people into tunnels and caused the ground to collapse. Uncle Guan lifted the survivors with an item, and the group began moving across the infested wilderness.

• Xu Huo offered Ruan Qiyan a chance to borrow his robot, but Uncle Guan warned that the reward was too valuable to come from an ordinary rating.
• Uncle Guan spotted danger as a Mutant Beast seized a man digging a pit and dragged him underground.
• Lin Qiao examined a piece of carapace, then more people vanished as the group realized tunnels honeycombed the ground beneath them.
• The collapsing earth split the group; Xu Huo rescued Chi Minghong and the two children, while You Xuewen and Lin Qiao saved some of their companions and lost others to the beasts.
• Xu Huo rejected Chi Minghong's suggestion to burn the creatures, and Uncle Guan linked the survivors with Criminal's Shackles and lifted them three meters to move across the wilderness.

After Aliens attacked from underground, Xu Huo's group tried to rest on the surface and discovered that a tiny poisonous bug could kill a player within seconds. The chapter ended when Xu Huo spotted the enormous white, mushroom-shaped thing the young woman had seen.

• Xu Huo and You Xuewen's group killed several Aliens and escorted the survivors out of the cave, but the attack had killed six people.
• Xu Huo noticed Uncle Guan's injuries and the tension between them as the group discussed resting and waiting for the robot to return.
• A young woman reported seeing a white, mushroom-shaped object, but Xu Huo and the others could not detect anything nearby.
• Zhou Yuanzhu found a poisonous insect bite on the young woman's ankle, and the woman died despite being given an Antidote.
• The group cleared a patch of grass and set up barriers, then Xu Huo spotted a huge white sphere shaped like a mushroom disappearing in the distance.

Xu Huo caught Land Jellyfish to raise as food for King Fungus, then kept watch while the group rested in their dangerous habitat. A hungry survivor ate a poisonous insect, causing a death and deepening the remaining fourteen survivors’ despair.

• Ruan Qiyan identified the jellyfish-like creatures as poisonous Land Jellyfish that lived and hunted in swarms, and Xu Huo learned the group had entered their territory.
• Xu Huo used insect nets to catch thirty-eight Land Jellyfish, explaining that he planned to feed them to King Fungus.
• You Xuewen set up an insect-resistant tent, and Xu Huo placed Tan Qi and the infant inside the shelter while keeping watch outside.
• Xu Huo refused to let the hungry girl and two other teenagers into the shelter, worrying that the girl might bite someone again.
• An older man ate a Land Jellyfish while pulling at the grass, died from the venom, and bit another survivor before the group restrained him.
• The fourteen remaining survivors grew desperate, and one woman tried to take Zhou Yuanzhu’s dagger while urging her to kill them.

Xu Huo and the others traveled through a rain-soaked wasteland while Ruan Qiyan explained the ideals of the orthodox Holy Sword Society and invited Xu Huo to join. As thirst and hunger worsened, Xu Huo spotted something that might offer them a way forward.

• Zhou Yuanzhu stopped a woman from clinging to her and distributed food while Ruan Qiyan provided milk for Tan Qi.
• Ruan Qiyan described the split between the orthodox and radical Holy Sword Society factions and showed Xu Huo the Society's redesigned token.
• Xu Huo declined Ruan Qiyan's invitation to join the Holy Sword Society, saying he preferred to work alone.
• The group left the Land Jellyfish's territory and crossed into cracked, barren land beneath sticky black rain.
• As their water ran low and the travelers became increasingly thirsty, Xu Huo spotted something through his binoculars and said their chance had come.

Xu Huo’s group tamed mutant bird beasts for faster travel and followed tracks in search of Excavator 114. They found signs of vehicles and possible survivors, leaving them uncertain whether the tracks belonged to Players or natives.

• Zhou Yuanzhu subdued the leading bird beast, and the group used muzzles and food to tame the others as mounts.
• Xu Huo’s group rode the bird beasts onward, easily defeating two small groups of aliens along the way.
• At dawn, the group found green grassland and tracks left by Excavator 114, which had not returned.
• The group discovered fresh tire tracks and considered whether other Players or natives had taken 114.
• Xu Huo’s group agreed to follow the tracks while staying cautious about who they might find.