Recaps

Xu Huo and the others were caught inside a vast black-and-white pattern as people across Hai City began exploding. A man appeared on every screen to announce the rules of the Black and White Life and Death Game, leaving Xu Huo with ten minutes to understand the deadly roulette.

• Black-and-white stripes spread from the cinema across the square, streets, and buildings, while Xu Huo sensed they restrained anyone above them.
• People in the square began exploding, and a man who rushed into the shop also burst apart at the entrance.
• Xu Huo ordered Wang Chaoqing to close the shop and had the manager gather everyone inside and find information about the stripes.
• Xu Huo examined aerial footage and satellite images showing a giant roulette pattern converging on a skyscraper.
• A middle-aged man appeared on screens and announced that participants had to play in pairs, black meant death, white granted a survival chance, and two chances were needed to leave before the ten-minute countdown expired.

After the Black and White Life and Death Game trapped the city, Xu Huo tried to determine whether it was a Dungeon or an item and advised the people in the store on how to respond. The assistant’s sudden explosion showed that the game had begun, leaving the survivors in panic as people across the square started dying.

• Xu Huo watched videos of people and vehicles exploding when they tried to leave the Black and White Wheel, while the government urged everyone to stay put.
• Xu Huo stopped the chef from leaving and explained that a Ticket might offer a way out if the wheel was an item rather than a Dungeon.
• Wang Chaoqing asked Xu Huo for a Ticket, but refused when Xu Huo told him to go to the Skyscraper first.
• The chef’s assistant claimed to see a wheel and a countdown, then fell into a daze; Xu Huo suspected the game was affecting people’s minds.
• Xu Huo advised the others to stay conscious and describe the wheel if they entered the game, but the assistant then exploded and people in the square began exploding too.

Xu Huo searched for a way to escape the Black and White Life and Death Game while the government sealed off the wheel area and Players converged on Hai City. When a new wheel appeared in his shop, two people saw it, and Xu Huo’s group tried to keep them still until the countdown ended.

• Xu Huo considered how the Ghastly Sound Knights’ gathering in Hai City complicated his plan to remove the Super Artifact from District 014.
• Xu Huo told Wang Chaoqing to check the Skyscraper for outside Players and follow them if possible.
• The shop manager let an elderly couple shelter in the shop and urged them to look closely if they saw the wheel.
• A male Server panicked after seeing a wheel and exploded when he touched it, prompting Xu Huo to warn that panic made people die faster.
• The female Server and the old woman saw a new wheel, so Xu Huo and the old gentleman restrained them while the others tied them to chairs.

Xu Huo survived the Solo Life-or-Death Game after using the Two-Color Rubik's Cube to influence the roulette, then left the Front Hall with the painted woman, Wang Chaoqing, and an old gentleman. At the Mall, he saw two camouflage-clad men with White Bars arrive as their leader announced they were taking control.

• Xu Huo watched the Server and old woman die, then was pulled into the game's white space and examined the roulette wheel.
• Xu Huo used the Two-Color Rubik's Cube as he tried to affect the wheel, and the pointer stopped on the edge of a White Grid, ending the game.
• Xu Huo returned to the Front Hall, found a White Bar on his hand, and washed the blood from his face in the Back Kitchen.
• Xu Huo kicked the manager aside and left with the painted woman, Wang Chaoqing, and the old gentleman.
• Xu Huo entered the Mall and noticed that nobody there had a White Bar, then saw three men in camouflage uniforms arrive, two of them marked with White Bars.
• The leader of the camouflage-clad men announced that they were taking over the Mall and ordered people nearby to gather there.

Xu Huo stayed with the camouflage-clad soldiers after suspecting their intentions, then intervened when one of them attacked the painted woman and the old gentleman. He agreed to work with Brother Feng only if the soldiers left his companions alone and stopped killing indiscriminately, and asked how they planned to make the crowd cooperate.

• Xu Huo told the painted woman and Wang Chaoqing to stay with the others while he accompanied the soldiers led by Brother Feng.
• The store manager and Server accused Xu Huo of attacking them, but Brother Feng ordered his men to silence them and lock all six first-floor exits.
• Brother Feng ordered his men to search for people with White Bars, and Tall Sturdy Camo exposed a woman’s White Player number by tearing open her shirt.
• Tall Sturdy Camo grabbed the painted woman and threatened the old gentleman, so Xu Huo disarmed him and fought him briefly.
• Brother Feng stopped Tall Sturdy Camo and offered Xu Huo a deal; Xu Huo agreed to work with him if his companions stayed safe and the soldiers avoided indiscriminate killing.
• Xu Huo asked Brother Feng how he expected the people in the Mall to cooperate.

Xu Huo confronted Brother Feng about the rules of the Black and White Wheel and learned that it belonged to the Undertaker and was called “Better to Seek Death Than Survival.” As the multiplayer Life-or-Death Game began, the wheel forced the survivors into a deadly trial, and Xu Huo suspected Brother Feng was hiding the reason his group wanted to break the game.

• Brother Feng threatened to kill anyone who failed to join a group of forty, and the mall’s frightened survivors split into five groups.
• Xu Huo gathered the remaining people into his group, and Brother Feng revealed that the game’s second round required at least twenty-four players rather than groups of exactly forty.
• Several people tried to cross between groups, but the floor formed deadly black-and-white wheels that killed them instantly.
• Brother Feng explained that players would take turns entering the wheel’s center to spin it, and Xu Huo agreed to go first while questioning what the group hoped to gain.
• Brother Feng admitted the item was called “Better to Seek Death Than Survival” and gestured for Xu Huo to step forward as the pointer slowed.

Xu Huo failed to survive the Life-or-Death Game, then suspected that its wheel could be beaten by refusing to turn the pointer. An old gentleman survived by turning it, leaving Xu Huo to challenge Brother Feng’s assumptions and propose testing the other option.

• Xu Huo waited instead of turning the wheel, but his White Bar disappeared and he learned that he had landed on a black grid.
• People on nearby wheels were forced into the game and died in bloody explosions, while Brother Feng chose the next person to play.
• The old gentleman volunteered in place of a woman with a child and entered the game wearing his wife's Ring.
• Xu Huo carved “Don't turn” into the old gentleman’s palm, but the man turned the pointer at the last moment and survived.
• Xu Huo argued that refusing to turn the pointer might offer another way to survive, and asked why they should not try it.

Xu Huo investigated how to survive the Life-or-Death Game and concluded that a white pointer might signal a chance to live, though it did not guarantee survival. After several Players died, he entered the game again and reached for the pointer as the countdown ran down.

• Xu Huo warned that refusing to turn the pointer might keep Players alive temporarily but would not let them escape, and Wang Chaoqing showed him a report about a hypnotizing woman at the Skyscraper.
• Xu Huo proposed that the item’s name meant those less afraid of death might have better odds, but Brother Feng sent Duckbill Hat into the game instead.
• Duckbill Hat failed, and Brother Feng sent Players into the game one after another, with the next seven or eight dying.
• Xu Huo noticed Tall Sturdy Camo counting the dead and volunteered to enter the game.
• Xu Huo saw a white pointer again and reasoned that it likely indicated a chance to survive, though it did not guarantee one, before reaching for it.

Xu Huo tested the Life-or-Death Game and discovered that the Lucky Hourglass did not guarantee survival, while the game’s pointer color seemed to matter. After surviving one round and losing his White Bar in the next, he was seized by Qi Shan.

• Qi Shan entered the Life-or-Death Game with the female Player and the old gentleman beside him, and both companions died when the Lucky Hourglass activated.
• Xu Huo concluded that the Hourglass likely required people who already had a chance to survive, and he suspected that only the white pointer could land on the White Grid.
• Xu Huo entered the game and emerged with a White Bar, then began a second round using the Two-Color Rubik's Cube.
• Xu Huo lost his White Bar after the second round, and Qi Shan grabbed him by the collar.

Xu Huo outmaneuvered Brother Feng and Qi Shan during the Life-or-Death Game, killing Qi Shan and forcing Brother Feng to spin the pointer. Brother Feng’s Hourglass then exploded into bombs coated with Alien Toxin, leaving Xu Huo and the others poisoned.

• Xu Huo taunted Brother Feng and his men into taking another turn, but Tall Sturdy Camo spun the Black Pointer and exploded eight minutes later.
• Brother Feng entered the circle with the Hourglass as Qi Shan gathered the remaining people around him, and a Flying Arrow struck at Brother Feng from the Mall’s second floor.
• Xu Huo attacked Qi Shan while the Flying Arrow distracted him, and the painted woman lured Qi Shan off the platform, where the game’s rules killed him.
• Xu Huo repeatedly attacked Brother Feng until he spun the pointer early, then Brother Feng threw the Hourglass, which split into bombs and exploded.
• Xu Huo found green liquid on fragments lodged in his back, and Wang Chaoqing identified it as Alien Toxin while Brother Feng accused Xu Huo of deceiving him.

Xu Huo explained that the Life-or-Death Game could be escaped by resisting the urge to spin the pointer, while Brother Feng demanded a way to win and attacked him. The painted woman turned the fight around, forcing Brother Feng to escape, and Wang Chaoqing recovered his item.

• Xu Huo explained that the roulette wheel preyed on fear and that leaving the pointer untouched was the real way to escape the Life-or-Death Game.
• Brother Feng challenged Xu Huo's explanation, then feinted toward Wang Chaoqing and trapped Xu Huo in Duckbill Hat's red smoke.
• Xu Huo fought Brother Feng through the smoke, but Brother Feng's Metal Block absorbed Xu Huo's Sword Qi.
• Brother Feng seized the painted woman and threatened her to force Xu Huo to reveal how to get a chance to survive.
• A player on another wheel exploded before finishing his announcement, and the painted woman stabbed Brother Feng and caught his sword, prompting him to escape.
• Wang Chaoqing picked up Brother Feng's Metal Block after the painted woman dropped it.

Xu Huo and the painted woman subdued the attackers on the Black and White Wheel, but the group remained trapped as rescue efforts stalled. Xu Huo returned to the Life-or-Death Game to test whether repeatedly leaving the pointer untouched could let its participants win.

• The painted woman gave Xu Huo the Metal Block, and he thanked her for helping kill Qi Shan and drive Brother Feng away.
• Xu Huo told the injured survivors he had no Antidote left and advised them to seek government help once they escaped.
• The painted woman used Posters to fetch clothes and supplies, then entertained the children while Xu Huo told their parents to repay the shopkeepers.
• Xu Huo called the rescue hotline, learned that no one seemed to have escaped the Black and White Wheel, and told Wang Chaoqing to keep calling for help.
• Xu Huo sat inside the Life-or-Death Game and considered whether repeatedly leaving the pointer untouched could make the participants victorious.

As the command centers struggled to contain the Life-or-Death Game and the Ghastly Sound Knights’ invasion, Captain Xing reported that Brother Xu had driven away the Outer District Players and ended a multiplayer game at Defu Mall. Wang Chaoqing revealed Brother Xu’s method and began sharing what he knew in exchange for an Antidote.

• The Haishi Command Center reported widespread deaths, hostages, and failed rescue attempts as the Ghastly Sound Knights remained hidden in the skyscraper.
• The Jing City official ordered an attempt to trap Outer District Players in the Life-or-Death Game and accelerated Hai City’s civilian evacuation.
• Captain Xing told the command center that two Outer District Players had been killed, one had escaped, and the wheels at the mall had vanished after Brother Xu solved the game.
• Wang Chaoqing said Brother Xu had completed twelve rounds without turning the pointer and offered further information in exchange for an Antidote.
• The Commander-in-Chief promised to send an Antidote, and Wang Chaoqing began explaining what he knew about the Life-or-Death Game.

The command room identified Xu Huo as a capable but troubled Player and decided to recruit him to help with Hai City's crisis. Near the Skyscraper, Xu Huo prepared a plan with the painted woman and called the authorities, claiming to be the Player who had obtained the Super Artifact.

• Wang Chaoqing told the command room that facing death without fear could help people resist the artifact's illusions, but Dr. Sun explained why the method was difficult for soldiers to use.
• The Secretary reported Xu Huo's identity and achievements, and the Commander-in-Chief ordered Captain Xing to find him and bring him onto their side.
• Xu Huo weighed the risks of acting near the Skyscraper and leaving Hai City before his train departed.
• Xu Huo discovered that the painted woman's ability could affect paper objects in houses belonging to the same owner, and promised her the Gentleman of Light Medal for her help.
• Xu Huo used a Voice Changer Toy to call the command room and announced that he was the Player who had obtained the Super Artifact.

Xu Huo asked the government to help the painted woman claim properties in the Black and White Wheel so she could control the buildings and draw High-level Players away from Hai City. As rescue teams moved stranded people outdoors and the painted woman marked territory on a map, the Undertaker and his companions discussed District 014’s prospects.

• Xu Huo told officials he would try to draw the High-level Players away with the Super Artifact and requested property transfers, paper in the buildings, and the evacuation of people who could be moved outdoors.
• The Commander-in-Chief of Hai City transferred one property to painted woman, and surveillance confirmed that she could control the paper inside it.
• Xu Huo and painted woman moved between locations while the government began transferring properties and rescue teams cleared people from multiplayer Life-or-Death Games.
• At a bookstore, painted woman marked the areas claimed by the Black and White Wheel on a map and told Xu Huo she did not want a house as large as a castle.
• At an aquarium, the Undertaker and his companions criticized the people of District 014 and debated whether the district had potential as a breeding ground or a place for business.

Nie Xuan’s plan to escape District 014 collapsed as Outer District Players killed most of his allies and cornered him in an amusement park. A hidden wielder of the Super Artifact intervened, leaving Nie Xuan face-to-face with a man in a wheelchair.

• Shengnan told the blond man that five Little Torpedoes had exploded, and he sent his group toward southwestern Hai City after learning Lawrence Li was there.
• Nie Xuan recalled that fifteen of the seventeen Players he had recruited had died, and he realized their strength gap made his escape plan futile.
• A group of Outer District Players surrounded the wounded Nie Xuan, but a giant Poster blocked their attack and helped him flee.
• The Players pursued Nie Xuan, and the Posters turned into sharp blades that overwhelmed the group.
• Nie Xuan recognized the paper attack as the Super Artifact and saw a man in a wheelchair standing nearby.

Nie Xuan escaped as powerful High-level Players fought over the Super Artifact at the Amusement Park. At Haishi Command Center, the Commander-in-Chief learned that the artifact’s influence was driving people who had visited the Skyscraper to kill themselves and their comrades, and asked whether the painted woman had made contact.

• The man in the wheelchair took the Poster and killed the three remaining Outer District Players who had been trapped by paper scraps.
• A tattooed strong man attacked the wheelchair-bound man with cars, but the man cut the stacked cars apart with an unseen force.
• A blond man played his Violin, casting an illusion over Nie Xuan and the Amusement Park; the wheelchair-bound man broke the spell by snapping an imagined Violin String.
• Colored Threads pierced Nie Xuan’s foot as he fled, and he realized the High-level Players were fighting through forces he could barely perceive.
• At Haishi Command Center, the Commander-in-Chief learned that people who had visited the Skyscraper were being hypnotized into suicide and attacks on their teammates after someone mentioned the Super Artifact.
• The Commander-in-Chief ordered the affected teams recalled and asked whether the painted woman had contacted them.

After Painted Woman gained control over Hai City's paper objects, Xu Huo sent her to draw Outer District Players toward the Black and White Big Wheel while he headed for the Pearl Hotel. Her attacks revealed the Super Artifact, and she continued luring players into the Game until a timed signal forced her to retreat toward the Skyscraper.

• The Commander-in-Chief spoke with Xu Huo, who confirmed that he would begin his plan and ordered the Pearl Hotel blown up at 7:31 p.m.
• Xu Huo gave Painted Woman the Gentleman of Light Medal, reviewed the plan with her, and left for the Pearl Hotel.
• Painted Woman used her new control over paper to attack Outer District Players and pull them into the Multiplayer Life-or-Death Game.
• The Outer District Players recognized that a Super Artifact was involved and began chasing Painted Woman, who fought back and trapped several in the Game.
• After being hit by distant attacks, Painted Woman heard Xu Huo's timed signal and changed course to appear driven back toward the Skyscraper.

The painted woman drew powerful Players to the Pearl Hotel while Xu Huo’s plan made the pursuit public. As artillery struck the hotel, she tried to enter the game, but the Holy Sword Society and the Half-Grown Boy attacked before she could escape.

• The painted woman rescued people with paper while three Players chased her into the Pearl Hotel, where one used an iron block to crush holes through the building.
• A Gold Apprentice of the Holy Sword Society trapped the iron blocks in a cube and offered to recruit the painted woman, while the Browless Man demanded the Super Artifact.
• Dou Shengnan and a Half-Grown Boy arrived, prompting the Browless Man and his companions to retreat as five powerful Players surrounded the painted woman.
• At 7:31, artillery struck the Pearl Hotel, and the painted woman raised her hands and taunted the Players as she tried to enter the game.
• The Holy Sword Society’s three Gold Apprentices attacked, but the Half-Grown Boy swept poisonous gas across the rooftop and challenged them.

Xu Huo took the Super Artifact from the Pearl Hotel and escaped to the Station, where he faced a group of hungry players trying to get his Tickets. The painted woman survived and hid, while the battle for the artifact ended and rescue efforts began in Hai City.

• Dou Shengnan failed to hypnotize the painted woman, and the hotel collapsed during the fight as a female player was hurled into the ruins and the Super Artifact changed hands.
• A masked, hooded player resisted Dou Shengnan’s command, took the Super Artifact, and vanished in under ten seconds, ending the battle over the artifact.
• The Holy Sword Society members, Dou Shengnan, Balloon Youth, and other players left the area, while Hai City’s command center halted the bombardment and organized rescues.
• The painted woman changed her appearance, hid in a hotel with the Gentleman of Light Medal, and messaged Xu Huo that she would wait for him.
• Xu Huo reached the Station and removed his disguise, then faced four players who asked to buy Tickets before threatening to rob him.

Xu Huo rode the train to Building Block Fairy Tale Town Station and entered the E-class Dungeon “The Woman Who Tells Stories.” He arrived in the ruined old city with the female player and the big man, while the old man was left behind.

• Xu Huo boarded Train 219 after leaving four bodies at the station and found three other players in the carriage.
• The train announcement listed rules forbidding firearms, requiring players to spend at least five hundred White Cash, and permitting violence between players.
• Xu Huo ordered noodles and water, then tried to team up with the female player, who declined after learning he had an E-class Ticket.
• After two hours, Xu Huo received the Dungeon tasks and learned that he had to enter Building Block Fairytale Tourist City before dusk.
• Xu Huo arrived on a ruined street beside a Bus stop with the female player and the big man, then asked the female player which way they should go.

Xu Huo and three other Players boarded a bus touring the Building Block Fairytale Tourist City, where the guide introduced the Aliens and the feeding zone. Xu Huo bought a live Pygmy Monkey to feed, but it escaped and was eaten by Aliens, and the guide charged him for ointment for its scratches.

• Xu Huo boarded a crowded driverless tour bus with the other Players and received a booklet about the Aliens.
• The long-faced tour guide described the Algae-Shell Alien migration and promised tourists a chance to see and eat algae-shells.
• As the bus crossed a Suspension Bridge over the feeding zone, the guide offered the Players live animals to feed to the Aliens.
• Xu Huo bought a Pygmy Monkey, but it scratched him, escaped through the window, and was torn apart by Aliens below.
• The guide gave Xu Huo ointment for the scratches and took fifty White Cash from him.

Xu Huo arrived at Building Block Fairytale Tourist City, chatted with a local woman on the bus, and learned that the gates closed at dusk. After getting off, he and several other newcomers began looking for a place to stay before nightfall.

• Xu Huo watched Aliens follow the bus and observed workers harvesting algae-shells from sedated Aliens.
• Xu Huo asked the tour guide why the other Aliens were kept alive, and the guide said they attracted tourists.
• Xu Huo shared roasted sunflower seeds with the female Player and chatted with an old woman, who gave him discount coupons and recommended lodging.
• Xu Huo and several other newcomers entered Tourist City as its gate closed behind them.
• The tour guide warned the newcomers to find lodging before dark, then gave the couple business cards after the man paid him White Cash.
• The newcomers questioned the tour guide's lodging recommendations and checked the Route Map, where the long-haired female Player noted that lodging was about a half-hour walk away.

Xu Huo was forced by two armed Players to visit the Bear Claw Restaurant after they learned he had been scratched by an animal from the Contaminated Zone. There, he paid a diner for insider information and learned the restaurant's steak was made from human flesh.

• Xu Huo and a young man were held at gunpoint by two thugs who stole their coupons and questioned them about lodging and contamination.
• The thugs forced Xu Huo to go with them to the Bear Claw Restaurant, while the young man remained unharmed.
• At the restaurant, a diner offered Xu Huo information about his contaminated scratches and claimed locals could develop immunity.
• Xu Huo paid the diner fifty White Cash, and the diner revealed that the Bear Claw Steak was made from human flesh.

Xu Huo investigated Building Block Fairy Tale Town’s contamination and learned how the Tourist City concealed its past while presenting a tragic romance as a tourist attraction. He met the female Player again, who offered to trade information and pointed out that the city had no children.

• Xu Huo heard a diner claim that tourists entered an Alien Zone and never returned, then registered for a room before deciding to leave by another exit.
• Xu Huo visited a flower shop, bought a Golden Powder Purple, and learned the story of a mutated husband and his wife, whose deaths were commemorated at True Love Plaza.
• Xu Huo bought a Tourist Guide and learned that a Gene Experiment Company’s contaminant had caused humans to regress, prompting the government to quarantine the town and establish research institutes in the contaminated area.
• Xu Huo noticed the female Player and the big man from earlier, and the female Player offered to trade mission information.
• The female Player told Xu Huo that there were no children in the Tourist City, despite Building Block Fairy Tale Town once being known as a paradise for children.