Recaps

Xu Huo infiltrated Kesi Biology's secret laboratory to search for information about Granny Bai and discovered how the company disposed of its captives' bodies. After freeing the prisoners, he confronted Kesi Biology's Players and demanded to know how Granny Bai died.

• Xu Huo used staff member 221's identity to enter Kesi Biology and found cages holding human test subjects in its underground laboratory.
• Xu Huo learned from a captive that people from Building Block Fairy Tale Town had been abducted, and an old man said the laboratory dissolved corpses in corrosive liquid.
• Xu Huo freed the caged prisoners, found containers of dissolving liquid and partially dissolved bodies in the Garbage Warehouse, and collected a sample.
• When Kesi Biology's Players arrived, Xu Huo asked how Granny Bai had died, then cut through the laboratory ceiling and disappeared.
• Xu Huo broke through Kesi Biology's protective barrier and appeared above the building, repeating his demand to know exactly how Granny Bai died.

Xu Huo attacked the Tian Family and Kesi Biology while searching for information about Granny Bai and Building Block Fairy Tale Town, then triggered the B-class instance "Stolen Declaration" while evading his pursuers. He read the case description and learned that a killer had murdered nearly fifty people after interrogating them in search of a declaration.

• Xu Huo ignored Kesi Biology's attacks and vanished after saying he would question someone who should know.
• Xu Huo blew up a Tian Family Laboratory, questioned a doctor, and then confronted the Tian Family at Haiyun Technology about Granny Bai before escaping its attackers.
• Xu Huo changed cities repeatedly to evade tracking Players, but the game assigned him to the B-class instance "Stolen Declaration" in Chongming Bird Administrative Region.
• Xu Huo entered the Game Government library and read that nearly fifty people had been murdered after interrogation over six months.
• Xu Huo learned that the thirtieth victim briefly revived and said "declaration," leading investigators to suspect the killer was searching for one.

Xu Huo investigated the serial murders connected to a stolen declaration while tracking public reaction to his accusations against the Tian Family. He met people with information about the case and said he suspected a witness had been present when the thirtieth victim was killed.

• Xu Huo reviewed the victims list and searched the Enthusiast Forum for information about the serial murders.
• Xu Huo posted a bounty for clues, then investigated Station City and the Tian Family.
• Public accusations and reports linked the Tian Family to abductions, human experiments, and the destruction of Building Block Fairy Tale Town.
• District 008 suppressed information about Building Block Fairy Tale Town and Xu Huo's public confrontation, while reports about the Tian Family continued to spread.
• Xu Huo met five people who had answered his bounty and told them he suspected a witness had been at the scene of the thirtieth victim's murder.

Xu Huo reviewed evidence about the serial killer and a detailed investigation assembled by a player organization. The investigation’s leading suspect profile and search of shared locations had yielded no culprit, and the intercity airship appeared to be a decoy.

• Xu Huo traded information with two men, then watched three covert recordings of the Enforcement Bureau investigating murder scenes.
• He opened the middle-aged man's files, which compiled evidence and theories about nearly fifty murders committed despite upgraded surveillance.
• Municipal governments and player organizations profiled the killer as likely a single person with surveillance-blocking equipment, a legitimate job, and a connection to the victims' shared past.
• Investigators identified twelve places where many victims had crossed paths six months earlier, including Rabbit Ear Amusement Park and an intercity airship.
• Authorities cross-checked the airship's passengers but found no long-term District 008 resident capable of committing the crimes, leaving the airship as a decoy.

Xu Huo investigated the unsolved murders tied to the Stolen Declaration Dungeon and searched for information from Outer District Players. He learned that the Dungeon was considered unsolvable because the authorities had exhausted every lead without identifying the killer.

• Xu Huo reviewed the murder case materials and bought vague inside information at the Underground Market.
• Xu Huo visited a lounge where Outer District Players traded Dungeon information and selected the Stolen Declaration Dungeon.
• A female Player also selected the Dungeon and questioned the Server about the lounge’s service fee and information guarantees.
• A Player told Xu Huo that the Dungeon was considered unsolvable because the cases had been thoroughly investigated and no clues to the killer had emerged.

Xu Huo and Zhao Zizhen suspected someone connected to Stellar Company was behind the killings and planned to use a fake declaration to draw the killer out. Their scheme aimed to involve the public, while the circulating report had already brought scrutiny onto the Tian Family and left a surviving Player recovering in the hospital.

• A female Player mocked another Player’s theory that the killer had left District 008, and they traded insults without fighting.
• Xu Huo left the lounge, and Zhao Zizhen followed him and proposed they investigate the Dungeon together.
• Zhao Zizhen theorized that a powerful ordinary person at Stellar Company was the killer, and Xu Huo agreed that the company was a plausible source.
• Xu Huo proposed forging a declaration and using it to lure the killer out, while stirring enough suspicion to enlist help from the public.
• Xu Huo and Zhao Zizhen agreed to work together, introduced themselves by name, and headed for Station City.
• The report forced the city government to inspect the Tian Family, and the Player Xu Huo had nearly killed continued recovering in the hospital.

Xu Huo and Zhao Zizhen questioned Wang Cang about the Tian Family and a series of murders, then returned to the Chongming Bird Administrative Region to steal shipping records from a Tian Family transportation company. They left with shipment information and encrypted documents, while Xu Huo planned to use the theft to draw the company players' attention.

• Xu Huo and Zhao Zizhen disguised themselves as Tian Family disciplinary officers and questioned the recovering Wang Cang.
• Wang Cang revealed that the murders were being covered up and that two Tian Family players had been killed in the same manner as other victims.
• Xu Huo warned Zhao Zizhen that drugs, surgery, or mental defenses might have kept Wang Cang from disclosing crucial information, and they chose not to pursue his account further.
• Xu Huo and Zhao Zizhen returned to the Chongming Bird Administrative Region and targeted a Tian Family transportation company.
• Zhao Zizhen entered the company and copied shipment records, including encrypted information about experimental materials and secret Laboratories, then took encrypted paper documents from a Cabinet.

Xu Huo and Zhao Zizhen framed the Tian Family by leaking evidence and spreading rumors, provoking public demands for an investigation. As they searched for the real killer, Xu Huo spotted a familiar face in a Station City news report and recognized a Wanted Criminal.

• Xu Huo helped Zhao Zizhen escape the Tian Family Players, and she slipped the Manifesto among the stolen files before the Players recovered them.
• Xu Huo and Zhao Zizhen regrouped, and Xu Huo uploaded footage of the chase and paid a team to spread theories linking the Manifesto murders to the Tian Family.
• Online speculation tied the Tian Family's Laboratories to the murders, while victims' families, ordinary people, and Player organizations demanded an investigation.
• Zhao Zizhen wondered how they would find the real killer amid the uproar, and Xu Huo recognized a Wanted Criminal in a Station City news report.

Xu Huo and Zhao Zizhen discussed the Ghastly Sound Knights’ possible role in the Tian Family affair as District 008’s enforcement team trapped players inside artifact-suppressing barriers. Xu Huo suspected the barriers could cut players off from the game and led Zhao Zizhen toward something he had detected nearby.

• Zhao Zizhen identified Dou Shengnan as an A-class Super Evolver from the Ghastly Sound Knights and warned Xu Huo that the organization might be involved with the Tian Family.
• Xu Huo and Zhao Zizhen watched the enforcement team steer fighting players toward a plaza as nearby Stellar Company buildings were destroyed.
• District 008’s enforcement team raised two containment barriers, trapping local and Outer District Players and preventing them from using their artifacts.
• Outer District Players searched for a way through the barriers while local players and enforcement officers attacked those trapped inside.
• Xu Huo searched the surrounding area with his Spiritual World, suggested District 008 might be able to disconnect players from the game, and told Zhao Zizhen to follow him.

Xu Huo searched for the plaza barrier’s instruments while fighting continued nearby, and Chongming Bird Pharmaceutical staff watched the battle from a distance. In a private argument, Dr. Dian warned that District 008’s dependence on instruments and experiments to create intelligent Aliens was weakening humanity.

• Xu Huo searched the area around the plaza and found two aerial surveillance devices beside Chongming Bird Pharmaceutical.
• A manager and Dr. Dian disagreed over District 008’s reliance on instruments to handle the battle and protect its residents.
• Dr. Dian admitted that he feared instruments would make Players seem useless and reduce people’s willingness to risk their lives in Dungeons.
• Dr. Dian told the manager that District 008 and Stellar Group were trying to create a second kind of human by transforming Aliens.
• The manager argued that humanity would either destroy intelligent Aliens or assimilate them, and Dr. Dian angrily insisted that both instruments and intelligent Aliens weakened humanity.

Xu Huo confronted Dr. Dian about humanity’s exploitation by the game and questioned whether he knew anything about the stolen declaration. Dr. Dian denied involvement, and Xu Huo left after warning that he would visit again, while the plaza’s violence was quickly erased from public view.

• Dr. Dian denounced the game for turning ordinary people and Players into expendables, then regained his composure after Xu Huo’s disguised administrator broke a cup.
• Xu Huo dismissed Dr. Dian’s assistant robot and asked whether he had been involved in the theft of a declaration.
• Xu Huo challenged Dr. Dian over District 008’s responsibility for destroying other Districts and the value placed on secrets over innocent lives.
• Dr. Dian denied knowing anything about the declaration and warned that District 008 would not tolerate Outer District Players acting freely.
• Xu Huo said he would visit again, then met Zhao Zizhen, who reported that the plaza blockade had ended and the Tian Family had left.
• Xu Huo observed that the plaza’s violence would be forgotten in less than half an hour.

Xu Huo analyzed how District 008 would respond to escalating Player violence and planned to use the Chongming Bird Administrative Region as an arena while drawing the Tian Family into the Stolen Declaration Dungeon. He returned to Station City under heightened surveillance and was warned by a refined-looking man not to cause trouble.

• Zhao Zizhen questioned whether the battle had accomplished anything, and Xu Huo explained that District 008 might not send major reinforcements unless fighting spread.
• Xu Huo reasoned that District 008’s containment barriers and non-game area simulations gave its enforcement team an advantage, and he identified the plaza as a potential arena.
• Zhao Zizhen suspected Xu Huo was targeting the Tian Family instead of focusing on clearing the Dungeon, and Xu Huo urged her to investigate the Transport Company and Tian Family Laboratory for Stolen Declaration.
• Zhao Zizhen warned Xu Huo to grow stronger before seeking revenge for Building Block Fairy Tale Town, then left, and Xu Huo returned to Station City.
• Armed robots and surveillance devices recorded Xu Huo’s appearance, warned him not to change it, and gave him a temporary identity card.
• A refined-looking man pinned the card to Xu Huo’s sleeve and warned him that District 008 was not afraid of trouble, and Xu Huo said he would obey the local rules before leaving.

As Xu Huo remained under surveillance in Station City, a scholar published an article warning that unchecked technological progress could weaken players and ordinary people while empowering families and organizations. The article sparked widespread calls for reform and resistance, and the scholar told Xu Huo he had published it to raise awareness and make amends to the people of Building Block Fairy Tale Town.

• Two players followed Xu Huo after he left through the portal and openly said they were keeping him under watch.
• A scholar published an article arguing that District 008 should limit instruments in some areas and strengthen municipal-government players to protect ordinary people and maintain the government's authority.
• Readers reacted to the article by calling for the government to train more players, punish abuses of power, and eliminate threats to the district's peace.
• The scholar told Xu Huo that he opposed the Tian Family's actions and had helped publish the article to make amends to the people of Building Block Fairy Tale Town and awaken the public.

Xu Huo persuaded a neutral scholar to publish an article criticizing District 008’s treatment of ordinary people, hoping to make the Tian Family’s crimes a local concern. As Xu Huo watched the Tian Family’s hotel, another player proposed that the Outer District Players join him in a public hunt for a wanted criminal.

• Xu Huo explained to a scholar that he wanted justice and persuaded him to publish an article about the harm caused by rapid technological progress.
• The scholar left after receiving a summons from the Scholars’ Association, while his article continued to gain attention.
• Xu Huo reviewed reports about Dou Shengnan’s visits to Tian Family properties and learned she had stopped leaving her hotel after being recognized.
• Xu Huo used a portal to reach the area near the Tian Family’s hotel and settled in a shop watched by law enforcement officers.
• An Outer District Player mocked Xu Huo for tolerating his surveillance, and Xu Huo challenged the player to prove his courage through action.
• A player restrained the heckler and suggested that the group publicly hunt a wanted criminal.

Xu Huo and a glasses-wearing player discussed a plan to trap Dou Shengnan, but left without making arrangements, leaving others unsure whether they were serious. The municipal government pressured the Tian Family to send Dou away, while Dou stayed at the hotel and the chapter ended with a young woman being humiliated at a pool party.

• A glasses-wearing player proposed using a non-game field simulation device to strip Dou Shengnan of her items and trap her with an outnumbering force, and Xu Huo discussed the risks.
• Xu Huo and the glasses player departed separately without exchanging contact information, prompting other players to suspect their plan was only talk.
• Law enforcement was ordered to watch Xu Huo and the glasses player, while the municipal government told the Tian Family to send Dou Shengnan away.
• Dou Shengnan refused to leave the hotel, saying she was waiting for the Tian Family to deliver items for their deal, and the Tian Family warned her that players planned to surround and kill her.
• At the hotel pool, a young woman begged Young Master Tian and the other guests to stop humiliating her, but they continued to mock her.

Dou Shengnan massacred people at the Tian Family’s hotel while demanding information about players from District 008. Outside Station City, Xu Huo met Nie Xuan, who was tracking Dou Shengnan and saw a possible chance to kill her.

• Dou Shengnan killed Young Master Tian and the Tian Family players at the hotel, then demanded that the surviving A-class player tell her whether the players he mentioned came from District 008.
• Dou Shengnan disappeared after ordering the Tian Family player to tell his boss she would wait for the dimensional positioning device to be calibrated.
• The glasses player showed Xu Huo a photo and video of him leaving Kesi Biology and explained that he and his colleagues had followed Dou Shengnan to observe her fighting style.
• Xu Huo recognized the disguised Nie Xuan by the lingering Time Power in his legs.
• Nie Xuan suggested there might be a chance to kill Dou Shengnan, and Xu Huo asked whether he had brought any Time Power items.

Xu Huo and Nie Xuan planned an attack on Dou Shengnan, setting conditions for the fight and arranging players and devices. Xu Huo returned to Station City to watch Dou Shengnan and found demonstrators gathered outside the Tian Family mansion district.

• Xu Huo and Nie Xuan agreed that Xu Huo would confront Dou Shengnan while the team used the Chongming Bird Administrative Region and the non-game area simulation device to set up the attack.
• Nie Xuan warned he could hold Dou Shengnan for only one minute after the lockdown barrier lifted and gave Xu Huo files on her items and devices.
• Xu Huo requested a share of Nie Xuan's teleportation and combat devices, and the group agreed to seek more support from the Special Defense Department.
• Nie Xuan introduced his four teammates by their code names, and Xu Huo chose Dragonfly as his own.
• Xu Huo returned to Station City to watch Dou Shengnan and learned she would stay at her hotel for several days.
• Xu Huo visited the Tian Family mansion district and saw players and ordinary people demonstrating outside its active defensive barrier.

After leaving Station City, Xu Huo visited Dr. Dian and told him the story of his adoptive father, who had killed hospital staff but later killed his own child to save Xu Huo’s sister. Dr. Dian reassured him that either choice he might have made was understandable, and Xu Huo hinted that Dr. Dian was also a deeply compassionate person.

• Xu Huo left Station City as District 008 welcomed dawn.
• Xu Huo brought breakfast to Dr. Dian and asked to speak with him despite Dr. Dian’s initial refusal.
• Xu Huo recounted how his adoptive father killed nearly twenty hospital workers, then killed his own child while saving Xu Huo’s sister.
• Dr. Dian told Xu Huo that his decision about whether to kill his adoptive father would not have been wrong, since he had acted without malice and was torn by conflicting feelings.
• Xu Huo told Dr. Dian that he was a person full of feeling himself.

Xu Huo secured Dr. Dian’s help in finding suitable Evolution Potion data for District 014 and asked him to protect his younger sister while he completed a Dungeon. Meanwhile, Nie Xuan and White Eagle prepared to help Dragonfly confront Dou Shengnan, with the plan still underway.

• White Eagle questioned the decision to help Dragonfly kill Dou Shengnan, and Nie Xuan explained why the Special Defense Department saw the mission as a rare opportunity.
• Nie Xuan and White Eagle entered a weapons factory under borrowed identities while Red Fox and Brown Bear waited outside for their signal.
• Red Fox spotted Xu Huo entering Chongming Bird Pharmaceutical with Dr. Dian, then continued waiting at the law enforcement rest station.
• Xu Huo tested Dr. Dian’s character with an invented story, and Dr. Dian gave him nearly fifty sets of genetic records to help District 014 select Evolution Potions.
• Xu Huo asked Dr. Dian to look after his younger sister for a day while he completed a Dungeon, and Dr. Dian was surprised that he trusted him.

Xu Huo left to find the painted woman and bring the Time Tower to Chongming Bird Pharmaceutical while tensions over the Tian Family's disappearances escalated. The chapter ended with evidence of the Tian Family's crimes surfacing in its Villa district and Captain Yang Chong ordering the family’s Players arrested.

• Xu Huo planned to return to Station City and search for the painted woman, whom he believed was hiding in the Villa district.
• Public anger over missing people grew as residents filed reports and the city government pressured the Tian Family for an explanation.
• More than twenty living captives and several numbered corpses surfaced from the lake in the Tian Family's Villa district, and the captives accused the family of kidnapping and abusing them.
• The enforcement team stopped the Tian Family's Players from destroying evidence, while Yang Chong confronted them over their treatment of ordinary people.
• Yang Chong ordered the enforcement team to take the Tian Family's Players away.

Yang Chong rescued the captives from the Tian Family and brought them to City Hall, where they reunited with their families. The painted woman escaped hidden with one rescued girl, and Xu Huo encountered her Communicator as she asked what they were having for lunch.

• The Tian Family's players let Yang Chong's law enforcement squad leave with the captives and bodies, then ordered a lockdown and an investigation into how the captives escaped.
• The survivors told Yang Chong that a young woman had opened their basement, led them through an underwater passage, and helped them hide beneath the lake.
• Yang Chong brought the survivors to City Hall, where they washed, changed, and reunited with their families.
• A rescued girl hid the painted woman in her sleeve and left City Hall with her mother, who planned to take her home.
• Xu Huo stopped after seeing the mother walk against the crowd, and the painted woman presented her Communicator and asked what they were having for lunch.

Xu Huo reunited with the painted woman and enlisted her to guard an item near Chongming Bird Pharmaceutical while he prepared for a dangerous operation. As Nie Xuan reported District 008’s plans to corner Dou Shengnan in Station City, the Tian Family hotel was sealed off, signaling that the confrontation had begun earlier than expected.

• The painted woman told Xu Huo how she escaped the Tian Family Villa, stole instruments and corpses, and used a pipe beneath the Lake to get out.
• Xu Huo asked the painted woman to guard an important item near Chongming Bird Pharmaceutical, and she agreed after worrying that he might die.
• Xu Huo introduced the painted woman to Nie Xuan and arranged for him to retrieve the item if Xu Huo could not return in time.
• Nie Xuan reported that a player organization and the Station City government were preparing to trap Dou Shengnan near fixed Dungeon Entrances.
• Xu Huo received word that the Tian Family hotel had been sealed off, and Nie Xuan said the operation had begun.

City Hall debated how to handle Dou Shengnan and Chunlei’s demand to operate in District 008 without endangering civilians. General Zhuo approved Chunlei’s operation under cover of a military exercise, but limited it to six hours.

• President Chi asked the mayor to let Chunlei force Dou Shengnan out of the city, while the mayor refused to allow a battle that could endanger civilians.
• Tian Benji denied that the Tian Family had made a deal with the Ghastly Sound Knights and resisted taking responsibility for Dou Shengnan’s presence.
• Yang Chong accused the Tian Family of causing the trouble and pressed them to help, while President Chi warned that Chunlei would deal with them afterward.
• Yang Chong smashed the metal table as the argument escalated, but General Zhuo arrived and calmed the room.
• General Zhuo authorized Chunlei to operate in the city under the pretext of a military exercise for six hours.

Xu Huo and Nie Xuan returned to Lichuan City and found Spring Thunder Organization Players battling Dou Shengnan inside the Tian Family hotel. Dou Shengnan vanished with one group of attackers, and a citywide lockdown barrier then enclosed the hotel and a large area around it.

• Xu Huo and Nie Xuan returned to Lichuan City and sensed Dou Shengnan’s Spiritual World active inside the hotel.
• Spring Thunder Organization sent twenty members into the hotel to attack Dou Shengnan and set traps, while President Chi watched from outside.
• Dou Shengnan evaded the attackers’ portals and traps, turning into Black Water that killed two Players and then vanished.
• Dou Shengnan appeared behind a Super Evolver and swallowed his entire group in Black Water, causing their signals to disappear.
• A translucent lockdown barrier enclosed the hotel and an area nearly ten kilometers wide.

Xu Huo and the others assessed Spring Thunder’s attempt to capture Dou Shengnan under Lichuan City’s blockade and concluded that her abilities might evade both their attacks and the simulation device. Xu Huo went to the hotel to investigate, while the group’s hope of defeating her dwindled.

• Nie Xuan explained that the city government supported Spring Thunder’s operation, but the military district and enforcement team had not joined it.
• White Eagle and Red Fox noted that the blockade prevented Players from using Tickets and items, while ordinary residents remained exposed to danger.
• Xu Huo observed that Dou Shengnan rarely fought Spring Thunder directly and that their attacks struck only her shadows as her Manifestations killed in her place.
• Xu Huo and Nie Xuan considered whether Dou Shengnan could be using an undetectable Mental Portal, overwhelming mental power, or a device or Super Artifact unaffected by the blockade.
• Nie Xuan and the others realized they had little chance against Dou Shengnan, and Xu Huo headed toward the hotel to investigate.