Recaps

The players split across six elevators to test the dungeon’s rules, and Xu Huo’s elevator was sent back to the fifteenth floor, where a hidden Mutant approached but did not attack. After two groups vanished and Wang Cheng was lost, the survivors reached the ninth floor and began inspecting its specimen boxes.

• Dai Wenqian proposed splitting the players among elevators, and Xu Huo said no elevator should carry more than thirteen people.
• The players divided among six elevators, and Xu Huo rode with Jiang Yihua, Da Zhi, and three ordinary people.
• Xu Huo’s elevator shot up to the fifteenth floor, opened its ceiling, and encountered a nearby Mutant before returning to the ninth floor.
• The players found two groups missing, including Wang Cheng, whose elevator showed signs of struggle and greenish-yellow mucus.
• Xu Huo and Dai Wenqian suspected the Mutated Plants had protected Xu Huo’s group from the Mutant.
• The survivors inspected the ninth floor, where Zheng Liang heard water inside a metal-clad specimen box.

The Players discovered that the iron boxes held experimental Aliens, and one broke open to reveal an artificially made Mermaid. After they subdued it, Xu Huo exposed that the Mermaid was a transformed man, leaving the group shaken by the game world’s experiments.

• A middle-aged man accidentally broke a decoration, and the iron box behind Tie Ge began to bulge as something inside pounded against it.
• Xu Huo told everyone to retreat toward the elevator, but their movement stirred the iron boxes until one burst open and a Mermaid fell out.
• Xu Huo trapped the Mermaid with sticky paper, and Dai Wenqian injured it with a Glass Bottle after it lunged at him.
• Dai Wenqian identified the Mermaid as artificially made, and Xu Huo revealed that it had once been a man.
• Gu Yu and the others questioned the experiments, while Dai Wenqian warned that even crueler things could await them in other Dungeons.

Xu Huo and the others worked out how the elevators were targeted and debated how to survive the next descent. Xu Huo chose a group to ride an overloaded elevator as bait, leaving the rest to face the floor’s rules.

• Xu Huo and Dai Wenqian killed the Aliens inside the opened iron trunks and compared what they knew about the elevator attacks.
• Xu Huo explained that his elevator had avoided an attack while carrying Mutated Plants, leading the group to suspect the plants concealed its passengers.
• Dai Wenqian proposed leaving thirteen people behind or killing them so everyone else could descend safely, provoking opposition from Jiang Yihua and others.
• Xu Huo proposed creating a target by overloading an elevator, and Dai Wenqian warned that the plan would put its passengers in extreme danger.
• Xu Huo selected passengers for the overloaded elevator, including himself, Gu Yu, two members of Dai Wenqian’s group, Jiang Yihua, Zheng Liang, and Wei Bin.

Xu Huo investigated the Thirteenth Floor, retrieved potted plants, and began gathering people to ride the overloaded elevator. As players and ordinary residents argued over who should risk their lives, more volunteers came forward, though nine people were still needed.

• Xu Huo calmed the tense crowd on the Ninth Floor and said he would go to the Thirteenth Floor to investigate.
• Xu Huo brought Wei Bin upstairs to check the air, then explored the seemingly safe Thirteenth Floor and found a purple Unidentified Plant.
• Xu Huo carried the purple plant and other pots downstairs, while Tie Ge and Zhang Biao led players up to move more plants.
• Wei Bin warned that the many plants on the Thirteenth Floor might cause unusual chemical reactions, and explained why Xu Huo was bringing some downstairs.
• Gu Yu found two strong players to join Xu Huo, and a middle-aged woman and three others volunteered, leaving nine people still needed.

After Tie Ge and the others were poisoned by pollen on the Thirteenth Floor, Xu Huo suspected its ventilation system was connected to the danger. When he entered the elevator at four o’clock, a clear slime filled the car and carried him and the others into a duct.

• Tie Ge and his group fled the Thirteenth Floor after poisonous pollen injured them, and the others gave them Antidote.
• Dai Wenqian proposed drawing lots for volunteers, but four people stepped forward, including the rich little girl and three other women.
• Xu Huo reviewed his phone recording and suspected the Thirteenth Floor’s ventilation system was causing its danger.
• At four o’clock, Xu Huo and more than ten others entered the elevator, where clear slime engulfed them and pulled them into a duct.

Xu Huo and the other survivors escaped the Giant Man-Eating Flower’s cocoons, discovered how its roots spread poisonous powder through the building, and tried to return to the Elevator Building. Someone vanished without warning from their group, leaving them facing a threat they could not see.

• Xu Huo freed himself from a cocoon and found that the elevator’s missing passengers had been caught by an enormous man-eating flower, most of them dead.
• Xu Huo rescued Dai Wenqian, then helped recover Zheng Liang and Jiang Yihua and search for the other captives; six people had suffocated.
• Xu Huo and the others traced the Thirteenth Floor’s poisonous powder to the Giant Man-Eating Flower’s roots, and Dai Wenqian explained how the abandoned Glass Greenhouse’s roots could have reached the building through its ducts.
• Jiang Yihua suggested rescuing anyone the flower took from the elevator, but the rich little girl noticed that a woman had disappeared from their group.
• Xu Huo led the group back toward the Elevator Building, but a player walking beside him vanished when he looked away.

Xu Huo and the survivors fled the Glass Greenhouse’s mutant predators and found shelter in a lit Wooden Cabin. While searching for a way back to the Elevator Building, Xu Huo discovered a hidden button marked as dangerous and pressed it.

• The Giant Man-Eating Flower attacked the group with smaller flower crowns, and the survivors fled as mutants and plants killed several people.
• Zheng Liang kicked open the Wooden Cabin, and Xu Huo and the others sheltered inside while mutant animals gathered outside.
• Xu Huo activated the cabin’s High-Beam Light, driving the predators away, and Jiang Yihua let the rich little girl and an injured woman enter.
• Dai Wenqian found documents showing the cabin could stay powered for twelve hours, while the survivors worried about reaching the Elevator Building through the predators.
• The group searched the cabin, and Xu Huo found a hidden red button beside a warning note before pressing it.

Xu Huo and the others found hidden potions, and Xu Huo used an Antidote to treat the bitten woman before examining clues about the Man-Eating Flower. They realized the building might be surrounded by Man-Eating Flowers, while the survivors elsewhere in the building had divided into hostile factions.

• Xu Huo discovered a hidden cabinet of potions, and the group divided them, with Xu Huo taking three Plant Nutrients.
• Xu Huo injected an Antidote into the bitten woman despite doubts that it would work on an ordinary person.
• The group tested whether the Mutant Animals had left and found they still lurked outside the Glass Greenhouse.
• Xu Huo used a Plant Cultivation Diary to connect the poisonous powder on the Thirteenth Floor to the Giant Man-Eating Flower's roots.
• Xu Huo suspected Man-Eating Flowers surrounded the building, and Jiang Yihua and Zheng Liang worried about the people still inside.
• On the eighth floor, the remaining ninety-one people had reached the seventh floor, where they split into two hostile factions.

On the eighth floor, Gu Yu and Tie Ge argued over who would be left behind as the survivors descended, while Da Zhi proposed escaping through the windows. The chapter ended after Da Zhi threw a lamp outside and the players found no immediate danger below.

• Tie Ge demanded that the survivors be divided into groups and that some be left on each floor, while Gu Yu objected to sacrificing anyone unnecessarily.
• Kang Hong tried to persuade Tie Ge that protecting the nonplayers could benefit his faction, but Tie Ge rejected the argument and injured a man who questioned him.
• Da Zhi urged the group to wait for Xu Huo and suggested that people could climb down from the windows after the others descended.
• When the survivors protested after Da Zhi pointed out that the players might kill them, Da Zhi threw a table lamp out the window.
• Tie Ge sent a man to check below, and the players approached the window after he reported that nothing was there.

Zhang Biao's group searched the seventh floor and found several unclaimed props while drawing lots to decide who would go outside. In the Glass Greenhouse, Xu Huo and the others seized a chance to escape the Wooden Cabin, but Xu Huo and Dai Wenqian entered different doors.

• Zhang Biao's group reached the seventh floor, found a sound-recording plant, and recovered three unclaimed props from corpses.
• Tie Ge asked Chen Shu to show him the wooden box prop, but Chen Shu refused and Tie Ge began drawing lots.
• Xu Huo's group discussed escaping the Glass Greenhouse as the High-Beam Light's remaining time dwindled.
• The Giant Man-Eating Flower released a swarm of little Man-Eating Flowers, distracting the Mutant Animals and creating an opening for the group to flee.
• Dai Wenqian and Xu Huo opened the red and green doors almost simultaneously, and Xu Huo's companions followed him inside and shut the door.

Xu Huo led the group through the Elevator Shaft to the Thirteenth Floor, escaping a swarm of Man-Eating Flowers that overran the building. Survivors began emerging from the shafts, and Dai Wenqian asked why they had chosen the red door.

• Xu Huo killed a starving wolf, cleared Man-Eating Flowers from an elevator, and climbed the Elevator Shaft to the Thirteenth Floor.
• Xu Huo used Strings and a Man-Eating Flower vine to pull Jiang Yihua, the little girl, Zheng Liang, and an injured woman to safety as flowers flooded the lobby and shaft.
• Gu Yu emerged with Da Zhi, Chen Shu, and more than ten non-Players, then explained that Tie Ge and the others had sent ordinary people to scout, triggering the flowers’ attack.
• Dai Wenqian and Wei Bin climbed out of another elevator, badly injured, and Dai Wenqian asked why they had chosen the red door.
• Xu Huo said Professor Hao was color-blind and seemed more sensitive to green, based on his cultivation journal.

Xu Huo explained that the red and green doors led to different locations, then helped the survivors secure the Thirteenth Floor of the Little Flower Red Red Building. The group prepared to hold out until the Dungeon ended, while Gu Yu reconsidered how many people Players could protect.

• Xu Huo told Dai Wenqian that the green door led to a bedroom and the red door to the lobby, and Gu Yu explained what had happened to the survivors.
• Dai Wenqian beat Tie Ge, disarmed him, and snapped his neck after Tie Ge called for help from the others.
• Gu Yu and the others found more survivors in the elevators, including Xiao Ba and Kang Hong, and Jiang Yihua described how the Man-Eating Flowers had spread around the building.
• Xu Huo watched his phone recording and explained that the Thirteenth Floor was safe apart from the hours between ten at night and four in the morning, then proposed shutting off the ventilation ducts and checking the sixth floor after ten.
• Gu Yu reflected that Players could barely protect themselves, and Xu Huo asked how many people one person could protect before Zheng Liang joked that Xu Huo should try playing a few rounds with him.

Xu Huo and the others explored the seventh floor after the Man-Eating Flowers became dormant and discovered Flesh Worms emerging from the vines. They traced the worms to a hidden passage beneath the elevator shaft and began preparing a fan to investigate it.

• Xu Huo noticed a faint fragrance on the Thirteenth Floor and woke the others, who agreed the Man-Eating Flowers had settled down.
• Xu Huo, Dai Wenqian, Jiang Yihua, and Gu Yu descended to the seventh floor, where Jiang gathered food and Xu Huo salvaged the buried Purple Flower.
• A pustule on a vine burst open and released a Flesh Worm that Dai Wenqian caught, while Xu Huo cut it and Gu Yu smashed another worm.
• Xu Huo and Dai Wenqian saw worms crawl down the elevator shaft and burrow beneath the dead Man-Eating Flowers, revealing a passage below.
• Xu Huo caught a Flesh Worm with his Strings while Dai Wenqian dismantled a ventilation fan and planned to connect it to power.

Xu Huo and the others wired the building’s Electric Switch to attack the Man-Eating Flower, while he considered how Tickets restricted travel between station-cities. He ended the night confronting Dai Wenqian on the Second Floor and asked if Dai wanted to fight him.

• Xu Huo organized the Players and non-Players to gather wires and prepare an electric trap for the Man-Eating Flower, while Gu Yu and Jiang Yihua helped dismantle fans for parts.
• Zhang Biao and the Bald Player tried to recruit Gu Yu to testify against Dai Wenqian, then went outside seeking an item left by a previous Player; Xu Huo and the others warned against risking the trip.
• The group moved to the Fifth Floor for the night, and Xu Huo explored the Fourth and Third Floors, where he found signs that items from different places and Wormhole Points had entered the building.
• Xu Huo reasoned that Tickets and the incomplete merger of the game world and real world restricted travel between station-cities, and considered whether Outer District Players used Temporary Passes.
• On the Second Floor, Xu Huo found Dai Wenqian in Professor Hao’s bloodstained bedroom and challenged him to a fight.

Xu Huo spoke with Dai Wenqian about joining the government’s player organization, then prepared for the Man-Eating Flower’s emergence as the group returned to the Thirteenth Floor. On their final day in the game, Zhang Biao’s group came back with food, while Xu Huo and Jiang Yihua discussed whether the others should eat it.

• Dai Wenqian explained that he had not tried to kill Xu Huo because District 014’s players should avoid fighting each other, and Xu Huo suspected he was waiting to negotiate favorable terms with the government.
• Xu Huo returned to Gu Yu and noticed that ten people were missing; Gu Yu said Zhang Biao and another player had taken seven or eight people with them willingly.
• After returning to the Thirteenth Floor, Xu Huo had Kang Hong connect power to the fifteenth floor and carried containers of water there in case the Man-Eating Flower broke through toward the Mutant Animals.
• Zhang Biao and the Bald Player returned with their group and revealed that they had found unspoiled snacks and drinks, which the non-player characters eagerly ate.
• Gu Yu offered Xu Huo food, but he declined and ate an Energy Capsule; Xu Huo then told Jiang Yihua that the food was fine and pointed out that Da Zhi wanted some.

Xu Huo and the others prepared for danger on the Thirteenth Floor, but Mutants suddenly swarmed up through the elevators. They fought to stop the attack as cries continued from below.

• Zhang Biao urged players to search for supplies and invited Xu Huo and Gu Yu to join the Free Players' organization, while Gu Yu said Shen Xin had found another refuge.
• Xu Huo and the others sealed the vents and monitored the Elevator Shaft as Zhang Biao left with more than ten people.
• At dusk, screams and a beast's roar came from below, and Xu Huo warned everyone to throw water into the elevators when their doors opened.
• Zhang Biao emerged wounded with a Mutant clamped onto him, and Gu Yu and Zheng Liang killed it before Xu Huo sliced another Mutant in half and sent an elevator plunging with water and sparks.
• Mutants poured out of the other elevators, and Xu Huo ordered the group to disable them rather than try to rescue those trapped below.
• Jiang Yihua called on the survivors to close the elevator doors after they killed all but one of the attacking Mutants.

Xu Huo and the others fought off the aliens on the Thirteenth Floor, but the Man-Eating Flower began entering through a damaged ventilation duct. Xu Huo and Zheng Liang escaped to the fifteenth floor, where they cut back the vines and shocked two climbing aliens.

• Chen Shu and Kang Hong tried to close the elevator doors as aliens climbed up the shafts, and Xu Huo rescued them while the others battled the Two Meters Tall alien.
• Dai Wenqian proposed luring the Two Meters Tall alien into an elevator shaft, and Xu Huo killed it by drawing it into the shaft and cutting it down.
• The group treated their injuries after clearing the Thirteenth Floor, and Zheng Liang confronted Zhang Biao for bringing aliens upstairs.
• Aliens climbed the vines outside as something crawled through the damaged ventilation duct, and Xu Huo identified it as the Man-Eating Flower and ordered everyone to the fifteenth floor.
• Xu Huo and Zheng Liang reached the fifteenth floor, cut through the window vines, and Zheng Liang used an electric wire to shock two climbing aliens.

Da Zhi and the others escaped the poisonous pollen on the Thirteenth Floor, but Kang Hong died after the group took shelter on the Fifteenth Floor. As night fell, the survivors reflected on how few remained and whether they could survive the Dungeon.

• Golden poisonous pollen poured from the Thirteenth Floor elevator, and Da Zhi used a card to free himself from the people dragging him into the shaft as the elevator plunged.
• Gu Yu ordered the group to close the elevator doors and move into offices, where Kang Hong's poison worsened despite the Antidote.
• The survivors hid in separate rooms on the Fifteenth Floor while Aliens roared below and the night quieted.
• Chen Shu announced that Kang Hong had died, leaving only a little over twenty survivors from nearly two hundred people.
• The rich little girl said she wanted to become a Player, and Jiang Yihua promised she could apply once they got out.

Xu Huo cleared the Little Flower Red Red Building Dungeon, gained the Fifty-Fifty Ability and a Nutritional Little Red Basin, and brought back a mysterious Purple Flower. After planting it at home, he considered what its changing colors revealed about the building before Team Leader Wu called about missing Players and counseling.

• Xu Huo returned to the Thirteenth Floor, retrieved the Purple Flower, and received the Fifty-Fifty Ability, a Nutritional Little Red Basin, and six Potions for clearing the Dungeon.
• The painted woman warned Xu Huo that his stepfather was by the car, and Xu Huo left the Instance under cover of the fog.
• At home, Xu Huo treated his injuries and learned that the painted woman had seen a similar flower with red leaves.
• Xu Huo examined his rewards, planted the Purple Flower in the Nutritional Little Red Basin, and suspected it was connected to the building's name and Professor Hao's first Mutated Plant.
• Team Leader Wu called Xu Huo about counseling and said two fewer Players had returned than expected.

Xu Huo learned that Zhang Biao and another player had died after misunderstanding a Dungeon mission, while Yu Qingqing became an Evolver despite her family’s objections. After catching up on District 014’s rapid gamification and saying goodbye to Gu Yu, Xu Huo returned to Ting City with the painted woman, who had lost her house.

• Xu Huo learned that Zhang Biao and another player had left the Little Flower Red Red Building before completing their ninety-hour mission and had died.
• Xu Huo ignored Ms. Yang’s plea to stop Yu Qingqing from becoming a Player, then learned Yu Qingqing had already become an Evolver and sent the painted woman to find her.
• Xu Huo read that Players were becoming more common worldwide and that District 014 was rapidly moving toward widespread gamification.
• Gu Yu told Xu Huo that most of her free-player group had joined the official organization, and Xu Huo said goodbye before flying back to Ting City.
• The painted woman returned to Ting City with Xu Huo and mourned that the government had taken back her house.

Xu Huo returned to his apartment, where Yuan Yao recounted a dangerous Dungeon involving a statue that bought human flesh. The account led Xu Huo to consider that Dungeon inhabitants and threats could be more than people, while Yuan Yao stayed with him and ate.

• Xu Huo gave the painted woman a shopping card and returned to his apartment, where Yuan Yao rushed out and explained that he had been watched after returning from a Dungeon.
• Yuan Yao described a ten-day Dungeon where a village god demanded meat, and he had sold twenty-five pounds of his flesh to survive.
• Xu Huo concluded that the statue might not have been the Dungeon boss and noted that the creatures living in Dungeons were not necessarily people.
• The painted woman returned with food, kicked Yuan Yao when he tried to hug her, and served Xu Huo dinner.

Xu Huo prepared for his next instance, learned that Professor Han had died under suspicious circumstances, and entered the Hundred People Art Museum with Fan Shiji. The E-class instance began with the pair arriving at the enormous museum, tasked with finding a forgery.

• Xu Huo discovered that the Stingy Suitcase rejected his new supplies, and Yuan Yao was frightened when the Adult Fairy Tale Book attacked his mind.
• Liu Jia told Xu Huo that Professor Han had died, leading Xu Huo to suspect that he might still be alive because of his unusual condition.
• Xu Huo agreed to let the painted woman join him in an instance and entered the Station after resting for two days.
• Xu Huo met Fan Shiji on the train, and they agreed to look out for each other during the Hundred People Art Museum instance.
• Xu Huo and Fan Shiji entered the E-class instance, whose first mission was to find a forgery, and arrived at the vast museum.

Xu Huo and the other Players searched a vast art museum for a fake painting while learning one another’s names and backgrounds. After Fan Shiji accidentally dropped a portrait, Xu Huo saw the man in it blink and continued inspecting the paintings.

• Pan Siming introduced himself and explained that the Players’ first task was to find a fake painting, while other Players disagreed about whether they should cooperate.
• The Players introduced themselves, and several left to search the museum alone while the others agreed to inspect the paintings.
• Xu Huo and Fan Shiji examined two strange paintings on the Door Blocking Pillar, but Pan Siming warned them not to touch the artwork.
• Fan Shiji accidentally dropped a portrait, and Xu Huo saw the man in the painting blink before hanging it back up.
• Pan Siming watched Xu Huo and Fan Shiji as Xu Huo moved on to inspect paintings on another pillar.

Xu Huo and the other players searched the art museum for fake paintings but found no clear clues. As night approached, they considered whether the paintings could only be identified at a specific time and debated whether to explore after the lights went out.

• Xu Huo examined the museum’s sixty-one displayed works and twenty-one blank frames while the players searched without finding any fakes.
• Deng Yu and the others discussed what counted as a fake, and the gloomy man suggested the timers might indicate when fakes could be identified.
• You Huanhuan introduced herself and explained that Lu Gang could not speak, but Lu Gang attacked her before Xie Man and the leather-clad woman intervened.
• Lu Gang smashed the museum wall, then returned and glared at the gloomy man as You Huanhuan said he had saved her.
• The man in the headscarf questioned whether it was safe to leave after the lights went out, and Pan Siming said the players should test the theory in groups.

The Players assigned rooms in the art museum and agreed to wait until after lights-out before exploring. Xu Huo discovered that Ni Tian was an attacker when she struck back after he tried to subdue her, and their fight continued in his room.

• Xie Man described the museum's twelve rooms, and the Players chose their rooms for the night.
• Pan Siming suggested waiting until half an hour after lights-out to explore, while the gloomy man warned that there might be fewer than twelve fake paintings.
• Xu Huo secured his room after the lights went out and watched Ni Tian try to seduce him.
• Xu Huo grabbed Ni Tian, but she dislocated her shoulder to escape and attacked him.
• Ni Tian slammed Xu Huo to the floor and tried to bite his neck, but she could not reach him.