Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo took Lichun shopping in Capital City, then brought her to an unfinished building for combat training. Their fight showed how difficult she was to handle, and it ended with Lichun pressing her attack while Xu Huo was thrown against a load-bearing wall.

• Lichun arrived at the Xu family home, where Tongtong quickly befriended her.
• After returning home, Xu Huo took Lichun to buy clothes, with Yu Qingqing staying behind.
• Xu Huo brought Lichun to a construction site and attacked her with Strings, Sword Qi, and a tracking Short Arrow.
• Lichun dodged Xu Huo's attacks, used hardened paper scraps against him, and knocked his Flying Arrow to the ground.
• Xu Huo set Lichun on fire, but she recovered from the blaze and caught him off guard with a Paper Knife.
• Lichun charged into Xu Huo and sent him crashing into a load-bearing wall before pressing her attack with Paper Knives.

Xu Huo read Tang Guangbo’s widely discussed paper proposing that District 014 would eventually become part of the game and arguing that Cannibal Players might be used under government supervision. After challenging Tang’s assumptions about cannibalism, Xu Huo met him at home and questioned how carefully he had prepared to return to his homeland.

• Xu Huo stopped the painted woman’s paper-knife attack, praised her, and asked whether her Medal boosted her Ability.
• Team Leader Wu told Xu Huo that foreign agents were targeting Players and that Tang Guangbo had been appointed to counsel Players after his quarantine.
• Xu Huo read Tang Guangbo’s paper predicting District 014’s incorporation into the game and proposing that Cannibal Players might be controlled and used by the government.
• Xu Huo rejected Tang’s proposal, reasoning that Cannibal Players would eat people to grow stronger and could not simply be controlled.
• Xu Huo found Tang discussing the paper with Father Xu, challenged his arguments, and questioned how much effort Tang had put into adapting to life in Capital City.

Xu Huo grew suspicious of Tang Guangbo after visiting him for a week, then found himself trapped in a repeating stretch of road by a flower-selling girl. He could not get through to Nie Xuan, and the girl kept reappearing to offer him flowers.

• Xu Huo visited Tang Guangbo's office and discussed psychology, observation, and his reluctance to trust others.
• Xu Huo returned to Tang Guangbo's office almost every day for a week, then said he planned to return to Ting City.
• After Xu Huo left, Tang Guangbo recorded his assessment of Xu Huo and marked his name with an "S."
• Xu Huo suspected Tang Guangbo was either a psychopath or a Player and decided to contact Nie Xuan.
• At repeated red lights, a flower-selling girl approached Xu Huo, and he realized he was driving along the same stretch of road in a loop.
• Xu Huo could not get through to Nie Xuan, stopped his car, and told the girl he did not like flowers.

Xu Huo pursued a flower-selling girl and her burly companion after discovering that the rose she tossed into his car had turned into snakes. As Zheng Liang and a group of Players joined the chase, Xu Huo kept pursuing the pair through the rain and led his pursuers around the ring road.

• Xu Huo cut a rose in half with the Bright Red Sword, revealed that it had become two snakes, and caught the fleeing flower seller with Strings.
• A porcupine-like beast attacked Xu Huo at an unfinished construction site, but he cut it in two and it turned into playing cards.
• Xu Huo followed the flower girl and her companion to a bar, where Zheng Liang confronted him and then offered ten thousand White Cash to anyone who caught him.
• Gu Yu objected to the Players chasing Xu Huo, saying he was her friend and had saved her, but she left to follow the pursuit.
• The flower girl and her companion escaped on a giant cheetah, while Xu Huo kept pace and repeatedly blocked their turns onto Forked Paths.
• After running nearly half the ring road, Zheng Liang realized Xu Huo was deliberately leading the group in circles.

Xu Huo escaped Zheng Liang and his Players until a sudden fog pulled them into the D-class random instance, Little Flower Red Red Building. He entered the deserted building and found himself on the fifteenth floor, where the ninety-hour survival mission began.

• Xu Huo disarmed Zheng Liang and evaded the Players who chased him around the road.
• Gu Yu drove up to Zheng Liang, but a sudden fog surrounded the road and made her car, Zheng Liang, and the pursuing Players vanish.
• Xu Huo intercepted the flower girl and her companion, but the fog erased them before pulling him into the instance.
• The instance announced that Xu Huo had to stay in the Little Flower Red Red Building for ninety hours.
• Xu Huo appeared on the building’s fifteenth floor and inspected a motionless elevator, bloodstains, and shattered windows facing a blank white expanse.

Xu Huo stopped Zheng Liang and the other Players from attacking him by warning them about the Dungeon’s dangers, then persuaded them to inspect the elevators. The Players discovered something lurking in the dark Elevator Shaft when it grabbed Tie Ge.

• Zheng Liang and the Players surrounded Xu Huo, but he used his Lighter to ignite a table and threatened to set anything on the floor on fire.
• Gu Yu warned the Players that fighting among themselves in a high-risk Dungeon could endanger them all.
• Xu Huo pointed out the broken windows, bloodstains, and sealed elevators, suggesting the group investigate instead of fighting.
• Tie Ge pried open an elevator door, and a Player illuminated the shaft with a light.
• A flesh-colored, suction-cup-like creature emerged from the darkness and grabbed Tie Ge’s head.

After Man-Eating Flowers attacked Tie Ge through the elevator shaft, the Players realized the fifteenth floor might be their only temporary refuge. Xu Huo silenced a crowd pleading for protection, while the trapped ordinary people organized themselves and the flower girl and foreign burly man cautiously joined the others.

• Zheng Liang, the Skull T-shirt Player, and the others pulled Tie Ge free from a Man-Eating Flower and shut the elevator doors against more creatures in the shaft.
• Xu Huo removed the flowers from Tie Ge, identified them as anesthetic-releasing Man-Eating Flowers, and warned that other Mutated Plants might lurk in the elevator shaft.
• Gu Yu asked the Players and ordinary people to search the fifteenth floor for useful supplies and urged the ordinary people to help protect themselves.
• The ordinary people crowded around Xu Huo asking for protection and offering money, so Xu Huo planted the Bright Red Sword in the floor to silence them before taking the flowers to another office.
• The Backpack Middle-Aged Man organized the ordinary people to gather food and water, while the flower girl and foreign burly man cautiously joined the Players.

Xu Huo searched the fifteenth floor and helped the players decide how to defend it against mutated plants and animals. They chose to seal the windows but leave the elevators open, though their checks found no response from inside the elevator cars.

• Xu Huo searched the offices and found no clues, then challenged Zheng Liang’s claim that the outside players would be a liability.
• Gu Yu and the others discussed how to defend the floor, and Xu Huo argued that the fifteen elevators should remain usable because they could offer an escape route.
• Xu Huo persuaded the players to use tape to seal the windows instead of the elevator doors, and Gu Yu agreed.
• Zheng Liang and Wei Bin checked the elevators, finding no response inside and no sign of poisonous gas.

Xu Huo examined the fifteenth floor and concluded that earlier visitors had not stayed long, while the survivors shared scarce food and argued over who should receive it. The elevators then opened, announcing that everyone had to go to the fourteenth floor because the fifteenth floor was about to close.

• Xu Huo inspected the bloodstains, scrape marks, and floor edges, finding evidence of earlier activity around the elevators and Man-Eating Flowers.
• Xu Huo told Kang Hong that the clean restrooms suggested earlier visitors had not remained on the fifteenth floor for long.
• Gu Yu and her companions returned without clues, and Kang Hong organized the group's limited food as people argued over who should eat first.
• A tall woman asked Kang Hong to give extra food to a breastfeeding mother, and the women shared what they received.
• All fifteen elevators opened, and an alarm ordered everyone to enter them and proceed to the fourteenth floor.

After the fifteenth floor was set to close, Xu Huo and the others descended to the dark fourteenth floor, where they discovered tanks filled with spider eggs and hatchlings. Giant Black Spiders attacked from the ceiling, and Gu Yu realized the lights had awakened them as the group fought to survive.

• Xu Huo and Dai Wenqian entered separate elevators as the fifteenth floor's closure countdown began, and the other players and residents hurried after them.
• Xu Huo's group reached the dark fourteenth floor and found dried corpses, tanks of green liquid, and eggs and young Multi-legged Spiders.
• Xu Huo stopped the flower girl from crushing a young spider, then spotted Giant Black Spiders covering the ceiling and attacked one.
• The Giant Black Spiders descended and bit people, killing two nearby victims and injuring many others as Xu Huo and the players fought back.
• Gu Yu realized the flashlights had awakened the spiders and urged everyone to turn them off, while Zhang Biao argued they should keep fighting.

Xu Huo and the survivors fought off the spiders on the Fourteenth Floor, then clashed over who was to blame for the deaths. After counting the survivors, Xu Huo realized fifteen people had vanished during the elevator ride down, and the elevator had disappeared again.

• Xu Huo, the burly foreigner, and the others used fire and the tiger to defeat the spiders and rescue survivors from the ceiling silk.
• Xu Huo and his companions cleared most of the spiders and destroyed the tanks of spider eggs, but forty-seven people, including three players with Gu Yu's group, had died.
• Zheng Liang blamed himself for calling people out, while Tie Ge and Zhang Biao blamed Xu Huo for leading them into the dungeon.
• A middle-aged woman and Dai Wenqian stopped Zhang Biao's group from attacking Xu Huo and warned that the remaining floors would bring more danger.
• Xu Huo counted the survivors, realized fifteen people were missing, and found that the elevator had disappeared.

Xu Huo investigated the Elevator Shaft and found signs of a powerful Mutant Animal moving between floors, while the Players exchanged information about the Man-Eating Flower. They prepared to record the shaft again as they considered how to proceed.

• The flower girl gave Xu Huo three Energy Capsules as an apology after he shared a drink with her.
• Xu Huo warned Kang Hong and the others that the spiders might hatch and that staying on the Fifteenth Floor could be dangerous.
• Xu Huo lowered phones into the Elevator Shaft and recorded a red glint near the Eleventh Floor, which he identified as a small Mutant Animal with unusually high energy.
• The flower girl revealed that she could read energy levels and said the creature had an energy reading of five hundred.
• Gu Yu exchanged elevator footage with Xu Huo, and the group saw a roughly ten-meter-tall Man-Eating Flower with an energy level of about a hundred and fifty.
• Zheng Liang and Dai Wenqian proposed recording the Elevator Shaft again with a flashlight and phone.

After a fatal attack in the elevator shaft, the Players descended from the fourteenth floor to the thirteenth, where they found a plant cultivation room full of dangerous specimens. They began searching for information about the plants and the building, while Tie Ge’s worsening wound remained a concern.

• A shadow struck through the elevator doors, killing a Player, but the divided group eventually entered the elevators and descended to the thirteenth floor.
• Xu Huo and the others found a plant cultivation room and read notes about a color-changing Miniature Carnivorous Flower.
• A Player knocked over a potted plant, was sprayed with poisonous powder, and died as the poison spread through his body.
• Dai Wenqian warned the Players about the poisonous plant, and they searched the Glass Rooms for information and other hazards.
• The flower girl activated the ventilation fans, easing the stuffiness, and Gu Yu urged her group to keep looking around.

Xu Huo brought poisonous potted plants from the Thirteenth Floor as the group prepared to descend, while Dai Wenqian hinted that he wanted to work with him. On the blood-soaked Twelfth Floor, Dai Wenqian killed a man trying to escape through a window and warned the others not to bring danger inside.

• Xu Huo loaded a handcart with potted plants, believing they might help explain or protect against dangers in the Dungeon.
• Dai Wenqian introduced himself to Xu Huo and suggested they might work together if their group remained intact by the tenth floor.
• After six hours, Xu Huo led three people at a time into the elevator, and the group reached the Twelfth Floor.
• Xu Huo and the others found about twenty mutilated bodies in a room covered in blood and long slashes.
• A man tried to escape through a window, but Dai Wenqian dragged him back and slit his throat.
• Dai Wenqian warned everyone to stay put and said he would kill anyone who brought dangers from outside into the building.

After Dai Wenqian killed a Player who tried to leave, Xu Huo tested the elevator shafts with taped phones and went with the others to investigate the eleventh floor. They found mushrooms growing above a jelly-like layer, and Jiang Yihua realized that corpses were buried beneath it.

• Dai Wenqian killed a Player who tried to leave, arguing that it was the safest way to protect those who remained.
• Xu Huo wrapped phones in tape and placed them in several elevators to record any movement in their shafts.
• Xu Huo and the others found the eleventh floor covered in white threads, with clusters of mushrooms growing beneath them.
• Wei Bin cut out and tasted a mushroom, then said it was not poisonous.
• Tie Ge cleared away more of the white threads and exposed a jelly-like layer beneath the mushrooms.
• Jiang Yihua spotted black threads near the exposed jelly and realized there were corpses underneath.

Xu Huo and the others found research notes linking the underground fungi to the Little Flower Red Red Research Base and Stellar Pharmaceutical Group. He then entered the elevator shaft to confront the Man-Eating Flowers, leaving Jiang Yihua and Da Zhi rushing in after him as the others tried to close the doors.

• Tie Ge objected to eating mushrooms that had grown by absorbing nutrients from corpses, while some of the group kept them as emergency food.
• Da Zhi found a notebook beside a dissolved corpse, and Xu Huo read research notes about the underground fungi and the Little Flower Red Red Research Base seeking funding from Stellar Pharmaceutical Group.
• Jiang Yihua recognized a purple flower petal in the notebook as coming from a tiny flower in the Thirteenth Floor's Glass Room.
• Xu Huo connected Stellar Pharmaceutical Group to Master Nice's investigative files and suspected the company's interest in evolution was tied to controlling Players through their dependence on potions.
• Xu Huo entered the elevator shaft to attack the Man-Eating Flowers, and Da Zhi sent out a Black Panther that carried him and Jiang Yihua through the elevator doorway.

Xu Huo, Jiang Yihua, and Da Zhi returned to the Twelfth Floor, where a giant mantis attacked them. After escaping back into the elevator shaft, Xu Huo insisted they climb to the Thirteenth Floor, which he believed was the safest place in the building.

• Xu Huo led Da Zhi and Jiang Yihua from the elevator shaft onto the Twelfth Floor and checked that the spider and phone had been undisturbed.
• A giant mantis sprang from an elevator and attacked the group, destroying Da Zhi's Black Panther card.
• Jiang Yihua distracted the mantis with her flower while Xu Huo cut it in half, and she crushed its head before it could reach her.
• More noise from the Twelfth Floor drove Xu Huo, Jiang Yihua, and Da Zhi back into the elevator shaft.
• Xu Huo told Jiang Yihua and Da Zhi to climb to the Thirteenth Floor, which he thought might offer the building's best shelter.

Xu Huo suspected that people were disappearing because of a hidden elevator rule and tested whether the thirteenth floor was safe. He returned to the eleventh floor with Jiang Yihua and Da Zhi, where the group learned that Sun Mao had killed a player who tried to steal food.

• Xu Huo explained that fifteen people may have disappeared when the group descended from the fifteenth floor and suspected an elevator-related trap would strike again at the tenth floor.
• Xu Huo, Jiang Yihua, and Da Zhi went to the thirteenth floor and tested it by throwing in the mantis corpse and damaging the windows with Xu Huo's weapons.
• Xu Huo led the group back to the eleventh floor after mutant animals emerged from the Elevator Shaft.
• Gu Yu told Xu Huo that Sun Mao had accidentally killed a player who tried to steal food.
• Jiang Yihua gave Xu Huo an Antidote, and he declined Gu Yu's Self-Healing Agent.

On the Tenth Floor, Tie Ge proposed drawing lots to choose players to scout the lower floors before the elevator arrived. Xu Huo refused to participate, and Gu Yu and Jiang Yihua joined him as the crowd turned against them.

• Xu Huo reported that the Man-Eating Flower below the Elevator Shaft was still alive, and Jiang Yihua criticized Dai Wenqian for the bodies left behind.
• On the Tenth Floor, Xu Huo tested the floor and window with his sword but found they could not be pierced.
• Zhang Biao proposed scouting downstairs early, and Tie Ge suggested drawing lots to select who would go.
• Tie Ge arranged for Gu Yu to hold the numbered slips, while Xiao Ba suggested killing the Man-Eating Flower and using the Elevator Shaft to escape if needed.
• Xu Huo refused to draw lots, and Jiang Yihua and Gu Yu also withdrew from the plan.
• Tie Ge accused them of cowardice, prompting several ordinary people to criticize the players as the room grew noisy.

Xu Huo and Dai Wenqian discussed the elevator risks and bet on which elevator would be chosen, while the group identified hidden players and agreed to spread players across the elevators. The group had yet to decide how to assign them, with the risks of the plan still unresolved.

• Xu Huo proposed a bet with Dai Wenqian over which elevator would be picked and argued that players should be spread across the elevators.
• Xu Huo revealed that Kang Hong and Chen Shu were players, and the group checked one another’s player types to establish trust.
• Xu Huo explained his theory of the elevator game and proposed distributing the players across the elevators to reduce the danger.
• Tie Ge objected to risking players for ordinary people, but Gu Yu, Zheng Liang, Xiao Ba, Zhang Biao, and the Bald Player supported the plan.
• Wei Bin pointed out that the group would still have too many players by the first floor, and Tie Ge reluctantly agreed to follow the others’ decision.
• The group turned to assigning players, while Dai Wenqian’s plan raised concerns that spreading them out could put several elevators at risk.