Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo fought Teacher Zhao over the box containing White Blood, but the box released a toxin across Yuquan City. He cleared the Dungeon after collecting a sample and revealing that he had placed Antidote in the city’s water supply, then continued toward Agor headquarters with Jiang Chengfeng.

• Messages revealed that three fog canisters were empty, leading Xu Huo and Teacher Zhao to realize the box held White Blood.
• Teacher Zhao and Xu Huo fought over the box, and Xu Huo broke its spatial container before it vanished and left behind a Sub-class Stone.
• Jiang Chengfeng triggered the box, releasing black smoke as six munitions spread toxin across Yuquan City.
• Teacher Zhao sealed the area while Players organized against the outbreak, and Xu Huo collected a sample of the smoke.
• Xu Huo received an SS rating for clearing the Dungeon and told Teacher Zhao he had placed Antidote in the city’s water storage center.
• Xu Huo headed toward Agor headquarters with Jiang Chengfeng, who explained he wanted to kill more East District Players.

Xu Huo and Jiang Chengfeng looted new machines and potions from Agor headquarters before leaving as Yuquan City struggled with the black mist poisoning. The East District players and Rebel Army reached a ceasefire and began distributing Antidote-treated water, while Teacher Zhao and Dove sought Xu Huo’s help securing more Antidote.

• Xu Huo took unregistered machines from Agor’s underground lab, and Jiang Chengfeng shared potions with him.
• Xu Huo and Jiang Chengfeng left Agor headquarters as armed robots resumed protecting Yuquan City and residents fled the poisoning.
• The Rebel Army worked to contain panic in the West District while inspectors and underworld forces helped maintain order.
• Teacher Zhao’s group and the Rebel Army agreed to a ceasefire, joined forces against violent Outer District players, and distributed Antidote-treated water.
• Jiang Chengfeng departed after receiving a message, and Xu Huo went to meet Teacher Zhao and Dove, who planned to offer him favorable terms for more Antidote.

After leaving District 035, Xu Huo returned to District 011 and examined the rewards from clearing the Justice Dungeon with a Double S rating. He gained a new Ability and several powerful items, including defenses, restraints, and unpredictable attacks.

• Xu Huo persuaded Teacher Zhao to give him Zheng Yuci's work records, while Zhang Xian gave him a recorder containing experimental data and footage of two surgeries.
• Xu Huo traded Zhang Xian a box of fungal liquid potions and said goodbye to Dove before leaving District 035 for District 011.
• On the train, Xu Huo reviewed his new Ability, Protagonist's Halo, which lasted ten minutes and improved his survival and luck.
• Xu Huo inspected four A-class items, tested Holy Light of Justice, and saw it force nearby Players who harbored ill will to look away.
• Xu Huo also reviewed his B-class rewards, including Wind of Freedom and One Carrot, One Pit.

Xu Huo reviewed his rewards and discovered that his upgraded theft item, "Professional Thief," had stolen Zheng Yuci’s A-class "Space Orb." He realized Zheng Yuci would likely investigate his Mental Evolution and return to pursue him, while hoping she would find Chang Bei first.

• Xu Huo examined the new Ability items and upgrades, including the A-class "Big Mushroom Cloud" and "Professional Thief."
• Xu Huo learned that "Addicted to Stealing" had stolen Zheng Yuci’s "Space Orb," a powerful defensive artifact.
• Xu Huo used "Home Field Advantage Perspective" to review events in Yuquan City and discovered Zheng Yuci had not tracked him before the theft.
• Xu Huo concluded that Zheng Yuci would likely investigate his Mental Evolution and eventually make him a target.
• Xu Huo sent the Special Defense Department a warning to erase unusual markings from its equipment or avoid using it, then hoped Zheng Yuci would find Chang Bei soon.

Xu Huo stopped a threatening Player in the dining car and later suffered worsening symptoms from his Mental Evolution. He stayed behind to read as Players continued fighting in his carriage.

• Three identical Players boarded Xu Huo’s carriage carrying black metal cases, and Xu Huo went to the dining car as curiosity about them grew.
• A female Player invited Xu Huo to bet on how many Players would remain in the carriage, but he refused to gamble.
• Two men propositioned the woman, and Xu Huo warned one of them that he would not survive the meal if he stepped closer.
• The man backed down, and Xu Huo and the woman ate together while the fighting continued in the carriage.
• Xu Huo remained in the dining car to read, then suffered a nosebleed and a worsening headache despite taking a stamina recovery Potion.
• Xu Huo concluded that his worsening Aftereffects were caused by his Mental Evolution.

Xu Huo’s resurfacing memories raised doubts about Dr. Zhang’s experiments and Xu Zhi’s death, and he killed a player who had provoked him. Later, he and the other passengers discovered the triplets had left behind decoys and sleeping Potion before the train stopped amid an unseen attack.

• Xu Huo remembered calling Dr. Zhang “Teacher” and wondered whether Dr. Zhang had successfully brainwashed him and whether he had played a part in Xu Zhi’s death.
• Xu Huo sealed the restaurant with his Spiritual World and killed the player who had provoked him, then returned to his carriage.
• As the passengers grew drowsy, Xu Huo noticed gas escaping from the triplets’ boxes and joined the female player and two others in attacking the triplets, who turned out to be protective-material decoys.
• Xu Huo stopped the female player from opening the boxes and asked whether other carriages had similar ones.
• The train braked to a halt as crashes and scraping claws moved toward the rear, and the passengers spotted a seemingly transparent shadow outside.

After a water-associated Alien attacked the stopped train, Xu Huo and the other Players investigated three drowned passengers and debated whether the creature had escaped from mysterious cases. The Alien remained unidentified as they searched the train for clues and the two missing Players.

• The Players saw a large, wet, semi-transparent creature move past several carriages and searched the train to determine where it had attacked.
• Xu Huo and the others learned that the train staff had evacuated because the incident was at least B-level, and found three Players drowned in the second carriage.
• A Player revealed that two Twins had carried matching cases and left the carriage before the attack, prompting the group to consider whether the cases were connected to the Alien.
• The Players split into groups to inspect the locomotive, guard the bodies and cases, and search for the two missing Players.
• Xu Huo examined the bodies and found little evidence of struggle, while the red-scarf female player insisted that the victims had simply drowned.

The Players assessed the stranded train, the Alien attack, and the missing Players and boxes while debating how to survive. Xu Huo warned that the Alien might not be the only threat as another Player proposed hunting it down.

• The Players concluded the train could not move, its emergency communications were damaged, and Stellar Company might have abandoned them as test subjects.
• The red-scarf female Player proposed searching the carriages for the two missing Players, while Xu Huo kept the three recovered boxes after no one agreed to store them.
• The Players sealed the carriages against Aliens, and Xu Huo stopped one Player from replacing a protective item to check the tracks outside.
• A fellow Player argued that they should hunt the Alien and force Stellar Group to reveal itself, but Xu Huo warned that leaving the safe track zone was dangerous and questioned whether only one Alien was out there.

With the train stopped in darkness, the trapped Players searched for a way out and debated whether they should risk venturing beyond the tracks. Xu Huo discovered a Player had drowned in silence beside a hole in the window, raising fears that an Alien had entered the carriage.

• The Players failed to find the missing passengers from Carriage Two and abandoned plans to explore outside or use unreliable ways of escaping.
• A female Player reassured an older woman by claiming her Ability showed that she was lucky, then told Xu Huo that he had the longest life.
• Xu Huo questioned the female Player about what she would say if everyone asked about their lifespans, then went to the rear carriages.
• The Red Scarf reported that no one was missing, but Xu Huo uncovered a corpse with water spilling from its Protective Suit and a hole in the window behind it.
• The Players speculated about how the man had drowned without making a sound, while Xu Huo asked whether anyone was a doctor or forensic specialist.

Xu Huo led an investigation into the dead Players and found that their spines and nerves had been severed, suggesting the Alien had paralyzed them before they drowned. The Players considered whether the Alien could control minds and how to defend against it, but they still did not know whether it had been inside the box.

• Xu Huo argued that dissecting the bodies could reveal whether items would protect the Players from the Alien, and the group moved the bodies to Car Seven.
• A veterinarian admitted he could not perform a dissection, so Xu Huo entered a sealed laboratory pod with two volunteers and took charge.
• Xu Huo discovered that all three victims had severed spinal nerves, while the water in their bodies was ordinary.
• Xu Huo raised the possibility that a victim had been controlled into cutting his own Protective Suit, and the others worried the Alien might interfere with minds.
• The Players discussed using mental-power detection and anti-interference devices, while Xu Huo said the broken window did not prove whether the Alien had been in the box.

The Players opened one of the boxes but found it empty, leaving them without clear clues about the Aliens. As Xu Huo’s condition worsened, he returned to the seventh carriage and discovered that an Alien had moved the Protective Suit outside the window.

• The group opened a box in the second carriage, but the detector found nothing inside.
• The Players debated whether to remove the empty box, while an old man urged them to accept what they could not control.
• Xu Huo rejected the old man’s advice to leave matters to fate and returned to the seventh carriage.
• Xu Huo checked the Protective Suit outside the window and noticed that it had shifted, suggesting an Alien had visited it.

Xu Huo investigated how the alien selected its targets and organized precautions for Players who might have been exposed to contaminated water. After choosing to stay alone in Carriage Eleven, he learned that the fortune-teller Player believed his survival odds were high because he was a mental-focused Super Evolver.

• Xu Huo asked the fortune-teller Player to find out who had touched the cases, corpse water, or Cleaning Agent, and the Players identified everyone who might have been exposed.
• Xu Huo had those Players change Protective Suits, then used the discarded suits to test whether the alien would target contaminated clothing.
• The Players cleared Carriages Two and Seven, secured the cases, and shunned Xu Huo and the other suspected Players.
• Xu Huo chose to stay alone in Carriage Eleven, and the fortune-teller Player joined him there.
• Xu Huo deduced that her Ability estimated survival odds rather than lifespan, and she suggested his high odds came from being a mental-focused Super Evolver.

Players aboard the train began suffering nightmares and unexplained violent outbursts while their mental-energy detection devices failed to register the interference. Xu Huo sensed the mental energy growing stronger but judged it too weak to explain the incidents, leaving the source and the white-suited man's unusual concern unresolved.

• A Player in Car Eight woke screaming from a nightmare, and the man in the white suit stopped him and a tall Player from fighting.
• Two Players in Car Three fought and were separated into different cars after each accused the other of starting it.
• A Player in Car Four killed a badly injured female Player, and the Players discovered that their devices had not detected the mental effects behind the repeated outbursts.
• The Players reinforced the damaged windows from outside with Metal Plates, leaving Car Eleven unsealed at Xu Huo's request.
• The fortune-teller Player asked Xu Huo if he had sensed anything, and Xu Huo said the mental energy was slowly strengthening but seemed too weak to cause the violence.

As players aboard the train suffered nightmares and hallucinations, Xu Huo's companions stayed unaffected until several of them saw a shadow behind him. Xu Huo revealed that he had only just begun Mental Evolution and said the figure was a personal matter, while the other players worried he might lose control.

• More players experienced nightmares and hallucinations, and two were killed in conflicts with other players.
• Xu Huo advised everyone to keep their minds occupied, while players tried throwing Potion outside to drive away the Aliens.
• At eight in the evening, the man in the tie and then the fortune-teller saw a shadow behind Xu Huo.
• Xu Huo explained that he had begun Mental Evolution and could not fully control his mental power; the shadow vanished when the fortune-teller attacked it with her item.
• The players left Xu Huo alone after he said the figure could not hurt them, and he drew the curtain as people watched from the darkness.

As rain returned around the train, players ventured outside to search for the Alien and rest in shelter items, but more of them were mysteriously drowned. After the survivors retreated to the train, one player went berserk and killed himself.

• A player in Carriage Three was found drowned despite there being no water or apparent breach, and rain began falling outside.
• A burly player led three others outside to search for the Alien; finding nothing, they returned and other players began taking turns resting in shelter items outside the train.
• On the third day, players outside were jolted awake from dreams, and three players were found drowned inside their now-ownerless shelter items.
• Players hurried back aboard, and several carriages were separated from the rest to manage the returning crowd.
• A player aboard the train suddenly attacked those around him, then slit his own throat with a dagger.

After a Player’s body exploded in Car Ten, Xu Huo investigated the rain and the white-suited Player discovered that it contained rapidly reproducing microscopic insects. The Players sprayed insecticide and the rain eased, but Xu Huo sensed growing pressure and vanished into the Mental Portal when he released his Spiritual World.

• The Player who had blocked Car Ten’s windows attacked the veterinarian, and his explosive beads destroyed the carriage and killed him.
• Xu Huo collected blood and rainwater, suspecting the Alien could be a substance that changed state and spread through the water.
• The white-suited Player examined the water and found tiny insects that reproduced and died rapidly.
• The Players changed Protective Suits, sprayed insecticide, and moved farther back as the rain eased.
• Xu Huo felt more pressure despite the insecticide’s apparent success, released his Spiritual World, and disappeared into the Mental Portal.

Xu Huo and the other players woke aboard an intact train after experiencing a shared nightmare in which rain-like bugs attacked them and five case-carrying people vanished. After the fortune-telling female player warned him not to go home, Xu Huo got off at the Station in District 011.

• The players fought a flood of bugs with insecticide, but a giant wave swept toward them before Xu Huo woke on the train.
• A mechanical voice announced that the experiment on evolutionary species had been forcibly interrupted, and the triplets left with their cases.
• The other players woke and found the train intact, the apparent deaths undone, and the five case-carrying people gone.
• Xu Huo suspected an evolutionary species had caused their shared hallucination and noticed that his nose was bleeding.
• The fortune-telling female player warned Xu Huo that going home might bring trouble or disaster to his family, and he gave her a B-class item in thanks.
• The fortune-telling female player got off at the next stop, and Xu Huo arrived at the Station in District 011.

Xu Huo returned to Rose Castle and learned that District 011’s nobles and core family members had become unusually active, while he wondered whether the Super Player had returned. After Dr. Deng explained that the powerful evolved species Xu Huo encountered on the train was likely part of a rare experiment targeting Players, Xu Huo was left with no clear way to predict or investigate such encounters.

• Xu Huo returned to Rose Castle, asked Mr. Dong about recent events and Lady Lily, and learned that noble family core members had been active lately.
• Xu Huo asked to rest, promised the painted woman he would take her out later, and told her not to leave the castle.
• The painted woman persuaded Dr. Deng to make medicine for Xu Huo, and Dr. Deng mixed several Potions together.
• After resting, Xu Huo asked Dr. Deng whether powerful evolved species existed and described what had happened on the train.
• Dr. Deng said the train encounter was likely part of a rare experiment that targeted specific Players and had no predictable pattern.

Xu Huo questioned Dr. Deng about the train experiment and learned that it may have been designed to collect player data. He then confronted his shadow personality and decided to resolve that problem himself before pursuing the Perfect Potion and the secrets of the Stellar Secret Laboratory.

• Xu Huo asked Dr. Deng how the train experiment worked, and Dr. Deng guessed that evolved bugs and simulation equipment had projected players' mental strength while the game gathered data.
• Xu Huo returned to the Book Tower and met with his other personalities, then reached out to the shadow personality.
• The shadow personality grabbed Xu Huo's hand, hurt him, and then let go before taking his Black Sliver and disappearing through a door.
• Xu Huo used Home Field Advantage Perspective to review the train incident and realized that passengers' differing thoughts had shaped a shared false reality.
• Mr. Dong brought Xu Huo a meal and suggested inviting Miss Koukou to help, but Xu Huo declined, believing he could handle the shadow personality himself.

Xu Huo sorted through the belongings of the Players he killed, then learned that Hua Han Werner had visited the Ancient Castle and that the Werner family had invited him to a party. He decided to attend the gathering, suspecting that District 011’s Super Player was a Werner.

• Xu Huo traded most of the recovered items to the Special Defense Department for Defense Artifacts and an IOU, then gave some supplies to Yuan Yao, Zhou Ning, and Gu Yu.
• Xu Huo offered to pass a message to Meng Cun’s old friends, and Meng Cun told him that Hua Han Werner had recently visited the Ancient Castle.
• Mr. Dong explained that Hua Han Werner belonged to a collateral branch of the Werner family and had been making pre-New Year visits for twenty-three years.
• Mr. Dong told Xu Huo that the Werner family had invited him to a party at one of their estates in five days, and Xu Huo agreed to go.
• Xu Huo asked Mr. Dong whether he had considered moving, and Mr. Dong said he planned to stay at Rose Castle.