Chapter Summaries

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.

Xu Huo and Lichuan City’s forces used new technology to locate Dou Shengnan and counter her mental abilities, but she attacked Spring Thunder as the blockade barrier began to collapse. The chapter left the city’s response underway and Dou Shengnan killing her opponents.

• Xu Huo searched the hotel and realized Dou Shengnan’s mental power might cover the entire area inside the blockade barrier.
• Lichuan City activated its streetlight-based mental-power detection system, and Xu Huo confirmed that Dou Shengnan’s power was spread across the area.
• Spring Thunder used cannons to form a black-mist tree that tracked Dou Shengnan’s movements and revealed where her mental power was concentrated.
• Dou Shengnan froze everyone inside the barrier, then accused the military district of using data from the chaos to develop a cannon that could track her.
• Yang Chong activated the residents’ defensive devices, releasing Potion that knocked unconscious those affected by Dou Shengnan’s power.
• The blockade barrier collapsed at one corner, and Dou Shengnan leaped from the building and killed several Spring Thunder members.

Dou Shengnan remained in Lichuan City as the military district and city government evacuated the city and battled to contain her. Xu Huo intercepted her escape, but just as she attacked him, a woman in a red trench coat appeared in his place through a hostage exchange.

• Dou Shengnan destroyed the passive Defense Artifact and used a holographic film featuring District 008 political figures to make the authorities halt their attack.
• Xu Huo and Nie Xuan concluded that Dou Shengnan had destroyed the simulated blockade barrier and that delaying events until nine would be difficult.
• The military district took over the hotel perimeter, the city drove out Outer District Players, and Lichuan City restored its blockade barriers as Dou Shengnan stayed inside.
• The city government began evacuating residents while Dou Shengnan's mental power spread across Lichuan City and the barriers around her were destroyed.
• Xu Huo used his Spiritual World and childhood personality to interrupt Dou Shengnan as she tried to flee, but she attacked him with multiple artifacts.
• A woman in a red trench coat called for a hostage exchange and appeared in Xu Huo's place as he was moved away.

Xu Huo and Nie Xuan planned to use the chance to kill Dou Shengnan, accepting the risk to themselves and District 014. The chapter ended when Xu Huo learned that Dou Shengnan had arrived in the Chongming Bird Administrative Region.

• After the military region's players drove Dou Shengnan away, Xu Huo took Nie Xuan and the others to the Game Government Base in the Chongming Bird Administrative Region.
• Xu Huo told Nie Xuan to send the others and the devices back to District 014 while they waited for Dou Shengnan to pursue him.
• Nie Xuan agreed to risk his life and District 014 by helping Xu Huo try to kill Dou Shengnan.
• Xu Huo and Nie Xuan waited near the base as District 008 announced an inspection of the Tian Family's Laboratory.
• Xu Huo showed Nie Xuan a message reporting that Dou Shengnan was already in the Chongming Bird Administrative Region.

Xu Huo used the Time Tower at Chongming Bird Pharmaceutical to disrupt the city’s space-time items, then faced a sudden assault by an unseen opponent. His defenses and counterattacks failed to stop the attacker, leaving the clash unresolved.

• Dou Shengnan moved through several cities, drawing attention from District 008’s government and military players while Xu Huo waited near the Game Government Base with Nie Xuan.
• Xu Huo visited Dr. Dian and persuaded him to let the painted woman stay while he stored something in an empty warehouse.
• Xu Huo placed the Time Tower in the warehouse, disrupting space-time items and instruments around Chongming Bird.
• After testing his ability to manipulate time, Xu Huo left the pharmaceutical facility and was attacked by a wave of items.
• Xu Huo used multiple items and abilities to defend himself and locate his opponent, but his spiritual manifestation’s strike found nothing.

Xu Huo and Nie Xuan trapped Dou Shengnan in a non-game simulation area and attacked her with energy weapons and spatial instruments, hoping to wear her down until the containment barrier failed. Dou Shengnan destroyed many of their instruments and wounded them both, leaving Xu Huo exhausted as she declared that she had the advantage.

• Xu Huo and Dou Shengnan ignored the arriving Players as their fight damaged Chongming Bird Administrative Region and drove them toward the plaza’s containment barrier.
• Dou Shengnan trapped the pursuing Players outside the barrier, where Xu Huo and Nie Xuan joined forces against her inside the simulation area.
• Xu Huo and Nie Xuan fired energy weapons and used spatial instruments to destroy Dou Shengnan’s defenses while waiting for the barrier to fail.
• Dou Shengnan unleashed Black Water and her Manifestation, separating Xu Huo and Nie Xuan, injuring them, and destroying or stealing their instruments.
• Dou Shengnan faced the wounded, exhausted Xu Huo and Nie Xuan and challenged them to reconsider who held the advantage.

Xu Huo and Nie Xuan fought Dou Shengnan inside the sealed barrier as she used her Black Water and mental power to keep them at bay. Nie Xuan’s spatial device was destroyed, and the chapter ended with Dou Shengnan’s Space Ray cutting through the defenses and sinking into the simulation barrier.

• Nie Xuan tried to stall Dou Shengnan while Xu Huo revealed that his shadow personality remained under control.
• Dou Shengnan and Xu Huo clashed through their Spiritual Worlds as Nie Xuan used a mental interference device to attack her with metal fragments.
• Dou Shengnan redirected the fragments and struck Nie Xuan with a whip-like Manifestation when he charged her.
• Dou Shengnan filled the sealed space with blade-sharp water weeds and destroyed Nie Xuan’s spatial device with a Space Ray.
• A snake-like Manifestation cut through the water weeds to free Nie Xuan, while Dou Shengnan’s Space Ray pierced the defenses and struck the simulation barrier.

Xu Huo and Nie Xuan's plan to wear down Dou Shengnan was disrupted when Chongming Bird players trapped all three behind a second barrier and attacked them. With their chances dwindling, Nie Xuan moved to lure Dou Shengnan toward Chongming Bird Pharmaceutical while Xu Huo prepared to break the barrier.

• Nie Xuan spotted a second barrier and an ambush by Chongming Bird players, who interrupted Xu Huo and Dou Shengnan's mental battle.
• Chongming Bird players attacked Xu Huo and Nie Xuan with jamming devices and weapons, while Dou Shengnan defended herself and killed several attackers.
• Xu Huo escaped the players surrounding him, but realized the second barrier remained and the group was being worn down.
• Xu Huo told Nie Xuan they needed to break the barrier and hesitated over using Life Core to lure Dou Shengnan.
• Nie Xuan turned toward Dou Shengnan and offered to draw her in, telling Xu Huo to control the timing.

Xu Huo escaped the District 008 Players and used the Time Tower’s lingering influence to wear down their devices. Meanwhile, Dou Shengnan devastated the Chongming Bird forces until Nie Xuan and Xu Huo’s shadow personality intervened, leaving the shadow personality caught in her Manifestation.

• District 008 Players tried to trap Xu Huo with spatial barriers, but he escaped through a gap.
• Xu Huo discovered that the Time Tower could still interfere with devices and used Time Power to make many of the pursuing Players’ devices break.
• Dou Shengnan’s Black Water and Space Rays killed Chongming Bird Players and badly injured the Super Evolvers suppressing her mental power.
• Nie Xuan attacked Dou Shengnan from behind, but she struck back and sent him plunging toward the ground.
• Xu Huo’s shadow personality appeared behind Dou Shengnan, but her Manifestation blocked and bound him as she prepared to tear him apart.

Xu Huo and Dou Shengnan fought a fierce battle of mental powers, with Xu Huo using a hidden personality fragment to wound her and then luring her toward Chongming Bird Pharmaceutical. After he dropped the lockdown barrier and unleashed Time Power, Dou Shengnan escaped its effects and attacked him with a transparent finger bone.

• Xu Huo stopped Nie Xuan from attacking Dou Shengnan and sent him to negotiate with Chongming Bird, promising to signal when the lockdown barrier could be shut down.
• Xu Huo used the Book Tower to distract Dou Shengnan, while a younger personality hidden in her Black Water World stabbed her and weakened her hold on the Shadow Personality.
• Dou Shengnan revealed that the apparent target was a Manifestation, then crushed the Shadow Personality's power fragment after the real Dou Shengnan appeared nearby.
• Nie Xuan signaled Xu Huo that Chongming Bird's Players were retreating, so Xu Huo ran toward Chongming Bird Pharmaceutical and drew Dou Shengnan after him.
• Xu Huo raised his hand to remove the lockdown barrier and unleashed Time Power, but Dou Shengnan's transparent heart-shaped item shielded her from its effects.
• Dou Shengnan immobilized Xu Huo with her gaze and sent a transparent finger bone toward his brow.

Xu Huo and Nie Xuan fought Dou Shengnan as her powers overwhelmed their attacks and trapped them in black whirlpools. Xu Huo was swallowed by a whirlpool and unexpectedly thrown back beside Dou Shengnan, who attacked him again.

• The finger bone pierced through Xu Huo's substitute, and Nie Xuan switched places with him and took the attack, which buried him beneath a collapsing building.
• Xu Huo escaped Dou Shengnan's Manifestation and used Time Power and other items against her, but her defenses repelled nearly every attack.
• Dou Shengnan unleashed black waves that swept up Xu Huo, Nie Xuan, and Chongming Bird players, while the Time Power killed three players caught in it.
• Dozens of black whirlpools appeared, trapping Xu Huo and prompting Nie Xuan to warn him to leave, but Xu Huo could not use a Ticket while inside a Dungeon.
• An unseen player seized Dou Shengnan, but she released a pale wave that freed her and swept away nearby whirlpools, sending Xu Huo into one.
• The whirlpool spat Xu Huo back out in front of Dou Shengnan, who cut his Book Tower in half and lashed his back.