Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo returned to his past and warned the authorities about the dangers awaiting the world, while trying to keep his violent impulses in check. After sharing what he knew about the future, he was confined to a specially protected psychiatric hospital.

• Xu Huo escaped an underground gambling den after warning a smug gambler that his uncle would soon be unable to protect him.
• Xu Zhi found Xu Huo, and Xu Huo admitted that he feared he might commit worse acts if he could not find a controlled outlet for his urges.
• Xu Zhi urged Xu Huo to follow the law and challenge himself without committing crimes, and Xu Huo agreed to stop visiting places like the casino.
• Xu Huo asked whether Xu Zhi would die to save him, then followed his friend’s advice and went with Xu Zhi to the police station.
• A special team questioned Xu Huo, and he told Team Leader Fan about Dr. Zhang, Seventeenth Hospital, the Dimension Rift game, and other future dangers.
• Xu Huo refused to explain how time travel worked, and a month later he was confined to a specially protected psychiatric hospital.

While confined under state supervision, Xu Huo used hypnosis to expose a supposed cultivator’s delusion and then demonstrated his mind-related ability to a psychology professor. He concluded that he had not traveled through time but was trapped in a lifelike hallucination, though he still did not understand one thing about it.

• Xu Huo questioned a man who claimed to have returned from a cultivation world and argued that later Wormhole Points could not simply be controlled by earlier ones.
• Xu Huo challenged the man’s claim by asking why his accumulated cultivation had not remained with him, then used hypnosis to make him try to kiss a Special Forces officer’s shoe.
• A psychology professor arrived to examine Xu Huo, but Xu Huo ordered him to sit and the professor obeyed immediately.
• Xu Huo told the professor that he had not traveled through time and was instead trapped in a lifelike hallucination shaped by his thoughts, then said there was one thing he could not figure out.

Xu Huo saw through the third One-Third Game and was told he had lost the future, which sealed his space power. After leaving the game, he uncovered the truth about the water Rubik’s Cube’s activation and signed his name on a wanted criminal list.

• Xu Huo questioned why the third game’s illusion could recreate his past, then ranked the past, present, and future, putting the past first.
• The game declared Xu Huo a failure who had lost the future, and he returned to the cubes after being thrown out of the illusion.
• Xu Huo recorded the price of losing the future, then discovered that a seal prevented him from using his space power.
• Xu Huo entered a terminal room and read messages revealing that the player organization’s leadership had deliberately activated the water Rubik’s Cube, causing mass deaths and trapping staff downtown.
• Xu Huo learned that Old Cai and the others had staged their earlier conflict with him, then raised his clearance and signed his name on the wanted criminal list.

After clearing the One-Third City Dungeon with an S rating, Xu Huo discovered that the game had sealed his Spatial Evolution Power while leaving his Time Power intact. He examined his rewards and abilities, then accepted that they could not make up for his loss.

• The system awarded Xu Huo an S rating and a One-Third Game Activation Cube, which could not start another game in the same place.
• Xu Huo tested his powers and realized a barrier had sealed his Spatial Evolution Power, though he could still use Time Power.
• Xu Huo inspected his Dungeon rewards, including three A-class items and two A-class instruments.
• Xu Huo learned that Super Focus had upgraded into God-Tier Acting and that his items and abilities had grown stronger.
• Xu Huo dismissed the lesser rewards and concluded that they were not enough to compensate for his sealed Spatial Evolution Power.

Xu Huo tested the barrier protecting him from spatial attacks and learned that his Spatial Evolution ability remained temporarily unusable. After reviewing his recorded observations, he changed his permissions and fought his way toward the edge of Buliu City’s sealed area, where people were waiting for him.

• Xu Huo accused Old Cai and the others of opening the water Rubik’s Cube and pretended to be starving Xu Zhi to mislead them.
• Xu Huo tested whether his metal Magic Cube could affect the water Rubik’s Cube, but the cubes only collided and separated.
• Xu Huo discovered that using Space Power activated a barrier that protected him from the chaotic spatial bodies and Space Ray blades, though it also left his Spatial Evolution ability unavailable.
• Xu Huo used Home Field Advantage Perspective to review its recorded observations, then changed his system permissions to Shi Sanjiu’s.
• Xu Huo fought through the sealed area toward the edge of Buliu City’s city center, where several people were waiting for him.

Xu Huo emerged safely from Buliu City’s city center after clearing the One-Third City Dungeon, then shared a shortcut and key information with other Players. He gave Shi Sanjiu a registered Communicator to help him clear the level and received a jade badge worth ten billion White Cash in return.

• City-government Players and other Players gathered outside the city center, speculating about Xu Huo’s clearance and his city-government position.
• Xu Huo came through the barrier openly and confirmed to the waiting Players that he had returned safely.
• Xu Huo called Shi Sanjiu and offered him a shortcut to clearing the One-Third City Dungeon.
• Xu Huo posted his clearance method and information about the One-Third Game on the Jixin Terminal, including advice to place “future” first when entering the game.
• Xu Huo gave Shi Sanjiu a registered Communicator, and Shi Sanjiu gave him a jade badge redeemable for ten billion White Cash.

Xu Huo left Buliu City after accepting Shi Sanjiu’s badge, then returned to Ting City, where the Special Defense Department was struggling to contain a group of Outer District Players. Team Leader Ming proposed using poison gas against the Players, but Team Leader Wu opposed the plan as the conference ended without a decision.

• Xu Huo weighed seeking help from Lawrence Li or Huahan Werner and going to the Platinum Eye, then decided to leave Buliu City and used his Return Ticket.
• Xu Huo arrived in Ting City and found the city sealed off as residents were evacuated and the Special Defense Department blockaded six Outer District Players.
• Team Leader Ming reported that at least three more Players from the group remained unaccounted for and warned that waiting would let the injured Players recover.
• Team Leader Ming proposed using poison gas to eliminate the six Players, while Team Leader Wu objected that it would kill ordinary residents.
• Team Leader Ming gave the conference ten minutes to approve his plan before he and his team would leave.

Xu Huo and the painted woman confronted the Outer District Players hiding in Ting City, and Xu Huo used his Temporal Evolution to kill and disable several of them. The red-haired woman’s attacks failed, and she was trapped by Xu Huo’s Manifestation as she tried to escape.

• The Outer District Players discussed their standoff with the Special Defense Department and why they had chosen Ting City, which they believed belonged to X.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman arrived in an alley and found two Outer District Players confronting them.
• The Long Sword player drew his weapon, but Xu Huo’s Temporal Evolution turned him to dust and caused the two Players in the alley to age and become immobilized.
• Xu Huo pulled the long-haired man, the red-haired woman, and the last Player into the alley.
• The red-haired woman’s artifacts and Abilities failed against Xu Huo and the painted woman, and Xu Huo’s black Manifestation trapped her before she turned to attack the painted woman.

Xu Huo defeated the Players attacking him in Ting City and brought the last two survivors to the Special Defense Department. After meeting Team Leader Ming and hearing about his proposal to sacrifice some people to stop the attack, Xu Huo decided to rest in Ting City while waiting for Nie Xuan.

• Xu Huo stopped time around the damaged apartments, killed two attackers, and captured two more after a third escaped.
• Xu Huo took the captured Players to the temporary command center and met Team Leader Ming, who left using a Space Teleport Artifact.
• Team Leader Wu explained that Team Leader Ming had proposed releasing poison gas in the containment zone and described his rivalry with Nie Xuan.
• Xu Huo asked whether Nie Xuan had returned, then told Team Leader Wu he would stay in Ting City for a few days and wanted to rest.

Xu Huo reviewed District 014’s changing player landscape, government preparations, and Special Defense Department developments after arriving at his new residence. He learned that he had become a symbolic leader among unofficial players and saw Nie Xuan’s influence being challenged by Team Leader Ming.

• Xu Huo and the painted woman moved into a secluded residence arranged by the Special Defense Department, and Xu connected to the network.
• Xu read reports about anomalies, resource conflicts, and an attack in which several Outer District Players disappeared, while the department said it had captured two people alive.
• Xu discovered that unofficial players viewed him as a spiritual leader and called on him to organize their groups, but he ignored the appeals.
• Xu reviewed the Special Defense Department’s new equipment and leaked proposals for legislation regulating players and government agencies.
• Xu examined the rivalry between Nie Xuan and Ubiquitous Little Ming, whose rational approach and emphasis on player safety had earned him support.

Xu Huo returned to District 014 and caught up with Yuan Yao, who told him about their friends and warned him that people were still after the antidote fungus solution. The chapter left Xu Huo aware of a nearby Random Instance and the danger posed by those targeting him.

• The painted woman showed Xu Huo the many invitations she had received, while he filtered his own messages and asked Team Leader Wu to investigate Zong Lanzhi's Super Evolver Club.
• Yuan Yao arrived with hot pot, and he and Xu Huo discussed Yuan Yao's plans to eventually suspend his Player status and settle in Ting City.
• Yuan Yao updated Xu Huo on their friends: Shen Xin and Liu Jia were stable, Zhou Ning was recovering from severe injuries, and Yan Jiayu had gone out of contact.
• Yuan Yao told Xu Huo that a Random Instance had appeared near Ting City and invited him to explore it, but Xu Huo declined and offered to find companions for Yuan Yao.
• Yuan Yao warned Xu Huo that people were still coveting the antidote fungus solution and that he and others had been targeted; Xu Huo said he expected people to come after him after he revealed his Temporal Evolution powers.

Xu Huo toured Ting City with the painted woman and discussed the city’s defenses and growing Player unrest with Team Leader Wu and Sima Xiao Er. The Special Defense Department expected Xu Huo to represent Ting City and help set rules for its Players.

• Xu Huo told his family he would stay away for several days, then went shopping in Ting City with the painted woman using a government shopping card.
• Team Leader Wu described Ting City’s planned underground defense facilities and asked whether Xu Huo had defensive equipment to sell.
• Sima Xiao Er complained that Players provoked the Special Defense Department and demanded resources and privileges.
• Xu Huo asked about Origin Stones and Random Instances as Team Leader Wu warned that Instances were becoming more frequent and dangerous.
• The painted woman celebrated her free shopping and rushed into a jewelry store.
• Team Leader Wu explained that Xu Huo was expected to meet local Players and help establish rules for Ting City.

Xu Huo met with unaffiliated players in Ting City, where groups debated forming an alliance and asked him to lead them. He refused to organize them, but warned them not to cause trouble in the city he considered his home.

• Team Leader Wu told Xu Huo that many players had contacted him after X publicized Xu’s arrival, and revealed that Yu Qingqing was behind the campaign.
• Xu Huo attended a gathering of unaffiliated players, where Tan Yang praised his recent actions and attendees urged him to unite players in an organization.
• A middle-aged player proposed that dozens of groups form an alliance, while smaller organizations objected to being dominated by larger ones.
• Team Leader Wu tried to prevent the growing dispute from turning into a fight, and Xu Huo swept the room with his mental power.
• Xu Huo refused to form an organization or alliance, told players they could settle in Ting City as long as they caused no trouble, and invited them to eat.

Xu Huo rejected the player organizations’ proposed alliance and asserted control over Ting City. After fighting off a shadowy attacker, he warned a distant figure that District 014 temporarily did not welcome Outer District Players.

• Xu Huo refused to join the player organizations’ alliance and told them to follow Ting City’s rules while on his turf.
• The middle-aged man left with his companions, and more than half the gathered Players followed.
• A shadowy Player appeared behind Xu Huo and attacked him, but Xu Huo fought back as the painted woman and the other Players watched.
• Xu Huo emerged from the dust while the shadow Player stood frozen, then moved to the hall’s roof.
• Xu Huo faced a masked figure a hundred meters away and declared that District 014 temporarily did not welcome Outer District Players.

Xu Huo fought an Outer District Player who attacked the venue with spatial-explosion Artifacts and tried to kill him with a powerful hammer and nail. Xu Huo used the Ring of Time and the painted woman's attack to kill him, then asked Team Leader Wu whether the Special Defense Department was certain that only three Outer District Players had escaped.

• An Outer District Player arrived to avenge his companion and set off ten spatial-explosion Artifacts around the venue.
• Xu Huo contained the blast with Glass House and other defenses, but the attacker struck him with the hammer and nail Artifact, Seal the Coffin.
• Xu Huo pursued the attacker, whose long-distance teleportation failed, and the man turned toward the painted woman.
• Xu Huo used the Ring of Time to immobilize the attacker and the painted woman, but she pierced the attacker's eye as he grabbed her.
• Xu Huo stopped channeling Time Power and killed the attacker, while the painted woman complained and kicked his body.
• Team Leader Wu took the attacker's head from the painted woman, and Xu Huo asked whether the Special Defense Department had confirmed that only three Outer District Players escaped.

After the attack in Ting City, Xu Huo tested the Outer District Player’s spatial-destroying hammer and nails and warned the painted woman to protect the city. He then found evidence that the Players had come to District 014 to investigate six sites with unusually intense evolutionary activity.

• Team Leader Wu contacted the branch to arrange a rescue team, while Tan Yang and other Players joined the rescue effort.
• Xu Huo examined the hammer-and-nail set called “Seal Gate” and found that it could damage spatial portals but failed to break the water Rubik’s Cube’s barrier.
• The painted woman tested Seal Gate on Xu Huo, and he cautioned her to hide her paper-controlling abilities and avoid letting Ting City be destroyed.
• Xu Huo asked whether the painted woman could defeat him, then warned her that she had to protect Ting City from future attacks.
• Xu Huo searched the Outer District Player’s belongings and discovered a map marking six locations in District 014 with intense evolutionary activity.
• Xu Huo concluded that the marked sites might contain rare resources, and that the visiting Players were likely hoping to find valuable Origin Stones.

Xu Huo went to Cangxian Lake to investigate the enormous energy surges and the ancient Ruins beneath it, where folded space might be forming a Dungeon. Jiang Qiao urged him to help explore the site, but he remained wary of the risks and went to review the military’s findings.

• After hearing nothing from Nie Xuan, Xu Huo asked permission to visit Cangxian Lake and received approval to enter through a designated location.
• Xu Huo learned that energy vortices beneath the lake had killed or injured players, and that the Ruins’ interior had changed despite its exterior measurements remaining the same.
• Xu Huo arrived at the lake and Jiang Qiao told him Outer District Players had attacked the sealed perimeter three times.
• Jiang Qiao explained that Cangxian Lake had the country’s largest energy fluctuations and might develop into a high-level Dungeon with valuable items.
• Jiang Qiao asked Xu Huo to retrieve something valuable for District 014, while he warned that entering the sealed Ruins could be dangerous.
• Xu Huo and Jiang Qiao reached the command center, where he began reviewing the military’s detailed information.

Xu Huo studied the military’s records on the Ruins beneath Cangxian Lake and learned that its folded spaces had caused severe casualties and that a powerful unknown presence might be hiding in the cemetery. The chapter left him asking about dangerous evolved species after learning that snakes were the only group on land to have changed significantly.

• Shangguan Jing showed Xu Huo the military’s records and explained that evolved fish had taken over the cemetery, preventing the military from exploring it.
• Xu Huo learned that Players entering the folded spaces had disappeared or returned with limbs missing and petrified wounds, while the military had identified nineteen kinds of energy fluctuations.
• Jiang Qiao told Xu Huo that a powerful life force had been detected in the cemetery, where the mutated fish had begun behaving differently.
• Xu Huo asked which evolved species in the country were most dangerous, and Jiang Qiao said marine life and wild beasts had changed while snakes were the only group on land to evolve significantly.

Xu Huo studied reports on the folded space beneath Cangxian Lake and questioned injured military personnel about their experience inside it. He left after finding that the military and Special Defense Department had not reached a consensus, while remaining interested in whether the space could reveal anything about the water Rubik’s Cube.

• Jiang Qiao showed Xu Huo reports of mutated snakes across the country, including a horned black python that had briefly risen into the air.
• Xu Huo read that the folded space beneath Cangxian Lake was vast and interfered with instruments and light, making its nature difficult to determine.
• Jiang Qiao took Xu Huo and Shangguan Jing to meet injured personnel who had been cleared for Free Movement.
• Xu Huo examined the soldiers’ healed wounds and questioned them about what they had sensed when their limbs were lost inside the folded space.
• After a soldier answered sarcastically and Xu Huo noticed the departments had not reached a consensus, Xu Huo left the facility.

A disturbance in the lake suggested that a new folded space might be forming underwater, while Xu Huo asked Nie Xuan for help with the water Rubik’s Cube sealed inside him. Nie Xuan explained that Lawrence Li had sealed the Space Power spreading through his legs and warned that advanced Spatial Evolution could turn a person into a spatial tunnel.

• A surge of energy churned the lake into towering waves, and the army bombarded the water until the waves subsided and blood spread across its surface.
• Jiang Qiao reported that the monitoring devices had failed and suspected a new folded space had appeared underwater, while Xu Huo judged that a brief descent might be possible but a full investigation was too risky.
• Xu Huo lowered his robot and instruments into the lake, then went fishing as schools of fish returned to the shore.
• Nie Xuan joined Xu Huo and heard that part of the water Rubik’s Cube was inside him, sealing off his Space Power.
• Nie Xuan told Xu Huo that Lawrence Li had sealed the Space Power spreading through his crystallizing legs and had predicted that he could eventually become a human-shaped spatial tunnel.