Chapter Summaries

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.

Xu Huo subdued Ni Tian as a strange presence roamed the art museum at night, knocking on rooms and taking Deng Yu. The survivors found a massive slash through Deng Yu and Big Bear’s room, and Big Bear revealed Deng Yu had damaged a painting before disappearing.

• Xu Huo fought Ni Tian, then shut himself in as a strange scraping sound approached through the corridor.
• The presence knocked once on Octopus Card Bear’s room and broke in, then knocked twice on another door and three times on the leather-clad woman’s door before returning to the exhibition hall.
• The players found Deng Yu missing and a deep, blade-like groove cut through his room, while Big Bear said he had passed out after the door was smashed.
• Xie Man described seeing a shadow as tall as the statue, and the players debated why the presence had targeted particular rooms.
• Big Bear said Deng Yu had taken down a painting the day before and accidentally damaged one of its corners.

Xu Huo investigated the paintings and the monster’s targets while the Players searched for a fake painting. He warned Ni Tian that Big Bear might be dangerous and revealed he knew she was a Cannibal Player, but she asked how he had discovered her identity.

• Pan Siming and the Players found a torn Portrait of an Old Woman, and Xu Huo suggested the monster might target people who had damaged or tried to damage paintings.
• Xu Huo questioned Big Bear about Deng Yu’s disappearance and suspected Deng Yu might have escaped outside the museum.
• Li Weiran asked Xu Huo to work with her to find the fake paintings, but he declined, and the Players began checking paintings one by one.
• Xu Huo sent Ni Tian to inspect the statue, then warned her that sharing a room with Big Bear could put her in danger because Deng Yu had disappeared after rooming with him.
• Xu Huo told Ni Tian that her tattoo had been cleaned off and threatened to expose her as a Cannibal Player; she asked how he had identified her.

Xu Huo reasoned that fake paintings might appear only at night and advised Fan Shiji to search the gallery if the monster came after him. When the monster changed its target, Pan Siming and Big Bear fled toward the gallery, with Big Bear left running alone.

• Xu Huo concluded that living paintings might become fake paintings at night and warned Ni Tian against testing them.
• Fan Shiji asked to stay in Xu Huo's room, but Xu Huo advised him to seek a fake painting in the gallery if the monster pursued him.
• Fan Shiji and several other players changed rooms, while Pan Siming chose the corridor's end room and Big Bear took the room beside him.
• At nine, Xu Huo sent the painted woman under the door as the monster's scraping sound moved through the gallery and down the corridor.
• The monster broke into Big Bear's room and pursued Pan Siming and Big Bear, who fled; Pan Siming reached a room and shut its door while Big Bear ran toward the gallery.

Xu Huo discovered that the museum’s counterfeit paintings were created when Players were absorbed into Living Paintings, and he found the Portrait of a Woman containing Big Bear’s face. He returned to his room with the painting but delayed submitting it, suspecting that completing the first task would trap the Players inside and impose restrictions on later tasks.

• Big Bear reached for a counterfeit painting, but the Monster drove him into the Portrait of a Woman, where he became trapped.
• Xu Huo observed the Monster, recognized that it was the museum’s statue, and searched the exhibition hall for the missing painting.
• Xu Huo found the torn Portrait of a Woman and received a prompt to submit it as a counterfeit painting.
• Xu Huo saw Big Bear’s face inside the painting and inferred that Players became Living Paintings when they tried to take them.
• Xu Huo returned to his room with the painting and chose not to submit it, wary of the consequences for the trapped Players and the next Dungeon task.

Xu Huo submitted a counterfeit painting, unlocking a task to restore another fake as genuine, while the players argued over the disappearance of Big Bear and Pan Siming. Suspecting that Pan Siming had either entered a painting or been killed, Xu Huo secretly sent Ni Tian to search a room for a body.

• Xu Huo submitted the first counterfeit painting and unlocked the task to restore another counterfeit as genuine.
• The players discovered that Big Bear and Pan Siming were missing, and they debated who had left their room and whether the pair had completed the dungeon.
• Lu Gang attacked Li Weiran and the gloomy man, but You Huanhuan calmed him before the standoff escalated.
• Xu Huo reasoned that Pan Siming might be inside a painting or dead, and privately told Ni Tian to look for a body in a room on the left.

Xu Huo investigated the missing paintings and suspected that Pan Siming’s body was hidden in the hall, while tensions among the Players escalated. The body fell from the chandelier, revealing that Pan Siming had been bitten to death and drained of blood.

• Xu Huo searched the exhibition hall for the painted woman and challenged Gao Jun’s accusation that he had left the hall.
• The painted woman pointed Xu Huo toward the chandelier after he asked whether she had seen a body.
• Lu Gang attacked Ni Tian after she entered his room, and Xu Huo intervened when she called for help.
• Xu Huo explained that Ni Tian had been looking for Pan Siming’s body, prompting You Huanhuan to deny killing anyone.
• Pan Siming’s corpse fell from the chandelier, and the gloomy man found bite marks and signs that the killer had drained his blood.

After Pan Siming was found dead, the players narrowed the Cannibal Player suspects to You Huanhuan, Lu Gang, and Fan Shiji. The group fought You Huanhuan and Lu Gang, and Lu Gang turned on You Huanhuan by stabbing her in the abdomen.

• The gloomy man deduced that the Cannibal Player had opened a door in the left-hand corridor and named You Huanhuan, Lu Gang, and Fan Shiji as suspects.
• The gloomy man checked the chandelier and showed the players a video proving no one was hiding there, while Fan Shiji accused You Huanhuan and urged the others to attack her.
• Lu Gang punched the gloomy man, and Xu Huo, Xie Man, and Ni Tian joined the fight against Lu Gang as Li Weiran, Fan Shiji, and the gloomy man confronted You Huanhuan.
• You Huanhuan revealed her strength and attacked Li Weiran, but Fan Shiji's bottle of corrosive liquid badly injured her hand, allowing Li Weiran to knock her back.
• You Huanhuan ordered Lu Gang to kill the others, but Lu Gang stabbed her in the abdomen with a knife.

The Players killed You Huanhuan, but Lu Gang revealed she had not killed Pan Siming and that the real killer was still among them. Their suspicions shifted to Fan Shiji, while Ni Tian warned that Player colors could not reliably identify cannibals.

• You Huanhuan attacked Lu Gang and Gao Jun, but Li Weiran, Fan Shiji, Xu Huo, and the others surrounded and defeated her.
• Lu Gang brutally killed You Huanhuan, then explained that she had cut out his tongue and forced him to pretend to be intellectually impaired.
• Lu Gang showed the Players a video proving You Huanhuan had stayed in her room when Pan Siming was killed, so someone else had been the killer.
• The Players questioned Lu Gang's claims, but his video convinced them that You Huanhuan was not Pan Siming's killer.
• Xie Man and the others turned their suspicion toward Fan Shiji, who claimed to be a White Player, while Ni Tian warned that Player colors did not determine whether someone was a cannibal.

The players argued over Pan Siming’s murder and who had cleared the game, while Gao Jun tried to shift suspicion onto Xu Huo. They agreed to search for the missing painting, and Xu Huo and Gao Jun both focused on the players who had damaged paintings, hoping to create a fake one.

• Li Weiran accused Gao Jun of leaving his room and suggested he was either Pan Siming’s killer or the Hidden One, while Gao Jun denied it and accused Xu Huo.
• The players argued over who might have killed Pan Siming or cleared the game, and the gloomy man proposed putting the murder aside to search for the painting.
• The group split up to look for the painting, with Xie Man joining Xu Huo and Ni Tian.
• Xie Man suggested that paintings damaged during the day might become fake paintings at night, and noted that Li Weiran and Fan Shiji had already damaged two paintings.
• Ni Tian warned Xu Huo that Gao Jun was watching him, and Xu Huo realized that both he and Gao Jun were targeting the players who had damaged paintings.

Xu Huo stole the Sketch and pulled Li Weiran out of it, triggering the dungeon’s second-task announcement and making the players suspect Fan Shiji was Passerby A. As they attacked Fan Shiji, he accused Li Weiran of being the real Passerby A and claimed he had identified the player clearing the dungeon.

• Xu Huo took the Sketch during the blackout, subdued the Hunched Monster inside it, and pulled Li Weiran out of the painting.
• The game announced that Player Passerby A had completed the dungeon’s second task, and Li Weiran attacked Fan Shiji, accusing him of killing Pan Siming.
• The gloomy man, Lu Gang, and Gao Jun joined Li Weiran in attacking Fan Shiji, who escaped their reach by suspending himself from the chandelier with a steel wire.
• Xu Huo illuminated Fan Shiji with his flashlight, and Fan Shiji declared that he knew who was really clearing the dungeon.

Xu Huo and the others fled the awakened Statue Monster after Fan Shiji damaged a painting, while Li Weiran used a sketch to expose Fan Shiji as a replica and complete the first task. The seven surviving players regrouped, but their suspicions and competing progress left the room on the verge of conflict.

• Fan Shiji accused Xu San of being a player who had cleared the dungeon and tried to prove that Silent Umbrella moved, but the gloomy man kicked him into the painting and awakened the Statue Monster.
• Xu Huo led Xie Man and Ni Tian away from the exhibition hall while the monster attacked the other players, and he sent the painted woman up the wall.
• Li Weiran chased Fan Shiji and pushed his leg into the sketch, triggering an announcement that Graveyard Disco had found a replica and completed the first task.
• The players escaped to the corridor, where Lu Gang returned with You Huanhuan's corpse and said a dead person did not count.
• The seven remaining players gathered in a room as Li Weiran warned that the Hidden One and Passerby A were still among them, and Xu Huo assessed their progress and suspicions.

Xu Huo fought the other players and the Statue Monster while trying to complete the Third Task. After capturing Xie Man and Lu Gang in a painting, he confronted Wei Da and asked to see his items.

• Xu Huo killed Li Weiran and put Ni Tian into a Living Painting, but the Picture Frame did not absorb either of them for the Third Task.
• Xie Man climbed a pillar to escape Lu Gang and the gloomy man, but the Statue Monster pulled her into a painting; Lu Gang was sucked in as well.
• The Statue Monster attacked the gloomy man, who escaped to a locked room and let Xu Huo inside when he came knocking.
• Xu Huo showed Wei Da the paintings containing Xie Man and Lu Gang and offered him one if it helped complete the Third Task.
• Wei Da gave Xu Huo all his items and Potions, including an Evolution Potion, and Xu Huo showed great interest in them.

Xu Huo investigated a strange Appraisal Fork result and learned more about the museum’s Living Paintings. He threatened to burn Still Time, forcing the Oil Painting Man to plead with him.

• Xu Huo tested the Appraisal Fork on Wei Da and himself, learning that both were harmless to eat but that he had a history of long-term medication.
• The painted woman told Xu Huo that Memory Thieves could steal memories, then tested the fork herself and bent it while stabbing someone outside.
• Xu Huo met Wei Da in the exhibition hall and explained that Living Paintings swallowed players who touched them at night.
• Xu Huo and Wei Da discussed how Deng Yu and Big Bear had encountered Living Paintings, and Xu Huo confirmed that he had taken Big Bear.
• Xu Huo threatened to burn Still Time with a Lighter, and the Oil Painting Man begged him and Wei Da to talk it out.

Xu Huo interrogated the Oil Painting Man about the third task and rejected his dangerous advice, then tested the idea that players had to paint a new picture. He left a drawing to see whether it would become a painting after nightfall.

• Xu Huo questioned the Oil Painting Man and used Silent Umbrella’s reactions to expose his lies about escaping paintings and completing the third task.
• The Oil Painting Man claimed the Curator had to provide a new painting, but Xu Huo let the painting burn, suspecting the suggestion would endanger whoever tried it.
• Xu Huo reasoned that the task might require players to paint, and Wei Da found pencils and colored pencils hidden in fake flowers.
• Wei Da drew a house, but nothing happened; Xu Huo hung the drawing up to wait until night and kept another blank sheet for himself.
• Xu Huo promised Wei Da two picture frames if he survived and told him that survival depended on his own choices and strength.

Xu Huo escaped the Hundred People Art Museum after his sketch pleased the Curator and transformed the instance. He earned an S Super Rating, advanced to D-class, and used his new bounty privilege to search for tickets to District 014.

• Xu Huo and Wei Da tried to distract the Curator with a drawing, but it smashed the painting; Xie Man then faced the Curator and was turned into a painting.
• Xu Huo sketched a portrait with glasses, hung it in the museum, and escaped with Wei Da and the painted woman; the Curator approved the sketch and transformed the museum.
• Xie Man and Lu Gang emerged from their paintings and left the instance as the museum changed.
• Xu Huo received an S Super Rating for completing three missions and upgrading the instance site to D-class, then advanced to D-class player and received extra privileges.
• Xu Huo submitted a cross-district bounty for tickets to District 014 and learned that seventy-two tickets to D-class instances there were available for trade.