Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo and the painted woman spent the day in District 001, where a theft and a body discovered in a park revealed the sub-district’s casual attitude toward danger. After they left the park before its Random Instance opened, a long-haired man criticized the locals, and Xu Huo warned the painted woman not to imitate him.

• A diner caught a boy trying to steal from the painted woman, made him apologize, and watched Enforcement Department officers take him away.
• The painted woman wondered why the boy stole when he was not hungry, then threatened to cut off the hand of anyone who tried to steal from her again.
• After lunch, Xu Huo and the painted woman went to a park, where she played with children while he watched old men repair a clock.
• The painted woman spotted a body hanging in nearby woods, and park visitors learned that the Z11 Hanging Suicide Random Instance was about to open.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman left with the crowd before the park was sealed, and a long-haired man criticized District 001’s disregard for life.
• The painted woman imitated the long-haired man, and Xu Huo told her she could get beaten up.

Xu Huo learned about counterfeit Dungeon Authorization Letters from an Artificer and bought one after hearing how it worked. He pressed the old craftsman for additional ways to conceal the fake, and the old man said that would cost more.

• Xu Huo visited shops in District 001 and found a shop displaying counterfeit Dungeon Authorization Letters.
• The old craftsman and a staff member explained that the fakes could imitate genuine letters but did not come with Dungeons.
• Xu Huo asked about letters that could be burned, and the old craftsman described unauthorized Dungeon Authorization Letters altered to evade the game's inspection.
• The old craftsman explained that his fake letter would register as an upgraded Dungeon Authorization Letter and be difficult to identify immediately.
• Xu Huo negotiated the price and bought a counterfeit letter, then asked for help hiding its false nature.
• The old craftsman told Xu Huo that further after-sales service would cost more.

Xu Huo visited an exhibition of the Clock Master's work in District 001 after meeting the You sisters and taking their aircraft to the venue. While studying a model of the Time Tower, he witnessed Old Mr. Xi being escorted from the restricted second floor for criticizing the new products.

• Xu Huo rejected the old Artificer's offer to investigate a forged Instance Authorization Letter, bought a Random Instance guide, and returned to the hotel.
• You Zhi and You Xin met Xu Huo for breakfast, shared local precautions, and brought him to the exhibition in their patched-up aircraft.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman toured the first-floor exhibits, including a model of the Time Tower that tracked the distinct times of 2,177 Sub-districts.
• Staff escorted Old Mr. Xi from the second floor after he criticized the clocks and disrupted the people gathered there.

Xu Huo intervened when Old Mr. Xi was being escorted away from the clock exhibition, then used a supposed theft to prompt a commotion and leave before the investigation could expose the painted woman. At Old Mr. Xi’s shop, he learned the old artificer’s feud with the clockmakers began with his late Teacher, whom he had sought justice for.

• Staff members tried to remove Old Mr. Xi from the exhibition, but Xu Huo challenged them and got them to let him go.
• Xu Huo claimed he had seen a staff member steal something, and a missing item on the second floor led the venue to seal off the exhibition and investigate its guests.
• Xu Huo left the venue with Old Mr. Xi and the painted woman, then met You Zhi and You Xin, who took them to Old Mr. Xi’s shop.
• Old Mr. Xi insisted on making Xu Huo a piece of equipment, while You Xin vouched for his craftsmanship.
• The shop’s employee told Xu Huo and the sisters that Old Mr. Xi’s conflict with the clockmakers stemmed from his efforts to seek justice for his late Teacher.

Xu Huo borrowed a terminal from the struggling Artificer Old Mr. Xi, then took You Xin, You Zhi, and the painted woman to enjoy the amusement park. The group followed a parade and learned about the bizarre fruits that had appeared after Evolution.

• Old Mr. Xi lent Xu Huo a terminal, but law enforcement Players sealed his shop, leaving him without work again.
• The staff member explained that Old Mr. Xi's bad temper and feud with other Artificers had hurt his business, while You Zhi guessed he ran the shop mainly to pass the time.
• Xu Huo paid for a day at the amusement park as the sisters and the painted woman enjoyed its attractions.
• Xu Huo sampled strange local snacks and traded a bean for a child's lollipop as the parade passed by.
• The group followed the parade, and Xu Huo described how Evolution had produced plants bearing bizarre fruits shaped like eyes, bugs, and other body parts.

Xu Huo explored District 001 with the You sisters, saw the Time Tower and encountered Old Mr. Xi, then visited a Mutant Beast arena. The chapter left the painted woman’s cat beast injured and fleeing from a tiger beast during their fight.

• You Xin showed Xu Huo recordings of bizarre Mutated Plants from Ten Thousand Plant Garden.
• Xu Huo saw Sister Zhong and the pregnant female Player at Time Square, then helped You Xin and You Zhi stop Old Mr. Xi’s quarrel with young people.
• Old Mr. Xi praised the Time Tower before leaving, and the You sisters took Xu Huo and the painted woman to a Mutant Beast arena.
• The painted woman bet on a huge Mutant Cat with a toxin against a tiger beast with metal-like claws and thick skin.
• The cat beast leapt onto the tiger’s back and bit its neck, but the tiger threw it off and broke one of its hind legs.

Xu Huo visited writer Jing Shi and discussed Time Power, then returned to find the painted woman and the You sisters preparing to scare thieves with horror costumes. Their plan began on Guangcheng’s Cultural Street, where they were greeted by a grotesque face announcing Happy Thriller Night.

• Xu Huo watched two Mutant Beasts attempt to break through the arena barriers before organizers shot them down, and You Xin warned him about mutated plants and animals.
• Xu Huo traveled with the others to Guangcheng, then visited Jing Shi and discussed Time Power and the clockmaker who had created a time-based item.
• Jing Shi introduced her grandson Xiao Chuan, who was learning clockmaking from a renowned Clock Master.
• Xu Huo returned to the hotel and found the painted woman and the You sisters preparing to frighten thieves with horror costumes.
• Xu Huo and the others entered Cultural Street, where a grotesque face welcomed them to Happy Thriller Night.

Xu Huo discovered that Culture Street’s Halloween parade concealed real corpses and dangerous performers, confirming that the festivities were part of an unsealed Dungeon. As Players became trapped in the parade, he destroyed a skeleton hidden inside a monster costume, while the painted woman began challenging performers herself.

• Xu Huo noticed oppressive presences among the performers, found a bag of real body parts in an alley, and left when Players approached.
• A performer tried to injure the painted woman, but she bent the performer’s fingers in return and began seeking out others to challenge.
• Players were drawn into the parade, and bodies used as props vanished while Xu Huo examined the bloody trash can.
• A skeleton concealed inside a monster costume attacked Xu Huo, but he trapped it in the alley and sliced it apart with his mental power’s Manifestation.

Xu Huo escaped a monster costume and discovered the parade’s monsters were dangerous, then survived a guillotine trap hidden in an alley. He found the painted woman impersonating a performer and took her back, while the You sisters had already left Cultural Street.

• Xu Huo saw tourists enjoy the monsters’ tricks even as a player was swallowed, and the painted woman was thrown beneath a monster’s robe.
• The You sisters tried to pull the painted woman free but were dragged inside with Xu Huo, where the performer operating the costume promised to let them out.
• The painted woman pulled the performer out, and You Zhi took over the controls while Xu Huo used the portal to leave the costume.
• Xu Huo halted and broke the guillotines that attacked him, then uncovered and collected the hidden alley mechanisms.
• Xu Huo saw that the You sisters had left Cultural Street, found the painted woman pretending to be a performer, and told her they were going back.

Xu Huo rescued the painted woman, Shi Potian, and a pregnant Player from the dangerous rear of the parade. After learning the Night Tour Dungeon might be newly formed, he decided to move hotels to avoid being drawn back into it.

• Xu Huo found the painted woman's backpack in a monster costume and threatened the parade's hidden performers until they released her and the two unconscious Players.
• The painted woman woke Shi Potian and the pregnant Player, and the group left Cultural Street together.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman used portals to leave Cultural Street, then parted ways with Shi Potian and the pregnant Player.
• The painted woman explained that a ghost had stolen her backpack while she chased a ghostly prop.
• You Xin said the Dungeon was absent from local and District Government records, and Xu Huo decided to move to a hotel across the city.

Xu Huo learned about Old Mr. Xi’s failed lawsuit against the Clock Association and arranged for an A-class item to be made. The old man agreed after Xu Huo offered Sub-class Stones as materials.

• Xu Huo warned the Yu sisters and the others to avoid Cultural Street while he went to visit writer Jing Shi.
• Jing Shi offered to introduce Xu Huo to a Clock Master so he could watch the master make clocks, and Xu Huo accepted.
• Xu Huo searched the Jixin Terminal and identified Number One Under Heaven as Old Mr. Xi, then learned that the old man had sued the Clock Association over his teacher’s work and later withdrawn from both associations.
• Old Mr. Xi called Xu Huo to ask what item he wanted made, and Xu Huo proposed providing materials for an A-class item.
• Old Mr. Xi agreed to make the item, and Xu Huo placed several Sub-class Stones on the table.

Xu Huo arranged for the painted woman and the You sisters to stay at Jing Shi’s home while he waited for news about a new Dungeon near Culture Street. A conversation about revenge killings revealed that Jing Shi’s daughter had been killed by her husband, leaving the sisters’ visit awkward.

• Xu Huo gave the Artificer his Sub-class Stones to make an Attack Artifact, then noticed people wearing monster masks around Culture Street.
• Xu Huo asked the painted woman to bring the You sisters to Jing Shi’s home, and Jing Shi welcomed them.
• Xu Huo warned Xiao Chuan about the possible Dungeon near Culture Street, and Xiao Chuan agreed to take two people with him when he went out.
• During tea, You Xin argued that killing a cheating spouse could prevent worse crimes, and Jing Shi quietly agreed before withdrawing to rest.
• You Zhi explained that Jing Shi’s daughter had been killed by her husband and that a Player later killed him; You Xin then asked Xu Huo why he had invited them to stay.

Xu Huo accompanied Jing Shi to the Enforcement Department after her grandson Xiao Chuan went missing inside Yangming Building, which had become a restricted zone in the Cultural Street Dungeon. The Dungeon had suddenly upgraded to A-level and spread across the city, and Xu Huo stayed to help as civilians fled.

• Jing Shi learned that Xiao Chuan had vanished and hurried to the Enforcement Department with Xu Huo and several players.
• You Zhi and You Xin explained that the Dungeon had spread across the city, where masked ordinary people were attacking others and restricted zones had appeared.
• The aircraft pilot confirmed that Yangming Building was a Dungeon restricted zone, and Jing Shi revealed that Xiao Chuan had gone there.
• The local government announced that the Night Tour Dungeon had upgraded from B-level to A-level and called for help clearing it.
• Jing Shi insisted on reaching the Enforcement Department to arrange a rescue, while You Xin and You Zhi returned Xu Huo's money and left for safety.
• Xu Huo refused to leave Jing Shi, saying he might help with the evacuation and rescue effort.

After Xiao Chuan vanished inside Yangming Building, Xu Huo and Jing Shi learned that the building had become a Restricted Zone linked to an A-class survival instance. The instance’s danger was spreading across multiple cities, and they were left uncertain whether players inside could contact the outside world.

• Jing Shi and Xu Huo reached the crowded Enforcement Department, where a squad leader said the department could not spare a team to search for Xiao Chuan alone.
• Two players who had guarded Xiao Chuan explained that he disappeared from a restroom at Yangming Building, followed by many other people, and that they had been unable to enter the instance.
• Xu Huo reviewed the instance’s rules: participants had to survive seven days, could be hooded and driven to kill, and could not safely kill hooded procession members because the hood would transfer to the killer.
• A-class players from other cities arrived to help, while reports of hooded monster killings and Restricted Zones spread to more cities.
• The bearded player worried that Restricted Zones might sever contact with the game, and Xu Huo said that restricting players’ Personal Panels would normally violate the rules.

Xu Huo watched the Night Tour Dungeon spread across eight cities and learned that evacuating residents into the wilderness was no safer than moving them elsewhere. A video showed the procession’s Masks attaching to Players and turning them into skeletons, leaving Xu Huo with evidence that the threat could not be escaped by ordinary means.

• The government halted evacuations to nearby cities and ordered residents to return home or shelter nearby as the Dungeon spread to eight cities.
• Xu Huo sensed the Restricted Zone expanding and learned that officials were moving residents into the wilderness because other cities had fallen.
• A video showed a Night Tour procession attacking evacuees in the forest, while Masks flew from defeated performers and attached themselves to their killers.
• The Masks rooted into two Enforcement Team Players, and attempts to remove them or pull the Players from the procession ended in death or transformation into skeletons.
• Xu Huo enlarged the video and saw that the Masks’ blood-vessel-like growths had bored deep holes into a dead Player’s skull.

As Night Tour groups threatened the city, Xu Huo judged that the Restricted Zones might be expanding and led Jing Shi and others toward a safer area. They regrouped at the Guanhū Villa complex, where an explosion and a masked figure suggested the danger had already reached them.

• Xu Huo learned that teleportation out of the city had been restricted and warned the bearded player to search the restroom on Yangming Building's Thirteenth Floor for a possible passage into the Restricted Zone.
• Xu Huo reasoned that the Restricted Zones might be expanding and chose the Guanhū Villa complex as a safer destination.
• A teleportation item failed midway, separating Xu Huo and the painted woman from Jing Shi, Xiao Wu, and Liu Jie; Xu Huo used his Spiritual World to bring the others together and reach the villa complex.
• Residents recognized Jing Shi and invited the group into a villa, where Mr. Wang explained that he had stayed behind to protect his assets and avoid spreading the Dungeon.
• An explosion and fire erupted at a nearby villa, and a figure wearing a monster mask rushed out of the flames.

Xu Huo and the others faced a Ghost Face Headset that could bypass spatial barriers and attack people, but they managed to drive it off temporarily. The group learned that the mask avoided the painted woman for an unknown reason and considered warning the enforcement team about its abilities.

• The group sheltered an old man and child at Mr. Wang's Villa while two Players took their masked companion to a patrol post.
• A Ghost Face Headset appeared inside the Villa and attacked Jing Shi, but Xu Huo blocked it with mental energy.
• The mask bypassed the Villa's spatial barriers and appeared inside the Space Orb's defense, but Xu Huo slammed it into the floor with gravity.
• The Players briefly trapped the mask in a glass-box Artifact, but it vanished from the box and did not attack again.
• The Players questioned why the mask had avoided the painted woman, and Xu Huo claimed she had an Artifact that let her avoid certain attacks.
• A Player asked whether the enforcement team should be told that the Ghost Face Headset could ignore spatial barriers.

Xu Huo and the others learned that Ghost Face Headsets could bypass lockdown barriers and discussed ways to defend against the growing Night Tour threat. After receiving a plea for help from Old Mr. Xi in Lan Shui Wu, Xu Huo used a holographic call to guide him away from the city’s dangerous Restricted Zones.

• Players reported that Ghost Face Headsets could ignore lockdown barriers, and Xu Huo suspected the Dungeon’s growing influence had created a new Ability.
• Xiao Wu suggested protecting heads with confined spaces, and a video showed a helmet surviving an attack before the headset flew away.
• Xu Huo reviewed reports of Night Tour masks and worried that the different processions might spread or emerge together.
• Old Mr. Xi contacted Xu Huo from Lan Shui Wu, and Xu Huo asked him to activate environment simulation.
• Xu Huo told Old Mr. Xi to head southeast, warning that the area between the three Restricted Zones might be unsafe because of sacrificial altars.

As the massacre and lockdown threw Lan Shui Wu into chaos, Xu Huo advised Old Mr. Xi to lead survivors to Xinxin Elderly Community while he considered where to shelter in Xia City. News confirmed that Dungeon Restricted Zones relentlessly hunted entrants and that the Night Tour procession was extremely deadly.

• Old Mr. Xi gathered more than twenty people and headed for Xinxin Elderly Community in a manually driven tourist vehicle.
• Xu Huo told Mr. Wang that the villa district might be safer if they spread out rather than crowding into Yangming Building.
• The short-haired woman and the others received a report confirming that people entering Dungeon Restricted Zones were relentlessly hunted.
• The report said the Night Tour procession appeared every two hours, and Players who encountered it had an extremely high death rate.

Xu Huo reasoned that the Night Tour might be gathering strength and learned that people in the Restricted Zones were vanishing rather than dying. After the old man was taken in Lan Shui Wu, Xu Huo set out to investigate Yangming Building and try to rescue Xiao Chuan.

• Xu Huo concluded that the Night Tour might be drawing people into itself and could expand as the Dungeon grew.
• Liu Jie reported that the Restricted Zone around Yangming Building had expanded only slightly, while the painted woman showed that Lan Shui Wu’s zones were growing much faster.
• A young driver told Xu Huo that the old man had been grabbed by a hood and vanished, and Xu Huo directed the driver to walk to Xinxin Elderly Community for safety.
• Xu Huo packed supplies and told Jing Shi he would check Yangming Building first, then go to Lan Shui Wu to rescue Xiao Chuan if necessary.
• Jing Shi gave Xu Huo Xiao Chuan’s location terminal, and Xu Huo used the Mental Portal to reach the sealed area around Yangming Building.
• Xu Huo told the guarding Players he intended to enter the Restricted Zone and asked for the rescue coordinator’s or Enforcement Department head’s contact information.