Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo escaped a strange spatial state in the Restricted Zone and questioned whether it revealed a form of Space Power beyond human control. He discovered a faint thread of Space Power inside his body, and the chapter ended as the water Rubik’s Cube violently emerged through him.

• Xu Huo wondered whether Dimension Rift or the game could control the strange spatial state, and considered what the painted woman’s creation suggested about powerful beings beyond humanity.
• Bai Kou explained that the state was a dangerous form of space humans could not survive without instruments, and warned Xu Huo not to risk his life there again.
• The painted woman noticed a glowing thread on Xu Huo’s back, and Xu Huo saw that it extended from inside his body and contained Space Power.
• The Childhood Personality pulled at the water Rubik’s Cube, which emerged partly from Xu Huo and then swung through his chest as he fell to the ground.

Xu Huo survived the spatial clash, but the water Rubik's Cube and a wisp of spatial power lodged against his heart in a precarious balance. After he explained his escape from the Night Tour Dungeon to District 001 officials, he accepted their offer of a temporary safe house.

• Xu Huo lost consciousness as the water Rubik's Cube and spatial power battered him, and the painted woman failed to pull the Cube free without worsening his injuries.
• The childhood personality discovered that the Cube and spatial power had settled against Xu Huo's heart, while the painted woman guarded him as District 001 players gathered nearby.
• When a player approached, the childhood personality restrained him, and the white-haired elder asked whether Xu Huo had escaped the restricted-zone space.
• Xu Huo woke and explained that a life-saving item and luck had enabled his escape, warning that the Night Tour procession could pass through anywhere but that its route was dangerous.
• Xu Huo advised District 001 to consider waiting out the seven-day Dungeon, then accepted the white-haired elder's offer of a temporary safe house.

Xu Huo recovered at a temporary safe house after escaping the Night Tour group’s spatial passage, while he and District 001 tried to understand the passage’s effects. The elder reported that all three Players sent through with Super defense instruments had died, leaving the Night Tour group’s escape route an apparent death trap.

• Xu Huo reached the safe house with the painted woman and learned that District 001’s open-sided tents were meant to reduce the danger of the Night Tour group’s attacks.
• Xu Huo asked Bai Kou what Space Power could do to someone it pierced or made a host, and she warned that it usually caused quick death, with only a small chance of Super Evolution and an unknown Aftereffect.
• The painted woman offered Xu Huo snacks and suggested he ask the author questions, then Old Mr. Xi called to complain that he had lost years in the Dungeon before asking whether Xu Huo was in a normal state of mind.
• Xu Huo heard that eight cities were suffering as the A-class instance spread, while District 001’s Players repeatedly asked him for Dungeon information and returned to rescue work.
• The white-haired elder told Xu Huo that all three Players sent through the spatial passage with Super defense instruments had died, either fused with Night Tour outfits or reduced to skeletons.

After District 001 slowed the Dungeon’s spread, Xu Huo stayed with Jing Shi to learn about time and space and met Master Cong, a renowned clockmaker. The painted woman became fascinated by a female Player’s Origin Stone, and Xu Huo stopped her from stealing it, though she later asked if they could steal it and run.

• District 001’s A-class players destroyed three forming Night Tour processions, slowing the Restricted Zone’s expansion and reducing casualties.
• Old Mr. Xi joined Xu Huo at Jing Shi’s estate and began working on an item for him.
• Xu Huo met Master Cong, a master clockmaker whose craft had once produced a time-related item.
• The painted woman asked the female Player about her Origin Stone S-112 and tried to hide the jade pendant as if stealing it.
• Xu Huo stopped the painted woman and apologized to the female Player, who scrutinized him before Jing Shi arrived with tea.
• After leaving the garden, the painted woman secretly messaged Xu Huo to ask if they could steal the Origin Stone and run.

Xu Huo discussed the relationship between time and space power with Jing Shi, then watched Master Cong polish an hour hand and discovered that his focused craftsmanship made time power resonate. The resonance spread through the room as Xu Huo began sinking into a strange expanse of time.

• Xu Huo and Jing Shi discussed how time and space power might interfere with each other and concluded that a balanced intersection would be tranquil.
• Xu Huo reflected that he had misjudged time power before and admitted that luck had kept his mistake from having worse consequences.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman watched Master Cong polish an hour hand while the apprentices observed.
• Xu Huo sensed time power tremble as Master Cong worked and realized that the polishing seemed to resonate with it.
• As Master Cong became more absorbed, the time rays resonated more frequently and spread throughout the room, drawing Xu Huo into a strange expanse of time.

Xu Huo examined Master Cong’s newly made hour hand and discussed how clocks could resonate with spacetime, then asked Master Cong to help polish an offensive item Old Mr. Xi was making for him. The two craftsmen immediately resumed bickering, leaving Xu Huo to see how equally infuriating they both were.

• Master Cong finished the hour hand, refused the female Player’s suggestion to make a new dial, and dismissed his apprentices.
• Xu Huo tested the hour hand and found that it could already serve as a medium for manipulating Time Power.
• Master Cong said objects could sense other things and rejected the idea that he had personally given his clocks special properties.
• Xu Huo told Master Cong he had given Old Mr. Xi a Sub-class Stone to make him a fine A-class offensive item, and Master Cong offered to help polish it.
• Old Mr. Xi arrived and confronted Master Cong for criticizing his craftsmanship, and the two traded insults.

As a Mutated Plant disaster spread from Ten Thousand Plant Garden into Xia City, the manor’s residents were confined indoors and tensions grew among Master Cong’s apprentices. Xu Huo stopped two young people from damaging Jing Shi’s manuscript and sent the restless group to help clear the garden.

• A B-class instance broke out at Ten Thousand Plant Garden, and green bubbles carried poisonous spores and fast-growing Mutated Plants into Xia City.
• The District Government sprayed chemicals to kill the spreading plants and sealed the city while residents received supplies and safety updates.
• Master Cong’s apprentices grew restless in the manor, damaged a food robot, demanded entertainment, and played pranks on the other robots.
• Two young people sneaked into the Study Room, scattered Jing Shi’s manuscript, and accused Xu Huo of trying to steal something when he confronted them.
• Xu Huo made them restore the manuscript and told them to help clear the Mutated Plants in the garden, and a group arrived with tools ten minutes later.

Xu Huo discussed an adjustable spatial attack item with Old Mr. Xi, then learned that the painted woman was drawn to the female Player’s Heart of Jinyu Medals. The female Player explained that the Medals contained Mother Stone, a rare Origin Stone, leaving Xu Huo wondering whether it was connected to the painted woman’s ability to think.

• Jing Shi thanked Xu Huo and gave him a special ore, which he brought to Old Mr. Xi.
• Old Mr. Xi described plans for an area-wide spatial attack item, and Xu Huo requested adjustable coverage, flexible targeting, and easy portability.
• The painted woman told Xu Huo that the female Player owned two Heart of Jinyu Medals and explained her interest in them.
• The female Player said the Medals used Mother Stone, an extinct Origin Stone that could help Players evolve and was now controlled by the Game Government.
• Xu Huo considered whether Mother Stone might be related to the painted woman’s ability to think, then left with her.

Xu Huo researched medals and discussed their origins and the difficulty of making Super Artifacts with Old Mr. Xi and Master Cong. He accepted nine medals from the District 001 Sub-district Government in exchange for teaching five players Mental Evolution, but warned he would leave within a week.

• Xu Huo learned that District 001 players collected many medals, and that some could be exchanged with the Game Government for Gray Player status.
• Master Cong suggested medals had passed through an Artificer's hands, while Old Mr. Xi proposed examining them and discussed the challenges of making Super Artifacts.
• Xu Huo declined Old Mr. Xi's attempt to sell him a newer Artificer's instrument and realized he was short on money.
• The white-haired elder brought Xu Huo nine medals, including two "Gentleman of Light" medals, two "Heart of Jinyu" medals, and "Nemesis of Sin," and asked him to teach five players Mental Evolution.
• Xu Huo agreed to teach them but warned that his Evolution path differed from ordinary Mental Evolvers and that he would leave District 001 within a week.

Xu Huo examined five District 001 players’ Spiritual Worlds and then let them explore his Book Tower and Mirror Space. When the experienced players opened their own Spiritual Worlds, he withdrew and sent his childhood self into the primeval forest.

• Xu Huo met five District 001 players who had traded Medals for a chance to learn about autonomous Manifestations.
• The players demonstrated Spiritual Worlds built around a primeval forest, suffocation, an inescapable path, physical and mental regression, and psychological probing.
• Xu Huo showed the players his Book Tower, whose rooms could be exchanged between floors, and sent them inside through his Mental Portal.
• After the players emerged, Xu Huo placed all five in Mirror Space, where his transparency startled them.
• The players opened their Spiritual Worlds to escape, so Xu Huo retreated and sent his childhood self into the primeval forest.

Xu Huo demonstrated his unusual mental abilities while training with Players from District 001, then learned that the female Player from the A-class wormhole point wanted to hire him. She offered two Sub-class Stones and a depleted Origin Stone as payment, leaving Xu Huo to consider her proposed deal.

• Xu Huo used his child personality and scattered points of mental power to evade attacks and surprise a District 001 Player during their contest.
• Xu Huo explained that the child personality had stronger mental power than the Player, but kept the truth about his four personalities to himself.
• Xu Huo arranged more training sessions with the District 001 Players, who left after the day's contest.
• On the sixth day, the female Player approached Xu Huo after he announced he would leave for his next Dungeon following one night's rest.
• The female Player offered Xu Huo two Sub-class Stones and a depleted Origin Stone in exchange for a job.

Xu Huo rejected a female Player’s offer to search a mental-type Dungeon for her missing aunt, despite the payment of Origin Stones. Their meeting led him to reconsider how much A-class wormhole points depended on powerful items, and two days later he encountered her again on a train.

• The female Player explained that she wanted Xu Huo to find her grandfather’s missing daughter and offered him an Origin Stone as a down payment and another as payment.
• Xu Huo questioned her story and judged that the reward did not justify the risk, then said he might accept parts from the Field Battle Angel instead.
• The female Player refused to offer a Super Artifact and left, after which Xu Huo considered what her attitude toward the Field Battle Angel revealed about A-class wormhole points.
• Xu Huo reasoned that A-class wormhole points might have mature ways to sever Players’ connection to the game and rely less on items than he had assumed.
• Two days later, Xu Huo encountered the female Player again on a train.

Xu Huo arrived in District 039 and was caught between Players fighting a war at the Station. After he disrupted the battle with his Artifact, the fight resumed, and he returned as the Execution Squad prepared to attack again.

• Xu Huo arrived in District 039 and found the Station under attack by Players inside and outside.
• A female Player attacked Xu Huo, so he escaped through his Mental Portal, only to be ambushed beyond a Space barrier.
• Xu Huo pinned attackers with gravity and used Rain in the Sky to unleash a Space-Power downpour that halted the fighting.
• Xu Huo walked away, leaving the injured defenders and surrounding Execution Squad to resume their confrontation.
• A messenger reported that senior officials had been kidnapped in an attack on the Political and Legal Affairs Conference, but the Execution Squad captain refused to abandon its mission.
• As the Execution Squad prepared to attack, Xu Huo returned to the Station entrance with his umbrella.

Xu Huo entered Yun Guan City to investigate after learning Apricot Flower City had been destroyed, and discovered a prosperous metropolis ruled by strict resident tiers and heavy information control. As he headed toward the city center, a stone flew at a young woman passing him.

• Xu Huo learned Apricot Flower City had been destroyed and teleported to Yun Guan City.
• Xu Huo saw displaced residents from Apricot Flower City struggle to enter Yun Guan City, where their lodging fees could force them into the lowest resident tier.
• Xu Huo entered the city, received a Jixin Terminal, and found no reliable information about Apricot Flower City's destruction.
• Xu Huo learned that third-tier residents were restricted to underground work and could be used as cannon fodder in the war zone.
• Xu Huo headed toward the city center as a stone flew toward a young woman passing him.

Xu Huo learned that Yongta’s streets were being used for a deadly shooting game and chose to investigate Expedition Canyon before traveling to the neighboring Moon Horn Principality. In Yun Guan City, the Execution Squad paraded the bodies of alleged anti-government alliance members, and its leader confronted a woman mourning one of the dead.

• Xu Huo saw airships shoot people who tried to cross the streets, then bought maps and chose to head for Expedition Canyon.
• Xu Huo bought supplies for the painted woman and watched as Yun Guan City residents gathered to welcome the Execution Squad.
• The Execution Squad paraded naked bodies through the city while residents cheered, and a Player said the dead were members of the anti-government alliance who had attacked a political and legal conference.
• A short woman emerged from a sewer and cried out at the bodies, so the dark-skinned big man grabbed her by the hair and asked her to identify one of the dead.

Xu Huo witnessed the Execution Squad massacre people connected to a condemned woman and secretly rescued a Player fleeing with two children. He then joined the line to leave the city as the authorities declared the escapees wanted and residents discussed the country’s oppression.

• The Execution Squad killed a condemned woman and ordered the slaughter of everyone connected to her in the Third-Class District.
• A Player fled through the sewers with two children, but Xu Huo rescued them through a Mental Portal and transported them to safety.
• Xu Huo left the fugitives with two Players who came to meet them, caused a distraction for the Execution Squad, and went to the city exit checkpoint.
• Xu Huo paid a local man to hold his place in line and learned from a boy that the checkpoint was strict because authorities feared an anti-government alliance member would escape.
• The city displayed wanted notices for the fleeing Player and two children, prompting Outer District Players to discuss the country’s violence and the conflicts in the Moon Horn Principality.

Xu Huo left Yun Guan City and traveled toward Expedition Canyon, where he encountered a helpful herb gatherer in a forest filled with Space Power. He accepted the man’s offer to stay overnight and be guided to the canyon the next day.

• An A-class woman’s gaze stopped the Outer District Players from provoking a fight at the Yun Guan City checkpoint, and Xu Huo later left the city using a Space Teleport Artifact.
• Xu Huo landed in a remote forest near Expedition Canyon, and the painted woman emerged from his clothes to follow him.
• Xu Huo sent a robot to scout the dense Space Power in the woods, and it detected a D-level energy field without hazards to machines.
• A herb gatherer emerged from the woods and told Xu Huo he was headed the wrong way, warning him about the contaminants and space isolation zone near Expedition Canyon.
• The herb gatherer offered Xu Huo a night at his place and a guide to the canyon the next day, and Xu Huo agreed to follow him.

Xu Huo met Gao Ming, a former surgeon who cared for a struggling village of ordinary people in District 039. The chapter ended with Gao Ming beginning surgery on a child whose wound had worsened after a Self-Healing Agent.

• Xu Huo learned that Gao Ming had once been a surgeon and had led displaced townspeople to settle near the polluted canyon.
• Gao Ming welcomed Xu Huo and the painted woman to the village, where residents shared food and he invited children to dinner.
• Gao Ming taught Xiao Hao how to process poisonous plants into medicine and showed Xu Huo his medical books and supplies.
• Three Players brought Gao Ming an unconscious child with a blade trapped in his chest, and Gao Ming diagnosed the injury as requiring immediate surgery.
• Gao Ming used Space Power to cut open the child's chest and began the operation.

Gao Ming used spatial forces to operate on a child injured by an explosive, while Xu Huo learned that the Execution Squad had targeted the Anti-Government Alliance. After the squad attacked the village, Gao Ming invoked his old agreement with the Yongta Kingdom and ordered them to leave.

• Xu Huo recognized the young Player among Gao Ming's visitors and learned that an explosive planted in a child had left the child critically injured.
• Gao Ming spent two hours using spatial forces to repair the child's heart, then warned the tall Player to be cautious about newcomers and the Yongta Kingdom government.
• The Execution Squad captain arrived with a dozen Players, destroyed part of the Wooden Cabin, and ordered his squad to kill the villagers.
• The tall Player's barrier shattered, and Gao Ming stopped the Execution Squad from attacking by reminding them of his agreement with the Yongta Kingdom and threatening to speak to Zhu Bu.

Xu Huo intervened when the Execution Squad tried to kill a young Player, forcing them to withdraw from Gao Ming's village. Afterward, the young Player asked to stay with Gao Ming, but Gao Ming refused, and Xu Huo challenged the young man's ideas about justice.

• The Execution Squad dragged the tall man and the bearded man toward them, and the young Player tried to rescue them.
• Xu Huo protected the young Player from the dark-skinned big man, and the painted woman pulled him out of danger.
• Xu Huo confronted the Execution Squad until Gao Ming urged them to leave, and they withdrew with the two rebel alliance members.
• Gao Ming thanked Xu Huo and explained that he stayed neutral because neither Yongta Kingdom nor the rebel alliance offered a better place to live.
• The young Player asked to stay with Gao Ming, but Gao Ming refused and told him to leave the next day.
• Xu Huo asked the young Player whether he would kill someone he believed innocent as repayment, then went to bed with the painted woman.