Chapter Summaries

Gao Ming explained how he had gained the ability to use Space Power for surgery, while Xu Huo questioned him about the unusual Space Power inside human bodies and considered whether Gao Ming could help with his heart. Their conversation was interrupted by a distant explosion.

• Gao Ming left the village with Xu Huo and the painted woman to return to the canyon.
• Gao Ming told Xu Huo that he had first used Space Power to save his injured wife after fleeing war, but she later died of illness.
• Gao Ming described Sub-districts’ ability to regenerate and how the game’s arrival could destroy that cycle.
• Gao Ming explained that he could use Space Power only to operate on people and carefully adjust the Space Power inside their bodies.
• Xu Huo considered the danger of asking Gao Ming to separate the water Rubik’s Cube and strange wisp of Space Power from his heart.
• A loud explosion sounded in the distance as Xu Huo hesitated about trusting Gao Ming.

Xu Huo activated a defending-side instance near Expedition Canyon and was caught in a battle involving a masked combat dummy. He disabled the dummy with Metal Putty, but the pursuing Players claimed it as their spoils.

• Gao Ming, Xu Huo, and the painted woman headed toward Expedition Canyon in Protective Suits after hearing an explosion.
• Xu Huo activated the B-class instance "Illusory Tinder," chose the defending side, and received a mission to find Yu Kingdom's missing national treasure.
• A masked figure emerged from a rolling sphere and attacked Xu Huo, resisting his mental control and breaking through his defenses.
• Xu Huo stuck Metal Putty onto the attacker and retreated, causing the figure's metal body to warp.
• The pursuing Players burned away the figure's human-skin disguise, revealing a metal combat dummy, then stopped Xu Huo from taking it.

Xu Huo investigated a poisoned combat puppet in Yongta Kingdom, then asked Gao Ming about Yu Kingdom as they traveled to gather Mutated Plants. Gao Ming recounted the conflicts that drove him and his wife to leave, ending with him captured during a war between Yu Kingdom and the Moon Horn Principality.

• Xu Huo watched two players die when the combat puppet's heart device exploded and poisoned them with Black Liquid.
• Xu Huo and Gao Ming burned the puppet, the contaminated ground, and the two corpses inside a Space Defense Barrier.
• Players from the sub-district took the burned skeleton and warned Xu Huo that the puppets sometimes relentlessly pursued specific players.
• Xu Huo asked Doctor Gao about Yu Kingdom and offered to help him gather Mutated Plants.
• Gao Ming described Yu Kingdom's power struggles and the deaths of most of his traveling companions, after which he was taken hostage at the front lines.

Gao Ming told Xu Huo about Yu Kingdom’s missing Imperial Treasure and gave him a lead on a former government Player called “God of Night.” Xu Huo and the painted woman teleported to Yu Kingdom’s capital, where they arrived in the middle of a clash between opposing factions.

• Gao Ming explained that Yu Kingdom remained unstable and that its Imperial Treasure and former Chief Executive were still missing.
• Xu Huo considered how to find reliable information about the Dungeon and learned from Gao Ming that the former government Player might be called “God of Night.”
• Gao Ming gave Xu Huo a cloth bearing the nickname “Gao Ming Not So Bright” and asked him to help the man if he could.
• Xu Huo gave Gao Ming two unbound devices, then changed his appearance and prepared to leave with the painted woman.
• The painted woman said the puppet resembled puppets from the Castle, and Xu Huo wondered whether the Suitcase Man had left traces in District 039.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman teleported to Yu Kingdom’s capital and were caught in the air blasts from a fight watched by Players from two opposing factions.

Xu Huo and the painted woman watched a territory war between the Storm Guild and the Invincible Player Organization, while the painted woman collected items from the battlefield. The Storm Guild won and gained the right to move to the Platinum Zone, and Xu Huo and the painted woman entered the capital city.

• Xu Huo and the painted woman waited in a nearby building as a territory war began between a woman in red from the Storm Guild and a baby-faced man from the Invincible Player Organization.
• The woman in red and the baby-faced man fought with their Abilities and items, while the painted woman picked up items that fell from the battle.
• The woman in red used a sonic attack and bound the baby-faced man to the ground, ending the fight.
• An A-class player declared the Storm Guild the winner and gave the woman in red a badge allowing her Guild to move to the Platinum Zone in three days.
• The Invincible Player Organization left without reclaiming its items, and Xu Huo and the painted woman entered the capital city.

Xu Huo learned about Yu Kingdom’s divided capital, its history of factional warfare, and its unusual belief that people supplied power to the Supreme God. He investigated the Imperial Treasure and the Supreme God Tribunal, but the treasure’s nature and its connection to the country’s leadership remained unclear.

• Xu Huo surveyed Yu Kingdom’s capital and learned how the government separated ordinary residents from Players and regulated factional disputes.
• Xu Huo heard about Yu Kingdom’s frequent wars and the many conflicting rumors surrounding the Imperial Treasure.
• Xu Huo learned that Yu Kingdom’s people believed the night drew power from them and that their faith helped sustain the Supreme God.
• Xu Huo researched the origins of the religion and found that a ruler had once weakened religious authority by declaring the people the Supreme God’s source of power.
• Xu Huo looked into the former Supreme God Tribunal and the current and previous Chief Executives, but found no clear explanation for the Imperial Treasure.

Xu Huo researched the Imperial Treasure and concluded it was unlikely to be a person, then went with the painted woman to visit historian Shi Qing. He arrived at Shi Qing’s rundown apartment building and was asked by an old woman whether he was looking for someone.

• Xu Huo read theories that the Imperial Treasure was wealth, a token of authority, or a Player from a historic supervisor family.
• Xu Huo learned that the previous Chief Executive had escaped Yu Kingdom hidden inside an item and had later disappeared.
• Xu Huo reviewed reports of factions claiming to find the Imperial Treasure, all of which ended in defeat by the current Chief Executive.
• Xu Huo took the painted woman to meet historian Shi Qing at his apartment building in the capital.
• An old woman spoke to Xu Huo through her window bars and asked whether he had family in the building.

Xu Huo visited Professor Shi to learn about the Assassin Family and its supposed connection to the Imperial Treasure. Professor Shi argued that the family’s descendants still operated in the capital, and Xu Huo found a report about an A-class Player killed there six months earlier.

• An old woman led Xu Huo and the painted woman to Professor Shi’s apartment.
• Professor Shi told Xu Huo that he had already documented the Assassin Family and the Imperial Treasure theory on the Jixin Terminal.
• Professor Shi recounted how Official Peng served the ruler, returned after a secret mission, and vanished with his family after the ruler died.
• Professor Shi said the Assassin Family likely still had descendants in the capital and may have helped drive out the former Chief Executive.
• Professor Shi showed Xu Huo newspaper reports about powerful Players who disappeared or died, and Xu Huo selected an article about an A-class Player found headless in public.

Xu Huo learned more about Yu Kingdom’s lost history and the unresolved assassinations of powerful Players, then left Professor Shi a housekeeping robot to repair the building. After investigating the newspaper footage, he was followed by two Outer District Players and dealt with them, finding that they had been investigating the Chief Executive’s long absence and medical records.

• Xu Huo discussed the possible descendants of Official Peng and Yu Kingdom’s history with Professor Shi, who explained that historical records had been lost and the country remained divided.
• Xu Huo gave Professor Shi a housekeeping robot to inspect the building’s utilities and dig an underground passage.
• Xu Huo watched footage of the assassinations and learned that investigators had never established whether the culprit was a Player working for the government.
• Xu Huo asked a reporter whether a government official called God of Night existed, but the reporter had never heard of the name.
• Two Outer District Players followed Xu Huo, and he dealt with them in a secluded corner.
• Xu Huo found that the two Players had collected information about the Chief Executive’s absence, medical visits, and pharmaceutical purchases.

Xu Huo and the painted woman stopped at a roadside snack shop, where she offered throat lozenges to a sick boy. As they continued on, Xu Huo teased her with a lesson in deception, ending with her discovering that he had eaten a sour fruit just to fool her.

• Xu Huo and the painted woman ate at a roadside snack shop, where the owner explained that his coughing son was naturally frail.
• The painted woman gave the boy throat lozenges, and Xu Huo pretended not to notice her taking two fruits when they paid.
• Xu Huo advised the painted woman to let others fall for a tempting bait rather than openly trying to trick them.
• Xu Huo repeatedly kept the fruit core from the painted woman while making her guess whether the fruit was sweet or sour.
• The painted woman eventually got the core, tasted it, and threw it down after realizing the fruit was sour.
• Xu Huo bought her ice cream and explained that the pleasure of tricking her outweighed the unpleasant taste of the fruit.

Xu Huo investigated leads on the Imperial Treasure and joined a gathering of players from the defending faction to exchange information about the Dungeon. The group began sharing their findings, including Wu Zishuang’s unusual insider information.

• Xu Huo paid several amateur codebreakers to record their materials about the Imperial Treasure.
• A masked man watched Xu Huo and the painted woman in the park, then openly followed them as they left.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman met players at a restaurant and verified their identities by writing out parts of the Dungeon’s background.
• Xu Huo introduced himself as Xu Zhi and the painted woman as Xiao Chun, while the other players gave their names.
• Xiao Mei proposed trading information, and Wu Zishuang revealed that he had an unusual piece of insider information.

Xu Huo and the others exchanged clues about the Imperial Treasure, the previous Chief Executive, and the assassination of a Player believed to have found it. Their leads pointed to a mysterious figure and a Tribunal believer, but the group had not yet identified the treasure or its whereabouts when He Liang brought out a metal case.

• Fei Jingyi said the previous Chief Executive might have been a Player, while Wu Zishuang described evidence that an unidentified person had fled the scene after a Player suspected of finding the Imperial Treasure was killed.
• Fei Jingyi said government employees had resisted revealing information about Lian Qingkong, and she concluded that the government was probably not behind the assassination.
• Wu Zishuang said he had found a witness who had seen the suspected assassin near his home before the person disappeared after the killing.
• Xiao Mei revealed that the previous Chief Executive had visited a Tribunal believer shortly before the Tribunal was bombed, and that the believer had preserved a cleaner’s severed arm to make her seem dead.
• Fu Kuai asked how long before the bombing the visit had occurred, and Xiao Mei said it had been three days; she added that the surviving cleaner was too mentally impaired to question.
• He Liang announced it was his turn and placed a grimy metal case on the table.

He Liang revealed that a stolen box might contain a clue to the Imperial Treasure, but the group could not open it without risking its destruction. They weighed three ways forward: continue tracking the treasure, investigate a plaque at the Supreme God Tribunal, or ask Lian Qingkong's government for help.

• He Liang showed the group an encrypted box that required the dead player's biometric authentication, and they set it aside rather than risk destroying its contents.
• Xu Huo described a masked faction with matching badges that had killed someone he was investigating, while Fu Kuai reported that Players were being kidnapped across District 039.
• The painted woman sketched the masked figures and wrote down details about their clothes, masks, shoes, and silence.
• Fu Kuai suggested asking Lian Qingkong to help clear the Dungeon, and the group discussed the risks of approaching the Yu Kingdom government.
• The group identified three possible leads: follow Wu Zishuang's investigation, look into the plaque at the Supreme God Tribunal, or seek help from the Yu Kingdom government.
• He Liang urged everyone to open his box first.

Xu Huo and the others sought answers from the Yu Kingdom government about the Imperial Treasure and learned that its historical claims were largely false. They left uncertain how the Yu Kingdom had stabilized so quickly, with the government’s account pointing them toward Lian Qingkong for further answers.

• Fei Jingyi argued that the box was probably bait, while Xu Huo suggested asking the Yu Kingdom government for help.
• Wu Zishuang, Xiao Mei, and the painted woman stayed outside as Xu Huo, Fei Jingyi, He Liang, and Fu Kuai entered the government Office Building.
• The group discovered that the building’s simulation device disabled their game panels and items, then received a prerecorded government statement from a table-mounted device.
• The recording said the Imperial Treasure began as a jest, the Supreme God Cult had been wiped out, Gao Hui was unrelated to the ancient Gao rulers and had died, and no legitimate national token existed.
• He Liang and Fei Jingyi questioned how the Yu Kingdom had stabilized without a treasure, and the group considered Lian Qingkong their remaining source of answers.

Xu Huo and the others learned that Yu Kingdom’s government concealed information about the Imperial Treasure, but they found no safe way to pursue it. As the group debated their next move, Xiao Mei spotted the masked man watching them.

• Xu Huo questioned whether Lian Qingkong had personally recorded the government’s account of the Imperial Treasure, then concluded that Lian Qingkong knew more than he had revealed.
• Fei Jingyi told Wu Zishuang and Xiao Mei what the recording said, and Xiao Mei argued that they should take politicians’ statements backward.
• Wu Zishuang and the others speculated that the Imperial Treasure’s secrets had been hidden among Yu Kingdom’s ruling elites, but they could not find a safe way to approach Lian Qingkong.
• The group debated whether Lian Qingkong possessed the Imperial Treasure and whether their real goal involved stopping other Player organizations, but they reached no conclusion.
• Xiao Mei spotted the masked man watching from a nearby rooftop, and Xu Huo immediately got up to leave.

Xu Huo investigated Gao Hui’s past by traveling to his hometown, Miecheng, now reduced to a garbage dump. A former resident revealed that Gao Hui had been born Dou Hui and that his family had fabricated a connection to the Gao clan.

• He Liang refused to hand over his box, and Wu Zishuang left after his contact said special equipment would be needed to open it safely.
• Xiao Mei disappeared, while Xu Huo told the painted woman to follow her, protect her, and distrust Fei Jingyi and Wu Zishuang.
• Xu Huo traveled to Miecheng and found Gao Hui’s former home buried beneath garbage.
• In Lingshui Town, an old man said Gao Hui’s birth name was Dou Hui and described his family’s influence, political rise, and suspicious adopted children.
• The old man said Gao Hui’s family had invented a Gao ancestry, built an ancestral hall, and fabricated a family tree.

Xu Huo followed a lead about Dou Hui’s genealogy and reasoned that a surviving Assassin Family organization might be connected to the Imperial Treasure. When a masked puppet ambushed him on the road, he destroyed it with the newly upgraded Life Origin.

• An old man told Xu Huo that Dou Hui’s ancestral hall had been destroyed and directed him to the crippled tutor who had compiled the Dou family genealogy in Spiritual River Town.
• Xu Huo considered how Dou Hui, the Supreme God Tribunal, the Assassin Family, and the Imperial Treasure might be connected, and decided that investigating Dou Hui’s history could reveal the truth.
• A masked puppet caught up with Xu Huo’s RV, and Xu Huo stopped to confront it.
• The puppet attacked with devices and Spatial Cutlines, but Xu Huo broke through its defenses and thrust his hand into its eye.
• Xu Huo’s Life Origin destroyed the puppet’s metal components through its clothes and rendered many devices unusable, leaving only three devices intact.

Xu Huo tested the upgraded Life Origin and discovered it could destroy metal objects through a connected medium. At the town library, he defeated Players guarding Gong Shu, freed the captured teacher, and began questioning the remaining Players.

• Xu Huo tested Life Origin and learned that he could destroy metal objects without touching them, provided they were connected to a medium.
• Xu Huo traveled to Spiritual River Town and learned that Gong Shu had left with an old man and a woman who claimed to be Players.
• At the library, Xu Huo found four Players and learned that Gong Shu was being held in a container.
• Xu Huo collapsed the library with Life Origin, subdued the Players, and took the old man's belongings after attacking him in his Spiritual World.
• Xu Huo freed Gong Shu from the container and asked him to wait at a nearby restaurant while he dealt with the other Players.

Xu Huo learned that Gong Shu’s genealogy was gone but that its names might point to descendants of the Gao Family in Yongta and Moon Horn. After returning Gong Shu to the orphanage, Xu Huo subdued the Players plotting against him and used Time Power to pin the stranded attacking-faction Player in place.

• The Players revealed their faction goals, and Xu Huo took Gong Shu to eat before bringing him back to the orphanage.
• Gong Shu explained that the genealogy had been fabricated from names supplied by the Dou family and that many listed people had been killed after Dou Hui fled.
• Gong Shu recalled Gao Family descendants living in Yongta and Moon Horn, including a family with a high-ranking official in Moon Horn.
• Xu Huo confronted the Players secretly discussing how to kill him, and the Unlucky Egg agreed to cooperate.
• Xu Huo turned on the stranded attacking-faction Player and immobilized him with Time Power.

Xu Huo forced three players to help investigate names on the Dou family's family tree, then traveled to the Moon Horn Principality to investigate Wan Ping, who was living as the border commander Wang Ping. He reached Wang Ping's lavish Castle and began examining the gaps between the commander's family and the family tree.

• Xu Huo killed a B-class player and poisoned Unlucky Egg and two other players, offering them Antidotes in exchange for helping him.
• After Gong Shu completed the family tree, Xu Huo screened its names against Jixin Terminal messages and sent the three players separate people to investigate.
• Xu Huo traveled to the Moon Horn Principality and learned that Wan Ping was actually Wang Ping, the border front's commander.
• Xu Huo found Wang Ping's conspicuous Castle and watched Wang Ping return with his youngest son.
• Xu Huo reviewed Wang Ping's extensive family history and noticed that the Dou family's family tree listed only a few of his descendants and brothers.