Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo investigated the Wan family’s connections and used Wan Yao’s fan magazine to learn about the singer Bei Bao. After her concert, he followed her to a hotel rooftop restaurant.

• Xu Huo reasoned that the Dou family’s family tree might connect the Wan family to an organization tied to descendants of Official Peng and the Gao family.
• Xu Huo borrowed a fan’s magazine and studied its relationship chart, noting Wan Yao’s connection to Bei Bao and clues about relatives absent from public records.
• Xu Huo asked the fan about Bei Bao and learned she was performing in the capital, then teleported to her concert venue.
• Xu Huo waited through the concert and followed Bei Bao from the venue to a hotel rooftop restaurant.

Bei Bao was cornered by a Player acting on Wang Yao’s behalf and brought to meet a man who wanted a child descended from the Gao family. After Bei Bao exposed the impostor’s ignorance of the family’s history, she realized the man was someone else and tried to escape, but her Ticket failed and she resorted to hidden poison.

• Bei Bao pretended to be drunk at a dinner arranged by her boss, then rejected his marriage proposal and spoke of leaving him.
• A Player threatened Bei Bao and her boss with Wang Yao’s power, but Bei Bao challenged him and learned that Minister Wang had died.
• Bei Bao ended her relationship with her boss after the Player spared him, then went to meet Wang Yao at the hotel.
• The man claiming to be Wang Yao said he wanted Bei Bao to bear a child descended from the Gao family and threatened her by putting her boss underfoot.
• Bei Bao explained that Wang Ping had no connection to the Gao family and that Wang Yao was unqualified to inherit it, then realized the man was an impostor.
• The lights revealed an unknown man in place of the impostor and the real Wang Yao on the floor; Bei Bao could not use her Ticket and bit down on poison hidden under her fingernail.

Xu Huo persuaded Bei Bao to reconsider her willingness to die and asked her to investigate Gao Hui’s dealings with the Wan family. Bei Bao agreed to help if Xu Huo took her to see Lian Qingkong, then revealed how she learned about the Gao surname legacy and her adoptive father’s research into its descendants.

• Xu Huo told Bei Bao that he had stopped her Ticket and poison from working, then urged her to find a reason to live.
• Xu Huo explained that Wan Yao had tried to save Bei Bao after she separated from him, and Bei Bao agreed to consider helping Xu Huo.
• Xu Huo asked Bei Bao to uncover Gao Hui’s movements and dealings with Gao descendants in the Moon Horn Principality, especially the Wan family.
• Bei Bao asked Xu Huo to take her to see Lian Qingkong, and Xu Huo agreed to visit him after their trip to the Moon Horn Principality.
• Bei Bao explained that her biological father had entrusted her with continuing the Gao surname legacy and that her adoptive father had investigated suspected Gao descendants, including the Wan family.

Xu Huo deduced that the Imperial Treasure was a family genealogy recording the Gao descendants and possibly the descendants of Official Peng, whose families were linked to the Supreme God Cult and the Assassin Family. After confirming his theory through the shop owner’s reaction, Xu Huo set off to visit the Wan family to continue searching for the missing treasure.

• Xu Huo questioned why Gao Hui had kept seeking Gao descendants despite their apparent hostility, and concluded that Gao Hui had possessed leverage over them.
• Xu Huo inferred that Gao Hui’s leverage was a genealogy listing the Gao descendants, preserved by the rulers across generations.
• Xu Huo asked the shop owner whether he was descended from Official Peng, and the owner attacked him with a hidden blade before escaping with a Space Artifact.
• Xu Huo concluded that the Gao and Peng families might have merged, with the Peng descendants carrying on the Assassin Family’s traditions through the Supreme God Cult.
• Xu Huo put Wan Yao into a container Artifact and told Bei Bao that he was going to the Wan family.

Xu Huo brought Bei Bao to the Wan family’s castle and questioned Wan Ping about Gao Hui and the Imperial Treasure. Wan Ping began explaining Gao Hui’s visit, but the chapter ended before he answered how Gao Hui died or where the treasure was.

• Xu Huo and Bei Bao discussed why descendants of the Gao and Peng families passed down their surnames and whether their efforts had mattered.
• Xu Huo took Bei Bao to the castle the next morning and waited for Wan Ping despite the Wan family’s attempts to delay him.
• Wan Chuan denied that his family had any connection to the Gao family and offered Xu Huo documents and valuable items.
• Wan Ping arrived just before Xu Huo’s deadline and answered his questions about Gao Hui.
• Wan Ping said Gao Hui had sought the Wan family’s financial support, brought no Imperial Treasure, and eventually tried to kill members of the family.

Xu Huo questioned Wan Ping about the Gao family and discovered that Wan Ping's fourth son, who may have inherited the Gao surname, had just left District 039. As Wan Ping and his Players tried to stall Xu Huo and help the family escape, Xu Huo sealed the Castle and ordered the Wan family to capture them.

• Wan Ping told Xu Huo that his late wife had carried the Gao surname but was not of true Gao blood, and that Gao Hui had pressured him to support the Yu Kingdom's war effort.
• Xu Huo released Wan Yao and questioned Wan Ping about which of his children had inherited the Gao name.
• Wan Ping summoned his children and relatives, and Bei Bao inspected them but withheld the identity of the person Xu Huo sought.
• Xu Huo learned from Wan Chuan that Wan Ping's fourth son had left District 039 three minutes earlier, despite Wan Ping's claim that he was away in Dungeons.
• Wan Ping's Players tried to trap Xu Huo and give the family time to escape, but Xu Huo disabled their devices, sealed the Castle, and ordered the Wan family to capture them.

Xu Huo pressured Wan Ping to arrange negotiations with the Peng descendants over the Gao family’s secrets and the Imperial Treasure. After investigating another family and reviewing his allies’ reports, he headed to Yu Kingdom’s capital, where he found the painted woman and Xiao Mei fighting.

• Xu Huo restrained the Wan family and questioned Wan Ping about Gao Hui, the Imperial Treasure, and the Gao and Peng descendants.
• Xu Huo brought Wan Ping into the Book Tower and asked him to negotiate with the Peng descendants on his behalf; Wan Ping agreed to consider it and was given three days to respond.
• Xu Huo and Bei Bao visited another family from the Dou family genealogy and found that its members had died in the Player War.
• Xu Huo received reports from Unlucky Egg and two other Players, then ordered Unlucky Egg to continue investigating Gao Hui’s movements.
• Xu Huo teleported to Yu Kingdom’s capital and found the painted woman and Xiao Mei fighting someone.

Xu Huo rescued the painted woman from Xiao Mei and questioned Nini about the Tribunal, learning that its believers had been Players. With more Players watching them, he recruited Xiao Mei to spread a false lead and left the capital for a resort city tied to Gao Hui's family.

• Xiao Mei freed the painted woman from Fei Jingyi's threads, but Fei Jingyi and Wu Zishuang trapped them until an unknown attack killed Fei Jingyi and Xu Huo arrived.
• Xu Huo asked Xiao Mei to surrender the cleaner, then brought her and the painted woman to a hotel, where Xiao Mei released Nini.
• Xu Huo questioned Nini about her past and the Tribunal, and she recalled her name, birth year, mother, and time working for the Tribunal.
• Xu Huo concluded that most Tribunal believers had been Players and asked Xiao Mei to spread a false lead in exchange for help clearing the Dungeon.
• Xiao Mei hinted to Wu Zishuang that he had important Dungeon clues, and Wu Zishuang retaliated by publicizing that she and Xu Huo knew the Imperial Treasure's location.
• As more people watched the hotel, Xu Huo left the capital for an abandoned resort city with a resort built in Gao Hui's family's name.

Xu Huo lured Players to the resort with a fake clue, using the resulting battle to kill several pursuers before returning to the hotel. He then spoke with Wan Ping about cooperating to destroy the Dungeon, but their call ended with the registry and the descendants of the two clans still unresolved.

• Xu Huo found an encrypted metal case at the resort, triggering a fight among Players who believed it held a Dungeon clue.
• Xu Huo used a fake case and teleportation portals to draw Players into a chaotic battle, then used mental interference and the Time Ring to increase the casualties.
• Xu Huo killed two Players who had followed him from the capital when they fled after realizing the resort was a trap.
• Xu Huo returned to the hotel, where Xiao Mei questioned his plan and Bei Bao asked when they would meet Lian Qingkong.
• Wan Ping told Xu Huo that the descendants of the two clans would not sacrifice their people and offered manpower in exchange for an acceptable plan.
• Xu Huo asked whether Lian Qingkong had the registry, while Wan Ping insisted that the registry could not be used to threaten them.

Xu Huo failed to get a useful lead on the Imperial Treasure and uncovered that a government Player tailing him knew nothing about the God of Night. Before dawn, a masked Player calling himself Star kidnapped relatives of government officials and Player organization members, murdered two people on a live message, and demanded the Imperial Treasure, prompting the Yu Kingdom government to issue a wanted notice.

• Xu Huo pressed Wan Ping for information about Lian Qingkong and the Imperial Treasure, but Wan Ping refused to provide any other leads.
• Xu Huo caught the Player who had been following him and guessed that the God of Night was the reason for the surveillance, then let him go when he realized the Player did not know about the figure.
• Xiao Mei woke Xu Huo with a video in which the masked Player Star introduced himself and displayed hostages taken from Player organizations and government families.
• Star demanded that the holder of the Imperial Treasure hand it over and threatened to kill hostages unless stranded Players were killed every five minutes.
• Star shot a man and a woman whose parents worked for the government, and the Yu Kingdom government issued a wanted notice as the kidnappers remained difficult to track down.

Xu Huo watched Yu Kingdom’s crisis escalate as the masked man’s demands triggered killings and a Player War, until the government announced that the hostages had been rescued and the fighting suppressed. He discussed the country’s weakness and the difficulty of clearing the Dungeon, ending with his suggestion that a powerful common enemy could unite Yu Kingdom.

• Xu Huo and Xiao Mei discussed how the masked man’s demand to kill players stuck in Dungeons was intended to pressure Yu Kingdom and disrupt attempts to clear the Dungeon.
• Bodies of Outer District Players and local players appeared as Yu Kingdom’s organizations searched for the Imperial Treasure and the masked man’s two-hour deadline passed.
• A video showed a vast black sphere at the Yongta–Yu Kingdom border, where players fought blind and injured people who escaped were killed by the black gas.
• The Yu Kingdom government announced that the hostage crisis had been resolved, ordered player organizations to stand down, and threatened severe penalties for organized fighting.
• Xiao Mei wondered whether Lian Qingkong had intervened, while Xu Huo speculated about the descendants of two families and said a shared powerful enemy could unite Yu Kingdom.

Xu Huo met the God of Night to ask about the Yu Kingdom’s Imperial Treasure and the descendants of two families. The old man gave him an incomplete Gao family genealogy, leaving Xu Huo to consider what its records might reveal.

• Xu Huo left Bei Bao and Xiao Chun with Xiao Mei and followed the skinny Player to meet someone.
• Bei Bao considered attacking Xu Huo, but Xiao Mei stopped her and the painted woman kept Xiao Mei from leaving.
• Xu Huo met an old man known as the God of Night and delivered Gao Ming’s message.
• Xu Huo asked about government arrangements for the descendants of the two families and whether the government had leads on Gao Hui’s register.
• The old man handed Xu Huo a book that proved to be an incomplete Chenfeng Gao family genealogy ending two hundred years earlier.

Xu Huo realized Lian Qingkong was preparing a final move as rumors spread that the ailing leader was near death. After visiting Lian Qingkong with Bei Bao, Xu Huo arranged to travel to Miecheng for the Imperial Treasure, but Lian Qingkong turned against him.

• Xu Huo concluded that the Yu Kingdom government had obtained only an incomplete Gao family genealogy and identified the old man who gave it away as Lian Qingkong.
• Rumors of Lian Qingkong's grave condition spread through the capital, drawing local and stranded Outer District Players into the growing crisis.
• Xu Huo brought Bei Bao to the Nursing Home, where Lian Qingkong comforted her and arranged for her to stay somewhere safe.
• Xu Huo confronted Lian Qingkong about his plan to weaken Player organizations and asked for a government escort to Miecheng to retrieve the Imperial Treasure within five days.
• Lian Qingkong plunged the Nursing Home into darkness, apparently intending to kill Xu Huo, who responded by unleashing his Time Power.

Xu Huo retrieved a box he claimed was the Imperial Treasure and was pursued by stranded Players as he traveled toward the capital with Dai He and Xiao Mei. He offered to lead Players to clear the Dungeon, then used his power to slam everyone nearby to the ground.

• Xu Huo accepted Lian Qingkong’s gamble and left the government building with Dai He, while questioning Lian about his ties to the Assassin Family.
• Xu Huo invited Xiao Mei to join him, teleported to Miecheng, and dug up a box at Gao Hui’s former home before pursuing Players caught up with them.
• Xu Huo and Dai He split into two groups with Xiao Mei and the painted woman, then fought off Players pursuing them for the suspected Imperial Treasure.
• A masked Player offered to draw the pursuers away in exchange for the treasure, but Xu Huo announced that it could help stranded Players leave District 039 and offered to share rewards.
• After the masked Player warned that Xu Huo might be deceiving them, Xu Huo pressed his hand down and slammed every nearby Player to the ground.

Lian Qingkong gathered Yu Kingdom’s Player organizations and Outer District Players for a final vote on his proposed government arrangement as his death approached. The vote began at the Nursing Home, but a question about stranded Outer District Players interrupted it, and Lian Qingkong promised to address their situation afterward.

• The government held two rounds of meetings in which invited Players met Lian Qingkong and discussed his proposed transfer of authority.
• On the fifth day, local and Outer District Players gathered at the Nursing Home to hear the final proposal and vote.
• Lian Qingkong’s representative distributed miniature terminals that would self-destruct after each vote was cast.
• An Outer District Player asked how the government would handle Players stranded in Yu Kingdom, and Lian Qingkong said he would address their situation after the vote.

Outer District players confronted Lian Qingkong over claims that a government Player had found the Imperial Treasure, and threatened to destroy the capital if Xu Huo entered. Lian Qingkong sealed the Nursing Home and his quiet young protector killed Liu Feng and several attackers, warning the remaining players to stay twenty meters from the bed.

• A middle-aged Outer District player showed footage of Dai He and demanded to know whether the government had found the Imperial Treasure.
• The middle-aged player argued that the treasure should remain lost and threatened to take others down with the stranded players if it was real.
• Lian Qingkong said the government had stopped searching fifteen years earlier and would not interfere with outsiders seeking the treasure.
• The middle-aged player warned that his people were stationed throughout the capital and would attack Xu Huo if he arrived.
• Lian Qingkong sealed the Nursing Home, and four of his guards attacked the stranded players as others advanced toward his bed.
• Liu Feng lunged at Lian Qingkong, but the bespectacled young Player cut him apart and killed nearby attackers, warning everyone to stay twenty meters away.

Lian Qingkong activated a citywide lockdown and unleashed a deadly black sphere on the Players around the nursing home. Xu Huo reached him in time to stop the dying Chief Executive from continuing the slaughter, leaving nearly two hundred dead.

• A stranded Player attacked Lian Qingkong, but a young government Player blocked the Space Ray blades and sent them back.
• Stranded Players set fires and attacked government buildings, while Lian Qingkong learned that Dai He had not returned to the city.
• Lian Qingkong's signal activated a citywide simulation device, and government Players began capturing stranded Players whose Personal Panels were sealed.
• A black sphere swallowed the nursing home and surrounding Players, and Xu Huo entered it to reach Lian Qingkong.
• Xu Huo froze Lian Qingkong's young guard and persuaded the dying Chief Executive to stop, after nearly two hundred Players had been killed.

Xu Huo brought the Imperial Treasure to Lian Qingkong and revealed it was a genealogy identifying descendants of the Gao and Peng families. They burned the book, ended the struggle over it, and cleared the B-class instance, though the surviving Players remained hostile.

• Xu Huo injected Lian Qingkong and warned the stranded Players that they would die if they tried to stop him from clearing the instance.
• Xu Huo killed a Player who threatened him, then stopped an assassin who tried to silence Unlucky Egg and the others.
• Unlucky Egg gave Xu Huo a family register, and Lian Qingkong concluded it might trace descendants of the Gao family.
• The painted woman arrived with the Chenfeng Gao family genealogy, which Xu Huo handed to Lian Qingkong as the Imperial Treasure.
• Xu Huo and Lian Qingkong burned the genealogy, and the government shut off the simulated device so most stranded Players vanished.
• The game announced that the Players had cleared the B-class instance Illusory Tinder and granted rewards.

After the Dungeon’s crisis ended, Xu Huo stayed to ask the dying Lian Qingkong about Abilities and Super Evolution. Lian Qingkong warned him about underestimating Super Players and named a successor, while Xu Huo left the hospital room; the successor later came out with something for him.

• Xu Huo agreed to let Xiao Mei take a share of the team rewards, while Unlucky Egg declined his share.
• Lian Qingkong was transferred to a hospital after completing his final arrangements, and Xu Huo asked him whether Abilities could evolve beyond the game’s restrictions.
• Lian Qingkong explained that Super Players could use both Abilities and Super Evolution powers, and warned Xu Huo that Temporal Evolution was not invincible.
• Lian Qingkong praised his hardworking, steady successor and said he would not have chosen Xu Huo if Xu Huo lived in the Yu Kingdom.
• Lian Qingkong told Xu Huo he could not teach the successor Temporal Evolution, then Xu Huo left the room as Lian Qingkong neared death.
• The young player who had undergone Spatial Evolution came out of Lian Qingkong’s room and said he had something to give Xu Huo.

After settling Lian Qingkong’s funeral and Dungeon rewards, Xu Huo learned more about the Imperial Treasure and prepared to leave District 039 to deal with the dolls following him. Outside the capital, he encountered a battered Player who claimed to have important information for Yu Kingdom and recognized him as Qi Congming.

• A young Player gave Xu Huo transcribed copies of Lian Qingkong’s notes, and Xu Huo accepted them before leaving the government building with the painted woman and his companions.
• Xu Huo gave Unlucky Egg an Antidote and let him forgo the team reward, while Xiao Mei exchanged her share for an A-class defensive spatial instrument.
• Fu Kuai asked Xu Huo how he had cleared the Dungeon, and Xu Huo explained that he had identified the Imperial Treasure as a genealogy and burned it.
• Xu Huo attended Lian Qingkong’s memorial ceremony, then decided to leave the capital and deal with the dolls following him before visiting Gao Ming.
• At the capital’s checkpoint, an injured Outer District Player refused to leave and demanded to speak with Yu Kingdom’s government, and Xu Huo recognized him as Qi Congming.