Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo, Yan Jiayu, and the painted woman searched a haunted house for magic props to help them escape the circus city. They found useful equipment and headed for the exit with their haul, while the painted woman wondered whether her friends were also inside.

• Yan Jiayu led Xu Huo and the painted woman into a haunted house to steal a magician Clown’s props.
• The haunted house’s hidden blades attacked Yan Jiayu, and Xu Huo used a glow stick to reveal a shadow that vanished in the light.
• Xu Huo said the painted woman had disappeared after they entered, and the group realized the haunted house had separated them.
• The painted woman found a lamp that repeatedly rolled back to her; lighting it stopped the strange noises and revealed the props scattered across the floor.
• Yan Jiayu and the painted woman collected Firework Pellets, Ghostface Smoke, and other equipment, then dragged their haul toward the exit.

Xu Huo and the others drew skeleton monsters away from the doll wall with fireworks, but discovered that several monsters guarded the route to the Castle. The group was driven back by two towering skeletons, and Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu charged toward them from opposite sides.

• The group gathered fireworks and supplies, then climbed the doll wall after night fell to lure out the skeleton monsters.
• Yan Jiayu and Jiji Bird baited a small skeleton monster, while Crocodile and Peacock were knocked into the wall and swallowed by the living dolls.
• Xu Huo used fireworks, smoke, and devices to hinder the monster as the group escaped the doll wall, but a second small skeleton monster struck Jiji Bird and Yan Jiayu.
• Yan Jiayu warned Xu Huo that two giant skeleton monsters stood ahead, and the monsters sent several teammates flying back with powerful gusts.
• Xu Huo warned the group that the monsters' black mist was poisonous, then split from Yan Jiayu as they charged toward the two giants.

Xu Huo and his companions crossed the Wall of Dolls and reached the Suitcase Man's castle, where they searched its dark corridors for an exit. A strange presence began moving through the castle, and just as its footsteps faded, it seized Xu Huo by the head.

• Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu fought the giant skeleton monsters while Zhu Bu and Jiji Bird used Spatial Power to clear a path through the Wall of Dolls.
• Xu Huo led the group across a lake to the castle, where Jiji Bird noted that the painted woman was missing.
• Xu Huo, Yan Jiayu, Jiji Bird, the Crocodile, and the Peacock split up to search the castle's corridors for a way out.
• The group heard mysterious tapping footsteps, and the Crocodile vanished after touching a doorknob.
• Xu Huo warned the others not to touch anything as the footsteps faded, but a force suddenly seized his head.

Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu fought their way through the castle’s dark corridors, using light and improvised attacks to fend off Living Props while searching for a safe route. After finding an ordinary bedroom, they heard a watery sound nearby and used Qi Cong to watch the corridor through a narrow gap in the door.

• A Living Prop attacked Xu Huo by trying to twist his head off, so he smashed a wall lamp and used glow sticks to reveal a stilt-walking prop.
• Yan Jiayu hurled Qi Cong at the Living Prop, then scattered oil-slick marbles to slow it as the group retreated.
• Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu decided to light up the castle, scouting ahead with miniature devices and using fireworks and glow sticks in the corridors.
• They opened a room where a headless, long-haired woman’s head flew at them, then shut it inside and moved on after Qi Cong warned them that another door was fake.
• After finding an ordinary bedroom, Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu dragged Qi Cong inside and made him watch the corridor when they heard a watery sound nearby.

Xu Huo, Yan Jiayu, and Qi Cong survived a flood and fought a crawling doll while searching the Suitcase Man’s Castle for an exit and their missing companions. The castle wall swallowed Yan Jiayu’s backpack and other objects, leaving them wary of what lurked inside it.

• A flood swept Xu Huo, Yan Jiayu, and Qi Cong toward a black abyss, but they climbed back onto the balcony and shut the door.
• Xu Huo opened the door for a glasslike Living Prop fish, and the three followed it to another room.
• The fish’s flood swept out a crawling doll, which attacked them until Xu Huo sliced it into pieces with his Manifestations.
• Xu Huo sensed something watching them from the wall as they evaded the stilt-walker and headed upstairs.
• A hand emerged from the wall, seized Yan Jiayu’s backpack, and pulled it inside; the wall also swallowed her crowbars and most of a string of firecrackers.

Xu Huo, Yan Jiayu, and Qi Cong fled the Living Props in the Castle as its lights came on and its puppets began their routines. On the Fourth Floor, Qi Cong was pulled into a painting with Zhu Bu and Hong Xi, and Xu Huo decided to find Lichun and Big Mao first.

• Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu fought off a fast, metal-bodied headless puppet and escaped the Stilt Walker using Time Power.
• Xu Huo played cheerful music over the Communicator, and the Jiji Bird signaled that the others were safe.
• The Castle lights came on, silencing the nearby Living Props as its puppets started moving through their routines.
• Xu Huo, Yan Jiayu, and Qi Cong found Si Qi's dried corpse on the Fourth Floor, and Qi Cong was sucked into a painting with Zhu Bu and Hong Xi.
• Yan Jiayu pulled the painting from the wall, and Xu Huo said they should find Lichun and Big Mao first.

Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu were trapped in a shifting Mirror Space after entering a poisoned room in the Castle. Separated, Xu Huo fought a huge creature in a distorted forest and injected it with poison.

• Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu opened a Study Room, recognized its warmth as a trap, and fell into a corridor lined with Mirror Spaces.
• They realized Xu Huo had been poisoned and fled as the mirrors closed in, but the space shattered and separated them.
• Xu Huo cut through the mirror shards and entered a pitch-black space, then found himself in a Castle room that transformed into a sinister forest.
• A giant, mechanically modified creature attacked Xu Huo, who fought back but discovered it could withstand his blows and recover from injuries.
• Xu Huo targeted the creature's neck and injected poison into it.

Xu Huo escaped a shifting black-sea space with the painted woman’s help, then reunited with the others and tried to free Yan Jiayu from a space inside a wall. The Seal Gate opened a gap, but Xu Huo’s strike pierced Yan Jiayu’s abdomen, and she remained unconscious.

• The giant monster broke through an invisible barrier, releasing a black sea and a flood of sea beasts that swept Xu Huo into a disorienting space where gravity reversed.
• The painted woman pulled Xu Huo out of a landscape painting and told him Yan Jiayu was trapped in a corner space inside a room.
• The painted woman freed Qi Cong, Zhu Bu, and Hong Xi from a painting, but Zhu Bu and Hong Xi lost stone-like sections of their arms during the rescue.
• Xu Huo used the Seal Gate to damage the spatial barrier around Yan Jiayu while Zhu Bu widened the opening.
• Xu Huo and the others pulled Yan Jiayu out, but the Seal Gate had pierced her abdomen and she did not wake.

Xu Huo and the others searched for the Tumbler while Yan Jiayu recovered from being assimilated by the Seal Gate and Xu Huo’s poison worsened. Dai He’s account led them to investigate the tower, where they opened the room beneath its water tank and were met by a terrible stench.

• The painted woman struck Yan Jiayu, who woke and explained that she had already regained consciousness while trapped inside the item.
• Xu Huo told the group about the Tumbler, accepted Antidote from Zhu Bu, and rested with the others before continuing the search.
• Xu Huo and the others found the badly injured Dai He, who described how a pee whistle had drawn a Tumbler away from a storeroom where it nearly crushed him.
• The painted woman identified Dai He’s supposed birdcall as the pee whistle that activated a water tank beside the tower.
• Xu Huo’s group distracted the castle puppets with tasks and opened a Mental Portal to reach the first-floor room beneath the water tank.
• Yan Jiayu opened the room beneath the water tank, releasing a powerful foul stench.

Xu Huo and his companions found Xiao Mei among the corpses in the tower, but a Space Power-wielding Alien attacked them and killed Hong Xi and Dai He. As Zhu Bu attacked the frozen Alien, a giant roly-poly struck the group, and Xu Huo recognized it as Lichun.

• Zhu Bu and Qi Cong searched the corpse-filled room and found Xiao Mei and another survivor alive in body bags.
• Yan Jiayu injected Xiao Mei with an Antidote, but an Alien burst from the corpse pile before Xiao Mei could finish her warning.
• Xu Huo stopped the group as the Alien divided the space ahead into lethal blocks, killing Hong Xi and Dai He.
• Xu Huo froze the Alien with Time Power while Zhu Bu pierced it with Space Ray blades.
• A giant roly-poly struck Zhu Bu, Yan Jiayu, and Qi Cong, then charged Xu Huo, who recognized it as Lichun.

Xu Huo and his companions fought the Alien and tried to contain the tumbler, but a shock wave opened an exit inside it. They escaped the Castle, only for Xu Huo to be pinned beneath a pair of blue eyes as Yan Jiayu was pulled away.

• Xu Huo and the others restrained the tumbler and battled the rapidly regenerating Alien, while Zhu Bu ultimately severed its head.
• Xiao Mei revealed that she had heard the Suitcase Man was returning to the Castle soon, and Xu Huo refused to send Yan Jiayu back for Lichun.
• A shock wave swept through the Castle, knocked Xu Huo unconscious, and released the tumbler, which fell beside Xiao Mei with an exit glowing on its belly.
• Xiao Mei, Qi Cong, Zhu Bu, Yan Jiayu, and Xu Huo escaped through the tumbler, leaving Lichun behind.
• Xu Huo's defensive artifacts and Abilities failed to free him from a powerful force, and he watched Yan Jiayu get pulled away beneath a dark sky and a pair of blue eyes.

Xu Huo repeatedly used time reversal and spatial artifacts to try to save Yan Jiayu from the Suitcase Man, but the man killed him as they reached a spatial passage. The story then shifted to Unpolished Jade and a group of bounty hunters struggling through a dangerous Mobile Sub-district.

• The Suitcase Man attacked Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu, and Xu Huo used the Inversion Ring to send him away while trying to reach her.
• Xu Huo died when the Suitcase Man struck his heart, and time reversed as Xu Huo repeatedly tried new plans to escape with Yan Jiayu.
• Xu Huo used the Big Mushroom Cloud and Time Power to help himself and Yan Jiayu enter a spatial passage, but the Suitcase Man caught up and killed him again.
• Unpolished Jade and seven companions stopped in a mutant forest, where the bounty hunters demanded twice their agreed payment after losing half their people.
• Unpolished Jade agreed to the higher price on the condition that the bounty hunters get her safely to her destination.

Unpolished Jade and Yan Ping’s group rested in the dangerous Mobile Sub-district before two people fell from above. Yan Jiayu landed safely with the unconscious Xu Huo, and Unpolished Jade arranged to protect him from the area’s mental energy.

• Unpolished Jade explained that her aunt’s remains determined whether she could inherit her family’s wealth, and Yan Ping planned the group’s route toward the marked location.
• A powerful spatial fluctuation sent Yan Jiayu and Xu Huo plunging into the forest, and Yan Ping and another hunter tried to catch them.
• Yan Jiayu kicked the two rescuers away, caught Xu Huo, and landed on the vines without disturbing the Mutated Plants further.
• Yan Ping warned Yan Jiayu that Xu Huo would soon suffer brain death without a Protective Suit in the A-grade sub-district.
• Yan Jiayu asked for a spare Protective Suit, and Unpolished Jade told her to carry Xu Huo into a field item.

Yan Jiayu and Xu Huo joined Unpolished Jade and Yan Ping's group while they waited for the Mobile Sub-district to move somewhere they could use a Ticket. After night fell, strange Space Power emerged from Xu Huo and formed a rippling barrier, alarming everyone around him.

• Yan Ping explained that the Mobile Sub-district's A-level mental energy could mislead and interfere with Players, and Unpolished Jade invited Yan Jiayu to travel with their group until she could use her Ticket.
• When Yan Jiayu tried to put a mechanical helmet on Xu Huo, his built-in defense disintegrated it, so Unpolished Jade offered an area item and suspected Xu Huo was a Mental Evolver.
• Yan Jiayu stayed beside Xu Huo and refused Unpolished Jade's Potion while the group waited through a peaceful afternoon.
• After nightfall, Yan Jiayu sensed Space Power moving through Xu Huo, then watched it surge out of his body and form a visible, trembling barrier.
• Yan Ping quietly signaled Unpolished Jade to leave as the barrier made Xu Huo seem dangerous.

Xu Huo's uncontrolled Space Power transformed his right hand and sent him plunging into the underground forest, where Yan Jiayu and the others struggled to rescue him from the enraged Mutated Plants. The group escaped and rested at a new venue item, while Unpolished Jade concluded that Xu Huo's Space Power might have reached a rare balance.

• Unpolished Jade identified Xu Huo's injury as damage from space energy and watched as his right hand transformed into a glasslike substance.
• Xu Huo fell through the ground, and Yan Jiayu jumped after him as his touch made the forest's trunks and roots vanish.
• Yan Jiayu caught Xu Huo with spider silk, then carried him upward through a passage cut by an unknown companion while using his hand to clear obstacles.
• Unpolished Jade and Yan Ping's group fought through the Mutated Plants and insects, rescued trapped companions, and used teleportation to escape, losing four mechanical suits.
• At a new venue item, Unpolished Jade supplied replacement detectors and suits and said Xu Huo's Space Power might have reached a rare balance.

Xu Huo recovered after several days unconscious and learned to control the Transdimensional Space Power in his finger. He reunited with Unpolished Jade and asked how much time Yan Jiayu had left before her high-risk Random Instance.

• Yan Ping and the others agreed to wait for Xu Huo to recover, while Unpolished Jade offered to pay them extra for the delay.
• Yan Ping and the short-haired woman spotted a childlike shadow beside Xu Huo, which vanished after they activated the Jammer equipment.
• Yan Jiayu recognized the figure as Xu Huo's childhood self and kept quiet while the group waited in the venue item for two more days.
• Xu Huo woke on the fourth day and explained to himself how the water Rubik's Cube had contained the Transdimensional Space Power in his finger, allowing him to control it.
• Xu Huo asked Yan Jiayu how much time she had before her Random Instance, then reminded Unpolished Jade that they had met before.

Xu Huo arranged protection and supplies while Yan Jiayu painfully tore the kangaroo suit artifact from her body. Afterward, he warned the Yu Kingdom government about the Suitcase Man and prepared for Yan Jiayu’s next dangerous journey, leaving her recovering as the group expected to depart the following day.

• Unpolished Jade lent Yan Jiayu defensive equipment, while Xu Huo borrowed additional gear and simulation equipment for her.
• Yan Jiayu spent three hours tearing the kangaroo suit from her flesh, suffering severe injuries before Xu Huo gave her potions and she fell asleep.
• Xu Huo reviewed his brief fight with the Suitcase Man and considered how the man’s black power could suppress spatial abilities and raise the temperature to kill people.
• Xu Huo warned the Yu Kingdom government about the Suitcase Man and the Dungeon, reported Dai He’s death, and advised Ji Qingcheng to prepare people to flee to other Sub-districts.
• Xu Huo recovered, sorted his artifacts and borrowed equipment, and gave Yan Jiayu more healing potions after she removed the suit.
• Unpolished Jade gave Xu Huo food and said they would likely be able to leave the next day.

Xu Huo learned about the Mobile Sub-district’s hazards and questioned Unpolished Jade about her search for her aunt’s remains. Unpolished Jade revealed that the Sub-district had recently become an A-class survival instance and that its recurring waves of awakened Mutated Plants could make it far more dangerous than the group had been told.

• Yan Jiayu recovered while Xu Huo learned that Mutated Plants, fungi, and insects in the Mobile Sub-district could cause hallucinations or deadly poisoning.
• Unpolished Jade explained that Tickets brought her group into the Sub-district and that the Ticket instance required Players to survive for a set time.
• Xu Huo examined Yan Ping’s survey data and concluded that the recorded dangers did not explain why the Sub-district had become an A-class instance.
• Unpolished Jade revealed that the Sub-district had been upgraded from B-class and that waves of awakened Mutated Plants had once surged to the surface for at least three days.
• Yan Ping angrily accused Unpolished Jade of hiding the danger, but she said the group had known they were entering a high-energy Sub-district.
• Xu Huo suspected Unpolished Jade had entered in secret because the inheritance she sought was exceptionally valuable.

Xu Huo considered the growing dangers and possible origins of the A-class Mobile Sub-district, then tested his newly restored spatial power and assessed his losses. As he searched for information and replacement equipment, he suddenly coughed up black blood threaded with mycelium.

• Xu Huo warned Unpolished Jade and the others that the Sub-district's plant waves might be growing larger or becoming unpredictable, and wondered what lay underground.
• Yan Ping urged Unpolished Jade not to conceal important information, while Xu Huo checked on Yan Jiayu and found her wounds healing badly.
• Xu Huo tried opening his Spiritual World but withdrew his mental power under the Sub-district's intense energy, then tested his spatial power by making ore and an Artifact disappear.
• Xu Huo reviewed his damaged Artifacts and instruments, posted offers to buy replacements, and searched for information about Mobile Sub-districts and A-class wormhole points.
• Xu Huo suspected that information about ultra-high-energy Sub-districts had been deliberately sealed, then coughed up black blood threaded with mycelium.

Xu Huo recovered from the poison in the Mobile Sub-district and learned why Unpolished Jade had come to investigate its underground ruins. The group agreed to travel together, while Xu Huo's ability revealed that Unpolished Jade's companions were top-tier A-class players and that he was plotting to recover his losses.

• Xu Huo's poison was suppressed in the Mobile Sub-district as King Fungus grew rapidly, and Unpolished Jade told him her aunt had died while searching for underground ruins there.
• Xu Huo agreed to stay with Unpolished Jade, and Yan Ping's group negotiated payment and a share of any valuables found in the ruins.
• Unpolished Jade asked Xu Huo to scout the underground ruins because his Mental Evolution made him best suited to observe the area.
• Xu Huo used Home Field Advantage Perspective and read details about Circus City, the Suitcase Man, and the danger of the black space.
• The ability's account noted Xu Huo's scheme to recoup his losses and identified Unpolished Jade's two companions as top-tier A-class players.