Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo investigated Gu Huifeng’s disappearance and traced it to the vanished biotechnology company NS Biological and a patent deletion ordered by the governor’s secretary. He found the company’s former broker, Nong Zheng, and brought him to Xin Qin, who demanded to know where Gu Huifeng was.

• Xin Qin told Xu Huo that Gu Huifeng had invested in NS Biological, which claimed to have a treatment for her genetic illness, and showed him the Potion’s patent application.
• Xu Huo learned that the patent had been deleted through the review department’s internal system at the order of the Earth Star City governor’s secretary.
• Xin Qin gave Xu Huo the contact information for Nong Zheng, the intermediary who had introduced Gu Huifeng to NS Biological.
• Xu Huo traced Nong Zheng to an underground district and captured him when he tried to flee.
• Xu Huo brought Nong Zheng to the hotel, where he recognized Xin Qin and she demanded that he reveal where Gu Huifeng was.

Xu Huo and Xin Qin questioned Nong Zheng about Gu Huifeng’s disappearance, and Nong Zheng linked it to NS Biological’s breakthrough and a government cover-up. They ended with the Star City Chief Executive as a possible lead, though Nong Zheng could not identify the Players involved.

• Xu Huo promised to help Nong Zheng leave the country or Sub-district if he provided useful information, and Nong Zheng explained that NS Biological had vanished without a proper investigation.
• Nong Zheng said two families connected to the company had held funerals and warned Xin Qin that Gu Huifeng might already be dead.
• Nong Zheng revealed that NS Biological had made progress toward curing genetic diseases and that Gu Huifeng had planned to fund its final experiment before the company disappeared.
• Nong Zheng recalled a similar incident ten years earlier, when actresses, Players, agents, and their boss vanished after attending a rich person’s party, then were quietly compensated.
• Xin Qin vowed to find Gu Huifeng and make whoever harmed him pay, while Xu Huo asked Nong Zheng whether he recognized the Star City Chief Executive.
• Nong Zheng recognized the executive but could not explain what he might gain from the disappearances, and Xu Huo asked him for a better lead.

Xu Huo tracked a lead about the actresses who disappeared from Golden Rain Star-Making Company ten years earlier to the broker Black Snake. He forced Black Snake to help investigate the kidnappers, saying the case was interfering with his level clearance.

• Nong Zheng told Xu Huo that a former boss had once fainted after encountering a Player who handled dirty work, and Xu Huo obtained the Player's identifying information.
• Xu Huo found the Player, who denied knowing about the missing actresses but directed him to Black Snake on Treegreen Street.
• Xu Huo met Black Snake in his heavily secured office on Underground Level 3 and asked him to find the people who kidnapped employees of NS Biological.
• Xu Huo incapacitated the other Players in the room, threatened Black Snake with a Space Ray blade, and demonstrated that he knew where Black Snake's people were.
• Black Snake asked why Xu Huo was pursuing the matter, and Xu Huo said it was getting in the way of clearing the level before covering Black Snake with white mental Manifestation.

Xu Huo traced the cover-up of several disappearances to the Chief Executive and investigated his manor, where Gu Huifeng’s sculpture had been placed. While searching for Gu Huifeng, he witnessed the manor’s cruel residents tormenting one another, and a woman warned that they were all going to die.

• Xu Huo learned that Black Snake had helped cover up disappearances linked to the Chief Executive, including the stars who vanished ten years earlier.
• Xu Huo questioned a manor servant and learned about the Chief Executive’s unusual household and the newly installed Bone Remains sculpture.
• Xu Huo entered the manor at night and found Gu Huifeng’s work displayed casually in a second-floor lounge.
• The twins tormented the residents, frightening the mentally ill girl, hurting Tiantian, and destroying the youngest girl’s doll.
• Xiao Xiao and Tiantian helped the youngest girl, while the frightened girl ran into Xiao Xiao’s room and barricaded herself inside.
• A woman emerged from her room, called the residents freaks, and warned them that they would all die sooner or later.

Xu Huo watched the children in the estate torment one another as two Players searched for the real Bone Remains. The Players escaped the estate’s shifting corridors with help from the little girl, who said she had seen another statue on the floor above the second.

• The little girl cried to her mother’s portrait about being bullied and wanting to escape the estate.
• The sick girl tried to flee from the Third Floor, but the servants caught her, tied her to a bed, and gagged her.
• Tiantian warned the sick girl that she would be killed if she escaped; she attacked him, while Xiao Xiao watched before pulling her away and insulting her.
• Two Players searched the estate for the real Bone Remains, then became lost in its endlessly shifting corridors.
• The little girl led the Players out and told them she had seen another statue on the floor above the second; they offered more candy to have her take them there.

Xu Huo investigated the governor’s estate, where players abused the little girl and the children retaliated, while he confirmed the Bone Remains was genuine. After returning to the estate that night, he saw the recovered girl unlock a sealed room on the Fourth Floor.

• Two players threatened and hurt the little girl, but the Twins drove them off with foul-smelling water balloons before attacking her themselves and leaving her injured.
• The Doctor treated the little girl, while Xiao Xiao and Tiantian provoked the Twins; a fight ended with one Twin’s eye pierced by broken glass.
• The governor dismissed reports of the trouble, and the woman believed to be his lover drank alone and cried in her room.
• Xu Huo asked Xin Qin to examine images of the Bone Remains, and she judged it genuine based on its anti-counterfeiting marks.
• Xu Huo returned to the estate after dark, where five players vanished before encountering the children.
• After recovering, the little girl left her room without her Doll and unlocked a sealed Fourth Floor room with an ornament on her skirt.

Xu Huo confronted the little girl about her collection of body parts and discovered that she was behind the disappearances in the manor. She used her ability to drag him through strange spaces, and he provoked her by suggesting she was the Chief Executive’s altered daughter until she attacked him with a knife.

• Xu Huo deduced that the little girl wanted the adult woman in the manor and learned that she had been testing players and plotting to lock them away.
• The girl tried to swallow herself into darkness, but Xu Huo grabbed her and was pulled along as she moved between rooms containing dead and imprisoned players.
• After the girl failed to shake him off, Xu Huo suggested she might be the Chief Executive’s youngest daughter, born with effects from gene editing.
• The girl screamed at Xu Huo to stop and stabbed at him with her knife.

Xu Huo confronted the little girl about the deaths at the estate and discovered that she possessed a special item from the game that let her travel through darkness. After she agreed to transfer it to him, she asked what it felt like to grow up.

• Xu Huo stopped the little girl from escaping and forced her to reveal that Gu Huifeng was being held on the first floor.
• The little girl admitted she had killed people because their happiness angered her, and explained that her father indulged her because she could threaten his life.
• Xu Huo deduced that her ability to travel through darkness came from a special item given by the game, not from her own Ability or Evolution.
• Xu Huo threatened to kill the little girl, and she revealed that the item could only be obtained through a transfer before death.
• Xu Huo told her that none of the people nearby had come to save her, and she eventually asked him what it felt like to grow up.

Xu Huo took the hidden reward My Heart Is Gloomy from Leijie Lian and learned how its darkness could distort perception, transport people into an adjacent black space, and interfere with other powers. As pursuers surrounded the mountain and demanded that he release Leijie, he found the item still worked despite the game panel lockdown.

• Leijie Lian transferred My Heart Is Gloomy to Xu Huo, and he accepted the hidden reward.
• Xu Huo tested the item’s darkness and learned its limits, while Leijie explained that people she had sent into the black space had never returned.
• Xu Huo told Leijie that killing her would not revive the dead and that he had encountered her by chance.
• Pursuing Players shattered Xu Huo’s defenses and surrounded the mountain, where a short-haired woman demanded that he release Leijie.
• Xu Huo tried the item despite the game panel lockdown and found that he could still use it.

Xu Huo confronted the District Government over Leijie Lian’s crimes and negotiated Gu Huifeng’s release in exchange for her punishment. Gu Huifeng reunited with Xin Qin, and Xu Huo recorded the manor and Bone Remains in his travel log as “A witness to friendship.”

• Xu Huo disabled the District Government’s lockdown devices and aircraft, then pressed Leijie Lian to explain how she had found her reward item.
• The short-haired player revealed that Leijie Lian would be sent to Punishment City and that others involved in her crimes would also be punished.
• Xu Huo demanded Gu Huifeng alive, along with his carvings and the Bone Remains, and the short-haired woman agreed.
• The District Government exchanged Gu Huifeng for Leijie Lian and withdrew, leaving Xu Huo and Gu Huifeng on the hilltop.
• Xu Huo brought Gu Huifeng to Earth Star City, where he reunited with Xin Qin and recounted how Leijie Lian had abducted him to carve a statue.
• Xu Huo told Nong Zheng he could go home safely and recorded the manor and Bone Remains in his travel log.

Xu Huo tested My Heart is Gloomy, received evidence that intelligent Aliens existed, and traveled to Lake City. There, locals welcomed him with a photo and recommendations, including a submerged-art sightseeing trip featuring carvings by Gu Huifeng.

• Xu Huo tested My Heart is Gloomy and found that its dark substance covered a limited area while the item worked well as a Defense Artifact.
• Chai Sheng sent Xu Huo a video showing an intelligent Alien being handed over and shared the address of the biotech company's Laboratory.
• Xu Huo left Earthstar City under the watch of several Players and reached Lake City without being disturbed.
• A young woman in Lake City invited Xu Huo to take a local souvenir photo, and the shop's staff posed with him.
• The locals introduced Xu Huo to wine, food, and accommodations, then recommended sightseeing beneath the lake to see carvings by Gu Huifeng.

Xu Huo visited Lake City's underwater attractions and encountered a mysterious, beautiful woman who had drawn admirers for years. After hearing that she had resisted powerful suitors and unknown intruders, he wondered what she was waiting for in the city.

• Xu Huo toured the island, saw its underwater sculptures, and bought a ticket to view the underwater meteors.
• A mysterious woman appeared inside a bubble amid the meteor-like insects and invited an admirer to settle in Lake City if he wanted to find her.
• Visitors said the woman had returned to watch the meteors for ten years, rejected many suitors, and demanded that anyone courting her commit to living in Lake City.
• Xu Huo asked locals about the woman and learned that even the government did not know her background, while businesses had failed to recruit her.
• A snack shop owner told Xu Huo that suspected intruders had once disappeared after trying to break into the woman's place, and Xu Huo wondered what she was waiting for.

Xu Huo sought help contacting Madam Ruo through the owner of Wildberry Bar, the Boss Lady, while concealing his gloves' purpose. After two Players followed him to question him about their conversation, he trapped them in midair with Space Ray.

• Xu Huo visited the small islands and the underwater meteor, but neither found a meteor nor saw the woman appear.
• Local enforcement warned outlaws not to approach the lady's residence after they discussed looking for her.
• Xu Huo met the Boss Lady at Wildberry Bar and paid her to ask around about Madam Ruo and his unanswered letter to Whale Garden.
• The Boss Lady questioned Xu Huo about his gloves, but he refused to remove them and left after she agreed to inquire.
• Two Players followed Xu Huo and asked what business he had discussed with the Boss Lady.
• Xu Huo suspended the two men in midair with Space Ray blades and barriers.

Xu Huo killed two Players who had followed him, then secured a meeting with Madam Ruo at Whale Garden. He arrived with Gong Ying, whose gift of a Fleeting Flower seemed to surprise him when Madam Ruo recognized it.

• Xu Huo trapped and killed one of the two Players who had harassed the landlady, while the other tried to flee and was killed by his Spatial Cutlines.
• The landlady told Xu Huo that Whale Garden would respond, and an intermediary arranged for him to meet Madam Ruo the next morning.
• Xu Huo bought a Fleeting Flower specimen and a strangely shaped Stone as gifts after Gong Ying advised him on choosing a present.
• Xu Huo traveled to Whale Garden and unexpectedly met Gong Ying at the entrance; Madam Ruo invited them both inside.
• Madam Ruo recognized the Fleeting Flower Gong Ying presented, and Xu Huo paused, surprised by her response.

Xu Huo and Gong Ying visited Madam Ruo, who told them about her childhood at a Livestock Farm and the man she had waited ten years to see again. After sharing tea, Madam Ruo showed them her garden, where she and Gong Ying talked about beauty and letting nature grow freely.

• Gong Ying tried to redirect Madam Ruo's attention to Xu Huo's gift, and Madam Ruo identified his stone as a relic from Lake City's excavated lake.
• Madam Ruo revealed that she had been born at a Livestock Farm and killed everyone there, including her parents and siblings, after becoming a Player.
• Madam Ruo told Xu Huo and Gong Ying that she had settled in District 022 to wait for a man who had saved her ten years earlier.
• Xu Huo questioned whether Madam Ruo's hope of seeing the man again rested on an embellished memory, and she admitted that waiting was all she had to live for.
• Gong Ying asked to see Madam Ruo's garden, where they discussed plants growing naturally and Madam Ruo said she liked Gong Ying.

Xu Huo and Gong Ying tried to draw Madam Ruo’s portrait, but her shifting moods and repeated absences suggested that her split personalities were resisting them. Xu Huo found her watching the shooting stars underwater and questioned whether she really had fourteen siblings.

• Madam Ruo gave Gong Ying the Fleeting Flower, and Xu Huo offered to draw her portrait; Gong Ying also volunteered to make one.
• As they left Whale Garden, Gong Ying questioned Madam Ruo’s mental state, and Xu Huo suspected she had unstable, competing personalities.
• Xu Huo and Gong Ying returned the next afternoon, but Madam Ruo vanished when she opened the door and came back only at dusk, apologizing for forgetting their meeting.
• The following day, Madam Ruo was absent again, so Xu Huo found her underwater watching the river of light and asked whether she truly had fourteen siblings.

Xu Huo fought Madam Ruo beneath Lake City’s lake, subdued her, and brought her to Whale Garden while the Enforcement Team waited outside. After waking, Madam Ruo explained that her brothers and sisters were people she had met who had lived in her body, and that her parents and supposed savior were fake.

• Madam Ruo attacked Xu Huo and his companions with a surge of water and luminous insects, causing destruction and endangering visitors and Lake City staff.
• Madam Ruo unleashed Ice Spears against Xu Huo and the Enforcement Team, then used a Flower Bud to unravel Xu Huo’s spatial barriers and escape confinement.
• Madam Ruo destroyed the aircraft sent to stop the fight and sealed off the area with ice, while Xu Huo lured her underwater.
• Xu Huo froze Madam Ruo with Time Power, knocked her unconscious with Space Power, and carried her through a spatial passage to Whale Garden.
• Madam Ruo woke at Whale Garden and told Xu Huo that her brothers and sisters were people she had met who had lived in her body, while her parents and supposed savior were fake.

Xu Huo questioned Madam Ruo about her many personalities before meeting Gong Ying, who offered to help him approach her. The next day, they were denied entry to Whale Garden and watched a flamboyantly dressed young man leave with two Players.

• Xu Huo learned from Madam Ruo that her original personality had died after taking their parents with her, and he challenged Madam Ruo about hiding the truth from one of her personalities.
• Xu Huo left Whale Garden and encountered Gong Ying, who proposed working together to obtain the keepsake she needed to clear the level.
• Xu Huo bought a travel journal, pen, jeweled hair clip, and blanket while Gong Ying advised him on gifts and suggested inviting Madam Ruo for a walk.
• Xu Huo agreed to visit Whale Garden with Gong Ying the next day.
• Several Players stopped Xu Huo and Gong Ying from entering, saying Madam Ruo was not receiving visitors.
• A flamboyantly dressed young man left Whale Garden with two Players and ordered them to keep outsiders away.

Xu Huo drew a series of portraits that helped Madam Ruo recover the face of the person who had saved her life. After leaving Whale Garden with Gong Ying, he suggested Madam Ruo might have chosen Lake City because she had once seen something special there.

• A hostile young man warned Xu Huo and Gong Ying to stay out of Whale Garden, but Madam Ruo let them in.
• Xu Huo gave Madam Ruo gifts, and she offered him a sketchbook so he could draw her.
• Xu Huo drew fourteen portraits as Madam Ruo's demeanor shifted between personalities.
• Madam Ruo asked Xu Huo to draw the person who saved her life, and his repeated revisions eventually formed a portrait of a scarred young version of Madam Ruo.
• Madam Ruo reflected on the woman’s wish to settle in Lake City, then took the portrait inside.
• Gong Ying asked why Madam Ruo had chosen Lake City, and Xu Huo guessed she might have seen something special there.

Xu Huo and Gong Ying learned that Madam Ruo feared enemies from her past who had begun targeting her after the District 022 Government’s protection weakened. Madam Ruo asked them to bury a green gemstone that represented her in her hometown, and Xu Huo suggested investigating the District Government.

• Madam Ruo explained that she had worked for the Game Government Base, killed people on its behalf, and suspected her enemies had tracked her to Whale Garden.
• Xu Huo reasoned that Madam Ruo’s enemies might want information about the Game Government Base and warned that escaping them would be difficult.
• Madam Ruo gave Xu Huo a green gemstone and asked him to bury it in her hometown, but Gong Ying grabbed it and promised to help.
• Xu Huo suggested investigating why the District 022 Government was cooperating with outsiders, and Madam Ruo said she would consider it.
• Gong Ying insisted on staying with Madam Ruo and asked Xu Huo to let her keep the gemstone, but he said it would be no use to her.