Chapter Summaries

A few seconds of delay by Zong Lanzhi’s Players caused mass suffocation deaths in two lockdown areas, and Xu Huo forced them to face the consequences. With the instance still threatening the city, Xu Huo ordered the evacuation effort to continue and left Zong Lanzhi to answer to the grieving survivors.

• Nearly half the people in two areas suffocated after the Players responsible delayed following the government’s order.
• Team Leader Ming attacked Zong Lanzhi, but Nie Xuan intervened, and Xu Huo took the group out of the Safe Zone.
• Xu Huo brought Zong Lanzhi and the others to the corpse-filled streets, where they saw the deaths their delay had caused.
• Xu Huo asked whether suffocation deaths had spread and ordered Nie Xuan and Team Leader Ming to evacuate people using container items.
• Xu Huo told Zong Lanzhi that others would judge him and ordered him to help care for the dead.
• An old woman pleaded with Zong Lanzhi for food and asked whether he had seen her grandson.

After a deadly evacuation mistake, Minister Ji explained why the government would use Zong Lanzhi’s error to limit his political influence rather than remove him. Xu Huo searched the city for clues, rescued poisoned residents in a location item, and stopped several people fleeing with Special Defense Department personnel.

• Zong Lanzhi ordered Jiang Ke and the other Players to move the bodies and civilians to safety as the Special Defense Department evacuated the area.
• Minister Ji told Nie Xuan that Zong Lanzhi’s mistake would force him to make political concessions, and warned Nie Xuan to control his anger.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman found poisoned residents in a villa district’s location item, and Xu Huo gave them Antidote before summoning the Special Defense Department.
• A young woman recognized Xu Huo as Big Shot X, but her excitement brought back her poisoning symptoms and she collapsed.
• Xu Huo instructed the rescue team to move the residents outside the location item before treating them.
• Xu Huo used a Mental Portal to return several escapees carrying Special Defense Department personnel, and his mental pressure forced them to their knees.

Xu Huo uncovered a scheme to abduct Special Defense Department players and discovered that a pharmaceutical company planned to hypnotize them into working for it. As the department investigated the company, a mysterious illness spread through a hospital and someone demanded ransom for hostages.

• Xu Huo interrogated men who were capturing government players for cash, killed one, and learned of several handoff locations and more than twenty other captors.
• Xu Huo used the painted woman to lure two players to a meeting point, defeated them, and learned they worked for a pharmaceutical company with a hidden local manager.
• Xu Huo handed the players to the Special Defense Department and went to the company, but found its abducted personnel and captives gone.
• The Special Defense Department tracked down company recruits and discovered a cache of hypnotic drugs and brainwashing equipment intended to lure department players into working for the company.
• Team Leader Ming investigated the trading platform while Nie Xuan checked the department's headcount, and a hospital outbreak forced authorities to seal off the building and nearby streets.
• Someone publicly challenged the government to pay ransom for his hostages, though the authorities did not know who he meant.

Xu Huo helped stabilize District 014 as the government addressed threats and the Platinum Eye settled after fighting. He then reviewed efforts to fix a stalled Dungeon and left the painted woman to settle for an area near Ting City instead of Capital City.

• The authorities found the planted bombs, arrested the threat-makers and other plotters, and kept the poisoned victims alive with Potions.
• Xu Huo helped handle troublesome Players as District 014 grew calmer after Jin Feixue’s death and the merger’s peak passed.
• Bai Kou and the former mayor’s side drove back factions led by the Lang family, restoring the Platinum Eye to the mayor’s hands.
• The Suitcase Man escaped another pursuit in District 013, and Xu Huo chose not to reveal the location of his Super Dungeon.
• Xiang Yao reported that government reforms had stopped new suffocation deaths, though the Dungeon had stalled; Xu Huo told him to establish a temporary Sub-district Government.
• Xu Huo offered the painted woman an area near Ting City, but refused her request for Capital City.

After the A-Rank Random Instance "National Resources" was cleared, Xu Huo returned to Ting City and reunited with his companions. As they discussed the future of District 014, Gu Yu warned him against joining the Sub-district Government and getting caught in political infighting.

• The fog lifted after the Dungeon was cleared, and the city’s residents celebrated the return of sunlight.
• Yan Jiayu reunited with Xu Huo and Big Mao, learned that Jin Feixue was dead, and concluded that the Ghastly Sound Knights were likely finished.
• Xu Huo took the painted woman back to Ting City, where he reunited with Gu Yu and later met Yu Qingqing for a meal.
• Yu Qingqing said she wanted to join the Sub-district Government for its benefits, but Xu Huo warned her that government work required following rules.
• Gu Yu explained that she had moved districts to protect her family and advised Xu Huo to avoid government factional struggles, while Yu Qingqing argued that his strength meant he should not have to avoid anyone.

Yu Qingqing told Xu Huo that Tang Guangbo had been secretly writing and drawing in the air and that she had lost her memory after recording him. Xu Huo warned her to stay away from Tang and then monitored District 014’s Dungeons as the district’s transition continued peacefully.

• Gu Yu left for another city after telling Xu Huo she would think over his advice.
• Yu Qingqing showed Xu Huo a video of herself entering Tang Guangbo’s office twice, though she remembered only the first visit.
• Xu Huo explained that Tang Guangbo was an Outer District Player whose mental-evolution research was under government surveillance, and warned Yu Qingqing to avoid him.
• Yu Qingqing gave Xu Huo a box of supplies, and the painted woman tasted and discarded a bottle labeled as a fertility formula.
• Xu Huo checked news and Dungeon reports, noting that District 014’s merger had remained peaceful and that Random Instances posed the greatest danger.

Xu Huo returned home to reunite with his family and spoke privately with Ms. Fang about her relationship with Tang Guangbo and the truth about Xu Zhi’s death. The family shared a meal, and Tongtong gave Xu Huo a birthday present before Xu Huo offered to make up for missing Tongtong’s birthday.

• Xu Huo returned to his family after their relatives were brought back from temporary item spaces.
• Xu Huo spoke with Ms. Fang, who apologized for neglecting him and advised him not to sacrifice his life for revenge over Xu Zhi.
• Xu Huo told Father Xu not to interfere with Ms. Fang’s choices, then distracted Ms. Yu by revealing that Father Xu had hidden money in Tongtong’s toys.
• Ms. Yu scolded Father Xu and Tongtong, then served dinner to the family.
• Tongtong gave Xu Huo a little golden horse bought with his New Year’s money, and Xu Huo offered to give Tongtong a present in return.

Xu Huo visited Tang Guangbo, who had been experimenting on himself to advance Mental Evolution. Tang explained that his research was driven by the extraordinary mental resistance of an ordinary person, and warned that breaching the brain’s defenses would leave people transparent in the game world.

• Xu Huo gave Tongtong colorful passive-trigger shields and magic-trick devices, while Father Xu warned him not to spoil the boy.
• Xu Huo left home and brought a small bag of fruit to Tang Guangbo’s office, where a pair of stationed Players let him in.
• The office transformed into a decaying, foul-smelling space, and Xu Huo escaped Tang’s trap by opening a Mental Portal.
• Tang Guangbo emerged and told Xu Huo that his self-experiment had partly worked, though few people could endure the process of Mental Evolution.
• Tang Guangbo described an ordinary Evolved Human who resisted a Potion during interrogation and used his mental power to give false information.
• Tang Guangbo said he wanted to protect people’s private thoughts and secrets, warning that people would become transparent if their brains’ defenses were breached.

Xu Huo discussed the Mental Defense Line and the dangers of exposing a Spiritual World’s core with Tang Guangbo, who advised him to create a hidden core. After returning home to find the Xu and Yu families hosting guests, Xu Huo was asked by the painted woman whether she could visit the District Government building while he was busy.

• Xu Huo asked Tang Guangbo whether A-class wormhole instruments could probe consciousness, and Tang Guangbo explained the Mental Defense Line’s protection against memory access and mental interference.
• Xu Huo described the Wisteria instance, where sleeping people’s mental bodies could kill one another, and Tang Guangbo speculated that the dream state had loosened their defenses.
• Tang Guangbo told Xu Huo that a Mental Evolver’s Spiritual World core was linked to the Mental Defense Line and urged him to create a decoy core to hide his real one.
• Xu Huo considered the implications of breaching the Mental Defense Line and decided that creating another core was worth trying.
• Xu Huo returned home to find relatives and friends of the Xu and Yu families visiting, then went to his room.
• The painted woman emerged from under the bed and asked Xu Huo whether she could play at the District Government building while he was busy.

Xu Huo reviewed Super Evolution information and inspected the items provided by the Special Defense Department, including the intelligent items Dream Lover and Ineffectual Rage. After examining Whale’s and Jin Feixue’s belongings, he discovered a game item in Jin Feixue’s Storage Compartment.

• A stranger invited Xu Huo to a Ticket Dungeon in District 014 and offered him two-thirds of its loot, but he set the message aside.
• Xu Huo examined the time-related, lifesaving, and mental items from the Special Defense Department.
• Xu Huo released Dream Lover, discovered it was dim-witted and fond of apples, and put it into his item slot.
• Xu Huo decided not to release Ineffectual Rage because it attacked its holder and could go berserk.
• Xu Huo opened Whale’s and Jin Feixue’s belongings and found a game item in Jin Feixue’s Storage Compartment.

Xu Huo opened Jin Feixue’s Mystery Box and obtained a Temporary Pass, which let him inspect nearby train routes and sub-districts. While searching Jin Feixue’s belongings, he also found records showing that Jin Feixue, Dou Shengnan, Bai Tiaoyi, and Whale suffered from a serious premature-aging condition.

• Xu Huo used the Lucky Dice before drawing from Jin Feixue’s Mystery Box.
• Xu Huo obtained a Temporary Pass that allowed unrestricted train travel and revealed nearby station routes on his Personal Panel.
• Xu Huo examined Jin Feixue’s remaining artifacts and instruments, including a Violin and a defense artifact that absorbed and weakened attacks.
• Xu Huo found documents showing that Jin Feixue had been researching a treatment for premature aging, a condition that affected many players.
• Xu Huo read records identifying Jin Feixue, Dou Shengnan, Bai Tiaoyi, and Whale as people who had developed the condition, with Whale falling ill first.

After learning that Wang Xiaohui was trapped in the Wang Family Manor’s dangerous sealed Dungeon, Xu Huo reluctantly agreed to hear Wei Mang’s plea. The Dungeon expanded and showed signs of being mental-type, leaving Xu Huo facing a growing rescue crisis.

• Xu Huo received Wei Mang’s request to rescue Wang Xiaohui from a manor where entrants disappeared, and he referred the matter to Nie Xuan.
• After Nie Xuan reported that the manor was an exceptionally powerful A-grade sealed Dungeon, Wei Mang broke into Xu Huo’s residential compound and begged him to save Xiaohui.
• Xu Huo brought Wei Mang inside, where Wei Mang explained that two rescuers had entered separate spaces and suspected the Dungeon was connected to the manor’s past.
• Wei Mang said Xiaohui’s baby had been taken somewhere safe and offered Xu Huo the promised reward.
• Nie Xuan reported that the Dungeon had expanded to trap Xiaohui’s paternal uncle, his Players, and Enforcement Department Players, and that it might be a mental-type Dungeon.

Xu Huo learned the Wang Family Manor’s grim history and examined the game item “Ice and Snow World” that Wei Mang offered him. After testing its three-second protective effect, Xu Huo agreed to leave with Wei Mang to rescue Wang Xiaohui.

• Wei Mang told Xu Huo the manor’s history of killings, misfortune, and Wang Xiaohui’s confinement and untreated injury.
• Xu Huo learned that players inside the manor had sent back little information and asked Wei Mang to seek more details from the Wang family’s relatives.
• Nie Xuan confirmed that no new messages had arrived and left, while Xu Huo asked him to leave two people outside to provide support.
• Wei Mang offered Xu Huo the game item “Ice and Snow World,” which Xu Huo activated and tested for three seconds.
• Wei Mang said Wang Xiaohui mattered more than the item, and Xu Huo said he would change clothes before they left to rescue her.

Xu Huo, Wei Mang, and the painted woman entered the expanded Wang Family Manor instance, where the clearance mission was to kill their reflections. They explored the deserted manor and found mirrors that distorted their appearances, leaving the painted woman startled by her reflection.

• Xu Huo and Wei Mang arrived at Wang Family Manor and learned that the instance had expanded and no one had returned with new messages.
• The painted woman arrived, and Xu Huo invited her and Wei Mang to enter the instance while Enforcement Department players waited outside.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman entered from the left while Wei Mang took the right entrance, and Xu Huo received the mission to kill his reflection.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman explored the empty manor, where he sensed dense Space Power and mental power throughout.
• The painted woman examined a mirror in a girl's room and exclaimed that she did not look good in it.

Xu Huo and the painted woman investigated the manor’s strange reflections while questioning Wang Chengren, who accused Wang Xiaohui of killing the Players. After following his account through a Tea Hall and a garden, they encountered another Wang Chengren emerging from the path and diving into the Lake.

• Xu Huo noticed his reflection behaving strangely in a mirror and left without touching it.
• Wang Chengren emerged from the Lake, accused Wang Xiaohui of killing the Players, and asked Xu Huo and the painted woman to save him.
• Xu Huo questioned Wang Chengren about where he had seen Wang Xiaohui and led him to a moon gate and nearby Tea Rooms.
• Xu Huo spotted his distorted reflection in a Glass Bottle and warned that the camera lens was also a mirror.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman crossed the garden and reached another lakeside, where a second Wang Chengren appeared and plunged into the Lake.

Xu Huo investigated strange doubles and reflections in the Wang Family Manor, suspecting that reflective surfaces connected the real manor to a shadow world. The group continued onward without finding the missing Players, while Wang Chengren remained vulnerable to the Dungeon’s effects.

• Xu Huo caught up to a false Wang Chengren, which vanished into the lake, and learned the real Wang Chengren had not seen the double.
• Wang Chengren explained the manor’s history of deaths and urged the group to escape, while Xu Huo considered whether the lake connected separate spaces.
• Xu Huo tested the painted woman’s reflection and suspected that reflective surfaces could serve as passages between worlds.
• Wang Chengren claimed his shadow had moved independently, so Xu Huo kicked him away from the glass and shattered it.
• Xu Huo theorized that the Dungeon contained a shadow world and warned Wang Chengren that fear could make him more susceptible to its effects.

Xu Huo investigated the Dungeon at Wang Family Manor, where a cook’s hollowed-out corpse emerged from the lake and strange reflections seemed to threaten people. Wang Chengren revealed how his family had mistreated Wang Xiaohui and tried to seize her inheritance, while Xu Huo suspected the Dungeon was connected to her childhood suffering.

• Xu Huo and the painted woman slapped Wang Chengren to calm his fear, then pulled him into the manor lake when bubbles appeared.
• The three surfaced with the corpse of a Wang family cook, whose organs had been removed through an incision in her back.
• Xu Huo questioned Wang Chengren at the main building, and Wang Chengren explained his family’s claim to the manor and his involvement in Wang Xiaohui’s upbringing.
• Wang Chengren admitted he had pressured Wang Xiaohui to sign over her inheritance, and Xu Huo connected the Dungeon’s setting to her childhood.
• Xu Huo noted that Wang Chengren’s family had suffered misfortunes since Evolution began, though many of its members had survived.

Xu Huo investigated how the manor’s mirrors and reflections connected to the Dungeon, then became separated from Wang Chengren and the painted woman after a strange encounter in the lake. He encountered an apparition dressed like an old Wang family employee, who beckoned him toward dinner.

• The painted woman found a fleeting figure in a mirror, and Xu Huo spotted Wei Mang reflected in the dining-room chandelier heading toward the lake.
• Xu Huo and the painted woman split up to search while Wang Chengren followed Xu Huo, covering his head to keep his shadow from recognizing him.
• Wang Chengren stumbled into the lake, and Xu Huo was dragged in; when Xu Huo emerged, Wang Chengren had vanished and the manor seemed to have shifted into another space.
• Xu Huo found waterweed shaped like human faces in the lake and concluded the manor contained more than two spaces, while the painted woman and Wang Chengren remained missing.
• An apparition dressed like a former Wang family employee told Xu Huo that dinner was about to be served, then vanished and reappeared farther down the corridor.

Xu Huo followed a strange servant to a dining room where Wang Chengren, his wife, and their reflections forced the guests to eat human organs. After Xu Huo disrupted the scene, the reflections vanished, and the other players grew suspicious of him.

• Xu Huo followed the woman through the manor to a dining room filled with Wang family staff, players, and strangers.
• Wang Chengren and Ms. Yao appeared, and Ms. Yao ordered everyone to eat a meal of human organs.
• A reflection servant dragged a guest away, and the man sank into the reflective floor as the players watched.
• Xu Huo accused a servant of stealing food, prompting Ms. Yao to lash out and the reflected couple and servants to disappear into the room's reflective objects.
• An unfamiliar player questioned Xu Huo, and Wei Mang said the reflections were becoming more lifelike before Xu Huo gave his surname.

Xu Huo gathered the Enforcement Department players, Wei Mang, Wang Family employees, and three Outer District Players to search the manor and learn the Reflection World’s rules. After spotting a shadow that looked like Miss Wang, he warned the group not to chase it and to watch the reflections around them.

• Xu Huo learned that a chef had been the first person to disappear and that the group had been scattered across different spaces before the dinner gathering.
• Xiao Yang explained that people sometimes could and sometimes could not access their Personal Panels, and Xu Huo decided they would search together.
• Xu Huo led the group out of the dining hall, telling everyone to stay calm and avoid unnecessary actions.
• The group saw humanlike shapes in the lake, which Wei Mang identified as harmless aquatic plants from the manor.
• A shadow resembling Miss Wang appeared behind an artificial hill and vanished, but Xu Huo told the group not to pursue it and to watch the reflections.