Chapter Summaries

After the hospital punished players for changing its duty roster, Xu Huo treated Zong Lanzhi and confronted him about his father’s death. The treatment left Zong Lanzhi emotionally unsettled, and he ended the chapter killing a patient who resembled his father.

• Zong Lanzhi and Xiao Yue’s groups searched for the missing players, learned the morgue could be opened, and agreed to share any clues.
• Sun Hexiao reported that the duty roster had been changed, but the hospital replaced it and dragged away Zeng Guangyao and two other players after their Evolutions vanished.
• The long-haired nurse announced that treatment would begin and sent Zong Lanzhi to see Xu Huo.
• Xu Huo questioned Zong Lanzhi about his sleep and his father, then subdued him when his energy flared and led him through treatment.
• After returning to the First Hospital Building, Zong Lanzhi killed a patient who reminded him of his father and stuffed the corpse into a Cabinet.
• A player approached Zong Lanzhi, who slapped him; the player protested that he had not lost anything this time.

Zong Lanzhi and the other players suffered through Xu Huo’s hospital experiments while investigating the connection between the man-eating Monsters and the night guards. When Liao Na became bait for a stone statue, Zong Lanzhi escaped with her and began to suspect the painted woman was a Super Artifact.

• Zong Lanzhi found two teammates convinced they had lost organs, while Liao Na said their bodies showed no injuries.
• Over the next two days, Xu Huo’s experiments left the players weak and hospitalized, though they confirmed the Monsters were linked to the night guards.
• Liao Na volunteered to lure a Monster, and Xu Huo sent the painted woman and Dream Lover after her.
• A stone statue tried to drag Liao Na into a spatial rift, but Zong Lanzhi shielded her and they escaped while the painted woman held the statue back.
• Zong Lanzhi concluded that the painted woman might be a Super Artifact and reconsidered Xu Huo’s role in saving District 014.

Zong Lanzhi and the other Players escaped the Seventeenth Hospital Dungeon, while Xu Huo returned to Capital City and sorted through supplies from Nie Xuan. After District 014 stabilized and established contact with the Game Government, Xu Huo left the district again.

• Liao Na told Zong Lanzhi that he and Xu Huo were different, and Zong Lanzhi reconsidered his belief that sacrifices would eventually earn him recognition.
• Zong Lanzhi used his imagination to reveal that the moss-covered statues were night guards, and Xu Huo sent the painted woman to rescue the Players trapped in the morgue and cells.
• The painted woman released Jiang Ke, Pan Bufan, Meng Junyan, and the other trapped Players, then gave them Lollipops and asked them to keep her paper-controlling ability secret.
• Zong Lanzhi, Xiao Yue, and the others escaped when they encountered their companions and Enforcement Headquarters outside the town, while a video of their swollen faces spread among Players.
• Xu Huo returned to Capital City, sorted through Nie Xuan's shipment of items and stones, and stored away the Origin Stone.
• District 014 established contact with the Game Government and began receiving technology and Player quotas, and Xu Huo left the district once matters were settled.

Bai Kou celebrated her rise to power in the Platinum Eye, where Xu Huo visited to congratulate her and discuss his plans. After he left the mechanical castle, Madam Bai visited him at the Eternal Star and explained why she had let her daughter pursue power, ending by hinting that Xu Huo might be among those she expected to fail.

• Bai Kou celebrated with guests in the mechanical castle, then welcomed Xu Huo, who brought her a rose and congratulated her on getting what she wanted.
• Xu Huo and Bai Kou shared wine and danced before discussing his return home, his plans to enter a Dungeon, and the dangers facing him as an A-class Player.
• Bai Kou told Xu Huo that the ships that tested him likely came from an A-class wormhole point and advised him to make allies, including Huahan Werner.
• Xu Huo left the castle and returned to the Eternal Star, where he agreed to receive Madam Bai.
• Madam Bai told Xu Huo she had let Bai Kou pursue power because she believed Bai Kou would fail, and Xu Huo asked whether she meant him as well.

Madam Bai tried to persuade Xu Huo to help keep Bai Kou tied to the Platinum Eye, but he refused and left her motives unresolved. The next morning, Xu Huo visited Old Mrs. Lu and brought gifts for Xiao Yuan and Tan Qi.

• Madam Bai argued that Bai Kou and the Platinum Eye were vulnerable to enemies, then asked Xu Huo to charge into battle for her daughter.
• Xu Huo refused to promise help and said he had his own affairs and enemies to consider.
• Madam Bai left, and Xu Huo wondered whether she used a special game item to beguile people.
• Xu Huo visited Old Mrs. Lu, who welcomed him and brought out Xiao Yuan and Tan Qi.
• Xu Huo praised the children for staying calm during the Platinum Eye attack and gave them local gifts.

After receiving wealth and gifts in District 011, Xu Huo visited Platinum Eye and asked Old Mrs. Lu about two Origin Stones, then prepared to leave. Tan Qi revealed he planned to quit the game to care for his family after their losses, and Xu Huo departed for the dimensional Station.

• Xu Huo received gifts and property from District 011 families, visited Hua Han, and then set out for Platinum Eye.
• Xu Huo showed Old Mrs. Lu a Purple Stone and a spatial Origin Stone, and she advised him about their value and warned him to keep the mutated plants’ existence from the Game Government.
• Tan Qi visited Old Mrs. Lu, thanked Xu Huo for helping him, and said his family had suffered heavy losses and many deaths.
• Xu Huo practiced Artificing with Xiao Yuan and Tan Qi, then Tan Qi told him he planned to quit the game to care for his family.
• Xu Huo wished Tan Qi well, said goodbye, and entered the dimensional Station.

Xu Huo arranged to enter Starfruit City using his psychological therapist certificate, paying a local master craftsman to set up the passage. After checking into a hotel, he reflected on the class divisions and quiet despair of the city.

• A woman fleeing pursuers collided with Xu Huo, dropped her bag, and hurried away after he helped her.
• Xu Huo visited Big White Dental Clinic and asked the master craftsman to help him enter Starfruit City.
• The master craftsman explained the different routes into Starfruit City and warned that psychological therapists were already plentiful there.
• Xu Huo showed his certificate and paid half the fee, agreeing to return when the shop displayed its rest-day sign.
• Xu Huo checked into a hotel and considered how the Sub-district’s class system had left the city’s residents unhappy and its streets soulless.

Xu Huo joined a group of Players being smuggled into Starfruit City through underground passages. The group reached a hidden safe house, where their guide warned them to stay out of sight until they obtained papers.

• Xu Huo saw armed robots chase a Player and learned that local authorities monitored Players while treating minor offenses leniently.
• Xu Huo ate at a restaurant where the owner celebrated his son’s new residence permit, then saw a woman secretly meet the son upstairs.
• Xu Huo went to Big White Dental Clinic after it closed and joined the master craftsman and nine others preparing to enter Starfruit City.
• The master craftsman sent the group through underground passages, explaining that walking slowly helped them evade the city’s detection instruments.
• The group’s guide avoided a mechanical rat with a projected screen and led them through the sewers to a house near Starfruit City.
• A second guide took the group into another underground passage and warned them to remain hidden until they got papers.

Xu Huo entered Starfruit City through an underground passage and negotiated a legal identity after the club demanded payment. He settled in a welfare pod and learned that people in the district often vanished under crushing debts.

• The club's staff fitted the newcomers with wristbands and demanded an additional two hundred thousand White Cash from the ordinary people for legal identities.
• The elderly woman offered Xu Huo a choice between factory work and a five-hundred-thousand payment, but he challenged her and secured an identity for two hundred thousand on credit.
• Xu Huo received proof of residence as a psychotherapist and went to his assigned welfare pod in Building Two.
• Xu Huo found that only three other members of the group had reached the pod housing, and he learned about the young man's plans and the others' whereabouts.
• Xu Huo used his mental abilities to learn that residents with debts or hardships often disappeared from the welfare pod district.

Xu Huo learned how debt and scarce work trapped Starfruit City’s residents, then searched for a job as a psychotherapist. After several hospitals rejected him or offered exploitative terms, one hired him and sent his uniform and employee badge.

• Xu Huo heard residents describe how companies used escalating debts to take people away, and learned that one resident’s son had investigated Player’s Home before disappearing.
• An injured middle-aged woman returned after an Artificer stole her homemade C-class mechanical instruments and had her thrown out, while the young man worried about his growing debt and scarce jobs.
• Xu Huo saw that interest had accumulated on his account but decided not to repay it, and went out to seek work.
• Xu Huo applied to psychotherapy hospitals, turned down two offers that paid below the legal minimum wage, and waited for responses.
• On the third day, one hospital hired Xu Huo and sent him his uniform and employee badge, with work set to begin the next day.

Xu Huo began his hospital job in Starfruit City, where a friendly welcome and generous benefits contrasted with hints that doctors faced pressure and possible elimination. He then visited a Player's Home to learn how aging or incapacitated players could arrange long-term care.

• Xu Huo moved into the hospital's staff dormitory and saw a middle-aged man being forced to leave after failing to keep his job.
• Manager Zuo welcomed Xu Huo, introduced him to his colleagues, and showed him the hospital's lavish staff facilities.
• Xu Huo received a welcome gift and learned he had only two shifts scheduled over the next five days; a neighboring doctor warned him not to trust everyone who smiled.
• Xu Huo returned to the cabins, where the middle-aged woman had not found work and the young man had secured an internship in mechanical design.
• Xu Huo visited a Player's Home and learned that players could enter through government placement or by paying for care; a service Android asked whether he was making a reservation for himself or someone else.

Xu Huo tried to keep his therapist job by placating patients and paying Manager Zuo, but a former coworker’s murder was pinned on him through surveillance footage. He escaped arrest, became wanted in Starfruit City, and returned to the entertainment club where he had first received his identity bracelet.

• Xu Huo started work as a therapist and persuaded patients to change their bad reviews after Manager Zuo and a female Doctor advised him.
• Xu Huo paid Manager Zuo for more patients, then handled difficult clients by meeting their unreasonable demands and getting their reviews changed.
• A therapist reported Manager Zuo and Xu Huo for bribery, but investigators arrested the therapist after discovering his own misconduct.
• After Xu Huo returned to Player's Home, Enforcement Department officers accused him of accidentally killing the fired therapist and offered him arrest or escape.
• Xu Huo fought free, became wanted, and returned to the entertainment club where he had first gotten his bracelet.

Xu Huo confronted the woman who had manipulated his identity and was offered ways to clear his Wanted Criminal notice in exchange for debt, employment, or a dangerous Challenge Island project. He was left weighing the options while the company promised retirement benefits he did not trust.

• Xu Huo accused the woman of tampering with his identity to force him into becoming a Wanted Criminal, then revealed that he was an A-class player.
• The woman said players in District 025 had to obey her organization and sent Xu Huo with an escort to an underground room.
• The man in the room scanned Xu Huo's possessions and showed him his Wanted Criminal notice and three packages for resolving his situation.
• The man offered debt repayment, company employment, or participation in the Challenge Island project, which promised to erase Xu Huo's debt and notice if he survived.
• Xu Huo questioned the promised retirement benefits and studied the first two packages as the man said he could choose whichever option he liked.

Xu Huo learned that Package Three sent Players to Challenge Island, a dangerous Dungeon site, and discussed the risks of joining with two other Players. They agreed to form an alliance and signed the contracts, leaving them to prepare for the trip.

• A Player who had already signed Packages One and Two returned to sign up for Package Three and go to Challenge Island.
• Xu Huo learned that Challenge Island was a survival challenge and suspected it was a Dungeon where Players could not withdraw once inside.
• At the company’s Villa, Xu Huo and two other Players discussed the dangers of Challenge Island and the strict rules governing settlement in District 025.
• The Player in the hat proposed that the three form an alliance, and Xu Huo agreed.
• The company representative brought the contracts, and all three signed them and received wristbands that would activate before they boarded the boat.
• The long-haired Player suggested that they buy portable supplies in case they could not access their Personal Panels on Challenge Island.

Xu Huo, Ice Shovel, and Xiao Deng arrived on Challenge Island, where their items, devices, and Abilities were disabled except for one registered effective item each. With negative scores and only eight hours of protection, they fled sea beasts, survived a Mutant Ant nest, and came under attack from players in the forest.

• Xu Huo, Ice Shovel, and Xiao Deng passed through a portal to reach the island and learned they could bring only one effective item each.
• Their wristbands revealed their negative scores, assigned area, and an eight-hour protection period before random elimination for players with negative scores.
• The three ran inland as Mutant Beasts chased them from the shore, and the beasts stopped at the forest's edge.
• Xu Huo used Space Ray to carry Ice Shovel and Xiao Deng beyond a collapsing Mutant Ant nest, while Xiao Deng used Powder to stop the ants pursuing them.
• A player shot Xiao Deng with a crossbow, costing him ten points, and other players attacked the trio with crude weapons as they defended themselves with branches and vines.

Xu Huo and his companions struggled to survive Challenge Island as points determined their safety and viewers could alter scores. After separating, Xu Huo learned more about how points and usable items worked, then encountered a player who offered to team up with him.

• Xu Huo, Xiao Deng, and Ice Shovel regrouped after evading attackers and realized they needed to raise their scores before the eight-hour elimination deadline.
• Xu Huo received two points from a viewer, while Xiao Deng lost five points after three viewers blocked him.
• Xiao Deng and Ice Shovel split from Xu Huo, who traveled alone through the forest and discovered that players with higher scores could use more items.
• Xu Huo watched Jin Jin Bu Dao kill a player with a score of -5 and gain 38 points.
• A player ambushed Xu Huo, then offered to work with him and help raise his score.

Xu Huo worked to raise his negative score in Fang Snake District by crafting poisoned darts and attacking other players. He joined Xiao Deng and another player in attacking a Cannibal Player who was tormenting Jin Jin Bu Dao.

• A player invited Xu Huo to cooperate and explained that players needed points to enter Bear Hug Zone, but Xu Huo refused and made poisoned darts instead.
• Xu Huo used poisoned darts and his Spatial Evolution to ambush players, raising his score to -223 over three hours.
• Xu Huo heard Jin Jin Bu Dao scream and found a Cannibal Player wounding her to gain points.
• Xiao Deng and a player with -81 points arrived, and the three attacked the Cannibal Player, whose score had reached 68.

Xu Huo and Jin Jin Bu Dao escaped a group of Cannibal Players by using a migrating snake swarm, then discussed the island’s scoring rules and agreed to hunt poisonous creatures together. Jin Jin Bu Dao offered to lead Xu Huo to Silver-Screaming Poison Frogs as he tried to clear his negative score.

• A Cannibal Player and three companions overwhelmed Xu Huo’s group, then pursued Jin Jin Bu Dao because her score was worth more.
• Xu Huo ran into a poisonous snake swarm, drew it toward the Cannibal Players, and used his Space Power to guide himself and Jin Jin Bu Dao to safety.
• Xu Huo injured Jin Jin Bu Dao for points, and she explained that reaching 100 points would force Players to enter Bear Hug Zone.
• Jin Jin Bu Dao said audience support could earn points and suggested using poisonous creatures to defeat other Players.
• Xu Huo agreed to seek Silver-Screaming Poison Frogs with Jin Jin Bu Dao so they could work together and gain points.

Xu Huo killed Jin Jin Bu Dao after her ambush failed and gained enough points to escape his negative score. He later joined a group in Fang Snake District, where 67 explained their plan to enter Bear Hug Zone together and warned that no player had returned from it.

• Jin Jin Bu Dao lured poisonous frogs out of their burrows, then tried to ambush Xu Huo with hidden weapons and venomous snakes.
• Jin Jin Bu Dao was bitten by a venomous snake and Xu Huo killed her, gaining points and taking her equipment.
• Xiao Deng arrived after Xu Huo left and called Jin Jin Bu Dao another freak who had acted convincingly.
• Xu Huo later encountered the player who had invited him to join a group, and a brief clash with a spatial Super Evolver forced him to agree to travel with them.
• 67 showed Xu Huo that a barrier barred players with fewer than 100 points from crossing the river into Bear Hug Zone.
• 67 said the group planned to enter Bear Hug Zone within five days, though no player had returned from it, and proposed that they raise Xu Huo's score and travel together.

Xu Huo joined Lao Gao’s group to earn points on Challenge Island, where viewers rewarded violence and good looks. After discovering that scores above 100 could not safely fall below the threshold, Xu Huo pushed his score past 200 and received permission to remain in Fang Snake District for another 24 hours.

• Lao Gao introduced Xu Huo to his allies and explained how players earned or lost points through viewer attention.
• Leike’s score dropped below 100 after an attack, and Challenge Island killed him; Lao Gao, Red Peach Fruit, and Big Foot killed the attacker and learned that scores over 100 could not fall below that mark.
• Ice Shovel and Xiao Deng fought Xu Huo, whose score fell as Ice Shovel’s rose, and Xu Huo noticed Ice Shovel’s mental interference made him seem more attractive.
• Scarface and Ding Xiang joined Xu Huo, and the three earned points before Xu Huo raised his score above 100 by killing a high-scoring player.
• Xu Huo raised his score above 200, received a message granting him another 24 hours in Fang Snake District, and mourned the dead player by placing a flower on the corpse.