Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo, Ding Xiang, and their companions planned a coordinated break into Bear Hug Zone, using Lao Gao, Red Peach Fruit, and Big Foot as the first group and the others as bait. The first group reached the barrier under attack, and Xu Huo’s borrowed interference item cracked as another wave struck.

• Lao Gao proposed that he, Red Peach Fruit, and Big Foot enter Bear Hug Zone first while the others created a diversion, and Ding Xiang secured their agreement by taking items as collateral.
• Lao Gao chose a river crossing through a miasma-filled area and planned for the two groups to regroup after one minute.
• At three in the morning, Xu Huo, Ding Xiang, and Scarface crossed the river and hit a transparent spatial barrier as Bear Hug Zone lit up.
• Ding Xiang activated a protective device, and Scarface used a movement device to get the three of them to shore amid attacks from players and mutated fish.
• A burst of Space Power damaged Ding Xiang’s device, and another attack wave shattered their new protective barrier as Xu Huo’s borrowed interference item cracked.

Xu Huo, Ding Xiang, and Scarface survived an ambush in the Bear Hug Zone after Lao Gao and Lao Fu’s group came to their aid. After traps forced their enlarged group back to the river, Xu Huo joined a hunting party to raise their scores, but they returned at dawn to find their camp deserted and signs of a fight.

• Players with Jammers attacked Xu Huo, Ding Xiang, and Scarface, and Xu Huo was injured as the group was split apart.
• Lao Gao, Lao Fu, and their companions rescued the three and drove off their attackers, bringing the group to ten people.
• The group tried to cross two mountains but lost two players to traps and ambushes, so they returned to the riverbank.
• Lao Gao, Xu Huo, Lao Fu, and Scarface hunted together until dawn, raising all four of their scores above 200.
• The four returned to find their temporary camp empty, with signs of fighting everywhere.

Xu Huo survived an ambush in Bear Hug Zone, killed 189 after 174 turned on him, and learned from a map that reaching other districts required passing through Little Bear City. After repeated attacks drained his points and injured him, he stopped to treat his wounds as his score began to rise again.

• Lao Gao, Scarface, Lao Fu, and Xu Huo were ambushed by Players using rocks and sealing barriers, then separated while fleeing.
• Xu Huo evaded 189 and 174 in poisonous woods, where 174 turned on 189 and the two fought.
• Xu Huo drew 174 away and killed the gravely wounded 189, gaining his devices and 251 points.
• Xu Huo found a map showing that travel between districts required passing through Little Bear City and judged that he was nearby.
• Players repeatedly attacked Xu Huo as he moved toward Little Bear City, reducing his points to 360 and leaving him injured.
• Xu Huo stopped to rest, treated his wounds with medicinal juice, and watched his points fluctuate upward.

Xu Huo and Ding Xiang escaped a group of players, only to be caught in a poisonous insect plague. They fled underground toward a river, hoping to escape beneath the water.

• Ding Xiang arrived injured and pursued by four players, and Xu Huo gave her a potion in exchange for the device she carried.
• Xu Huo and Ding Xiang rested together as the pursuers gathered more players to attack them.
• At dusk, Xu Huo used an explosive to break through the waiting players, and Ding Xiang followed him.
• A tremor and spatial barrier disrupted their escape, and Ding Xiang identified a poisonous insect nest nearby.
• A swarm of poisonous insects overwhelmed the forest, forcing Xu Huo and Ding Xiang underground toward a river.

Xu Huo and Ding Xiang were ambushed by Players who tried to turn their capture into entertainment, but a summoned mutant tiger disrupted the fight. Xu Huo redirected the tiger toward their attackers and cleared their escape route.

• Xu Huo and Ding Xiang surfaced far from the poisonous-insect outbreak, found a teleportation device, and headed back toward Little Bear City.
• A dozen Players trapped them at a river valley, and one used a tether to hoist Ding Xiang and Xu Huo into the air until Xu Huo cut them free.
• The gloomy man attacked Xu Huo while the Players' traps injured their own group, and one Player killed the wounded female Player for points.
• Ding Xiang used her whistle to summon a mutant giant tiger, which hurled the gloomy man into the air as black shadows pierced his chest.
• The tiger turned on Xu Huo, but he struck its head and drew its attention toward the Players before cutting through the barrier in their way.

Xu Huo and Ding Xiang reunited on Challenge Island, where Xu Huo explained that he intended to survive by reaching the island’s center and proposed building a capable group of companions. They set out to find a Mental Evolver in a nearby swamp, while Ding Xiang noticed Xu Huo carried an unusual number of Items.

• After escaping the giant tiger and its pursuers, Xu Huo sheltered from the rain and considered how Challenge Island’s zones and spectators threatened Players.
• Xu Huo found Ding Xiang and told her he believed they could survive by reaching the island’s center, though they needed at least eight capable companions.
• Ding Xiang suggested recruiting Lao Gao and a Potion maker, and she told Xu Huo about a Mental Evolver who had entered the swamp.
• Xu Huo decided to search the swamp with Ding Xiang and gave her a gas mask, prompting her to notice the many Items in his backpack.

Xu Huo and Ding Xiang gathered three companions and learned that Little Bear City charged an entry fee and forced players into lethal challenge matches. After reaching five hundred points, they headed there but were drawn into a brutal melee, which all five survived at great cost.

• Xu Huo and Ding Xiang failed to recruit a female player, then joined up with Old Duan, Zhang Mi, and Marg while heading toward Little Bear City.
• Zhang Mi explained that Little Bear City charged one hundred points to enter and forced players into lethal challenges or random matches.
• The five fought for a day and a night until each reached five hundred points, then set out for Little Bear City to rest.
• Xu Huo and his companions encountered a deadly melee outside the city and joined the battle as more players rushed in.
• The five survived the fight, but Marg lost an arm, Zhang Mi and Ding Xiang were badly wounded, and Old Duan treated their injuries.
• Ding Xiang leaned against a tree and said she thought she was done for.

Xu Huo’s group recovered from the battle, traded for healing Potion, and traveled with Yilan toward Little Bear City. When they reached its bear-shaped gate, they saw a Player hurled into the barrier.

• Xu Huo gave Ding Xiang a Self-Healing Agent and led the group in resting and treating their wounds.
• Yilan traded Xu Huo a Potion for an instrument, joined the group, and shared what she had heard about points and the desolate zone ahead.
• Xu Huo performed his ritual of placing flowers on the people he had killed, then the group searched burrows for food and hunted Mutant Beasts.
• Xu Huo’s group reached Little Bear City and saw a Player thrown against the barrier near the entrance.

After entering Little Bear City, Xu Huo and his companions were forced into deadly player challenges. Xu Huo defeated Gray with a poisoned blade and spatial attacks, while Zhang Mi, Marg, and Ding Xiang were left fighting their own opponents.

• A barrier killed a player who tried to force his way through, and Xu Huo and the others entered Little Bear City through its light curtain, each losing 100 points.
• Zhang Mi, Marg, and Ding Xiang received challenge notices from Tomorrow I Don't Eat Breakfast, Hans, and Moon Gazer.
• Xu Huo challenged Gray, while Zhang Mi, Marg, and Ding Xiang began fighting their challengers.
• Gray disabled the combatants' devices with a one-use pendant and attacked Xu Huo with a metal whip and short blades.
• Xu Huo cut Gray with a poisoned blade, then used spatial attacks to sever Gray's limbs and pierce his heart.

Xu Huo won another challenge match, pushing his score above one thousand, while Ding Xiang defeated Marg. After the group saw dead players reduced to scraps and cleaned away, they bought supplies in Little Bear City and considered what they might need in the Wasteland Zone.

• Xu Huo killed Tomorrow I Don't Eat Breakfast after Yilan distracted him, raising his score above one thousand.
• Ding Xiang narrowly defeated Marg, while Marg's challenger disappeared before Xu Huo could find him.
• A barrier sealed off Zhang Mi and another dead player's bodies, and white light reduced them to flesh and blood before cleaning robots swept away the remains.
• Xu Huo found no notification about his score passing one thousand, and the group wondered whether Bear Hug Zone had a time limit.
• Old Duan found a Wasteland Zone map for sale at fifteen hundred points, prompting the group to discuss whether they needed it or practical supplies instead.
• Xu Huo and the others spent points on potions, first-aid kits, food, and water, then rested in Little Bear City and questioned whether challenge matches had limits.

After rejecting an invitation that would have split up their group, Xu Huo learned the rules for staying in Little Bear City and began looking for new companions before returning to the Bear Hug Zone. He recruited a trio and a pair, leaving the group newly reformed and ready to face the Wasteland Zone together.

• A white-haired leader invited Yilan and Xu Huo to join his team but dismissed Old Duan and Ding Xiang as liabilities.
• Lao Gao warned that the team had little time to gather supplies, and Yilan later told Xu Huo that players could stay in Little Bear City for fifteen days, with extra limits tied to their points.
• Xu Huo refused to join the white-haired man's team, and Yilan chose to return to Xu Huo, Old Duan, and Ding Xiang.
• A group of Cannibal Players mocked Xu Huo and his companions, but the three walked away and decided to return to the Bear Hug Zone.
• Xu Huo searched for additional companions and met Wood, Wolf Fang, and Na Wei, along with Love Orange and Two Heads.

Xu Huo and the others traveled together after choosing him as their leader, sharing skills and supplies while discussing the degeneration caused by Evolution Potions. They ended the journey hoping for a cure and joking about Dr. Wu, whose rumored Perfect Potions inspired their respect.

• Two Heads proposed a vote for a group leader, and Love Orange and the others supported Xu Huo.
• The group rested overnight, then left Little Bear City together and shared poisoned hidden weapons and antidote roots made by Love Orange with Na Wei's help.
• Xu Huo asked Wood about degeneration, and Wood explained its symptoms and how District 025's treatments eased the suffering without curing it.
• Ding Xiang suggested that some players' bodies could not adapt to evolution, while Two Heads questioned why the game had not replicated Dr. Wu's Perfect Potions.
• Wolf Fang hoped the Game Government would develop a cure, and Two Heads joked that players were better off hoping Dr. Wu became their godfather.

Xu Huo accepted Mitchell’s challenge and fought the poison-wielding player inside the arena. After Love Orange’s Antidotes stopped Mitchell’s toxins, Xu Huo wounded him with poison of his own, leaving the fight unresolved as the toxin spread up Mitchell’s arm.

• After the group entered Little Bear City, Mitchell challenged Xu Huo and offered him a place on his team if he was also a poison user.
• Xu Huo entered the arena with two Antidotes from Love Orange, while Mitchell unleashed a tornado and filled it with venomous creatures and poisonous powder.
• Mitchell broke through Xu Huo’s defensive barrier and injured him, but the Antidotes prevented the poison from taking effect.
• Xu Huo countered with Space Sharp Blades, sliced through the attacking creatures, and forced Mitchell back.
• Xu Huo slashed Mitchell’s arm and told him to try his poison as dark purple lines began spreading from the wound.

Xu Huo survived Mitchell’s poison and explosive last stand, then won a difficult arena match that pushed his score above 2,000. Ordered to cross into another Sub-district, he passed through Gate Two and entered a scorching, desert-bound Wasteland Zone.

• Mitchell’s poison failed to kill Xu Huo, and his bomb left Mitchell dead while Xu Huo survived behind layered barriers.
• Xu Huo received another challenge, and he told Ding Xiang that he would wait in the Wasteland Zone if he was forced to cross over.
• Xu Huo used an interference device and, with Yilan’s mental-energy assistance, killed his formidable opponent before disappearing from the arena.
• Xu Huo teleported away, learned he had to reach Gate Two within an hour, and headed for it with a score of 2,203.
• Xu Huo encountered Yilan’s group at Gate Two, then crossed into the Wasteland Zone, where scorching heat and an endless desert stretched beyond the greenery.

Xu Huo explored the scorching desolate area, gathered plants that could help replenish fluids, and waited for Ding Xiang's group to join him. After they reunited and prepared supplies, the group followed a rough map and set out toward a marked cross-zone location.

• Xu Huo unlocked a long-distance teleportation device, gathered edible plant juice, and found no sign of the Chaos Space near the desert's edge.
• Ding Xiang, Two Heads, Love Orange, Wood, Wolf Fang, Na Wei, and Old Duan earned enough points to pass through the Second Gate and reunite with Xu Huo.
• Love Orange identified two useful plants, and the group filled a bottle with their juice and made bundles of roots and broad-leaf hats.
• Two Heads showed the group a rough map marking a cross-zone location northeast of Little Bear City, and they agreed to follow it.
• The group set out across the desolate area, unsure how they would earn points or what challenges awaited them.

Xu Huo and his team struggled through a sudden snowstorm before Challenge Island forced them into a team arena match against a stronger six-person team. The first-round battle began with Xu Huo under attack from two opponents.

• Xu Huo and his companions rested in the heat, then set off again when the sky abruptly darkened and snow began to fall.
• The group found a frozen man suspended in midair by Spatial Ray blades and realized the storm had trapped them in a strange space.
• Challenge Island matched Xu Huo’s eight-person team against a six-person team in an arena match, with the opponents declaring they would leave no survivors.
• The two teams began fighting, and Xu Huo escaped an eye-shaped cutline trap before countering with his knife, Space Power, and poison.

Xu Huo’s team lost the first round after a teammate surrendered, then won the second when Xu Huo overwhelmed the opposing challenger with Space Power. After Challenge Island killed the defeated player, the poisoned opposing player demanded an antidote as both teams prepared to fight over the remaining points.

• A teammate on Xu Huo’s team surrendered during the first round, dropping the team’s score to 100 and ending the match.
• Xu Huo stepped forward to face the opposing team’s ice-wielding Space Power Super Evolver in the second round.
• Xu Huo battered the man’s barriers with Space Sharp Blades and Space Rays until he pinned him down, winning the round and raising his team’s score to 2,801.
• The defeated man charged at Xu Huo after the arena ended, and a streak of white light from Challenge Island killed him.
• The poisoned opposing player collapsed with a black-and-purple hand and demanded an antidote, while Two Heads and Wood warned that the teams were outnumbered and might have to fight.

An instrument bomb scattered Xu Huo, Ding Xiang, and the others across the dark, freezing wasteland of Challenge Island. Xu Huo and Ding Xiang followed a massive space wall while searching for the Perfect Potion, then ran as two walls closed in on them.

• A poisoned player detonated an instrument bomb that scattered Xu Huo, Ding Xiang, and the others, leaving Xu Huo and Ding Xiang alone.
• Xu Huo and Ding Xiang found a huge space wall and Xu Huo suspected the Perfect Potion lay beyond it.
• Xu Huo told Ding Xiang he had come to District 025 to gamble on his chances despite his regression.
• Xu Huo and Ding Xiang followed the wall through the wasteland, sharing their dwindling rations and water.
• A second space wall approached, and Xu Huo and Ding Xiang ran as it threatened to crush them.

Xu Huo and Ding Xiang escaped a merging spatial wall but remained trapped in the barren zone, where they searched for a way out. After finding a series of small spatial walls, they spotted Love Orange on the other side of one, but could not hear each other.

• Xu Huo and Ding Xiang escaped around the corner of a stationary spatial wall as it merged with a moving wall, and saw a corpse shattered by Space Power.
• Xu Huo and Ding Xiang traveled along the wall for a day, then rested and changed direction when they found no other players or route back to the normal barren zone.
• Xu Huo and Ding Xiang encountered several small, stable spatial walls as they crossed the darkness.
• Ding Xiang noticed a figure inside a spatial wall, and Xu Huo and Ding Xiang recognized Love Orange when she appeared on its other side.
• Xu Huo and Ding Xiang and Love Orange tried to communicate across the wall but could not hear one another.

Xu Huo used Love Orange's stickers to trace a route through Chaos Space and opened a passage through a large spatial wall. After he crossed it, the wall vanished, leaving him separated from Ding Xiang.

• Love Orange and Ding Xiang found each other on opposite sides of an invisible spatial wall and communicated with gestures and lip-reading.
• Xu Huo asked Love Orange to mark nearby spatial walls with stickers, then used the markers to guide the group through the disordered spaces.
• Xu Huo found the stickers led toward a large spatial wall and decided to try breaking through it with his Spatial Evolution ability.
• Xu Huo carved a passage through the wall and entered it alone, promising to return for Ding Xiang if he made it across.
• Xu Huo reached the other side, but the spatial wall disappeared behind him, along with Ding Xiang.