Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo defeated the Pleasure Group’s forces after Silver Armor threatened him, then entered District 12 and checked into the Yongxing Hotel. The Pleasure Group tried to ransom its captured members, while Xu Huo observed that its Potion business operated openly despite warnings about misuse.

• Silver Armor revealed that he was the Pleasure Group’s third young master and threatened Xu Huo, who looked up the organization and mocked its origins.
• The Pleasure Group sent aircraft and players to surround Xu Huo, but he destroyed the aircraft and defeated the attacking players, capturing Silver Armor and the survivors.
• Xu Huo addressed the Pleasure Group through Silver Armor’s surveillance device, crushed it, and entered District 12 after selling the captured aircraft to the game platform.
• The Pleasure Group offered Xu Huo a high price to ransom its captured members, but he ignored its messages and checked into the Yongxing Hotel.
• Xu Huo examined the hotel view and noted that Pleasure Group Potion advertisements promoted stimulant- and sedative-laced Potions alongside legal warnings about excessive use.

Xu Huo repeatedly rejected Pleasure Group’s ransom proposals while its government negotiation team tried to determine what would satisfy him. After recommending that the team let him set the terms, they returned to Yongxing Hotel, where Xu Huo asked what proposal they had brought.

• Pleasure Group’s negotiation team met Xu Huo, who rejected its initial ransom proposal and told them to find a better way to vent his anger.
• The team returned with offers including a company position, residence, Dungeon walkthroughs, a government post, and Gray Player status, but Xu Huo rejected them again.
• The team next offered admission tickets to a Special Evolution site, which Xu Huo also refused.
• The negotiation team advised Pleasure Group to hand Xu Huo the initiative, reasoning that he should state what he wanted after several rounds of talks.
• After arguing with the group representative, the team returned to Yongxing Hotel, where Xu Huo asked what proposal they had brought.

Xu Huo asked Pleasure Group to hold an exhibition of small Mutant Animals, and Wen Shenghe advised the group on how to organize it. Afterward, she learned she was being reassigned to mediate between Districts Six and Seven and warned her colleagues to stay clear of Xu Huo.

• Xu Huo told the woman with glasses that Pleasure Group should hold an exhibition of small Mutant Animals until he was satisfied.
• The woman with glasses advised Pleasure Group to publicize the exhibition widely, gather rare animals, limit senior attendees, and keep Red Players away.
• Wen Shenghe learned that headquarters had ordered her to lead a team mediating between Districts Six and Seven.
• Wen Shenghe told her colleagues that Xu Huo had planned the exhibition from the start and had used the negotiations to make Pleasure Group eager to send him away.
• Wen Shenghe instructed her team to hand the matter over to the Second Division if it brought an official order, and warned them not to underestimate Xu Huo's danger.

Xu Huo reviewed negotiation expert Wen Shenghe’s background as Pleasure Group publicized a lavish Mutant Animal exhibition that drew increasingly powerful guests to District 12. Hoping to find something left behind by Carmen Field, Xu Huo was interrupted by an attempted poisoning, captured the invisible player, and made him pay for the damage.

• Xu Huo read about Wen Shenghe, a celebrated non-player negotiation expert whose connections helped keep her safe among player factions.
• Pleasure Group announced the exhibition at a palace in District 12, opened attendance to animal breeders, and offered prizes for rare small Mutant Animals.
• The event grew popular and attracted ordinary people, players, and guests from powerful A-class wormhole-point families, making Pleasure Group anxious about security.
• Xu Huo hoped Carmen Field’s lovers had preserved useful knowledge or resources that could help him advance toward Super Player strength.
• An invisible player tried to poison Xu Huo, but Xu Huo captured him and told the hotel staff to charge him for the broken items.

Xu Huo attended Pleasure Group’s Mutant Animal exhibition to look for Carmen Field, while keeping his search discreet. The arrival of young visitors from an A-class wormhole point turned the gathering tense when one of them fed his venomous snake a displayed Mutant Animal.

• Pleasure Group’s exhibition drew a large crowd, and Xu Huo entered carrying the World’s Ugliest Big-Mouthed Toad.
• A chubby lizard keeper told Xu Huo that Tree Under World was a well-known lizard enthusiast and showed him her public account.
• Xu Huo found that Tree Under World’s account revealed no personal details and had disabled private messages, so he decided not to contact her uninvited.
• An aircraft carrying young men and women from an A-class wormhole point arrived, and the visitors entered the main hall with their venomous snakes.
• One of the visitors demanded to see District 007’s unusual pets, then threw his snake into a display case, where it swallowed the Mutant Animal inside.

Xu Huo’s toad swallowed a young woman’s snake, sparking a confrontation at the palace that ended with him killing one attacker and forcing another to apologize. Tree Under World intervened, and Xu Huo revealed he had come specifically to visit her.

• A snake attacked Xu Huo’s toad, which swallowed it whole, prompting its owner to order her Bodyguards to attack him.
• Xu Huo incapacitated two approaching Players, disabled the attackers’ equipment, and forced two young people to their knees.
• When one of them threatened Xu Huo, he snapped the man’s throat and demanded an apology from the young woman he held.
• Tree Under World arrived and ordered the District Government and Pleasure Group personnel to stop fighting.
• Xu Huo called Tree Under World by her Jixin Terminal username and said he had come to visit her, so she invited him to come with her.
• Tree Under World ordered her niece and the others to leave District 007 and never return.

Xu Huo met Maple to ask for Carmen’s notes, but she refused and demanded that he retrieve a sapphire hairpin stolen from her. He traveled to District 10, where he quickly located the prop’s whereabouts.

• Xu Huo followed Maple to a Wetland Park and explained that he wanted to borrow Carmen’s records to help with his Evolution bottleneck.
• Maple refused to give Xu Huo anything, then accused him of resembling Carmen and resented the idea that Carmen had left blessings for his descendants.
• Maple challenged Xu Huo to recover a hairpin set with twelve sapphires that had been stolen when her family declined, and told him to meet her at Blue Heron Islet.
• Xu Huo left District 12, passed through the neutral war zone between District 10 and District 8, and entered District 10.
• Xu Huo questioned a member of the family controlling District 10 and learned the hairpin’s exact whereabouts in under an hour.

Xu Huo retrieved the gemstone hairpin from the Player Family and waited for Lady Feng to return to Blue Heron Islet. When she finally met him, she offered to show him what Carmen left behind if he killed a wanted man hiding in District 006.

• Xu Huo negotiated with Qiu Yuying, who arranged for the Player Family to hand over the gemstone hairpin.
• Xu Huo returned to Blue Heron Islet and learned about Lady Feng's family history and reputation from the islanders.
• Lady Feng returned after two days and let Xu Huo into her courtyard.
• Lady Feng challenged Xu Huo to bring her the head of a wanted man hiding in District 006, promising to consider showing him what Carmen left behind.

Xu Huo discussed mental evolution and Lady Feng’s views before leaving to search District 006 for a Wanted Criminal. As war and outside interference plunged the district into chaos, Xu Huo followed the criminal’s trail and came across ordinary people controlled by players.

• Xu Huo defended his perspective on mental evolution to Lady Feng, who dismissed his arguments as sophistry.
• An elderly relative berated Lady Feng for helping an Outer District Player and failing to protect her niece, but Lady Feng ordered him to leave.
• Xu Huo went to District 006 to search for the Wanted Criminal, but a civil war and attacks from neighboring districts disrupted the district and scattered the criminal.
• Xu Huo obtained the criminal’s last known contacts and travel direction, then followed the trail in an abandoned aircraft.
• Xu Huo found a fresh corpse linked to the Wanted Criminal and later discovered controlled ordinary people by the road as a player prepared to kill a resister.
• A shrill female voice ordered the player not to kill anyone.

Wen Shenghe tried to save a group of ordinary people held by Players, first offering rewards and then challenging the middle-aged man’s motives. She recognized him as possibly connected to the Chivalrous Squad, but he refused to spare the captives and warned her to leave; Xu Huo then stepped out to confront him.

• Wen Shenghe identified herself as a District Government employee and offered the Players rewards and honors if they helped mediate the war and release the captives.
• The Players rejected her offer, and the middle-aged man demanded that Wen Shenghe and her companions crawl to him and lick his shoes or he would kill the captives.
• Wen Shenghe challenged the middle-aged man’s choice to bully ordinary people and said his knife work suggested a connection to the Chivalrous Squad.
• The middle-aged man said the captives could not be saved and told Wen Shenghe to leave, then asked someone in the distance whether he intended to interfere.
• Xu Huo got out of the car.

Xu Huo found out that the Wanted Criminal had gone to Linquan City and offered to help Wen Shenghe evacuate civilians. After Wen Shenghe argued that people should be judged for proven crimes rather than potential future ones, the middle-aged man agreed to let her take the children, and Xu Huo let her decide how to proceed.

• Xu Huo questioned a Player and learned that the Wanted Criminal had gone to Linquan City to avenge his family.
• Xu Huo offered to escort Wen Shenghe and help evacuate the people gathered with her.
• A Player tried to attack, but Xu Huo ordered him to kneel and then told the middle-aged man to leave.
• The middle-aged man accused the gathered people of benefiting from their criminal relatives and destroyed Wen Shenghe's teleportation device as they tried to flee.
• Wen Shenghe argued that people should be judged for established crimes rather than speculation about their genes or future actions.
• The middle-aged man agreed to let Wen Shenghe take the children, and Xu Huo left the decision to her.

Xu Huo traveled with Wen Shenghe and her colleagues as they searched for District 006’s missing governor, then protected them when three Players attacked near Linquan City. After Wen Shenghe identified the attackers as enemies from the District Government’s Second Department, Xu Huo ordered them to leave.

• A middle-aged man executed a group of fleeing wealthy people, then told Xu Huo that the wanted former governor had assassinated five corrupt officials.
• Xu Huo agreed to travel with Wen Shenghe and her colleagues to Linquan City, and Wen Shenghe explained the Chivalrous Squad’s past activities.
• Wen Shenghe said she would keep searching for the missing governor for one more day before leaving if they found no leads.
• Three Players attacked the group near Linquan City, and Wen Shenghe’s teleportation device failed because they used a Jammer.
• Xu Huo’s barrier blocked a massive fireball, and the young man accused the attackers of being from the Second Department.
• Wen Shenghe asked Xu Huo to help them escape, but Xu Huo opened the car window and told the three attackers to get lost.

Xu Huo fought off three players and took Wen Shenghe and her colleagues toward Linquan City after the District Government's Chief Director died. As they arrived in the war-torn city, players surrounded their car, and one threw a badly injured old man from a rooftop.

• Xu Huo used his abilities to defeat three players who attacked his car, killing one and injuring another as the others fled.
• Wen Shenghe learned that the District Government's Chief Director had died and chose to go to Linquan City with Xu Huo rather than return to the District Government.
• Wen Shenghe gave Xu Huo the wanted man's history: he had killed officials involved in his best friend's family's deaths and had evaded the District Government for more than ten years.
• Xu Huo and Wen Shenghe's group reached Linquan City, where fighting and destruction had left civilians suffering amid the chaos.
• Players appeared around the car, and one on a rooftop threw a badly injured old man toward the street.

Xu Huo stopped players from killing Wen Shenghe and drove off the attackers, then told her group that the person they were seeking was near Linquan City’s center. The surviving enemy escaped, leaving the reason for the repeated attempts on Wen Shenghe unclear.

• Wen Shenghe confronted the players who had trapped her group and refused to trade her life for the people they threatened.
• The players used a One-Time Item against Wen Shenghe, but Xu Huo shielded her with black matter and saved her.
• Xu Huo broke the sealing barrier and warned the attackers before cutting down half of them when they launched another attack.
• Xu Huo confronted the player who had thrown an injured man from a rooftop, but the player fled Linquan City.
• Xu Huo searched the city, returned to Wen Shenghe, and said the person they were looking for was near the city center.

Wen Shenghe met with District 006's governor and learned that District 8, District 10, and other forces had surrounded the district. Xu Huo found the Wanted Criminal he had been searching for, then stayed behind as Wen Shenghe departed to seek help.

• Wen Shenghe discovered that District 006's governor was safe and heard how neighboring districts had joined forces to threaten the district.
• The governor explained that District 006 had lost players and hoped publicity on the Jixin Terminal would prompt outside intervention.
• Xu Huo found the Wanted Criminal among the governor's protectors and asked him to come along, but the man refused because he had unfinished business.
• Xu Huo warned that District 006's crisis might involve a high-level Dungeon and decided to remain in the district for a day or two.
• Wen Shenghe left through a teleportation passage to seek help and asked the governor to look after her colleagues.

Xu Huo and the governor’s group were lured into a trap and attacked, but players from Districts 008 and 010 rescued them and revealed that Districts 007 and 009 had spread false reports to provoke a war. The governor learned that Districts 008 and 010 wanted to negotiate a ten-year non-interference agreement with District 006, though he feared Districts 007 and 009 would retaliate.

• A young District Government member asked Xu Huo to protect Wen Shenghe, but Xu Huo declined.
• The governor’s group traveled by aircraft to meet players in another city, where they were ambushed after an explosion and a warning about explosives throughout the city.
• The attackers trapped the governor’s group and used explosives that devastated the city, while the governor’s players suffered heavy casualties.
• Players from Districts 008 and 010 arrived, drove back the ambushers, and helped the governor’s group retreat.
• The rescuers explained that Districts 008 and 010 had not joined the encirclement and that Districts 007 and 009 had spread false information to stir up conflict.
• The governor learned that Districts 008 and 010 sought a ten-year non-interference agreement with District 006 and worried that Districts 007 and 009 would retaliate.

District 006’s governor secured peace agreements with Districts 008 and 010, but Outer District Players escalated the conflict with assassinations and destroyed cities. As the instance’s factions struggled to control the war, Xu Huo used Space Rays to operate on the gravely wounded Wanted Criminal, leaving his survival uncertain.

• The representatives of Districts 008 and 010 condemned Districts 007 and 009, pledged support for District 006, and signed a public peace agreement with its governor.
• Outer District Players attacked officials and cities across Districts 008 and 010, escalating the war as the Jixin Terminal revealed the instance’s objective of eliminating District 006’s designation or securing peace among the districts.
• Players debated whether it was easier to force districts to unite against District 006 or persuade them to sign peace agreements, while competing factions and betrayals made the conflict harder to control.
• The Wanted Criminal returned severely injured, and Xu Huo used Space Rays to repair his internal wounds after the other players tried to block him.
• The medical officer said the Wanted Criminal had over a fifty percent chance of surviving, though he remained unconscious.

Xu Huo and the governor’s group were ambushed by powerful players who trapped the area inside a mysterious scroll and disabled their panels, Tickets, and items. As the governor’s allies faced capture, Xu Huo’s Spiritual World revealed the scroll’s wielder.

• The governor met with District 006 factions while Xu Huo and her group traveled, but hostile players surrounded their lodging that night.
• The governor’s allies urged her to escape District 006, warning that the attackers might restrict their panels and trap the city.
• Unfamiliar players attacked the meeting room, disrupted the group’s devices, and tried to seize the governor.
• The attackers cast a huge painted scroll over the building and streets, drawing them inside and preventing the trapped players from using their panels, Tickets, and items.
• Xu Huo spread his Spiritual World and made the player holding the scroll appear in front of him.

Xu Huo took control of a spiritual Scroll and trapped most of the city’s Players in its illusion, turning the battle around. He identified the Outer District Players who had sided against the governor and killed one who tried to escape.

• Xu Huo compelled the Scroll’s holder to hand over the artifact, then used it to seal most of the city and block the trapped Players from accessing their Personal Panels.
• Xu Huo drew nearby spies and the governor’s prospective Allies into the street, then defeated two attackers by manipulating their perception of the city and making them disappear into an illusory fall.
• Xu Huo recognized that several Outer District Players were resisting his mental control and asked them about their clearance mission, but they refused to answer.
• Xu Huo concluded that the Outer District Players had chosen the faction seeking to erase District 006’s designation and spotted one of them trying to flee.
• Xu Huo pursued the fleeing Player to the city’s edge, disabled his artifacts, and killed him after his Defense Artifact collapsed.

Xu Huo restored some stability to District 006, then brought the Wanted Criminal to Lady Feng. Lady Feng let him go and gave Xu Huo the kaleidoscope Carmen Fielder had left behind, though its purpose remained unknown.

• Xu Huo subdued the District 006 Players who had ambushed them and left the governor to decide their punishment; she executed the ringleaders and spared the others.
• Wen Shenghe advised the District Government members to seek refuge with a Player she trusted, and they left District 006 by teleportation device.
• With the situation improving, Xu Huo took the Wanted Criminal to Lady Feng's residence.
• The Wanted Criminal apologized to Lady Feng, who let him leave after saying she might have remembered the past incorrectly.
• Lady Feng gave Xu Huo Carmen Fielder's kaleidoscope and explained that she and other Players had searched it without finding anything.