Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo and the others discussed the dangers of trackside spaces and high-risk Dungeons before examining records of unusual events along the tracks. A recording showed space shattering around a train and revealed a landscape divided into five distinct environments.

• She Ping explained that the tracks passed through dangerous spaces where Aliens and other threats could appear, and Xu Huo suggested some high-risk Dungeons were abandoned worlds cut off from ordinary ones.
• Ai Jia said Tickets might not connect to Stations near the tracks, while Sun Chuan and Ai Jia discussed how the game's transport system worked.
• Cai Xiangxiang reassured Wan Tingfang that radiation exposure could sometimes be treated with Potions, and the group joked about Sanyang and their captain.
• Xu Huo asked about previous Blood Aberrations and learned they had been sent to the Laboratory as Experiment Samples.
• Xu Huo and Wan Tingfang watched a processed track-repair record showing space shatter around the train before the surrounding scenery changed into five distinct landscapes.

Xu Huo watched recordings of Aliens attacking trains, learned about the dangers beyond the tracks, and received an errand to deliver instruments to the Enforcement Department. He and Wan Tingfang arrived at its heavily guarded headquarters, where an employee made them wait.

• Xu Huo and Wan Tingfang watched recordings showing a train weathering and stopping after a strange spectacle, followed by footage of Alien attacks.
• Wan Tingfang told Xu Huo that someone had broken into the Enforcement Department's prison, killed several people, and escaped during a citywide lockdown.
• Sanyang warned Xu Huo not to leave the train, then asked him to deliver instruments to the Enforcement Department with a teammate.
• Xu Huo asked Wan Tingfang to accompany him, and they discussed their limited money and upcoming Dungeon schedules on the way.
• At the Enforcement Department headquarters, an employee in a White Shoulder Badge told Xu Huo and Wan Tingfang to wait, prompting Wan Tingfang to ask them to notify logistics.

Xu Huo and Wan Tingfang clashed with the Enforcement Department after delivering equipment, and Xu refused to hand over its key. Ran Ying intervened and sent them back safely, while Blan left with a cryptic threat.

• After waiting twenty minutes without a Logistics Department handover, Xu Huo drove away with Wan Tingfang and called Director Sanyang when the Enforcement Department tried to stop them.
• Director Sanyang told Xu Huo to leave the equipment behind because it could not be used without its unique key, so Xu and Wan Tingfang got out of the car.
• Blan ordered Xu to hand over the key, but Xu and Wan Tingfang said they did not have it and refused to yield.
• Ran Ying returned, sided with Xu Huo, and confronted Blan over the White Shoulder Badges trying to detain the pair and seize the equipment.
• Blan left with his people after Ran Ying summoned the Black Shoulder Badges, and Ran Ying assured Xu Huo that the Logistics Department would contact Director Sanyang.

Xu Huo left the Enforcement Department with Wan Tingfang, then used a candy-selling disguise in the Lower City to urge children to attend free school. Back at Rose Castle, he confronted Madam Butterfly about the Enforcement Department break-in and learned that she had killed Fake He Pu.

• Ran Ying took Cheng Bing, Guo Yingguang, and the others into the Enforcement Department while Xu Huo and Wan Tingfang left without a fight.
• Xu Huo and Wan Tingfang returned to the base, where Sanyang and Shi Youzhi backed them and Shi Youzhi gave Xu Huo restaurant coupons.
• Xu Huo disguised himself as a clown and sold toys, snacks, and flyers to children in the Lower City, urging them to attend school even if their families could not afford Potions.
• Xu Huo returned to Rose Castle and found Madam Butterfly back from being taken away by Duke Tal.
• Madam Butterfly admitted that she had broken into the Enforcement Department and killed Fake He Pu, lamenting that its arrival had prevented her from making his death more painful.

Xu Huo and Madam Butterfly discussed evading high-risk Dungeons and the risks of stealing Rongxin Group’s weapons before beginning a second duel inside her Spiritual World. Xu Huo’s Book Tower began taking shape within her world, and Madam Butterfly entered its maze to search for his spiritual manifestation.

• Xu Huo asked Madam Butterfly how Wanted Criminals could return to the game and whether players could avoid high-risk Dungeons by hiding inside container items.
• Xu Huo deduced that Rongxin Group’s relocated Warehouses and an incoming shipment might be a trap, and Madam Butterfly’s reaction showed that the shipment was not the weapons she wanted.
• Xu Huo challenged Madam Butterfly to another spar, and she opened her Spiritual World with her Golden Zipper.
• Xu Huo opened doors in Madam Butterfly’s white space, introduced paintings, and then summoned his spiral staircase and Book Tower inside her world.
• Madam Butterfly split into six copies and entered the Book Tower’s maze to find Xu Huo’s spiritual manifestation, surprised that his Spiritual World had changed again.

Xu Huo used his Picture Frames and Madam Butterfly’s Spiritual World to kill two Players who had been trapped inside the World in the Painting. After Madam Butterfly left in anger, he tried to explore her Spiritual World but could not reach its true depths.

• Xu Huo revealed that he had remained outside the World in the Painting while another personality had lured Madam Butterfly into the Book Tower.
• Xu Huo brought Brother Tu out of the painting and killed him, earning a notification for killing a Black Player.
• Xu Huo tricked the Wooden Sword Player into passing through a Picture Frame and killed him with the Bright Red Sword.
• Madam Butterfly realized Xu Huo had used her Spiritual World to kill the Players and disappeared through a zipper, leaving the space blank.
• Xu Huo searched through Madam Butterfly’s zippers but found only empty spaces and could not reach her true Spiritual World.

Xu Huo explored Madam Butterfly’s Spiritual World and discovered a vast gear wall behind a Golden Zipper before the scene returned to Rose Castle. He then examined the Wooden Sword Player’s belongings, finding a District 011 government badge and numerous items that raised questions about the player’s connection to City Hall.

• Xu Huo expanded and altered his Spiritual World, but failed to create scenery he could enter from a book.
• Xu Huo traveled through Madam Butterfly’s portals until he found a Golden Zipper leading to a gigantic wall of turning gears that destroyed one of his doors.
• Xu Huo returned to Rose Castle, where Mr. Dong told him the two bodies had been dealt with and gave him a District 011 Government badge.
• Xu Huo examined the Wooden Sword Player’s handbook, City Hall Police Department uniforms, items, Potions, cash, and contraband, and considered whether the player had acted for City Hall.

Xu Huo examined the loot he had taken from two Players, then spent time selling toys and candy in the Lower City and encouraged a boy who wanted to go to school. After following his route through the neighborhood for several days, he noticed an unusually large number of children playing.

• Xu Huo counted more than four hundred thousand White Cash among the loot and inspected a B-level Self-Healing Agent and the Wooden Sword Player’s mysterious self-made Potions.
• A ball entered Xu Huo’s room and swallowed the Potions, and Xu Huo taunted Madam Butterfly by showing her a stone chip from her Folding Fan.
• Xu Huo went to the Lower City in disguise to sell toys and candy, then handed out sweets to children who helped him gather scattered snacks.
• A boy told Xu Huo he wanted to attend school rather than grow into a useless adult, and he ran off after declaring he would go.
• Xu Huo noticed a hat-wearing middle-aged man outside a shop, continued visiting the Lower City along his usual route, and later saw an unusually large crowd of children playing.

Xu Huo and Madam Butterfly watched a suspected setup involving Rongxin Group, City Hall, and Lower City Players from offshore. Aboard Rongxin Group’s ship, the operation began when the vessel stopped and the Captain attacked a White-Haired Player.

• Xu Huo traced Lower City Players to the docks and suspected Rongxin Group was setting a trap involving City Hall.
• Madam Butterfly told Xu Huo that Duke Tar would receive donated supplies from another Sub-district, and they went offshore to observe the shipment.
• A Rongxin Group ship, the Hero, took aboard twenty crates and sailed out with Duke Tar, a cowboy-hatted man, and a City Hall squad led by an old man.
• Duke Tar said Meini held the complete key to the crates and dismissed the old man’s concerns about opening them.
• The Hero abruptly stopped, and the Captain’s clothing attacked the White-Haired Player, who froze the threads and incoming bullets before calling the crew impostors.

The White-Haired Player and other attackers seized control of the Hero and stole its cargo, while Duke Tar escaped and the battle spread across the sea. The Cowboy Hat Player revealed herself as Ran Ying and killed Zhao He.

• The short-haired female player sealed the cockpit as the White-Haired Player’s group fought the Captain and crewmen, while a rising block of seawater lifted the Hero and trapped it.
• Duke Tar ordered Zhao He to shut off the Artifact Balancer and escaped with his bodyguards; the attackers then transported the crates away in flying cars.
• Players battled the flying-car convoy, and a flying carpet recovered crates falling toward the sea as a transport plane appeared.
• A scarred man attacked the players with blade-like jets of seawater, killing several who were trapped underwater.
• Zhao He used a magnet to pull the injured Captain and crewmen through the cockpit wall, then Ran Ying stabbed him in the heart and revealed her identity.

Black Shoulder Badge ambushed Shen Liang and his crew during their attempt to steal Rongxin Group’s weapons shipment, capturing the Captain and forcing the transport planes into a standoff. Ran Ying attacked after Shen Liang refused to surrender both planes, and the chapter ended with Players closing in around her.

• Ran Ying revealed her disguise, confronted the fleeing crew, and helped Black Shoulder Badge destroy their transport plane.
• Shen Liang recognized the ambush, while Ran Ying explained that Black Shoulder Badge had come to deal with Zhao He and the Lower City Players.
• Ran Ying exposed two hidden transport planes and demanded that Shen Liang leave the cargo and both planes behind.
• When a Player fired on Ran Ying, she killed him and then killed another attacker after he trapped part of her body in a crystal artifact.
• Several Players appeared around Ran Ying as Madam Butterfly stopped watching the fight and told Xu Huo to drive away.

Xu Huo returned to Rose Castle as the Base City celebrated the Black Shoulder Badges’ victory and City Hall purged the Lower City. He found two orphaned children hiding and sent them toward the Welfare Institute, while the fate of the weapons shipment remained uncertain.

• Madam Butterfly explained that weapons had to be transported across space with rare items, and Xu Huo suspected the reported Rongxin Group shipment might be a false lead.
• Xu Huo and Madam Butterfly returned to Rose Castle during the Base City lockdown, and she gave him an Anti-Surveillance Device.
• The next morning, City Hall praised the Black Shoulder Badges, awarded them a transport plane and medals, and Rongxin Group promised them supplies and jobs for their families.
• While the Base City held celebrations, City Hall’s forces hunted Players in the Lower City, killing residents and leaving the district deserted.
• Xu Huo found two children hiding in a Cabinet, gave them food and water, and told them to go to the Welfare Institute the next day.

Xu Huo learned that the Black Shoulder Badge had gained power from City Hall’s internal struggle, while Madam Butterfly warned him that his stagnant evolution rate could draw suspicion. Before Xu Huo left for his next Dungeon, she gave him a mental-confusion item, then revealed her identity as Bai Kou and asked Mr. Dong to take her to Uncle Fan Xiao’s body.

• Xu Huo returned to Rose Castle after leaving food for two children in the Lower City, where Madam Butterfly explained how the Black Shoulder Badge had benefited from a City Hall power struggle.
• Madam Butterfly warned Xu Huo that his unchanged evolution rate might make people suspicious, and he questioned whether she knew about the Perfect Evolution Potion.
• After five days of practicing mental abilities together, Madam Butterfly gave Xu Huo the C-class Star Binding Ball for his next Dungeon.
• Madam Butterfly asked whether Xu Huo had bought a Ticket out of District 011, and Xu Huo assured her he would return and joked that she could not take Rose Castle while he was alive.
• After Xu Huo vanished, Madam Butterfly changed into her true appearance as Bai Kou and asked Mr. Dong to take her to Uncle Fan Xiao’s body; Mr. Dong said he did not know where Mr. He Pu was.

Xu Huo became bound to Chu Yuan by the Seven Days Civil Affairs Bureau item while traveling by train, forcing them into a seven-day marital relationship that shared pain. As the train continued toward the Sair Coast, Xu Huo questioned the Players’ unusual behavior and Chu Yuan’s account of the item.

• Bai Kou threatened to strip Mr. Dong’s human skin if he could not explain how it remained without Uncle Fan Xiao’s corpse, and darkness spread through the Ancient Castle.
• Xu Huo boarded a train for the Deep Blue Laboratory station and was accidentally bound to Chu Yuan by the Seven Days Civil Affairs Bureau item.
• The Players pressured Chu Yuan to test the binding with the Mouth of Truth, but Xu Huo stopped him from risking his real hand and helped him use a fake one.
• Chu Yuan explained that injuries to either partner caused the other to feel the same pain, while the Players played with the Mouth of Truth and followed an unwritten rule against fighting on the train.
• Xu Huo asked why fighting was forbidden on the way to the Sair Coast and challenged Chu Yuan’s claim that two men could marry; Chu Yuan warned Xu Huo not to hurt him.

Xu Huo traveled through the Sair Coast under its strict rules, keeping Chu Yuan close while navigating the train’s players and wary of a masked stranger. The next morning, he learned the Bo Lun family could revoke travelers’ privileges and said he was headed for a D-class instance, though he had not chosen which one.

• Xu Huo declined to fight Chu Yuan and learned that players could act freely on the train as long as they did not kill anyone.
• The Conductor served only water, bread, and expensive Deep Blue Fish, while players discussed Sair Coast sashimi and Potions; a player was thrown off the train after a dispute.
• A masked player offered to untie Chu Yuan’s rope, but Xu Huo interrupted their conversation and warned Chu Yuan that the stranger likely wanted something in return.
• Xu Huo rested through the day, and Chu Yuan helped keep other players from disturbing him; the night passed without incident in their carriages.
• The train announced that two first-class players had lost their Sair Coast guest privileges, and the tongue-piercing girl explained that the Bo Lun family controlled much of the coast.
• Xu Huo said he was going to a D-class instance, and Chu Yuan asked whether he was searching for ore.

Xu Huo learned how the Bo Lun family controlled travel and ore trading on the Sair Coast, while veteran Players explained the dangers and opportunities of its Dungeons. After arriving, Xu Huo and Chu Yuan registered to visit the Deep Blue Laboratory.

• Xu Huo learned that the Bo Lun family screened Players on the train, arranged transport to Dungeon locations, and required them to sell some of their recovered ore.
• Players shared advice about finding valuable ore, surviving the polluted sea, and the rumored Ore Island that drifted through strange currents.
• Xu Huo and the other Players reached the Sair Coast via a road lined with shops and advertisements promoting the family’s services.
• Most newcomers registered their destinations at shops, and Xu Huo told Chu Yuan he was going to the Deep Blue Laboratory.
• Chu Yuan said he was headed to the same place and pushed forward to register their destination.

Xu Huo and Chu Yuan registered as new arrivals at Sair Coast and prepared to travel to Deep Blue Laboratory. As the two remained tied together for four more days, Xu Huo bought supplies for the journey while avoiding equipment meant for mineral collecting.

• Xu Huo, Chu Yuan, and Mao Wei registered with the old man, who gave them landing cards and said a ship to Deep Blue Laboratory would leave the next day.
• Xu Huo told Chu Yuan he would prepare for the trip instead of heading to the hotel, and Chu Yuan agreed to take the ship with him.
• Xu Huo used his discount coupon at a Massage Parlor to order necessities and persuaded Chu Yuan to split the tip.
• Chu Yuan bought diving gear, an ore detector, medicine, food, water, and insect-repelling potions, while Xu Huo ordered protective gear, a raft, and other supplies through a buyer.
• Xu Huo watched the buyer's feed while Chu Yuan screamed during a stimulating robot massage, then reflected on the inconvenience of staying tied to him in a Dungeon.

Xu Huo and Chu Yuan prepared for their shared Dungeon while trying to understand the unbreakable rope binding them together. They traveled with Miao Yu and other Players to the abandoned Deep Blue Laboratory, where rumors about haunted Deep Blue Island surfaced.

• Xu Huo and Chu Yuan agreed not to fight each other and to cooperate during the Dungeon.
• Chu Yuan met Miao Yu after intervening in a fight, and she confirmed that her crescent blade could not cut their rope.
• Xu Huo, Chu Yuan, and Miao Yu rested at the Iris Hotel before taking a fast boat to Deep Blue Island.
• A crew member described the abandoned laboratory and shared an old map of the island with the Players.
• Dr. Deng explained the skull-shaped clouds and eerie howls, and Xu Huo told Chu Yuan that Deep Blue Island was rumored to be haunted.

Xu Huo and the other players landed on Deep Blue Island and learned that the D-rank Dungeon required them to enter the Deep Blue Laboratory before midnight and play Human Catches Ghost Game. The group headed into the forest cautiously, leaving the game’s rules and the identity of the “ghost” unknown.

• Xu Huo recognized Wan Yunrong’s supernatural talismans as disguised gadgets and chemicals, then bought some despite Chu Yuan’s skepticism.
• The players disembarked at the island’s old harbor, where dense, strange vegetation and glowing eyes in the forest signaled danger.
• Xu Huo watched Dr. Deng and eight others remain aboard the departing ship, then realized the Dungeon had begun.
• The Dungeon introduction revealed the seven-day duration, the midnight deadline to reach the Laboratory, and missions to participate in Human Catches Ghost Game and catch the “ghost.”
• Ge Pan and the other players introduced themselves as they entered the forest, while keeping most details about themselves secret.

Xu Huo and the other players reached the Deep Blue Laboratory and discovered the rules of the Human Catches Ghost Game. The rules set them against one another, while a sealed, ominously marked corridor hinted at danger ahead.

• Wu Xiaonan asked to take photos as the group crossed the forest, and they reached the laboratory complex after more than two hours.
• The players searched the aboveground complex, found no game prompt, and took the elevator down to the underground laboratory.
• The group explored the mostly cleared laboratory and found a corridor sealed with thick metal strips covered in warnings not to open it.
• The players avoided disturbing the sealed corridor and found the research board in a room off the other hallway.
• The group read the game rules: players drew lots to become ghosts, ghost numbers increased unless all ghosts were killed, and ghosts could kill one another to regain human identity.