Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo confronted the Special Defense Department at Taole Club after killing Young Master Qiu, then used poison to force the armed officers to lower the pressure. He revealed his identity as Player Xu Huo and left the standoff unresolved.

• Tan Yang and the First Association players stayed at Taole Club, using videos of the Two Snakes as Cannibal Players to seek leverage with the Special Defense Department.
• Team Leader Song arrived with armed officers and ordered the players to put away their items and return for questioning.
• Xu Huo killed Young Master Qiu despite Team Leader Song's warning, then deflected gunfire and released Plant's Lament and fluffy fungus against the officers.
• Xu Huo told both sides to take Antidotes and asked Team Leader Song's people to stop aiming their guns at him.
• Xu Huo picked up Young Master Qiu's connected phone, declared that he was separate from the First Association, and introduced himself as Player Xu Huo.

Xu Huo exposed Double Serpent’s crimes and confronted Team Leader Song, but Nie Xuan arrived and took control of the investigation. Xu Huo announced he would visit Special Defense Department headquarters within ten days, while the First Association Players were ordered to report to the Ting City branch.

• Xu Huo revealed that the Special Defense Department had given away one of the five antidote fungi and said he had eliminated the source of the poisoning.
• Xu Huo told a camera that Double Serpent could seek revenge and that he would visit Special Defense Department headquarters within ten days.
• Nie Xuan arrived with armed Players, ordered the black-robed men executed, and claimed authority over the Ting City Players and the investigation.
• Nie Xuan cited Sima Xiao Er’s report about Double Serpent’s cult activity and Cannibal Player gatherings, forcing Team Leader Song to withdraw.
• Nie Xuan ordered First Association Players to report to the Ting City branch within three days, and the Players gradually left.
• Xiao Zhang told Xu Huo that Brother Liang had found a Double Serpent stronghold and was returning to Yang City, while Sima Xiao Er ran excitedly toward Nie Xuan.

Xu Huo returned to Yang City as District 014 faced growing environmental dangers and a possible merger with the game world. After reading a forum post about moving ordinary people to another Sub-district, he anonymously shared how they could obtain train Tickets and warned readers about the Game Government and Gray Players.

• Nie Xuan praised Xu Huo for his service, discussed the Antidote fungus and District 014’s unstable situation, and offered him a ride back to Ting City.
• Zhou Ning warned Xu Huo about patrols checking identities across Yang City, while Sima Xiao Er explained the difficulties of dealing with civilians who went out at night.
• Xu Huo and Sima Xiao Er returned to the city and learned that a viral post had exposed Xu Huo’s fake face; Sima Xiao Er also heard that a heavy fog had appeared near the national highway.
• The Special Defense Department announced that the fog might signal a forming Random Instance, while Tang Guangbo argued it could be an environmental effect of District 014 merging with the game world.
• After reading a forum post by someone claiming to know how to move ordinary people to another Sub-district, Xu Huo anonymously posted instructions for obtaining a non-Player train Ticket and information about the Game Government and Gray Players.

Xu Huo posted warnings and information about non-player trains, Gray Players, and Wormhole Flowers before preparing to cultivate King Fungi. As the Special Defense Department debated his announced visit to its headquarters, officials worried that he might use a dangerous contaminant against them, leaving Minister Fan to question his mental stability.

• Xu Huo started a forum thread explaining the dangers of stopping or leaving non-player trains, and players discussed how Gray Player status was granted and shared photos of Wormhole Flowers.
• Zhou Ning and the others praised Tang Guangbo's prediction, while Xu Huo took out Shelter 101 to cultivate more live King Fungi.
• Zhou Ning asked if Xu Huo would visit the Special Defense Department headquarters, and Sima Xiao Er worried he might fight them.
• Minister Fan and the Special Defense Department team leaders debated Xu Huo's announced visit, the Twin Snakes, and how to handle Cannibal Players.
• Jiang Qiao reported that Xu Huo's contaminant was at least B-rated and could spread widely, prompting Minister Fan to ask whether Xu Huo was still mentally stable.

The Special Defense Department prepared for a possible attack by Xu Huo, fearing his abilities and the B-grade pollutant. Meanwhile, Xu Huo met Nie Xuan over hotpot and suggested that the energy ore sought by tool shops might be connected to the origin of the Dimension Rift game.

• Jiang Qiao presented the Special Defense Department's analysis of Xu Huo's speed, tools, mind-control ability, and apparent brief invulnerability.
• Minister Fan ordered the department to evacuate nearby residents, seal off its headquarters, summon Elite Players, and prepare a military strike.
• Minister Fan told Team Leader Wu to bring Xu Huo's family to Safe Zone No. 1, while the department hurried to remove online videos of the incident.
• Nie Xuan dismissed concerns about Xu Huo's mental state as he met Xu Huo at a hotpot restaurant and discussed the Fog Zone and the Two Snakes incident.
• Xu Huo told Nie Xuan that the tool shops wanted energy ore and said he suspected it was connected to the origin of the Dimension Rift game.

Xu Huo traded suspicions with Nie Xuan, chose an item that he merged into the B-class Whispering Ball, and learned that Abel had been caught inside an item at Taole Club. After returning to Ting City amid growing attention from Players, Xu Huo parted from the Special Defense Department and encouraged Nie Xuan to trust its deterrence.

• Xu Huo told Nie Xuan he suspected the Artificer was after District 014's mineral resources, and Nie Xuan agreed to investigate.
• Nie Xuan let Xu Huo choose one of three C-class items, and Xu Huo selected Center Control and merged it with three other items into the B-class Whispering Ball.
• Nie Xuan told Xu Huo that the Special Defense Department had found Abel trapped inside an item at Taole Club, and Xu Huo said Abel's Return Ticket would bring him back to Ting City.
• Xu Huo told Zhou Ning and Hu Wenhu to wait in Yang City for Yan Jiayu, then rode to Ting City with the painted woman and Sima Xiao Er.
• Players followed Xu Huo and advertised offers to recruit him, so Nie Xuan ordered the advertisements removed and advised Xu Huo to leave quickly.
• Xu Huo got out of the car and told Nie Xuan that the Special Defense Department still had plenty of deterrence.

Xu Huo examined the Whispering Ball while Yuan Yao talked about his crush on Wang Xiaohui. Wang Xiaohui arrived by helicopter and offered to fly Xu Huo to Capital City, where he planned to confront the Special Defense Department.

• Xu Huo entered his apartment past watchers across from the Special Defense Department and found Yuan Yao waiting there.
• Yuan Yao said he had fallen for a female Player from District 014, while Xu Huo asked the painted woman to prepare a room and messaged Ms. Yu about hidden cash and liquor.
• Xu Huo inspected the Whispering Ball and noticed its faint sound seemed to echo Yuan Yao's voice.
• A helicopter brought Wang Xiaohui and a masked man to Xu Huo's balcony, and Xu Huo recognized her from the Preliminary Train.
• Wang Xiaohui thanked Xu Huo for helping her on the train and offered her father's private plane in Ting City to take him to Capital City.

Wang Xiaohui asked Xu Huo to cure Wei Mang’s Alien poison and offered a share of her research institute’s profits, but he refused. Xu Huo then tested the “Whispering Ball” on Yuan Yao and Sima Xiao Er, whose terrifying reactions caused black smoke to gather around it.

• Wang Xiaohui brought Wei Mang to Xu Huo and asked him to cure the Alien poison in Wei Mang’s body, offering Potions, items, or a share of her research institute’s profits.
• Xu Huo declined Wang Xiaohui’s offer, suspected her Ability influenced emotions, and watched her leave with Wei Mang.
• Yuan Yao asked why Xu Huo had refused to work with Wang Xiaohui, and Xu Huo explained that her Ability suited her personality and experiences.
• Xu Huo sealed his room and activated the “Whispering Ball”; he and Painted woman heard different voices from it.
• Xu Huo brought Yuan Yao and Sima Xiao Er into the room to test the item, and both saw terrifying things and attacked empty space.
• Black smoke appeared around the “Whispering Ball,” and Xu Huo released his mental power to investigate it.

Xu Huo used the Whispering Ball to confront the shadow personality in his Spiritual World and unlock a new way to project it into reality. He left able to create simple illusions that others could see.

• Xu Huo exposed himself to the Whispering Ball's smoke and experienced a vision in the hospital, where the Doctor revealed that his brother personality had been made to contain his evil.
• Xu Huo resisted the shadow child and the other personalities, unlocked a door in the Round Tower, and searched for the true route through his Spiritual World.
• Xu Huo reached the tower's center and used the Black Sliver to spread a circular cage of mental-power lines through the room.
• Xu Huo returned to the room with the Whispering Ball and used a door and a brief mental shock to wake Sima Xiao Er and Yuan Yao.
• Xu Huo confirmed that Yuan Yao and Sima Xiao Er could see the door he created, then thanked them by offering to buy dinner.

Xu Huo prepared to travel to Capital City as the Special Defense Department planned how to handle the players gathering around its headquarters. Dai Wenqian discovered that he was implicated in a document and called Gu Yu to propose a deal.

• The painted woman asked Xu Huo for pocket money, and he agreed to double it if she limited her game time to two hours a day.
• Xu Huo drove Yuan Yao's car to the airport and bought two tickets to Capital City as players gathered around Special Defense Department headquarters.
• Team Leader Chang and Dai Wenqian discussed dispersing players into Random Instances, a plan that required Xu Huo's cooperation.
• Tang Guangbo delivered a psychological assessment for Team Leader Song, and Team Leader Chang warned Dai Wenqian to keep his players out of trouble.
• Dai Wenqian called Gu Yu and said he wanted to make a deal.

Dai Wenqian offered Gu Yu Potions and an antidote in exchange for killing Tang Guangbo, but Xu Huo told her not to interfere. After arriving in District 014, Xu Huo met with Gu Yu and was introduced to Wen Xue Lin, whose disguise Ability he wanted to see.

• Dai Wenqian asked Gu Yu to kill Tang Guangbo, claiming Tang had been brainwashing Players during psychological evaluations.
• Gu Yu learned Tang Guangbo was Xu Huo's stepfather and contacted Xu Huo before accepting the request.
• Xu Huo told Gu Yu not to report Dai Wenqian and said Tang Guangbo was formidable, then asked her to meet him.
• On the subway, Xu Huo heard Players discuss the Cannibal Players gathered at Special Defense Department headquarters and was given a channel for civilian Players' drone footage.
• Xu Huo met Gu Yu, Zheng Liang, and Wen Xue Lin at the bookless bookstore, then asked Wen Xue Lin to demonstrate her disguise Ability on the painted woman.

Xu Huo recruited Gu Yu, Wen Xue Lin, and Zheng Liang to help clear Players from around the Special Defense Department headquarters while he investigated Dai Wenqian’s motives and Tang Guangbo’s psychological experiments. He ended by saying he planned to kill a few Cannibal Players.

• Wen Xue Lin demonstrated that her makeup ability could disguise someone as Zheng Liang, and Xu Huo praised its usefulness.
• Xu Huo asked the group to assess the area around the Special Defense Department headquarters and help lure away the Players gathered nearby.
• Gu Yu, Wen Xue Lin, and Zheng Liang questioned Dai Wenqian’s request to assassinate Tang Guangbo, and Xu Huo concluded Dai wanted him to kill Tang Guangbo or create an opportunity to do it himself.
• Xu Huo said Tang Guangbo was skilled at psychological suggestion and was probably conducting an experiment on Players, though there was no proof to report him.
• Xu Huo announced that his plan was to kill a few Cannibal Players.

The Special Defense Department investigated Lichun and concluded that she was likely the supposedly dead painted woman who wielded a Super Artifact. Realizing Xu Huo knew her identity, Minister Fan ordered the secret concealed and arranged to contact him, while Xu Huo discussed a route with Gu Yu, Brother Liang, and the others.

• Team Leader Wu and the officials learned that Xu Huo had flown to Capital City with Lichun, whose Player status and abilities remained unclear.
• Nie Xuan showed footage of a Twin Snakes gathering’s destruction and compared its paper attacks with footage of the painted woman’s powers.
• Nie Xuan argued that Lichun was likely the painted woman, and Minister Fan ordered the surviving witnesses found and the identity classified as an S-level secret.
• The officials concluded Xu Huo knew who Lichun was and had used her help to drive off the Outer District Players.
• Minister Fan decided the department should negotiate with Xu Huo, and Nie Xuan called him while he discussed a route with Gu Yu, Brother Liang, and the others.

Xu Huo learned that the Special Defense Department planned to draw the Cannibal Players away and agreed to its proposal, while Nie Xuan remained suspicious of Lichun’s identity. Lichun asked to get a job and discovered the criminal code’s restrictions, then decided she would kill the person who wrote it.

• Nie Xuan told Xu Huo that the Special Defense Department had a plan to deal with the Cannibal Players and wanted to recruit Lichun.
• Xu Huo realized Nie Xuan suspected Lichun’s identity and asked him to watch Dai Wenqian’s movements.
• Lichun asked Xu Huo for permission to work, and he told her she was free to make her own choices.
• Lichun read the criminal code and asked whether she would go to jail for killing someone.
• Lichun proposed killing the person who wrote the criminal code so she would no longer have to follow it.

The Special Defense Department launched a coordinated operation against players after Abel escaped from prison, while Xu Huo watched the unrest unfold. The chapter left the arrests underway and public outrage rising over footage of the crackdown.

• The painted woman decided to get a job after Xu Huo told her she could deal with problems as she had at the hotel.
• A black-clad man freed Abel from his cell, burned him with a bear device, and left him to escape with a player’s hair.
• Nie Xuan ordered the Special Defense Department to attack Prison No. 1 and leave no survivors.
• Nie Xuan and Team Leader Lu discussed using the prison incident to eliminate dangerous players.
• An explosion struck buildings near Special Defense Department headquarters as troops raided prisons and player gathering places.
• Footage of the arrests spread online and sparked an uproar.

After footage showed Cannibal Players slaughtering rescue workers, public fury drove Players toward the Special Defense Department headquarters, prompting a wider evacuation and armed cordon. Xu Huo organized the Chunyu Association and his allies into groups to draw Players toward a signal location while he headed there alone, leaving the battle about to begin.

• The Special Defense Department defended its arrests with evidence, but drone footage of Cannibal Players killing rescue workers sparked widespread outrage and calls to kill them.
• Authorities evacuated residents from a wider area around headquarters and used armed police to keep Players outside the cordon.
• Xu Huo assigned the Chunyu Association, Brother Liang, Gu Yu, and the others to six groups that would draw Players toward his chosen location and warned them about combat dangers.
• Xu Huo changed his face with Wen Xue Lin's help, left by the rooftops, and moved toward the location he had selected.

Xu Huo trapped ten enemy Players in the Seventeenth Hospital Random Instance while the Special Defense Department responded to a coordinated attack involving several Instance entrances. The hospital began upgrading, and Xu Huo was asked whether he wanted to add new rules.

• Xu Huo escaped a battlefield and entered a Dense Fog Zone, where he overheard ten Players planning revenge on the Special Defense Department after their mission to obtain the antidote fungus failed.
• The Special Defense Department discovered that several Random Instance Entrances had been dropped over its headquarters and dispatched a rescue team to secure them.
• Xu Huo activated Seventeenth Hospital, drawing the ten Players into the Instance, where they found its entrance building sealed and could not get inside.
• Seventeenth Hospital began upgrading, growing to three buildings, and the Instance asked Xu Huo whether he would fill in new rules.

Xu Huo upgraded the Seventeenth Hospital instance to D-class and submitted its new tasks, though the game changed his proposed second task to stealing a pathogen sample. When he opened the hospital gate, players gathered outside were pulled into the expanded instance, which began with a new background and rules.

• Xu Huo reviewed the upgraded hospital layout and submitted tasks to receive psychological treatment, help the Director, and clean the hospital's front gate.
• The game rejected the task about helping the Director and replaced it with stealing an important pathogen sample.
• The Seventeenth Hospital successfully upgraded to D-class, and Xu Huo found that the game had added fixed floor plans he could not alter.
• The hospital's expanded boundaries trapped Gu Yu, Zheng Liang, and other players inside as Xu Huo opened the front gate.
• The game announced the instance's new background, tasks, unlimited duration, and rule barring patients with vivid imaginations.

Players entered a hospital Dungeon where staff confiscated their items and punished anyone who resisted. As they queued for rooms, Brother Liang noticed the warning not to read the hospital rules and signaled Gu Yu and Wen Xue Lin to stop.

• Zheng Liang and his companions fought off Cannibal Players who attacked them at the hospital entrance, while other Players argued over whether to cooperate or target foreign Players.
• A head nurse arrived to assign rooms, but after a Player threw a knife at her, she reattached her head and ordered guards to take him to the seventh floor for special treatment.
• The nurses confiscated Players' items, and the guards dragged upstairs those who tried to use or hide them.
• A Player read the hospital rules posted on the wall, which described patients' routines, privileges, and rewards.
• Brother Liang focused on the warning not to read the rules and signaled Gu Yu and Wen Xue Lin to stop reading.

Gu Yu and his companions explored the hospital at night, encountering a long-haired woman and hearing screams and dragging chains. They barricaded their ward door as an unseen presence knocked in the corridor.

• Gu Yu and his companions left their ward to try clearing the task by wiping the hospital entrance, but they encountered a long-haired woman on the third floor.
• The group reached the lobby and saw a female player shoot out the entrance doors before leaving the hospital with her companions.
• Wen Xue Lin swept up the shattered glass, but the task did not clear, and the group stayed inside the hospital.
• Gu Yu and his companions approached Building Two, heard a scream cut off, and noticed something had changed on the outpatient building's exterior wall.
• The group climbed back into their fourth-floor ward as the hospital darkened and chains dragged through the corridor.
• Gu Yu and Brother Liang blocked the ward door with a bed after hearing knocking, while Zheng Liang and Guan Zu Hong leaned against it with their eyes closed.