Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo learned how W37 Base collapsed through war between nations, looting, and a virus outbreak that destroyed fifteen safe bases, and he obtained a complete map of the region. He and Shangguan Xi entered a fenced school where the remaining native inhabitants lived, and the boy led them to meet Teacher Ai.

• Xu Huo learned that W37 Base had fallen after nations sabotaged one another, outside Players looted the region, and a virus outbreak spread from Base 006 to fifteen safe bases.
• Xu Huo copied a complete map of W37 Base Station and sold a copy to the Player Lord of All Gods for fifty thousand White Cash.
• Shangguan Xi told Xu Huo that the map he had bought was accurate because it showed W37 Base's unusual heavy snow.
• Xu Huo and Shangguan Xi followed the boy through a basement passage into a fenced school where sick children and other native inhabitants lived.
• The boy told a middle-aged woman that he was taking Xu Huo and Shangguan Xi to see Teacher Ai before leading them upstairs.

After Teacher Ai was kidnapped by a Player who wanted his knowledge of the terrain, Xu Huo and Shangguan Xi agreed to follow the boy through W18’s underground passages to find him. They followed Teacher Ai’s marks into a trapped passage, where Shangguan Xi took the lead as the boy pressed on.

• The boy discovered Teacher Ai was missing, and W18’s residents searched for him without success.
• A child told them that a Player had recently asked about people from W19 Base, and the boy concluded that Teacher Ai had been taken to guide the Player.
• Xu Huo agreed to rescue Teacher Ai and asked the boy to lead them to an underground exit from W18.
• Xu Huo gave the boy’s mother rice and frozen vegetables, then he, Shangguan Xi, and the boy entered the underground passages.
• The boy identified marks left by Teacher Ai, but the group encountered hidden weapons and a poison gas trap along the route.
• Shangguan Xi stopped the boy from rushing ahead and took the lead, while the boy complained that Shangguan Xi talked too much.

Xu Huo found Teacher Ai and fought the Players who had taken him hostage after they rejected his offer to travel together. He rescued Teacher Ai, but the fight continued as two enemies trapped him in a storm and attacked his exposed eyes.

• Xu Huo, Shangguan Xi, and the boy escaped through a trapped passage and found the iron exit into the desert.
• Xu Huo spotted the four fugitives hiding beneath the sand and approached them, but three Players attacked while the fourth held Teacher Ai hostage.
• Xu Huo rescued Teacher Ai, who offered to guide them to W19 Base, and used the Desert Windmill to raise a sandstorm against the attackers.
• Xu Huo countered the Players' artifacts, crushed one with 101, marked him with Eternal Imprint, and cut another in half with No Entry.
• One Player stopped the sandstorm and locked Xu Huo's eyelids open while another blinded him with a floodlight, and a third attack formed a storm around him.

Xu Huo and Shangguan Xi defeated the Players who had attacked them and planned how to reach W19 with the people they were taking along. Teacher Ai offered to guide them to vehicles and across the changing terrain, but demanded that they take him to W37 Base.

• Xu Huo escaped the storm item's spatial effect and killed one attacker, while Shangguan Xi subdued the other and an invisible force cut him in half.
• Xu Huo argued that they needed a vehicle waiting outside W18 as a backup for reaching W19 and carrying supplies.
• Teacher Ai revealed that he had driven to W18 in a specialized off-road vehicle and knew where other vehicles could be found, but demanded passage to W37 Base.
• Teacher Ai shoved the boy toward the iron door to demonstrate his resistance to items and Potions, prompting Xu Huo to ask whether he had been a Player.
• Teacher Ai claimed he had been an engineer who designed routes and item-based projects between Base Cities, and Shangguan Xi doubted his boast.

Xu Huo agreed to take Teacher Ai with him and sent Shangguan Xi to retrieve energy and communication devices from the Third Energy Factory. Shangguan Xi returned with Ding Wei, who proposed joining their team, leaving Xu Huo to decide how to deal with the new alliance.

• Teacher Ai gave Xu Huo directions to a hidden underground energy supply, and Shangguan Xi left to retrieve it.
• Teacher Ai questioned Xu Huo’s decision to travel with others and said he cared only about escaping; Xu Huo urged him to comfort the boy who trusted him.
• Xu Huo gave the boy food and seeds, and the boy left after asking whether Xu Huo would take Teacher Ai to W37 Base.
• Shangguan Xi returned with Ding Wei and another Player, while Ding Wei brought the remaining energy and proposed teaming up.
• Ding Wei provoked Shangguan Xi by writing that her loyalty depended on her teammates’ looks, and Xu Huo stopped him from attacking her.

Xu Huo pressured Ding Wei and another Player to hand over energy before agreeing to cooperate, then went with Teacher Ai to locate the off-road vehicle. They uncovered it in the desert, and Teacher Ai climbed inside to start it.

• Xu Huo demanded that Ding Wei and the other Player hand over energy as proof of their sincerity, and he offered to take half if they wanted to keep some leverage.
• Xu Huo had Shangguan Xi give Teacher Ai a Communicator and asked Teacher Ai to mark the vehicle's location on the map.
• Xu Huo and Teacher Ai crossed the desert and uncovered a large, Black Metal off-road vehicle buried beneath the sand.
• Teacher Ai entered the vehicle and started its controls while Xu Huo helped him get inside with Standardized Weightlessness.

Xu Huo and the others crossed the desert in Teacher Ai’s vehicle, dealing with the heat and a stink scorpion in the ventilation system. Their journey was interrupted when a fast, heavily armored mining lizard appeared, and Zhao Jiahua jumped onto the roof to confront it.

• Xu Huo studied the updated map with Teacher Ai, then summoned Shangguan Xi, Ding Wei, and Zhao Jiahua to join the desert crossing.
• Teacher Ai drove the group across the sand while Shangguan Xi watched and Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahua recorded the vehicle’s controls.
• A stink scorpion crawled into the ventilation duct, filling the vehicle with a foul smell until Teacher Ai adjusted the controls and cleared the air.
• The group stopped to rest, but the vehicle’s alarm soon warned them that an Alien was approaching at high speed.
• Zhao Jiahua climbed onto the roof as a massive mining lizard appeared, and Shangguan Xi warned that it was fast, tough, and dangerous to the vehicle.

Xu Huo and his companions encountered a mysterious archway that attacked their vehicle and trapped people beyond it. After an ordinary woman signaled that five people were stranded there and one was a player, Xu Huo entered the archway to help, while the others moved the vehicle back and searched for another route.

• Zhao Jiahua drove off the ore lizard with a Balloon after his electrified whip and blade failed to hurt it.
• Teacher Ai could not steer away from the Sole Entrance, and underground stakes flipped the vehicle until Ding Wei used beans and Potion to hold it in place.
• Xu Huo approached the archway with the Little Mushroom Cloud, then put it away when a dehydrated woman emerged and pleaded for help.
• The woman told Xu Huo that five people were stranded beyond the archway and that the player among them was poisoned and unable to use items.
• Xu Huo entered the archway with the woman, while Ding Wei returned to the vehicle and told the group to back away from the entrance.
• Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahua left to search for another route as Shangguan Xi stayed by the vehicle with Teacher Ai.

Xu Huo entered a hidden rest area, treated an injured young Player, and learned why he and his family were trying to reach W37 Base. The young Player claimed W37 secretly took in infected people, leaving Xu Huo weighing that claim against the region’s tangled base-city politics and questions about possible cures.

• Xu Huo dispelled the arch’s illusion, found a family sheltering an injured young Player, and gave him an Antidote and supplies for a meal.
• After the young Player recovered, Xu Huo asked him about the routes and shifting alliances between base cities as they both planned to go to W37.
• The young Player said W37 had been accepting infected people and argued that infection could be managed with precautions, citing his family’s survival.
• Xu Huo noted that Players were less susceptible to infection and could obtain special Potions, then wondered whether any Players had brought back Potions or vaccines from other game sub-districts.

Xu Huo took a young Player and his family aboard as they traveled through the desert toward W37 Base City. When the group encountered a suspected human-bait trap, Xu Huo set off an explosion and ordered Teacher Ai to keep driving.

• Xu Huo learned that the young Player was taking his family to W37 Base City in hopes of finding a treatment for the infection, and offered them a ride.
• Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahua objected to taking on more passengers, but Xu Huo and Shangguan Xi agreed to share food and water with the family.
• The group crossed Alien-infested areas and rested inside Gao Chunfeng's archway item as a sandstorm passed.
• The next day, Gao Chunfeng warned the group not to approach a prone figure because it was human bait.
• Xu Huo got out of the vehicle, triggered an explosion ahead, then told Teacher Ai to keep driving as a wall of sand surged toward them.

Xu Huo’s group crossed the desert and Gobi Area toward W19 Base City, finding a battle site and learning about the damaged city’s surroundings. At a mined-out ore deposit, Xu Huo noticed unusual space lines in the discarded rocks and wondered if the energy ore had originated from Origin Stones.

• Teacher Ai drove the group past the crater left by Xu Huo’s explosion, and they saw that the blast had reshaped the desert without leaving radiation.
• Xu Huo and the others found wrecked vehicles and the dead members of an exploration team, then collected their remaining supplies and seeds.
• The next morning, Gao Chunfeng and Gao Xiayang parted ways with Xu Huo’s group, and Xu Huo planned to approach W19 Base City from the north.
• Teacher Ai told Xu Huo about an abandoned underground construction site near the south gate, which had been sealed after mutated ants infested it.
• In the Gobi Area, Xu Huo examined discarded rocks and detected unusual space lines, leading him to suspect the energy ore had come from Origin Stones.

Xu Huo investigated ores in the wasteland, then attacked a passing group of players who tried to recruit him. He killed two of them and caught up to the escaping female player.

• Xu Huo examined ores while Shangguan Xi, Ding Wei, and Zhao Jiahua rested nearby.
• A vehicle carrying four players drove past the group, and a woman invited Xu Huo to come along.
• Xu Huo attacked the vehicle, killed one man, and used No Entry to separate the remaining attackers.
• The bald man and the female player tried artifacts and abilities to locate Xu Huo, but he killed the bald man.
• Xu Huo caught up to the female player after she escaped his mental space.

Xu Huo and his companions learned that the bald man’s group had murdered Gao Chunfeng, Gao Chunling, and the children, then killed their attackers. As they continued toward W37 Base City, they discovered that an unknown effect was making their vehicle circle the same area, and Xu Huo went out to investigate.

• Xu Huo trapped the woman who wore Gao Chunling’s sunshade and forced her to admit that her group had killed Gao Chunfeng, Gao Chunling, and the three children.
• The woman died from her wounds and poison, and Xu Huo took the corpses’ items before pouring Potion over the bodies; Aliens soon arrived and tore into them.
• The group discussed the dangers ordinary people faced in weak Sub-districts as their vehicle continued toward W37 Base City.
• Xu Huo noticed that the vehicle had been driving in circles, and Shangguan Xi confirmed that it returned to a marker despite the instruments showing no boundary.
• Zhao Jiahua sent a mechanical insect ahead, and Xu Huo left the vehicle to investigate the area himself.

Xu Huo and his companions escaped a spatial maze and reached W19 Base City, where two living specimens remained. After entering the battle-scarred city, they debated which specimen to pursue first.

• Xu Huo bought a hand-drawn map and led the group through the maze-like area using the car's navigation system.
• Ding Wei argued that they should abandon the car and seek help, but Shangguan Xi insisted their car would help them reach W37 Base City ahead of other players.
• After nightfall, the group reached the transition zone and chose to drive into W19 Base City rather than risk leaving their car outside.
• Xu Huo's locator showed two living specimens in W19, one in the city center and one near the south gate.
• Teacher Ai recommended going to the city-center specimen at a B-level Laboratory, while Ding Wei argued it might be easier to retrieve than the one at the gate.

Xu Huo entered the contaminant-covered laboratory to search for the live samples while other players held back outside. He found signs of life in a sealed laboratory after enduring the corrosive growths, but the chapter ended before he reached the samples.

• Xu Huo decided the group would investigate the laboratory first, despite signs of fighting and a dangerous contaminant nearby.
• Teacher Ai detected a B-level contaminant, and Xu Huo ordered Shangguan Xi to stay with the car while he, Zhao Jiahua, and Ding Wei entered separately.
• Xu Huo used Go to Destination to reach the laboratory, broke through a spatial barrier, and entered despite a High-level Player pursuing him.
• Xu Huo discovered that black contaminants rapidly corroded his protective gear and found three dead players inside the building.
• Xu Huo used an antidote to collect a contaminated sample, found a floor plan, and melted through walls to search likely locations.
• Xu Huo finally found signs of life inside one of the laboratory rooms.

Xu Huo rescued the living Alien sample from the contaminated laboratory, then fought three Players who attacked him as he tried to escape. He damaged the Clown Player’s scythe, leaving the two facing off at the edge of the distorted-gravity zone.

• Xu Huo found the Alien inside a sealed box, took it from World in the Painting, and put it in the box as contaminants flooded the laboratory.
• A female Player and a tattooed Player attacked Xu Huo, but he blocked the tattooed man’s bullet barrage and escaped the building.
• A Clown Player used distorted gravity to trap Xu Huo and attacked him with a huge scythe while Xu Huo tried to reach the zone’s edge.
• Xu Huo used his items to evade the Clown Player and countered with Eye of the Deceased.
• Xu Huo struck the Clown Player’s scythe with his finger, punched a large hole in its blade, and made the Clown exclaim, “What the hell!”

Xu Huo and the others fled the contaminated Laboratory toward the South Gate, pursued by three powerful Players. Xu Huo killed the female pursuer, but Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahua were trapped by the tattooed Player as Shangguan Xi escaped with Xu Huo.

• After the Laboratory's live samples died, Xu Huo's group headed for the South Gate while the three other Players followed them.
• The female Player trapped their vehicle in a transparent barrier, but Ding Wei cut it open with a pair of scissors.
• Xu Huo left the car, blocked the pursuers' view, and used the Light Sandwich against the female Player, whose Space Artifact broke its restraint.
• Xu Huo killed the female Player with a shrinking transparent box and took the items from her corpse.
• Xu Huo warned that the baby-faced Player's abilities weakened when he moved quickly, while Shangguan Xi, Ding Wei, and Zhao Jiahua held off the two remaining pursuers.
• Shangguan Xi retreated with Xu Huo, while the tattooed Player trapped Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahua inside a metal ring.

Xu Huo evaded the baby-faced man and the tattooed man while trying to secure the live sample, and the chapter ended with him preparing to verify it. Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahua abandoned the alliance and fled as the off-road vehicle was destroyed.

• Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahua fought their pursuers and climbed onto the off-road vehicle, while an unknown force sealed the vehicle and took control of it.
• Shangguan Xi forced open a door, but the vehicle lifted into the air; Xu Huo escaped with Teacher Ai as Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahua fled separately.
• Xu Huo used his abilities to draw the baby-faced man and the tattooed man away from the buried vehicle, which then broke free and sped off.
• Xu Huo tracked the vehicle and offered to work with the two pursuers to retrieve the live sample, then showed them an unauthenticated wristband.
• When the tattooed man demanded proof, Xu Huo summoned Eye of the Deceased to verify whether the sample was real.

Xu Huo fought the baby-faced Player and the tattooed man while Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahua searched the underground garage for the stolen vehicle. Ding Wei became trapped in a mental interference effect and was killed by an unseen attacker.

• Xu Huo exploited the baby-faced Player’s difficulty moving within the gravitational chaos, but the man used a Defense Artifact to escape while the tattooed man confronted Xu Huo.
• Xu Huo revealed an invisible Artifact and struck the tattooed man, then chased him into a damaged building for a fight.
• The tattooed man followed Xu Huo’s blood trail into the underground parking garage as Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahua entered from another side to find the vehicle.
• Ding Wei and Zhao Jiahua encountered a staircase leading deeper into the garage and suspected mental interference, so they turned off their lights and tried to retreat.
• Ding Wei realized she was trapped in an endless ramp, offered information and driving skills to the unseen Player, then tried to flee and was split in two by a beam from the ground.

Xu Huo escaped the collapsing parking garage and learned that the live sample near the south gate was being used as bait by a powerful player. After questioning several players, he began piecing together the trap and its owner’s possible motives.

• Xu Huo’s explosion killed Zhao Jiahua, but the tattooed man survived, and Xu Huo realized the vehicle tracker had led him to a decoy.
• Xu Huo spotted Shangguan Xi carrying Teacher Ai and learned that the live sample was near a building where players could not get close.
• Xu Huo questioned Shangguan Xi about the powerful player near the sample and considered whether the player was waiting for a vehicle or an accomplice.
• Xu Huo found an injured female player, gave her an Antidote, and learned that the building seemed to stretch farther away as players approached.
• Xu Huo questioned two more players and gathered accounts of the trap, while the group remained stuck in a deadlock.