Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo protected Dong Jingxuan and his companions from a B-class Holy Sword Society player until reinforcements from Zone 002 arrived. The group escaped by flying vehicle, but the teleportation interference suggested more testing grounds lay beneath them.

• Xu Huo argued that the Holy Sword Society player could not kill Dong Jingxuan and the others easily while he stood in the way, and the player defended the Society’s campaign against Zone 002’s powerful families.
• Zone 002 reinforcements approached, but the B-class player fired a barrage of bullets and attacked Xu Huo’s group with flying knives and a ram’s-horn hammer.
• Xu Huo used his defensive items and trapped the hammer with “Everything Wants to Cut Everything,” forcing the B-class player to retreat.
• Five groups of Zone 002 players arrived, confirmed Dong Jingxuan’s identity, and intercepted the Holy Sword Society members as Xu Huo and the others boarded a flying vehicle.
• Wei Yu suspected more testing grounds lay underground, while Xu Huo told Dong Jingxuan to contact the Dong family before they tried to return there.

After the Holy Sword Society attacked Snow City, Xu Huo and the others discussed whether Zone 002 had used a large-scale Space Teleport Artifact to target a newly formed district. They headed for Snow White Villa to hide, while Xu Huo arranged to meet Chi Minghong for the files she had gathered.

• Dong Jingxuan learned from Brother Lei that the Dong family estate was sealed off and that returning there would risk interception by the Holy Sword Society.
• Xu Huo questioned whether Zone 002 had obtained a large-scale Space Teleport Artifact and considered the possibility that it could send players to a designated district.
• Wei Yu revealed that a new district had appeared at E20, and the group discussed whether it might be vulnerable to occupation by older districts.
• Xu Huo pointed out that the Holy Sword Society's attack reflected the power struggles common in the game world.
• Dong Jingxuan changed course toward Snow White Villa after Xu Huo suggested it as a safer hiding place outside Snow City.
• Xu Huo contacted Chi Minghong, who said she had files to share and agreed to meet him at the site of their earlier Dungeon.

After Government Hall's crackdown began, Xu Huo and his companions hid while gathering information and treating their injuries. Lu Qing reunited with them and revealed her search for Liao Lian had led her to suspect that Snow City's Players had bought people in bulk, but Government Hall held no records of them.

• Xu Huo and his companions concealed their aircraft in the woods, treated Dong Yanqiong's wounds, and discussed the danger in Snow City.
• Xu Huo contacted Number 10 and learned that Government Players had nearly killed him as communications across Snow City remained controlled.
• Chi Minghong arrived with Lu Qing and gave Xu Huo files she had found while investigating Government Hall.
• After Dong Jingxuan questioned how Lu Qing had gotten a cleaning job, Lu Qing attacked and bit him while demanding to know what had happened to Liao Lian.
• Lu Qing told Xu Huo she had traced Liao Lian to an Underground Market, where Snow City Players reportedly bought people in bulk, but found no records in Government Hall.

Xu Huo studied Government Hall’s files and concluded that it had taken the children from Dr. Zhang’s Welfare Institute, while the records left their fate unclear. He suspected Government Hall was conducting human experiments in Snow City and pressed Dong Jingxuan about the base and the Dong family’s connection to it.

• Chi Minghong explained that Liao Lian’s records were missing and gave Lu Qing a Ticket to travel to her hometown.
• Xu Huo warned Lu Qing against turning her search for her sister into hatred of Zone 002, and Chi Minghong offered her a place to rest.
• Xu Huo reviewed Government Hall’s files and learned that it had monitored Dr. Zhang, taken the children from the Welfare Institutes, and left their fate undocumented.
• Xu Huo suspected Dr. Zhang had knowingly raised the children under surveillance and wondered whether they were still alive as test subjects.
• Xu Huo questioned Dong Jingxuan about Government Hall’s human experimentation base and whether it was located in or near the Dong family estate.

Xu Huo and Chi Minghong went to Snow City to investigate a suspected experimental facility, but its heavy security made entry difficult. When a convoy headed for Chen He's Pharmaceutical Industry, Xu Huo chose to use the opportunity to visit the Water Supply Bureau instead.

• Xu Huo persuaded Dong Jingxuan to mark the location of Chen He's Pharmaceutical Industry on a map, and Dong Jingxuan suggested another family might be behind the teleportation passage.
• Xu Huo told Chi Minghong he was going to Snow City, and she agreed to go with him after hearing the risks.
• Xu Huo and Chi Minghong left the woods and found Snow City monitored by Players and networked robots that detected unauthorized items.
• Xu Huo and Chi Minghong waited for a chance to approach the facility, then spotted a convoy heading toward Chen He's Pharmaceutical Industry.
• Chi Minghong suspected Dong Jingxuan had withheld information, but Xu Huo decided they should go to the Water Supply Bureau first.

Xu Huo and Chi Minghong sought a way to identify hidden laboratories in Snow City, but a patrol ambushed them and drove them into a residential building. As Xu Huo evaded the search, one patrol player betrayed his teammate, and the dying player warned the squad that Xu Lin had turned against them.

• Xu Huo proposed comparing water-use records to find buildings that might conceal human laboratories.
• A patrol spotted Xu Huo and Chi Minghong, attacked them with guns and a laser cannon, and surrounded the area.
• Xu Huo entered Building J2 under an invisibility cloak after using the Life Core to destroy its alarm wiring.
• Xu Huo used mental interference to disrupt the patrol squad's search and split its members across the building.
• Xu Lin shot one teammate, stabbed another, and took his Communicator after declaring that he had changed.
• The wounded player used a second Communicator to tell the squad that Xu Lin had betrayed them and to order them to kill him on sight.

Xu Huo disguised himself as Xu Lin and killed two Players while sowing confusion among the government squads. The remaining Players became trapped in an apparent illusion where civilians turned into zombie-like Monsters, and the chapter ended with the gunman asking what experiment could create them.

• Xu Huo, disguised as Xu Lin, stabbed Liu Jin and his companion, hid their bodies, and returned to mislead the other groups.
• Wang Youquan's group encountered another squad, then found Zheng Cheng and the surroundings had vanished and their Communicators had stopped working.
• A Player fired into a crowd of civilians, killing them, but the civilians rose again as fast, Monster-like corpses.
• The corpses overwhelmed the gunman, and his teammate returned to rescue him and block them with an item.
• The gunman promised his teammate an item in return for saving him, while his teammate wondered what experiment had turned corpses into Monsters.

Xu Huo extracted rumors about a secret laboratory from an armed Player and learned it might be near the New Xiangyang Energy Plant. He and Chi Minghong escaped the surrounding Players on a stolen motorcycle, but the pursuit continued as they headed for the rooftops.

• Xu Huo threatened the armed Player with poison and learned that the Government Hall had been linked to experiments on living people.
• The armed Player revealed that several Government Hall staff had been transferred to the New Xiangyang Energy Plant, and Xu Huo let him go.
• Zheng Cheng shot the armed Player when he reached the next floor, while Xu Huo told Chi Minghong where the laboratory might be.
• Chi Minghong stole a low-altitude motorcycle and drove Xu Huo away from the encirclement.
• Government Hall Players pursued them, and Chi Minghong headed for the roof while Xu Huo blocked their attacks.

Xu Huo and Chi Minghong escaped their pursuers and reached the New Xiangyang Energy Plant amid a toxic gas emergency caused by an explosion nearby. As the Holy Sword Society breached the plant’s defenses and fighting tore open its underground structures, Xu Huo and Chi Minghong used the chaos to slip inside.

• Xu Huo and Chi Minghong fled their pursuers as an explosion released toxic gas near the New Xiangyang Energy Plant, triggering citywide alarms and panic.
• Xu Huo gave Chi Minghong an antidote, and the pair headed toward the plant while nearby players helped contain the gas and evacuate residents.
• Xu Huo and Chi Minghong discovered that Outer District Players were attacking the plant, which was protected by a barrier controlled by a player near its main gate.
• The Holy Sword Society broke through the barrier with explosives and entered the plant, where combatants sliced the main complex apart and exposed its underground routes.
• Xu Huo and Chi Minghong slipped into the collapsed building after destroying a Metal Plate, throwing in Smoke Bombs, and shouting a warning about a toxic gas leak.

Xu Huo and Chi Minghong forced researcher Lu Huizhi to lead them through the Laboratory, where Xu Huo uncovered evidence that researchers were experimenting on children. The chapter ended as a video began documenting the sixty-eighth experiment on child test subject R17.

• Xu Huo and Chi Minghong captured Lu Huizhi and made him guide them to the Laboratory.
• Lu Huizhi's attempt to get help failed when the researchers in the Laboratory abandoned him and left.
• Lu Huizhi offered them four Sub-class Stones, including one with a time attribute, and Xu Huo took one while revealing he knew about the children held there.
• Chi Minghong restrained Lu Huizhi, and Xu Huo used his blood to access the workstation and find experiment records and videos.
• Xu Huo watched a recording of R17 recovering from an experiment and heard the therapist announce the start of the sixty-eighth experiment.

Xu Huo confronted Lu Huizhi over the experiments on children and challenged the claim that some had to be sacrificed to save others. As Players converged on the laboratory, Xu Huo used bombs to draw attention, and the underground facility was exposed beneath the city lights.

• Xu Huo reviewed records showing that two child test subjects had become violently unstable, while Chi Minghong slapped Lu Huizhi after seeing the footage.
• Xu Huo copied the records and accused Lu Huizhi of using the threat posed by the children as an excuse to discover how Dr. Zhang created highly intelligent children.
• Lu Huizhi searched for the control panel to release the prisoners, but Xu Huo and Huang Lun noted the danger and the difficulty of evacuating everyone.
• Huang Lun took out a bomb from the B-class Player killed at Snow White Villa, and Xu Huo threw it down the corridor.
• Xu Huo threw more bombs as Players rushed into the laboratory, and the remaining energy plant building shifted aside, exposing the underground facility and its rooms.

Xu Huo and Chi Minghong escaped the energy plant with test subject R17 and a woman who claimed to be his mother. After learning that Liao Lian had died ten days earlier, Xu Huo sensed someone approaching from the woods.

• A High-level Player ordered the government players to kill anyone who left the energy plant, and the Holy Sword Society struggled to break through the blockade.
• Xu Huo rescued R17 from government players outside the Fence, while Chi Minghong carried the woman to safety.
• The group returned to Snow White Villa and found the aircraft and its four passengers gone.
• R17 refused to go with the woman and admitted he had only pretended to trust her to escape; Xu Huo told him to speak honestly.
• The woman revealed that she had been bought and said Liao Lian had died ten days earlier.
• Xu Huo sensed someone approaching from the southwest side of the woods.

As Zhou Yuanzhu and the other Players hid in the woods, she explained the Holy Sword Society’s split and its rumored search for flawless Potions developed by Dr. Wu. Their debate over the Society’s motives was interrupted when aircraft from the Government Hall bombarded the forest, apparently targeting someone ahead of them.

• Zhou Yuanzhu led the injured Players into the woods to hide near the villa and avoid a possible new Dungeon.
• The Players complained about their losses and discussed rumors about the Holy Sword Society and its divided factions.
• Zhou Yuanzhu and the others discussed Dr. Wu’s rumored flawless Potions, the Game Government’s pursuit of him, and the Society’s reasons for fighting.
• The Players debated whether the Holy Sword Society’s actions were selfless or driven by its own interests.
• An aircraft fired shells into the forest, and the Players realized the bombardment was aimed beyond them.

Xu Huo and Chi Minghong escaped Government Hall players with Zhou Yuanzhu’s help and entered an underground passage beneath Snow City. Xu Huo knew Zhou Yuanzhu was hiding something, but followed her because he wanted information about the Holy Sword Society and Dr. Wu.

• A Defense Artifact destroyed the attacking aircraft, and Zhou Yuanzhu’s group retreated while Xu Huo and Chi Minghong fought Government Hall players in the forest.
• Xu Huo used an artifact to return to the shelter, helped Chi Minghong fend off an attacker, and agreed to follow Zhou Yuanzhu to a hiding place.
• Zhou Yuanzhu led Xu Huo, Chi Minghong, and the boy to an abandoned cabin and revealed a teleportation device connected to an underground passage.
• The boy called Zhou Yuanzhu a liar, but Xu Huo followed her because he wanted her information about the Holy Sword Society and Dr. Wu.
• Zhou Yuanzhu guided the group through an abandoned sewer pipe and out through a garbage chute, warning them to avoid attracting attention.

Xu Huo and his companions entered a storage room where the Holy Sword Society had been waiting, and Zhou Yuanzhu revealed himself as their ally. Uncle Guan explained the Society’s operation and confirmed that single-use devices could teleport players between sub-districts, leaving Xu Huo to assess the success of their mission.

• Xu Huo and Chi Minghong brought the frightened woman out of the underground passage and disguised themselves to reach the storage room with Zhou Yuanzhu.
• Six Holy Sword Society players blocked the exit, and Zhou Yuanzhu joined them as their injured members waited inside.
• Xu Huo recognized the raincoat-wearing man from their previous encounter, and the man told Uncle Guan that Xu Huo had entered and left the Entertainment Building with Dong Jingxuan.
• Uncle Guan said he had been watching Xu Huo because he had undergone both spiritual and spatial Super Evolution.
• Uncle Guan explained that the Holy Sword Society had attacked the New Xiangyang Energy Plant to expose human experiments, though the evidence had already appeared on Dimension Below.
• Uncle Guan confirmed that the Society possessed nearly all single-use spatial passage devices, and Xu Huo concluded that their operation had succeeded.

Xu Huo learned that the Holy Sword Society opposed the Game Government and sought to uncover Stellar Group’s secrets, then heard the members’ painful histories. As the Society discussed its purpose, the woman from Zone 002 asked to join despite not being a Player.

• Xu Huo questioned Uncle Guan about Snow City’s trap and the cost of destroying the large-scale spatial transporter.
• Uncle Guan explained Stellar Group’s influence over the game and shared the Holy Sword Society’s suspicion that Dr. Wu had once been one of its founders.
• Uncle Guan told Xu Huo that the Society wanted to expose Stellar Group and give Players a chance to understand the truth.
• Uncle Guan introduced members whose families had been destroyed, who had been enslaved, or who had been forced into dangerous roles.
• Xu Huo said their noble character did not need tragedy to justify it, and the woman from Zone 002 asked to join the Society by helping with everyday affairs.

Xu Huo and Chi Minghong took shelter with the Holy Sword Society, where Chi Minghong used Xu Huo’s Potion to save a poisoned Player. Uncle Guan then offered Xu Huo information about Dr. Wu or an S-version potion in exchange for more of the medicine.

• Uncle Guan let Xu Huo and Chi Minghong stay hidden, while Ruan Qiyan told a Zone 002 woman to find somewhere safe rather than join the Holy Sword Society.
• A poisoned Player died, and another critically injured man began vomiting black blood despite Ruan Qiyan giving him Antidote.
• Chi Minghong gave the injured man Xu Huo’s Potion, which eased his symptoms and eventually cleared the poison.
• Xu Huo refused to name the Potion or sell more, explaining that he had little and it did not last long.
• Uncle Guan took Xu Huo aside and offered information about Dr. Wu or an S-version potion in exchange for the medicine.

Xu Huo traded Antidote with Uncle Guan for information about Dr. Wu and a vial of Evolution Potion, then the Government Hall cornered the Holy Sword Society. A spatial passage pulled Xu Huo, the boy, Chi Minghong, and the others into a B-level high-risk Random Instance, where they would be trapped for fourteen days.

• Xu Huo and Uncle Guan bargained seven bottles of Antidote for three pieces of information about Dr. Wu and a vial of Evolution Potion.
• Uncle Guan said Dr. Wu was one person, might be a Perfect Evolver over two hundred and twenty years old, and might possess game privileges.
• The storage room exploded as Government Hall Players surrounded the building, and Ruan Qiyan recognized a battered prisoner as a Holy Sword Society member.
• Xu Huo told Chi Minghong to give the boy a non-Player ticket and an address, while a spatial passage opened and pulled the woman into it.
• A strange force stopped the group from using their tickets, and Xu Huo, the boy, Chi Minghong, and the Holy Sword Society members were sucked into the passage.
• The game announced that they had entered a B-level high-risk Random Instance with no mission requirements, and the ticket passage would reopen in fourteen days.

Xu Huo and the others were thrown from a spatial passage nearly ten thousand meters above the ground, where falling buildings and explosions made the descent deadly. He rescued several children, then joined Uncle Guan’s effort to pull a group of survivors clear of the debris; fifty-one people survived the landing.

• Xu Huo used his items to dodge falling buildings while carrying a boy, and he lost sight of Chi Minghong and the Holy Sword Society members amid the explosions.
• Xu Huo took a baby from a trapped couple and used World in the Painting to save two more children, while the couple was crushed by falling debris.
• Xu Huo prepared for landing by strapping the boy to his back and wrapping the infant in his clothes, then spotted Uncle Guan carrying a group of survivors.
• Uncle Guan gave You Xuewen a metal box that pulled several groups away from the falling buildings as the others cleared debris.
• Xu Huo helped the group retreat from the danger zone, and fifty-one people survived, though two had broken necks.

After surviving a disastrous fall into a high-risk Random Instance, Xu Huo and the others tried to prepare for the dangers of an unfamiliar, dark forest. As dawn approached and the strange black rain grew heavier, Xu Huo planned to leave with the two children.

• Xu Huo released the two poisoned children from the Picture Frame, treated them with Antidote, and regrouped with Uncle Guan and the other survivors.
• Uncle Guan asked Zhou Yuanzhu to contact their companions for supplies, while the group gathered samples and discussed finding food and shelter.
• Many ordinary survivors left despite Zhou Yuanzhu's warning, and one woman explained that they blamed Zone 002's government for abandoning them but could not feel grateful to their rescuers.
• Xu Huo slashed the eyes of two men who kept staring at the boy, knocked them unconscious, and warned everyone to keep quiet so their sounds would not attract beasts.
• Xu Huo checked the time, updated his requests on Dimension Below and the bounty platform, then marked out a protected area and told the boy to eat and rest before they left.