Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo and the others killed an Alien after Shen Xin and Wu Qiuyi helped create an opening for his Bright Red Sword. As they prepared to leave for the Gas Station, another Alien suddenly attacked Wu Qiuyi, and Xu Huo rushed to save her.

• Shen Xin knocked the Alien down, and Wu Qiuyi drew it into the path of Xu Huo’s Bright Red Sword, which cut it in half.
• Xu Huo led the group to shelter and told them to head to the Gas Station, while the injured survivors rested and celebrated their victory.
• Xu Huo remained wary because Wang Chaoqing and Lin Pei were missing, despite the others believing the area was safe.
• An Alien punched through Wu Qiuyi’s abdomen and dragged her toward the shop, so Xu Huo rushed in and kicked at it.

Xu Huo and the others killed the escaped alien, but Wu Qiuyi died from her injuries despite their efforts to save her. Xu Huo and Gu Yu found one Ground Cage broken open and suspected Lin Pei or Wang Chaoqing had released the alien, leaving to confront the missing men.

• Xu Huo, Ke Liang, Shen Yi, and Gu Yu subdued the alien and Ke Liang severed its head to ensure it was dead.
• The group found Wu Qiuyi dying from her wounds, and she died after Xu Huo placed her treasured photo in her hands.
• Xu Huo and Gu Yu went to inspect the Ground Cages while Ke Liang searched for Lin Pei and Wang Chaoqing, and Shen Yi took Shen Xin and Wu Qiuyi to the Gas Station.
• Xu Huo and Gu Yu found the nearest Ground Cage's Metal Plate knocked open, while the other two cages remained sealed despite signs that aliens had struck them.
• Xu Huo suspected that Lin Pei or Wang Chaoqing had let the alien out, and he and Gu Yu headed back to the Gas Station to find out.

After an Alien escaped from a Ground Cage and Wu Qiuyi died, Xu Huo and the others argued over whether a Player had sabotaged the cages or an outsider was hiding in Decibel Town. Lin Pei challenged the accusations, leaving the group without agreement about who was telling the truth.

• Gu Yu reported that only the nearest Ground Cage had opened, while Ke Liang said Lin Pei had been injured and Wang Chaoqing was missing.
• Xu Huo and Gu Yu inspected Lin Pei's injured leg as the group debated whether he had sabotaged the Ground Cage.
• Xu Huo found Wang Chaoqing hiding in a gas-station cabinet, and Ke Liang accused him of releasing the Alien.
• Xu Huo stopped Ke Liang from beating Wang Chaoqing and suggested that an outsider might be manipulating the Players into suspecting one another.
• Gu Yu connected the outsider theory to Wu Qiuyi's mistaken Flower Crown color, while Shen Yi and Shen Xin questioned what the outsider could have known.
• Lin Pei argued that the suspicions rested on unproven assumptions and challenged the others to provide evidence.

Xu Huo exposed Lin Pei’s attempt to seize his item and escape town, then turned on the group and quickly subdued them. Lin Pei escaped after Xu Huo struck with Bright Red Sword, fleeing deeper into town.

• Xu Huo accused Lin Pei of attacking him to take the item from Master Nice’s residence and challenged the group’s assumptions about an outsider.
• Xu Huo declared that he could kill the injured players, restrained Lin Pei with the Strings, and kicked Ke Liang and Shen Yi away.
• Xu Huo grabbed Gu Yu while Wang Chaoqing pinned Shen Xin at Xu Huo’s signal, leaving the others afraid to intervene.
• Lin Pei escaped the Strings, attacked Xu Huo with an arrow, and proposed they work together before Xu Huo refused and slashed with Bright Red Sword.
• Lin Pei dodged onto the Gas Station roof, fired another arrow, and fled into town.

Xu Huo and the others discussed why Lin Pei had targeted him and feared Lin Pei might know how to escape the Dungeon. At Master Nice's residence, Lin Pei searched frantically for the one-of-a-kind key and became convinced Xu Huo had taken it.

• Xu Huo sent Wang Chaoqing to track Lin Pei while he explained that he wanted to remove the threat Lin Pei posed.
• Gu Yu confronted Xu Huo for acting without warning, but she and the others considered the danger Lin Pei could pose to the group.
• Xu Huo reasoned that Lin Pei might be after a valuable item or a key needed to open the main gate, and the group discussed how to escape if Lin Pei knew the way out.
• Gu Yu suggested that the group could split up and use another door if Lin Pei escaped, and the others accepted that possibility.
• At Master Nice's residence, Lin Pei searched the house for the unique key and concluded that Xu Huo had found and taken it.

Xu Huo and the others searched for a way out of the town and for Lin Pei, but found no opening in the East Gate. At Master Nice’s place, Xu Huo realized they might have been looking for a conventional key or mechanism when the gate could open in an unconventional way.

• Shen Yi told Xu Huo that he and his sister had joined a Player Association and hoped their bodies would be treated with dignity after death.
• Xu Huo questioned Wang Chaoqing about his search, then led the group toward the East Gate to look for a way out.
• The group drove to the East Gate and found that Xu Huo’s sword and their other efforts barely scratched the wall.
• Xu Huo took the group to Master Nice’s place, where they searched the ransacked rooms but found no key or mechanism.
• After Shen Xin noted that the house’s keyholes were decorative, Xu Huo realized they had fallen into a misconception about how the gate might open.

Xu Huo deduced that the town gate opened automatically at a set time, likely midnight, and led the group to test the East Gate. As midnight arrived, the gate opened with a light push, giving them a way out of the town.

• Xu Huo questioned Lin Pei's claim about needing a key and proposed that the gate might open automatically at certain times.
• Xu Huo answered Master Nice's clock question and explained that the Great Bell's midnight signal might trigger the gate.
• Xu Huo and the others traveled to the East Gate and waited there for midnight.
• When the Great Bell's second hand reached twelve, Xu Huo, Ke Liang, and Gu Yu pushed the gate, and it slowly opened.

Xu Huo and the others fled through the passage outside the town as Aliens swarmed out of the grass and tore through the fences. They escaped onto the Suspension Bridge, but Shen Yi and Shen Xin were left hanging below as Lin Pei watched and urged them to abandon Shen Yi.

• Xu Huo found a beast-torn hole in the fence, and Gu Yu warned everyone not to let the Aliens escape.
• A Flying Arrow struck the Suspension Bridge, and the noise drew Aliens that crowded the fences and attacked the players.
• When Aliens broke through the fence ahead, Xu Huo ordered everyone back and lifted himself and Gu Yu onto the bridge with his Strings.
• Ke Liang jumped onto the bridge with Wang Chaoqing, while Xu Huo and Gu Yu tried to pull Shen Yi and Shen Xin up with a belt.
• Aliens bit Shen Yi's legs and dragged the siblings down, and Lin Pei coldly suggested abandoning Shen Yi because he had been bitten.

Xu Huo battled Lin Pei and a powerful Alien on the Suspension Bridge after Lin Pei killed Shen Xin and the Lean Alien infected Xu Huo. As the poison began transforming him, Xu Huo fought the Alien hand to hand while Lin Pei revealed the riddle behind the key to leaving town.

• Xu Huo freed Shen Yi from the Aliens, but Lin Pei shot Shen Xin with his Flying Arrow.
• A fast Lean Alien attacked the group, and Ke Liang fell into the horde after knocking Gu Yu and Shen Xin out of danger.
• Xu Huo confronted Lin Pei, who revealed that the Alien had infected Xu Huo through a cut on his jaw.
• Lin Pei used his Rope Bullet to evade Xu Huo and draw the Aliens toward him, while Xu Huo’s infection intensified.
• Xu Huo fought the Lean Alien barehanded as Gu Yu called for him to escape to Decibel Town and find an antidote.
• Lin Pei stopped Gu Yu from helping Xu Huo and revealed that he had found a riddle about the key to leaving town in the Town Hall.

Xu Huo fought Lin Pei on the Suspension Bridge as his Alien transformation intensified, then returned to Decibel Town and realized the East Gate had concealed a vast horde of Aliens. He struggled to retain his humanity and ended the chapter swinging beneath a gas station canopy with a lit lighter.

• Xu Huo used the wounded Alien as a shield against Lin Pei’s Flying Arrow, then shattered the arrow and drove Lin Pei back while the others fled.
• Lin Pei escaped by swinging from a Steel Cable, but Xu Huo grabbed his ankle and tried to bite him before Lin Pei kicked him away.
• Xu Huo returned through the Wall Gate as it fell, and Lin Pei shouted that he should die in Decibel Town with Wu Qiuyi.
• Xu Huo drove a small truck through town and realized the East Gate was a trap that had kept a large population of transformed residents and security guards sealed behind the Gate Wall.
• As his Alien transformation advanced, Xu Huo fought his urge to hunt, drove into the Gas Station, and lit a Lighter while swinging from its canopy frame.

Xu Huo destroyed the high-frequency instrument and found notes about the P0S Injection, but he collapsed before injecting two unidentified blue syringes. Meanwhile, Gu Yu and the others turned back from the broken Suspension Bridge and encountered Lin Pei, who claimed Xu Huo was dying from alien poison.

• Xu Huo survived the gas station explosion, entered a Ground Cage, and destroyed the High-Frequency Instrument that was tormenting him.
• Xu Huo found notes describing the P0S Injection and its use during the early stages of evolution, then injected both blue syringes after collapsing.
• The aliens gathered outside the Underground Passage as Xu Huo convulsed and eventually fell silent.
• Wang Chaoqing, Ke Liang, and Gu Yu decided the broken Suspension Bridge gate could not be opened and turned back toward the West Gate with Shen Xin.
• Gu Yu and the others met Lin Pei, who carried Xu Huo's sword and claimed Xu Huo had been poisoned and was waiting to die.

Lin Pei overpowered Gu Yu and Ke Liang on the Suspension Bridge, but Shen Xin’s sudden counterattack sent him crashing across it. After Lin Pei captured Shen Xin, Gu Yu revealed that the main gate’s chain was broken and the only way out was through town and the West Gate.

• Ke Liang and Gu Yu attacked Lin Pei together on the Suspension Bridge, but he broke Gu Yu’s arm and used his superior Evolution rate to overpower them.
• Lin Pei shot Ke Liang with a Flying Arrow, dragged Gu Yu down with his Rope Bullet, and pinned her to the bridge with his sword.
• Shen Xin recovered and struck Lin Pei three times with Panda Impact, sending him rolling across the bridge and snapping three chains.
• Lin Pei used his Rope Bullet to capture the exhausted Shen Xin, while the damaged bridge rocked above the agitated Aliens.
• Gu Yu warned Lin Pei that the exit ahead was closed and revealed that the main gate’s broken chain left the West Gate as their only way out.

Lin Pei led the survivors toward another gate after learning how Xu Huo had opened the main gate, while Xu Huo woke after taking the P0S injection and discovered he had begun Perfect Evolution. The chapter left him alive and rational, with the game interface announcing that he had found an unowned item.

• Lin Pei discovered the main gate could no longer be opened and forced Wang Chaoqing to explain Xu Huo’s method.
• Lin Pei found a Maintenance Scaffold leading toward the West Gate, and the group climbed onto it in search of another escape route.
• Xu Huo woke in the dark room and found that his vision had improved while the Aliens continued attacking the iron window.
• Xu Huo read the notes and realized the P0S injection had interrupted his defective transformation and started Perfect Evolution.
• Xu Huo touched the Leather Case, triggering a game notification that Player Passerby A had found an unowned item.

Xu Huo learned that the S-version Evolution Potion was a completed potion rumored to have been created by Dr. Wu, and confirmed that his own Evolution had advanced without the usual risks. He then solved Lin Pei’s riddle and realized the Great Bell at Town Hall revealed how to leave town through the West Gate.

• Xu Huo emerged from the Underground Passage with heightened senses and read Master Nice’s notebook about Alien transformations and the S-version Evolution Potion.
• Xu Huo learned that Dr. Wu’s S-version Potion was an urban legend and that Master Nice had found no way to locate it, but he was reassured that his own Perfect Evolution had no Aftereffects if he waited between stages.
• Xu Huo checked his Personal Panel and saw that two S injections had raised his Evolution rate from 10% to 20%, far more than the game’s experimental Potions had.
• Xu Huo worked out that Lin Pei’s riddle pointed to the Great Bell atop Town Hall, whose second hand reflected light onto the West Gate at midnight and indicated when and where to open it.
• Xu Huo stood beneath the Great Bell, listening to its steady ticking and thinking about what he had discovered.

Xu Huo reflected on how Players could create Dungeons before heading toward the West Gate. There, Lin Pei and the others struggled against Aliens until the gate opened and a blinding light approached.

• Xu Huo considered how Dungeons could form and left the office building for the West Gate.
• Lin Pei's group reached the West Gate and cut an opening through the Metal Plate blocking the road.
• Wall-climbing Aliens attacked the group, and the survivors used flashlights to keep the light-fearing creatures at bay.
• Lin Pei failed to open the gate and considered catching an Alien, while Degenerate Aliens joined the fight.
• The gate suddenly opened inward, and Wang Chaoqing spotted someone coming out as a blinding light advanced toward them.

Xu Huo returned to the Town Hall, defeated Lin Pei, and ended the Dungeon. He offered Shen Xin an Antidote after she expressed despair over surviving her brother.

• Xu Huo arrived with a lantern, drove back the light-fearing Aliens, and reunited with Gu Yu, Lin Pei, Shen Xin, Ke Liang, and Wang Chaoqing.
• Lin Pei attacked Xu Huo with his artifacts, but Xu Huo caught the Flying Arrow, pulled him into a powerful counterattack, and took his sword.
• Lin Pei tried to flee, but the Aliens attacked him, and Xu Huo killed him with a distant slash of Sword Qi.
• Xu Huo confirmed the Dungeon was over, and Gu Yu returned his belt while explaining that the survivors had been wounded and needed Antidotes.
• Shen Xin blamed herself for her brother Shen Yi's death and said she did not want to live, so Xu Huo offered her a Syringe containing an Antidote.

Xu Huo and the others escaped the instance after the antidote cured their injuries, then returned to the real world. Outside the mansion, he reunited with Yuan Yao and Huang Junjie, who had caught Wang Chaoqing, and warned Wang to stay put until someone came for him.

• Xu Huo gave Shen Xin, Gu Yu, and Ke Liang the remaining antidote doses, and the group left the danger zone after the medicine began working.
• Shen Xin agreed to go to Jing City with Gu Yu, and Xu Huo returned Shen Yi's elastic cord to her as a memento.
• Xu Huo and the others left the instance and returned to the haunted mansion in daylight, where they exchanged contact information before he sent the injured survivors to the hospital.
• Yuan Yao and Huang Junjie revealed they had waited outside the mansion and captured Wang Chaoqing after he escaped the instance.
• Xu Huo told Wang Chaoqing to stay home because someone would come looking for him in a couple of days.

On the way back from Decibel Town, Xu Huo reviewed his loot and the rewards from clearing the instance. He used his upgrade opportunity to combine two Artifacts, then considered which E-class instance to enter next.

• Yuan Yao asked why Xu Huo had let Wang Chaoqing go, and Huang Junjie said Wang was not a good person; Xu Huo replied that the Special Affairs Bureau should handle him.
• Xu Huo inspected Lin Pei's bow and arrow, torch, and other spoils, noting how the Flying Arrow had nearly killed him.
• Xu Huo received an Artifact upgrade opportunity and reviewed his updated panel, inventory, and available tickets.
• Xu Huo chose to upgrade Arsonist's Tool, and the panel offered to combine it with Fearless of wind and snow torch into a D-class Artifact.
• Xu Huo considered giving away most of his Evolution Potions and weighed his E-class instance choices before a new message appeared.

After a game-wide announcement revealed that a Super Artifact had been obtained in District 014, Xu Huo feared that powerful players would descend on the district and threaten its people. The Special Affairs Bureau began preparing for a possible catastrophe, and Nie Xuan confronted Team Leader Wu over the plan to transfer him to Capital City.

• Xu Huo realized the announcement concealed the Super Artifact owner's identity, then explained to Yuan Yao and Huang Junjie that E27-014 referred to a game district and that players from older districts could travel there.
• Xu Huo warned that the announcement could attract High-level Players who might hunt players, kill ordinary people, or seize control of countries, and he said they would have to rely on the state.
• Xu Huo considered whether to erase traces of the Super Artifact but decided that doing so could draw more attention, and he worried about the painted woman, who was also a Super Artifact.
• World leaders approved a high-priority military operation, and the order reached the Tingcheng First Research Institute.
• Team Leader Wu told Nie Xuan he was being transferred to Capital City to preserve promising players, and Nie Xuan accused the country of abandoning the others.

With the Super Artifact threatening to draw players from other districts, Nie Xuan prepared to use a Special Artifact while Xu Huo and his companions made plans to stay safe. After Yuan Yao and Huang Junjie left, Yu Qingqing returned with Lichun, and Xu Huo packed game-related items into an aluminum case.

• Team Leader Wu told Nie Xuan that they had only three days to persuade the player with the Super Artifact, and Nie Xuan decided to stop searching for the player and request the C-class Special Artifact 'Demon Finger Gloves.'
• Nie Xuan told Sima Xiao Er to get a Ticket into the game and remain there as long as possible after obtaining a Return Ticket.
• Xu Huo, Huang Junjie, and Yuan Yao discussed hiding from players from other districts, and Xu Huo took Huang Junjie's saved white scab.
• Yuan Yao left with two bottles of P0 Potion, and Huang Junjie said goodbye to Xu Huo.
• Yu Qingqing returned with Lichun and shopping bags, while Xu Huo brought the painted woman into his room and packed items from his Leather Case into an aluminum case.