Chapter Summaries

Seven Dungeon Players ambushed Xu Huo’s group and captured Dr. Dorr, but Xu Huo rescued him while Fan Zhigang’s team fought the remaining attackers. The fighting drew a swarm of Aliens, leaving both sides surrounded and still battling over Dr. Dorr.

• Seven enemy Players attacked the vehicle with magnetic spheres and Short Arrows, then used a speedster to strike Qiu Ming and Dai Song and coat the vehicle in wax.
• An enemy Player swapped places with Dr. Dorr and attacked Cao Qinglin, while Dai Song pursued the speedster and Qiu Ming defended her.
• Four attackers revealed that they had captured Dr. Dorr, but Xu Huo killed the Bald Player, hid Dr. Dorr in the painting, and told the household robot to clean the wax from the vehicle.
• Fan Zhigang and his companions cornered the remaining opponents, but the noise attracted growing numbers of Mutant Animals and other Aliens.
• Both groups fought the Aliens and each other, and Fan Zhigang demanded that the attackers hand Dr. Dorr over as everyone became wounded and surrounded.

Xu Huo’s group escaped the Aliens after another team kidnapped someone they believed was Dr. Dorr, while the group debated which of several impostors was real. As they considered how to find the genuine doctor, an explosion erupted in the distance.

• A fast Player stole his companion and escaped with his group, leaving Fan Zhigang, Qiu Ming, and the others surrounded by Aliens.
• Xu Huo protected the car and its occupants with a barrier, then had the housekeeping robot drive while the group fought through the Aliens.
• Xu Huo used bait and poison to distract the Aliens, allowing the group to escape, and suggested that the other Players might have taken a different Dr. Dorr impostor.
• The group debated whether Gemini City had used lookalikes, multiples, or plastic surgery to create the competing Dr. Dorrs, and Qiu Ming wondered if only one group could clear the Dungeon.
• Xu Huo noticed red grass growing again, and a distant fire and explosion lit up the sky.

Xu Huo confronted a group of Players searching for Dr. Dorr and discovered that Bai Jing, a Space Power Super Evolver, was among them. He trapped the group in a field of Space Rays and demanded answers.

• Xu Huo left Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin to guard the car, then went to investigate the explosion and found Ya tribe Players questioning survivors about Dr. Dorr.
• Xu Huo attacked the Ya tribe man and the Player with the notebook, taking the notebook and confirming that the group had tracked Dr. Dorr for days.
• The Ya tribe man escaped with the notebook Player using a teleportation item, but Xu Huo pursued them and narrowly avoided an explosion trap.
• Bai Jing joined the confrontation and detonated the air around Xu Huo, but Xu Huo appeared behind the notebook Player and killed him.
• Xu Huo warned the remaining Players that Space Rays filled the woods, then identified Bai Jing as a Space Power Super Evolver.

Xu Huo confronted Bai Jing and the Ya tribe about Dr. Dorr’s disappearance and learned their claim that Dr. Dorr conducted experiments on living people to create stronger Evolved Humans. He brought Dai Song into the discussion, and both Dai Song and Bai Jing insisted they were telling the truth, leaving Xu Huo to weigh conflicting accounts.

• Xu Huo subdued the Ya tribe players, held one hostage, and demanded information about Dr. Dorr.
• Bai Jing said the Ya tribe had killed fifteen people resembling Dr. Dorr and provided six photos.
• Bai Jing claimed Dr. Dorr was experimenting on living people to create stronger Evolved Humans using the Ya tribe’s genes.
• Xu Huo questioned the Ya tribe’s account and brought Dai Song, who had been hiding nearby, into the discussion.
• Dai Song denied Bai Jing’s claims and swore that Dr. Dorr had gone to Second City to save its people.

Spoken oaths carried little weight among Players fighting for survival. Dai Song was not ordinarily weak, but he was outmatched by Bai Jing and the others, as well as Xu Huo.

• Players fighting for survival placed little value on spoken promises.
• Players regarded attempts to gain trust through oaths as a sign of weakness.
• Dai Song fell short of Bai Jing and the others, as well as Xu Huo.

Xu Huo inspected what he had received and signaled that they could leave, leaving the Ya tribe and Dai Song confused about how he would clear the instance after Dr. Dorr’s death. The chapter then broke off into unrelated promotional blurbs for other novels.

• Xu Huo inspected the item and nodded to signal that they could leave.
• The Ya tribe people and Dai Song wondered how Xu Huo would clear the instance with Dr. Dorr dead.
• The text shifted to promotional descriptions of several unrelated novels.

Dai Song pointed out another route between First City and Second City that passed the Star Flower Sea, but he did not know whether their people had made it through. The chapter ended before anyone could determine what had happened along the route.

• Dai Song noted that First City and Second City seemed cut off despite Zone 023's communications facilities being undamaged.
• Dai Song pointed out an alternate route past the Star Flower Sea.
• Dai Song said he did not know whether their people had made it through.

Qiu Ming noticed that Dai Song had disappeared after leaving the car with Cao Qinglin. Fan Zhigang suspected that Dai Song had run off because Dr. Dorr was gone.

• Qiu Ming announced that Dai Song was missing.
• Cao Qinglin stood behind the group after getting out of the back seat with Dai Song, who was nowhere to be seen.
• Fan Zhigang suggested that Dai Song had run off because Dr. Dorr was gone and he had no reason to keep following them.

A tall white figure plunged into the woods among Bai Jing and three others, forcing them to scatter. Once they looked back, the figure had begun to come apart like a machine.

• A white figure plunged through the dense woods and landed precisely among Bai Jing and three others.
• Bai Jing and the other three retreated in different directions before looking back.
• The tall white figure began to come apart like a machine.

The pigtail-wearing Player broke free of the dummy Player's control and counterattacked. The golden-booted Player returned and caught the dummy Player before he hit the ground.

• The pigtail-wearing Player forcibly adjusted his posture midair and broke free of the control.
• The pigtail-wearing Player kicked forward and sent the dummy Player flying with a shoe-print-shaped shockwave.
• The golden-booted Player appeared behind the dummy Player and caught him in a wide-armed embrace.

Dr. Dorr considered the Ya tribe’s shorter lifespans and early maturation unremarkable, then wondered whether the boy Xu Huo had met in the abandoned city was older than he appeared. The chapter ended before that question was answered.

• Dr. Dorr dismissed the Ya tribe’s short lifespans as normal for their people.
• Dr. Dorr recalled that the boy Xu Huo had met in the abandoned city claimed to be older than he looked.
• Dr. Dorr considered whether the boy’s apparent age could be explained by malnutrition.

Xu Huo judged that the dummy player likely made handicrafts and that his ability stiffened nearby objects without making them unbreakable. The two players had already gone far away.

• The dummy player's ability made nearby objects, including the props' cutting lines, stiff and harder to destroy.
• Xu Huo judged from the dummy player's props and abilities that he likely made handicrafts.
• The two players went far away.

The dummy Player tried to counter Xu Huo's sudden increase in power with a heart-shaped item, but an invisible force knocked it away. The confrontation remained unresolved in the available text.

• The dummy Player realized that Xu Huo had suddenly become much stronger.
• The dummy Player deployed a heart-shaped item that rolled onto the ground.
• Xu Huo remained unmoved as an invisible force knocked the item away.

Dr. Dorr died after being frightened by the fight outside the Winter Wind Laboratory, and Xu Huo teamed up with a bold player to plan a robbery of the new District Government. As Xu Huo went to recruit allies near the laboratory, he spotted players marked with rotating numbers entering and leaving the barrier.

• Dr. Dorr died in the big man's grip, and the players escorting him charged at those who had surrounded them.
• Xu Huo learned that Gemini City had sent fragile stand-ins and heard that Zone 023 players were fighting over human experiments at the Winter Wind Laboratory.
• Xu Huo and the scarred player agreed to rob the District Government, then recruited two more players and assigned themselves numbers.
• Xu Huo went to the Winter Wind Laboratory to recruit allies and saw players marked with the numbers 17, 19, and 20 pass through the barrier.

Xu Huo intervened in the standoff at the Winter Wind Laboratory, stopping Number 3 from detonating a bomb and exposing evidence that the Laboratory had conducted experiments on living people. The last surviving staff member revealed that the Fangcao Laboratory had sent them to collect Dr. Dorr's latest data.

• After 17, 19, and 20 confronted him, the unnumbered Player fled into the Laboratory and dropped a mask that disabled their protective shields.
• Number 3's group attacked the barrier protecting the Warehouse, then prepared to destroy it with a bomb and accused the Laboratory of hiding evidence of human experimentation.
• Xu Huo seized Number 3's remote and stopped him from detonating the bomb, then pulled He Yong through the barrier and injected him with a truth serum.
• He Yong died after the injection, and a researcher said he had taken an anti-interrogation drug beforehand.
• The injured female Player used a truth-inducing item on one staff member, who admitted the Laboratory had experimented on living people; she killed him.
• The last staff member said the person in charge of the Fangcao Laboratory had sent them to collect Dr. Dorr's latest experimental data.

Xu Huo challenged the Ya tribe’s belief that Dr. Dorr had experimented on them, arguing that the evidence and circumstances pointed toward another explanation. He left Number 3 wondering whether the “New Hope” Dungeon was actually a trap aimed at the Ya tribe.

• Xu Huo guarded against Number 3 and asked the Winter Wind Laboratory members whether they knew Dr. Dorr had doubles.
• Xu Huo revealed a living painting containing Dr. Dorr’s face, and the female player confirmed the Laboratory’s key members were present.
• Xu Huo showed Number 3 Dr. Dorr’s face and said the doubles he had met had denied conducting human experiments.
• Xu Huo argued that Gemini City lacked the resources for such experiments and that the Dungeon’s name, “New Hope,” suggested a different purpose.
• Number 3 asked whether Xu Huo meant the Dungeon was a trap targeting the Ya tribe.

Xu Huo analyzed how a third party had manipulated the Ya tribe and Gemini City into fighting, then left the Laboratory after urging them to seek the real enemy. He rejoined Number 1 and the other Players, who discussed the Dungeon’s prospects as reports suggested the fighting had stopped and the Ya tribe had withdrawn.

• Xu Huo explained that the Dungeon’s setup had made the Ya tribe and Gemini City Players suffer the greatest losses, and advised them to identify whoever was manipulating them.
• Dr. Dorr asked Number 3 and the Ya tribe to inspect the Warehouse, but the Winter Wind Laboratory staff refused to open it for fear of contaminating the Experiment Samples.
• Xu Huo removed his barriers, told both sides to settle matters themselves, and left after Dr. Dorr asked him to witness the Warehouse inspection.
• Xu Huo returned to Number 1, who introduced Players Numbers 5 through 8, and they discussed recruiting more Players despite the Dungeon’s grim chances.
• Numbers 2 and 3 reported that Heaven’s Ladder had quieted, the Ya tribe had gone into the forest, and the Laboratory fighting had stopped behind a restored barrier.
• The Players speculated that the Ya tribe had achieved its goal at the Laboratory and that the Dungeon might no longer be clearable.

Xu Huo reviewed his S-level dungeon rewards, including a new ability and a high-tech RV, while players gathered in Gemini City after hearing rumors of a chance to make a big score. The chapter ended with Xu Huo among the gathered players, listening as two men traded remarks about personal hygiene.

• Players in Gemini City weighed whether to stay for a possible score despite the risks of the dungeon disappearing or no Dr. Dorr appearing.
• Xu Huo received an S-level rating for delivering Dr. Dorr and uncovering the dungeon’s truth, earning items and the ability Reasonable Existence.
• Xu Huo examined his RV reward and the Staff Dormitory item taken from the player who controlled dummies.
• Thirty players gathered in the vacated building after hearing news of a chance to make a big score.
• The scar-handed player joked about his sweat and teased an upright-looking man, who replied that players should live with dignity.

Xu Huo and the gathered Players discussed how to enter the new District Government city and organize a possible raid on its factories for valuable resources. The respectable-looking man offered information about the factories’ encrypted Warehouse doors and irregular opening times, but the scarred Player questioned whether his claims were reliable.

• Xu Huo advised the scarred Player to use game-exclusive perfume to erase his scent and traces, and the scarred Player accepted the advice.
• The Players learned that Outer District Players could apply for passes to enter the heavily guarded new District Government city, though the passes took two days to activate and Space Artifacts were disabled there.
• Big Man No. 7 proposed sending a reconnaissance group into the city before the others, while the Players debated how to choose leaders and divide responsibilities.
• The respectable-looking man argued that the Players needed a practical plan before entering the city, and the group accepted the need to cooperate.
• The respectable-looking man revealed that he had information about encrypted factory Warehouse doors and a way to learn their irregular opening times, but the scarred Player challenged his claim.

Xu Huo followed Bai Jing to question him about the Ya tribe and the new District Government, arguing that the Ya tribe seemed better adapted to Zone 023’s heat than outsiders. Bai Jing acknowledged the possibility but maintained that strength determined who controlled the zone, then asked Xu Huo whether he knew what had happened inside the Winter Wind Laboratory.

• Xu Huo left the meeting about confronting the new District Government and followed Bai Jing’s group toward the Winter Wind Laboratory.
• Xu Huo sat in a roadside shop and shared meat soup with Bai Jing, warning him not to provoke a fight he could not win.
• Bai Jing demanded that Xu Huo stop following him, but Xu Huo questioned whether Bai Jing and the Ya tribe were truly natives of Zone 023.
• Xu Huo pointed to the Ya tribe’s apparent adaptation to the heat as evidence that they might be the zone’s original inhabitants.
• Bai Jing said strength determined who controlled Zone 023 and asked Xu Huo what he knew about the Winter Wind Laboratory.