Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo questioned Bai Jing about human experimentation in Zone 023, then prepared to travel with a group of players to rob the new District Government. He agreed to take Dr. Dorr there to obtain medicine, and asked Dai Song whether he had seen Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin.

• Xu Huo questioned Bai Jing about the Winter Wind Laboratory and whether the new District Government had evidence of human experimentation, then told him he planned to rob the new District Government.
• Xu Huo joined the scarred-hand player's group, which planned to travel to Government City after waiting another night for more players to clear the Dungeon.
• A Gemini City player asked Xu Huo to escort Dr. Dorr to the new District Government to obtain an ingredient for medicine.
• Xu Huo agreed to take Dr. Dorr, accepted the offered payment, and sent him into World in the Painting.
• Xu Huo asked Dai Song whether he had encountered Qiu Ming and Cao Qinglin.

Xu Huo joined the players’ plan to travel to the new District Government and searched for a faster route using a map and a city-to-city teleportation item. He and Dai Song’s group chose to try a direct path through woodland, though unmarked towns could disrupt their journey.

• Dai Song told Xu Huo that three people were dead and that the group had not encountered Qiu Ming or Cao Qinglin.
• The players agreed to reach Government City within ten days or be excluded from the operation, then began leaving the city.
• A Winter Wind Laboratory player explained the restrictions on his city-to-city teleportation item, and Xu Huo arranged to buy part of Bai Jing’s map.
• Xu Huo compared the maps and asked Dai Song’s group about towns that might interfere with the teleportation route.
• Xu Huo chose a direct route through the woodland, deciding it was worth trying despite the possibility of unmarked towns.

Xu Huo and his companions reached Dedication City and joined forces with the scar-handed Player as they traveled toward the new District Government. Their journey was interrupted when they entered the Bauhinia Restaurant Random Instance, and Xu Huo’s number tag drew the diners’ attention as soon as he went inside.

• Xu Huo and the others reached Dedication City, where they met the scar-handed Player and his long-haired companion.
• The scar-handed Player revealed that his group had a robot-disruption device and joined Xu Huo’s group for the journey.
• On the sixth day, the group entered the temperate region and was automatically pulled into the Bauhinia Restaurant C-class Random Instance.
• The restaurant’s mission required Players to select a dish for “Today’s Best,” and Dai Song warned that the restaurant welcomed Red Players.
• Xu Huo entered the restaurant with Dai Song, received number tag 172, and dropped it in front of the watching diners.

Xu Huo and Dai Song explored the crowded restaurant, where Players competed for seats and tried to learn the dungeon’s rules. As the restaurant expanded and the crowd grew, Xu Huo noticed that two of its Servers were Twins, hinting at unusual restrictions.

• Xu Huo and Dai Song backed away from a confrontation with two armed Players and accepted a seat offered by a thin Player, who warned them that the men had killed other Players.
• The thin Player explained that rooms might appear when the restaurant closed, while Xu Huo and Dai Song ordered food and learned how to vote for the day’s best dish.
• Xu Huo stopped eating and observed the restaurant as it filled with nearly a hundred Players and expanded to twice its original size.
• Dai Song reported what he had learned about the Back Kitchen, its staff, and its locked storerooms and freezer.
• Xu Huo pointed out that two of the restaurant’s seven Servers were Twins, and Dai Song and the thin Player asked how he had figured it out.

Players waited in the restaurant, where voting for cheap vegetarian dishes was the safest plan. When a Player with a gun assaulted a non-Player woman, a female Player in a Duckbill Hat intervened and fought him until another Player helped free her from a trap.

• The Players ordered cheap vegetarian dishes, discussed their votes, and waited in the restaurant because the Server refused to answer questions about lodging or number tags.
• The Player with a gun and his companions attacked a non-Player woman, who resisted and tried to stab herself rather than be taken away.
• A female Player in a Duckbill Hat shattered the gun-wielding Player’s medicine bottle and challenged him to fight her instead.
• The Player with a gun attacked with an Artifact, but the woman in the Duckbill Hat blocked his blows, threw him through tables, and damaged his spiked shield with a rusty helmet.
• A trap pinned the woman in the Duckbill Hat as the Player with a gun fired three golden bullets at her head.
• A spinning metal bookmark deflected the bullets and freed the woman, while one of the gun-wielding Player’s companions called for the fight to stop.

Xu Huo and the other players gathered information and prepared for their first night in the restaurant, where the rooms were unregistered and their number was unknown. As the restaurant closed at eight, Li Kun warned that whatever emerged after dark might be more dangerous than the players expected.

• Brother Dou stopped his companion from attacking the injured newcomers, and Maris introduced himself to the two people the baseball cap player had helped.
• Xu Huo, Dai Song, Zhou Donghe, Li Kun, and Zhang Zhaogang exchanged contact information and discussed how to find rooms and coordinate after the restaurant closed.
• The players speculated about how the restaurant would choose Today's Best and whether the servers' changing dish recommendations held clues.
• A female server announced that the restaurant would close at eight, that guests could choose any unregistered room, and that servers would be off duty afterward.
• Xu Huo asked whether guests could order room service at night, and the server said they could not.
• After the server locked the Back Kitchen door, Li Kun warned Dai Song that the danger inside the restaurant after dark could be beyond their expectations.

When the restaurant’s lights went out, corridors and rooms appeared, and the players rushed to claim places to sleep. Xu Huo secured Room 172, inspected its contents, and ended the chapter by contacting Dai Song.

• At eight, the restaurant plunged into darkness, and two dim lamps revealed corridors that expanded as the players advanced.
• Players split up to search for rooms, while Zhou Donghe claimed Room 42 and Dai Song and Li Kun went down the right corridor.
• Xu Huo chose a room beyond Room 42 and secured Room 172 before other players could claim it.
• Xu Huo repaired a failing lamp, searched the room, and found an old brochure about ocean views and local delicacies.
• Zhou Donghe messaged Xu Huo offering him a place in Room 42, but Xu Huo did not reply and instead contacted Dai Song.

Xu Huo listened as lethal hunters roamed Bauhinia Restaurant at night, killing players who had no room or made noise. After identifying several possible threats and testing how they reacted to sounds, he played a recording of knocking from inside his room.

• Xu Huo ignored Zhou Donghe's message and listened as a hunter searched the Warehouse before a scream and the sounds of a body being dragged away followed.
• More knocks, impacts, and dragging sounds came from around the rooms, and Xu Huo tested the area outside his door with recordings on his Communicator.
• A bloodied object rolled to Xu Huo's door, and he spotted a terrified woman hiding beneath a crate but signaled for her to stay quiet.
• A sharpening sound returned to Xu Huo's door after the woman made a noise, and it carried her away as she screamed.
• Xu Huo noticed tracks across the ceilings and concluded that three hunters might be roaming the restaurant, then played another recording of knocking from inside his room.

Xu Huo tracked the restaurant killers’ activity and used a quiet interval to explore, but a limping butcher ambushed him. After the butcher killed two hidden Players and resisted Xu Huo’s attacks, Xu Huo escaped through a door.

• Xu Huo watched the corridor and recorded the Raincoat Cleaner’s movements and the hunters’ activity periods.
• Xu Huo changed his door number to 72 and headed toward the restaurant during a quieter interval.
• Xu Huo found a Warehouse where two Players were hiding and spotted toys and ornaments among bloodstained objects.
• The Butcher ambushed Xu Huo with his cleavers and forced him into close quarters.
• The Butcher killed the two hidden Players with a chained curved knife and a thrown cleaver.
• Xu Huo attacked the Butcher with Holder’s Death and Backstab, then escaped through a door as the Butcher pursued him.

Xu Huo joined Maris and the others to map the guest-room corridors and discuss the restaurant’s voting rules. After learning that the route to the restaurant had vanished, they considered interfering with the ballot but could not find a way to get enough players to vote for the same dish.

• Xu Huo helped Maris and the others map the rooms, identifying a hexagonal corridor and the Warehouse outside Room 172.
• Xu Huo told the group that the path back to the restaurant had disappeared, and Tabby Cat said he had seen a player return from it before dawn.
• Maris explained that the group suspected the voting rules were key to the instance and that reaching the restaurant at night might reveal them.
• Xu Huo questioned Tabby Cat about who had eaten and voted for antler soup, but Tabby Cat could not remember amid the crowds and changing menus.
• Maris proposed sealing off the ballot box and interfering with the vote, and Xu Huo agreed while questioning how they could persuade players to order the same dish.

Xu Huo and the others considered whether players could vote at the restaurant at night and planned to investigate its missing passage and voting rules. Xu Huo found the passage still closed, then discovered the Raincoat Cleaner and Limping Butcher hunting players in another warehouse.

• The long-haired woman suggested the restaurant might allow nighttime voting, and Xu Huo said there could be a condition for entering that round.
• Maris, Xiao Wan, and Xu Huo discussed persuading later players to vote during the day and waiting to see whether the next day's Best dish revealed the voting rules.
• Xu Huo went to check the restaurant passage while Maris and Xiao Wan prepared to investigate separately and alert Xiao Wan if the Limping Butcher appeared.
• Xu Huo spotted a tall staff member with an iron rod, confirmed the restaurant passage had not reappeared, and returned to Number 172's door, which had changed to 111.
• Xu Huo explored a warehouse and found the Raincoat Cleaner moving items and a player hiding in a crate.
• The Raincoat Cleaner pulled out an injured player, and the Limping Butcher killed him before dragging away his body as the Cleaner cleaned the floor.

Xu Huo encountered a mysterious figure in high heels whose knocks preceded the brutal deaths of three Players, then was caught between the Raincoat Cleaner and the Limping Butcher after two Players tried to draw the cleaner to him. He escaped into the murder scene’s room and waited for the hunters to leave.

• Xu Huo heard a figure in high heels knocking on room doors, then found three C-class Players decapitated inside one of the rooms.
• Xu Huo exchanged number cards with two Players, who identified themselves as 201 and 202.
• Two Players dropped an orange to attract the Raincoat Cleaner to Xu Huo, but he dodged her and used Space Power barriers to impede them.
• The Limping Butcher arrived, and Xu Huo used Forget Switch before breaking the barrier at the warehouse entrance.
• Xu Huo used the Goalkeeper barrier and Space Power to reach the room with the three bodies, then rested on its sofa after the Raincoat Cleaner and the Limping Butcher left.

Xu Huo and the other Players discussed the restaurant’s vote for pork shoulder patties and the risks of interfering with the ballot. Zhou Donghe admitted he had entered the restaurant at night, but he did not know enough about its voting rules to clear the Dungeon.

• Xu Huo found the expanded restaurant and joined the other Players as they debated why pork shoulder patties had become Today's Best.
• Maris warned the group against guarding the ballot box, and Xu Huo suggested that invalid votes may have disqualified the roasted leg of lamb.
• Zhou Donghe said someone had knocked on his door and admitted he had gone to the restaurant after leaving his room.
• Xu Huo and the others confronted Zhou Donghe about luring Players to Room 42, and Zhou Donghe explained that he had hoped to fool someone.
• Zhou Donghe revealed that Players who ate meat during the day could enter the restaurant at night and vote, but warned that it was dangerous.
• Xu Huo asked Zhou Donghe about the nighttime voting rules, and Zhou Donghe claimed he did not know them.

Xu Huo and the other Players debated how the restaurant’s voting system worked and how to survive its nighttime meal. Xu Huo doubted that coordinating votes would clear the instance and instead ordered several dishes recommended by a Server, leaving the Players to prepare for the night.

• Zhou Donghe explained that only guests who ordered meat during the day could be selected at night, and that refusing to eat would prevent them from clearing the instance.
• A female Player proposed that repeated votes invalidated the voter’s ballot, then tried to secure a predictable result by ordering the same meat dish as her companion.
• A gentlemanly Player used a gravity force to stop a confrontation, then ordered multiple dishes rather than following the female Player’s plan.
• Xu Huo asked a Server for recommendations, ordered several meat and vegetable dishes, and suggested his companions try them.
• Maris followed Xu Huo’s approach and also ordered the female Player’s dish; Xu Huo told Dai Song that coordinated voting and eating just one dish would not clear the instance because the contest was about choosing the best dish in a restaurant.

Xu Huo and the other players discussed how to influence the restaurant’s daytime vote and whether Cannibal Players could vote at night. As the restaurant grew busier, they prepared to investigate its nighttime operations and find a way to clear the game.

• Xu Huo and the others praised different dishes, prompting nearby customers to ask Servers for recommendations and try the suggested food.
• Tabby Cat questioned whether discussing dishes could unfairly influence the vote, but Maris argued that the players were simply sharing their preferences.
• The woman asked whether Cannibal Players were excluded from the daytime vote, and Xu Huo suggested the restaurant might serve them at night.
• Maris challenged Zhou Donghe’s account of the nighttime restaurant, but Zhou told the players to investigate for themselves.
• Players 201 and 202 warned that more restaurant staff might appear at night, while Xu Huo noted that customer numbers had already risen sharply compared with the previous day.

As more players entered the restaurant, Xu Huo realized that clearing the instance through the daytime vote had become much harder. After nightfall, he prepared to explore the expanded restaurant with Li Kun, while warning Dai Song that rooms were not safe either.

• Maris explained that the instance had opened in multiple locations, bringing far more players into the restaurant than Xu Huo expected.
• By closing time, 180 players had entered, the restaurant had expanded to two floors, and four passageways appeared after the lights went out.
• Xu Huo secured a room, then watched a monitor showing a corridor before a blurry shadow appeared and destroyed the device.
• Xu Huo released Dr. Dorr from the Picture Frame, and Dai Song objected before Dr. Dorr reassured him that he had been outside the night before.
• Xu Huo told Dai Song that rooms could be checked by another restaurant employee and advised him to keep Dr. Dorr inside the Picture Frame.
• Xu Huo warned Li Kun that sound, light, and fluctuations could attract staff, and Li Kun said he was unsure whether they would find the restaurant.

Xu Huo and his companions were led to Bauhinia Restaurant’s nighttime banquet, where Players voted on numbered targets. The gentlemanly Player cast an early vote against Player 115, and a waitress then called everyone to their seats.

• Xu Huo and Li Kun prepared noisy distractions for the Raincoat Cleaner before leaving their room with Dai Song.
• A gentlemanly Player invited Xu Huo, Li Kun, and Dai Song to the nighttime restaurant, and the restaurant’s shifting layout led them upstairs.
• Xu Huo sat down and picked up paper and a pen, prompting several Players to attack him, but his spatial barrier blocked them.
• The gentlemanly Player chose Player 115 as his target, wrote down the number, and explained that he was voting early as a gesture of goodwill toward Xu Huo.
• Player 115 fled after the vote, and a uniformed woman arrived and instructed everyone to take their seats.

At the Bauhinia Restaurant’s banquet, Miss Mary announced that the guests would vote on three players to hunt as ingredients. Xu Huo killed a player who voted for him and escaped with Dai Song and Li Kun, who then planned to hide in the restaurant staff dormitories.

• Miss Mary welcomed the players and explained that they would choose the banquet’s main courses by voting for numbers at the table.
• Xu Huo asked what would happen in a tie, and Miss Mary said every tied choice would be served.
• The players voted for Numbers 115, 198, and 172, making them the top three choices for the hunt.
• Player 198 escaped, while Xu Huo killed the woman who had voted for him and teleported away with Dai Song and Li Kun.
• Xu Huo told Dai Song and Li Kun to find a room, and Li Kun suggested hiding in the staff dormitories.

Xu Huo reasoned that the Bauhinia Restaurant was an unusually privileged instance and suspected its true holder might be inside. While Li Kun and Dai Song searched the Staff Dormitory, Xu Huo fought off a coordinated group of players and remained in the corridor as a wounded player rushed toward him.

• Xu Huo suspected that the game had favored the Bauhinia Restaurant and that its true holder might be staying there.
• Xu Huo asked Li Kun how many restaurant employees he could fight and proposed searching the Staff Dormitory for items.
• Li Kun and Dai Song left to find the dormitory while Xu Huo stayed behind and faced an ambush.
• A female player used a Magic Wand to try to pull away Xu Huo's item as several attackers joined the fight.
• Xu Huo killed one attacker with tangent lines, but the remaining players escaped after using items to restrain and evade him.
• A badly wounded player ran into the corridor and shouted for Xu Huo to get out of the way.

Xu Huo navigated the restaurant’s second floor and found a garbage room filled with unclaimed artifacts, then provoked Zhou Donghe by collecting them. The chapter ended with Zhou Donghe knocked aside and a bloodied Cannibal Player charging at Xu Huo.

• Xu Huo used Space Ray and the corridor’s artifacts to avoid fighting players, while two Cannibal Players pursued and attacked each other.
• Xu Huo entered a garbage room and discovered piles of artifacts left behind by dead players.
• Xu Huo used an inflatable artifact and Staff Dormitory to collect the garbage, despite Zhou Donghe warning that the Raincoat Cleaner would notice.
• Zhou Donghe followed Xu Huo and accused him of being coldhearted, but Xu Huo criticized his judgment and implied he had drawn the Cleaner’s attention.
• A curved barrier struck Zhou Donghe and shattered his Defense Artifact, while Xu Huo blocked the attack and stopped a bloodied Cannibal Player with petal-shaped barriers.