Chapter Summaries

After District 017 obtained its fourth Super Artifact, Xu Huo prepared to enter the semi-closed district before other powerful players could gather there. He returned to Rose Castle as players began arranging routes into District 017.

• A district-wide announcement reported that District 017 had obtained its fourth Super Artifact, prompting speculation about the district's condition and the chance to enter it.
• Xu Huo bought a Ticket to District 017 and planned to use his Doorbell to reach the district through its Dungeons.
• Xu Huo checked on nearby Super Players and contacted Xin Rong, who warned him that High-level Players might prey on anyone carrying valuables.
• Xin Rong told Xu Huo that the city government and the Lang family were still disputing the Lang family's attempts to recruit businesses and Artificers.
• Xu Huo returned to District 011, saw advertisements for Space Teleport Artifacts, and went back to Rose Castle, where Mr. Dong and the others welcomed him.

Xu Huo took the painted woman from Rose Castle and traveled to a D-class instance in District 017. There, two groups led by B-class players proposed competing to clear the instance as quickly as possible, leaving the D-class players caught between them.

• Xu Huo learned that Dr. Deng had gone out to buy potion ingredients but had not visited the Third Floor.
• Xu Huo asked the painted woman to leave Rose Castle with him, and she packed a backpack of belongings for the trip.
• Xu Huo bought a Ring of Endless Return, then departed for District 017 with the painted woman tucked in his pocket.
• Xu Huo entered a competitive instance with D-, C-, and B-class players, including two teams led by B-class players.
• The red-haired B-class player announced that his team wanted to clear the instance quickly, and the woman leading the other team said she had the same goal.

Xu Huo intimidated two B-class Players into completing a low-level Dungeon with him, earned an S-class rating, and then used the Doorbell to enter District 017. He arrived in a burning, devastated city where news broadcasts described cannibalism, contagious Monsters, war, Aliens, and the collapse of Safe Zones.

• Xu Huo proposed that each B-class Player choose one companion to complete the six-against-six Dungeon, and his pressure convinced them to agree.
• The red-haired Player and the woman in combat gear each chose a companion, explaining that Xu Huo carried an A-class item and was too dangerous to challenge.
• Xu Huo cleared the D-class Dungeon with the group and received an S-class rating.
• After the two B-class Players left with their companions, Xu Huo used the Doorbell to travel to District 017.
• Xu Huo arrived in a burning, seemingly abandoned city and heard news reports about Cannibal Players, contagious Monsters, warfare, Aliens, and failing Safe Zones.

Xu Huo rescued five survivors from a collapsed building in a city overrun by Aliens and offered to escort them to a Safe Zone. After investigating two mutated Big Head Aliens, he found a patterned crystal shard and noticed a similar-looking man and woman watching him.

• Xu Huo found a strange Alien with a swollen head and thick arms, then cut through a collapsed building to rescue six trapped people.
• One of the rescued children died, and Xu Huo learned that survivors were being directed toward military bases and armed strongholds listed as Safe Zones.
• Xu Huo offered to take the five remaining survivors to the nearest Safe Zone, but they reacted with anger and resistance when they learned he was an Outer District Player.
• Xu Huo gave the survivors five minutes to decide whether to go with him, then examined another Alien corpse and found a tiny patterned crystal shard in its throat.
• A man and a woman who looked alike appeared nearby and watched Xu Huo.

Xu Huo traveled with Ma Zhi and Ma Yu to the T6 safe zone, where he discovered Players had seized the military base and were using its weapons to extort White Cash and items. The base’s captors had begun killing people and planned to send their demands to a high-level safe zone.

• Xu Huo met Ma Zhi and Ma Yu, learned that the nearby safe zones had fallen, and agreed to accompany them to T6 while bringing five ordinary people in his Cinema.
• The Ma siblings found T6 damaged and apparently abandoned, while Xu Huo entered the military base through a door opened by his Spiritual World.
• Xu Huo saw thirteen Players controlling the base, holding its personnel and refugees, and checking a List against bodies.
• A young Player took control of the base’s command systems and prepared to threaten a high-level safe zone with a military strike in exchange for White Cash and items.
• A shirtless man reported that the base’s Players had been transferred away ten days earlier, and the middle-aged leader ordered the group to select people for their amusement.

Xu Huo attacked the players occupying a military base in District 017 and overcame their defenses with his abilities and items. The middle-aged leader escaped during the fight, while the surviving players tried to bargain with Xu Huo.

• A tall player entered the warehouse where base personnel were held, but someone killed him and snapped his neck.
• The base lost power, and players vanished when they turned on their lights; three others were sliced apart as they tried to leave the room.
• Xu Huo revealed himself after the middle-aged man swapped places with him, then killed several players and defeated the crew cut female player's defense.
• Two players escaped with a Ticket and a teleportation item, while the middle-aged man slipped away during the fight.
• The young man surrendered and offered Xu Huo a share of the money they planned to demand from the District 017 government.

Xu Huo rescued the base’s survivors after driving off the Outer District Players, while the Ma siblings and the base commander discussed the threat of extortion and the hunt for District 017’s Super Artifact. The commander then explained how deliberate contamination of processed meat had spread cannibalism, before revealing that a country had used the resulting crisis as an excuse to start a war.

• Xu Huo killed the crew cut female player and forced the remaining Outer District Players to leave, while the Ma siblings caught two who tried to hide outside the base.
• Xu Huo opened the Warehouse and freed the base’s survivors, including the five Survivors stored in the Cinema.
• The base commander told Xu Huo and the Ma siblings that A9 safe zone would not pay extortion demands and might strike T6 safe zone if it came within range.
• Ma Yu and Ma Zhi discussed how the Outer District Players’ threat to District 017 depended on whether the Super Artifact’s holder would surrender it.
• The base commander explained that human flesh had been added to processed meat, triggering a wave of Cannibal Players and attacks across District 017.
• The base commander said that a country had used the cannibalism crisis as an excuse to start a war.

Xu Huo investigated the origin of District 017’s Alien horde and learned that it had appeared in a small coastal country before moving inland. While reviewing classified military records, he found traces of someone who seemed like an old acquaintance.

• Ma Yu said the Aliens in District 017 had likely been brought from another district, since most regressed Evolvers did not survive long.
• Xu Huo asked where the horde began, and the base commander showed him its route from a small country near the mainland’s edge.
• The base commander said there had been no time to investigate the first outbreak and that the area had been bombed five times.
• Ma Zhi asked about air travel, and the base commander said every country had closed its airspace since the Outer District Players arrived.
• Xu Huo requested access to the military base’s records and, after the base commander secured clearance, found traces of someone who seemed like an old acquaintance.

Xu Huo traveled to Dingtan City to settle a score with the Super Evolver who had destroyed half the city. Amid the ruins, he learned that several office buildings had vanished before the devastation and went deeper into the wreckage to investigate.

• The base commander told Xu Huo that the Super Evolver had gone to A7 Safe Zone, but Xu Huo chose to head for Dingtan City instead.
• Xu Huo parted ways with Ma Zhi and Ma Yu, then crossed sixteen cities using Ring of Linked Ends, fighting armed criminals and passing groups of Outer District Players along the way.
• Xu Huo arrived in Dingtan City, where rescue efforts had mostly ended and survivors were being directed away from the ruins.
• A grieving girl and other survivors blamed Xu Huo for their losses, while a woman attacked him and demanded her son back.
• Xu Huo heard that three office buildings had disappeared before the city collapsed and entered the ruins to investigate the phenomenon.

Xu Huo rescued a child from the ruins of Dingtan City and investigated strange footage suggesting Xue Lang might be behind the buildings’ disappearance. An Alien horde then attacked the surviving half of the city, overwhelming the army’s defense as civilians sought shelter.

• Xu Huo opened a door into the rubble and rescued a young boy trapped in a convenience store, reuniting him with his parents.
• The boy’s father showed Xu Huo videos of buildings vanishing after strange lights appeared, and Xu Huo spotted a black-coated woman in two clips.
• Xu Huo suspected Xue Lang was responsible for the destruction but questioned whether the crude attack fit Dr. Zhang’s methods.
• An explosion triggered the citywide Alien alert, and people fled toward the army’s position in eastern Dingtan City.
• The army attacked the rapidly approaching Aliens with conventional weapons but suffered heavy losses and killed few of them.
• The Alien horde overwhelmed the military convoy, leaving civilians in the city exposed to the attack.

Xu Huo and the Black-Clad Player competed to kill the Alien horde threatening Dingtan City, then agreed to race to find the players who had attacked the city. After the battle, Xu Huo found tracking chips in Big Head Aliens and began investigating what made them special.

• Xu Huo and the Black-Clad Player attacked the Alien horde, killing large numbers and helping keep it out of Dingtan City.
• The Black-Clad Player won their competition by killing more Aliens, and Xu Huo proposed a new wager to find the attackers who had gone to the A7 Safe Zone.
• The Black-Clad Player accepted the wager and left using a teleportation item.
• Xu Huo found chips inside several Big Head Aliens and considered why someone was tracking them.
• Xu Huo recorded a Big Head Alien's features and uploaded its photo to Dimension Below as he investigated whether its enlarged brain signaled a special mutation.

Xu Huo entered the toxin-shrouded A7 Safe Zone and was ambushed by three Players, killing one and forcing the others to flee. As he faced the Players watching the fight, a bullet suddenly grazed his face.

• Xu Huo reached the A7 Safe Zone and found its residents and soldiers asleep in toxic fog.
• Three Players attacked Xu Huo with flying tableware, a shadow-like blade, and crushing force.
• Xu Huo evaded the attackers and killed the Player above him with a metal bead.
• Xu Huo appeared behind the Fat Player and killed him with a Space Sharp Blade, then took his artifacts.
• Xu Huo used the Storm chain to drive off the masked Player and his companion, then sensed a killing intent and dodged a bullet.

Xu Huo entered a dessert shop where Players explained that A7 Safe Zone was sealed off and its residents were being shot by an unknown attacker. As the Players discussed how to escape, enormous beams of light swept out from the city center and began cutting through the city.

• Xu Huo avoided a sniper attack and changed course toward a neighborhood near the city center.
• Xu Huo entered a dessert shop crowded with Players hiding from bullets that targeted people trying to leave or making noise.
• The Players explained that the city was enclosed by a strange boundary and that bullets from the city center could pierce A-class defenses.
• Xu Huo asked about escaping with a group or using teleportation, but the Players said the boundary's location was unknown and teleportation was restricted.
• A Player's loud complaint was interrupted by an explosion as beams of light cut through the dessert shop and swept across the city from the city center.

Xu Huo witnessed a battle erupt in A7 Safe Zone as a two-hundred-year-old poison researcher fought Lili and a woman in a black windbreaker. The old man crippled Lili’s arm, but an unseen force pinned him down as he moved to press his advantage.

• A beam tore through A7 Safe Zone, toppling buildings, and three fighters emerged from the restricted area as the city collapsed.
• The old man fired a barrage of bullets that killed or injured many watching players, including players near Xu Huo.
• The old man taunted Lili and revealed that he had killed a member of the Ghastly Sound Knights, while the woman in a black windbreaker demanded information about his HX-99 brain neurotoxin.
• The woman and Lili attacked the old man with windmill-like beams and lightning, but he evaded them and struck Lili’s arm with a toxin that made it shrivel.
• Lili healed his arm as the old man moved in to attack again, but an unseen force descended and pinned the old man down.

The woman in the black windbreaker, Lili, and the old man fought fiercely, while Lili’s strings swept up nearby Players. As others left to seek the city’s Super Artifact, Xu Huo stayed behind and approached the woman in the black windbreaker, only to be struck by an attack that forced him downward.

• The old man used spatial tricks to injure the woman in the black windbreaker, but she retaliated with crushing pressure as Lili infected the old man with bacteria.
• The old man slowed the infection by withering his arm, then created a second figure behind Lili, who cut it apart and unleashed strings from his toy shadow-puppet stage.
• Lili’s strings lifted and made several Players vanish, prompting others to retreat toward the city center and its Super Artifact.
• Xu Huo stayed to watch the woman in the black windbreaker, recognizing her as the person from the earlier video and suspecting her trace had been left deliberately.
• The woman in the black windbreaker raised a barrier Artifact when she noticed Xu Huo, but he opened a door through it with Cube Space and appeared behind her.
• An unseen blow struck Inviolable Territory, sending Xu Huo downward.

Xu Huo fought the woman in the black windbreaker inside his Book Tower Manifestation, but she escaped to pursue the white-haired old man and Lili. After leaving the ruined A7 Safe Zone, he learned that the Ghastly Sound Knights and other players were terrorizing District 017 in search of a Super Artifact.

• The woman in the black windbreaker repeatedly repelled Xu Huo and wounded him, but he trapped her inside his Book Tower and revealed Doctor Zhang's Honeycomb Manifestation.
• The woman in the black windbreaker escaped Xu Huo's Spiritual World and went after the white-haired old man, while Lili followed the old man away from the A7 Safe Zone.
• Xu Huo killed two players who entered his Book Tower, then left the collapsing A7 Safe Zone as military personnel began helping survivors.
• Xu Huo checked District 017's news and learned that the Ghastly Sound Knights had seized political centers and a military base, while other players openly threatened cities to find the Super Artifact.
• Xu Huo saw that District 017's destruction was already nearly inevitable because of the approaching Alien swarms, and someone replied to him on Dimension Below.

Xu Huo watched a video of dangerous Alien specimens, including an Intelligent Alien whose gaze seemed to cause a mental attack through the recording. He warned District 017’s military base that the Aliens might keep coming and concluded that evacuating people was more realistic than defending the district, while the painted woman offered to take control of it.

• Xu Huo watched a video showing unusual Alien specimens and saw the Intelligent Alien open its eyes, causing him sharp pain even through the recording.
• Xu Huo inferred that the Aliens were being driven to mutate through cannibalism and warned District 017’s military base that further waves could arrive.
• Xu Huo judged that District 017 could not establish a Safe Zone in time and that evacuating its people was the best way to preserve hope.
• The painted woman offered to help by taking control of District 017, but Xu Huo explained why the district’s situation made that plan unlikely to work.

Xu Huo headed to Xiaoyue City to avoid the Ghastly Sound Knights and encountered a raincoat-wearing player who kept appearing in front of him after vanishing into a bar. After they fought, the player realized he had escaped somewhere and asked Xu Huo whether this was Xiaoyue City, just as the strange force swept past again.

• Xu Huo changed course for Xiaoyue City after checking the Ghastly Sound Knights’ locations on the map.
• Xu Huo arrived in the rain-soaked city and saw a raincoat-wearing player enter a bar and vanish when a strange force appeared.
• Xu Huo encountered the same player repeatedly, and the raincoat player attacked him with a flamethrower before their abilities and artifacts clashed.
• The raincoat player fled into the bar, then reappeared and asked Xu Huo what it would take for him to stop following him.
• Xu Huo told the player he had only just arrived, and the player realized he had made it out before the strange force swept past them again.

Xu Huo learned that Xiaoyue City was trapped within the Spatial Maze, an A-class artifact that divided the city into mirror spaces. As he tested his spatial equipment, he continued exploring with the raincoat-wearing Player, who explained the maze and its owner, Face Kill.

• The raincoat-wearing Player tried to escape with his Space Teleport Artifact but discovered that the Spatial Maze had trapped him in Xiaoyue City.
• He told Xu Huo that the maze created mirror spaces across the city and that its owner, Bai Tiaoyi, had taken control of the city center with the Black and White Wheel.
• Xu Huo expanded the Cube Space and tested whether his spatial interference device could disrupt the mirror spaces, but the Cube Space assimilated its interference rays.
• The raincoat-wearing Player identified the Spatial Maze as an A-class artifact owned by the mysterious Face Kill, whom he had mistaken Xu Huo for.
• The raincoat-wearing Player defended his willingness to risk challenging powerful Players by saying he relied on luck and could always run, while Xu Huo doubted a C-class Player could defeat an A-class Player.

Xu Huo and Wen Dachui found a player assaulting women in an apartment and watched a female player defeat him. The female player explained that she had become a Cannibal Player by accidentally biting her mother during an evolution crisis.

• Wen Dachui told Xu Huo that he had killed all six of his former partners for betraying him and said he wanted a relationship with someone who gave him a reason to hate them.
• Xu Huo found a new player in an apartment where women were being held, then intervened as a female player fought the man who was attacking them.
• The female player used a rope and corrosive liquid to defeat the male player, and Wen Dachui kicked the dying man dead.
• The female player said the dead man was a villain and explained that she had become a Cannibal Player after biting her mother while convulsing during evolution.
• The female player told Wen Dachui that Cannibal Players did not need to eat much unless they had lost control.