Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo examined two items he had acquired, then went with Yang Hai to an isolation hospital to investigate Lü Yin’s mutant fungus infection. He treated her with King Fungus solution and learned she had joined an Evolution Potion research team after graduating, while Jiang Qiao suspected someone had released the fungus in the Laboratory.

• Xu Huo identified the Requiem Recorder and Perfect Man, and decided to wait until reaching the Station before examining the cone-shaped spatial instrument more closely.
• Yang Hai brought Xu Huo to the hospital, where Jiang Qiao explained that Lü Yin’s mutant fungus infection was worsening.
• Xu Huo questioned Lü Yin and injected her with King Fungus solution, learning that she had been infected after joining an Evolution Potion research team.
• Jiang Qiao told Xu Huo that other Laboratory staff were infected and that no one at the Hai City gathering had been, leading investigators to suspect someone had released the fungus in the Laboratory.
• Xu Huo helped Lü Yin sit up and gave her a third injection.

Xu Huo discovered that the government had trapped him in the isolation room to obtain the source of King Fungus, but he escaped the sedative and brain-interference measures. After helping Lü Yin, he confronted the B-class players and challenged the government’s decision to target its own people.

• Xu Huo questioned why Lü Yin’s fungal treatment kept failing and ordered a medical staff member to retrieve the case from the warming cabinet.
• The staff member resisted Xu Huo’s mental control, triggered a brain-interference device, and filled the ward with sedative gas while other Players restrained Jiang Qiao.
• A disguised Player told Xu Huo that the government wanted to interrogate him and verify whether he could provide the antidote fungus.
• Xu Huo opened the case, recognized that the government wanted his blood or the original King Fungus, and stored the case away.
• Xu Huo blocked the sedative from Lü Yin, who woke feeling better, then left the isolation room and confronted the B-class players.

Xu Huo defeated the military players sent to capture him, then negotiated with Shangguan Jing, who offered information about the hospital where Xu Huo was treated as a child in exchange for his help. Xu Huo demanded a representative from the original Special Defense Department and agreed to look for a place with abundant fungi that might save the victims.

• Xu Huo used his abilities and artifacts to defeat the B-class players, disabling many of them while sparing their lives.
• Shangguan Jing called off the military operation and met Xu Huo to negotiate, offering information about Seventeenth Hospital and inviting him to name his terms.
• Xu Huo rejected Shangguan Jing's offer and insisted that someone from the original Special Defense Department negotiate with him.
• After Shangguan Jing explained the military's willingness to sacrifice for public safety, Xu Huo asked whether the government knew of any sub-districts with unusually abundant fungi.
• Xu Huo said he would search for a suitable place to save the victims and asked that the next person he meet be the head of the original Special Defense Department.

Xu Huo met with Nie Xuan, who explained the government’s response to the mutant fungus outbreak and warned that state-backed players would keep testing Xu Huo and other organizations. They discussed a shift in who held power, and Nie Xuan implied that painful lessons might be necessary to make the country’s decision-makers understand the consequences.

• Xu Huo met with the recovering Nie Xuan after the Special Defense Department stopped sending players to interfere with him.
• Nie Xuan told Xu Huo that the government had approved secretly executing infected people and that the country had released mutant fungus in other major countries to force a ceasefire.
• Nie Xuan explained that the military had developed several kinds of Super Evolvers and was investing heavily in finding a time Super Evolver.
• Nie Xuan warned Xu Huo that he would remain a target for state-backed players unless he joined the military or the Special Defense Department.
• Xu Huo reasoned that changes in policy and pressure on player organizations meant the people in power had changed, possibly because players were entering decision-making ranks.
• Nie Xuan said that people sometimes needed to suffer a painful lesson, but that it was better for their own people to teach it than for outsiders to do so.

Xu Huo negotiated with Nie Xuan over the painted woman's return to District 014, demanding that the government give her a city. The two men ended with an uneasy standoff over the government's Super Evolvers.

• Xu Huo told Nie Xuan that Players held the real power in District 014 and questioned the government's plans to handle the infected.
• Nie Xuan offered the painted woman land deeds for secret government facilities, hoping her Super Artifact would deter the military and the Special Defense Department.
• Nie Xuan invited the painted woman out, but she rejected the offer, and Xu Huo explained that she feared returning to District 014.
• Xu Huo demanded that the government give the painted woman a city in exchange for her return.
• Xu Huo offered to help with the mutant bacteria but warned that the government and military could not act without regard for his strength.
• Nie Xuan refused to let Xu Huo target the government's Super Evolvers, and Xu Huo challenged him to try to stop him.

Xu Huo finalized a deal with Nie Xuan, then arranged tests to find places where infected fungi could grow. He went to retrieve Grandpa Xu and was surprised to find Gu Yu and Huang Junjie bringing him home.

• Nie Xuan agreed to Xu Huo's terms and stamped certificates listing genuine locations, while the two men discussed District 014's future and the cost of hardship.
• Jiang Qiao gave Xu Huo records of fungus-friendly places, and he selected five sites for tests using fungal strands.
• Jiang Qiao said Lü Yin was recovering and Team Leader Lu would soon return to Capital City, then gave Xu Huo health potions and gaming equipment from the Special Defense Department.
• Father Xu told Xu Huo that Grandpa Xu had left the residential compound to visit old friends, so Xu Huo went to pick him up.
• Gu Yu and Huang Junjie brought Grandpa Xu back to Xu Huo.

Xu Huo met with Gu Yu and Huang Junjie, who described growing tensions between Player organizations and the Special Defense Department and asked for his support. He warned them against provoking a confrontation, predicted Nie Xuan would soon lead the department, and left after receiving a message.

• Xu Huo reunited with Gu Yu and Huang Junjie, who had helped bring his grandfather back to Capital City.
• Gu Yu and Huang Junjie told Xu Huo that the Special Defense Department was restricting Player organizations and that both the Chunyu Association and the First Association were considering negotiations or resistance.
• Huang Junjie explained that the First Association wanted to restore its previous arrangement with the department and add a mandatory clause to protect Player organizations.
• Xu Huo asked about Nie Xuan and said he expected him to soon be in charge of the Special Defense Department.
• Xu Huo urged Gu Yu and Huang Junjie to tell their people to stand down, warning that a confrontation would get them killed.
• After receiving a message on his phone, Xu Huo said he had to leave.

Xu Huo appeared without warning at an R1 Base meeting where officials debated how to deal with unofficial Players and whether to trust him over the mutant fungus crisis. He left the room’s Players restrained and surrounded by Space Ray blades, with the confrontation poised to escalate.

• Government officials and Players at R1 Base discussed cracking down on radical unaffiliated Players and the Player Association after a Laboratory was wrecked and Potions and research were stolen.
• Xie Song urged the meeting to focus on Xu Huo, arguing that his detoxifying fungus could give him leverage over the government.
• Minister Ji defended Xu Huo, citing his help during the Black Rain incident and his response to the mutant fungus crisis.
• The elderly man proposed winning Xu Huo over while warning that the country's dignity could not be violated if he made outrageous demands.
• Xu Huo suddenly appeared behind the elderly man's chair and asked the meeting to address him directly.
• As Players rushed to surround Xu Huo, he pulled most back into their chairs and used Space Ray blades to pin the others in place.

Xu Huo took control of the meeting room and confronted District 014’s officials over their treatment of those who had defended the country. He said he had come only to help and that someone outside would negotiate with them, but a player challenged him by activating the room’s transparent walls.

• Xu Huo trapped Xie Song and the other players with Everything Wants to Cut Everything and warned them that anyone who moved would die.
• Xu Huo freed the Secretary, took his seat, and criticized the officials for ignoring their duty to protect District 014.
• Xu Huo questioned whether the item seen in Hai City had truly been a Super Artifact, and the Military Old Man thanked him for helping save the survivors of Country X.
• Xu Huo said that the people outside would handle the negotiations, while the meeting-room players remained restrained.
• A player activated a remote control that made the walls transparent, then challenged Xu Huo, but the group saw that Players outside were trapped in midair.

Xu Huo took control of the R1 Base conference room and confronted the officials who had gathered there. He revealed that painted woman and Nie Xuan had also secured the rest of the base, leaving its staff subdued and its communications cut off.

• Xu Huo killed an official who challenged him, while the Players frozen around the conference room remained unable to interfere.
• An elderly official warned Xu Huo that more supporters would come after the base learned of the takeover, but Xu Huo displayed surveillance feeds showing papers obscuring the cameras throughout R1 Base.
• Nie Xuan cut off external communications and sealed the emergency exits while painted woman controlled the base's space.
• Painted woman used the internal broadcast to announce the takeover and sent papers to restrain uncooperative staff and injure resisting Players.

Xu Huo used the painted woman to keep people away from the meeting room while he negotiated with the base’s leaders. After the painted woman killed players who tried to break through, Nie Xuan and Team Leader Lu arrived with the Special Defense Department team.

• Xu Huo instructed the painted woman to prevent anyone from leaving the base or approaching the meeting room, and she used the security system and flying paper to block them.
• Players pushed through the painted woman’s defenses, so she killed them before Xu Huo showed the meeting room the surveillance footage.
• The painted woman explained that she had warned the players repeatedly, while Xu Huo told her to behave and stay in the main control room.
• The old man at the head of the table realized Xu Huo would not side with the government, and the Military Old Man said his side was finishing its final watch.
• The base gates opened, and Nie Xuan and Team Leader Lu led the Special Defense Department team into the base and surrounded the meeting room.

Xu Huo returned home after helping Nie Xuan’s side stabilize the Special Defense Department and waited for the department’s promised response. While he rested with his family and watched the painted woman bring paper animals to life, a message from Cong Yu offered poisonous substances in exchange for Antidote.

• Xu Huo told the painted woman that the Special Defense Department headquarters was no longer their concern, collected her paper animals, and returned home.
• Xu Huo ate tangyuan with Father Xu and said he would stay home a few more days while waiting for news and for Players searching for a place to cultivate King Fungus.
• Xu Huo gave the painted woman the sofa to sleep on, and she complained that it was not as soft as her old room at Rose Castle.
• Tongtong told Xu Huo that Lichun’s paper frogs and rabbits had come alive, and the painted woman showed him rabbits burrowing into the hallway wall.
• Ms. Yu told Xu Huo that Special Defense Department Players were coming over, while he saw that the department’s personnel had already been replaced and its operations had stabilized.
• Xu Huo searched Dimension Below for a place to cultivate King Fungus but found no suitable location, then received a message from Cong Yu offering twenty kinds of poisonous substances for Antidote.

Xu Huo sent Cong Yu more Antidote Potion and learned that Cong Yu was offering a Ticket to a station in the same district as another Ticket linked to Dr. Wu. Team Leader Lu brought the government’s rewards and proposed transferring three cities to the painted woman, but Xu Huo chose only Ting City and warned that the agreement should not be difficult to undo.

• Xu Huo made more Antidote Potion for Cong Yu, who traded him the D07-013 Choking Rainforest City Station Ticket.
• Xu Huo compared the Ticket with Ms. Gong’s D07-013 Big-Small Eye Station Ticket and considered whether Dr. Wu had left clues in the district.
• Team Leader Lu delivered the government’s rewards to Xu Huo and presented plans to transfer three cities to the painted woman.
• Xu Huo chose Ting City alone instead of merging it with two other cities and questioned the agreement’s terms.

Xu Huo declined to join the Special Defense Department but agreed to relocate to Ting City after securing protection for his family. He inspected two A-class items, including one that could kill a visible target and another that could take his place in death once every 24 hours.

• Team Leader Lu told Xu Huo that the military had transferred Professor Tang to treat military Players, and Xu Huo argued that their psychological problems showed District 014 was stabilizing.
• Xu Huo asked for his family to be moved and for news about cultivating the antidote fungus; Team Leader Lu confirmed the move to Ting City but had no update on the fungus.
• Team Leader Lu reported that the Special Defense Department had agreed to the arrangements, then left with her team.
• Xu Huo opened the gift box and examined the A-class item Justice from Above, which sent a random stone crashing down on a visible target with over a 99% chance of killing them if it hit.
• Xu Huo examined Unhesitating Substitute for the Deceased, which could die in his place when it predicted he had over a 99% chance of dying, once every 24 hours.

Xu Huo divided the Special Defense Department’s gifts between himself and Lichun, while Lichun gave Tongtong some money and said she wanted to buy houses and play with Xiao Yuan. When Lichun insisted she wanted Xu Huo’s Gentleman of Light Medal in particular, he bought one and handed it to her.

• Xu Huo offered Lichun half the gifts, and she chose a combat robot and asked him to keep her share of the White Cash.
• Lichun gave Tongtong two bundles of White Cash, and he eagerly planned to buy toys and snacks.
• Lichun asked whether she could buy houses and said she wanted to play with Xiao Yuan, so Xu Huo explained that Ting City was under her name and discussed how she could travel between districts.
• Lichun said she wanted the Gentleman of Light Medal because Xu Huo had one, and she insisted she wanted his rather than another person’s.
• Xu Huo bought a Gentleman of Light Medal on Dimension Below and gave it to Lichun.

Xu Huo examined the painted woman’s Medals, sorted his supplies, and prepared to leave on his next journey. After using his Ticket, he tested a spatial device that pointed toward the distant place his heart longed for.

• The painted woman took Xu Huo’s Medals, said the “Gentleman of Light” Medal was better, and borrowed it in exchange for her props.
• Ms. Yu took most of Tongtong’s White Cash, leaving him a fifty-yuan note from Country X.
• Xu Huo reviewed the Special Defense Department’s gifts, cleared out his Storage Compartment, and stocked up on food and water.
• Xu Huo said goodbye to his family and used his Ticket to travel to the Station.
• Xu Huo tested the four-sided pyramid from District 017 and learned that it pointed toward his homeland.

Xu Huo boarded a train and intervened when two Players attacked an injured mother, then gave her food and medicine. He turned to his research on poisonous fungi, including information from the Game Government about District D07-013.

• Xu Huo examined an unranked spatial instrument that pointed toward the same direction, then put it away when he sensed someone approaching.
• An injured middle-aged woman and several other Players arrived at the Station, and Xu Huo boarded his train with a short-haired female Player.
• Two Players chased the injured woman into Xu Huo's carriage, severed her arm, and demanded her possessions.
• Xu Huo restrained one attacker until both assailants retreated, and the woman reattached her arm after warning that her blood was poisonous.
• Xu Huo bought the woman a meal and a B-level Self-Healing Agent, and she accepted them before going to sleep.
• Xu Huo reviewed his collected information on poisonous fungi, including Game Government records about District D07-013.

Xu Huo read the Game Government’s records on District 013, learning how its deadly fungi had overwhelmed the region and doomed many residents. A cheerful young man named Chi Xian approached him and said he was also going to D07-013.

• Xu Huo studied the records describing District 013’s harsh environment and the dangers posed by its poisonous and strange fungi.
• Xu Huo learned that District 013 had produced 127 known S-level fungal toxins and that attempts to curb the fungi had failed.
• A cheerful young man approached Xu Huo and asked to sit across from him.
• Xu Huo asked whether the young man was going to D07-013, and the man introduced himself as Chi Xian.

Xu Huo and Chi Xian met on the train and agreed to travel together to Suffocating Rainforest Station, where Chi Xian hoped to find new fungi. After arriving, they found the young man and his six bodyguards nearly buried beneath dense plants.

• Xu Huo spoke with Chi Xian about his cultivated fungi, and they agreed to watch each other's backs on the way to Suffocating Rainforest Station.
• A woman warned Xu Huo that the dungeon was gone and that poisonous fungi killed most Outer District Players who entered the area.
• A young man arrived with six bodyguards, took over the largest sofa, and drove Xu Huo and Chi Xian to another carriage.
• Xu Huo and Chi Xian prepared their Protective Suits as the train neared Suffocating Rainforest Station.
• Xu Huo and Chi Xian arrived at the station and saw the young man and his six bodyguards nearly buried beneath dense plants.

Xu Huo and Chi Xian searched the fungus-infested forest for valuable fungi and found a long-dead local before reaching an abandoned village. There, they discovered the others holding a fungus-covered Poisoned Person, whom Scarred Glasses tried to interrogate.

• Chi Xian explained how mutant fungi could be collected as toxins and why fungi that reproduce in human bodies were dangerous.
• Xu Huo and Chi Xian found a corpse whose organs were infested with fungi and suspected the dead person was a local.
• Xu Huo and Chi Xian followed the fungus-eating organism to a cluster of six abandoned Wooden Cabins beside the water.
• Scarred Glasses and the others held a Poisoned Person behind a barrier and demanded to know where the other people were.
• The Poisoned Person showed that he had no tongue and could not speak, so Scarred Glasses told him to point.