Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo and the other players suspected that mental interference was affecting them in the Dungeon and searched for a secure place to continue investigating. Young Master Mo explained that he had come to avenge a friend killed by someone calling himself “Midsummer Night Star River,” and the group settled on a clock tower.

• Yi Jun told Xu Huo that some players might be waiting until others fell asleep to kill them, and they discussed whether the Dungeon involved mental interference.
• Xu Huo led the group to find a sturdy building and said he would set up a toxic barrier to keep others out.
• Tong Qi asked why so few players had stayed, and Yi Jun and Chi Xian suggested others were waiting to take advantage of their efforts.
• Xu Huo asked Young Master Mo how he had learned about “Midsummer Night Star River,” and Scarred Glasses explained that the player had killed Young Master Mo’s friend and left an address and name.
• Young Master Mo said he would pursue the killer despite the odds, and Yi Jun found a clock tower where they could shelter and test an item.

Xu Huo tested how sleep affected Players and ordinary people in the Dungeon, finding that after roughly half an hour they could no longer be awakened by pain. He urged the remaining non-Ticket Players to sleep as well, while Yi Jun agreed to keep cooperating as the group continued searching for the Midsummer Night Star River.

• Yi Jun used a B-class item to seal off the floor from outside sight and sound.
• Xu Huo tested the volunteers with his mental power, then had them sleep and tracked how quickly they could be awakened.
• Tong Qi used a pain simulator on Mi Yaojia, while the others woke Liao Xiaorong and Zhao Qing more gently.
• After half an hour, neither the Players nor the six people from District 013 could be awakened by ordinary pain.
• Xu Huo encouraged Young Master Mo and Scarred Glasses to try sleeping, and Yi Jun promised to cooperate with the group.

Xu Huo and the others monitored the sleepers and questioned them about their dreams, finding that the dreams varied but often involved tempting choices. They debated how those choices might relate to the Dungeon and the star river, then Xu Huo took over as evening fell.

• Xu Huo woke Zhao Qing after she had slept for two hours and learned she had dreamed of marrying her dead boyfriend in an ordinary world.
• Scarred Glasses and two other Players woke after five hours without reporting anything unusual, while Liao Xiaorong later described a realistic childhood memory of buying ice cream.
• People from District 013 began waking after eight hours and described varied dreams about ordinary life and private desires.
• Xu Huo and the others discussed whether the dreams were psychological tests, whether choices would grow more significant, and how they might connect to the star river.
• Xu Huo dismissed the idea of focusing on star-river-related objects and took over as evening fell.

Xu Huo secured himself inside Shelter 101 and entered a deep sleep, after arranging protections in the shelter and asking his personalities to wake him if he was in danger. His dream shifted from a childhood memory to an underground casino, where he exposed a dealer’s cheating and walked out after fighting the casino’s enforcers.

• Xu Huo shut himself inside Shelter 101, left the Combat Maid outside, and arranged several defensive items before going to sleep.
• Xu Huo asked the personalities in his Spiritual World to wake him if danger threatened his life, then put on A-class protective armor and lay down.
• Xu Huo dreamed of his childhood home, where Father Xu offered him, Xu Zhi, and himself popsicles.
• Xu Huo watched the childhood scene change into an underground casino and spotted the dealer rigging the roulette wheel.
• Xu Huo won by betting on an unchosen number, then fought the casino’s enforcers and cut off the well-dressed man’s right ear.
• Xu Huo kicked down the casino room’s door and left, where a speeding car passed and a gun landed at his feet.

Xu Huo woke from a dangerous dream and helped the players settle on a sleep schedule while they explored how dreams affected the dungeon. He learned more about Brown Skin City's deadly fungal infection, and Tong Qi raised the possibility that a complete cure might exist.

• Xu Huo woke after dreaming of being surrounded by armed thugs, then ate with the other players and described how his dream mixed memories with possible choices.
• Yi Jun went to sleep, and the players argued over who should keep watch; Xu Huo told Mi Yaojia and the others to rest without using location items.
• Xu Huo stayed awake with Chi Xian and asked people from Brown Skin City about their city and its shrinking population.
• The Brown Skin City residents explained that most people died from fungal mutations and that no game-sold Antidote could cure their infection.
• Tong Qi suggested that someone cured after leaving Midsummer Night Star River might prove a complete Antidote existed.

Xu Huo and the others investigated why Zhao Qing vanished from the Clock Tower, suspecting the disappearances were connected to sleep and the Dungeon’s mental effects. As they watched, two injured Players fled toward the Clock Tower with pursuers stopping just outside its hundred-meter perimeter.

• The people from Brown Skin City described how fungi infected District 013 residents, and Chi Xian explained how one anesthetic fungus could cause people to pass out and die.
• Xu Huo rushed to the pillar where Zhao Qing had been sitting and found her gone; Liao Xiaorong’s recording showed the image flickering before Zhao Qing disappeared.
• Xu Huo and the others discussed whether sleep, mental strength, or other unusual traits caused Players to vanish, but they found no reliable pattern.
• Xu Huo considered using the Mind-Only Gate to enter the overlapping space where Players might be disappearing, but recognized that he might not be able to return.
• Chi Xian spotted two injured Players fleeing toward the Clock Tower, while their three pursuers stopped when the pair came within a hundred meters of it.

Xu Huo drove off two wounded men who approached the Clock Tower, then the players discussed their sleep and Zhao Qing’s disappearance. Yi Jun proposed using a trust item to protect their information, but Xu Huo declined and left with several players, telling the District 013 group to return before dark.

• Two wounded men raised white flags and claimed they had a clue for clearing the dungeon, but Xu Huo went outside and sent them away.
• Xu Huo cut through Yi Jun’s defensive item with his black knife, and Young Master Mo sealed the opening behind him.
• At dawn, Yi Jun put away his location item and said he had slept without dreaming; the players noted that sleep and dreams seemed random.
• Yi Jun offered players D-class trust items to detect lies and promised not to share their information, while Young Master Mo explained the item’s limits.
• Xu Huo declined to wear a trust item, said no valuable information had been shared, and told the six District 013 players to return before dark.
• Young Master Mo, Chi Xian, Tong Qi, and others followed Xu Huo, while Mi Yaojia and several players stayed with Yi Jun.

Xu Huo suspected that “Midsummer Night Star River” tailored its experiences to each person, making clues difficult to share, and considered whether Dr. Wu had left a valuable potion in the instance. The group planned to cooperate with other Players and visit the planetarium, while the danger facing Players without Tickets remained unresolved.

• Liao Xiaorong asked why they were not bringing people from District 013, and Xu Huo said the instance’s experiences were probably personal and hard to replicate.
• Xu Huo considered whether Dr. Wu had visited the instance and left an Antidote or Perfect Evolution Potion, but doubted either would be easy to find.
• Tong Qi and Scarred Glasses discussed the other Players’ likely dealings with District 013, while Young Master Mo and Chi Xian argued that cooperating could reveal differences in their dreams.
• Xu Huo suggested visiting the planetarium because of its connection to “Star River,” and the group agreed.
• Tong Qi removed his Protective Suit and encouraged the others to air out; Xu Huo explained that Players without Tickets would need to wait out the instance or clear it alongside Ticket holders.

As the Dungeon’s conditions worsened, Xu Huo returned to the Clock Tower and found the Players divided into hostile groups that had killed local residents and turned against him. He raised a Confusion Barrier around the Clock Tower, intending to delay the crowd while he dealt with the two B-level leaders.

• Tong Qi argued that leaving the Dungeon or finding an Antidote might prevent the Players from dying in their sleep, while Young Master Mo warned that B-level fixed Dungeons had no time limit.
• Xu Huo and the others searched the city, found dead residents and two looted Player corpses, and covered the bodies before continuing.
• Chi Xian noticed the fog had thickened, and Xu Huo observed that some of the group were becoming sleepy as the Dungeon’s conditions worsened.
• The group returned to the Clock Tower and found that Yi Jun and another B-level Player had gathered about forty Players, killed local residents, and forced District 013 residents to gather there.
• Most of Xu Huo’s companions moved away from him, but Young Master Mo, Scarred Glasses, Chi Xian, and Tong Qi stayed by his side.
• Xu Huo confronted the Players and activated a Confusion Barrier around the Clock Tower and its surroundings, planning to separate the crowd and target its two leaders.

Xu Huo fought a masked B-class player inside the Clock Tower, where Yi Jun intervened to steal the kill and was badly wounded. After the masked player died, Yi Jun fled, but Xu Huo intercepted him and launched another attack.

• Xu Huo used his items and abilities to fight the masked B-class player, then moved them into the Clock Tower and restrained him with Sit Please.
• The masked player expanded his defenses and attacked with Long Needles while Xu Huo worked to break through his barriers.
• Yi Jun struck at the masked player, who blocked the attack but was killed by a black blade that also sliced through Yi Jun’s right arm.
• Yi Jun left the Clock Tower and fled through the barriers, but Xu Huo used the Mental Portal to intercept him with the Magician Person and attack with Holder's Death and Backstab.

Xu Huo killed Yi Jun with the Special Defense Department item "Justice from Above" after surviving Yi Jun’s spatial-gravity attack. With Yi Jun dead, the players negotiated whether to cooperate, and Xu Huo moved the group to a nearby Mall because the Clock Tower was damaged.

• Xu Huo fought Yi Jun with defensive items, while Yi Jun used spatial gravity to pin him and launched a hidden metal stud at his eye.
• "Unhesitating Substitute for the Deceased" intercepted the stud, and Xu Huo escaped through a Mental Portal before crushing Yi Jun with a giant boulder summoned by "Justice from Above."
• Tong Qi praised Xu Huo’s item as the gathered players reacted to Yi Jun’s death, and several of Yi Jun’s former allies asked to join Xu Huo’s group.
• Tong Qi encouraged the players to work together, and Xu Huo said those unwilling to cooperate could leave.
• Liao Xiaorong and others helped ease tensions, while Young Master Mo left to rest with Scarred Glasses.
• Xu Huo moved the players to the lobby of a nearby Mall because the Clock Tower was too badly damaged to use.

While waiting in the foggy mall, Xu Huo searched the belongings of two dead B-class players and discovered that Yi Jun had possessed a metal box matching a black bounty notice. He left the box unopened and continued sorting the loot, where Tong Qi found disturbing photographs.

• Xu Huo let the residents of District 013 leave after questioning them about the legend of “Midsummer Night Star River.”
• Tong Qi returned Yi Jun’s items to Xu Huo, who rewarded him with a C-class item and valuable ore before sorting the remaining belongings.
• Tong Qi recognized a large patterned metal box as a possible match for a fifty-million black bounty, and Xu Huo concealed it and warned him not to open it.
• Xu Huo suspected the box might contain something dangerous and contacted Yan Jiayu through Dimension Below.
• Tong Qi found an album of photographs showing girls impaled on metal needles, with fingernails pinned beneath the pictures.

Xu Huo sorted through the dead B-class Player’s belongings while Young Master Mo tried and failed to buy a mysterious metal box. After Chi Xian explained that the box’s thorn pattern might contain mind-interfering Mutated Plants, the group continued rummaging through the remaining items.

• Young Master Mo offered Xu Huo thirty million for the metal box, but Xu Huo refused and asked him to sell information about its origins instead.
• Xu Huo sent Yan Jiayu the metal box and three A-class close-combat items through Dimension Below, and she accepted the spiked club.
• Chi Xian explained that the box’s thorn pattern might be made from resilient Mutated Plants that could interfere with people’s minds and cause hallucinations.
• Xu Huo gave Chi Xian a live-bacteria sample and let Tong Qi take some of the remaining belongings.
• The dark-faced Player found a map labeled “Treasure Map,” but the beautiful female Player noted that it had no location or marker.

Xu Huo questioned the people from District 013 about their recurring dreams and considered whether kindness was connected to finding “Midsummer Night Star River.” He left Tong Qi unsure whether the Dungeon rewarded good deeds, noting that the cost of those deeds differed from person to person.

• As night fell, the players took turns sleeping and keeping watch while Tong Qi sorted through his new possessions and Chi Xian played with the mushroom.
• Xu Huo gave food and water to the people from District 013, then asked them to describe their dreams.
• The man from Brown Skin City told Xu Huo about his dream of piloting a plane through extreme weather, while another man described repeatedly dreaming of a murderer aboard a ship.
• Xu Huo suggested that the man from Brown Skin City’s instinctive kindness might explain how someone found “Midsummer Night Star River,” and the man hoped the place could someday cure his child’s illness.
• Tong Qi asked whether the Dungeon was connected to kindness, and Xu Huo replied that the cost of doing good or bad varied from person to person.

Xu Huo repeatedly relived a train journey in a dream, testing ways to prevent a fatal crash involving people tied to the tracks. After each failure, he returned to the ticket counter and concluded that the train had to depart and encounter the people ahead, leaving him to question whether he was a fixed part of the scenario.

• Xu Huo boarded a cheerful train, hid from a group of thugs, and found people tied to both tracks ahead of a switch.
• Xu Huo let the train continue on its original track, but it ran over five people, derailed, and sent him back to the ticket counter.
• Xu Huo tried leaving the decision to the driver, then stopping the train and confronting the thugs, but each attempt ended in another failure and reset.
• Xu Huo returned to the train terminal and tried delaying departure, stopping the train early, and reporting a bomb threat, but the train still crashed.
• Xu Huo boarded again after concluding that the train had to depart and encounter the people on the tracks, and wondered whether he was a fixed character in the dream.

Xu Huo repeatedly tried to change the deadly train scenario in his dream, but each attempt returned him to the ticket counter without an explanation. After waking, he learned that the players’ dreams varied and grew longer, while three players had gone missing overnight.

• Xu Huo stopped the train and tried to prevent the people tied to the tracks and the passengers from dying, but thugs trampled the captives and he returned to the ticket counter.
• Xu Huo concluded that the people on the tracks never changed position and that most attempts ended in an accident at the same time and place.
• Xu Huo stopped the train before the thugs boarded and waited past the usual disaster time, but stepping off sent him back to the ticket counter.
• After waking, Xu Huo gave food and water to hungry players and learned from Tong Qi that two players had died in their sleep.
• Scarred Glasses showed Xu Huo records of players’ dreams, and Chi Xian said each player seemed to have to experience the process individually.
• Xu Huo learned that three players had gone out during the night and had not returned.

Xu Huo considered whether introducing a major change could alter the inevitable deaths in his recurring train-accident dreams, then learned that Zhao Qing had been found dead and covered in unusually lush fungi. As the players debated how to survive the instance, Young Master Mo offered to share watch duty with Scarred Glasses and clarified their relationship.

• Xu Huo reasoned that a significant new variable might change the outcome of his recurring dream, and considered whether Dr. Wu had been seeking a way to travel through time with Curved Time.
• Liao Xiaorong and Mi Yaojia returned with Zhao Qing's corpse, which was covered in dense fungi and appeared peaceful.
• Tong Qi and other players feared the fungi suggested another space, while Xu Huo told them they could try staying awake and ordered Zhao Qing's body buried.
• Young Master Mo offered to take turns keeping watch with Scarred Glasses, and revealed that his half-sister had married him.

Xu Huo investigated the players’ worsening sleep and tried to understand the conditions of his recurring train dream. The dream grew more difficult, and after three failed attempts to change the tragedy, he concluded that he needed to alter the timing.

• Chi Xian woke from a nightmare, while two other players later described their troubling dreams to Xu Huo.
• Xu Huo told the two players that the Dungeon might be screening them by unknown conditions, and he and Tong Qi agreed to wait and see whether anyone else disappeared.
• Xu Huo returned to the train dream and found that the Station had expanded, the journey took longer, and he had less time before departure.
• Xu Huo warned the aggressive driver about a person on the tracks, but a struggle sent the train forward and it struck one of the five people.
• Xu Huo tried two more approaches, but someone still died each time, so he concluded that changing the timing was the only way to break through.

Xu Huo investigated the railway staff in his dream, then protected himself from Players who tried to attack him while he slept. Returning to the train dream with a newspaper that revealed a track renovation, he traced the deaths on the tracks to a station official and demanded an explanation.

• Xu Huo reached the terminal station in his dream and investigated the station staff's families and connections before waking when the sky suddenly darkened.
• Players gathered outside Xu Huo's shelter and plotted to kill him for his items, but Xu Huo emerged and killed several of them before they could finish.
• Chi Xian offered a mushroom-shaped location item, while Xu Huo contacted Xin Rong and obtained an A-class telephone booth and protective items to guard himself while sleeping.
• Xu Huo returned to the dream with a newspaper mentioning railway renovations and track changes, then boarded the train and warned the driver before it hit people on the tracks.
• Xu Huo questioned two elderly survivors whose son and daughter-in-law had died, then went to the terminal station and forced a connected official to explain the track renovation.

Xu Huo learned why two families had lain on the tracks and repeatedly tried to change the past, but every attempt failed. On the fifth day, he waited in the Mall with the remaining Players as strange dreams and disappearances continued, until the Cannibal Player suddenly attacked someone.

• Xu Huo discovered that the stationmaster had covered up the deaths of three tunnel workers, prompting their relatives to lie on the tracks in protest.
• Xu Huo tried different ways to help the families and change the outcome, but each attempt failed and added more unstable factors.
• Xu Huo woke on the fifth day and noticed that several Players had disappeared while others showed worsening fatigue.
• Chi Xian left the Mall with seven Players, while Xu Huo stayed beside the District 013 residents and tied himself to a sleeping man with rope.
• Tong Qi and other Players tied themselves to nearby residents as Xu Huo spent the day awake and pondered whether the past could be changed.
• The Cannibal Player suddenly sprang up at night, waved a knife at the others, and threatened to kill anyone who approached.