Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo learned more about Master Suolan’s paintings and childhood from a bread shop owner before hearing a tour guide explain how she transformed a frightening memory into a flower-carved stone. He continued through town with a better sense of Suolan’s life and work.

• Xu Huo asked the bread shop owner about Suolan’s paintings and studied photos of her works, including the portrait “Smile.”
• The owner recalled that Suolan had once struggled to push open the shop door and had suggested keeping it open so children would feel considered.
• Xu Huo discussed Suolan’s remarkable output and fame, while the owner speculated that her evolution had enhanced her talent for painting.
• Xu Huo left the shop with bread and passed a tour group gathered around a stone carved with flowers.
• The tour guide explained that Suolan had brought the stone back after a landslide and carved it to overcome her fear, inspiring her saying about covering fear with beauty.

Xu Huo visited Suolan’s former residence while searching for the Enbel Maiden and questioned an elderly neighbor about the painter. The old woman defended Suolan’s memory, and Xu Huo argued that Suolan had deliberately revealed the painting before her death; he ended by asking where her childhood peers had gone.

• Xu Huo visited Suolan’s former residence and saw that its reinforced barrier kept visitors outside.
• An elderly woman explained that people searching for the Enbel Maiden had damaged the house, so residents no longer allowed anyone inside.
• Xu Huo visited the old woman’s home and offered to trim her garden, but she warned him not to touch her plants.
• Xu Huo discussed Suolan’s paintings and suggested that she had deliberately revealed the Enbel Maiden before she died so that people would search for it.
• The old woman praised Suolan’s intelligence, and Xu Huo asked whether the people who grew up with her had moved away.

Xu Huo learned more about Suolan’s childhood in Dingding Flower Town from an old woman, who shared a painting and reflected on human connection and the pursuit of survival. After dinner, he heard about the town’s maintenance problems and reopened mining pits.

• The old woman told Xu Huo that Suolan’s childhood companions had gradually moved away or died, and Xu Huo asked for their names and any paintings she had kept.
• The old woman showed Xu Huo Suolan’s painting Baby by the Bed and explained that it depicted a child raised by his mother.
• Xu Huo asked where Suolan used to play in the nearby mountains, and the old woman gave him an electronic map marked with places Suolan had visited.
• The old woman invited Xu Huo to dinner, where she served a roasted chicken stuffed with local produce and told him Suolan had loved one of the fruits.
• The old woman explained that rain had exposed old mining pits and that the town lacked people to repair its equipment and household robots.

Xu Huo learned how District 019’s mining policies left old damage unaddressed, then joined the players gathered to search for the Enbel Maiden. The players agreed that solving the Dungeon meant sorting through Suolan’s well-known life for important locations and clues.

• Xu Huo left the old woman and went to the town plaza, where he joined the players in a bar.
• A long-haired player proposed that everyone work together to clear the Dungeon, while another questioned how they would divide the rewards.
• The players admitted that earlier searches had uncovered no useful clues because Suolan’s life had already been thoroughly documented.
• Players discussed narrowing the search to key places in Suolan’s life, including Dingding Flower Town, her mother’s home and cemetery, and places tied to her family, art, recovery, and grave.

Xu Huo left the bar to investigate Dingding Flower Town, where Master Suolan had grown up, and agreed to search its nearby collapsed mines with two players. While reviewing Suolan’s records that night, he found that four of her childhood playmates had all left town or died before she became famous.

• Xu Huo left the bar, reasoning that Dingding Flower Town could hold important clues about Suolan’s early life and decision to paint in oils.
• A curly-haired player proposed searching collapsed mines near town, and Xu Huo agreed to join her and a scarred player the next day.
• The three players checked into a renovated inn, where they noticed signs that guests had previously damaged or dug into the floors.
• Xu Huo reviewed Suolan’s records and found that four of her childhood playmates had died or moved away before she became famous.
• Xu Huo began piecing together a list of the people who had often played with Suolan.

Xu Huo reviewed the long, fruitless search for Suolan’s Enbel Maiden and considered how its mystery had shaped District 019. The next morning, he and two companions began visiting sites linked to Suolan, starting at an orchard where she had once painted.

• Xu Huo considered the many failed attempts to find Enbel Maiden, from searching for people and places named Enbel to investigating Suolan’s life and grave.
• Xu Huo noted that the Dungeon might have zero clears and that District 019’s residents seemed unusually tolerant of Players who trespassed while searching.
• Xu Huo slept, then joined the scarred Player and the curly-haired woman for breakfast before they drove into the mountains.
• The three Players used their maps to visit nearby sites associated with Suolan, and the curly-haired woman triggered a warning when she brushed the orchard grass.
• The curly-haired woman found that the marked spot where Suolan had painted was a pit once used for a shooting game.

Xu Huo and two Players searched a buried mine for Master Suolan’s hidden painting using mechanical pangolins, but found nothing. He then gathered accounts of Suolan’s paintings and personal life from a bakery owner and an old woman, whose claims conflicted with the public record.

• The curly-haired woman gave Xu Huo and the scarred Player mechanical pangolins to search mine shafts for paintings, and the three spent five hours searching without success.
• Xu Huo, the curly-haired woman, and the scarred Player narrowed their search and finished exploring one small mine by afternoon, but found nothing.
• The three returned to the bar dusty and empty-handed, where other Players joked about their search before Xu Huo went back to the bakery.
• The bakery owner showed Xu Huo a landscape painting and explained how he believed its dark fish revealed that Suolan had been unhappy during her honeymoon.
• Xu Huo visited the old woman, who said Suolan had disliked her mother and called Suolan selfish, contrary to the Jixin Terminal’s account that they were close.

Xu Huo questioned an old woman about Master Suolan’s childhood, her mother, and the friends who had grown up with her in Dingding Flower Town. The old woman recalled a blind, disabled neighbor who had cared for Suolan and the other children, though the cause of her injuries remained unclear.

• The old woman described Suolan’s neglectful mother and how Suolan stayed beside her during her final illness, while Xu Huo listened without disputing her account.
• Xu Huo showed the old woman names and photos from the Jixin Terminal, and she identified Suolan’s childhood friends and acquaintances.
• The old woman recalled Suolan’s bold childhood friends, Laiguang’s stories, and the children’s games, which had never been about Enbel.
• Xu Huo asked who had cared for Suolan when she was young, and the old woman said a blind, disabled neighbor had bought her and the other children food and toys.
• The old woman said she doubted the neighbor’s injuries came from a mining accident because government workers had replaced her prosthetic leg.

Xu Huo considered why Master Suolan had mentioned the missing "Enbel Maiden" and discussed her art and motivations with a student. After reviewing an interview and biographical notes, he suspected the old mining disaster had affected a far wider area of District 019 than he had realized.

• Xu Huo dismissed the idea that Suolan had left the "Enbel Maiden" with her childhood friends or elderly neighbor, then questioned why she would mention it if it had simply been forgotten.
• Xu Huo went to an inn and joined a tour group for a late-night snack, where he described Suolan as someone with a strong sense of mission.
• A student argued that Suolan painted out of love for the world, and Xu Huo listened to the student's account of his father's interview with her.
• Xu Huo read the interview and noted that Suolan's father and mother had died, along with other deaths and disabilities linked to mines in the Dungeon.
• Xu Huo concluded that the mining accident a century earlier may have affected an unusually large area of District 019.

Xu Huo and three Players searched the hills near Dingding Flower Town for clues to the “Enbel Maiden,” while other Players arrived and secretly moved through town. A beam of light made a long-haired Player vanish, and Xu Huo sensed a fluctuation of Space Power near the town.

• Xu Huo considered how Suolan’s childhood and the mining accidents might relate to her paintings and the “Enbel Maiden.”
• The curly-haired woman returned with a scarred Player and Disease Be Gone, who used a map to lead them to ten places in the hills associated with Suolan.
• A group of Players arrived in Dingding Flower Town, exchanged information through brief flashes of light, and one beam made the long-haired Player disappear as he tried to escape.
• Xu Huo sensed Space Power near the town while the search party debated whether the hills were worth searching.
• Xu Huo asked the others whether they had any leads beyond the hills.

Xu Huo and the crew cut female player searched a mine for the Enbel Maiden but found nothing, then returned to Dingding Flower Town after discovering signs that their companions had been attacked. Xu Huo realized many players had vanished from town and considered whether District 019 was secretly targeting outsiders.

• Xu Huo and the crew cut female player searched a landslide-exposed mine, but their mechanical pangolins found no clues.
• The crew cut female player admitted she had searched across District 019 and insisted on inspecting the mine herself, while Xu Huo questioned her about Master Suolan's family.
• After the pair emerged, they found disabled mechanical pangolins, bloodstains, and signs of a covered-up struggle near the last location their companions had sent.
• Xu Huo hurried back to Dingding Flower Town and noticed that at least half the players had disappeared, though the remaining players appeared calm.
• Xu Huo explained that whether District 019 was openly or secretly removing outside players would affect their chances, and the crew cut female player approached a shop owner.

Xu Huo and the crew cut female player discovered that many players had vanished from Dingding Flower Town and warned the players gathered at the bar that someone might be targeting outsiders. The group decided to stay together for safety, though they had no proof and could not tell who was behind the disappearances.

• The crew cut female player questioned shopkeepers and learned nothing about the missing players, while Xu Huo considered whether they had been forcibly taken away.
• Xu Huo and the crew cut female player went to the bar to warn other players, where they found far fewer people than expected.
• The players discussed unusual flashes seen around town and the possibility that devices had been used to make players disappear unnoticed.
• A bald big man said he had spent more than twenty days in the instance but had rarely encountered other players, despite the town's steady flow of visitors.
• The players debated whether District 019 or someone else was targeting them, and a female player urged everyone to stay together and act as witnesses if anything happened.

Xu Huo investigated Master Suolan’s childhood and the people around her, hoping to find what changed her before she made the “Enbel Maiden” public. The investigation turned toward a deadly aircraft crash that had left one of Suolan’s elderly neighbors blind and disabled.

• Xu Huo returned to the old lady’s home with the crew cut woman and the big man, asking the old lady about her neighborhood while the others stayed quiet.
• Xu Huo explained that he was trying to understand what had changed Master Suolan, and suggested investigating the friends she had made after leaving Dingding Flower Town.
• The crew cut woman said three of Suolan’s former playmates had died, while the big man reported that they had made few close friends later and that Laiguang’s stories seemed ordinary.
• The big man described how an old neighbor had lost her sons in a mining-company fight, then survived an aircraft crash that killed her daughters and grandchildren.
• Xu Huo searched for the aircraft’s manufacturer, and the crew cut woman urged him to check whether it was the company the old lady’s sons had worked for.

Xu Huo and the others investigated possible links between Suolan’s past, her father’s death, and the old lady’s family, uncovering Tiantianle Mining’s connection to both. They ended by wondering whether the Enbel Maiden had already been found and concealed, possibly by the company’s boss.

• The big man argued that Suolan’s connection to the old lady was unlikely, while the crew cut woman suggested the old lady’s family might have had a grudge against the mining company.
• The big man explained that Suolan’s father had died when she was two and that relatives gave conflicting accounts of his death, including an accident, a mine disaster, a crime of passion, and suicide.
• Xu Huo searched for evidence that Suolan had visited the area where her father died, but the crew cut woman and the big man said she had not gone near the mine.
• The crew cut woman revealed that Tiantianle Mining developed the mine near where Suolan’s father may have died, employed the old lady’s second son, and built the aircraft involved in the fatal accident.
• The crew cut woman proposed that the Enbel Maiden might already have been found but kept secret, and Xu Huo suggested it could be hidden at the Tiantianle boss’s home.

Xu Huo investigated Tiantianle’s abandoned and active mines for clues about Suolan’s father’s death and discovered that the mines concealed extensive underground fissures. He found the same fissures beneath mines owned by other groups, suggesting the phenomenon extended across District 019.

• Xu Huo sent the bald big man to Tiantianle while he headed to the mining area to investigate.
• Xu Huo evaded the patrols and surveillance devices and searched several closed mines, including the likely sites where Suolan’s father had died.
• Xu Huo found long-standing underground fissures concealed behind movable metal plates and collected rocks from several of them.
• Xu Huo used a robot workshop’s terminal to view the active mine’s work map and saw that its tunnels also ran alongside fissures.
• Xu Huo searched another mining area owned by several groups and found the same fissures beneath its mined-out mountains.

Xu Huo left the guarded mine after finding his access revoked and traveled to Chuanwan City to visit Suolan’s relatives. There, he witnessed District 019’s robots swiftly defeat two Player robbers and rescue their hostage.

• Xu Huo found that his access to the mine’s watch terminal had been revoked, so he left to visit Suolan’s relatives.
• Xu Huo arrived in Chuanwan City and encountered eight Players while looking for breakfast.
• Two Players tried to rob a rare gemstone shop, but combat robots surrounded them and drove them into the street.
• The robbers seized an elderly man as a hostage, but the robots shielded him and carried him to safety.
• The robots trapped the two Players beneath a concealed floor and announced that the crisis had been resolved.
• A man passing Xu Huo accidentally bumped into him as he left with a baby-faced woman.

Xu Huo recovered his stolen Realistic Wax Figure and visited the Suolan residence, where he learned that others were searching for clues about a painting. He investigated District 019’s mining history and wondered whether its old mines and underground fissures could still yield gemstones.

• Xu Huo caught two Players who had stolen his Realistic Wax Figure, reclaimed it, and let them go after taking their items as compensation for his mental distress.
• He Jiaorong approached Xu Huo and suggested they team up, but he left without responding and headed to Uncle Suolan and Auntie Suolan’s residence.
• Xu Huo registered to visit the elderly residents, while children at the entrance told the crowd that Grandpa Fer knew nothing about the painting and was not close to Ms. Suolan.
• Xu Huo left the residence and searched the public library for District 019’s mining history.
• He read that volcanic activity had brought gemstones to the surface and wondered whether old mines and underground fissures could still be mined.

Xu Huo investigated District 019’s history of mining accidents and learned that other Players in the C-class Dungeon “The Abode of the Dead” were searching mines, cemeteries, and religious sites for clues. He concluded that the answer likely lay with the Mining Groups, especially Hels, and left the Dungeon’s true destination unresolved.

• Xu Huo found that District 019 had recorded more than ten thousand mining accidents between roughly 150 and 120 years ago, before a new system sharply reduced them.
• Shen Fei approached Xu Huo in the library, discussed the strange concentration of underground fissures, and explained that Players had failed to find the Dungeon’s destination in cemeteries or Hels mines.
• Xu Huo left the library and searched Dimension Below for information about “The Abode of the Dead.”
• Xu Huo learned that the Dungeon was tied to a religious venue where people held ceremonies for the dead and that its background described the dead as still alive in another abode.
• Xu Huo reasoned that the abode was not a mine or burial place and decided the key most likely lay with the Mining Groups, whose needs had shaped the religion.

Xu Huo investigated the mining groups behind “The Abode of the Dead” and recruited Shen Fei, Ke Youming, and Zhu Zhongliang to help him. He left Haiyin Media with access to its historical records on mining accidents, obtained through a false media assignment.

• Xu Huo met Shen Fei, Ke Youming, and Zhu Zhongliang at a restaurant and learned they had struggled to find trustworthy Player allies.
• Xu Huo told the three about a device that could secretly isolate spaces from robots, prompting them to worry that such a device might be used against Outer District Players.
• Xu Huo said they should investigate Haiyin Media, and the four obtained media credentials and went to the company.
• Xu Huo presented a feature proposal about corporate culture and mining accidents to Haiyin Media’s person in charge.
• The person in charge accepted Xu Huo’s credentials and sent him a collection of historical materials to the address he provided.

Xu Huo and his companions reviewed century-old records of a mine collapse and questioned whether Hels Group had concealed the true death toll and the cause of the disaster. They left with a theory that Cannibal Players might have killed the missing workers, but the victims and the meaning of the “Dwelling of the Dead” remained uncertain.

• Xu Huo opened two classified videos showing a mountain collapse and the rescue operation that followed.
• Shen Fei, Zhu Zhongliang, and Ke Youming questioned how only a little over fifty deaths had been reported and whether every body could really have been recovered.
• Xu Huo compared the footage with old news reports and noted that Hels Group had resumed mining near the site soon after the disaster.
• Xu Huo judged that Hels Group had made a genuine rescue effort, but the suspicious death toll, underground fissures, and repeated mining accidents suggested possible deliberate casualties.
• Zhu Zhongliang proposed that Cannibal Players might have killed workers and destroyed the mines to conceal their crimes.
• Ke Youming wondered whether the “Dwelling of the Dead” referred to those victims and concluded they would be difficult to find.