Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo and his companions learned how Fairytale City’s Players had been betrayed and how its people had forgotten the past. After discovering that Grandpa Bai had lost a Player’s item, Xu Huo left to search for it, then questioned whether Tao Chengxin’s Ability could reliably identify the truth.

• Sun Jirou and Tao Chengxin questioned Grandpa Bai, who explained that the last Players had sacrificed themselves to protect Fairytale City while LT Biological Pharmaceutical Company poisoned the city’s water.
• Grandpa Bai revealed that the couple commemorated at True Love Plaza had been driven out of the Safe Zone and died by suicide, and he offered his weapons and items in exchange for killing someone from LT.
• The girl in the white skirt put Grandpa Bai to sleep and told Xu Huo that Fairytale City had no Players left and that Grandpa Bai had forgotten a Player’s missing item.
• The girl showed Xu Huo a drawing of the lost item, which resembled a Jade Token, and Xu Huo promised to return it if they found it.
• As they left, Xu Huo asked Tao Chengxin whether his Ability detected objective truth or only what a speaker believed, then challenged him to consider whether he understood his Ability.

Xu Huo searched for the item the story-telling woman wanted while preparing equipment to capture an Alien. He left the lost-and-found search to Tao Chengxin and Sun Jirou and headed to Bear Claw Restaurant with his supplies.

• Xu Huo learned about the city's lost-and-found offices and auction platform, then found that the platform had no matching item, though its pattern resembled an old organization's emblem.
• Xu Huo split up with Tao Chengxin and Sun Jirou to search lost-and-found offices, setting a three-hour meeting time and warning them to be careful.
• Xu Huo stopped Tao Chengxin from following him and told her to search more offices instead.
• Xu Huo ordered a copy of the pattern at an Engraving Shop, then bought Alien-capturing equipment, a Potion, and supplies for dealing with stray animals.
• Xu Huo headed to Bear Claw Restaurant.

Xu Huo subdued the Smiling Puppet and discovered a corpse, a dead cat, and evidence linked to the mysterious organization in Bear Claw Restaurant. He took the puppet and cat away, then collected a metal plate from the Engraving Shop and questioned the craftsman about how he had known it was not jade.

• Xu Huo trapped the Wooden Puppet with Sticky Net and slime, then straightened its mouth and learned it was a stolen Cleaning Puppet that could be sent home for a reward.
• Xu Huo found a decapitated corpse and a List with only two names uncrossed in the Secret Room beneath the study.
• Xu Huo discovered a dead cat wearing a Bell marked with the mysterious organization's Jade Token Pattern, and found a matching metal plate hidden under the desk.
• Xu Huo carried the Smiling Puppet and the cat out of Bear Claw Restaurant in a covered cage.
• Xu Huo returned to the Engraving Shop, received a metal plate from the craftsman, and asked how he knew it was not jade.

Xu Huo learned that the patterned metal card was an obsolete Access Card, then heard a conflicting account of Fairytale City's history from Tang Yuan. He refused to get involved without evidence and waited for the storyteller to come to them.

• An Engraving Shop craftsman identified Xu Huo's patterned metal card as an old Access Card with identity-recognition and tracking functions.
• Tao Chengxin and the others returned with Tang Yuan and Yang Sheng, who had found a storyteller at the Fresh and Delicious Sausage Shop.
• Tang Yuan and Yang Sheng recounted a version in which Cannibal Players created Aliens, devastated Fairytale City, and escaped to Tourist City while the Government Hall sent Players to hunt them.
• Xu Huo said he would trust neither story without evidence and refused to visit the storyteller, insisting she come to them instead.
• Yang Sheng left to find Wang Qiao and Gao Baimei, while Xu Huo and the others waited; Xu Huo said he had picked up the Stray Cat Corpse to bury it.

Xu Huo and the others learned that the missing Jade Token was an Access Card sought by Cannibal Players, and that the Dungeon’s Angel’s Teeth was a powerful item holding Tourist City hostage. Tang Yuan proposed using the Access Card to lure the enemy out and asking Government Hall Players for help.

• Tao Chengxin, Sun Jirou, Tang Yuan, and Xu Huo discussed trust between Players and listened to a Server tell a story about a King and a Knight.
• Xu Huo led the group back to the female guide’s courtyard, where they found a different man and realized the guide had disappeared.
• Xu Huo and the others returned to the Fresh and Delicious Sausage Shop, where they met the old woman alongside Wang Qiao and Gao Baimei.
• The old woman explained that the Jade Token was an Access Card to the Government Hall Research Institute, which could be used to obtain a Potion.
• The old woman revealed that the Angel’s Teeth was a powerful special item keeping Government Hall out and making Tourist City’s residents hostages.
• Tang Yuan suggested using the Access Card to draw out the enemy and seeking help from Government Hall Players, while Tao Chengxin objected to risking their lives.

Xu Huo and the others debated whether to cooperate with the Government Hall and pursue the Cannibal Players, then accepted the old woman's support and prepared to use the Access Card and two props. They left with the plan unsettled, arguing over who should take the Hypnosis Ring.

• Xu Huo questioned whether the group could secretly track the suspected Cannibal Players with the Access Card, while Sun Jirou proposed planting a tracker at their hideout.
• Sun Jirou argued that the female tour guide had manipulated both groups into fighting, and she, Tang Yuan, Yang Sheng, Tao Chengxin, and the others agreed to risk pursuing the lead.
• Xu Huo asked the old woman for equipment, and she gave the group a protective folding umbrella and a Hypnosis Ring that made anyone who inhaled its smoke see three copies of everything.
• The group debated who should keep the umbrella and Ring, with Sun Jirou taking the umbrella and Tao Chengxin objecting that the Ring's holder would be left at a disadvantage.

Xu Huo and Tao Chengxin discussed the conflicting stories about the Great Contamination and the items they had found, then rejoined Sun Jirou’s group to seek the female tour guide. They found her at True Love Plaza and followed her back to a transformed courtyard, where she asked Xu Huo if he had found her cat.

• Wang Qiao urged Sun Jirou and Tang Yuan to lead the search for the female tour guide, and the group split up to find somewhere to eat.
• In a restaurant, Tao Chengxin admitted her ability could not resolve the conflicting accounts, and Xu Huo explained that finding the Teeth mattered more than knowing whether every detail was true.
• After the meal, Xu Huo suggested looking for the tour guide at True Love Plaza, and Tang Yuan agreed to try it before returning to Sunflower Courtyard.
• The group found the girl in the white skirt at True Love Plaza, where Xu Huo gave her a Golden Powder Purple flower.
• The girl led the group through a courtyard whose sunflower patch had expanded into a greenhouse and a Small Building, then asked Xu Huo whether he had found her cat.

Xu Huo and the other players visited the girl in the white skirt, who told them the story of the King and the Knight while the players secretly tried to drug her. As they discussed the people of Fairytale City, she suddenly aged, revealing that she was Granny Bai and that Xu Huo had recognized her before.

• Xu Huo showed the girl in the white skirt the poisoned cat and Wooden Puppet he had found, and she warned him not to let the puppet's mouth turn up.
• Tang Yuan secretly put two drops of a Potion into the teapot while Wang Qiao and Gao Baimei kept watch, and he later hid an Access Card in the sofa.
• The girl in the white skirt told the story of the King and the Knight, prompting Sun Jirou and Tao Chengxin to debate whether the Knight should keep fighting and whether ordinary people deserved sympathy.
• Xu Huo questioned Sun Jirou about Fairytale City's people and their treatment of Aliens, leaving the room silent.
• The girl in the white skirt suddenly aged, and Xu Huo poured the drugged tea away while calmly questioning her as she called herself Granny Bai.
• Granny Bai said her cousin was the old person in the house, then aged again; Sun Jirou recognized her as the old person from the Tour Bus, and Granny Bai said Xu Huo had recognized her earlier.

Xu Huo explained how the group had cleared the Fairytale City Dungeon and revealed his theory that Granny Bai had created it to protect the city’s remaining residents from Government Hall. The chapter ended with him suggesting that Granny Bai knew un-Potioned Evolver blood could create new Evolvers.

• Xu Huo told the group that returning the cat’s corpse had completed the Dungeon missions and that the Access Card search had been a way for Granny Bai to let them leave.
• Xu Huo said Granny Bai had initially sent them through Fairytale City to make Government Hall Players kill one another, and Granny Bai confirmed that he was perceptive.
• Xu Huo revealed that he had switched the Access Card from the Fresh and Delicious Sausage Shop, causing Government Hall Players to follow it toward the city.
• Xu Huo theorized that Granny Bai had opened the station Dungeon to protect Fairytale City’s residents and provide them with a way to clear their monthly Dungeon requirement.
• Xu Huo asked Granny Bai whether she knew that the blood of Evolvers who had not taken a Potion could be used to create new Evolvers.

Granny Bai explained how Fairytale City became a Breeding Zone and warned that districts with too few surviving players could suffer the same fate. After she fought off an attack and sent Xu Huo and the others away, Sun Jirou suggested that Wormholes caused the first Evolvers to appear.

• Granny Bai revealed that she had become Tourist City Dungeon’s Boss and survived by hiding in the Dungeon after Aliens killed her husband.
• Granny Bai said Fairytale City had become a Breeding Zone because its players had died out, and warned that District 014 could face the same fate if too few players survived.
• Yang Sheng attacked Granny Bai, who swallowed him and several others with a giant mouth, killing Yang Sheng, Wang Qiao, and Gao Baimei while spitting out Sun Jirou and Tang Yuan.
• Granny Bai sent Xu Huo, Tao Chengxin, and the others to a room in a dark forest, while Xu Huo considered what had caused the first Evolvers to appear.
• Sun Jirou said that the first people in any game world evolved naturally when Wormholes opened.

Xu Huo explained why he believed Fairytale City had become a Breeding Zone and how he had deduced the Dungeon’s purpose. Sun Jirou attacked him in the Wooden Cabin, and Xu Huo subdued her with a Potion.

• Xu Huo reasoned that someone might have deliberately transformed Fairytale City into a Breeding Zone to produce Evolvers and Aliens.
• Xu Huo explained that Granny Bai’s simple tasks and conduct showed the Dungeon was designed for Fairytale City’s Players, while some Government Hall Players might have infiltrated it.
• Sun Jirou accused Xu Huo of using the others as bait, then attacked him with spikes that erupted through the Wooden Cabin.
• Xu Huo dodged Sun Jirou’s attacks, knocked aside her daggers, seized her wrists, and sprayed her with a Potion.

Xu Huo and the others weathered a disturbance in Granny Bai’s protected territory, while Tao Chengxin and Tang Yuan searched for a rumored artifact. Xu Huo caught them investigating a lone flower and revealed his suspicion that Tang Yuan had ties to the Government Hall.

• Sun Jirou threatened to reveal information about a powerful Player if Xu Huo kept her safe, and Tao Chengxin and Tang Yuan helped bind her.
• After the woods and ground settled, Tao Chengxin and Tang Yuan separately left the cabin, then proposed searching for Granny Bai’s missing artifact.
• Xu Huo treated Sun Jirou’s eyes with a Self-Healing Agent, untied her, and led her to spy on Tao Chengxin and Tang Yuan.
• Tao Chengxin and Tang Yuan tried to pick a lone flower in the woods, but Xu Huo kicked them away before they could touch it.
• Xu Huo questioned how Tang Yuan survived the Fresh and Delicious Sausage Shop, and Sun Jirou suggested that the survivors might have been working with the Government Hall.

Xu Huo exposed Tang Yuan’s scheme and fought him for a strange flower, which transformed into a Humanoid Root that chased Tang Yuan. As Xu Huo and the others pursued them through shifting locations, Xu Huo sent the Wooden Puppet after the creature.

• Xu Huo accused Tang Yuan of working with Yang Sheng and the Cannibal Player to search for something rather than clear the Dungeon.
• Tang Yuan used a Color Ball to blind everyone and grabbed for the flower, but Xu Huo attacked him while Sun Jirou and Tao Chengxin joined the fight.
• Tang Yuan fought Xu Huo and managed to snap the flower in half, awakening a Humanoid Root that bit off his hand and pursued him.
• Xu Huo gathered his equipment and chased Tang Yuan with Sun Jirou and Tao Chengxin as the forest shifted into a Small Courtyard and then an Ancestral Temple.
• Xu Huo ordered the Wooden Puppet to catch the Humanoid Root as it pursued Tang Yuan.

Xu Huo completed the Third Task in the “The Woman Who Tells Stories” Dungeon after Granny Bai returned and recognized the Teeth, earning an A Rank and an extra reward. Granny Bai gave him Angel's Teeth and warned that someone was watching him, while a Browless Man tracked his route to Building Block Fairy Tale Town Station.

• The Wooden Puppet fought the Humanoid Root, then Tang Yuan attacked Xu Huo and was pulled back into the flower-house with him.
• Granny Bai returned, and Tang Yuan fled the house before his upper body vanished at the threshold.
• Granny Bai retrieved the white cube from the Humanoid Root and recognized it as the real Teeth, completing Xu Huo's Third Task.
• The game announced that Xu Huo had earned an A Rank, while Elegant Aging and Frog-Fishing Handsome Man received C Ranks.
• Granny Bai gave Xu Huo the Teeth, explained Angel's Teeth's sixteen spaces, and warned him that someone had their eye on him.
• A Browless Man followed a colorful lizard's trail and learned that Xu Huo had gone to Building Block Fairy Tale Town Station.

Xu Huo and Sun Jirou made a deal after she discovered that a Tracking Lizard embryo had been planted on him, allowing its mother to track him across stations. Xu Huo learned how Granny Bai and the tour guide were connected, but the reason Granny Bai prevented births in Fairytale City remained unresolved.

• Sun Jirou offered to help Xu Huo deal with the Player targeting him in exchange for Angel's Teeth, but Xu Huo refused and agreed instead to owe her a favor.
• Sun Jirou asked Xu Huo to help her younger brother, Wang Cheng, also known as Hit My Dad's Face, if he ever encountered him.
• Sun Jirou used her detection necklace and bug spray to reveal a Tracking Lizard embryo attached to Xu Huo's ankle.
• Xu Huo learned that the embryo could let its mother track it for up to three years and said he would give someone a big present with it.
• Xu Huo explained that Granny Bai and the tour guide were connected, then questioned why Granny Bai had prevented births in Fairytale City.

Xu Huo left Fairytale City after setting a trap involving the Smiling Puppet, then escaped its destruction with a Return Ticket. Back in Hai City, he heard the government urge people to become Players and learned that Aliens had invaded Country B from another district.

• Sun Jirou told Xu Huo that Players and ordinary people in the game were all victims, then left the Dungeon after asking him to remember her alias.
• Xu Huo planted the Lizard Embryo in the Wooden Puppet and sent the Smiling Puppet to hide in the Fresh and Delicious Sausage Shop, where the Browless Man and his companion later arrived.
• At the entrance to Fairytale City, Xu Huo spotted a dangerous man carrying a black Leather Case and boarded a Tour Bus to escape him.
• A red cloud erupted over Fairytale City and a shock wave destroyed its Enclosure Wall and surrounding structures, but Xu Huo used his Return Ticket to leave before it hit the bus.
• Back in Hai City, Xu Huo heard the government announce plans to reveal information about the Dimension Rift game and recruit Players to defend the country.
• Xu Huo read that Aliens had appeared in five cities in Country B, killing people before the army discovered they had entered from another district.

Xu Huo returned from the Dungeon to a country still recovering from the battle in Hai City, then traveled to Capital City. He reunited with his family and went to see his grandfather.

• Xu Huo accepted a patrol car's help and learned that Hai City had been devastated during the battle between the Ghastly Sound Knights and a Wheelchair Player.
• The armed personnel told Xu Huo that the Black and White Life and Death Game had disappeared during the battle and that the country had set up Player liaison offices.
• Xu Huo received a ticket to Capital City and found the airport and streets nearly deserted when he arrived.
• Armed personnel escorted Xu Huo to the Xu Family Villa, where he reunited with his father, stepmother, half-brother, and relatives.
• Xu Huo learned that armed personnel had sent for his mother, then said he would go talk to his grandfather.

Xu Huo told Team Leader Wu about the vanished psychiatric hospital and warned him that District 014 could be abandoned if it lost its potential during the initial Evolution stage. After Team Leader Wu left to report the danger, Xu Huo tested a Dungeon reward that stopped reading when he played scary music.

• Xu Huo learned from Father Xu that his grandfather had been ill for almost half a year, though his grandfather had told the family not to tell him.
• Xu Huo told Team Leader Wu that the psychiatric hospital where he had been treated as a child had vanished from the site and official records, and Team Leader Wu agreed to investigate.
• Xu Huo declined to join the security department and gave Team Leader Wu Potions as proof of his visit.
• Xu Huo warned Team Leader Wu that District 014 might be abandoned if it lost its potential, and Team Leader Wu hurried away to report the information.
• Xu Huo inspected his Adult Fairy Tale Book reward, which stopped reading and shut itself whenever he played scary music.

Xu Huo examined the Adult Fairy Tale Book and his other rewards, then visited his elder brother Xu Zhi’s grave, where he encountered Gu Yu and Zheng Liang. He drove to the Airport to meet Ms. Fang and her boyfriend, Uncle Tang, and asked whether Tang was from Country Y.

• Xu Huo found that the Adult Fairy Tale Book could communicate with him, but it stopped responding after Yu Qingqing tried reading it.
• Xu Huo refused to help Yu Qingqing become a Player, and the next day he had armed personnel keep her from leaving.
• Xu Huo visited Xu Zhi’s grave and met Gu Yu, who invited him to join her newly established organization.
• Zheng Liang accused Xu Huo of gambling his brother to death and threatened to settle their old score, but Xu Huo left without engaging him.
• Xu Huo met Ms. Fang and her boyfriend, Tang, at the Airport and asked Tang if he was from Country Y.

Xu Huo investigated the outbreak in Y Country and concluded that the Super Artifact incident was effectively over, leaving the Players’ struggle with the game as the next major conflict. He spoke with the painted woman about a puppet she had encountered in a Castle and asked her to come to Capital City.

• Xu Huo brought Ms. Fang and Tang Guangbo to a Xu family villa, then asked Team Leader Wu to test them and arrange for his mother to be isolated separately.
• Xu Huo reviewed reports about Y Country’s outbreak and war, finding no evidence of Alien transformations and suspecting a Player had caused the disease.
• Xu Huo examined the Vanguard Forum’s records of the invasion and the High-level Players, concluding that the Super Artifact had been taken and the incident was over.
• The painted woman contacted Xu Huo, said she wanted to stay with him, and described finding and later losing a Smiling Puppet in a Castle.
• Xu Huo asked the painted woman to come to Capital City because he had a small favor to ask of her.