Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo entered the buried Mall area and overcame the Players guarding an underground camp, where he learned that its residents suffered from Black Thorn Disease. The camp’s old man revealed they had fled the vanished CK11 Safe Zone, and Xu Huo began questioning him about the children.

• A Player ambushed Xu Huo near the Mall, but his Space Ray barrier deflected the shot, and he subdued the two Players waiting outside.
• Xu Huo fell into a trap inside the underground passage, escaped the item net and poisoned-blade attack, and demanded directions rather than fighting the camp residents.
• The camp’s old man introduced himself as its caretaker and pleaded for Xu Huo to spare the two young Players; Xu Huo brought them down and supplied rice and dehydrated vegetables.
• Xu Huo saw that the camp held nineteen people, mostly elderly people, women, and children, and heard a child ask whether they were having meat.
• The old man explained that the residents had fled the vanished CK11 Safe Zone, that Black Thorn Disease had killed more than a dozen people, and that Potions only delayed its progress.
• Xu Huo asked about the children and challenged the old man’s claim that a child was thirteen, noting that Black Thorn Disease affected fertility.

Xu Huo learned that District 010’s Safe Zones had fallen and Outer District Players now controlled the Sand Sea Center, making it the likeliest place Melissa had been taken. After sharing a meal with the underground camp, he witnessed one of its sick children collapse, leaving the camp’s desperate conditions painfully clear.

• The old man explained that children born in CK11 suffered from a fatal condition and that CK12 had disappeared two years earlier amid ground subsidence and Alien hordes.
• Ying Hai told Xu Huo that he had never visited the Sand Sea Center, while the old man said Outer District Players there mistreated people from District 010.
• Xu Huo concluded that Melissa was more likely to be at the Sand Sea Center and released Fan Yunhong to decide whether he wanted to stay at the camp.
• Fan Yunhong shared dried meat with the camp, and Xu Huo gave candy to three children who gathered around them for food.
• The youngest child began coughing up black blood after thanking Xu Huo, then fell unconscious, and Fan Yunhong said he had only a day or two left.
• Ying Yu lamented that he could not afford a non-Player Ticket to help the child, while the old man comforted him.

Xu Huo tried to obtain treatment for a dying child with Black Thorn Disease while investigating the disease and Stellar Pharmaceutical’s history in District 010. The child briefly improved after receiving the Potion, and Xu Huo planned to leave the next day while seeking more information from the camp’s old man.

• Ying Hai gave the dying child a Potion, and Fan Yunhong decided to leave District 010 with Xu Huo.
• The child’s mother begged Xu Huo to take her son, but Xu Huo left before she could find him again.
• Xu Huo contacted Bai Kou, who arranged for Dr. Deng’s uncertain Potion to be sent to him.
• Xu Huo offered the Potion to the child’s mother with a warning, but Ying Yu objected; Xu Huo left the dose on the table and departed.
• Xu Huo took blood and tissue from Fan Yunhong and sent the samples to Dr. Deng with a note demanding more than one dose.
• The child improved after the Potion, and Xu Huo said he and Fan Yunhong would leave tomorrow before heading back to question the camp’s old man.

Xu Huo comforted three children from District 010 with an imagined festival, then learned more about Black Thorn Disease and the bleak prospects facing its survivors. After the child in the wheelchair died, Xu received Dr. Deng’s admission that his group had come to study the disease’s effects on fertility.

• Xu Huo used his Spiritual World to show three children a joyful festival and then brought everyone back to the underground mall.
• The old man and Fan Yunhong described District 010’s famine, the outbreak of Black Thorn Disease, and the fear and violence that followed.
• Xu Huo considered the risks District 010 residents faced if they tried to move to other sub-districts, then recorded nearby Safe Zones and paid the old man for his information.
• The child in the wheelchair died in his sleep that night.
• Xu Huo received Dr. Deng’s reply confirming that his colleagues had come to District 010 to study why Black Thorn Disease caused infertility.

Xu Huo questioned Dr. Deng about pregnant Aliens and Stellar Pharmaceutical’s experiments, then learned that Dr. Deng’s friend had pursued research with help from a Player bearing a Black Snake tattoo. Xu Huo began searching for the Player, with the Ying brothers pointing him toward Daye Mountain.

• Xu Huo activated a communication item and questioned Dr. Deng, who said most Aliens could not reproduce and that a pregnant Alien from District 010 was extremely unlikely.
• Dr. Deng revealed that a researcher had proposed exchanging sperm and ova between normal and degenerated people, but the plan had been rejected as immoral.
• Xu Huo pressed Dr. Deng about his friend, and Dr. Deng admitted the friend had not contacted him in three years and had researched in a Safe Zone supported by a Player with a Black Snake tattoo on their face.
• Xu Huo searched Dimension Below and posted a bounty for information about the tattooed Player.
• The Ying brothers told Xu Huo that they had heard the Player was driven north after fighting Outer District Players, and Ying Hai suggested searching around Daye Mountain.

Xu Huo searched for a vanished Safe Zone near Great Leaf Mountain and followed two men to a walled town after learning that Players had driven its residents from their former home. The town’s guards let him in as a visiting guest, and its short-haired leader escorted him toward the government building.

• Xu Huo searched for CK12 again, found it buried beneath the sand, and headed north toward Great Leaf Mountain.
• While digging up a Mutated Plant, Xu Huo encountered swarms of thirst-quenching insects and trapped five venomous snakes.
• A local man collected the insects and told Xu Huo that a nearby Safe Zone was dangerous because Players had taken it over.
• Xu Huo followed the man and his companion to a walled town, where guards opened the gate after he asked to buy water.
• The short-haired leader welcomed Xu Huo and led him toward the town’s government building as residents watched.

Xu Huo investigated a town in District 010 while searching for a Player with a Black Snake tattoo, then a Safe Zone force attacked the town. The battle began with the town’s defenders outnumbered, and a silent explosion shifted the balance.

• Xu Huo ate with the town’s Players, explored the city, and learned that its trusted leader Fu Yi was a B-class Player who was away.
• Xu Huo asked Little Zhao and Little Song about a man with a Black Snake tattoo, but they denied knowing him.
• A resident reported that Safe Zone Players had captured Tian Min and Lin Na, and the crew cut led nine Players out to rescue them.
• Xu Huo suspected the report was a trap, but Safe Zone Players soon approached the town and began blasting its high wall.
• A tattooed Safe Zone Player knocked the white-haired guard from the wall and ordered his companions to dig out the townspeople, triggering a desperate battle.
• The fighting seemed evenly matched until another silent explosion shifted the balance.

Xu Huo drove off the Safe Zone players who attacked the small town and captured the short player responsible for the silent explosions. The short player revealed that the Safe Zone planned to raid the town and kill at least a third of its players while Fu Yi was away.

• The Safe Zone players pursued the small-town players toward the town center, and Xu Huo killed several attackers who tried to drag him out of a house.
• Xu Huo emerged unharmed from the destroyed building and made the short player believe a sensor bomb would explode if he ran.
• Xu Huo captured the short player, who described a feared wanderer known for bringing disaster to Safe Zones.
• The White-Haired Player questioned the captive, who revealed that the Safe Zone intended to raid the town while Fu Yi was away and kill at least a third of its players.

Xu Huo headed for the Safe Zone after learning about its plans and found its players returning with captured small-town fighters and a woman being brutalized. He confronted the convoy and declared that anyone approaching the captives’ car would be his enemy.

• The White-Haired Player arranged watches in town, but Xu Huo left with shorty to investigate the Safe Zone.
• Shorty explained the Safe Zone’s abductions and his reasons for staying in District 010, then Xu Huo answered a call from Brother Lou and provoked him.
• Gao Dawei directed Xu Huo to the Stone Forest, where he found signs of a fierce battle and evidence that someone had been poisoned.
• Xu Huo entered the Safe Zone city and encountered its returning players displaying injured small-town fighters in cages and a naked woman on a frame.
• Xu Huo killed two Safe Zone players, used Space Sharp Blade against another attacker, and warned the convoy that anyone approaching the car was his enemy.

Xu Huo fought the Safe Zone players and killed most of them while protecting the people in the car. Brother Lou escaped underground to the city entrance, where Xu Huo revealed the fine-threaded shard Brother Lou had planted on him.

• Brother Lou confronted Xu Huo and tested the cutting lines around the car with a metal eagle.
• Xu Huo killed several D- and E-class players by making them attack one another and striking them with unseen forces.
• Brother Lou broke through Xu Huo’s defenses and used explosive bells while the other C-class players attacked.
• Xu Huo killed three C-class players, while a fourth escaped into the Station.
• Brother Lou fought Xu Huo, then turned the ground to sand and retreated to the city entrance.
• Xu Huo showed Brother Lou the shard with a fine white thread inside that had been planted on him during the smoke attack.

Xu Huo drove Brother Lou away after infecting him with a parasitic Mutated Plant, then treated the small-city players and learned more about the man with the Black Snake tattoo. He left the injured players’ offer unanswered, reminding the buzz-cut man that they had no equal leverage in a negotiation.

• Xu Huo used the battle robot and his black knife to stop Brother Lou’s ambush, then released himself from the robot’s overprotective grip.
• Brother Lou emerged covered in parasitic white growths from the Mutated Plant Life and Death Never Apart, threatened Xu Huo, and fled toward the Safe Zone.
• Xu Huo freed the small-city players, gave them Self-Healing Agent, and learned that Tian Min expected Uncle Fu to return.
• Tian Min warned that the Safe Zone would pressure the small city to submit, while the buzz-cut man offered to reveal the whereabouts of the Black Snake tattooed man if Xu Huo helped them.
• Xu Huo said he believed the buzz-cut man but pointed out that they were not negotiating as equals.

Xu Huo learned that Chang Shoujie was in the Safe Zone and gathered information about its leaders and their items. He entered the Commercial Building to confront the three B-class players, where “Darkness Under the Lamp” recognized him as Passerby A.

• Xu Huo forced the crew-cut man to reveal that Chang Shoujie was in the Safe Zone and learned that he might be hiding or have left.
• Tian Min contacted the people in the small town, and Xu Huo escorted them before entering the city.
• Gao Dawei described the Safe Zone’s leaders and their items, including Ao Quan’s tornado item and Brother Lou’s sand-based items.
• Xu Huo went to the Commercial Building, where Ao Quan and “Darkness Under the Lamp” were waiting with Brother Lou.
• Xu Huo attacked Brother Lou as a white space separated the three men, and “Darkness Under the Lamp” recognized him as Passerby A.

Xu Huo fought Ao Quan and the other Players after killing Brother Lou, while Darkness Under the Lamp switched sides and helped him. Ao Quan died, leaving the surviving C-class Players facing Xu Huo and Darkness Under the Lamp.

• Xu Huo killed Brother Lou and attacked Darkness Under the Lamp, who recognized him as Passerby A and tried to bargain for his life.
• Ao Quan trapped Xu Huo's legs, but Darkness Under the Lamp sided with Xu Huo and fought Ao Quan.
• Xu Huo moved Darkness Under the Lamp out of danger, then evaded Ao Quan's attacks and cut apart his flying blade.
• Ao Quan poisoned Xu Huo with his nails, but Xu Huo ignored the wound and blinded him with manifested mental power.
• Ao Quan pursued Xu Huo outside and called the remaining C-class Players to help, but Darkness Under the Lamp used Scratch Card to kill him.
• Darkness Under the Lamp asked the surviving Players to give him an item as his reward.

Xu Huo questioned "Darkness Under the Lamp" about the Sand Sea Center and learned how dangerous it was for newcomers and how badly District 010's people were exploited. After gathering information from the Cannibal Players, Xu Huo still had no direct lead on Chang Shoujie and assembled everyone in the Safe Zone.

• Xu Huo asked "Darkness Under the Lamp" to gather the remaining players in the Safe Zone and learned that his Dungeon required him to light the Lighthouse of the East.
• "Darkness Under the Lamp" explained that the Sand Sea Center was rife with scams and attacks, and that Dungeon players were safer traveling in groups.
• "Darkness Under the Lamp" told Xu Huo that Black Thorn prevented births and that ordinary people were being forced to dig drainage ditches and build underground homes.
• Xu Huo concluded that Melissa might be in another Safe Zone or an unknown camp, with Chang Shoujie as his clearest lead.
• Xu Huo questioned the Cannibal Players about Chang Shoujie, nearby camps, and Alien groups, but they had never seen Chang Shoujie.
• Xu Huo had the players gather everyone in the Safe Zone.

Xu Huo found Chang Shoujie and asked about a Stellar Pharmaceutical researcher who had once worked with him. Chang Shoujie identified the Polar Safe Zone as the researcher’s next destination, while explaining why he had stayed behind in District 010.

• Darkness Under the Lamp detected someone fleeing the city, and Xu Huo intercepted Gao Dawei carrying his uncle, Chang Shoujie.
• Chang Shoujie admitted he had been pretending to be unconscious and accompanied Xu Huo to the Commercial Building.
• Xu Huo told Chang Shoujie that Ao Quan, Brother Lou, and several C-class players had died, then asked about a researcher from Stellar Pharmaceutical.
• Chang Shoujie recalled that the researcher had sought to study Black Thorn Disease with him five or six years earlier, but left when they ran out of materials.
• Chang Shoujie told Xu Huo that the researcher had gone to the Polar Safe Zone and explained that District 010’s people had rejected him after his failed efforts to save them.

Xu Huo asked Chang Shoujie to accompany him to find a potion-making doctor, while Chang recounted how District 010’s crises had led to the rise of intelligent Aliens. They prepared to leave the Safe Zone as the story ended with the origins of the “high-IQ” Aliens.

• Xu Huo asked Chang Shoujie to come with him to find the potion-making doctor, and Gao Dawei offered to join them before Chang stopped him.
• Xu Huo said someone from the small town would take over the Safe Zone and promised to bring Chang back safely.
• Chang Shoujie explained that Cannibal Players had arrived after District 010 merged with the game, collapsing several small countries and prompting the use of superweapons.
• Chang said Alien hordes spread from the devastated countries, contaminating water and causing widespread poisoning, degeneration, and flight.
• Chang recounted how District 010’s survivors fought the Aliens but later faced shortages of water and food as the climate worsened.
• Chang said Players injured while capturing an unusually evolved feline gradually degenerated into a new kind of intelligent Alien.

Chang Shoujie recounted how District 010 collapsed under regression, Alien hordes, and the loss of the Sand Sea Safe Zone to Outer District Cannibal Players. He explained why resistance had failed and said he could leave his current situation whenever he wanted.

• Players in District 010 began regressing into organized, instinct-driven Aliens, prompting many Players to flee and weakening the region’s defenses.
• Alien hordes overwhelmed cities as Survivors were killed or regressed, while District 010’s shrinking population eventually reduced the number of Alien.
• Chang Shoujie recalled helping establish the Sand Sea Safe Zone, only to find his comrades dead and Outer District Cannibal Players using it as a base.
• Chang Shoujie said his years of attempts to reclaim or destroy the Safe Zone had failed, and that he had eventually withdrawn as he showed signs of regression.
• Gao Dawei protested that Chang Shoujie had been abandoned, but Chang Shoujie said the people of District 010 had nothing left to sacrifice and that Ao Quan protected him.
• Gao Dawei stormed out, and Chang Shoujie told Xu Huo he could leave whenever he wanted; Xu Huo then asked Fan Yunhong and the others to prepare a meal.

Xu Huo traveled with Chang Shoujie and Gao Dawei to the Polar Safe Zone, while Fan Yunhong questioned Chang Shoujie's motives and the group speculated about the fate of District 010. They entered the Safe Zone and settled in its only tavern, where Xu Huo could begin learning more about the local Players.

• Fan Yunhong told Xu Huo he suspected Chang Shoujie was hiding his true motives, and Xu Huo suggested leaving him at the Polar Safe Zone.
• Fu Yi arrived with a map of nearby Safe Zones, thanked Xu Huo, and joined him for a meal without speaking to Chang Shoujie.
• Xu Huo set out for the Polar Safe Zone with Chang Shoujie, Gao Dawei, and Darkness Under the Lamp, carrying Chang Shoujie and Fan Yunhong in container items during the journey.
• Gao Dawei talked with Xu Huo about his hopes for the future and questioned why people kept fighting for District 010.
• After two days of travel, Xu Huo altered Chang Shoujie's appearance, and the group entered the Polar Safe Zone and followed a local Player to a tavern.

Xu Huo, Darkness Under the Lamp, and Gao Dawei met stranded players in District 010 and discussed how to clear their Dungeon. They learned that District 010 had no newborns for ten years and that locals treated the possibility as a desperate hope that must not be mocked.

• A player brought Xu Huo, Darkness Under the Lamp, and Gao Dawei to meet Brother Wu and other Outer District Players in a tavern.
• Brother Wu and his companions explained that they had missed Dungeon deadlines and had tried unsuccessfully to rally Safe Zones against the Sand Sea Safe Zone.
• Darkness Under the Lamp suggested that the Lighthouse might mean curing Black Thorn Disease or giving District 010 hope through newborns.
• Brother Wu warned that District 010 had no newborns for ten years and that a player who falsely presented an outer-district child as local had been killed.
• Brother Wu told Darkness Under the Lamp not to joke about newborns because the people still in District 010 clung to that hope.

Xu Huo followed the Polar Safe Zone’s large-scale mobilization and discovered that its players were fighting the Sand Sea Safe Zone over a convoy carrying chained Aliens. The Polar Safe Zone destroyed the convoy with heavy weapons, prompting the Sand Sea players to attack, and the battle shifted when someone ordered the Polar players to form ranks.

• District 010 players and Outer District Players argued in the tavern, and Brother Wu stopped the dispute before it turned into a fight.
• Xu Huo led Darkness Under the Lamp and Gao Dawei after the Polar Safe Zone convoy to find out why its players had mobilized.
• Xu Huo found the Polar Safe Zone fighting Sand Sea players around a defensive barrier and vehicles carrying chained Aliens.
• The Sand Sea players broke through the barrier and rushed to rescue the Aliens, but the Polar Safe Zone’s heavy weapons destroyed the convoy and those trapped inside.
• The furious Sand Sea players attacked the Polar Safe Zone, and a Polar player shouted for their side to form ranks.