Chapter Summaries

Xu Huo rented a room near the shadow wall and searched the surrounding area for Players. He uncovered a criminal dispute over obsolete firearms and learned that a shop owner planned to meet the East District supplier.

• Xu Huo rented a cleaner room near the shadow wall after rejecting a cheaper one, then paid a month’s rent and bought necessities.
• Xu Huo inspected the neighborhood with his Spiritual World and identified five Players nearby.
• Xu Huo discovered a wounded mole being treated at an entertainment venue after he was smuggled into its Back Kitchen.
• Xu Huo learned that the mole’s rivals had secured a supplier of obsolete firearms from the East District.
• The shop owner contacted a middleman to arrange a meeting with the supplier and invited the manager of the Frozen Processing Plant.

Xu Huo explored the West District, while the nightclub boss secured knife boss’s backing for a fight against Heyue Winery. Knife boss learned that Players had arrived in the district, and Xu Huo returned home with oranges after secretly taking a gemstone fragment.

• Xu Huo declined a meal from his neighbor, ate at a nearby stall, and asked a fruit seller for directions to the market.
• The nightclub boss bribed knife boss with money and a ruby, and they agreed to target Heyue Winery together.
• Knife boss’s subordinate reported that three newcomers had visited the Surveillance Department branch, including a possible Player, and knife boss ordered her not to interfere with Players or speak to the Surveillance Department.
• Xu Huo secretly pocketed a gemstone fragment from knife boss’s table and gave two children an orange.
• Xu Huo returned home with fresh oranges and received a call from Lin Guang, who said he had forgotten his gun.

Xu Huo hid from nighttime visitors, used hypnosis to learn where his stolen suitcase had gone, and then joined the Surveillance Department with new colleagues Han Cong and Wang Kai. The newcomers began training while worrying that they could be targeted in the unresolved attacks on officers.

• Lin Guang told Xu Huo that he had put away Xu Huo's belongings and introduced Han Cong and Wang Kai as new arrivals.
• Xu Huo went out for dinner, avoided local troublemakers, and returned home while neighbors recognized him as a Surveillance Department officer.
• Xu Huo hid in an empty room as three groups came to his rented room; he hypnotized the pickpocket and learned how the man had disposed of his suitcase.
• Xu Huo returned to his room in the morning and went to work, where Captain Jiang assigned him and Han Cong to Lin Guang's patrol team and Wang Kai to another team.
• Han Cong and Wang Kai discussed the unresolved attacks on officers and worried that the new recruits might be targeted.

Xu Huo and the other new inspectors responded to a bombing on Xiaotai Street, where a criminal organization’s gaming lounge and nearby businesses were destroyed. The investigation pointed to a Player using a spatial item, and Li Song ordered the inspectors to search for two injured people who had fled.

• Xu Huo, Han Cong, and Wang Kai reviewed their duties and learned that closing cases in the West District was difficult.
• A bomb destroyed a restaurant, gaming lounge, bathhouse, and shops on Xiaotai Street, killing or injuring more than forty people, including three inspectors and a Player.
• The criminal organization tried to bar the Surveillance Department from the scene, but the department arrived in force and took control.
• Xu Huo and the others learned that the blast was likely caused by a Player’s spatial item, while Captain Jiang considered whether the Rebel Army had been responsible.
• Li Song told the inspectors that two injured people had fled and ordered them to search in separate groups.

After a deadly explosion and a crackdown in the West District, Xu Huo and the Surveillance Department searched homes while investigating possible Rebel Army activity. That night, a boy killed a corrupt surveillance officer who had threatened his family, and the chapter left the boy fleeing into the rain with the Photo.

• Li Song led Xu Huo and Han Cong on a search for two injured suspects, and a Rebel Army member detonated a bomb, killing himself and two surveillance officers.
• The Surveillance Department caught the other fugitive, who confessed under a Potion to past murders and was shot dead.
• Xu Huo helped Li Song search West District homes, where a surveillance officer pocketed a Photo of a young woman and remarked that people turned to the game world because real life offered no hope.
• The surveillance officer returned to the neighborhood that night, attacked a boy who had followed him, and threatened the boy's family.
• A falling flowerpot distracted the officer, allowing the boy to stab him; the officer bled to death, and the boy grabbed the Photo and fled.

Xu Huo used a gang’s raid on his lodgings to track a scarred man who was trafficking a young girl, then rescued her from pursuers and let her stay the night. After she fell asleep, Xu Huo injected her with an Evolution Potion.

• Xu Huo paid his neighbor to clean his trashed lodgings, then slipped out while four men came to search for him.
• Xu Huo lured drunk thugs to his building, where they fought the four intruders; he helped one intruder escape and followed him to a cellar where a girl was being held captive.
• Xu Huo overturned the scarred man’s vehicle, allowing the girl to escape, and a Rebel Army member killed the scarred man when he chased her into an alley.
• Xu Huo drove off the men pursuing the exhausted girl and offered her a safe place to stay for the night.
• Xu Huo gave the girl food and a blanket, then injected her with an Evolution Potion after she fell asleep.

After attacks killed more Surveillance Department officers, Li Song led a sweeping search of the West District that escalated into a deadly clash at Heyue Winery. His warning prompted many players to gather in Xu Huo’s neighborhood before nightfall.

• Xu Huo shared breakfast with the girl and urged her to choose a safer place to go while it was still daylight.
• The Surveillance Department received approval to search the West District and use weapons of Tier Three or higher against local power groups.
• After a gang member stabbed an officer, the captains confronted the gang leader at Heyue Winery, where a knife killed Captain Jiang.
• The Surveillance Department stormed the winery, and Wang Kai killed its owner as armed robots and aircraft hunted down fleeing players.
• Li Song warned that he would request a special investigation team if the three-day search found no results, and many players appeared in Xu Huo’s neighborhood before nightfall.

After the sweep sparked suspicion that an Outer District Player was manipulating the conflict, Xu Huo and Han Cong worked through a brutal night of interrogations at the Surveillance Department. They were sent home at dawn, while the department’s suspicions and the West District’s tensions remained unresolved.

• Criminal organizations brought in Players to guard their territories, while inspectors questioned the sweep and suspected an Outer District Player had provoked the violence.
• The Surveillance Department shifted much of the inspection work to armed robots and aircraft, and Wang Kai, Xu Huo, and Han Cong faced suspicion over the killings.
• Li Song ordered the inspectors to work overtime, and the department detained two Rebel Army members during the sweep.
• Han Cong and Xu Huo interrogated prisoners, where inspectors beat suspects and killed two people within half an hour.
• Lin Guang told Han Cong and Xu Huo that Brother Tong had reasons for hating people from the West District, but did not explain further.
• After a night of escorting prisoners and removing bodies, Xu Huo and the other new recruits were sent home at dawn.

Xu Huo let the mute girl stay with him and investigated the growing tensions between the West District, the Surveillance Department, and the Rebel Army. He went with the girl to find the scarred man, only to discover that his home had been taken over by two threatening men.

• Xu Huo invited the mute girl inside, offered her food, and let her stay in exchange for helping clean and shop.
• Xu Huo suspected the Rebel Army was fomenting conflict in the West District and wondered whether the coming upheaval was connected to White Blood.
• A Rebel Army member recovered a hidden note revealing the meeting address for a planned weapons deal with the Frozen Processing Plant.
• Xu Huo learned that the mute girl's parents had been killed and offered to bury them, prompting her to lead him to the scarred man's home.
• Xu Huo noticed suspicious activity at the Frozen Processing Plant, then found the scarred man's home occupied by two fierce-looking men.

Xu Huo helped the mute girl bury her parents, uncovered suspected Rebel Army badges, and sold jewelry to ease their financial strain. Meanwhile, the knife boss arranged a weapons deal with Manager Dian, and a Rebel Army ambush redirected a woman to the Frozen Processing Plant, where failed Evolvers began attacking people.

• Xu Huo drove off four men with his gun and the Surveillance Department drone, then helped the mute girl bury her parents in the courtyard.
• Xu Huo and the mute girl uncovered several buried bodies and found a box containing jewelry and two possible Rebel Army badges.
• The mute girl took Xu Huo to a pawnshop, where they sold the jewelry and then shared a meal.
• Manager Dian agreed to buy weapons from the nightclub boss and accepted women and boys arranged by the knife boss.
• The Rebel Army ambushed the knife boss's people and took a woman to the Frozen Processing Plant.
• Grotesque failed Evolvers burst from the plant and attacked people, prompting its alarm to sound three minutes later.

The Rebel Army exposed the Frozen Processing Plant’s organ harvesting operation, then destroyed the Factory in an explosion that killed and injured many people. While helping with the cleanup, Xu Huo learned Wang Kai had died and considered how the East District might control Players, leaving him questioning the purpose of the shadow wall.

• Manager Dian discovered that captives had escaped the Factory and tried to hide the boxes of human organs, but a Rebel Army member exposed them and scattered leaflets accusing the East District of harvesting West District residents’ organs.
• An East District Player killed the Rebel Army member, and the Factory exploded, destroying the building and damaging nearby homes while killing and injuring Players, officers, and residents.
• Xu Huo caught a leaflet, crumpled it, and returned with the mute girl as the blast’s leaflets spread through the area.
• Lin Guang told Xu Huo that Wang Kai had died after attacking East District Players who questioned him about his identity.
• While cleaning up, Xu Huo reasoned that the East District might have powerful Players, specialized control methods, or spatial instruments, then wondered whether the shadow wall truly separated the districts.

After the Frozen Processing Plant investigation ended, Xu Huo returned home and confronted the danger and hardship facing people in the West District. The chapter left him restraining a young boy who lunged at his abusive father with a knife.

• Xu Huo learned that the Surveillance Department had arrested the nightclub boss and the middleman linked to Manager Dian, while East District players used spatial restraints and sonic devices during arrests.
• Han Cong and Lin Guang warned Xu Huo against helping a woman in the West District, and Xu Huo learned that Brother Tong’s family had been murdered by a boy he once rescued.
• Xu Huo returned home with food, found that the mute girl had not cooked, and asked her to prepare fresh meat.
• After hearing a neighbor beat his child, Xu Huo kicked in the man’s door, dragged him into the hallway, and beat him.
• The boy came at his father with a notched knife, and Xu Huo stopped and restrained him as the father insisted the child was dangerous.

Xu Huo explored the East District through a virtual reality game, learned that the district might launch an operation in the West District, and turned the rival criminal groups against each other. He left an address with a Rebel Army member preparing to relocate.

• Xu Huo broke the abusive man's leg and hand, then fed the boy and took the mute girl out.
• Xu Huo created a new game account, chose the East District, and briefly worked as a teacher before exploring the district's streets and museum.
• Xu Huo decoded a flower-language message, attended a gathering of code enthusiasts, and learned that the East District might conduct a major operation in the West District.
• Xu Huo removed the money and precious metals from the nightclub boss's safe, leaving the ruby fragment behind and prompting the rival groups to accuse the knife boss and fight.
• Xu Huo placed a slip of paper bearing an address on the table of a Rebel Army member who was preparing to move.

Xu Huo fed a boy from downstairs and warned him not to underestimate his abusive father. At work, Xu Huo learned that the Rebel Army had defeated an East District raid, and he heard that inspector training could offer a chance to enter the East District.

• Xu Huo invited the hungry boy inside, fed him, and told him to come back for meals and look out for the mute girl.
• Xu Huo learned that the Rebel Army had repelled a failed East District crackdown, killing two High-level Players and escaping without losses.
• Lin Guang explained that the East District's D2 vibration interference device could incapacitate Players and ordinary people, but did not affect East District Players.
• A veteran inspector said inspectors might have a chance to enter the East District through training, prompting Han Cong to ask about it.
• Xu Huo stayed quiet about what he knew, while his colleagues mistook his demeanor for evidence that he had connections.

After the Frozen Processing Plant was exposed, the Surveillance Department reviewed old cases while its inspectors questioned the meaning of their work. A media outlet then revealed the East District’s Western District Cleanup Plan, leaving residents, inspectors, and players fearing the West District would be destroyed.

• Xu Huo dismissed the branch’s rushed review of old cases, while Han Cong lamented that inspectors had little prospect of a better future.
• A media outlet published evidence that East District companies abducted West District residents for organ harvesting and human experiments.
• The outlet revealed a secret East District proposal called the Western District Cleanup Plan, which aimed to kill West District residents and rebuild the area.
• Li Song and the other inspectors debated whether the plan was real and feared that the East District viewed them as disposable resources.
• The inspectors went out among residents who had heard the news, while Xu Huo suspected the Rebel Army had helped spread it.

Xu Huo tried to calm the people of the West District after rumors spread that the East District planned to exterminate them, while arguments over the districts’ history and responsibility intensified. The chapter ended with an East District account blaming the West District for past violence and questioning whether its people deserved to live.

• Xu Huo returned to his neighborhood and reassured the frightened residents that the rumored cleanup plan was probably false.
• The mute girl could not find the boy or his father, so Xu Huo told her to save some food for the boy.
• Xu Huo visited the game arcade, where Players argued over the cleanup plan and spread rumors about protests in the East District.
• People in the East District debated whether the West District deserved help, with some citing past uprisings and violence as justification for its exclusion.
• An East District speaker accused the West District of refusing to work, demanding the city’s resources, and killing nearly a hundred thousand people, then asked whether its people deserved to live.

A player exposed Agor Company’s role in Yuquan City’s oppression, sparking a riot in the game square that forced Xu Huo offline. Later, a dying boy told Xu Huo about his parents’ deaths, and Xu Huo tried to save him with Self-Healing Agent.

• A female player challenged a defender of the East District and argued that Agor Company had slaughtered civilians while seizing control of Yuquan City.
• West District residents rallied around her account, and the game square erupted into violence as players were kicked out.
• Someone stabbed Xu Huo from behind, forcing him offline, and he later noticed the Rebel Army member who had escorted the mute girl.
• The wounded boy returned to Xu Huo’s door and confessed that he had killed his father after learning he had abused and sold the boy’s mother.
• The boy said he wanted everyone killed, then collapsed in the mute girl’s arms, and Xu Huo injected him with three doses of Self-Healing Agent.

Xu Huo arranged for the Holy Sword Society to take a mute girl and a boy to safety, and learned that the West District cleanup rumors were false. After they left, a Rebel Army member confronted him about a note he had left in one of their homes.

• The boy thanked Xu Huo for saving him, asked to become a Player, and injected an Evolution Potion Xu Huo gave him.
• Xu Huo contacted Uncle Guan, who sent Morning Mist to help escort the mute girl and boy out of District 035.
• Morning Mist told Xu Huo that the cleanup plan was false, explained how East District residents countered the D2 vibration interference device, and warned that inspectors sent there for training rarely survived.
• Xu Huo told the mute girl and boy to choose their own futures, and Morning Mist sent them away on non-Player trains.
• A Rebel Army member climbed into Xu Huo's apartment and asked whether Xu Huo had left a note in one of their member's homes.

Xu Huo learned that the Rebel Army wanted him to let one of its members replace him during inspector training, which they suspected was a cover for experiments by the East District. After questioning a Rebel Army supporter, he investigated their contact points and found them inactive, leaving him to wonder whether something had gone wrong within the group.

• A Rebel Army member asked Xu Huo to let one of their people take his place at inspector training, warning that the East District might be experimenting on inspectors.
• Xu Huo pretended to consider the offer and agreed to signal his decision by opening both windows.
• Xu Huo followed the rebel through a hidden passage and overheard him tell a snack shop owner that the group planned to switch identities after entering the East District.
• Xu Huo used the sound of dripping water to question the owner, learning that Dove led the Rebel Army, a strategist arranged its operations, and Qiao Ruxin might know their identities.
• Xu Huo checked several Rebel Army contact points through a gaming device and found that some had stopped updating while others were empty.

Xu Huo investigated Qiao Ruxin and uncovered the Rebel Army’s preparations and a covert struggle with East District players. After the East District players tracked down a hideout, Xu Huo intervened and found that they were well equipped to detect spiritual Super Evolvers.

• Xu Huo found Qiao Ruxin, who was secretly raising funds and weapons for the Rebel Army, and learned the rebels were preparing a major operation in the East District.
• A tattooed player followed Qiao Ruxin’s contact, captured two ordinary people, and killed them after failing to learn Dove’s identity.
• Xu Huo encountered the injured tattooed player being pursued by two East District players, who captured him and took him back to their hideout.
• At the hideout, Xu Huo used “Harmonious Atmosphere” to stop the East District players from using artifacts, then attacked them when a Mutated Plant reacted to his presence.
• Xu Huo found that the East District players had stocked multiple Mutated Plants and kept detailed instructions for using them to detect spiritual Super Evolvers.