Chapter Summaries

The Great Korean War Zone received a plastic toy gun instead of usable equipment after trading away a huge supply shipment. Lin An revealed that he had sealed the weapon and tried to use their desperation to make them pay again, leaving the war zone facing another choice.

• Li Enzhi ordered 196 Awakened to be sacrificed to transport the Great Korean War Zone's final supplies to Lin An.
• Li Enzhi received the handgun called Annihilation but could not equip it, and the Chief of Staff discovered that it fired a plastic BB pellet.
• The Great Korean War Zone's Awakened furiously cursed Wen Ya and Lin An through the Private Chat Channel.
• Lin An told Wen Ya to point out the hidden note that the equipment was sealed and demand three Spiritual Energy Fruits and a Bagua Mirror to undo the seal.
• Zhang Tie doubted that the Great Korean War Zone would fall for another trick, but Lin An predicted greed and fear would make them pay again.

Li Enzhi and the Great Korean War Zone's leaders learned that the Annihilation Handgun was sealed and debated whether the mysterious trader was deceiving them again. After watching his evidence and hearing his plea to return to Korea, they agreed to make one final trade, while Zhang Tie sent back a reassuring message from Dragon An Base.

• An urgent report revealed that the traded equipment was sealed, and the mysterious person demanded three more Spiritual Energy Fruits and a Bagua Mirror to explain how to unlock it.
• Li Enzhi suspected another scam and worried that the request for the Bagua Mirror meant someone in the Great Korean War Zone had leaked information.
• The mysterious person claimed to be Korean, sent footage of the Annihilation Handgun and threats from China, and asked for help returning to the Great Korean War Zone.
• After reviewing the evidence, Li Enzhi and the other leaders decided to trust the mysterious person with one more trade and vowed to punish him if he betrayed them again.
• At Dragon An Base, Zhang Tie had Wen Ya send the message, “Koreans don't lie to Koreans,” and urged the buyers to trust him.

Li Enzhi and the Great Korean War Zone paid Lin An for instructions on breaking the seal, only to receive a mocking answer that destroyed their pistol. Lin An used the resulting supplies to strengthen himself and his team, then planned to use the Koreans to trick three more war zones.

• Li Enzhi had Park Jin-am solicit Spiritual Energy Fruit from Korean survivors, and they donated three.
• The Great Korean War Zone traded the fruit for Lin An’s instructions, which told them to bind the pistol to another Epic Rank weapon with tape; the furious minister smashed the pistol.
• Lin An and his team ate Spiritual Energy Fruit and gained attributes, while Lin An’s base attributes rose above 40 after he consumed twenty-seven fruits.
• Zhang Tie urged Lin An to target the three remaining factions, and Lin An proposed having the Great Korean War Zone pretend to sell its Epic Rank weapon to lure them in.
• An JingTian questioned whether the Koreans would cooperate, but Lin An and Chu An argued that rivalry between war zones would motivate them.

Lin An examined the Mechanical Eight Trigrams and explained how he planned to manipulate the Great Korean War Zone into cooperating against the East Ying War Zone. He ordered Gao Tian to reveal the forged equipment’s true purpose and offer the Koreans only a fruit or some food in return.

• Mo Ling and An Xia fell asleep after eating Spiritual Energy Fruits, while Lin An covered An Xia with a blanket.
• Lin An told Gao Tian that making the Great Korean War Zone wary would push them to cooperate, and he examined the Mechanical Eight Trigrams’ abilities.
• Gao Tian reported that the Great Korean War Zone had agreed to cooperate but wanted to know who had tricked them.
• Lin An told Gao Tian to reply, “You tell me,” explain the forged equipment, and have the Koreans trade with the East Ying War Zone.
• Lin An ordered Gao Tian to reward the Great Korean War Zone with only one fruit or some food after the deal.

Lin An explained how he planned to manipulate the Great Korean War Zone and other neighboring factions to secure supplies and strengthen his base. After assigning the next steps to his team, he revealed that he intended to enter the Secret Realm, prompting Mo Ling and the others to ask to go with him.

• Lin An explained that the Great Korean War Zone’s leaders might avoid China if they suspected the capital was watching them, and could instead target Southeast Asia or Japan.
• Lin An told Wen Ya and An JingTian to trade with the remaining war zones, acquire Spiritual Energy Fruits and Mutant crafting materials, and use rumors to stir conflict among their rivals.
• Lin An warned the team not to expect support from the capital and said they should focus on consolidating their two military regions and advancing the Million Awakener Plan.
• An JingTian, Wen Ya, and Gao Tian realized Lin An planned to enter the Secret Realm and pleaded with him to stay longer.
• Mo Ling sprang up and insisted that Lin An take her with him.

Lin An prepared to enter the Secret Realm, leaving Mo Ling and Wen Ya hurt that he would not take them with him. Meanwhile, Heize Chuan learned that the Great Korean War Zone was selling Epic Equipment and ordered an emergency meeting, still bitter over the flat Coca-Cola he had received as a reward.

• Mo Ling begged to accompany Lin An, but he told her to stay at Dragon An Base because her abilities were needed there.
• Mo Ling ran from the conference room in tears, while Wen Ya silently hid her own wish to go with Lin An.
• Lin An reassured his companions that his Secret Realm trip might take only a few days from their perspective, and Zhang Tie lightened the mood with an awkward remark.
• At the Kyushu Safe Zone, a subordinate told Heize Chuan that the Great Korean War Zone was selling an Epic Equipment that could aid their plan.
• Heize Chuan ordered an emergency meeting to secure the equipment, then glanced at the flat Coca-Cola left as the reward for the disastrous nuclear power plant operation.

Lin An entered the Haunted Village Corpse Secret Realm with Bear Dunce, leaving Dragon An Base’s leadership to manage its expansion and prepare for the Kindling Project. The team voice chat disconnected as he crossed into the Secret Realm.

• Lin An found the Secret Realm entrance inside the Sandworm’s old tunnel in Back Yin Mountain and told his team to return to the base and conceal his absence.
• Lin An reassured An Xia and heard Chu An describe plans for High-Frequency Weapons, military expansion, satellite surveillance, and the Kindling Project.
• Lin An entered the cave with Bear Dunce while Mo Ling watched from a distance on the Flesh Puppet’s shoulder.
• The system announced that Captain Lin An and member Zhang Tie had entered the Haunted Village Corpse Secret Realm, and team voice chat disconnected.

Lin An entered the Secret Realm, received a mandatory mission to explore the Shesha Serpent God’s Mystery of Möbius, and learned that rival Players had triggered a Deathmatch. After a ghost attacked him in his shelter, Lin An drove it off and discovered a trail leading south.

• Lin An awoke in a thatched hut and received the Mystery of Möbius mission, a Deathmatch objective, and the Haunted Village Corpse map.
• Lin An waited for the protective barrier to disappear, then sensed that the Secret Realm’s gravity and his Mental Strength were altered.
• A ghost seized Lin An’s ankle from beneath the bed, and he unleashed sword and mental attacks that destroyed the hut but left the ghost’s fate unclear.
• Zhang Tie burst through a wall and asked Lin An what had happened.
• Lin An used the Mechanical Compass to detect water stains and palm prints leading south from the pit.

Lin An and Zhang Tie entered the Haunted Village Corpse Secret Realm, where a ghost attacked Lin An immediately and the world’s strange conditions suggested the realm was unusually dangerous. Lin An headed toward a nearby village for information, while Zhang Tie began recalling a movie that might explain the realm.

• Lin An drove off a female ghost that had grabbed his ankle, then warned Zhang Tie that the Secret Realm had abnormal gravity and suppressed Mental Strength.
• Lin An learned that Zhang Tie had also received the Mystery of Mobius and Deathmatch missions, and he saw a village in the distance.
• Lin An contacted Huang Shao Hua through the crystal ball, but Huang Shao Hua had never entered the Haunted Village Corpse Secret Realm and knew little about it.
• Huang Shao Hua explained that Secret Realms were entire worlds where earlier players’ actions could affect later arrivals.
• Lin An asked Huang Shao Hua about God of Shesha and Mystery of Mobius, then led Zhang Tie toward the village to seek information and avoid the forest ghost.
• Zhang Tie recalled seeing a movie as a child called something like “Mountain Village Corpse,” while the forest stirred behind them.

Lin An asked Zhang Tie about the horror film Haunted Village Corpse and realized its ghost Chu Renmei shared several traits with the White Shadow he had encountered. He dismissed the mismatch in their appearances for now and continued toward the village to gather more information.

• Zhang Tie recounted a film about a vengeful female ghost, including a river ritual involving water and a bracelet.
• Zhang Tie described Chu Renmei’s pale face and scenes of the ghost appearing in a river and haunting survivors.
• Lin An connected the film’s waterlogged ghost to the White Shadow he had sensed in the dungeon.
• Zhang Tie said Chu Renmei wore blue and walked stiffly, while Lin An recalled that the White Shadow had appeared white.
• Lin An decided to investigate the village before drawing conclusions, and he and Zhang Tie continued toward it as a droplet fell from Lin An’s blue sword sheath.

Lin An and Bear Dunce entered the Desolate Village and found a settlement that appeared to belong to an ancient era rather than the 1990s setting Bear Dunce remembered. Lin An gathered the villagers and learned from village chief Huang Dawei that Blood Corpses were a threat, leaving him suspecting the Secret Realm was an ancient apocalypse.

• The System assigned Lin An the mission to resolve the Desolate Village Incident and warned that revealing real-world information was forbidden.
• Lin An surveyed the village, found 177 people and no abnormalities, then seized the Hunter guarding the entrance and questioned him.
• Lin An used his spiritual energy to strip the village roofs and gathered the sleeping villagers in the central open ground while Bear Dunce helped.
• Village chief Huang Dawei asked whether Lin An and Zhang Tie had been sent by the imperial court and whether the Blood Corpses had returned.
• Lin An recognized that the village belonged to a different era and wondered whether the Secret Realm contained an ancient apocalypse with Zombies.

Lin An questioned Desolate Village’s chief, Huang Dawei, about recent abnormalities and forced the villagers to reveal a haunting tied to a woman named Yuan Ying. The account ended just as Huang Shi named the woman, leaving Lin An to investigate what happened to her.

• Lin An questioned Huang Dawei about the village, the Blood Corpses, and recent abnormalities.
• Huang Dawei explained that Blood Corpses were powerful monsters that ate people and could only be killed by cutting off their heads.
• When Huang Dawei denied anything unusual had happened, Lin An blasted a nearby house with Mental Strength and demanded the truth.
• Huang Dawei admitted that a woman had gone mad about a year earlier and said a taoist had resolved the haunting.
• Lin An used Telekinesis to seize a middle-aged villager, who revealed that he had rescued a woman from the snow two years earlier and brought her home.
• Huang Shi described seeing the woman with three bloody holes in her face before she jumped into a well, then named her Yuan Ying.

Lin An questioned the villagers about Yuan Ying, and Huang Shi and the village chief revealed that she was a ghost who had tried to reincarnate through Huang Shi. The villagers claimed a taoist had suppressed Yuan Ying in a well beneath a Buddha Pagoda, leaving Lin An to verify that the danger had truly passed.

• Zhang Tie reacted with disbelief when Huang Shi revealed that the woman her husband had brought home was a ghost.
• Huang Dawei explained that Huang Shi had killed her newborn after he appeared to speak and behave like Yuan Ying, and Lin An questioned why the villagers seemed relieved rather than grieving.
• Huang Shi said the child had sung Yuan Ying's song and told her, 'She's back!' before she accidentally dropped him.
• The village chief explained that a taoist had revealed Yuan Ying was a Fierce Ghost who had used married men and their wives to attempt reincarnation.
• Huang Shi's husband admitted he had been bewitched by Yuan Ying, and said the taoist had the villagers build a Buddha Pagoda and throw the infant's corpse into the well to suppress her.
• The village chief invited Lin An to inspect the pagoda, while Zhang Tie and the others discussed the villagers' account and past customs around drowning female infants.

Lin An suspected the villagers had concealed the truth about Yuan Ying and led them to the Buddha Pagoda covering the well. Unable to probe the well and finding no clear evidence, he questioned the villagers about the deceased Daoist while Zhang Tie urged him to break the pagoda or torture Huang Dawei.

• Lin An considered several explanations for the mission and forced the villagers to accompany him to the Buddha Pagoda.
• Lin An found that the pagoda blocked his Mental Strength and suspected the well was connected to a Meme.
• Zhang Tie offered to smash the pagoda, but Lin An stopped him and asked Huang Dawei where the Daoist was and how far away the county seat lay.
• Huang Dawei said the Daoist had died after suppressing Yuan Ying, and Lin An sensed that the villagers believed this was true.
• Lin An told Zhang Tie he suspected Huang Dawei had concealed something but lacked evidence, while Zhang Tie proposed torturing the old man.

Lin An questioned the villagers about Yuan Ying’s arrival and pieced together what had happened, concluding that the Village Chief’s family had told the truth while concealing one minor detail. He tied up the family and ordered Zhang Tie to take them back to the Buddha Pagoda for a confrontation.

• Lin An explained to Zhang Tie that solving a Meme required balancing the truth with the risk of changing the event.
• Lin An summoned the villagers, offered gold and jewelry for information, and threatened anyone who lied while questioning them about Yuan Ying.
• The villagers shared accounts of Yuan Ying’s arrival, including gossip about Huang Youwei’s family and his wife returning to her parents’ home.
• After reviewing the villagers’ stories, Lin An concluded that Village Chief Huang, his son, and his daughter-in-law had not lied, though they had instinctively hidden one minor detail.
• Lin An ordered Zhang Tie to tie up the Village Chief’s family and take them back to the Buddha Pagoda, where Zhang Tie joked that he would feed them to the fish.

Lin An explained how Huang Shi killed Yuan Ying and how Huang Youwei concealed the death to protect Huang Shi and the heir. He then revealed that Yuan Ying really became a ghost, leaving the reason the child was beaten to death unresolved.

• Lin An explained that Yuan Ying had been a living contract wife whom Huang Youwei brought home to bear him a son.
• Lin An said Huang Youwei planned to pass Yuan Ying’s son off as Huang Shi’s child and to drown a daughter if either woman gave birth to one.
• Lin An revealed that Huang Shi, mentally distressed and jealous, mistook Yuan Ying for a ghost and pushed her into the Water Well.
• Lin An explained that Huang Youwei protected Huang Shi and the heir by claiming Yuan Ying was a ghost, then staging a taoist’s failed search and demanding a Buddha Pagoda be built.
• Lin An told Zhang Tie that Huang Youwei had seen a ghost because Yuan Ying really had become one.

As the group approached the Buddha Pagoda, Lin An explained how Huang Youwei and Huang Shi’s fear and guilt had turned Yuan Ying’s death into a Meme event. He planned to reveal the bodies in the pagoda, restore the truth, and trap the White Shadow so the mission could be completed.

• Lin An explained that the Meme began as an ordinary murder and grew from Huang Youwei and Huang Shi’s belief that Yuan Ying was a ghost.
• Lin An deduced that the couple had killed their child and thrown the body into a well, then buried the truth by convincing themselves Yuan Ying had been sealed.
• Lin An explained that the couple’s belief that Yuan Ying was powerless had kept the Meme from becoming more dangerous.
• As the group neared the Buddha Pagoda, Huang Youwei and his wife trembled and begged Lin An to release them.
• Lin An carried the three captives to the pagoda, intending to show them Yuan Ying’s and the child’s bodies, trap the White Shadow with the Mechanical Compass, and reveal the truth.

Lin An destroyed the Buddha Pagoda to expose Yuan Ying’s remains and tried to withstand the terrifying apparition that emerged. Zhang Tie found Yuan Ying’s corpse in the well as it began to float upward.

• Lin An questioned Huang Youwei about buying Yuan Ying from Lai Zi, causing Huang Youwei to panic and Huang Shi to confess that she had seen Yuan Ying’s face.
• Lin An accused the Huang family of killing Yuan Ying and hiding her bones beneath the Buddha Pagoda.
• Lin An struck down the Buddha Pagoda with Cain’s Blade and ordered Zhang Tie to retrieve the corpse from the well.
• A huge, bloated White Shadow appeared face-to-face with Lin An, who unleashed his abilities and illusions to survive and keep the Huang family from seeing it.
• Zhang Tie transformed into a silver bear and climbed into the well, where he spotted Yuan Ying’s corpse floating upward.

Lin An forced Huang Shi and the others to confront Yuan Ying as a human and killed them, completing the Yuan Ying Meme mission. As Yuan Ying’s ghost face disappeared, Chu Renmei appeared on Lin An’s back, singing her favorite Cantonese ditty.

• Lin An struggled to keep Huang Shi and the others from seeing Yuan Ying while Zhang Tie dragged the Female Corpse out of the well.
• Zhang Tie hooked his fingers into the Female Corpse’s eye sockets and hauled her onto the ground as Lin An attacked Yuan Ying’s giant face.
• Lin An restored the group’s senses, told them Yuan Ying was human and that they had killed her, then beheaded Huang Shi and the other two.
• The system announced that Lin An had completed the Yuan Ying Meme mission and awarded him Secret Realm points and Yuan Ying’s memories.
• The ghost face vanished, but Lin An sensed a curse behind him as Chu Renmei appeared on his back and sang her favorite Cantonese ditty.

Lin An realized the Desolate Village Secret Realm was trapped in a cycle connecting Yuan Ying’s incident to Chu Renmei, and Second Lin An told him how to break it. As Chu Renmei drained his life, Lin An passed the Doomsday Ring and his instructions to Zhang Tie before dying, then appeared again in the river.

• Chu Renmei possessed Lin An and drained his vitality while Second Lin An explained that the Desolate Village Secret Realm manifested Zhang Tie’s fears and was caught in an endless cycle.
• Second Lin An told Lin An that killing everyone in the village could erase the Desolate Village Incident from history and break the cycle.
• Lin An threw the Doomsday Ring to Zhang Tie and told him to use the Causality Sequence to replay history and kill everyone in the village.
• Lin An died, and Zhang Tie received the Doomsday Ring as the System announced Lin An’s death.
• Lin An appeared again in a river among a line of identical corpses.