Chapter Summaries

Lu Li brought his companions to the casino’s newly expanded private room and asked Hansel to send them into a specific Rule Realm, [Conch Girl], where he wanted to find someone. Hansel agreed to use the casino’s power to attempt the difficult entry, and began by asking for a player name.

• Hansel revealed that the casino’s growing profits had allowed the Secret Realm to expand, and he led Lu Li and the others up to its new private room.
• Players tried to follow them upstairs but found the staircase impassable, and they suspected Lu Li’s group had special status.
• Lu Li asked Hansel to find [Conch Girl], then clarified that he needed to enter a specific realm midway through its run to find someone.
• Hansel protested that entering an ongoing realm was nearly impossible, but Lu Li persuaded him by offering whatever rule power remained afterward.
• Lu Li confirmed that all four would enter and told Hansel to begin; Hansel started mobilizing the realm’s power and asked for a player name.

Lu Li and his companions entered the Conch Girl Rule Realm, where Pan Xiaoxiao joined his servant group and learned more about his plans and allies. The chapter ended with the group approaching the village while Pan Xiaoxiao read the private chat and discovered Nikita’s complaints and Liu Wenjian’s presence.

• Lu Li teleported into the Conch Girl Rule Realm and regrouped with Alisa, Li Luo, and Pan Xiaoxiao near a desolate village and a clear pool.
• Lu Li asked Pan Xiaoxiao whether her earlier strange state was an illness, and Li Luo concluded that Pan Xiaoxiao was a masochist.
• Pan Xiaoxiao affirmed her loyalty to Lu Li and asked to hear his full plans for rescuing people and clearing the realm.
• Lu Li added Pan Xiaoxiao to his private group and led the companions toward the village entrance.
• Pan Xiaoxiao read Nikita’s angry messages to Lu Li and noticed that Liu Wenjian was also in the private group.

Lu Li and the three women entered Snail Wife Village undercover, posing as jujube merchants and female students. After separating from the women, Lu Li inspected the orchard and found a survival guide warning outsiders not to eat the jujubes or ask about fertilizer.

• Lu Li gave Pan Xiaoxiao soul mist for emergencies and reminded everyone to follow the guide and pretend they did not know one another.
• A villager questioned the group, and Lu Li claimed to be a jujube merchant while Alisa, Pan Xiaoxiao, and Li Luo posed as vacationing university students.
• Alisa, Pan Xiaoxiao, and Li Luo entered the village separately from Lu Li, who asked the villager to show him the jujube orchard.
• Lu Li pretended to taste a jujube but put it in his Space Ring, then asked about fertilizer and learned that Guan Yigen managed it.
• At the orchard’s largest tree, Lu Li found a survival guide warning outsiders not to eat the jujubes, reveal that they had not eaten them, or ask about fertilizer.

Lu Li photographed the jujube tree’s rules, then split from Alisa and Pan Xiaoxiao so she could investigate the village’s western side. Alisa and Pan Xiaoxiao went to find Niu Erdan, where a suspicious villager accused them of lying.

• Lu Li shared photos of the jujube tree’s rules with the group and told a villager she was going to the village chief’s home.
• Pan Xiaoxiao proposed splitting up, and Li Luo insisted on taking the more dangerous western route while Alisa and Pan Xiaoxiao headed east.
• Li Luo demonstrated her shadow movement and told Alisa to stay safe and rely on Pan Xiaoxiao before departing west.
• Alisa asked why Li Luo acted so fiercely toward Pan Xiaoxiao, and Pan Xiaoxiao said Li Luo knew her well.
• Alisa and Pan Xiaoxiao told the villagers they were college students visiting the mysterious deep pool and seeking Niu Erdan.
• An old villager questioned why tourists had come outside the usual season, then accused Alisa and Pan Xiaoxiao of lying.

Pan Xiaoxiao and Alisa avoided provoking the hostile villagers by posing as journalism students, then persuaded Niu Erdan to guide them to Conch Pool. They reached the pool, where they expected to learn the village’s rules and uncover the reason behind its unusual wedding customs.

• The old man and villagers surrounded Pan Xiaoxiao and Alisa, but Pan Xiaoxiao convinced them the two women were tourists, and the old man directed them to Niu Erdan’s home.
• Pan Xiaoxiao and Alisa found Niu Erdan asleep, woke him, and asked him to show them around the village.
• Niu Erdan agreed to guide the women to Conch Pool and said Snail Wife Village’s weddings involved little preparation because resources were limited.
• The old man warned Niu Erdan not to wander with strangers because his wedding was approaching, but Niu Erdan dismissed the concern and promised the women would understand at Conch Pool.
• Pan Xiaoxiao and Alisa followed Lu Li’s walkthrough and arrived at Conch Pool with Niu Erdan.

Pan Xiaoxiao and Alisa explored Conch Pool, where they found a set of ominous survival rules that revealed the village’s danger to outsiders and its treatment of Conch Girls. Niu Erdan grabbed Alisa and boasted about controlling his future Conch Girl bride, but he refused to show the women any Conch Girls because they were strangers.

• Niu Erdan warned Pan Xiaoxiao and Alisa that Conch Pool was bottomless and that the Snail God lived beneath it.
• Pan Xiaoxiao found and photographed the seven survival rules carved into a bluestone slab, then sent them to the group.
• Niu Erdan grabbed Alisa’s wrist, and Pan Xiaoxiao tried to distract him and free her by mentioning his bride-to-be.
• Niu Erdan described Conch Girls as unintelligent and said he would use a whip, chains, and ropes to control his future wife.
• Pan Xiaoxiao asked to see the Conch Girls, but Niu Erdan released Alisa and refused, warning that showing them to strangers could bring disaster upon the village.

Pan Xiaoxiao tried to persuade Niu Erdan to take her and Alisa to see the village chief’s Snail Wife, who had given birth to seven children. Alisa shot Niu Erdan into the Conch Pool with the Flintlock of Justice, and the two hurried toward the village chief’s house.

• Pan Xiaoxiao invoked the village rules and flirted with Niu Erdan until he agreed to take them to the village chief’s house in exchange for a kiss.
• Niu Erdan demanded that Alisa kiss him immediately, and Alisa offered to do so if he closed his eyes.
• Alisa fired the Flintlock of Justice, and its knockback sent both her and Niu Erdan flying in opposite directions.
• Niu Erdan struggled in the icy Conch Pool and drowned while Alisa landed safely.
• Pan Xiaoxiao checked Alisa for injuries, and they hurried toward the village chief’s house before anyone noticed.

Li Luo followed Gou Yigen to his unusually large cave dwelling after convincing him that Conch Pool had turned red and filled with severed limbs. As Gou Yigen attacked her with his butcher’s knife, Li Luo appeared frozen in place.

• Li Luo found Gou Yigen west of Snail Wife Village and told him the village chief had sent her to report that Conch Pool had turned blood-red and contained severed limbs.
• Gou Yigen believed the warning and ordered Li Luo to help him fetch two things from his cave dwelling.
• Li Luo questioned Gou Yigen about the village’s lack of livestock and the manure used for his oversized biogas pit and jujube orchard.
• Gou Yigen told Li Luo to close the door and promised to explain the village’s secret, then raised his butcher’s knife and chopped at her neck.

Gou Yigen killed Li Luo and disposed of her body in a locked biogas pit, unaware that she had survived by turning into shadow. Li Luo reported the pit’s warning to Lu Li, then hid in Tiger Cub’s shadow as he carried the severed head away.

• Gou Yigen cut off Li Luo’s head and threw her body into a locked well used as a biogas pit.
• Gou Yigen told Tiger Cub to wrap Li Luo’s head and take it to Ma Sishou, then left the house.
• Tiger Cub sang a chilling nursery rhyme while preparing the head, and Li Luo slipped past him as a shadow.
• Li Luo inspected the well cover, photographed its warning about Knife-Wielders, and sent it to the group chat.
• Lu Li told Li Luo to follow the original plan and prioritize the head, so she hid in Tiger Cub’s shadow as he left.

Lu Li joined Alisa and Pan Xiaoxiao at the village chief’s house and helped them evade his suspicions about the jujubes. The village chief still insisted they eat, so Pan Xiaoxiao swallowed all the dates herself, leaving them to continue their investigation under the effects of the fruit.

• The village chief questioned Alisa and Pan Xiaoxiao about Niu Erdan and offered them jujubes, then grew suspicious when Alisa refused.
• Pan Xiaoxiao accepted the dates to calm the village chief, but he demanded that she eat them in front of him.
• Lu Li arrived, introduced himself as the new date merchant, and claimed he knew the two women from the village entrance.
• The village chief continued watching them, so Lu Li prepared to eat the dates, but Pan Xiaoxiao swallowed them all and apologized for not sharing.

Lu Li and Pan Xiaoxiao used a date-eating ruse to ease the village chief’s suspicions, but Pan Xiaoxiao left alone to find treatment after eating too many dates. Lu Li proved himself as a jujube merchant by asking about snail eggs, then began searching the village chief’s house while the chief prepared tea.

• Pan Xiaoxiao ate dates to defuse the village chief’s suspicions, and Lu Li privately told her to find the village doctor, Jia Jishi, for treatment.
• Pan Xiaoxiao made an excuse to retrieve her camera and left the courtyard, while the village chief kept Alisa behind.
• Seven boys challenged Lu Li’s identity as a jujube merchant, and Lu Li won their trust by asking about snail eggs and invoking the old rules.
• The children led Alisa to see their mother, while Lu Li followed the village chief into his house.
• The village chief began preparing tea, but Lu Li brazenly rummaged through the room.

Alisa interviewed the village chief’s Snail Wife and learned that she had borne fifteen children, of whom only seven survived, while the other eight were thrown into Conch Pool. The woman panicked at the idea of returning there, and Alisa noticed the word “Escape” carved repeatedly into the walls.

• Alisa entered the Snail Wife’s home and rebuked the two boys for insulting their mother.
• Alisa asked the Snail Wife her name, but she had forgotten it and said the village chief called her “the one who tends the stove” or “that old woman.”
• The Snail Wife revealed that she had given birth to fifteen children, but only seven survived because the village let only boys grow up.
• When Alisa offered to take her back to Conch Pool, the Snail Wife panicked and said her eight dead children’s bodies were in the pool.
• Alisa saw desperate scratches and the word “Escape” covering the earthen walls.

Tiger Cub joked with Ma Sishou about his matchmaking business and a future Conch Girl while Ma Sishou carried a bundled head toward the cave dwelling. Pan Xiaoxiao collapsed after eating too many dates, and Lu Li learned she had been found as he faced off against the village chief and examined a rule about the chief's role in managing Conch Pool.

• Tiger Cub tried to urinate on Ma Sishou's bundle, and Ma Sishou stopped him and explained that a good ghost marriage could earn Lu Li thirty thousand.
• Tiger Cub told the villagers he would have a Conch Girl calculate his family's assets, then joked that he would lock her in a dark room to keep her from escaping.
• Ma Sishou took the bundle toward the cave dwelling, while Tiger Cub's shadow briefly stopped looking like a boy's.
• Pan Xiaoxiao lost her way after eating too many dates, collapsed, and regretted that she might die before getting closer to Lu Li or giving away her first kiss.
• Lu Li heard that Xing Anlin had found Pan Xiaoxiao and told him to take her to the village doctor, with Black Shade providing cover.
• Lu Li held a Black Iron Great Halberd in a standoff with the village chief, then photographed a phone message stating that the village chief managed Conch Pool.

Lu Li escaped the village chief after warning him about Conch Pool, while Li Luo found Gao Suozhi during the village-wide lockdown. Li Luo seized Gao Suozhi’s head and retreated, bringing Lu Li’s rescue mission closer to success.

• Lu Li told the village chief to investigate Conch Pool, then revealed his name as Batman and vanished with Cat-Ear Girl.
• The village chief ordered a lockdown, and a warning announced that Snail Wife Village’s villagers had entered a berserk state.
• Li Luo bound Ma Sishou and Tiger Cub with shadow ribbons, then attacked Ma Sishou with Bug Fang but could not pierce the rules’ protection.
• Ma Sishou fled into the inner room, and a thrown head identified itself as Gao Suozhi when Li Luo questioned it.
• Li Luo sensed her shadow had found the clue, grabbed Gao Suozhi, and retreated.

Li Luo escaped with Gao Suozhi’s head and a rule-bearing wedding cake as Ma Sishou rallied the villagers to pursue her before she could reach Doctor Jia. Meanwhile, Pan Xiaoxiao woke in the village clinic after eating too many jujubes, and Xing Anlin revealed himself with a joke as the pursuers searched for someone named Batman.

• Li Luo recorded the rule on the dragon-and-phoenix wedding cake and fled with Gao Suozhi’s head as Ma Sishou called the villagers to chase her.
• Tiger Cub told Ma Sishou that Li Luo had gone north toward the village doctor, prompting them to hurry after her.
• Pan Xiaoxiao woke in Doctor Jia’s clinic, where Xing Anlin explained that he had carried her there after she fainted from eating too many jujubes.
• Doctor Jia said Pan Xiaoxiao would recover, and she explained that the survival guidelines told outsiders to seek the village doctor after eating jujubes.
• Ma Sishou’s people asked whether a stranger named Batman had come to the clinic, and Xing Anlin jokingly told them to call him Xing 'Robin Hood' Anlin.

Pan Xiaoxiao and Xing Anlin stayed safe in Village Doctor Jia’s clinic as Jia refused to let the villagers enter. Li Luo arrived carrying Gao Suozhi’s severed head, and the group learned more about the village’s cruelty and its strange professions.

• Pan Xiaoxiao noticed a rule saying village doctors could distinguish truth from falsehood, and the villagers outside politely asked Jia Jishi to let them into the clinic.
• Jia Jishi firmly refused to shelter the strangers, and the villagers stayed outside.
• Li Luo slipped into the clinic in shadow form and brought Gao Suozhi’s head, which revealed that Zhu Sanmao had captured him, Gou Yigen had dismembered him, and Ma Sishou had collected his head.
• Jia Jishi condemned the villagers for mistreating the Conch Girl but admitted he could not oppose them alone.
• Li Luo showed Pan Xiaoxiao two new rules about Bone Buriers and Silver Tongues, described as important village professions.

Pan Xiaoxiao, Li Luo, and Xing Anlin struggled to answer Village Doctor Jia’s question about whether Xing Anlin had eaten the villagers’ jujubes, caught between dangerous rules about telling the truth and refusing the dates. Xing Anlin stalled while Lu Li promised to come soon, but Jia Jishi turned to the medical cabinet and took something out.

• Pan Xiaoxiao realized the six vague rules were all required, then worried that Xing Anlin would be forced to eat dates if he admitted he had not eaten any.
• Village Doctor Jia asked Xing Anlin whether he had eaten jujubes and warned that men might suffer more severe consequences from consuming them.
• Pan Xiaoxiao suggested Xing Anlin privately message Lu Li, who told him to stall until he arrived.
• Xing Anlin repeatedly pretended to misunderstand Jia Jishi’s question and rambled to avoid answering.
• Jia Jishi stopped Xing Anlin and went to the medical equipment cabinet, taking something out.

Jia Jishi tried to kill Xing Anlin after demanding to know whether he had eaten the villagers’ dates, but Li Luo and Black Shade stopped him from gaining control. As Black Shade and Xing Anlin prepared to fight, Gao Suozhi warned that Snail Wife Village’s rule-blessed villagers were far stronger than they appeared.

• Li Luo pulled Xing Anlin out of the way when Jia Jishi suddenly stabbed at his throat, and Xing Anlin activated [Crystallization] and [Granite Armor].
• Jia Jishi shifted his attack toward the paralyzed Pan Xiaoxiao, but Black Shade appeared and knocked the scalpel from his hand.
• Xing Anlin rescued Pan Xiaoxiao and apologized to her after Black Shade reprimanded him for risking her safety.
• Black Shade summoned a scythe while Xing Anlin summoned a Blindfolded Angel, prompting Pan Xiaoxiao to wonder how many Players Lu Li had brought into the Secret Realm.
• Gao Suozhi warned that Snail Wife Village’s villagers were blessed by the rules and had astonishing combat strength despite their harmless appearance.

Xing Anlin, Li Luo, Black Shade, and Pan Xiaoxiao escaped the clinic but found themselves surrounded by Snail Wife Village’s villagers. They waited for Lu Li to collect the final clue, even as the villagers gathered to kill them.

• Jia Jishi hurled Gao Suozhi’s head at the group and attacked, but the Blindfolded Angel struck him first without harming him.
• Li Luo led the group out of the clinic, and Xing Anlin followed while Black Shade and the Blindfolded Angel covered their retreat.
• Xing Anlin told Pan Xiaoxiao they were waiting for Lu Li to collect the final clue, which would make the villagers even more determined to kill them.
• Jia Jishi shattered the Blindfolded Angel with his scalpel, and Pan Xiaoxiao urged the others to flee.
• The villagers surrounded the group as the village chief, Gou Yigen, and Zhu Sanmao arrived with Niu Erdan’s corpse and threatened to kill them.

Lu Li uncovered Snail Wife Village’s secret, stripping the villagers of the rules’ protection and allowing the Soul Guards to kill them. Alisa explained the village’s brutal treatment of the Conch Girls and hinted that Village Doctor Jia’s apparent goodness concealed a sin.

• Xing Anlin learned that Lu Li had found the final clue and challenged Village Doctor Jia as the villagers closed in.
• Lu Li’s discovery drove the villagers’ sanity to zero, and the Soul Guards appeared and slaughtered them.
• Pan Xiaoxiao saw Lu Li’s photograph showing the bones of drowned baby girls at the bottom of Conch Pool.
• Alisa explained that the villagers drowned baby girls, exploited the Conch Girls, and used the Snail Wives’ remains for biogas, fertilizer, and ghost marriages.
• Gao Suozhi questioned why Village Doctor Jia had been killed, and Alisa said they would soon learn his sin.