Recaps

After clearing Double Happiness Town, Qi Si examined his rewards, watched an S-rank True End video, and considered his plans involving the Church of the Scales. He used his golden branch to observe Liu Yuhan in another Instance, then discovered that his Evil God Finger Bone was missing.

• Qi Si received 6,000 reward points and confirmed that the Humanoid Evil Spirit Card had not followed him back to the Game Space.
• Qi Si checked his returned items, entered the shop, and watched Xiao Fengchao's S-rank True End video for Double Happiness Town.
• Qi Si suspected that the Eerie Investigation Bureau was connected to reality and considered how he might use the Church of the Scales without exposing his weakness.
• Qi Si used Liu Yuhan's golden leaf to observe her in the Strange Island Instance, where she sat beside a wooden finger wrapped in threads.
• Qi Si checked his inventory and realized that the Evil God Finger Bone was missing.

Qi Si questioned the entity about the Eerie Game, the Rules, and his items, learning that the Main God Li had restored Chang Xu and that the Rules collected sin to sustain the world. The entity showed Qi Si how to use the Sea God Scepter to create a Joy God Idol, and vanished after asking what Qi Si would choose in a deadly wager; a Game Space renewal notice then appeared.

• The entity told Qi Si that Li controlled time and fate, had reversed the life states of the wager’s pieces, and had likely restored Chang Xu.
• The entity explained that the Rules reclaimed sin through gods and that the Eerie Game had been created to connect the Rules with low-dimensional beings.
• The entity said the Identity Card’s true purpose would become clear in the final Instance and showed Qi Si how to use the Sea God Scepter to make a Joy God Idol capable of turning a town into a ghost domain.
• Qi Si decided he would use the Joy God Idol to bring an eerie incident into reality and create a disaster on a large scale.
• The entity asked Qi Si what he would do in a wager where winning might get him killed and losing would destroy the world, and Qi Si said he would watch the destruction while eating popcorn.
• The entity vanished, and a Game Space notice told Qi Si that he could remain for one hour at a time or exchange points for more time.

Ning Xu registered Chang Xu’s mental condition and learned that the Gate had appeared, then received approval to carry out her proposed plan. She visited the contained Eerie Zhang Yiyu and persuaded her to join the Bureau and re-enter the Eerie Game.

• Ning Xu recorded Chang Xu’s aberration level as 6% and learned that the Listen Wind Guild had confirmed the Gate’s appearance.
• Ning Xu received a call approving her plan and assigning her full responsibility for it.
• Ning Xu went to the fifth underground level to visit the girl classified as the Eerie Impostor.
• Ning Xu tested Zhang Yiyu by having her swallow an iron ball, showing her that she was no longer human.
• Ning Xu offered Zhang Yiyu freedom within her authority, monthly contact with her mother, and the chance to enter the Eerie Game as a ghostly creature.

Qi Si examined the Joy God Idol’s remote power and searched the forum for clues about Xiao Fengchao and Double Happiness Town. He theorized that the Eerie Game was testing its system on one world before expanding across many, then returned to the forum as Players continued living under the threat of death.

• Qi Si learned he could trigger the Joy God Idol’s effect remotely and considered how much damage it might cause in reality.
• Qi Si searched the forum and concluded that Xiao Fengchao had probably died after disappearing from public view.
• Qi Si found an old post linking Xu Wen’s disappearance to Double Happiness Town and learned that Xiao Fengchao had cleared its Instance days before the real eerie phenomenon was resolved.
• Qi Si reasoned that the Eerie Game linked reality and Instances to multiply evil, and considered whether it drew Players from different worlds.
• Qi Si concluded that his world might be a pilot program for the Eerie Game’s larger plan, then returned to the lively forum homepage.

The author reflected on Volume Two’s problems, addressed reader feedback about Qi Si, the lack of a female lead, and Chang Xu, and outlined plans to revise the book and begin Volume Three. The author planned to return with the next update on January 1st.

• The author explained how reader numbers and writing difficulties changed Volume Two’s structure and disrupted its pacing and main plot.
• The author acknowledged problems in Sea of Hopelessness and Double Happiness Town and said future Instances would focus more on strategy, puzzles, plot, and characters.
• The author defended Qi Si’s established personality, ruled out a female lead, and said Chang Xu would remain until the finale.
• The author planned to revise earlier chapters during a half-month hiatus and continue Volume Three according to the original outline if the book remained available.
• The author recommended four other books and announced the next update for January 1st.

Qi Si mailed away the Joy God Idol, reviewed his limited combat options, and entered a new multiplayer puzzle Instance under the alias Zhou Ke. There, he joined Heyi, Hansen, and Cynthia on a brightly lit stage as the players gathered around numbered seats.

• Qi Si arranged for a child to deliver the boxed Joy God Idol to the post office after learning that Jin City had handled his family graveyard.
• Qi Si assessed his items, worried about facing the Puppeteer without the Evil God Finger Bone, and considered cutting off his little finger as a last resort.
• Qi Si transferred Liu Yuhan’s reward points, bought a clown mask, and matched into the Instance Grand Performance, whose hint was “Every one of us is guilty.”
• Qi Si found himself designated as player No. 1 at a round table, unable to touch the papers and pens assigned to other seats.
• Heyi arrived and took Seat No. 3, followed by Hansen in Seat No. 2 and Cynthia in Seat No. 4.
• Qi Si introduced himself to the group as Zhou Ke while wearing the clown mask.

The Players began Charlie’s murder-voting game, in which they had to answer questions about their first killings and identify the killer among them. Qi Si recognized the displayed corpse as the first person he had killed at age twelve, and the chapter ended as Charlie asked how each Player had killed and disposed of their victim.

• Cynthia proposed sharing puzzle-solving experience, but Hansen and Qi Si challenged her motives and questioned whether the Players could trust one another.
• Charlie appeared at the Scarlet Theater and announced that a killer was among the Players, who would have to vote for someone to be executed.
• Charlie explained that the Players had to answer three questions truthfully and vote using the role names they had introduced themselves with.
• Charlie asked how old each Player had been when they first killed someone; Qi Si answered twelve, while Hansen said nineteen, Heyi fourteen, Cynthia described a death caused by her at age thirty-two, and Dong Xiwen said twenty.
• Charlie asked how the Players had killed their victims and disposed of their bodies.

The Players questioned one another about how they had killed their victims as Charlie enforced limits on their answers. Qi Si’s calm account of murder and corpse disposal left the others especially wary of him.

• Hansen tried to change the speaking order, but Cynthia accused him of acting suspiciously and failing to take notes.
• Dong Xiwen said he had used hallucinogenic sedatives before throwing his brother’s killer from a roof, while Cynthia admitted she had ordered tanks to crush suspicious targets in Silesia.
• Charlie stopped Heyi from answering Hansen’s question as irrelevant, then Hansen confessed he had killed his father over money and his mother when she threatened to call the police.
• Qi Si described killing someone when he was young and suggested he had survived an experience like Dong Xiwen’s brother.
• Qi Si asked Charlie whether motive mattered, then said he had eaten parts of his victim because he had been hungry, shocking the other Players.

Qi Si recalled how his childhood friend’s betrayal led him to kill and eat him, then recognized that the Players had each seen a different victim because each had killed someone. When Charlie demanded they judge one another by profession and contributions, Qi Si challenged the idea of measuring human worth and urged the group to vote Hansen out as a dangerous threat.

• Qi Si remembered befriending a boy as a child, then killing and eating him after the boy joined others in tormenting him.
• Qi Si noticed that the Players had described different corpses, and the group concluded that each of them had murdered someone.
• Charlie asked the Players to name their professions and contributions, suggesting that valuable people might be spared.
• Cynthia, Hansen, Dong Xiwen, and Heyi described their work, past actions, or hopes for the future.
• Qi Si questioned how anyone could measure a person's value and argued that promises about future contributions were irrelevant to the vote.
• Qi Si proposed voting Hansen out, calling him a forceful and unintelligent threat who might lead the group into danger.

The Players voted Hansen out, and Charlie executed him in a grotesque spectacle. Charlie then revealed that the Instance would last three days and sent the Players to choose rooms haunted by the sins of the living.

• Hansen tried to persuade the Players to vote for Qi Si or Cynthia, while Qi Si argued that Hansen posed the greatest threat.
• The Players cast their votes, and Hansen received two votes, more than Cynthia and Heyi, who each received one.
• Charlie announced Hansen as the round’s murderer and killed him in a horrific execution that left his remains on a chair.
• Qi Si asked Charlie how long the performance would last, and Charlie explained that the script had three acts, one per day.
• Charlie opened six rooms for the Players to choose from and warned that each contained a ghost formed from someone’s sins.

Qi Si chose Room 4 and discovered it held the dead Hansen’s harmless ghost, while Dong Xiwen found a script hinting that Charlie’s puppet had taken over his writing. The chapter left Qi Si examining a character card and Dong Xiwen unaware of the threatening eyes watching him.

• Qi Si asked Charlie about the ghosts’ strength and learned that stronger sins might affect where ghosts chose to reside, but Charlie offered no reliable clues.
• Cynthia entered Room 1, Heyi chose Room 3, and Dong Xiwen chose Room 6 after suggesting that stronger ghosts might be nearer the front.
• Qi Si tested the doors, entered Room 4, and found the dead Man-Beast ghost corresponding to Hansen, which vanished and left behind an invalid Cannon Fodder character card.
• Dong Xiwen read a script in Room 6 describing Charlie’s failed plays and a puppet offering to write a more popular story for him.
• As Dong Xiwen read, scarlet eyes opened across the ceiling while the script’s words changed to describe Charlie handing his quill and Papyrus to the puppet.

Qi Si questioned whether the players’ roles and deaths followed a predetermined script, while Heyi and Cynthia encountered ghosts connected to their sins. The first act ended after Heyi obtained the protagonist character card and Qi Si uncovered a script fragment hidden beneath the theater wallpaper.

• Qi Si examined Hansen’s Cannon Fodder Card and wondered whether the Instance assigned players roles such as protagonist and villain.
• Cynthia dreamed of her past murder, encountered the ghost formed from Zhou Ke’s sin, and saw its identity as the Skin Collector.
• Heyi wandered into a mirror maze, met the ghost embodying her sin, and obtained the Protagonist character card with a one-time resurrection effect.
• Qi Si dreamed of Hansen suffering in a burning cage, then woke and peeled back the wallpaper to reveal fire damage and a fragment of the play’s script.
• Every player’s system announced the end of Act One.

Qi Si tried to persuade the other Players to seek the Instance’s worldview instead of voting someone to death, while turning their suspicions toward Cynthia. Charlie began Act Two with a new identity-card game, and Qi Si discovered he was the Fox.

• Qi Si found that the theater and its props had reset, but he could interact only with the items at Seat No. 1.
• Dong Xiwen shared a script fragment about Charlie and Puppet, and Qi Si argued that collecting such fragments might reveal the Instance’s worldview.
• Qi Si claimed that his death could lock away clues and used Cynthia’s opposition to the plan to make Heyi and Dong Xiwen question her motives.
• The Players debated whether to risk investigating the worldview or vote someone out, while Dong Xiwen recalled his younger brother’s wish to live without killing anyone.
• Charlie appeared and introduced Catch the Fox, in which the Wolfhound and Rabbit could identify the Fox and a death would end the game.
• The Players revealed their identity cards, and Qi Si saw that his card made him the Fox.

Qi Si questioned the fairness of Charlie’s Fox Hunt game, then claimed to be the fox as the players debated how to avoid a death. Dong Xiwen correctly identified Zhou Ke as the fox, but Cynthia chose to kill him, leaving the first round’s execution decided.

• Qi Si asked Charlie about the rules, learning that chips could serve as lives and that the rabbit could end the game after three consecutive draws or wins.
• Heyi proposed that everyone reveal their identities and let the rabbit draw three times, but Cynthia warned that the fox could undermine the plan.
• Qi Si claimed to be the fox, while Heyi identified herself as the rabbit, Cynthia as the tiger, and Dong Xiwen as the wolfhound.
• Dong Xiwen named Zhou Ke as the fox, and Charlie confirmed that he was correct.
• Cynthia wrote “Kill” as her choice for the fox, and Charlie announced that Zhou Ke would be killed.

Qi Si survived Cynthia’s execution by spending one of his three chips, then used his insight into the game to pressure her into signing a binding contract. After Catch the Fox ended without a death, Charlie began Crazy Blackjack and revealed that the game would continue until someone died, leaving Qi Si to challenge whether Charlie himself was guilty.

• Charlie sentenced Qi Si to death, but Qi Si returned to the game after one chip transformed into blood and disappeared.
• Qi Si explained that the rabbit identity would remain fixed and argued that the others should target Cynthia, whose betrayal made her dangerous.
• Qi Si exposed how Cynthia could lose all her chips and offered her a contract binding her to promises not to harm the other players after leaving the Instance.
• Cynthia signed Qi Si’s contract, and the players completed the second and third rounds of Catch the Fox without anyone dying.
• Charlie announced Crazy Blackjack and said the game would only truly end when someone died.
• Qi Si asked Charlie whether he was guilty, challenging the claim that everyone was guilty.

Qi Si exposed Charlie’s seat as the host’s weakness and forced him to join the Crazy Blackjack game. Qi Si won Blackjack in the second round, leaving the Players with two chips each and Charlie with one as the third round began.

• Qi Si pointed out Charlie’s three chips at Seat No. 2, forcing Charlie to take the empty seat and enter Crazy Blackjack as a player.
• The Players passed high cards to Charlie in the first round, but Charlie passed a K to Qi Si, leaving Qi Si at 20 while Charlie busted and lost a chip.
• Charlie tried to recruit Qi Si, while Cynthia and Heyi urged Qi Si to side with the Players; Qi Si warned everyone not to pass him cards.
• Cynthia passed Qi Si a 10, and Qi Si later passed her a 3; he revealed an A and reached 21, winning Blackjack.
• The failed Players suffered gruesome deaths, then returned to normal after Charlie lost another chip, leaving each Player with two chips and Charlie with one.

After Charlie was destroyed, Qi Si entered the warehouse tied to his first murder, confronted the ghost of his childhood self, and obtained his Villain Character Card. The Players searched the rooms for clues, uncovering notes about the play and a script fragment revealing Charlie’s conflict with his Puppet and the King.

• Charlie busted at fifty-one points and crumbled into dust, leaving the Players uncertain whether the Instance was cleared.
• Qi Si entered Room 1 and relived killing his childhood friend in the warehouse, where he met the ghost of his younger self.
• Qi Si obtained the Villain Character Card, which let him influence voting at plot points involving the protagonist and revive after fatal damage while the protagonist lived.
• The Players found playwright’s notes beneath the wallpaper in Room 1, and Heyi revealed that she had obtained a Supporting Character Card.
• The Players searched the next rooms and found notes about the play’s gun, expendable characters, and changing rules, along with a script fragment in Room 5 about Charlie’s theater facing closure and his escape with Papyrus.

Dong Xiwen learned that his Character Card made him an Audience member protected from physical harm, while Qi Si tried to recruit him by claiming Heyi was the villain and he was the protagonist. Qi Si died after danger struck him outside his own room, and Heyi dreamed of guards burning Charlie’s forbidden scripts as Act Two ended.

• Dong Xiwen revealed his Audience Character Card and learned that it let him see the script’s progress while keeping him in another dimension from the actors.
• Qi Si warned Dong Xiwen that Heyi had lied about her identity and argued that she was the villain while he was the protagonist.
• Dong Xiwen questioned Qi Si’s morality, but Qi Si argued that their interests aligned against Cynthia and Heyi and offered to show his role card.
• The system blocked Qi Si from revealing his card, and he vanished when danger struck because he had not returned to his own room.
• Dong Xiwen recalled Qi Si’s earlier helpful actions and reconsidered whether he was entirely evil.
• Heyi dreamed of Charlie pleading with guards to spare his manuscripts as they burned the theater, ending Act Two.

Qi Si returned after dying and discovered that Cynthia had been killed as a supporting character, exposing the playwright’s control over the Instance. Dong Xiwen revealed that he was an audience member who could see the script’s progress, and the system began Act Three as a battle royale.

• Qi Si reconsidered the hidden main quest and concluded that an unseen playwright was manipulating the Players and their supposed choices.
• Qi Si died in Room 6, while Cynthia was killed by the young man in red in her nightmare and could not escape her assigned supporting role.
• Qi Si revived in Room 4, found Cynthia’s flesh-monster in Room 2, and recovered her invalid Supporting Character Card.
• Qi Si told Dong Xiwen and Heyi that Cynthia was dead, then suggested the rules for obtaining Character Cards might differ from what he had believed.
• Heyi admitted she had lied about her identity, and Dong Xiwen revealed that he was an audience member who could see the script’s progress bar.
• The system announced that Act Three had begun and would be a battle royale segment.

The Players began a battle-royale act in which they had to evade ghosts formed from their sins, while Qi Si discovered a way to leave the performance by switching to his Audience identity. After dying, he awoke in a theater with Hansen and Cynthia and proposed they work together to escape their cages, while Dong Xiwen continued fleeing through the maze.

• The maze formed and the Players learned the battle-royale rules, prompting Qi Si to suggest killing someone while Dong Xiwen argued against harming others.
• Qi Si persuaded Dong Xiwen and Heyi to split up, then entered Room 1 as the escape timer expired and met his red-suited ghost.
• Qi Si uncovered an Audience card beneath his character card and realized he could switch identities and leave the performance.
• Qi Si asked his ghost to kill him, then awoke in a burning theater confined in a birdcage with Hansen and Cynthia.
• Dong Xiwen fled mirrors through the maze and heard Heyi ask him to kill her.

Dong Xiwen was stabbed by Heyi as the sins closed in, while his character card activated its “Otherworld” effect. In the theater setting, Qi Si and Cynthia killed Hansen to force the plot forward, and Dong Xiwen suddenly appeared in an empty cage beside them.

• Heyi asked Dong Xiwen to kill her, claiming she could revive, but then stabbed him in the back and admitted she had lied.
• Dong Xiwen’s character card grew hot and activated its “Otherworld” effect as the monsters closed in.
• Qi Si and Cynthia discussed the theater’s clues and agreed to kill Hansen to test whether it would advance the plot.
• Cynthia used her One-Shot Guaranteed Gun to kill Hansen after charging it for five minutes.
• After nothing happened for a moment, Dong Xiwen fell from above into the empty birdcage beside Qi Si.

Dong Xiwen killed Heyi after learning she was the protagonist, and the surviving players were returned to the theater, where Qi Si suspected Charlie was trapping them in an endless cycle of games. As Charlie restarted the first act with only three players, Qi Si and Cynthia maintained their alliance while Dong Xiwen challenged the game’s unfair rules.

• Dong Xiwen’s Otherworld card activated after Heyi stabbed him, and he killed her, triggering the system’s victory message and revealing her Protagonist character card.
• Heyi’s past revealed that The Scales had killed her by forcing her to relive her revenge against her adoptive father, before she returned to the battle royale and died again.
• Dong Xiwen fell into the birdcage, where he and Cynthia reunited with Qi Si; Qi Si inferred that deaths caused by the Instance’s mechanics were not permanent, while player-caused deaths were.
• Qi Si accused Dong Xiwen of hiding his Villain role and persuaded Cynthia to keep cooperating by claiming their Soul Contract meant she would die if he did.
• Charlie restarted the performance, seated Qi Si, Cynthia, and Dong Xiwen around the round table, and ordered them to vote for one of their number to be executed.
• Dong Xiwen objected that alliances made the game unfair, and Charlie replied that unfairness was part of the drama.

Qi Si deliberately voted for himself and was executed, then awakened in Charlie’s burned theater and exposed the playwright’s scheme. He offered Charlie a deal, leaving the fate of their negotiation unresolved.

• Qi Si, Cynthia, and Dong Xiwen voted, and Qi Si received all three votes after voting for himself.
• Cynthia tried to attack Qi Si and then offered him a favor from Nine Provinces in exchange for his clues, but he refused as the execution devoured him.
• Qi Si realized he was still the Villain, and the Main Quest refreshed to “Escape the Scarlet Theater.”
• Qi Si awoke alone in the burned theater, recognized that the scene was a false space, and challenged Charlie about exploiting Players and hiding his actions from the Eerie Game.
• Qi Si invoked the Pocket Watch of Fate and proposed that Charlie make a deal with him.

Charlie recounted his tragic life, his deal with the Main God, and his secret attempt to gather sin before Qi Si confronted him with a new bargain. After seeing Charlie’s memories, Qi Si secured Charlie’s agreement, and a world-rule-backed contract was signed.

• Charlie died in the burning Scarlet Theater and remained there as a resentful ghost, waiting for people to discover and appreciate his plays.
• The God offered Charlie a deal: he would be imprisoned in the theater but receive a steady stream of actors and audience members, and Charlie accepted.
• Charlie used the theater’s trials to gather sin and secretly altered its design, but Qi Si’s arrival exposed his schemes.
• Qi Si threatened to draw the Main God’s attention and offered to help Charlie escape his old deal by making a new one.
• Qi Si followed fragments of Charlie’s memories and learned that Charlie had pursued recognition partly to fulfill his grandfather’s dream of having his plays loved.
• Charlie agreed to trade with Qi Si, and their contract was signed under the rules of the world.

Qi Si killed Cynthia, forced Dong Zixi to sign a Soul Contract, and escaped the ruined Scarlet Theater with him after clearing the Grand Performance Instance. As the chapter ended, Qi Si noticed a ghostly double watching over Dong Zixi, while the two awaited their teleportation out.

• The stage collapsed into the burned ruins of the theater, and the Main Quest updated to escaping the Scarlet Theater.
• Qi Si, with Charlie's help, attacked Cynthia from behind and offered Dong Xiwen the choice to die or sign a contract.
• Dong Xiwen signed the Soul Contract, revealing his real name as Dong Zixi, and Qi Si searched Cynthia's belongings before leaving with him.
• Qi Si and Dong Zixi reached a buried wooden box, where the system confirmed the Instance was cleared and recorded the True End, “The Lonely Playwright.”
• Qi Si removed his mask and showed Dong Zixi his self-inflicted facial wounds, then noticed a ghostly figure resembling Dong Zixi watching him.