Chapter Summaries

In the ghost-haunted cemetery, Chen Lidong and Zhang Yiyu found Qi Si’s coffin, but Chen could not break it and buried it instead. He then threatened Zhang into helping him deceive the other Players, reasoning that fewer survivors would mean less medicine was needed to complete the mission.

• Chen Lidong asked Zhang Yiyu about Qi Si’s escape from the Puppeteer’s control, then decided to kill Qi Si to gain favor with the Sariel Guild.
• Zhang Yiyu led Chen to Tombstone No. 47, where they found a closed coffin that she believed contained Qi Si.
• Chen tried to stab through the coffin, but its lid remained undamaged, so he buried the coffin beneath the dirt beside the grave.
• Chen threatened Zhang into continuing to deceive the other Players and letting them die along the way.
• Chen explained that fewer survivors meant less medicine would be required to cure everyone’s insomnia and clear the Instance.

Chen Lidong and Zhang Yiyu found the coffin where Qi Si was hiding, but Chen Lidong chose to bury him rather than risk opening it. He then pressured Zhang Yiyu to keep misleading the other Players so fewer people would remain and the potion objective would be easier to complete.

• As Zhang Yiyu led Chen Lidong through the cemetery, she told him what she knew about Qi Si breaking free of the Puppeteer's control, and Chen Lidong decided to kill him for the Puppeteer.
• Zhang Yiyu brought Chen Lidong to Tombstone No. 47, where he found a sealed coffin and suspected it might be a trap.
• Chen Lidong's White Blade failed to damage the coffin, so he buried Qi Si inside it and packed the soil down.
• Chen Lidong threatened Zhang Yiyu over her earlier deception but told her to keep misleading the other Players so they would die along the way.
• Chen Lidong explained that fewer survivors meant they would need less potion to complete the main mission.

Jiang Jue led a group to the fourth floor, where Zhang Yiyu translated a prescription revealing that twelve people would have to die to cure six. Qi Si, secretly alive in a buried coffin, ordered Zhang Yiyu to get sent to confinement, and she broke the uniform rule to trigger Ms. Medina's punishment.

• Jiang Jue led seven Players to a classroom on the fourth floor, where child skeletons translated the copied symbols as a recipe for curing insomnia.
• Zhang Yiyu read that the ingredients amounted to the remains of two dead people for each person cured, and Chen Lidong concluded that twelve of the eighteen Players had to die for six to survive.
• Qi Si revealed to Zhang Yiyu that he was alive in a coffin and ordered her to enter confinement, discard the team ring, and carve '47' if possible.
• Jiang Jue questioned Zhang Yiyu about the deadly prescription, and she removed her school uniform jacket to violate the dress code.
• Ms. Medina entered the room and ordered Zhang Yiyu to go to the confinement room for not wearing her school uniform.

The chapter revealed how the strange girl witnessed a red-clad god descend beside 47 during the outbreak at Red Maple Leaf Boarding School. In the present, Chang Xu and Dream Teller found a ring and the number 47 in the solitary confinement building, then returned to the memorial hall to investigate its fourth floor.

• As a child, the girl secretly ate soil and spoke in an unknown language, leading Ms. Medina to punish her and teach her English.
• After the children blamed 47 for the epidemic, the girl watched yellow flowers and butterflies gather around him as a red-clad god descended quietly.
• Chang Xu and Dream Teller searched the solitary confinement building and found a white ring beneath the carved number 47.
• Dream Teller concluded that the number was likely a message from someone in the other space and suggested finding a way to travel between spaces.
• Chang Xu and Dream Teller returned to the memorial hall, where Dream Teller proposed visiting the fourth floor while Ms. Medina was away.

Jiang Jue and the other Players debated a recipe that could save people only by using scarce ingredients, while Chen Lidong manipulated Ms. Medina into assigning a mandatory quest to capture 47. Chang Xu and Dream Teller uncovered records about the school’s time-space vortices and freed Qi Si from grave 47, where he greeted Chang Xu.

• Jiang Jue urged the Players to wait before acting on Zhang Yiyu’s recipe, while Chen Lidong secretly confirmed it was genuine with his Ring of Truth.
• Chen Lidong told Zhou Datong that Si Qi was a Player who might still be alive, then persuaded Ms. Medina that 47 had burned down the archive room.
• Ms. Medina ordered Chen Lidong to capture 47 within 48 hours, and the system issued the order as a mandatory side quest.
• Chang Xu climbed into a sealed fourth-floor room and found research notes describing the school’s two time-space vortices, the native children’s divine powers, and the meaning of their writing.
• Chang Xu and Dream Teller went to grave 47, watched its mound dig itself open, and found Qi Si alive in the coffin.

Jiang Jue’s group debated whether the antidote required sacrificing living students, while Chen Lidong triggered a mandatory quest to capture 47. Meanwhile, Chang Xu and Dream Teller uncovered evidence about the school’s time-space vortices and dug up Qi Si, who greeted Chang Xu from inside his coffin.

• Jiang Jue urged the Players to wait before acting on Zhang Yiyu’s antidote formula, and the group learned that Qi Si had disappeared.
• Chen Lidong told Zhou Datong that Si Qi might still be alive, then reported 47 to Ms. Medina and received a mandatory quest to capture him within 48 hours.
• Chang Xu climbed into a sealed fourth-floor room and found notes describing the natives’ time-travel abilities, their connection to deities, and the power of their writing.
• Chang Xu shared the findings with Dream Teller, and they went to the cemetery to investigate tombstone 47.
• As the grave dug itself open, Chang Xu lifted the coffin lid and found Qi Si inside, awake and greeting him.

Chen Lidong and Zhou Datong found grave 47 empty, while Qi Si explained how the school’s overlapping timelines and collective hallucinations connected to the century-long insomnia outbreak. He left Chang Xu and Dream Teller with a way to pursue their quests, then joined them as the guide resumed the tour.

• Chen Lidong and Zhou Datong dug up grave 47, but its coffin was empty, and Chen Lidong froze as he stared inside.
• Qi Si told Chang Xu and Dream Teller that events in the past could affect the present, then outlined how colonization, insomnia, and the boarding school’s history fit together.
• Qi Si reasoned that the school scenes in the past were collective hallucinations and that someone had guided the children to witness earlier events.
• Qi Si advised Chang Xu and Dream Teller to take original documents from the memorial hall and have a skeleton read them aloud, while warning that the documents might not contain a cure for insomnia.
• Qi Si ate the memorial hall’s lunch to reassure Chang Xu and Dream Teller, who then finished their own meals under the guide’s gaze.
• The black-clad guide appeared after lunch and offered to take the group to visit other places.

Medina’s history revealed how her efforts to protect native children were shaped by colonial violence, her mother’s death, and a false account of the school fire. At the memorial hall, Qi Si investigated the fire while his insomnia worsened, then identified the missing ritual material Zhang Yiyu needed to find: soil.

• Medina left her homeland with an expedition, regretted its violence against native residents, and worked to establish protections and preserve their knowledge.
• Little Medina learned records blamed native children for her mother’s death and decided to seek witchcraft that could let her speak with her mother.
• At the memorial hall, the tour guide described the old school fire, while Qi Si connected it to Torlsen’s attempt to contain the insomnia outbreak and destroy evidence of Sin.
• Dream Teller questioned Medina about nighttime rules and cafeteria food, while Qi Si separated from the others and went to rest alone on the third floor.
• In his consciousness space, Qi Si learned Zhang Yiyu had found only poisonous mushrooms for her ritual task and told her to keep searching.
• Qi Si played the nursery rhyme and compared its listed materials with Zhang Yiyu’s discoveries, realizing the missing soil was what remained after ghosts ate a male player beneath the bathroom shower.

Chen Lidong and Zhou Datong fought the Listen Wind Guild after Jiang Jue exposed Chen Lidong’s killings, while Zhou Datong chose to remain loyal to Chen. At the Indigenous Victims Memorial Hall, Qi Si arranged for Chang Xu to kill the guide, but the system did not confirm that the main quest was complete.

• Chen Lidong and Zhou Datong gathered materials for two doses of antidote, but Jiang Jue accused Chen of being a Slaughter Style player and turned the other players against him.
• Chen Lidong fought the players while Zhou Datong forced his way to Jiang Jue and took him hostage with White Blade.
• Jiang Jue tried to persuade Zhou Datong that Chen was using him, but Zhou Datong admitted he knew and said he was willing to repay Chen’s kindness.
• At the memorial hall, Qi Si discovered that water began to damage his skin after about thirty seconds and discussed destroying the display case with Chang Xu and Dream Teller.
• Chang Xu killed the guide in the cafeteria, but Qi Si saw no system notification that the main quest had been completed.

At Red Maple Leaf Boarding School, the Players brewed medicine from their dead companions, but Chen Lidong realized Ms. Medina also needed a dose and the main quest remained unfinished. At the Indigenous Victims Memorial Hall, Qi Si worked out that only the assigned Player could kill Ms. Medina and found a possible way forward through Zhang Yiyu’s side quest.

• The Players watched three dirt-covered men die in the showers, then gathered medicine materials from the corpses of six Players who died overnight.
• The Players brewed and drank the medicine, but the main quest did not complete, and Chen Lidong realized Ms. Medina needed medicine too.
• With the ingredients exhausted and the countdown running, Chen Lidong eyed the sleeping Players as potential materials for another batch.
• At the memorial hall, the tour guide reappeared after Chang Xu had killed her, and Qi Si explained that only the Player assigned to the task could kill Ms. Medina.
• Qi Si connected Zhang Yiyu’s side quest to a possible solution and joked about burying Chang Xu in a coffin.

Chen Lidong’s attempt to complete his mission with a false antidote failed, and Zhou Datong died trying to save him. Meanwhile, Qi Si, Chang Xu, and Dream Teller escaped the memorial hall’s ghosts, and Qi Si proposed a contract before lending Dream Teller his Tape Recorder.

• Jiang Jue refused to help Chen Lidong kill the remaining players, and Chen Lidong and Zhou Datong finished brewing the supposed antidote.
• Ms. Medina drank the broth, exposed it as a fake, and attacked Chen Lidong as his mission timer ran out.
• Zhou Datong sacrificed himself to help Chen Lidong escape, but both men were covered by flowers and butterflies and died.
• Qi Si, Chang Xu, and Dream Teller smashed three display cases for Indigenous documents, triggering a ghost pursuit through the memorial hall.
• While Chang Xu carried him toward the cemetery, Qi Si told Zhang Yiyu that the copied prescription could not cure insomnia and that the originals had been burned.
• At grave marker No. 47, Dream Teller asked for Qi Si’s Tape Recorder, and Qi Si proposed a contract to help each other complete their main quests.

Jiang Jue and his companions failed to make the cure and faced worsening illness, thirst, and a deadly struggle for survival. Meanwhile, Qi Si reached the confinement room, used his connection to the timeline to feed and guide Zhang Yiyu, then prepared to return to the cemetery and dig up the person buried behind tombstone 47.

• Jiang Jue and the other two found that Chen Lidong had failed to make the medicine, then learned the Foundation had cut off the school’s water and electricity.
• The three searched the maple forest and school for water and clues, but their illness worsened and they found only records of past experiments on Indigenous children.
• On June 6, Jiang Jue told his companions they would split up and fight each other if they met again after noon.
• Qi Si gave Chang Xu the Tape Recorder before Dream Teller carried him through the monster-filled forest to the confinement room.
• Qi Si described his visions across timelines and opened Zhang Yiyu’s cell, guiding her to eat a corpse and recover enough strength to move.
• Qi Si told Zhang Yiyu to dig up the person behind tombstone 47, then told Dream Teller they could return to the cemetery.

Qi Si exploited the overlap between timelines to answer 47’s prayer as an Evil God and used Zhang Yiyu and his teammates to complete the ritual. The ritual succeeded in the confinement room, completing both side quests.

• Qi Si realized that he could take the place of the god 47 had prayed to and answer his own prayer across spacetime.
• Zhang Yiyu searched the school, found Chen Lidong and another Player dead, took Chen Lidong’s shovel, and dug at the grave marked 47.
• Chang Xu completed the main quest by recording the skeleton’s nursery rhyme, but Qi Si’s Soul Contract prevented the Players from clearing the Instance until they helped him.
• Qi Si ordered Zhang Yiyu to reach the confinement room and injure herself while Dream Teller and Chang Xu gathered what he needed.
• Zhang Yiyu and Qi Si entered near-death states, and Qi Si told her to pray to him as their timelines overlapped.
• Zhang Yiyu completed the ritual, and the system confirmed that the mandatory and optional side quests were complete.

Jiang Jue killed his last teammate after the Instance’s normal clear became impossible, then broke down over Sun Lin’s corpse. Meanwhile, Qi Si and Zhang Yiyu carried out a ritual that burned Red Maple Leaf Boarding School, destroyed the guide, and earned Qi Si the Scarlet High Priest identity card.

• Jiang Jue killed his final teammate to trigger the Minimum Death Quota mechanism, covered the bodies, and returned to his dorm room, where Sun Lin’s corpse made him sob.
• Zhang Yiyu discovered that the optional quest to sacrifice the “Bad Child” had been completed, while Qi Si explained that he had used half his body as ritual material.
• Qi Si, Dream Teller, Chang Xu, and Zhang Yiyu combined their efforts to begin the ritual, and the Evil God led Zhang Yiyu toward the school kitchen.
• Zhang Yiyu set fire to the kitchen, and 47 spread the blaze through the school before she locked the office door and trapped Ms. Medina inside.
• Qi Si and Zhang Yiyu destroyed the guide as the flames consumed the school, and Qi Si unlocked the Scarlet High Priest identity card.

The Players completed the Red Maple Leaf Boarding School Instance by choosing to expose the evidence against the school and foundation, while Jiang Jue died trying to survive the spreading fire. Zhang Yiyu was rescued from her coffin, and the system recorded the True End before the Players’ scheduled transmission.

• Zhang Yiyu fled the burning school grounds as the fire spread, while Jiang Jue escaped the third-floor corridor and ran toward the graveyard.
• Chang Xu, Dream Teller, and Qi Si found an iron box containing evidence of the school and foundation’s crimes, and the narrator offered them a choice to reveal or bury it.
• Dream Teller warned that exposing the evidence might cause an Eerie Invasion, but Qi Si proposed a vote, and the Players chose to bring the box to Grave No. 47.
• Jiang Jue reached the graveyard, mistook Zhang Yiyu’s corpse for a possible way to survive the fire, and was killed when she rose as a ghost and attacked him.
• The system confirmed the team Instance was cleared after Chang Xu placed the box at Grave No. 47, and Chang Xu and Dream Teller dug Zhang Yiyu out of her coffin.
• The system recorded the Red Maple Leaf Boarding School True End and announced that the Players would be transported out in three minutes.

Players in the Ruins of Sunset turned anonymous clears into a joke, while Li visited the dying Si Qi in Su Village to request contracts for new Eerie Game Instances. After Li left, Si Qi appeared at the Indigenous Victims Memorial Hall, where a fire broke out in the maple forest.

• Players formed the Star-Lovers group and celebrated the anonymous player whose clears filled the rankings.
• Li told Si Qi that The Rules had opened Its eyes and warned him that their ability to interfere with the wager would be limited.
• Li asked Si Qi for the Authority of Contracts to build new Instances, but Si Qi said he had already given it away and warned that the Double Happiness Town failure was no coincidence.
• Si Qi gave Li the last three thousand contracts and warned him that observers beyond the chessboard would obstruct his plans and that his mechanisms could bring a backlash.
• Si Qi appeared naked in the Indigenous Victims Memorial Hall, dressed himself, and listened to a tour guide describe a man-made disaster as a natural catastrophe.
• A sound like shattering glass alerted Si Qi to a fire in the maple forest, where flames engulfed trees and black smoke rose into the sky.

After clearing Red Maple Leaf Boarding School, Qi Si received the Scarlet High Priest Identity Card and chose the Insomnia Pathogen as his reward, then spent 200,000 points to buy the Cursed Pendulum as well. He tested the pendulum’s enhancements, collected points from Zhang Yiyu and the surviving villagers, and discovered his livestream investment had earned an 800-point return.

• Qi Si received 30,000 reward points, unlocked the Scarlet High Priest Identity Card, and saw that his Soul Contract skill’s success rate had risen to 26%.
• Qi Si chose the Insomnia Pathogen as his reward and persuaded the Eerie Game to let him purchase the Cursed Pendulum with points.
• Qi Si spent 200,000 points on the Cursed Pendulum, tested its physical enhancements, and decided to test its other effects after returning to reality.
• Qi Si collected 13,000 points from Zhang Yiyu’s Soul Leaf and deposited the surviving villagers’ 71,000 points into his own account.
• Qi Si entered the livestream lobby and learned that his 80-point investment in a streamer who cleared the No. 33 Middle School Instance had returned 800 points.

Zhang Yiyu awoke after the No. 33 Middle School Instance and faced questioning from Ning Xu, while Qi Si learned Lin Chen had survived and investigated the Gate and Listen Wind Guild. After arranging a delivery and checking on Jin Yusheng, Qi Si discovered Dream Teller had taken his lighter and received a call on an inauspicious day.

• Zhang Yiyu woke in the Eerie Investigation Bureau, and Ning Xu warned her to answer his questions or return to the containment room.
• Qi Si found Lin Chen’s True Ending guide and realized Lin Chen had survived after earning a high score in the No. 33 Middle School Instance.
• Qi Si searched for information about the Gate and Listen Wind Guild but found no useful details about the Eerie Invasion, so he considered joining a guild.
• Qi Si paid Bob to deliver medicine to the Mississippi River and check on Jin Yusheng.
• Qi Si examined the blood-red pendulum, realized Dream Teller had taken his lighter, and received a phone call after seeing an almanac verdict of “Nothing is favorable.”

After the Memorial Hall fire drew public attention to Red Maple Leaf Boarding School, Qi Si dreamed of being buried by a monster wearing his face and woke with a fever. He inspected Liu Yuhan’s Soul Leaf, then learned that Qi Family Village’s ghost domain needed an outsider to devour each month and called back a foundation demanding payment for his dead father’s sponsorship.

• News of the Memorial Hall fire spread online, prompting netizens to investigate Red Maple Leaf Boarding School and uncover obscure historical records.
• Qi Si dreamed that a monster resembling him buried him and warned him not to let anyone learn his thoughts about The Gate.
• Qi Si woke with a fever, stayed in bed, and entered the Game Space, where he summoned Liu Yuhan to meet him at Ruins of Sunset the next day.
• Qi Si searched for recordings of Chang Xu and Dream Teller to study potential targets, then returned to bed and blocked a foundation representative demanding payment for his dead father’s sponsorship.
• Xu Yao told Qi Si that the ghost domain required one outsider each month and could conceal a corpse within a hundred li and seven days of its time of death, so Qi Si called the foundation representative back.

Qi Si dealt with the aftermath in Qi Family Village and watched a public backlash against Fu Jue and the Nine Provinces Guild unfold while waiting at the hospital. After his Cursed Pendulum let him see and repel a ghost, he entered Consultation Room 4, with horrors stirring in his wake.

• Qi Si sent Xu Yao to handle the corpses in Qi Family Village and considered seeking limited cooperation with the Church of the Scales.
• Players argued across the forum after Fu Jue left Meng Jianshuang trapped in the mountain god statue to protect the other players in the Instance.
• Critics accused Fu Jue of hypocrisy and condemned the Nine Provinces Guild for morally coercing players, while his supporters defended his choices.
• Qi Si watched the controversy from the hospital waiting room and gave a chili-powder-flavored mint to a little girl ghost.
• When the ghost attacked, Qi Si swung the Cursed Pendulum at her and made her retreat; he then answered the call to enter Consultation Room 4.