Chapter Summaries

Captain Gordon watched a television broadcast interrupt a variety show with a mysterious program called Jigsaw Theater, where host Jigsaw introduced the kidnapped Arthur Jackman. Jigsaw exposed Arthur’s past and announced that he would teach him to live independently, leaving Arthur trapped and pleading to be released.

• Captain Gordon turned on the television and saw its broadcast switch to Jigsaw Theater.
• Jigsaw introduced Arthur Jackman, who was unconscious in a sealed metal room.
• Arthur woke up as Jigsaw narrated his failures, relationships, and unwillingness to work.
• Arthur shouted and pounded the walls, but Jigsaw ignored him and continued telling his story.
• Jigsaw told Arthur he had achieved the breakup he wanted and would now learn to support himself in an Independent Living Training Class.
• Arthur insisted he could earn money but protested that he could not do so while locked inside.

Arthur Jackman entered a survival game where he had to spend coins to move between rooms and earn money by filling a container with liquid. Meanwhile, the hijacked live broadcast of his ordeal threw Gotham City into chaos.

• Arthur Jackman used one of his skull coins to open the iron door and entered a freezing corridor, where the narrator explained that coins were needed to open rooms and warned him against staying outside too long.
• Arthur Jackman chose the work area over the shopping district because he needed to earn more coins to survive.
• Arthur Jackman discovered that his job was to fill a metal container with any liquid except urine or purified water, earning ten coins each time.
• Arthur Jackman regretted wasting the glass of water his girlfriend had offered him after realizing he had few ways to produce liquid.
• Gotham City erupted into chaos after the secret room’s cameras and hijacked television signals broadcast Arthur Jackman’s ordeal live.

Arthur Jackman struggled to exercise in Jigsaw’s secret room, then found two humiliating photographs among the tools and lost the nerve to continue. Jigsaw mocked him for missing a chance to exploit a game bug, while Gotham residents watched the ordeal and began laughing instead of fearing it.

• A man dressed like a circus clown watched the broadcast and found the show interesting.
• Arthur Jackman tried doing push-ups but quickly gave up and prolonged his rest until a chill reminded him he could freeze or starve.
• Arthur Jackman searched the display stand and found a small dagger and two explicit, humiliating photographs.
• Arthur Jackman recoiled from the photographs, dropped them, and lost the courage to pick up the knife.
• Jigsaw told Arthur Jackman that he had missed a chance to exploit a game bug and would now have to move while facing the photographs.
• Gotham residents watched Arthur Jackman’s ordeal, and many began laughing and wondering if the broadcast was a prank show.

Arthur Jackman endured exhausting exercise to earn skull coins from Jigsaw’s work area, then spent them on food, water, and warm clothes. He ate in the miniature supermarket, relieved to have earned his meal, while Jigsaw’s rules continued to control his survival.

• Arthur Jackman exercised until his sweat filled the metal cup and earned exactly ten skull coins.
• Jigsaw praised Arthur Jackman’s effort and told him to shop for food, water, and warm clothes while keeping two coins for rent.
• Arthur Jackman entered the miniature supermarket and chose bread, purified water, and a set of padded clothes with a forty-eight-hour timer.
• Arthur Jackman paid seven skull coins at the checkout and ate the bread with the water, feeling satisfied that he had earned them.

After Jigsaw’s kidnapping broadcast sparked a citywide debate, Captain Gordon tried to organize a manhunt while the commissioner focused on suppressing the footage. Lee Stein stayed unrecognized as he explored Gotham and collected points, leaving Badoers questioning whether he had backed the wrong Batman.

• Captain Gordon presented evidence from Jigsaw’s recordings and proposed investigative leads, but the commissioner ordered the police to contact Wayne Enterprises and remove the broadcast footage.
• Gotham’s citizens argued over whether Jigsaw was a criminal or a more effective hero than Batman.
• Lee Stein used his camouflage disguise to shop and wander through Gotham while gaining points from the city’s reaction to his actions.
• Badoers saw the scoreboard jump Lee Stein into first place and Maberen into second, and he resented how far Maberen had surpassed him.
• As Badoers washed dishes beside “Batman,” he recalled reports of Batman appearing elsewhere and began to suspect he had chosen the wrong person.

Commissioner Gordon struggled to find Jigsaw, while Arthur Jackman adapted to prison life until Jigsaw began the final stage of his test. Arthur had to choose between bringing Mina Zhang into danger or risking death by feeding coins to a bomb-filled doll.

• Commissioner Gordon found no trace of Jigsaw and activated the Bat-Signal to summon Batman.
• Arthur Jackman reflected on his prison routine and asked Jigsaw to release him, but Jigsaw said his test had entered its final stage.
• Jigsaw told Arthur that he had to support Mina Zhang after she had supported him for years.
• Jigsaw offered to bring Mina into the prison or send a doll containing a powerful bomb that required ten coins each day.
• Arthur realized that bringing Mina would be the more practical choice, then bitterly called Jigsaw a devil who toyed with people's hearts.

Arthur Jackman chose to sacrifice himself for Mina, prompting Lee to judge that his redemption was underway. After Maberen delivered the bomb doll, Lee ordered his team to relocate before Batman could trace them, while preparing to use harsher methods in future cases.

• Arthur Jackman chose to send the doll into the sealed room and asked Jigsaw to leave Mina alone, and Lee approved of his choice.
• Lee explained that Arthur’s desperation to get rich had grown from his guilt and pressure, and that facing reality had begun to change him.
• Maberen delivered the bomb doll to Arthur’s room and reflected on his fear of Lee and his manipulative plans.
• Lee warned Maberen that Batman might find their base and ordered him to prepare to relocate.
• Maberen asked when they would leave, and Lee said they would move the next day because Arthur’s case was nearly settled.

On his fifth day in Jigsaw’s escape room, Arthur Jackman’s exhausted body could no longer manage the physical labor, so he argued that the room should offer intellectual work. Jigsaw agreed to let him write for rewards, leaving Arthur to discover that the tablet for writing had been waiting there all along.

• Arthur Jackman collapsed from exhaustion while trying to complete his push-ups and rejected the dagger as too dangerous to use in his weakened state.
• Arthur Jackman objected to Jigsaw that the escape room offered no work representing intellectual labor.
• Li Si understood Arthur Jackman’s argument, and Jigsaw agreed to let him write under a mandatory daily word count for twenty Skull Coins and possible additional rewards.
• Jigsaw told Arthur Jackman to find a tablet beneath the display case’s second-level base panel so he could edit and publish books.
• Li Si explained that he had placed the tablet there as a backup plan in case Arthur Jackman returned to his dream of writing.

Li Si praised Arthur Jackman’s Judgment Knight—Jigsaw stories and ordered a reward and a network-wide promotion to build public admiration for Jigsaw. Arthur received his first payment for writing and longed to share the achievement with Mina.

• Li Si read Arthur Jackman’s five-chapter Jigsaw story and decided it was good enough to reward and promote across the internet.
• Li Si planned to use the stories to improve Jigsaw’s image and turn readers’ admiration into support for the real Jigsaw.
• Skynet told Arthur Jackman that his manuscript had earned payment and would receive a network-wide push.
• Arthur was overwhelmed by receiving his first payment and wanted to tell Mina that his work could now make money.

After reading about the real Jigsaw and watching his brutal escape-room footage, Varric became convinced that Jigsaw could make him feel alive again. He decided to seek out Jigsaw himself, despite knowing the ordeal could leave him cursing the man if he survived.

• Varric followed an advertisement to a forum and read all five chapters of Arthur Jackman’s story about Jigsaw.
• Varric found forum posts claiming Jigsaw existed in Gotham and that Arthur had written from firsthand experience, then visited the linked website.
• Varric watched Jigsaw’s video featuring Sheldon Louise, who endured painful traps to escape after attempting suicide over debt.
• Varric interpreted Sheldon’s struggle as Jigsaw awakening his will to live, and watched Sheldon leave the chamber laughing despite cursing Jigsaw.
• Varric reflected on his numb, routine-bound life and resolved to find out whether Jigsaw accepted voluntary applicants.

Li Si struggled to manage the masochistic fans who flocked to his escape rooms after Varric’s livestreamed escape, while the Gotham police rescued Arthur Jackman. Arthur left the room after reflecting on the fulfillment he had found there, choosing to return to the people waiting for him.

• Varric escaped Li Si’s room and urged viewers to seek meaning in Jigsaw’s escape rooms, prompting hundreds of people to sign up.
• Li Si became overwhelmed by the flood of eager applicants, tried to redirect them to Joker, and was forced to keep hiding as fans searched for his escape rooms.
• Skynet told Li Si that Commissioner Gordon had located Arthur Jackman’s room and was leading officers to breach it.
• Gordon’s team found Arthur alive and absorbed in writing on his tablet, with snacks and an inflatable doll beside him.
• Arthur told Gordon that he was unharmed and warned him that Jigsaw had put a bomb inside the mannequin.
• Arthur paused at the exit, then chose to leave the room and return to the people waiting for him.

Arthur Jackman reunited with Mina after escaping Jigsaw’s simulation, then received Jigsaw’s critique of his failures and a proposal to write books from supplied outlines. Li Si planned to use Arthur’s work to introduce Chinese transmigration web-novel ideas to the world.

• Arthur Jackman returned home with Mina and shared a meal with her.
• Jigsaw called Arthur and explained that his complacency, lack of initiative, and limited knowledge had caused him to barely pass the simulation.
• Arthur recognized how Jigsaw had repeatedly pushed him to change and realized his survival had depended on Jigsaw going easy on him.
• Li Si offered Arthur a book-writing job, providing outlines in exchange for an equal share of the profits.
• Li Si sent Arthur the outlines and resolved to promote Chinese transmigration web novels as part of his plan to enlighten people.

Arthur Jackman read Jigsaw’s detailed story outlines and realized their mass appeal could make him wealthy and famous. He suspected Jigsaw had a hidden purpose and concluded the stories were meant to guide readers’ emotions and reduce real-world crime, leaving him alarmed about joining a plan to influence the world.

• Arthur Jackman reassured Mina that he would stay home while she slept, then returned to the living room to inspect Jigsaw’s documents.
• Arthur Jackman read Jigsaw’s glossary of web-novel concepts and found the ideas inspiringly unfamiliar.
• Arthur Jackman read the detailed outlines and recognized their potential to attract a broad audience and generate immense profits.
• Arthur Jackman wondered why Jigsaw had offered him half the profits and the chance to take the credit despite the outlines’ value.
• Arthur Jackman reasoned that Jigsaw intended the stories to release readers’ negative emotions and guide them away from crime, then feared he had become part of a scheme to influence the world.

Lee reflected on how his Jigsaw businesses had turned the instance into a booming management venture, then went out with Maberen to test whether Batman had gathered enough hatred to send him to Arkham. Their walk led them to a peaceful Gotham park, where the chapter ended with two children pretending to shoot them with toy guns.

• Arthur Jackman recruited Jigsaw Forum writers, and their webnovels made the forum and Lee’s Jigsaw Live Network wildly popular.
• Lee checked the scoreboard and saw that the growing platforms had earned him more than thirty thousand points, while Maberen had gained over eight thousand.
• Worried that his illegal businesses might attract the Internal Revenue Service, Lee called Maberen and left the hotel to stir up Batman’s attention.
• Lee and Maberen walked through Gotham in disguise, and Maberen reflected on the oppressive pace of life in the game worlds.
• Lee and Maberen reached a tranquil park, where two children pointed toy guns at them and pretended to shoot.

Li Si thwarted an apparent assassination attempt on Maberen by two children and suspected the Joker was behind it. He took the injured children to a hospital, leaving the attackers’ larger plan unresolved.

• Li Si spotted a toy gun aimed at Maberen and kicked the first child aside before knocking the second child’s gun away.
• Li Si sent Maberen away and carried both children out of the park, suspecting the Joker had arranged the attack.
• A taxi driver tried to flee, so Li Si exposed a bomb beneath the seat and forced him to drive to the nearest hospital.
• Li Si treated the unconscious child’s injuries as best he could and asked Skynet to remind him to carry medical supplies for treating others.

Lee Stein took two injured children to Wayne Hospital, where a masked gunman attacked him in the lobby. The attacker revealed himself as Jason, who injected himself with drugs and demanded that Lee Stein let out the Hulk.

• Lee Stein brought the two injured children to Wayne Hospital and waited while they received treatment.
• The hospital crowd recognized Lee Stein's Jigsaw-like outfit, and he claimed he was only cosplaying.
• A silenced bullet curved away from Lee Stein after his electromagnetic deflection field activated, and further shots sent the lobby into chaos.
• Lu Yao, now calling himself Jason, approached Lee Stein and fired at him with a pistol fitted with a loudspeaker.
• Jason discarded the gun, injected himself with a collection of drugs, and demanded that Lee Stein release the Hulk.

Lee Stein confronted Jason, who mistook him for a man with alternate personalities and tried to provoke his transformation. A different Lizard-man appeared and fought Jason, but Lee turned on Jason too, ending the chapter by striking him with a laser cutter.

• Jason attacked Lee Stein with a baseball bat, believing the threat would bring out Lee’s alternate personality.
• A giant Lizard-man burst through the hospital wall and sent Jason flying while Lee watched in confusion.
• The Lizard-man tried to grab Jason, but Jason stunned it with a high-voltage device and rolled away as a grenade fell between it and Lee.
• Lee kicked the grenade toward Jason and swung his giant holographic cleaver across Jason’s escape route, but Jason charged through the harmless projection.
• Jason equipped an exoskeleton gauntlet, but Lee revealed the cleaver’s handle concealed a laser cutter and burned Jason in the kidney.

Li Si captured Jason after the fight and learned that the Lizard-man was Waylon Jones, who had teamed up with Maberen. Waiting in the hospital for the mastermind behind the attack, Li Si confronted Joker, who revealed the children’s cruelty and claimed he had prepared them as guests for Jigsaw’s show.

• Maberen returned with the unconscious Jason, while Waylon Jones followed and bickered with him about whether they were both lizard-men.
• Li Si sent Maberen and Waylon to Base Twelve with Lu Yao, then asked Skynet to find the children’s parents and went to the hospital ward.
• Li Si waited beside the injured child, reasoning that Joker had orchestrated Jason’s attack and would soon reveal his purpose.
• Joker entered the ward disguised as a male nurse, and Li Si punched him and lifted him by the collar.
• Joker called himself Li Si’s biggest fan and described the children’s cruel pranks, saying he had prepared them for Jigsaw’s show.

Li Si accepted Joker as an assistant and woke Lu Yao to learn about his discovery that Players could influence blueprint skills with real-world knowledge. Lu Yao feared Li Si might kill him to remove a rival, but Li Si showed little interest in the technique’s supposed value.

• Li Si accepted Joker’s offer to assist with his judgments after learning Skynet had found a connection between the bratty kids and Lucius Fox.
• At Secret Room No. 12, Li Si splashed water on Lu Yao and questioned him about his separate personality, Jason.
• Lu Yao offered to share a special technique in exchange for being spared, and Li Si let him explain.
• Lu Yao revealed that focused knowledge and intent could influence blueprint skills, potentially allowing Players to research technology with real-world applications.
• Lu Yao asked to leave after finishing his explanation, and Li Si calmly praised the discovery before asking whether Lu Yao feared being killed as a competitor.

Lee Stein offered Lu Yao a holographic chip that could trap Jason in a virtual world, but the treatment would initially block both personalities from controlling the body. Lu Yao questioned Lee Stein’s motives and risks, and Lee Stein left the choice to him.

• Lee Stein offered to use a modified holographic virtual chip to keep Jason from controlling Lu Yao’s body.
• Lee Stein explained that Lu Yao would need to provide neural-signal passwords and accurate game information to test the chip.
• Lu Yao realized the chip would initially intercept signals from both personalities, leaving the body effectively paralyzed whenever it activated.
• Lee Stein said the chip might eventually distinguish their neural signatures, but warned that Jason’s mental patient template could still force a switch.
• Lu Yao suspected Lee Stein might use the chip and their game data to control his body, but Lee Stein denied that the device could control muscles and called the experiment a Turing test.
• Lee Stein told Lu Yao he could accept the treatment or leave, and offered to use an NPC instead.