Chapter Summaries

Chen Xu announced that Nebula Games would develop Bloodborne, a punishing Souls-like game intended as a New Year gift for players. Meanwhile, players were stunned when a Nebula Game Platform update transformed the platform into a VR environment.

• Chen Xu revealed Bloodborne's title and explained that the team would return to level-based design rather than make another open-world game.
• Chen Xu described Bloodborne's new combat and resource systems, including Visceral Attack, Vileblood, Gun Parry, and Blood Vials that players had to buy.
• Qin Yi and the others imagined players losing health and Blood Echoes to smarter monsters, and they worried that Chen Xu's New Year gift was too cruel.
• Players entered the updated Nebula Game Platform and discovered it had become a VR-themed environment with a house already provided.

Song Ren discovered that Nebula had transformed its gaming platform into Nebula World, a personal island hub with explorable game realms, collectibles, and missions. After visiting Zhang Yi’s lavish island, he learned how players could earn or purchase decorations and real-world merchandise vouchers.

• Song Ren logged into Nebula World, met his steward Chloe, and learned that he could explore game realms, collect souvenirs, adopt pets, and earn Gold Coin to restart the museum’s construction.
• Song Ren explored his house and spotted familiar items from past games before accepting Zhang Yi’s invitation to visit his realm.
• Song Ren traveled through the Portal and found Zhang Yi’s island furnished with decorations, a pet house, and a Palico.
• Zhang Yi explained that players could unlock decorations by meeting game conditions, using Gold Coin, or spending game currency, which could also provide discounts and figurine vouchers.
• Song Ren was surprised by Zhang Yi’s Palico figurine voucher, and Zhang Yi joked that CEO Chen would like players with Song Ren’s way of thinking.

Song Ren and Zhang Yi explored Nebula World’s shop and entered the Warcraft-themed Stormwind City, where they chose character classes and discovered combat quests. They accepted Warden Selvat’s request to suppress a prison riot and investigate the force behind it.

• Song Ren spent Gold Coins and Tokens on decorations in Nebula World’s shop and noticed a mostly locked skill tree.
• Song Ren and Zhang Yi chose the Warcraft VR theme and traveled through a portal to Stormwind City.
• They selected identities, with Song Ren choosing warrior and Zhang Yi choosing mage.
• Song Ren and Zhang Yi found Warden Selvat by the prison and accepted a quest to quell a riot and investigate its cause.

Zhang Yi and Song Ren defeated a mutated Werewolf in the prison-themed dungeon and found an item that revealed a mysterious plane, confirming Nebula World contained Easter eggs for an upcoming game. As players hunted for more clues and PC players lamented being left out, Chen Xu replied to their complaints on the Official Blog, sparking excitement.

• Zhang Yi and Song Ren entered the prison dungeon, fought through its Werewolf-like prisoners, and defeated the mutated Werewolf boss.
• Zhang Yi and Song Ren found Madman's Knowledge among the boss's ashes and suspected it was an Easter egg for a new game.
• Song Ren returned to Nebula World, crushed the Skull, and received a message revealing a mysterious plane he could not yet connect to.
• Zhang Yi and Song Ren discussed the discovery while players across the internet searched Nebula World's themed planes for more Easter eggs.
• PC players complained that they could not enjoy Nebula World, and Chen Xu replied to them on the Official Blog.

Chen Xu announced that his new game would launch on PC at the same time as other platforms, while players explored Nebula World's themed realms and cataloged its Easter eggs. Song Ren crushed the final piece of Madman's Knowledge and triggered a transformation in Nebula World, leaving him facing a Blood Moon and the silhouette of a vast monster.

• Chen Xu announced that the new game would launch simultaneously on PC, exciting players who had been unable to experience Nebula World.
• VR players explored the themed realms, including Stormwind City, where Night Elf class restrictions sparked a debate about Warcraft lore.
• Players shared guides and compiled the Easter eggs discovered across Nebula World’s realms.
• Song Ren explored Jushan Mental Hospital, collected the final piece of Madman's Knowledge, and returned to his newly furnished home and museum.
• Song Ren crushed the item, and Nebula World darkened as a Blood Moon rose and an enormous monster’s shadow appeared behind it.

Song Ren experienced Nebula Games’ VR-style promotional video for a dark action game set in Yharnam, where hunters battled monstrous beasts. The video ended with Gehrman announcing that he was joining the hunt, leaving Song Ren convinced the game was action-focused but strangely familiar.

• Song Ren explored a sinister town beneath a Blood Moon, surrounded by corpse-like crowds and armed patrols.
• An old voice warned him about evil blood and said that the hunter would return when night fell.
• Song Ren saw visions of Yharnam’s Beast Plague, hunters fighting Werewolves, and blood transforming people.
• A Werewolf killed the hunter, after which a Gothic-dressed woman bid him farewell at a cemetery.
• The promotional video showed hunters slaughtering monsters before Gehrman declared, “Tonight, Gehrman joins the hunt!”
• Song Ren concluded that the game was an action title rather than a horror game, though its style felt familiar.

Players recognized the bonus promotional video as a new Soulslike and speculated that the game had no shields. Meanwhile, Chen Xu’s team continued developing Bloodborne, integrating its Old Hunter content and designing the Chalice Dungeons.

• Players connected the promotional video’s dark style, monsters, and Hunter combat to Dark Souls and speculated that the new game continued the series’ spirit.
• Players noticed that the Hunters carried no shields and worried they would lose a key way to defend themselves.
• Chen Xu led his team in developing Bloodborne, with much of the art finished and the game’s framework underway.
• Chen Xu integrated the Old Hunter DLC into the base game and planned prompts to prepare players for difficult encounters, including Ludwig and the Orphan of Kos.
• Chen Xu retained the Chalice Dungeons for their story lore, replay value, and Blood Gem builds, despite their repetitive layouts.

Chen Xu showed Qin Yi and the development team how to design unpredictable traps for Bloodborne, then gave Game Time Media and GameSpot an interview and gameplay demonstration. He revealed the game’s combat mechanics and Victorian-style hunter equipment, leaving the reporters reassured by the mention of shields despite their limited usefulness.

• Chen Xu rejected Qin Yi’s obvious trap designs and explained how to mix safe pickups, hidden dangers, and chained traps to surprise players.
• Chen Xu met with Li Ye of Game Time Media and Liu Yue of GameSpot to discuss Bloodborne, confirming it would give players a familiar Souls-like feeling.
• Chen Xu demonstrated Visceral Attack, which let the Hunter finish a staggered enemy with a charged strike from behind.
• Chen Xu explained that players could carry twenty Blood Vials and recover recently lost health by attacking enemies after being hit.
• Chen Xu showed the Hunter’s Victorian-style outfit and agile dodges, then told the reporters that shields existed but were neither available from the start nor particularly useful.

After Bloodborne’s interviews and gameplay demo sparked debate over its difficulty, players concluded that shields and twenty Blood Vials would let newcomers play safely while experts used aggressive combat. The development team at Nebula Games watched the discussion with speechless expressions, knowing the players’ expectations might not match reality.

• GameSpot and GameSky released interviews in which Chen Xu discussed Bloodborne’s removed armor system, shields, and twenty Blood Vials, prompting veterans to debate whether the game would be too easy.
• Chen Xu’s Official Blog uploaded a gameplay demo showing Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower defeating the Hunter with brutal speed while demonstrating Visceral Attacks and Gun Parries.
• Players praised Lady Maria’s appearance and Bloodborne’s combat, then speculated that experts could fight aggressively while newcomers relied on shields and Blood Vials.
• Dark Souls veterans joked that only the weak used shields in Yharnam, while Ruan Ningxue, Yang Xin, and the development team silently doubted that players’ expectations matched the game’s reality.

Song Ren and Zhang Yi entered Bloodborne to race each other to the first boss, with deaths adding time to their results. Song Ren created a Battlefield Veteran character and began the opening blood transfusion in Yharnam.

• Song Ren and Zhang Yi dressed as Hunters and agreed to race to the first boss, adding five minutes to their time for every death.
• Song Ren entered Bloodborne and found himself in a dim room with an old man sitting in a wheelchair.
• The wheelchair-bound man explained that Song Ren had come to Yharnam to uncover its mysteries and needed to make a contract.
• Song Ren chose the Battlefield Veteran background and created a female character with a slender build and a pretty hairstyle.
• The old man declared the contract complete and began the transfusion, warning Song Ren that he would think of what happened as only a nightmare.

Song Ren woke in Josefka's Clinic after a terrifying vision and explored the clinic, convinced he understood Bloodborne's tricks. He escaped the Werewolf by running through a doorway and left it stuck there, certain his strategy was right.

• Song Ren saw a Werewolf and pale, skeletal creatures in a vision before waking in Josefka's Clinic, where a woman called him a Hunter.
• Song Ren spoke with Zhang Yi, who said the Werewolf had killed him, but Song Ren cut him off to avoid spoilers.
• Song Ren explored the clinic, found a note about seeking Paleblood, and learned the game's controls from the floor messages.
• Song Ren encountered a Werewolf gnawing on a corpse, mistook it for a Dark Souls boss, and ran past it instead of fighting.
• Song Ren picked up three Blood Vials, opened the clinic's main door, and entered the Courtyard while the Werewolf got stuck in the doorway.

Song Ren explored the opening area of Bloodborne, convinced that he had to defeat enemies to obtain a weapon. After killing a Yharnam Villager, he discovered that his elaborate theories had been wrong and learned from Old Zhang that weapons were chosen in the Hunter’s Dream.

• Song Ren collected Quicksilver Bullets and Blood Vials while exploring the Courtyard and the route beyond its gate, but found no weapon.
• Song Ren fought a Yharnam Villager, convinced that the enemy was meant to teach players how to perform Visceral Attacks.
• Song Ren killed the Villager after a long fight and confidently predicted that its drop would be a weapon.
• Song Ren picked up the Villager’s drop and found that it was a Blood Vial instead.
• Old Zhang asked which weapon Song Ren had chosen in the Hunter’s Dream, leaving Song Ren to realize he had missed the weapon selection.

After reaching Hunter’s Dream, Song Ren discovered that he had to die before receiving a starting weapon and chose the Hunter Axe. He explored the workshop, met the Wheelchair Old Man, and ended the chapter wondering where the promised shields were.

• Song Ren activated the lamp and entered Hunter’s Dream, where a Messenger offered him three weapons after his death.
• Song Ren chose the Hunter Axe, tested its attacks and transforming Long-Handle Mode, and selected a Shotgun as his off-hand weapon.
• Song Ren explored Hunter’s Dream and met the Wheelchair Old Man, who welcomed him and explained that hunting beasts was his task.
• Song Ren inspected the workshop and found that he could not yet upgrade his weapons.
• Song Ren read a cryptic message about ending the beast plague, then wondered why he had not found a shield.

Song Ren relied on the Hunter Axe’s powerful attacks as he explored Central Yharnam and learned from Gilbert how to reach the Healing Church. He confidently charged into a group of villagers and died, leaving his progress at the familiar Souls-like death screen.

• Song Ren returned to Iosefka's Clinic, killed the wounded Werewolf with the Hunter Axe’s charged Spinning Attack, and confirmed the weapon could knock enemies back.
• Song Ren tested the Shotgun, found it ineffective, and continued through Central Yharnam with the Hunter Axe in Long-Handle Mode.
• Song Ren spoke with Gilbert, who told him that records about Dull Blood might be found at the Healing Church in the Grand Cathedral Ward.
• Song Ren spotted a villager pretending to be a corpse and killed it with a charged Hunter Axe strike.
• Four Yharnam Villagers attacked Song Ren together, overwhelming him and triggering the death screen.

After respawning in Yharnam, Song Ren lost his Blood Echoes and cautiously explored the dangerous streets, finding a shortcut, a mob of hostile villagers, and stronger enemies. He found a better set of Hunter attire but still had not discovered another lamp.

• Song Ren respawned at the lamp with zero Blood Echoes and avoided the elite enemy Big Axe Bro.
• Song Ren found a shortcut by the main gate and saw a bonfire gathering where villagers burned beastlike Werewolves.
• Song Ren repeatedly died to Yharnam’s villagers and traps while searching for another lamp, and mocked them for calling him a vile outsider.
• Song Ren explored the layered streets and Sewers, where stronger Werewolves killed him in two hits.
• Song Ren found the Hunter attire from the promotional video, but changing into it did not help him survive the Werewolves’ attacks.

Song Ren explored Central Yharnam, found a Crow-attired NPC and accepted a little girl’s request to find her parents. After gaining Spiritual Sight from Madman’s Knowledge, he discovered the Doll Girl had come to life and could level him up, but learned that Zhang Yi already knew how to awaken her.

• Song Ren struggled through Central Yharnam, bought Blood Vials, and met the Crow-attired NPC, who gave him Reckless Hunter’s Marks.
• Song Ren found Madman’s Knowledge, raised his Spiritual Sight to one, and opened a shortcut back toward the first Brick Bro.
• Song Ren spoke to a little girl who asked him to find her missing parents and gave him a Music Box to deliver to her mother.
• Song Ren used a Reckless Hunter’s Mark to return to the Hunter’s Dream and found the Doll Girl alive, along with a Summoning Bell and Silent Blank.
• Song Ren called Zhang Yi to boast that he knew how to awaken the Doll Girl, but Zhang Yi said he already knew about Spiritual Sight and complained about the Clerical Beast BOSS.

Song Ren summoned Father Gascoigne and defeated the Clerical Beast with firebombs and Oil Urns, then bragged to Zhang Yi about how easy the fight was. Zhang Yi called him a cheating outsider and immediately went to buy Firebombs himself.

• Song Ren learned from Zhang Yi how to find the summoning point and reach the Clerical Beast, then told him about the little girl's quest.
• Song Ren summoned Father Gascoigne at the Fountain and discovered the spirit did not respond to the little girl.
• Song Ren brought Father Gascoigne to the Clerical Beast, using Oil Urns and Incendiary Grenades to reduce its health before finishing it with his axe.
• Song Ren told Zhang Yi he had defeated the Clerical Beast easily, and Zhang Yi condemned his tactics before buying Firebombs from the Messengers.

Song Ren explored Yharnam after defeating a BOSS, upgrading his health and Hunter Axe before reaching Yharnam Tomb. There he discovered that Father Gascoigne, the NPC he had previously fought beside, was now a BOSS—and Gascoigne's gunshot took a third of Song Ren's health.

• Song Ren returned to the Hunter's Dream, raised his health, reinforced his Hunter Axe to +1, and prepared to explore further.
• Song Ren left a helpful Message, climbed out of the Sewer, and narrowly dodged a Great Fireball that crushed a patrol of Yharnam Villagers.
• Song Ren fought his way to Yharnam Tomb and found Father Gascoigne attacking a Werewolf corpse.
• Song Ren recognized Father Gascoigne as the NPC he had previously summoned and charged at him.
• Father Gascoigne shot Song Ren with a Quicksilver Bullet, taking a third of his health and startling him with the damage.

Song Ren struggled against Father Gascoigne, using the Music Box to create openings before repeated use triggered the boss’s Werewolf transformation. Unable to fight back, Song Ren died and lost all his Blood Echoes, leaving him with few Blood Vials and a need to farm more.

• Song Ren traded shots and blows with Father Gascoigne, using Blood Vials as he tried to survive the boss’s attacks.
• Song Ren remembered the Music Box, discovered it repeatedly stunned Father Gascoigne, and used the opening to deal heavy damage.
• Song Ren played the Music Box again, causing Father Gascoigne to transform into a huge Werewolf.
• Song Ren tried to evade the transformed Father Gascoigne around trees, but the Music Box no longer affected him and he ran low on Blood Vials.
• Father Gascoigne killed Song Ren, who lost all his Blood Echoes and realized he would need to farm Blood Vials.

Song Ren defeated Father Gascoigne by exploiting the tombstones and the Music Box, then found clues about the fate of Gascoigne’s wife. He continued through Central Yharnam, learned of a safe chapel, and discovered a wooden shield that Chen Xu had said was in the game.

• Song Ren respawned and reconsidered how Father Gascoigne’s aggressive attacks offered chances to land gun parries, though timing them remained difficult.
• Song Ren trapped Father Gascoigne behind tombstones, used the Music Box and firebombs, and defeated him after his transformation.
• Song Ren found the Key to Yharnam Tomb and the Red Gem Brooch, which identified the dead woman as Viola and left him wondering whether Gascoigne had killed her.
• Song Ren visited Adella’s Chapel and learned that the incense made it a safer place for people fleeing the beasts.
• Song Ren killed two large men and found a Wooden Shield, celebrating that the game did contain shields despite the item description warning that Hunters did not use them.