Chapter Summaries

Lu Xiu packaged her sixth instance, Witch, under the theme Lies and entered it to verify the experience as Viola’s childhood friend. Inside the forest, she treated the frightened Viola harshly and forced her to lead the way into The Witch’s House.

• Lu Xiu named her instance Witch, set its theme to Lies, and packaged it despite the 50,000 Survival Point stabilization fee.
• Lu Xiu entered the instance in Architect verification mode, briefly lost access to her construction memories, then recovered them in the forest.
• Lu Xiu found Viola beside a rose barrier and ordered her to lead them back toward The Witch’s House.
• A talking black cat pointed them toward a sparkling object, and Viola retrieved rusty pruning shears that could cut through the thinner roses blocking the manor path.
• Lu Xiu kicked open the manor door and threatened Viola into scouting the dark entrance hall.

Viola and Lu Xiu explored The Witch's House, solved a teddy-bear puzzle, and fled from the monster it unleashed. After Lu Xiu blamed Viola for the chase, Viola decided she had probably not discovered the truth about her identity, but resolved to keep observing her.

• Lu Xiu and Viola found a bloodstained room that vanished behind them, and Lu Xiu disappeared while Viola searched the mansion for her.
• Lu Xiu retrieved a small teddy bear, and she and Viola found a puzzle requiring it to be placed inside a basket with a larger bear.
• Viola cut off the small bear's limbs with rusty scissors, causing it to gush blood and twitch before it became an ordinary toy again.
• Lu Xiu forced the bear's remains into the basket, triggering the puzzle's completion and releasing a monstrous version of the giant bear.
• Lu Xiu and Viola ran from the giant bear and escaped into a room, where Lu Xiu blamed Viola for insisting on cutting the toy apart.
• Viola suspected Lu Xiu might have discovered her secret, then concluded she was probably mistaken and decided to keep watching her.

Lu Xiu and Viola navigated the Witch’s House, with Lu Xiu repeatedly risking Viola’s safety while rescuing her from danger and strengthening Viola’s attachment to her. In the mansion’s final room, they uncovered a diary revealing that the purple-haired girl wanted Viola’s body and name, and Viola realized the Soul-Severing Blade might be within Lu Xiu’s reach.

• Lu Xiu and Viola solved the mansion’s puzzles, and Viola’s hostility toward Lu Xiu faded as she grew possessive of her.
• They reached the fifth-floor courtyard, found the purple doll and its head, and opened a passage to the final room.
• Lu Xiu read the diary entry describing a girl who planned to take Viola’s body and live on in it because they were friends.
• A purple-haired, eyeless girl crawled from the shadows, and Lu Xiu fled through the door while Viola followed.
• Lu Xiu turned into a storage room to draw the monster away, leaving Viola to flee down the main passage alone.
• Viola revealed that the monster was her former body and recalled leaving the Soul-Severing Blade in the room before realizing Lu Xiu might find it.

Lu Xiu confronted Ellen, who had stolen Viola’s body, while the real Viola watched from the shadows. After the hunter interrupted the confrontation and threatened Lu Xiu, she knocked him unconscious and prepared to continue fighting Ellen.

• The Witch’s House began collapsing as Lu Xiu returned with the Soul-Severing Blade, and Viola fled the pursuing Ellen toward the front hall.
• Lu Xiu seized Viola, identified her as Ellen, and revealed that she had read Viola’s diary and meant to protect Viola’s body.
• Ellen accused Lu Xiu of betraying her, while the real Viola watched from the hall as Lu Xiu raised the blade against Ellen.
• Viola’s father burst in and aimed his shotgun at Lu Xiu, then turned it toward the eyeless, crawling Viola.
• Lu Xiu used Ellen as a distraction, knocked the hunter unconscious with his shotgun, and advanced on Ellen with the Soul-Severing Blade.

Lu Xiu restored Viola and burned down The Witch's House, staying behind until the dungeon countdown took her away. As Ellen died in the flames, she vowed to find Lu Xiu, while Black Cat emerged from hiding after the fire.

• Lu Xiu used the Soul-Severing Blade to return Ellen and Viola's souls to their rightful bodies, and Viola woke up safe.
• Lu Xiu and Viola dragged the unconscious Hunter out of The Witch's House, but Lu Xiu went back inside alone and locked Viola outside.
• Lu Xiu told Ellen that her suffering did not excuse her crimes, then set The Witch's House on fire.
• As the fire consumed the Mansion, Ellen became fixated on Lu Xiu and vowed to find her; Lu Xiu waited for the dungeon countdown and vanished in white light.
• The burning House collapsed as Viola wept outside, and Black Cat emerged from hiding behind the Mansion.

After clearing the Witch instance, Lu Xiu received an SSS-rank skill and two SS-rank headbands, making her accept the system’s “Heartbreaker” evaluation. The Coordination Bureau was left demanding the promised footage of her run, which the system never showed.

• The system evaluated Lu Xiu as a “Heartbreaker,” rated her Witch instance SS+, and awarded her construction experience, Spirit points, and the Effect and Cause Severance skill.
• Lu Xiu examined the skill and realized it could remove buffs, restrictions, and outside control, strengthening her ability to protect herself.
• The system awarded Lu Xiu experience, Survival Points, attribute points, Ellen’s Red Headband, and Viola’s Black Headband for her clear.
• Lu Xiu inspected the headbands’ skill-stealing and anti-stealing effects and decided she could tolerate the Heartbreaker label for such powerful rewards.
• At the Coordination Bureau, Yan Fushou demanded to know why the system had failed to provide the promised footage of Lu Xiu clearing the instance.

Yan Fushou and the others waited for Lu Xiu’s [Witch] clear-verification footage, but the system never showed it, leaving them to speculate about the dungeon’s lies theme and unprecedented SS+ rating. Players debated whether Lu Xiu could surpass her earlier horror-survival dungeons while Lu Xiu herself examined the rewards she had earned.

• Yan Fushou waited three hours with Jian Li, Shen Nian, Cheng Xiu, Wei Yidong, Fan Lixin, and others, but the system did not show Lu Xiu’s clear-verification footage.
• Shen Nian suggested that the system’s promise to show the footage might itself be a lie, and the others admitted that Lu Xiu’s dungeon could make that possible.
• Wei Yidong proposed asking Lu Xiu whether the rewards were good to estimate the dungeon’s difficulty, and Yan Fushou recognized the suggestion as useful.
• Players on the forum argued over the [Witch] dungeon’s [Horror/Puzzle-Solving/Survival] classification, its [Lies] theme, and its SS+ rating while waiting for it to go live.
• Lu Xiu considered how to wear the two heroine hair ribbons among her rewards, alongside the SSS-rank skill [Effect and Cause Severance].

After clearing her new Witch instance, Lu Xiu equipped matching black ribbons, considered the dungeon’s unusually flexible rewards, and put it online. Players entered immediately, and Wei Yidong was killed by Viola before he could understand what had happened.

• Lu Xiu wore both hair ribbons, changed their colors to match, and gained eight points of Constitution, Plunder, and two skills.
• Lu Xiu noticed the dungeon’s SS+ rating and speculated that its open endings and player-driven choices had raised its evaluation.
• Lu Xiu told Yan Fushou she had cleared the instance but could not inspect its rewards, then released the instance online.
• Players rushed to enter the Witch instance, including Wei Yidong, who spawned beside Viola and followed her toward The Witch's House.
• Viola tricked Wei Yidong into examining the rose wall, stabbed him in the neck, and told him he was not the person she needed.
• Wei Yidong returned to the Coordination Bureau with his memories of the death blurred and angrily wondered how he had died.

Wei Yidong entered Lu Xiu’s Witch instance again and found Viola, while Lu Xiu received a system notice that her own cleared version would be excluded from the online instance’s deduction. Inside the mansion, Shen Nian and Viola solved puzzles and evaded deadly traps, but Shen Nian grew suspicious of how easy everything seemed and wondered what the instance’s SS+ rating and theme of Lies concealed.

• Wei Yidong complained to Yan Fushou that Lu Xiu’s instance was impossible, then entered the Witch instance and saw Viola again.
• Lu Xiu received a system notice that her builder-cleared version would be deduced separately from the online official version until her level-ten function unlocked.
• Shen Nian and Viola found scissors, cut the little bear to fit it into a basket, and triggered a mechanism that opened a door.
• A huge teddy bear chased Shen Nian and Viola through the mansion, but they escaped and continued exploring.
• Shen Nian and Viola avoided deadly rooms and solved puzzles using numerous hints, prompting Shen Nian to suspect that the instance was deliberately too straightforward.

Shen Nian believed she had rescued Viola from the witch and earned the Savior Ending, but Viola’s words and expression revealed that Shen Nian had misunderstood who was deceiving whom. The instance cleared with the evaluation “You are a joke,” and players discovered that rewards differed between clearers.

• Shen Nian found diary entries suggesting the witch wanted Viola’s healthy body, then protected Viola as they escaped the mansion while the witch pursued them.
• Viola’s father shot the witch dead, and Shen Nian believed she had achieved the Savior Ending after bringing Viola safely to him.
• Viola revealed that she had visited the forest before and had a sick friend, making Shen Nian realize that Viola might have been connected to Ellen and that the instance’s truth was not what she had assumed.
• Viola looked at Shen Nian with a mocking smile as she left with her father, and Shen Nian’s attempt to stop them was interrupted by the instance-clear message and the evaluation “You are a joke.”
• Players on the forum debated Shen Nian’s A-rank skill reward, “Don’t Look,” before another player posted a different reward screenshot.

Players from the Coordination Bureau compared their rewards for Lu Xiu’s Witch dungeon and realized their blurred memories hid different endings. Shen Nian suspected the dungeon’s instructions had lied about whose hand they should hold, while Jian Li warned that Viola and the protagonist were suspicious.

• Forum players discussed the wildly different skills awarded for clearing the Witch dungeon, including Cheng Xiu’s S-rank Resentment and Shen Nian’s A-rank Don’t Look.
• Shen Nian, Wei Yidong, and Fan Lixin compared their mocking rewards with Cheng Xiu’s Resentment, while Yan Fushou concluded the results depended on their choices at the ending.
• Jian Li returned with an SS-rank Counterkill skill and said Viola and the dungeon’s protagonist had seemed suspicious, though her memories of the ending were blurred.
• Shen Nian noticed the dungeon’s instructions never identified whose hand players should hold and suggested that the target might have been the crawling monster rather than Viola.
• Shen Nian asked the others to share the Witch’s diary fragments so they could look for clues and test her theory.

Players realized that Lu Xiu’s [Witch] dungeon had tricked them into protecting the Witch after she swapped bodies with Viola, while the real Viola was mistaken for the monster. As players and constructors reeled from the reveal, Lu Xiu discovered that the sealed dungeon had produced two data orbs and wondered what would happen when they merged.

• Players compared the dungeon’s supplementary explanation, skill notes, and diary fragments and concluded that the blond girl they had escorted was the Witch, while the Witch they had pursued was the real Viola.
• Jiang Qiu, Xiao Chi, Jin Yi, Sun Yi, Shen Nian, and other players and constructors reacted in shock as they recognized how the dungeon had misled them.
• Players flooded the forum with complaints after realizing they had helped the Witch return to the hunter, and the system’s clearance evaluation had called them a joke.
• Queenie reconsidered the dungeon’s narrative traps and mental impact, then noted it as a possible breakthrough for the Nine Provinces in the Cross-Realm Arena.
• Lu Xiu entered the construction space and found that the sealed [Witch] instance had produced two data orbs, one large and one small.

Lu Xiu worried that the system’s growing attention might expose her hidden memory bug, then tried to provoke the goddess and was interrupted by Shen Nian and Jian Li at her door. The visitors’ reason for coming remained unclear as Jian Li touched Lu Xiu’s twin-tails.

• Lu Xiu found that the system had revoked her access to the official [Witch] dungeon, so she could not enter to farm the Resentment skill.
• Lu Xiu considered whether the system’s special treatment meant it had noticed her ability to retain memories during dungeon verification, then decided to keep building dungeons and strengthen herself.
• Lu Xiu called the goddess “shorty” and “shorty goddess,” but nothing happened immediately.
• Shen Nian and Jian Li arrived at Lu Xiu’s home, and Shen Nian’s complaint about the dungeon turned into praise when she saw Lu Xiu’s outfit and twin-tails.
• Jian Li touched Lu Xiu’s twin-tails, leaving Lu Xiu asking what the two visitors had come for.

Shen Nian visited Lu Xiu to ask whether the [Witch] instance had a reversible ending, and Lu Xiu confirmed it through a veiled hint. Meanwhile, Zhang Chongshan struggled to describe Prison Rock’s modified dungeon to its prime minister and looked forward to returning to Nine Provinces.

• Lu Xiu tied Jian Li’s hair into low twin-tails while Jian Li sat quietly beside her.
• Lu Xiu hinted that the [Witch] instance had a reversible ending, and Shen Nian realized she could try to complete it without dying.
• Jian Li admired Lu Xiu’s hair, while Shen Nian joined the conversation and agreed that it was fine to look at it.
• Zhang Chongshan told Prison Rock’s prime minister that their dungeon resembled Lu Xiu’s, despite privately thinking its changes had strayed far from her design.
• Zhang Chongshan counted down the days until the new version and imagined returning to Nine Provinces to watch Jian Ning and the Strategy Group’s strongest fighter clash.

Lu Xiu discussed the [Witch] instance’s rewards and difficulty with Shen Nian and Jian Li, then considered how to design a much longer combat instance. Shen Nian and Jian Li entered [Witch] again to pursue its reversal ending, while Lu Xiu stayed behind to rest and sort through her wardrobe.

• Lu Xiu learned that Jian Li had earned the SS skill “Counterkill” and asked both players to share feedback on her experimental [Witch] instance.
• Shen Nian and Jian Li agreed to replay the instance, and Lu Xiu asked whether a combat dungeon requiring over thirty hours for a smooth clear would be too long.
• Shen Nian warned Lu Xiu not to overwork players, then changed her mind about borrowing everyday clothes after sensing Jian Li’s hostile gaze.
• Jian Li touched Lu Xiu’s hair before entering the instance, and Lu Xiu wondered whether the players could overcome the reversal ending’s harsh conditions.
• Shen Nian arrived in the forest facing Viola, resolved to stop the Witch, and wondered how Lu Xiu had designed the reversal ending.

Shen Nian repeatedly entered Lu Xiu’s Witch dungeon, trying to change its tragic ending, but each attempt revealed new obstacles and led to another death. Meanwhile, players discovered a powerful dungeon reward, and the Coordination Bureau ordered Sun Yi to prepare a lower-tier substitute dungeon before the new version arrived.

• Shen Nian failed to save the real Viola or harm the fake Viola, then preserved a few clues through the memory-blurring mechanism before killing herself and leaving the dungeon.
• Shen Nian suspected that collecting evidence could unlock a new ending, but her second attempt failed to change the forest tragedy.
• On her third attempt, Shen Nian explored the mansion thoroughly, found the Soul-Severing Blade, and triggered a swarm of resentful spirits when she removed it from its magic circle.
• Players on the Nine Provinces Forum discussed their failures and reacted to a screenshot revealing a powerful Counterkill skill as a dungeon reward.
• Li Shengkai told Sun Yi to create a lower-tier substitute dungeon for Titanfall so players could prepare before the new version arrived.

Lu Xiu sorted through her clothes with Shen Nian and Jian Li, explaining why the Witch dungeon’s reversed ending had to be so difficult. While organizing the clothes, she found inspiration for a huge new combat instance built from connected areas and Bonfires that let players choose whether to rest.

• Shen Nian visited Lu Xiu to complain about the reversed ending, but Lu Xiu explained that its difficulty made the other endings and the dungeon’s logic hold together.
• Shen Nian helped Lu Xiu sort clothes, and the two chatted about their wardrobes and Jian Li’s habit of wearing skirts.
• Jian Li arrived and said she had cleared the reversed ending, showing Lu Xiu her SS-rated skill, Take Their Place.
• As the three sorted clothes, Shen Nian’s comment about dividing the clothes into storage boxes gave Lu Xiu an idea for breaking a thirty-hour instance into linked areas with Bonfires and optional rest buffs.
• Lu Xiu thanked Shen Nian for inspiring the idea, and Shen Nian panicked and denied having anything to do with the new instance.

Players struggled through Lu Xiu’s Witch dungeon as the Coordination Bureau worked on guides and prepared for the new version. With six days left before the update, Construction Clubs began releasing easier community dungeons inspired by Lu Xiu’s earlier work, while the Play Society’s contacts raised concerns at the Bureau.

• An ordinary player cleared the Witch dungeon’s reversal ending and revealed an SS reward that granted eighty percent damage reduction against one source for five minutes.
• Yan Fushou and Li Shengkai discussed the difficult reversal-ending guide, the frontline’s demand for all three rewards, and Jian Li and Shen Nian’s visits to Lu Xiu.
• Li Shengkai told Yan Fushou that Construction Clubs had abandoned attempts to copy the Witch dungeon and were imitating Lu Xiu’s earlier dungeons instead; he also reported that the Play Society had contacted several clubs and guilds.
• Construction Clubs and the Coordination Bureau released a wave of lower-tier community dungeons inspired by Lu Xiu’s previous work, giving players easier places to practice and regain confidence.
• The countdown to the new version reached its final six days.

Yan Fushou questioned Queenie about the Apostles and learned that a previous region’s architect had died after becoming an Apostle candidate, but he refused to let her use the information to force a compromise. As the new version approached, both regions prepared for trouble while Lu Xiu continued building her new instance, which would not be ready before launch.

• Yan Fushou told Queenie that she faced daily sedatives and weakening skills or execution, then asked what she knew about the Apostle.
• Queenie warned Yan Fushou that an architect from another region had died upon becoming an Apostle candidate, causing his region to fall from I-rank to V-rank.
• Queenie suggested that Prison Rock had experienced earlier version updates, but Yan Fushou ended the interrogation without compromising and told Hu Duo that she should not be killed yet.
• Yan Fushou and Hu Duo reviewed security arrangements, including recalled frontline soldiers, Lu Xiu’s close watch, and preparations for the new version.
• With the new version twenty hours away, Lu Xiu concluded that her new instance would not be ready before launch and watched frontline soldiers gather below her apartment.
• Shen Nian called Lu Xiu to dinner, interrupting her brief moment of nervous anticipation.

As the Iron and Blood version went live, Lu Xiu and players across Nine Provinces learned that the cross-realm arena would pit Chen Capital against Prison Rock’s Obsidian City in battles that could decide control of territory. Lu Xiu faced the choice to attack or defend as the first city confrontation began loading.

• Shen Nian and Jian Li told Lu Xiu they had to return to the Coordination Bureau before the new version opened, and Jian Li urged her to protect herself.
• After they left, Lu Xiu returned to her construction space while players and major fighters across Nine Provinces prepared for the cross-realm arena.
• When the countdown reached zero, the system launched the Iron and Blood version and named Prison Rock as Nine Provinces’ opponent.
• The system announced a City Confrontation War between Chen Capital and Obsidian City, dividing both cities into independent combat zones.
• The rules explained that players would choose to attack or defend, fight through dungeon scenarios, and risk losing items or territory if defeated.
• Lu Xiu saw the system’s prompt to choose her side and realized the arena was a territorial war rather than what she had expected.