Recaps

Liu Xing and Wang Qi used the Electric Door Opener manual to learn how long the castle gate would take to open, then discovered that the Elder Signs covering the Castle Wall were only wallpaper. The chapter left Liu Xing stunned by the revelation.

• Liu Xing questioned KP004 about whether it had planned to make the manual unreadable, and KP004 explained that language barriers would appear in later areas and advised Characters to learn foreign languages.
• KP004 asked Liu Xing and Wang Qi to choose who would open the manual, and Wang Qi handed it to Liu Xing.
• Liu Xing opened the manual and rolled a door-opening time of nineteen minutes, with the opener beginning after ten minutes of preheating.
• Wang Qi made an obvious meta-gaming comment, and KP004 warned him but let him off without a penalty.
• Liu Xing and Wang Qi returned the manual and headed toward the Main Building, where Liu Xing slipped and discovered that the Elder Signs on the Castle Wall were printed on wallpaper.

Liu Xing and Wang Qi discovered that the Elder Signs on Ains Castle’s walls were merely wallpaper and found an Electric Door Opener that could open the main wooden gate. After explaining their escape plan to the others, Liu Xing won Wang Si Yi’s agreement to use the gate as their likely way out.

• Liu Xing realized that the Elder Signs covering Ains Castle’s wall were printed on wallpaper, and Wang Qi discovered the same when he examined it.
• Liu Xing returned to the Main Building with Wang Qi and learned that Chen Ling had been forced to help Bai He Cheng in the bathroom.
• Liu Xing told the group that the small iron gate could not be opened without a key or force, and forcing it would trigger the alarm.
• Liu Xing explained that he and Wang Qi had found an Electric Door Opener that could open the large wooden gate after preparation and operation.
• Wang Si Yi agreed that opening the wooden gate was their best theoretical escape route unless they found a secret passage or a suitable rope.

Liu Xing and the others prepared for their escape and decided how to conceal Bai He Cheng’s condition from the Castle Lord. At the banquet, the Castle Lord’s blood-red eyes triggered an Inspiration roll, and Bai He Cheng achieved a Critical Success despite being blind.

• Liu Xing and the others agreed on an escape plan involving Wang Qi activating the Electric Door Opener while the rest distracted the BOSS and Old Wayne.
• Liu Xing told the group that none of them had points in Other Languages, and he was relieved that his Investigation Critical Success had made the Operation Manual Chinese.
• The Castle Lord returned as the Electric Door Opener started, but the group chose to stay with Bai He Cheng rather than greet him.
• Old Wayne invited everyone to a banquet, and the group planned to explain Bai He Cheng’s condition without revealing that they had taken the parchment scroll.
• Liu Xing volunteered to speak with the Castle Lord, then the group attended the banquet and saw his blood-red eyes.
• KP004 called for an Inspiration roll, and Bai He Cheng achieved a Critical Success despite being blind.

At dinner in Ains Castle, Liu Xing suspected Gary Raphael was using Isabella as a medium and learned that the castle’s lord had lost his title after the century-old disappearance of soldiers. When Liu Xing explained Bai He Cheng’s blindness, Gary used Psychology on him, prompting a hidden contest.

• Liu Xing pointed out that Bai He Cheng’s Pseudo-Disability meant he could not see the Castle Lord, so KP004 ruled that Bai He Cheng’s Inspiration check automatically failed.
• The other Players lost one SAN point after seeing Gary’s bloodlike eyes, but gained no Cthulhu Mythos Knowledge.
• Gary introduced himself as the master of Ains Castle and began dinner without Isabella, leading Liu Xing to suspect that Gary had made her a medium.
• Gary invited the Players to tell him their travel stories in his study, and Liu Xing agreed on the group’s behalf.
• Gary explained that his ancestor had lost his title after the soldiers disappeared from Ains Castle a century earlier.
• After Gary questioned Bai He Cheng’s eyes, Liu Xing attributed the blindness to a hereditary condition, and Gary used Psychology on him.

After Liu Xing won a Psychology contest against Gary, the group used their remaining planning time to prepare for their escape from Ains Castle. They settled on a signal and divided up tasks, leaving Wang Qi and Chen Ling ready to open the gate and secure a car once the final interview ended.

• Liu Xing rolled a Critical Success in a Psychology contest against Gary, won despite Gary having the higher skill, and gained one point in Psychology after the session.
• Liu Xing and Gary made small talk over dinner, and Gary invited Liu Xing to meet him in the study after he tidied it.
• Liu Xing returned to the room with Bai He Cheng and the others and used the group's remaining Escape Room Time to plan their departure.
• Wang Si Yi proposed coordinating by text, and the group assigned Wang Qi to operate the Electric Door Opener while keeping Liu Xing as backup.
• Chen Ling volunteered to secure a car from the garage with Wang Si Yi as backup, and the group planned to disable the other vehicles.
• The group agreed that after the last person finished meeting Gary, he would text Wang Qi, then everyone would head to the garage and drive to the gate to escape Ains Castle.

Liu Xing’s meeting with Gary was interrupted when Gary discovered the missing parchment and went to question Isabella. After Isabella denied seeing anyone upstairs and Gary struck her, Liu Xing intervened, and Gary forced him against the second-floor railing at gunpoint.

• Liu Xing met Gary in the study and repeated his assigned story about visiting Ains Town to watch Manchester United and tour the castle.
• Gary noticed that the parchment scroll was missing and left to investigate.
• Liu Xing overheard Gary question Isabella, who denied that anyone besides Old Wayne had gone upstairs.
• Gary used Psychology to catch Isabella lying, but she refused to change her answer and told him to leave.
• Gary slapped Isabella, and Liu Xing rushed in to confront him.
• Gary shoved Liu Xing, drew a pistol, and backed him against the second-floor railing.

Liu Xing talked Gary down after Gary pointed a handgun at him, and the Main Quest changed to allow Players to leave Ains Castle. He then found Isabella crying and invited her to leave with him, and she agreed.

• Gary demanded to know what Liu Xing knew and pointed a handgun at him.
• Liu Xing succeeded at a Persuasion check, convinced Gary he had come to stop him from hitting Isabella, and Gary put away the gun.
• KP004 announced that Players could leave Ains Castle, with the mission completing once they were ten kilometers from Ains Town.
• Liu Xing failed a Listen check but vaguely heard Gary mutter words including “child,” “stupid,” and “ridiculous.”
• Liu Xing found Isabella crying and invited her to leave with him, and Isabella agreed.

Liu Xing and his companions prepared to flee Ains Castle after Gary discovered the missing parchment, while Liu Xing retrieved Isabella’s photograph. The photograph concealed her mother’s necklace, and Liu Xing left the hall with Isabella and Bai He Cheng to join the others at the garage.

• Liu Xing warned his companions that Gary was armed and urged them to escape; Wang Qi went to open the Castle Gate, while Chen Ling and Wang Si Yi searched for cars.
• Liu Xing found Isabella’s photograph in the hall and chose not to open its frame, worried that doing so would damage Isabella’s trust.
• Isabella opened the frame herself, retrieved her mother’s necklace, and followed Liu Xing downstairs.
• Liu Xing found Bai He Cheng waiting in the hall and led him and Isabella toward the garage as the others began preparing to leave.

Liu Xing and the others escaped Ains Castle in a van despite the lack of seats and waited for the gates to open. They left the castle without Gary appearing, completing the first step of their main quest.

• Chen Ling drove the van while Liu Xing persuaded KP004 to let Isabella share a seat by being held.
• Wang Qi learned there was no seat for him, and Bai He Cheng suggested tying him to the van’s roof; instead, the group tied Bai He Cheng there.
• The group waited outside the gates while Liu Xing and Wang Qi prepared to push them open.
• After the gates opened, Liu Xing and Wang Qi forced them wide enough for Chen Ling to drive the van through.
• Liu Xing’s group left Ains Castle, and KP004 announced that they had completed the first step of the main quest.

After escaping Ains Castle, Liu Xing’s group learned that Bai He Cheng had accidentally locked Gary in the basement, explaining why Gary had not pursued them. KP004 then announced that they had completed the main quest and would enter the ending scene.

• Wang Si Yi held Isabella and asked why she wanted to leave Gary, and Isabella said he only cared about himself.
• Liu Xing asked where Gary had gone, and Isabella said he often spent time in the locked basement, where strange sounds came from.
• Isabella explained that the basement door was restricted and recalled travelers who had been driven from the castle and later killed by wolves.
• Bai He Cheng told Liu Xing’s group that he had entered the basement and locked the door while investigating its foul smell and strange sounds.
• KP004 announced that the group had completed the main quest, and Liu Xing’s soul was pulled from his body toward the ending scene.

Liu Xing watched the police uncover Gary’s murders at Ains Castle and saw Isabella adopted by Chief Chris before he and his group returned to China. KP004 then awarded Liu Xing 120 Points and new contacts for his Hidden Ending and MVP performance, and Liu Xing rolled a 10 to determine his Lockpicking growth.

• KP004 narrated how Isabella accused Gary of murdering foreign travelers, and Police Chief Chris led an investigation that uncovered human remains, organs, and a magic circle beneath Ains Castle.
• The police concluded that Gary had killed more than a hundred travelers and that a beast had killed Gary and Old Wayne; Liu Xing suspected the beast was a Ghoul.
• Isabella sold Ains Castle to compensate victims’ families, and Chief Chris and his wife adopted her while Liu Xing’s group prepared to return to China.
• At the airport, Isabella turned to Liu Xing and thanked him, calling him an idiot.
• KP004 told Liu Xing that he had earned the Hidden Ending and MVP status, then awarded him 120 Points and contacts with Isabella and Chris.
• KP004 reported that Liu Xing’s Psychology increased by 1 and asked him to roll for Lockpicking growth; Liu Xing rolled a 10.

Liu Xing examined Gary and Isabella’s Character Cards to understand their deaths and his changed feelings toward Isabella. He deduced that Isabella had secretly controlled the Ghoul, but the reasons for her actions and the Ghoul’s attack remained unclear.

• KP004 told Liu Xing he could ask three questions about the game and revealed that settlement time matched real time.
• Liu Xing considered why the Ghoul had killed Gary and Old Wayne, why Isabella had spoken to him, and why his feelings for her had changed.
• Liu Xing used two of his questions to view Gary and Isabella’s Character Cards.
• The cards showed that Gary and Isabella had gained eternal life and magical abilities after summoning Cthulhu’s projection with human sacrifices.
• Liu Xing concluded that Gary had sealed Isabella in her room and that Isabella had secretly controlled the Ghoul Gary raised.

Liu Xing reconstructed how Isabella had manipulated him to escape Ains Castle, then learned that Bai He Cheng was a cultist with SAN Value 5 who had begun Ghoulification. KP004 answered the Players’ remaining questions and sent Liu Xing back to the Real World.

• Liu Xing realized Isabella had charmed him into helping her escape, then used the ghoul to kill Gary and Old Wayne and frame Gary for the foreign traveler’s death.
• Liu Xing asked KP004 to view Bai He Cheng’s Character Card, and KP004 revealed Bai He Cheng’s SAN Value was 5, his identity was cultist, and he had begun Ghoulification.
• Liu Xing wondered how Bai He Cheng could behave normally with so little SAN Value but could not ask KP004 anything further.
• KP004 told Liu Xing that Bai He Cheng would remain permanently insane in the game if a Player’s SAN Value reached zero, that Players could attack one another for a reasonable reason, and that character backgrounds changed with each game’s setting.
• KP004 told Liu Xing that Wang Si Yi had no questions, then sent him back to the Real World.

Liu Xing reviewed his updated Character Card and discovered that he could choose three Intermission Growth options. He selected First Aid training, English lessons, and driving training before leaving his next steps to fate.

• Liu Xing checked his Character Card and noted his improved Psychology, new Lockpicking skill, police reward, and 139 Points.
• Liu Xing opened the Intermission Growth interface and learned that he could choose three options involving skills, advanced study, or special opportunities.
• Liu Xing read about the benefits and risks of gaining a spouse, inheriting foreign assets, changing occupations, and receiving psychological treatment.
• Liu Xing chose to enter the First Aid Department, enroll in an English Training Class, and attend Driving Training.

After completing his first Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG session, Liu Xing reflected on his mistakes and resolved to stay more cautious, including toward his teammates. He returned to his hometown for Qingming Festival, then went back to his apartment to check the Game Hall’s new gift pack.

• Chen Ling messaged Liu Xing to ask him to join a future session, and Liu Xing agreed to let him know when he started one.
• Liu Xing reviewed how he had overlooked clues about Isabella, nearly missed the open basement entrance, and underestimated the danger Bai He Cheng posed to the team.
• Liu Xing went to sleep early because the session had left him mentally exhausted.
• On April Fool’s Day, Wu Lei called Liu Xing claiming Ghouls had trapped him at the Tabletop Game Store, but he hung up when Liu Xing offered to let him join a real Cthulhu Mythos game.
• Liu Xing returned to his hometown with clothes, money, and gifts for his parents, then went home again after Qingming Festival to check the Game Hall’s Qingming Festival Gift Pack.

Liu Xing bought the Qingming Festival Gift Pack before starting his first Advancement Game, which he had to complete within half a month to avoid a one-year account ban. As the game began, his Intermission Growth settlement granted him new and improved skills.

• Liu Xing received notice that he had qualified for three Advancement Games and needed to pass two within half a month.
• Liu Xing spent 100 Points on the Qingming Festival Gift Pack and obtained Qingming Season Rain, Qingming Sacrifice, and a Qingming Oiled Paper Umbrella.
• Liu Xing placed all three items in his Character Card’s carried-items slot and started his first Advancement Game.
• Liu Xing waited more than ten minutes before the game began and entered the Intermission Growth settlement page.
• Liu Xing gained First Aid skill points, English 22, and Drive 50 from his intermission activities.

Liu Xing entered the medium-difficulty Harvest Festival Advancement Game and explored Immortal Crane Temple, where he found a tentacled statue and a stele about the festival. A scream interrupted him, and he discovered a player badly injured on the temple steps beside a bloody scalpel.

• Liu Xing began the Harvest Festival scenario with improved medical, English, and driving skills.
• Liu Xing discarded his Qingming Oiled Paper Umbrella and Qingming Sacrifice but kept Ancestral Green Tea, his phone, Cthulhu's Candy, and Qingming Season Rain.
• kpcao told Liu Xing that the mission was trigger-based and gave the players twenty minutes of free time before their meeting.
• Liu Xing surveyed the festival grounds and chose to visit Immortal Crane Temple.
• Liu Xing saw a tentacled statue and approached a stele describing the Harvest Festival's origins.
• Liu Xing heard a scream and found a player bleeding on the temple steps, with a bloody scalpel nearby.

Liu Xing watched player Kite get eliminated after a prohibited scalpel caused a severe injury, then persuaded kpcao that his medical experience spared him a SAN loss. Back at Immortal Crane Temple, Liu Xing read the stele’s account of how the Harvest Festival began.

• Kite failed two Luck Checks after bringing a prohibited scalpel, was rushed to the hospital, and was eliminated from the Advancement Game.
• kpcao called for Liu Xing to make an Inspiration Check after witnessing Kite’s injury, but Liu Xing argued that his Emergency Department experience made him accustomed to gruesome sights.
• kpcao accepted Liu Xing’s explanation and let him continue without losing SAN Value.
• Liu Xing returned to Immortal Crane Temple and read that a Taoist introduced the Sulu Harvest Festival, which brought rain and fertile land to the county.

Liu Xing investigated the Harvest Festival's connection to Cthulhu, then met the other Players gathered for the Advancement Game. The group learned that Kite's Character Card, Alger, was in the hospital after Kite's bizarre attempt to escape his elimination.

• Liu Xing concluded that the stone tablet's god Sulu was Cthulhu and that the Harvest Festival ritual came from Cthulhu's dream call, though the tablet did not specify its sacrifice.
• Liu Xing met Ming Shi Xiang, Li Ming, Tian Dao, and Tina at the Harvest Festival entrance.
• Kpcao explained the Player title system, and the group reacted warily to Tina's title, Head Taker, before learning she had earned it by killing chickens during Temporary Insanity.
• Tina asked the Players to call Alger, and Liu Xing explained that Kite had been injured at the temple and sent to the hospital.
• The Players were stunned when Liu Xing described how Kite had gotten hurt.

Liu Xing and the others watched a Harvest Festival performance to identify the items needed for the festival, then planned to visit the Grape Arbor. Before they could leave, Liu Xing noticed a crying girl whom the NPCs ignored, signaling the start of the module’s Main Quest.

• Ming Shi Xiang handed out festival maps, and Liu Xing noted the Grape Arbor, bamboo groves, and Peach Trees as likely clue locations.
• Tian Dao led the group to the performance, while the injured Li Ming slowed their walk through the crowded festival grounds.
• Liu Xing and Tian Dao succeeded at their Investigation Rolls and saw peaches, grapes, and bamboo shoots on the offering table.
• Liu Xing and the others inferred that the three foods were the festival’s Clearance Items and decided to visit the Grape Arbor.
• Liu Xing spotted a little girl crying by the roadside as the surrounding NPCs ignored her.

Liu Xing and the others accepted a timed mission to reunite Minami Kotori with her mother and followed kpcao’s directions to the Children’s Lost and Found Center. Liu Xing realized that kpcao may have steered them onto a safe route that kept them from finding other useful items or clues.

• Liu Xing approached a crying girl, and kpcao announced that the Players had thirty minutes to help her find her mother.
• Minami Kotori told Tina that she had become separated from her mother while they watched a performance.
• Li Ming suggested taking Kotori to the Children’s Lost and Found Center, and kpcao revealed it was beside the Great Hall.
• Tian Dao stayed behind to escort Li Ming, while Liu Xing and the others continued with Kotori.
• Liu Xing’s group reached the Lost and Found Center, where Liu Xing suspected kpcao had guided them away from opportunities to collect useful items.

Liu Xing and his companions brought Minami Kotori to the Children's Lost and Found Center, where they met Brother Lei and heard a secret about Immortal Crane Temple’s Harvest Festival. Brother Lei’s account ended with a confirmed pattern of one mysterious child disappearance during every festival cycle.

• Liu Xing, Tina, and Ming Shi Xiang brought Minami Kotori to the Children's Lost and Found Center and asked staff to announce that she was lost.
• Brother Lei arranged the announcement and began chatting with the group while they waited.
• At Tina’s request, Brother Lei told them that a young disciple had supposedly starved to death after stealing a peach from the festival offerings decades earlier.
• Brother Lei said the Abbot had hidden the disciple’s death and claimed he had left for the provincial capital.
• Brother Lei revealed that a child mysteriously disappeared during every Harvest Festival cycle, a pattern he had confirmed in police records.

Brother Lei told Liu Xing and the others that children and relatives had vanished at Immortal Crane Temple every twelve years, leading Liu Xing to suspect a Mythical Creature was using the adults as chang ghosts. After Li Ming and Tian Dao arrived, the group realized Minami Kotori was missing and spotted her nearby.

• Tina successfully persuaded Brother Lei to share a secret from his police work.
• Brother Lei recounted how Ji Lei and his father disappeared near the Peach Trees and described similar cases that occurred every twelve years at Immortal Crane Temple.
• Liu Xing suspected the missing children's relatives had become chang ghosts serving a Mythical Creature, and he thought Minami Kotori's mother might be one.
• Li Ming and Tian Dao arrived and asked where Minami Kotori was, prompting Liu Xing and the others to realize she had disappeared.
• Liu Xing spotted Minami Kotori and called out to the group.

Liu Xing and the other Players entered the Mirror World and learned they had to escape it. Kpcao announced a major update to the Cthulhu Mythos tabletop RPG Game Hall, and Li Ming suffered temporary madness after failing his SAN Value Check.

• Liu Xing, Tina, Ming Shi Xiang, Tian Dao, and Li Ming rushed after Minami Kotori when a mirror appeared in the Peach Tree grove, but she touched it first and they lost consciousness.
• Liu Xing regained control of his body in a silent, reversed version of Immortal Crane Temple, where fog blocked the edges of the Harvest Festival grounds and Brother Lei and the other staff members were gone.
• Liu Xing realized they were in the Mirror World and worked out that the “tiger” had sent children there by turning their relatives into changgui and luring them to the mirror.
• Kpcao announced that the Players had completed the first mission phase and needed to escape the Mirror World, then explained that the Game Hall update had removed Inspiration Checks from most SAN Value Checks.
• Liu Xing, Tina, and Ming Shi Xiang lost 1 SAN Value point each, Tian Dao lost 2, and Li Ming lost 5 and gained Temporary Madness with Fear and Fog Phobia.

Li Ming entered a Temporary Madness State, so Tian Dao used a Combat Skill to knock him unconscious and requested Escape Room Time. The group decided to carry Li Ming and protect Minami Kotori as they continued exploring the Mirror World, where a Mythical Creature might be controlling her mother.

• kpcao rolled a 30-minute duration for Li Ming's Temporary Madness State, and Li Ming began to panic.
• Tian Dao knocked Li Ming unconscious with a hand chop and requested Escape Room Time.
• Tian Dao explained how Combat Skills worked in the Real Cthulhu TRPG, including how descriptions and proficiency affected success.
• Tian Dao agreed to carry Li Ming, while Liu Xing warned Tina to keep Minami Kotori close and urged the group to rescue her.
• Tian Dao asked whether Tina and Ming Shi Xiang were foreign Players, and both said they were Chinese.