Chapter Summaries

Liu Xing entered Isabella’s room, introduced himself, and gained her trust with a successful Persuasion check. As they began to talk, he noticed an herbal scent and asked KP004 whether he could identify it with Medicine.

• Liu Xing found the Castle Lord’s daughter, Isabella, sitting alone in her dim room and noticed her unusual blood-red eyes and striking beauty.
• Liu Xing introduced himself as a castle visitor and persuaded Isabella that he meant her no harm.
• Isabella said she had not seen a visitor or her father in a long time, and Liu Xing noticed the Castle Lord’s room was just next door.
• Liu Xing entered the room and sat beside Isabella, then detected the smell of an herb and asked KP004 if he could use Medicine to identify it.

Liu Xing inhaled the hallucinogenic scent of Futan's Whisper and became disoriented, but Isabella gave him a painkiller that helped him recover enough to think clearly. He learned the plant's name and left to rejoin his companions when they signaled that Old Wayne or the Castle Lord had returned to the Main Building.

• Liu Xing failed a Hard Pharmacy check to identify the herbal scent, and KP004 reduced his Inspiration to 10 for an hour.
• Isabella mistook Liu Xing's distress for a headache and gave him an unlabelled capsule from beneath her pillow.
• The capsule eased Liu Xing's symptoms, though his Inspiration remained reduced to 60 for an hour.
• Isabella identified the red-flowered plant as Futan's Whisper, a gift from her father that she believed had a calming effect.
• Liu Xing heard the urgent coughing signal from Chen Ling and the others, told Isabella he had to leave, and promised to visit her again.

Liu Xing secretly met Isabella, then returned to the others and helped explain away the noise of his jump to Old Wayne. After the group opened the secret room, Bai He Cheng rashly opened the dangerous parchment and suffered severe physical and mental effects, leaving him temporarily convinced that part of his body was disabled.

• Liu Xing asked Isabella to keep their meeting secret, and she agreed on the condition that he visit again.
• Liu Xing jumped from the second floor, and Chen Ling successfully persuaded Old Wayne that the noise came from a phone sound effect.
• Wang Qi intimidated Bai He Cheng into accepting the blame, and the group returned to the large room to open the secret room with KP004.
• Liu Xing showed the group the parchment and explained that it had weakened his attributes, but Bai He Cheng snatched it and opened it.
• Bai He Cheng lost half his attributes for ten hours and suffered eight SAN loss, triggering five hours of temporary madness in which he believed he had a disability.

Bai He Cheng triggered a parchment’s trap and became temporarily blind, while its contents revealed a ritual to summon Cthulhu’s projection. The group left the Escape Room and assigned Chen Ling to help Bai He Cheng move as they continued roleplaying.

• Bai He Cheng’s strange appearance caused the other Players to lose SAN Value, and Wang Qi tried to punch him before Chen Ling and Liu Xing stopped him.
• Bai He Cheng revealed that the parchment described a ritual to summon Cthulhu’s projection, and said the ritual required the Evil God Statue buried beneath the Back Garden.
• Wang Si Yi suggested that the group’s missing Escape Room was probably beneath the Back Garden, but Liu Xing rejected KP004’s suggestion to make an extreme Luck Check to dig there.
• KP004 ended Escape Room Time, and Liu Xing resumed roleplaying by asking Bai He Cheng what had happened to him.
• Bai He Cheng said he could no longer see, so the group decided Chen Ling would assist him while Wang Qi and Wang Si Yi declined to help.

Liu Xing and Wang Qi investigated the Castle Gate’s mechanism as they considered how the group might escape Ains Castle. Their critical Investigation rolls uncovered a Chinese instruction booklet for the Electric Door Opener, giving them a useful lead before they returned for dinner.

• Liu Xing asked Wang Qi to accompany him outside while Chen Ling stayed behind to watch Bai He Cheng.
• Liu Xing asked Old Wayne about restricted areas and agreed to return to the Main Building within two hours.
• Liu Xing reasoned that the Castle Gate’s wooden gate had an Electric Door Opener and took Wang Qi to investigate it.
• Liu Xing and Wang Qi found the Electric Door Opener in a small room on the Castle Wall.
• Liu Xing scored a Critical Success on Investigation, and he and Wang Qi discovered a Chinese instruction booklet for the opener.

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.