Chapter Summaries

Plot and events

• Bird flees to a prepared safe house in a forest warehouse and uses a ritual to return from another dimension. His body collapses, and something pale and finger-like follows his spirit back through the ritual before it vanishes.
• The original Bird awakens in the body, with memories from his alternate-world counterpart blending into his own. He recalls that rival Jade Pharmaceuticals directors are trying to kill him and decides to resume his human-evolution-virus experiments, intending to use his daughter, Geliide, as the host.
• Xia Lun arrives in Beaver Harbor for a player trade fair, planning to trade gold and research local supernatural legends. He uses his final free attribute point to raise Strength to 20, gaining the skill Limit Break, which briefly boosts his strength beyond normal physical limits.
• After two uneventful days, Xia Lun goes to the harbor, where masked attendees gather around the cruise ship Sesame. He recognizes the mask-and-art-auction event as cover for the player trade fair. Just as he approaches the crowded ship, it explodes.

Character developments and interactions

• Bird shifts from frightened escapee to determined survivor, but his return is accompanied by disturbing signs that something may have followed him. His merged memories make him believe he personally experienced his alternate counterpart’s actions. He resolves to fight his corporate rivals, even at the cost of his daughter.
• Xia Lun remains cautious and tries to avoid supernatural trouble, while becoming physically stronger and more confident in his growing abilities. He follows the organizers’ disguise convention by putting on a mask.
• Bird’s choices are shaped by threats from his fellow directors and by his willingness to sacrifice Geliide. Xia Lun’s plans are shaped by White Line’s information about the gold buyer and the trade fair, though White Line does not appear directly.

Significant themes

• Identity and memory: Bird’s memories of two lives combine, blurring who acted and who is responsible.
• Danger hidden beneath appearances: Beaver Harbor seems peaceful, but its bold scavenging gulls, masked crowd, and sudden explosion hint at concealed violence.
• Power and sacrifice: Bird pursues survival and scientific ambition at his daughter’s expense, while Xia Lun’s new strength offers a more personal form of power.
• The supernatural crossing into reality: The entity following Bird suggests that dimensional travel can bring threats back with it.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• When the cruise ship Sesame suddenly explodes, Xia Lun quickly retreats to a nearby alley, anticipating that the panicking crowd may be more dangerous than the initial blast.
• As fire spreads and people flee, he lowers a fire escape and breaks open a warehouse door, giving people trapped in the crush a route to safety. The game system rewards him for “opening” the lock, absurdly classifying brute force as Sleight of Hand practice.
• Xia Lun spots a terrifying rabbit-headed figure emerging unharmed from the flames. She destroys two helicopters by sweeping a hand, then the Sesame sinks, apparently ending the planned player trading meet.
• Inside the warehouse, Xia Lun meets Cripple, a player who thanks him for helping during the stampede. Cripple believes the disaster may be a test arranged by the trading meet’s organizer, White Line, but Xia Lun knows this theory is unfounded: White Line is not organizing the event, and there may be no contingency plan.
• Cripple’s companion, a large player in a bull mask, arrives and reports that a smaller trading meet is being arranged elsewhere. Xia Lun agrees to join them, willing to risk a possible trap in order to trade or gather information.
• The three reach the basement meet after passing through the crowded streets and a police cordon. Only ten players attend. The host, Inquisitor, promises fair trades and threatens would-be scammers.
• Just as the meeting is about to begin, a tall player wearing a clown mask enters in pointed green shoes—the same distinctive footwear Xia Lun saw on the rabbit-headed figure. He immediately becomes suspicious.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun shows practiced caution and quick judgment, but also a willingness to help others: he avoids the initial crush yet creates an escape route for those being pushed into the alley. He remains alert, pragmatic, and open to calculated risks.
• Cripple is polite and analytical, though his confident theory about White Line is mistaken. He also interprets Xia Lun’s calmness and alias, “Arsonist,” as possible signs of poor mental health and offers to restore his Mental Health.
• Cripple’s bull-masked brother is protective and earnest. He apologizes for his brusque manner once he learns Xia Lun helped Cripple.
• Inquisitor presents herself as a fair-minded host, but her cheerful voice contrasts sharply with her graphic threat against scammers.
• The rabbit-headed attacker remains unexplained. Her apparent connection to the newly arrived clown-masked player creates a new source of danger and suspicion.

Significant themes

• Survival and responsibility: Xia Lun prioritizes his safety but still takes action to protect strangers from the stampede.
• Appearance versus reality: Cripple’s confident explanation sounds plausible but is wrong; Xia Lun’s harmless-seeming aid contrasts with his intimidating alias.
• Trust and risk among players: The improvised trading meet may be an opportunity or a trap, so cooperation is tentative and guarded.
• Game-like absurdity amid real danger: The skill system rewards lock-breaking, while players discuss mental health and trading even as a catastrophic attack unfolds.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun recognizes the newcomer as Miss Rabbit—the frightening figure who attacked the Sesame and ripped apart a helicopter—but hides that he knows who she is.
• The Arbiter publicly identifies Miss Rabbit by her pointed green shoes and describes her attacks and the bounty on her. The Players speculate that she may be a monster or a Player overtaken by one.
• The Arbiter offers weapons and a Game Card in exchange for Whitewash City Star Ore or a way to contact Xia Lun. The crippled Player, known as the Mind Speaker, reveals that Star Ore powder can greatly increase the power of plastic explosives.
• The Mind Speaker warns others not to contact Xia Lun, portraying him as a cannibalistic Evil Spirit bound to Whitewash City. Xia Lun realizes that exaggerated rumors about him have spread.
• Miss Rabbit offers a damaged crystal in exchange for help spreading frightening stories about her, or for Master Dorlen’s final painting, Rabbit Hole. Xia Lun’s Information Panel identifies the crystal as a Paradox Item that can draw its holder into a dangerous world containing Knowledge—the “special attribute.”
• The Arbiter and Xia Lun compete for the crystal. Xia Lun offers to hire people to fear Miss Rabbit, then claims he knows where Rabbit Hole is.
• The Mind Speaker warns Xia Lun that the Arbiter is mentally unstable, exceptionally dangerous, and infamous as the Headshot Fiend. Xia Lun nonetheless negotiates: he gives the Mind Speaker gold and a Voidwood Box, and demands the Arbiter’s formula for enhancing explosives.
• Xia Lun finds Rabbit Hole inside the burly man’s shoulder bag, confirming his suspicion that the man had stolen it from Dorlen’s exhibition. He prepares to trade the painting for Miss Rabbit’s crystal—but the basement door suddenly explodes.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun stays cautious but grows bolder when a valuable opportunity appears. He uses his intelligence to assess the crystal, negotiate with the other Players, and uncover the painting. His reputation as a monster both surprises and amuses him.
• Miss Rabbit remains unnervingly silent and restrained, revealing little about herself. Her search for the painting and desire to cultivate fear suggest a purpose beyond her apparent violence.
• The Arbiter is revealed to be a notorious killer with near-zero Mental Health and a powerful combat record. Her aggressive manner clashes with Xia Lun’s calculated bargaining.
• The Mind Speaker appears composed and perceptive, but his confident story about Xia Lun is wrong. He helps steer the exchange, warns Xia Lun about the Arbiter, and asks for gold and a Voidwood Box.
• The burly man and his crippled brother show a close, watchful relationship. The burly man’s guarded bag proves to contain the painting Miss Rabbit seeks.

Significant themes

• Fear as power: Miss Rabbit suggests that some creatures survive by sustaining fear, making urban legends potentially more than stories.
• Knowledge and information: Xia Lun’s Intelligence and Information Panel reveal the crystal’s hidden value, while rumors and misread clues shape how others behave.
• Caution and danger: The gathering is full of formidable, unstable Players, so negotiation and observation can be as important as strength.
• Reputation versus reality: Xia Lun is mistaken for a murderous Evil Spirit, while Miss Rabbit and the Arbiter are judged through frightening stories and reputations.
• Bargaining and leverage: Characters trade not only objects, but also information, services, and threats to gain what they want.

Plot points

• The Public Security Bureau storms the basement gathering after Miss Rabbit’s cruise-ship attack. The room erupts into chaos: the Owl Mask brothers escape as gulls with the Voidwood Box and gold, other Players flee or reveal supernatural abilities, and the Arbiter fights the officers.
• Xia Lun tries to collect the red crystal from Miss Rabbit, but she attempts to break their deal and attack him. He dodges her invisible blade and, using Heightened Focus, Limit Break, and Wind Whisperer, smashes her clown mask and head with a single powerful punch.
• Xia Lun kills the black-ringed Player who had attacked him, destroying the man’s blood shield with Final Ash bullets. He takes the surviving game-item ring and retrieves the crystal, then senses that Miss Rabbit’s Echo still connects to her true body.
• Using Endash Quiet Speaker, Xia Lun sends Black Flame along the Echo without spending lifespan. He also kills the Arbiter with an Echo Attack, but Lore Collection finds no Knowledge in the area. The surviving Players are left to face the officers as Xia Lun escapes in elemental form.
• In the sewers, Miss Rabbit’s true body survives the Black Flame and approaches a homeless scavenger. Xia Lun appears, drains her with Life Drain, and destroys her body and will. He gains 240 hours of lifespan, then leaves banknotes for the homeless man to help pay for his mother’s treatment.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun shows that he is ruthless toward those who betray agreements, but also capable of compassion: after eliminating Miss Rabbit, he anonymously helps the desperate scavenger. He discovers a powerful synergy between his Echo-sensing abilities and Black Flame, and learns that draining even a formidable enemy yields only modest lifespan at his current attributes.
• Miss Rabbit is revealed to be an Urban Legend sustained by fear, with the clown-masked figure and rabbit-headed figure as manifestations rather than her true self. Though she survives the initial attack, Xia Lun ultimately destroys her.
• The Arbiter is cornered by the Public Security Bureau and dies after Xia Lun attacks her Echo. The officers mistake Xia Lun for a friendly because of the mask White Line gave him.
• The homeless scavenger, terrified and expecting to die, is spared and receives money from Xia Lun.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and consequences: Miss Rabbit’s attempt to evade payment provokes Xia Lun’s decisive retaliation.
• The persistence of supernatural threats: Destroying an Urban Legend’s manifestation is not enough; its underlying Echo and true body must be found.
• Power and cost: Xia Lun’s abilities combine to devastating effect, but their benefits and lifespan costs remain carefully measured.
• Violence alongside compassion: Xia Lun acts with extreme brutality in combat yet offers quiet assistance to someone in need.

Plot points and events

• After killing Miss Rabbit, Xia Lun returns home to Beaver Harbor rather than flee the Herno Strait. He believes the authorities will impose martial law, and he has erased physical evidence, avoided surveillance, and maintained an alibi.
• He follows his usual routine—eating seafood fried rice and drinking coffee—before reviewing the rewards from the recent violence.
• His Echo swordsmanship advances slightly, and killing Miss Rabbit also gives him the second of three pieces of information needed for the Aura of Fear perk.
• Xia Lun uses Greedy Broker’s Tongue, a ring that stores loot from Players he kills. It yields:
  • Killing Calculator, which unlocks an advanced Mass Murderer perk and reveals part of Massacre.
  • A notebook containing a formula for explosives made more powerful with Star Ore.
  • Miss Rabbit’s Pale Silence Evil Flesh Codex.
• Xia Lun enters the Codex through Symptomology. It traps him in silent, snow-white settings where he senses an unseen presence. He realizes the Codex turns quiet, emptiness, and anticipation into fear. When a monster attacks, he breaks the illusion with an imagined hammer.
• The Codex disappears, but Xia Lun gains Dreadful Gaze. Its effects overlap with Mass Murderer, so the perks merge.
• He decides to remain in Beaver Harbor until the situation settles, then return to Whitewash City and begin his next multiplayer scenario with White Line.

Character developments

• Xia Lun remains methodical and controlled after killing: he secures his alibi, restores his composure with food and coffee, and only then assesses his gains.
• His combat ability grows modestly, while his fear-based abilities develop substantially. Dreadful Gaze lets him track people he frightens and slowly increases his maximum life force when more than five nearby people fear him.
• He recognizes that his abilities are strongest in combination, particularly his survival powers and his emerging fear-based “system.”
• He is intrigued by the prospect of killing enough people to unlock Massacre, a difficult goal for most but, in his view, achievable for him.

Significant themes

• Fear as power: The Codex and new perks show how fear can be deliberately created, exploited, and turned into supernatural influence.
• Preparation and concealment: Xia Lun’s careful handling of evidence and timing allows him to avoid suspicion despite major violence.
• Power through accumulation and synergy: Small perk gains, stolen loot, and combined abilities build into a larger advantage.
• The uncanny in the ordinary: Pale rooms, silence, and the anticipation of danger become terrifying through imagination.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun’s direct encounters with Miss Rabbit and the Judge are over, but their deaths continue to benefit him through the ring’s stored loot. He also learns that the Judge was named Tedilina, linking her to a figure from an earlier scenario.
• During the Codex trial, Xia Lun confronts an unseen presence and an attacking monster, resisting the illusion through focused will.
• He looks ahead to working with White Line in the next multiplayer scenario.

Key plot points and events

• While visiting an old friend in Beaver Harbor, Xia Lun watches a news report that credits the White-Masked Nameless Hero with killing Tedilina but says nothing about Miss Rabbit. He suspects the real-world Cognitive Filter has erased Miss Rabbit from public memory and recast her actions as Tedilina’s.
• Xia Lun’s friend celebrates Tedilina’s death, revealing that she killed his eldest son, and offers the hero a million as a reward.
• A television guest defends the hero’s killing of a terrorist as justified by the circumstances. Xia Lun recognizes the argument as clever spin, yet feels quietly satisfied when the host thanks the hero.
• Several days later, Xia Lun returns to Whitewash City. White Line is away collecting her Game Pod and plans to bring more Experimental Plastic Explosive. Using their paired Paradox Item earbuds, the two catch up and arrange for a room to be prepared for her pod.
• While waiting, Xia Lun commissions research into how Star Ore can enhance explosives, a project expected to take at least a month. He also advises Renee as she prepares for her first game round; she aims to complete four rounds and unlock a friend slot.
• White Line returns as planned. After they add each other as friends and make preparations, Xia Lun and White Line enter their Game Pods, beginning the fifth scenario.

Character developments

• Xia Lun reflects on the Cognitive Filter and longs to discover who created it, suggesting growing ambition to understand—and perhaps attain—its power. He remains discreet about his identity as the hero, while taking private satisfaction in the public’s gratitude.
• White Line continues to collaborate with Xia Lun, supplying a Game Pod and explosives and preparing to join him in the next scenario.
• Renee is eager to enter the game and learn from Xia Lun’s experience, showing determination to progress quickly.
• Xia Lun’s friend reveals personal grief behind his hatred of Tedilina: she murdered his son.

Significant themes

• Public perception and concealed truth: The Cognitive Filter reshapes supernatural events into explanations the public can accept, blurring the line between reality and official narrative.
• Justice and vigilantism: The televised debate weighs the hero’s unlawful killing against the threat Tedilina posed, while Xia Lun privately recognizes the defense’s persuasive framing.
• Ambition, preparation, and cooperation: Xia Lun pursues knowledge about the Filter, investigates improved explosives, advises Renee, and prepares with White Line for the next challenge.

Character interactions

• Xia Lun shares a meal with his friend, listens to his grief and gratitude, and conceals that he is the celebrated hero.
• Xia Lun and White Line communicate through their linked earbuds, exchange updates, and coordinate her return and their next game.
• Xia Lun gives Renee detailed guidance through the Interworld Notebook, though their weekly communication limit ends the exchange.
• Xia Lun and White Line make one another friends and enter the fifth scenario together.

Plot and events

• Xia Lun and White Line arrive by train in a new Investigator scenario. The game identifies four participants and sets the objective: “Leave Winden City.” Unlike previous scenarios, it gives no background introduction.
• Xia Lun reasons that escape cannot be as simple as jumping off the train; they will likely need to explore the city. He and White Line search the carriage for the other players.
• They notice several suspicious passengers, including an armed blonde woman and a pocket-watch-wielding man. Xia Lun recognizes two others—the imposing Warrior and the cane-using Cripple—from a previous encounter.
• After the train stops and most passengers leave, the four players meet and confirm they share the same objective. They exchange aliases and game experience: Warrior has played 24 games, Cripple 26, White Line 32, and Xia Lun only four.
• Cripple recognizes Xia Lun as the well-known player from Whitewash City, having inferred it from Xia Lun’s quick progress and use of the alias “Merchant.”
• Cripple proposes investigating Winden City rather than wasting time searching the train. He points out the missing background introduction and suggests first discovering the players’ intended identities, then getting off the train to investigate. The others prepare to follow his plan.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun resolves to observe and think rather than rely on force. Though surprised that Cripple identifies him and initially skeptical of Cripple’s reasoning, he stays quiet and keeps open the possibility of taking charge if the plan fails.
• White Line remains perceptive, spotting suspicious passengers and taking the lead in approaching the others. She is protective of Xia Lun, worrying that the veterans may judge him for his limited experience.
• Cripple demonstrates strong scenario analysis and confidence, despite Xia Lun’s doubts about his past deductions. He asserts leadership while offering help with restoring Mental Health.
• Warrior is visibly surprised by White Line’s experience and later by Xia Lun’s reputation.
• Xia Lun and White Line communicate privately through Mindvoice Earbuds; Xia Lun uses voice-changing chocolate to conceal his familiar voice. The group follows player convention by using aliases rather than real names.

Significant themes

• Observation over force: Xia Lun deliberately chooses to watch, listen, and learn from other players.
• Uncertainty and deduction: The absent background introduction and ambiguous objective make careful interpretation essential.
• Reputation and experience: Xia Lun’s fame outweighs his small number of games, while veteran players’ expertise complicates his assumptions.
• Leadership and trust: Cripple takes initiative, but Xia Lun reserves judgment, allowing the group’s abilities to be tested before challenging the plan.

Plot points and events

• White Line, Xia Lun, and the two brothers arrive at Winden Station. White Line studies the peaceful surroundings, knowing that early investigation can prevent a scenario from escalating into combat.
• White Line suspects the Thermal Power Plant may be important because its emblem appears throughout the station, but the limping brother dismisses this as an unsupported guess and urges the group to explore the city.
• Xia Lun notices a briefcase bearing the Foresight Club’s insignia. He uses Tracking Focus to follow its owner, leading the group to a charred corpse hanging in a fast-food restaurant.
• White Line spots another corpse outside a bookstore. Xia Lun then finds a third near the station entrance and infers that the bodies’ locations may correspond to the insignia’s intersections and the station map.
• Testing that pattern, Xia Lun searches the restroom and finds another corpse, then leads the group into the VIP lounge. With White Line’s reserved ID item, they get past the attendant.
• Xia Lun identifies a hidden compartment beneath a floor tile. Inside is a bound, living man: the elegant passenger with the pale gray handlebar mustache whom Xia Lun noticed on the train.

Character developments and interactions

• White Line is hampered by a condition that has made her mentally “foolish,” frustrating her effort to demonstrate her veteran-player skill. Nevertheless, she remains observant, recognizes the recurring power-plant symbolism, spots a corpse Xia Lun missed, and helps the group enter the VIP lounge.
• Xia Lun shifts from quietly observing the others to taking charge when he recognizes the Foresight Club’s insignia. His pattern-solving skill turns the seemingly unrelated corpse locations into a lead, impressing the limping brother.
• The limping brother is cautious and conventional, initially skeptical of White Line and later admiring Xia Lun’s deductions. He disciplines his rude, burly brother when he shows disrespect.
• The burly brother remains confused and dismissive, especially toward White Line, but follows the group and helps uncover the hidden compartment.
• White Line and Xia Lun show strong rapport: her observations help him notice what he might otherwise overlook, even while she struggles to explain her reasoning.

Significant themes

• Observation and deduction: Small details—the emblem, the map, and the corpse locations—form a solvable pattern.
• Appearance versus reality: The station looks peaceful, while charred bodies are displayed openly and ignored by the public.
• Experience under constraint: White Line’s impaired reasoning does not erase her perception or accumulated expertise.
• Cooperation and trust: The group advances through complementary skills, though skepticism and personality clashes persist.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun finds a bound man hidden in a compartment, solving the Mystery of the Charred Corpses and earning 300 Memory Points. White Line uses her silver spiral pendant to knock him unconscious and ensure he will remember nothing of the encounter.
• Xia Lun explains that the charred bodies’ positions match triangle intersections on the Foresight Club briefcase emblem. This pattern led him to search the station and find the hidden compartment.
• The briefcase contains blood-soaked files from the Anomalous Phenomena Prevention and Control Committee. They describe the Consultant, a psychologist and cult leader who manipulates traumatized patients into suicide and eats their brains with his followers.
• The captive wakes and identifies himself as Heronman, an agent investigating the cult. White Line confirms that he is telling the truth. Xia Lun frees him and seeks to use his agency connections to investigate the Foresight Club.
• The Lame Man persuades Heronman to take the group to the Winden City branch, warning that he could be blamed for his colleagues’ deaths and lose his family if he reports events without support.
• Back in the station hall, Xia Lun overhears a blonde student asking the date. She realizes it is June 13, 2016, and warns that the thermal power station will explode in an hour, destroying the city. She urges everyone to flee by train.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun demonstrates growing investigative confidence, connecting the corpse locations to the emblem and deciding to pursue information about the Foresight Club, even though the scenario’s main objective remains unclear.
• White Line uses her pendant’s hypnotic effect and lie-detection ability, though she remains inscrutable and misses the Lame Man’s attempt to probe her.
• The Lame Man shows social insight and persuasive skill, helping secure Heronman’s cooperation. His younger brother, the crew-cut man, is blunt and argumentative but follows his brother’s lead.
• Heronman shifts from frightened captive to a reluctant ally, agreeing to guide the group to the local branch.
• The blonde student appears to be a time traveler—or at least someone who knows the disaster is imminent—and abruptly changes the group’s priorities with her warning.

Significant themes

• Investigation and uncertainty: Evidence comes in fragments, and even a solved puzzle leaves the larger threat unexplained.
• Cunning and cooperation: The group relies on different strengths—deduction, special items, combat readiness, and persuasion.
• Hidden histories and impending catastrophe: The station’s cult-related clues give way to a possible time-travel mystery and a looming citywide disaster.

Key plot points and events

• Mavis, a young woman claiming to be a detective from ten years in the future, warns that Winden’s thermal power plant will explode at 1:30 p.m. on June 13, killing more than ten thousand people. She urges officials to contact her mother, Nosna, and evacuate the city.
• A popcorn vendor alerts station security after Mavis mentions the explosion. When her pistol falls onto the counter, guards surround her; she insists she is licensed and explains that she traveled back in time while investigating the Numien Mind Detection Society with an agent named Lachlan.
• A station announcement reports a fire at Winden’s Grand Cathedral. As tensions rise, White Line intervenes, showing credentials that make the guards step aside. Xia Lun arrives and says Mavis has been recruited by his group; he asks her for details.
• Before Xia Lun can respond to the warning or explain his earlier actions to the station security chief, flaming SUVs smash into the waiting hall. Armed attackers with burned skin leap out and fire into the crowd, turning the station into a massacre. Xia Lun draws his gun.

Character developments

• Mavis shifts from urgently warning people to desperate self-defense, then feels despair as a new, immediate catastrophe erupts. Her claims connect the coming power-plant disaster to the Numien society and the Committee.
• Xia Lun is intrigued by Mavis’s story and takes her seriously enough to question her further, though the chapter ends before he can act on her warning.
• White Line demonstrates authority and composure by stopping the standoff with her credentials.
• The one-eyed security leader treats Mavis as mentally unstable and moves to arrest her; the station’s security chief later confronts Xia Lun over his conduct.

Significant themes

• Truth and disbelief: Mavis’s warning may be vital, but her extraordinary claim makes others doubt her.
• Crisis and helplessness: While characters debate what to believe, disaster arrives suddenly and overwhelms ordinary safeguards.
• Time, fate, and foreknowledge: Mavis’s return from the future offers a chance to prevent tragedy, but the chapter hints that the past is already unfolding into catastrophe.

Character interactions

• Mavis clashes with the popcorn vendor and station guards, who interpret her warning and gun as threats.
• White Line’s intervention ends the immediate standoff, and Xia Lun becomes Mavis’s first receptive listener, asking about her future mission and contact.
• Xia Lun is then challenged by the security chief, but the armed assault cuts their confrontation short.

Key plot points and events

• As a station hall burns and armed attackers slaughter travelers, Xia Lun ignores the limping man’s call to flee. Using Heightened Focus and his revolver, he launches a devastating counterattack, killing most of the attackers within seconds and protecting the west exit long enough for people to escape.
• The remaining attackers set themselves alight. Their deaths open a supernatural gateway, through which emerges the Holocaust Bishop, a gaunt, owl-masked figure with a burning iron prosthetic leg.
• Xia Lun’s shot is stopped by the Bishop’s fiery shield. People who look at the Bishop are mentally contaminated: many ignite and die, while some become new frenzied attackers. Xia Lun learns that the original attackers were ordinary people transformed by the same influence.
• The limping man tries to restore Heronman’s mental state, but the Bishop’s attack triggers an explosion. The limping man’s brother saves him, while Heronman is killed in the blast.
• Xia Lun and White Line fight off the newly transformed attackers. White Line keeps Mavis safe; Xia Lun kills enemies with his sword before confronting the Bishop directly.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun reveals both extraordinary combat skill and a growing preference for decisive violence. He welcomes the chance to kill because it is effective, enjoyable, and may earn Memory Points or advance his Massacre Specialty. Heronman’s death enrages him, especially because he had hoped Heronman would help him enter the Foresight Club.
• White Line acts protectively toward Mavis, disarming her to prevent an accidental shot, then fights alongside Xia Lun. Their exchanged look shows mutual understanding and coordination.
• The limping man is shaken by the scenario’s difficulty and regrets having struggled for control earlier. He attempts to help Heronman but is caught in the Bishop’s attack; his brother protects him at serious cost.
• The limping man’s brother shows selflessness by shielding him, even while badly burned. Heronman is lost before the attempted rescue can succeed.

Significant themes

• Violence as both strategy and temptation: Xia Lun’s brutal efficiency saves lives, but he also admits to enjoying the killing.
• The cost of knowledge and attention: Looking directly at the Bishop exposes people to his mental contamination, making even witnessing the enemy dangerous.
• Humanity transformed into monstrosity: The attackers are revealed to be ordinary people, and the Bishop’s power turns survivors into the same kind of threat.
• Regret and sacrifice: The limping man recognizes the cost of earlier conflict, while his brother risks himself to save him.
• Fire as a contested force: The Bishop’s flames dominate the scene, but Xia Lun treats fire as part of his own domain as he prepares to face him.

Plot points and events

• Xia Lun overwhelms the Holocaust Bishop with his Black Flame, killing the scenario’s powerful boss and the attacking Flame Maniacs. The cripple, already badly injured, is stunned—and briefly sees Xia Lun as a terrifying, almost supernatural being. A warning confirms that looking at Xia Lun has worsened his mental state.
• The Waiting Hall begins collapsing from the heat. White Line’s gelatinous pillars catch the falling ceiling long enough for survivors to escape, then she uses another item to teleport the group to a factory outside Winden Station.
• The city is engulfed in fire and chaos, with burning vehicles, dead bodies, and Arsonists attacking survivors. The group learns that the thermal power plant is due to explode in fifty minutes. The cripple also reveals that Mavis’s mother is at Rustpeak Mental Sanatorium, but reaching her would take at least that long, and the roads are blocked.
• Xia Lun recognizes how little they understand about the scenario. Their few clues include the Foresight Club’s blood sacrifices, the Numien Mind Detection Society, Mavis’s return to ten years earlier, and the power plant’s impending explosion.
• Mavis denies knowing of any connection between the power plant and the society or having encountered Arsonists before, but begs Xia Lun to save her mother. White Line uses an antique lantern to test whether the mother is connected to the scenario’s objective.
• The supposedly defeated Arsonists return as ghostly figures, and Xia Lun notices they grow faster over time. Although the group faces an urgent deadline, he decides to go to Rustpeak and save Mavis’s mother.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun proves overwhelmingly powerful but remains uncertain about the scenario’s purpose. He refuses to waste time blaming others, questions Mavis for information, and ultimately chooses to act on her plea rather than pursue the power plant immediately.
• The cripple fears Xia Lun after witnessing his power and suffering a mental-state decline, yet continues to help by tracking time and locating Rustpeak on a map. He cautions Mavis that reaching her mother may be impossible.
• White Line demonstrates her resourcefulness through several powerful game items, including the teleportation sphere and divining lantern. She favors gathering information and says her role is to provide it.
• Mavis is disoriented by the teleportation but becomes focused on rescuing her mother. Her plea complicates the group’s urgent decision-making.
• The crew-cut man remains injured and bewildered, and is accidentally vomited on by Mavis during the teleportation.

Significant themes

• Overwhelming power and its cost: Xia Lun can defeat the boss, but his presence is frightening even to allies, and merely looking at him damages their mental health.
• Urgency amid uncertainty: The group must make decisions with little reliable information and a looming explosion.
• Escalating danger: Enemies return after death and grow stronger over time, making delay increasingly risky.
• Compassion versus mission priorities: Xia Lun’s decision to help Mavis’s mother puts a personal rescue alongside the apparent objective of addressing the power plant crisis.

Key plot points and events

• With 47 minutes until the power plant explodes, Mavis asks Xia Lun to help save her mother. Despite objections from the injured brothers, Xia Lun agrees to clear the main road while the others find a vehicle. The hunter backs the plan, and the limping brother offers to navigate, track time, and help restore the group’s Mental Health.
• Xia Lun uses his control over fire to extinguish and redirect the inferno on Undying Sacred Flame Road, pulverizing the wrecked cars and opening a route. He also kills twelve Sacrificial Acolytes and earns rewards for clearing the road and saving trapped civilians.
• While searching for a car, Mavis and the hunter are ambushed by a powerful Arsonist hiding inside an SUV. The hunter swiftly kills it with cutting threads, saving Mavis. The limping brother recognizes her as White Line.
• White Line hacks the SUV’s electronic system to start it. The group sets off at high speed toward Rustpeak Sanatorium. Xia Lun asks Mavis what caused the power-plant explosion; she reveals that someone tied to human trafficking detonated explosives there.
• The crew-cut brother takes Mavis’s phone and plays her recording, exposing her confession: she feels responsible for the innocent deaths in Winden City and believes she caused the explosion.

Character developments

• Mavis shifts from fearful isolation toward trusting her companions. Her recordings help her face painful memories, and she begins sharing information about the disaster—though the phone recording reveals how deeply she blames herself.
• White Line, initially cold and withdrawn, protects Mavis and discusses her own past. She argues that people can act without being ruled by memories, though her newfound emotional ease is also linked to her reduced Intelligence.
• Xia Lun shows confidence and growing command of fire, turning the Arsonists’ destruction into a source of power while prioritizing the rescue mission.
• The limping brother steps forward to support the plan and contribute what he can; his crew-cut brother, though injured and initially resistant, helps secure the vehicle.

Significant themes

• Guilt, memory, and moving forward: Mavis records herself to examine the past, while White Line questions whether dwelling on memory is necessary for action.
• Trust and mutual support: Mavis feels like an outsider, but the group’s willingness to help—and White Line’s rescue—shows she is not alone.
• Destruction turned to rescue: Xia Lun harnesses the city’s fires to clear a path and save civilians, transforming catastrophe into an advantage.
• Hidden truths and responsibility: Mavis’s revelation about the explosion complicates the mission, and her recorded confession raises questions about what she actually did.

Character interactions

• Mavis anxiously watches Xia Lun for a decision, then feels reassured when the hunter and the limping brother support helping her mother.
• White Line questions Mavis about her recordings; their conversation becomes a rare moment of reflection and connection amid the crisis.
• The limping brother restrains his brother’s objections and volunteers practical help, while the injured crew-cut brother later takes Mavis’s phone and exposes her private confession to the group.

Plot points and events

• In the speeding car, Buzz-Cut Brawny Man searches Mavis’s recordings for clues, while Cripple and Xia Lun pressure her to explain her past. Xia Lun promises they will help save her mother if she answers their questions.
• Mavis reveals that, at fourteen, she discovered human traffickers and tried to save the children they had taken. She lured the traffickers away, trapped them in a building, and set it on fire. A child died in the blaze; his grieving father, an engineer, later caused a catastrophe at the thermal power plant.
• When Mavis still withholds part of the story, Xia Lun asks White Line to challenge her. Mavis confesses that the traffickers were buying children for her mother. To conceal her involvement, her mother psychologically manipulated the engineer into causing the plant explosion.
• The group reaches Rustpeak Sanatorium and finds ranks of Arsonists, including powerful Holocaust Bishops, gathered before a huge Wicker Man made of human bones. Beneath it stands Mavis’s mother, now a cult leader, crowned by a burning brazier.
• Xia Lun prepares to attack, confident that the citywide fire has empowered him enough to defeat the cultists. Before he acts, Mavis’s mother addresses him, asking whether he came to escape Winden City.

Character development and interactions

• Mavis moves from guarded silence to a tearful confession, driven partly by fear that the group will abandon her mother. Her guilt over the dead child and her mother’s role in the disaster becomes clearer.
• Xia Lun combines negotiation with tactical force: he offers Mavis a fair exchange, directs White Line to reach her emotionally, and uses his fire powers against the pursuing attackers.
• Cripple tries to build trust through reassurance and personal disclosure, while Buzz-Cut Brawny Man initially intimidates Mavis but softens after hearing the burden she carries.
• White Line remains focused on driving and is unaware of Xia Lun’s initial conversation through the earbud. Mavis’s trust in her makes White Line’s blunt question the turning point in the confession.

Significant themes

• Guilt and responsibility: Mavis blames herself for the child’s death and the disaster that followed, while the full story reveals her mother’s deliberate manipulation.
• Truth and trust: Mavis’s confession depends not just on pressure but on her belief that the others—especially White Line—will still help her.
• The past shaping the present: Cripple frames buried memories as forces that shape choices, and Mavis’s history appears tied to the current catastrophe.
• Moral complexity: Mavis’s attempt to rescue children had tragic consequences, while her mother’s efforts to cover up her own crimes caused a much wider disaster.

Plot points and events

• The Cultist leader claims that the city has been swallowed by the god Numien and that escape requires summoning a rival power, the Undying Sacred Flame. Her plan is to sacrifice people and cause the thermal power plant to explode.
• Xia Lun pretends to consider cooperating while buying time and preparing to eliminate the cultists. He also notices that White Line is setting defenses and the cult’s forces are quietly taking positions.
• Mavis reveals that the leader is her mother and accuses her of lying. The leader admits she once worshipped Numien, but says she has since repented.
• Mavis plays a recording of her mother arranging sacrifices to Numien. The evidence turns the Holocaust Bishops against the leader, and the cult begins to fracture.
• Xia Lun asks how the leader knows the word “Investigator.” She reveals that she was once a Player, like him.
• Before Xia Lun can question her further, the power plant explodes. He shields the group with Black Flame, but the blast distorts reality. He then wakes on a train bound for Winden City, suggesting the explosion—or the scenario—has reset or transported him.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun stays calculating and focused on extracting information, using the threat of his Black Flame as leverage. His priorities are learning how Mavis traveled through time and why the leader knows about Investigators.
• The Cultist leader presents her sacrifices as necessary to save the city, but her recorded past and the Bishops’ reaction undermine her claims. Her revelation that she was a Player introduces a major mystery.
• Mavis openly opposes her mother and uses the recording to expose her, showing both courage and a crucial role in the conflict.
• White Line quietly prepares defenses and warns Xia Lun that the cultists are maneuvering.
• Cripple and his crew-cut brother react differently: Cripple tries to make sense of the competing factions, while his brother reflexively challenges the leader’s claims.
• The leader thanks the group for protecting Mavis, but her followers’ armed positions make her offer of cooperation feel coercive rather than trustworthy.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and moral justification: The leader casts killing some people as a means of saving others, while the story questions whether noble ends can excuse atrocities.
• Manipulation and belief: The cult’s competing accounts of Numien and the Sacred Flame, and the recording’s power to turn followers, show how belief can be shaped and contested.
• Identity and hidden knowledge: The leader’s past as a Player blurs the boundary between the scenario’s characters and its participants.
• Rupture and uncertainty: The overwhelming explosion breaks through the apparent rules of the scenario, ending the chapter with Xia Lun’s unexplained return to the train.

Chapter summary

After the thermal power station explodes, Xia Lun is thrown back to the beginning of the train journey. His injuries are manageable, but the blast’s effects and the repeated time reversal are taking a toll on the group’s mental health. The Cripple has been driven into temporary madness, while Heronman is missing. With White Line’s help, Xia Lun restores the Cripple’s sanity and gathers the surviving companions.
The group debates whether they have entered an “Event Life,” a dangerous scenario with a hidden “eye of the storm.” The Cripple suspects the thermal power station is the eye, while Xia Lun argues that the many ordinary passengers make that theory uncertain. White Line warns that each explosion drains their mental health, leaving them perhaps three attempts. Xia Lun sets a plan: find Tina, a blasphemer mentioned by cult leader Nosna; if she offers no useful information, investigate the power station, then the city boundary.
Using his tracking ability, Xia Lun follows a trail to Tina, whom he recognizes from a previous script cycle. When Tina draws a revolver and attacks, Xia Lun disarms her almost instantly. She assumes he is a cultist seeking intelligence about the Committee’s investigation, and refuses to cooperate. With the train now stopped at the station and danger approaching, Xia Lun tells her that Abby is in his hands—prompting Tina’s eyes to widen.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun takes command, prioritizing information and coordination. He shows concern for the group by restoring the Cripple’s mental health, but acts decisively and uses Abby as leverage when persuasion fails.
• The Cripple breaks down under accumulated mental strain, then regains clarity with Xia Lun’s help. Grateful and increasingly deferential, he supports Xia Lun’s plan.
• White Line protects the group with Psychological Invisibility and provides a mental-health restorative. She also warns that their chances are limited.
• Mavis remains frightened and confused, asking about the meaning of “player” and her mother’s connection to it; no one can answer her.
• The flat-topped brawny man initially argues for exploring the city boundary, but yields to Xia Lun’s reasoning.
• Tina is introduced as armed, trained, and deeply suspicious of Xia Lun. Their encounter shifts from combat to interrogation, ending with Xia Lun’s revelation about Abby.

Significant themes

The chapter emphasizes the psychological cost of repeated failure, uncertainty about the rules governing the script, and the need to balance investigation against a rapidly approaching crisis. Trust is fragile: the characters must cooperate while concealing information and motives, and Xia Lun’s final tactic raises the question of how far he will go to obtain answers.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun coerces Tina into sharing what she knows by claiming that Abby will die if she refuses. Tina explains that the Numien Mind Detection Association is led by the local Church of the Undying Sacred Flame’s bishop, who possesses an anomalous item powered by mass blood sacrifice and believed to be at Winden Thermal Power Plant.
• Tina gives the team silver Foresight Club badges that protect against mental effects and weaken supernatural powers. Xia Lun then admits he lied about Abby being kidnapped; she is safe. He also warns Tina that Abby may be using her.
• Xia Lun earns Memory Points for deceiving and tricking Tina, and makes progress toward the “Master Deceiver” Specialty. He remains puzzled by how much the encounter rewarded him and by inconsistencies in what different characters know.
• The team uses White Line’s still-functioning teleportation item to travel from the station to Rustpeak Mental Sanatorium, near the power plant.
• At the sanatorium, they find flaming Arsonists chasing a boy and a bone Wicker Man packed with captives. A bald cultist is preparing to ascend to Holocaust Bishop by plunging his head into burning wax, intending to sacrifice his nephew afterward.
• Xia Lun identifies the cultist’s car keys as a way to reach the power plant, breaks open the gate, and approaches the bald man. The chapter ends as he activates Life Drain against him.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun shows himself to be manipulative but purposeful: he uses threats and personal knowledge to get Tina’s cooperation, then abruptly reveals the bluff. He remains focused on stopping the coming disaster and acts decisively when the team reaches the sanatorium.
• Tina is frightened and emotionally vulnerable, especially when Xia Lun invokes Abby. Despite her distrust, she shares classified information and lends the team equipment. Her devotion to Abby—and Xia Lun’s suggestion that it is misplaced—remains unresolved.
• White Line successfully teleports the group and conceals them with Psychological Invisibility. Cripple and the buzz-cut man contribute observations and suggestions, while Mavis remains skeptical and visibly suffers from the teleport.
• Xia Lun’s exchange with Tina prompts the others to ask how he knew about Abby. His casual explanation using “Attraction” confuses some, while Cripple eagerly records the apparent technique.

Significant themes

• Deception and trust: Xia Lun’s lies achieve practical results but leave Tina angry and shaken; deception also has tangible rewards in this world.
• Personal loyalty versus duty: Tina’s attachment to Abby is tested against her work and the larger crisis.
• Fanaticism and sacrifice: The cultists’ devotion to the Sacred Flame contrasts sharply with the terror of their intended victims.
• Uncertainty and altered reality: Conflicting information, unfamiliar badge effects, and a teleportation item that still works suggest the scenario may not follow the rules Xia Lun expects.

• Xia Lun kills the Holocaust Bishop: Xia Lun’s Life Drain initially meets fierce resistance, as if the bishop were connected to a source of living fire. White Line’s Psychological Invisibility helps keep the Arsonists from noticing the attack, but the bishop’s collapse and the tipped-over fire basin nearly expose them. Before Xia Lun can strike, the bishop interprets his suffering as a sacred trial and orders the Arsonists not to interfere. They obey, allowing Xia Lun to continue draining him until he dies.
• The prisoners escape: Xia Lun takes the bishop’s keys, smashes the Wicker Man’s lock, and frees its captives before rejoining the group. White Line drives them through the sanatorium gates. The boy who had been pinned as an “ascension witness” escapes, inspiring the other prisoners to flee; the Arsonists remain behind, following the bishop’s final command.
• Xia Lun’s gains and new lead: The bishop yields 1,200 Memory Points, and freeing the prisoners brings Xia Lun’s total reward to 1,500. He also earns a free attribute point, which he chooses to save. Draining the bishop connects him to the Numien Mirror, the source of the obstructing rhythm, which Xia Lun senses is at the Winden Thermal Power Plant.
• Team dynamics: White Line is pleased that her ability proved useful, and Xia Lun compliments it. Cripple apologizes for feeling like a burden, while Xia Lun keeps the mood friendly and considers the value of future cooperation. Mavis is unsettled but begins to relax. The Buzz-Cut Brawny Man warns that killing the bishop may have angered the Undying Sacred Flame; Mavis rejects religion as an anesthetic, and he probes her hostility by asking about her mother. She calls him a psychopath.
• Xia Lun’s suspicions: He notices that the scenario’s major clues—Mavis’s return to the past, Agent Heronman, the Numien Mind Detection Society, the Cultists’ powers, and time rewinding after the power-plant explosion—appear briefly but do not connect or lead anywhere. This feels unlike earlier scenarios, and he suspects a hidden explanation.
• The next confrontation: Cripple predicts the power plant will be the final battleground and says they can clear the scenario if it does not explode. Gunfire erupts from that direction, confirming that Cultist leader Nosna has begun her attack. Xia Lun realizes the group has arrived at the right moment.
  Character developments: Xia Lun shows restraint in saving his attribute point, practical generosity in freeing the prisoners, and growing curiosity about the scenario’s underlying mystery. White Line gains confidence in her contribution, Cripple remains self-conscious but tries to support the team, and Mavis continues to resist the Buzz-Cut Brawny Man’s intrusive probing. Themes include faith and supernatural power, sacrifice and liberation, cooperation, and the danger of treating scattered clues as meaningless.

Key plot points and events

• Xia Lun, White Line, Mavis, Cripple, and the burly man arrive at Winden Thermal Power Plant, where an Arsonist has slaughtered a guard. White Line kills it with a throwing knife.
• The team follows Xia Lun’s connection to the Numien Mirror through the fire-ravaged plant. They find Nosna’s group has left a trail toward an underground passage, though the footprints stop near the transformer yard.
• Cripple uses his ability to communicate with crows to learn the keypad code for a hidden entrance beneath a jammed metal detector. The team descends and follows the passage.
• They reach a vast underground hall containing the sealed doorway behind which the Numien Mirror lies. Nosna’s cultists have defeated the fleshy, root-like Evil Spirits guarding the hall.
• The team prepares an ambush. White Line enthusiastically lays traps while Cripple estimates they have about forty minutes before events from the previous loop recur.
• Nosna meets an engineer whose rare blood can weaken the seal. She tricks him with promises of money and a new identity, then shoots him as he reaches for a briefcase. His blood weakens the barrier.
• The cultists reveal they have brought a tactical nuclear bomb. Nosna plans to detonate it when the city’s fires peak, invoking the Undying Sacred Flame.
• As Nosna begins a ritual involving water and a blackened scripture, she notices Xia Lun’s group watching and confronts them.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun stays focused on reaching the Mirror, uses his tracking and perception skills, and quickly deduces why Nosna killed the engineer. He leads the group while avoiding using his remaining heightened-focus ability.
• White Line shows renewed confidence and pleasure in her trap-making, despite having earlier been unable to recall her puzzle-solving skills.
• Cripple demonstrates an unusual talent for communicating with birds, using a crow to find and open the hidden passage. His calm expertise surprises Mavis and the others.
• Mavis is nervous about the electrical equipment but remains curious, recording the underground hall.
• Nosna is revealed as ruthless and strategic: she murders the engineer once his blood has served its purpose and intends to use a nuclear device in her ritual.
• The group’s quiet reconnaissance ends when Nosna spots them, setting up an imminent confrontation.

Significant themes

• Deception and exploitation: Nosna manipulates the engineer, then kills him to obtain what she needs.
• The clash between faith and physical reality: The cult frames its plans as divine ritual, while its members also rely on explosives and a nuclear bomb.
• Unusual knowledge and cooperation: Cripple’s rapport with crows provides the key to progressing, highlighting the value of unexpected abilities.
• Escalating danger: The pursuit of the Mirror shifts from a covert search to a potential citywide catastrophe.

Plot and key events

• Xia Lun opens the fight by shooting Nosna, but the Cultists’ Blazing Shield blocks the bullet. He charges through the flames and cuts down several Arsonists, whose sacrifice gives Nosna time to summon a shadowy Divine Envoy.
• The Envoy’s explosive revolver fire halts Xia Lun. He deliberately lets himself be blown apart, then uses Blood-Drop Rebirth to reappear and attack Nosna. She escapes through King and Rook Exchange, swapping places with the Envoy.
• Xia Lun cripples and destroys the Envoy, but Nosna immediately summons it again—this time alongside a lance-wielding Shadow Knight—and gathers her remaining bishops around her. The nuclear bomb is also close to being armed.
• The burly teammate reveals his Contrarian Master ability, provoking Cultists into attacking him and drawing two bishops away from Nosna. Xia Lun and the team exploit their prepared traps: one bishop is badly wounded by monomolecular wire, gunfire, liquid nitrogen, and poison; Xia Lun kills the other with a sword thrust.
• The Divine Envoy attacks Mavis but is caught in White Line’s overhead tripwires and destroyed by successive explosions. Xia Lun drains it, restoring his rebirths.
• His status message identifies the Envoy as a religious legend projection with a strong connection to him: Xia Lun is its Character Prototype. He gains Legendary Influence, while the associated legendary weight transfers to Night Plume. A bishop recognizes Xia Lun as the Divine Envoy and urges the Cultists to stop, fearing they will become heretics.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Lun shows relentless aggression and tactical adaptability, accepting lethal damage to reach his target. His connection to the Divine Envoy adds a major mystery about his identity and role.
• Nosna proves to be a capable summoner and battlefield commander, using teleportation and protective spells to keep Xia Lun from reaching her.
• The burly teammate shifts the battle by compelling enemies to focus their anger on him.
• White Line’s traps protect Mavis and destroy the Envoy, while Cripple and the other teammates help bring down the bishops.
• Xia Lun’s reckless charges draw Nosna’s defenses; his teammates’ coordinated traps and distractions create openings for him. The Cultists’ response changes sharply once they believe he is their sacred Divine Envoy.

Significant themes

• Myth and identity: Xia Lun’s connection to the Divine Envoy blurs the line between a person and a religious legend.
• Sacrifice and survival: Cultists sacrifice themselves to protect Nosna, while Xia Lun repeatedly risks death and returns through his abilities.
• Coordination and improvisation: The team’s traps, distractions, and combined attacks counter the Cultists’ superior numbers and supernatural defenses.
• Faith as power—and vulnerability: Nosna’s legends produce formidable beings, but belief can also fracture the Cultists’ resolve when they interpret Xia Lun as a holy figure.