Chapter Summaries

Huangfu Miaomiao struggled to find a ride to the Clinic until Blind Man offered her a free electric car and taught her to drive. She confirmed that he remembered nothing about her, then learned only that she could find him at the Star Society.

• Huangfu Miaomiao failed to find a Player willing to take her to the Clinic and worried that hiring a driver would attract suspicion.
• Blind Man approached Huangfu Miaomiao, offered her a free electric car, and taught her how to drive it.
• Blind Man asked whether Huangfu Miaomiao had met him before, and she denied it while he explained that he had lost all his memories.
• After confirming the car had enough charge to reach the Clinic, Huangfu Miaomiao asked where to find Blind Man for future repairs, and he told her to look for him at the Star Society.

Huangfu Miaomiao took Xiao Shu to Manluo Country so he could have his injured leg treated, while Li Qing and Feng Ling discussed the Players’ gathering places and the danger of attacking the Star Society. At the Rescue Team’s camp, a team member went missing, and Leland warned Feng Ling that something was watching them.

• Huangfu Miaomiao drove Xiao Shu toward the Star Society’s Clinic and reassured him that she had prepared six Patterned Pythons for their Zone Quest in Manluo Country.
• Li Qing told Feng Ling that Miaomiao had located a second Player gathering place in Kusuo City, and Feng Ling proposed using the coordinates to attack the Star Society before Li Qing warned that the high-level Administrator could be harmed.
• Feng Ling and Li Qing listened to the unsettling singing from the valley while the Cat Spider and Cat Owl stayed near the Rescue Team’s truck.
• Leland told Feng Ling that a Group Six team member had gone missing and that he felt watched, while Gene warned that a hidden force might prevent them from finding the missing person.
• Huang Yi walked over from the tents as the camp prepared to respond to the disappearance.

After Lisa disappeared, Feng Ling and the Rescue Team considered whether a hidden monster had taken her. Huang Yi learned that a Giant Devouring Earthworm lived deep in the Mine Cave and suspected it was connected to Lisa’s disappearance.

• Huang Yi, Gene, Feng Ling, and Leland discussed Lisa’s disappearance and considered whether a hidden Contaminant or one of their own had killed her.
• Leland arranged for the Hunters to sleep closer together and take turns on watch, while Feng Ling marked him with spider silk in case he was the killer’s next target.
• The Rescue Team spent the night without incident, then resumed fighting the Locust swarm in groups after Huang Yi warned them not to separate.
• Feng Ling asked Huang Yi about the Mine Cave, and he revealed that Grulu locals believed a Giant Devouring Earthworm lived deep underground.
• Huang Yi said a traveler had taught the locals a nightly song to keep the earthworm below, but he suspected it might have taken Lisa.

Feng Ling considered what kind of Fourth Contaminant to hatch while helping clear the locusts, but the Rescue Team soon reported Gene and Kairi missing. The search uncovered a deep hole where they had likely fallen, and Huang Yi barred Leland from entering until it had been surveyed.

• Feng Ling abandoned her idea of investigating the Giant Devouring Earthworm and continued killing locusts with her Contaminants.
• Feng Ling asked Ye Zheng what to hatch as her Fourth Contaminant, and Ye Zheng mocked her and her pets for being lazy, greedy, and unruly.
• Huang Yi reported that Gene and Kairi from Team Eight were missing and asked Feng Ling to cover Team Six's vacant area.
• Feng Ling sent Third Child's Human-faced Crows to search for the missing men and left Ye Zheng to guard the valley.
• The Rescue Team found a deep hole with scratch marks in a private residence, and Huang Yi sealed off the area.
• Leland demanded to enter the hole, but Huang Yi threatened to remove him from International Rescue if he disobeyed before the hole was surveyed.

Feng Ling used her Eye of Horus to send Human-faced Crows into an artificial underground hole while Huang Yi ordered Tidal Wave Squad back to its mission. After the first scouts died in the darkness, she sent another crow carrying a small light into the tunnels.

• Leland demanded a survey of the hole before returning to combat, but Huang Yi ordered Tidal Wave Squad to resume fighting the Locust, and Evelyn urged Leland to trust the Commander.
• Feng Ling sent two Human-faced Crows into the hole, while Huang Yi determined that its blackened soil showed it had been artificially created.
• Feng Ling grew an eye from her palm, attached it to a Human-faced Crow, and used shared vision to explore the dark, branching tunnels until the crow died.
• Feng Ling created another eye on the back of her hand and sent a fourth Human-faced Crow underground with a miniature nightlight after her earlier scouts failed to return.

Feng Ling explored the tunnels with the Human-faced Crow, found a pit filled with remains, and learned that a Big Mouth Monster had killed it. Huang Yi sealed the entrance with explosives, but Grulu Hunters accused the Rescue Team of endangering their people and acting out of greed.

• Feng Ling sent the Human-faced Crow through the tunnels and found a deep pit filled with bones, fur, clothes, and shoes.
• A Big Mouth Monster attacked and swallowed the Human-faced Crow before Feng Ling could react.
• Feng Ling told Huang Yi that she had found no sign of Kairi, Gene, or Lisa and suspected the three were dead.
• Huang Yi ordered Soldiers to demolish the abandoned building and bury the tunnel entrance until the Locust Plague crisis was over.
• Grulu Hunters confronted Huang Yi, claiming the explosion harmed underground residents and accusing the Rescue Team of greed and complicity with Eshia.
• Huang Yi endured their accusations and ordered the Soldiers to keep filling in the entrance.

Feng Ling used her Human-faced Crows to search the town for underground entrances while Huang Yi moved the Camp after conflict with the Grulu People. The crows found two hunters inside a house with an underground hole, and Feng Ling asked Li Qing to help communicate with them.

• The Grulu hunters tried to argue with Huang Yi, but Eshia's Soldiers stopped them, and the eerie singing began again in daylight.
• Feng Ling asked the secretary to translate the song, then offered to search the town's sealed buildings with Human-faced Crows.
• Feng Ling noticed a Grulu hunter watching her and heard Leland report that Gene's earpiece signal had briefly returned before disappearing again.
• Feng Ling suspected the Grulu People had taken Gene's earpiece to eavesdrop on the Public Channel, and her crows found buildings with underground holes.
• Huang Yi moved the Camp from the southeast to the northwest of the valley, and Feng Ling told Li Qing that the missing team members might have been eaten by the underground Monster.
• The Human-faced Crows found two hunters inside a house with an underground hole, and Feng Ling asked Li Qing to communicate with them using his language modules.

Feng Ling fell into the sinkhole while rescuing a Grulu Hunter, and Ye Zheng and Li Qing sought a safer route to reach her. At the bottom, Feng Ling survived the fall but was attacked by the two Hunters.

• Feng Ling grabbed a Grulu Hunter who was slipping into the sinkhole, but his immense weight dragged her down with him.
• Li Qing panicked as Feng Ling fell, and Ye Zheng arrived and urged him to calm down.
• Li Qing divined that Feng Ling was in the direction of the valley, so Ye Zheng and the Cat Spider headed for the Mine Cave.
• Feng Ling landed at the bottom of the cave, injured and bloodied, while the two Grulu Hunters remained unharmed.
• The two Grulu Hunters stabbed Feng Ling in the abdomen with knives, and she taunted them that the wounds would not kill her.

Feng Ling forced two Grulu hunters to guide her through the dark caverns, but a Giant Earthworm ambushed them and one hunter attacked her with a grenade. She survived the blast, killed the remaining hunter, and the worm escaped deeper underground.

• Feng Ling found Gene's earpiece on the two Grulu hunters, disabled their Achilles tendons, and forced them to lead her toward the surface.
• Feng Ling used Human-faced Crows to drive the wounded hunters through the dark passages.
• A Giant Earthworm ambushed the hunters and devoured one after he lunged at Feng Ling.
• The surviving hunter charged Feng Ling with a lit grenade, and the explosion drove the Giant Earthworm deeper into the cave.
• Feng Ling survived the blast, then slit the surviving hunter's throat after he called her an unkillable monster.

Ye Zheng and Li Qing tried to reach the Mine Cave, where Huang Yi and Eshia's general arrived to search for missing rescue team members. After Ye Zheng used her Mental Pressure to force the Grulu Hunters to cooperate, the group followed a suspicious old man into another mine entrance, and Ye Zheng urged Li Qing to ask Huang Yi for more troops.

• Li Qing caught up with Ye Zheng at the Mine Cave, where the Grulu Hunters lowered their weapons after he explained the situation but refused to let them use the lift.
• Huang Yi and Eshia's general arrived with Soldiers, and the general ordered the Grulu Hunters to lead them underground to search for missing team members.
• A Grulu Hunter warned that a Giant Devouring Earthworm had made the tunnels dangerous and objected to Eshia using the search as a pretext to occupy the Mine.
• Ye Zheng knocked down a Grulu Hunter and released Mental Pressure that forced everyone except Huang Yi to their knees, prompting the Grulu Hunters to summon their leader.
• Li Qing discovered that the old leader's Card was Swordsman and warned Ye Zheng that he seemed suspicious.
• The old man led the group toward another Mine Cave, and Ye Zheng told Li Qing to ask Huang Yi to send more people.

Huang Yi entered the abandoned Gold Mine with Old Hassan and a small group to search for four missing Rescue Team members, while Li Qing warned him that the Grulu guides might be dangerous. Underground, Old Hassan described the Giant Devouring Earthworm as a source of wealth and a guardian god, while Huang Yi remained intent on finding the missing people and killing the creature if it was responsible.

• Old Hassan led Huang Yi's group to the Mine Cave and explained that the abandoned workings had no electricity.
• Li Qing told Huang Yi that Old Hassan carried a Swordsman Card and warned him to be wary of the Grulu guides.
• Huang Yi sent Xu Yiming to take temporary command and entered the Mine Cave with his secretary, followed by Old Hassan, two Grulu Hunters, Ye Zheng, Li Qing, and the Contaminants.
• The Human-faced Crows flew into the maze of branching passages as Old Hassan suggested the missing people might already be dead.
• Old Hassan called the Giant Devouring Earthworm a nightmare and guardian god, while Huang Yi said they would kill it if it had caused the disappearances.

Huang Yi confronted Old Hassan over the missing team members and the stolen Cards in Grulu's Mine, where the locals worshipped the Giant Devouring Earthworm. The two Grulu Hunters attacked Huang Yi, but his lightning whip rendered their Card Abilities unusable.

• Old Hassan warned Huang Yi that the Giant Devouring Earthworm devoured everything, while Li Qing explained that it was likely an overlooked Zone Quest Boss.
• Old Hassan described the Hassan family's history in the Mine and claimed there were seven, eight, or perhaps nine Hunters who helped support the people hiding underground.
• Huang Yi challenged Old Hassan over whether the Giant Devouring Earthworm had eaten his missing team members, and Old Hassan insisted that humans and Xenomorphs were equally its food.
• Huang Yi threatened to take Old Hassan away unless he returned the missing team members and Cards, prompting Hamid and Ali to attack him.
• Huang Yi struck Hamid and Ali with his lightning whip, and they discovered they could no longer use their Card Abilities.

Huang Yi confronted Old Hassan over the Grulu Hunters’ Cards and their claim to the Mine, but the approaching Giant Devouring Earthworm threatened to trap everyone underground. The expected monster did not appear, and Feng Ling emerged from a tunnel, having found the exit.

• Huang Yi used his whip to seal the Grulu Hunters’ Cards and restrain their bodies, then Old Hassan argued that the Cards and everything in the Mine belonged to Grulu.
• Old Hassan defended the Grulu Hunters’ need to protect themselves and claimed the Giant Devouring Earthworm was approaching to eat them all.
• Huang Yi and Ye Zheng prepared to retreat and fight the monster, while Old Hassan boasted that the creature would bring Grulu more Cards and power.
• Dust and gravel spilled from a tunnel, and Feng Ling crawled out, relieved that she had finally found the exit.

Feng Ling reunited with Huang Yi and revealed that Grulu Hunters had trapped and attacked her, prompting Huang Yi to promise they would be punished. Huang Yi planned to seize every Card holder among the Grulu People and hand them over to the United Nations, though Feng Ling warned that this could leave the underground residents without food or water.

• Feng Ling emerged from an underground tunnel and explained that she had killed the Giant Devouring Earthworm blocking her escape.
• Feng Ling told Huang Yi that two Grulu Hunters had lured her into a deep hole, stabbed her, and tried to kill her with a Grenade; she showed him the daggers as evidence.
• Huang Yi promised Feng Ling that the Grulu People responsible would be punished and assured her that no one would blame her for acting in self-defense.
• Feng Ling taunted Old Hassan by saying she had liked his sons and would gladly accept their Cards, making him and his nephew erupt in rage.
• Huang Yi said he intended to find every Grulu Card holder and hand them over to the United Nations to appease England, Lorias, and Bax.
• Feng Ling questioned the plan because the underground residents relied on Hunters for clean food and water, while Huang Yi said the political consequences outweighed their fate.

After the Eshia army rounded up the Grulu People, Feng Ling learned about the Ring Conference and discussed Gene Locks with Ye Zheng and Li Qing. As the seven Card holders faced execution, the Grulu People sang their familiar song.

• Huang Yi ordered the Eshia army to arrest the Grulu People and reported the situation to the United Nations Security Council.
• Ye Zheng told Feng Ling about Huang Yi’s history as one of the first Inspectors and explained how the Ring Conference shared power.
• Li Qing reported that the Grulu People had absorbed Gene and Lisa’s Cards and that the seven Card holders were to be executed without a trial.
• Feng Ling revealed that she had incubated three Cards, and Li Qing explained how Gene Locks stabilized creatures and limited growth.
• Ye Zheng warned Feng Ling to be cautious about digesting Cards because her Corruption Value remained at 26%.
• The seven Grulu Card holders stood in a row as the Grulu People began singing before the execution.

Feng Ling’s group left the Grulu People behind and continued toward the Maze, while Huangfu Miaomiao searched for a way to contact the Star Society. She overheard the Clinic’s Doctor treating a Maze survivor and learned that the Doctor was Starlight, but the chapter ended before the man’s invitation to join his next Maze run received an answer.

• Feng Ling, Li Qing, and Ye Zheng watched the Eshia Soldiers execute the seven Grulu People and collect the Cards from their bodies.
• Feng Ling declined to interrogate the Grulu People, and her group set off to meet the Rescue Team near the Maze.
• Huangfu Miaomiao stayed near the Clinic and browsed Forum posts, hoping to join a team and reach the Maze.
• A Player arrived at the Clinic with a mortally wounded teammate and demanded treatment from the Doctor, whom Huangfu Miaomiao recognized as Starlight.
• Huangfu Miaomiao listened outside as the Doctor treated the surviving Player, who said he planned to enter the Maze again and invited her to join his next run.

Huangfu Miaomiao was caught eavesdropping at the Clinic and talked the Doctor out of punishing her. The Doctor offered her a safer way to earn Points by working as her assistant, leaving Huangfu to watch over a sleeping patient who was the Doctor’s ex-boyfriend.

• Huangfu Miaomiao overheard the Doctor say that the poisoned patient was asleep and tried to leave the Clinic unnoticed.
• The Doctor summoned snakes to surround Huangfu Miaomiao and forced her to enter the Clinic.
• The Doctor questioned Huangfu Miaomiao, who claimed she had been waiting near the Clinic for a chance to join a Maze and earn Points.
• The Doctor warned Huangfu Miaomiao that she was too weak for most Abyss Labyrinths and offered her a job as an assistant instead.
• The Doctor told Huangfu Miaomiao to watch the sleeping patient while she went to sleep, explaining that he was her ex-boyfriend.

Huangfu Miaomiao remained under the Doctor’s watch at the Clinic, torn between escaping and proving she could uncover useful information. Meanwhile, Feng Ling arranged a possible retreat route through the Quarantine Zone as she approached the Maze where the Locust had escaped.

• The Doctor kept Huangfu Miaomiao at the Clinic after dealing with a corpse, and Huangfu Miaomiao secretly reported her situation to Li Qing.
• Xiao Shu returned and was pleased to learn that Huangfu Miaomiao had become the Doctor’s assistant, while the recovered patient left without asking about his missing companion or Card.
• After a quiet day at the Clinic, Huangfu Miaomiao told Li Qing about her fears, and he advised her to escape because the Doctor, known as Starlight, was dangerous.
• Huangfu Miaomiao decided to stay long enough to uncover something rather than retreat immediately.
• Li Qing warned Feng Ling that Huangfu Miaomiao might expose herself, so Feng Ling planned for her to enter the Quarantine Zone through Molian River Bridge with Pei Xianjue’s permission.
• Feng Ling’s call to Pei Xianjue failed near the Maze, where the Locust had escaped and spread pollution, so she went to find Huang Yi and make a call before the signal worsened.

Feng Ling called Pei Xianjue to arrange help for Miaomiao’s return, then contacted Ling Feiran to check on her new Card and upcoming volunteer assignment. Feng Ling promised to bring Ling Feiran a souvenir, and Ling Feiran asked for a Card.

• Feng Ling called Pei Xianjue and asked her to watch for Miaomiao at Molian River Bridge when she returned from Mogu.
• Pei Xianjue explained that the bridge was closed and advised Miaomiao to cross alone and quietly at night.
• Pei Xianjue asked Feng Ling to bring back a souvenir, and Feng Ling agreed to find her a strangely shaped stone.
• Feng Ling called Ling Feiran, learned that Ling Feiran had received a Wraith Card with a Corruption Value of two percent, and heard that she would leave for the Quarantine Zone on Friday.
• Feng Ling offered to bring Ling Feiran a souvenir, and Ling Feiran said she wanted a Card.

Huangfu Miaomiao cleaned the Clinic and watched the Doctor heal injured Players, learning that the Doctor could regrow limbs and cure poison. The Doctor then healed a macaque’s broken leg, leaving Huangfu Miaomiao to accuse her of lying about her limits.

• Huangfu Miaomiao cleaned the Clinic, freed a chained Coconut Monkey, and gave it jelly.
• Seven or eight bloodied Players arrived and asked the Doctor to treat three injured teammates, but she said she could only treat two.
• The Players chose the poisoned teammate and the one with a severed leg, abandoning the female Player with a severed arm.
• The Doctor used her snakes to detoxify one Player and regrow the other’s leg, then sent them away to recover.
• The Doctor found the macaque in the Clinic and regrew its broken leg, prompting Huangfu Miaomiao to ask whether she had lied to the Players.