Chapter Summaries

Ke Meng tested the Honey Juice’s effect on viewers by showing Chen Momo and Mrs. Chen a short video, which gave them the uncanny impression that a toothbrush’s bristles were made of stone. He realized the effect could reach people through videos and weighed whether to review the Honey Juice publicly, leaving the decision unresolved as he considered the risks and possible government attention.

• Ke Meng recorded his findings, checked his video views, and sent Chen Momo a short test video of a toothbrush dipped in the Honey Juice.
• Chen Momo watched the video and felt that the toothbrush bristles looked as if they were made of stone, then took it downstairs to show her mother.
• Mrs. Chen compared a real toothbrush with the one in the video and experienced the same puzzling impression, while Chen Momo sent her observations to Ke Meng.
• Ke Meng concluded that the Honey Juice’s effects could reach viewers through video footage and would likely be stronger than the effects of his previous reviews.
• Ke Meng considered whether a Honey Juice review might attract government attention and weighed the chance to cooperate against the risk of being restricted.

Ke Meng’s Strange Cat and Mighty Gloves videos spread widely as researchers concluded that a mutated AI may have caused the three players’ ordeal in World. After the servers reopened, the three male players were barred from returning, while White Milk logged in and teamed up with Sweetness Fills the Air to seek revenge on the Kobolds.

• Ke Meng’s Strange Cat and Mighty Gloves videos spread rapidly as viewers shared them online.
• Orange Star Mech City Research Institute researchers attributed the players’ amnesia and shared ritual drawings to a possible mutated AI, then approved reopening World’s servers to lure it out.
• Officials banned Wang Qing and the other two male players from World because returning could worsen their trauma, offering them unlimited access to other virtual games instead.
• World’s servers reopened, and White Milk returned to the beginner village’s Resurrection Altar at level -1 with an empty inventory.
• White Milk and Sweetness Fills the Air discovered that the Kobolds had taken their equipment and planned to level up before returning to Kobold Mountain Village for revenge.

White Milk and Sweetness Fills the Air watched players battle the empowered Kobolds, then went to sleep in the starter village. White Milk found herself trapped in a terrifying sea where she repeatedly drowned and respawned, while Sweetness Fills the Air was trapped in the same endless cycle.

• The Kobold Priest led his transformed followers against players, who rushed to fight the apparent world boss while White Milk and Sweetness Fills the Air stayed back.
• The Kobolds fought players for hours, healing one another and collecting dropped equipment into a guarded pile.
• White Milk and Sweetness Fills the Air returned to the starter village and went to sleep in their homes.
• White Milk woke in an endless ocean, drowned after being attacked by marine creatures, and repeatedly respawned on the surface.
• On her seventh respawn, White Milk realized she was asleep in the game and tried unsuccessfully to log out.
• Sweetness Fills the Air was also trapped in the blue ocean, caught in the same endless cycle.

Ke Meng sensed two girls suffering in dreams he had altered, invaded their dreams, and reshaped them into a safer place inside a giant whale. The girls woke and logged out, unaware that Great Cthulhu’s nightmares could spread.

• Ke Meng used Synesthesia to perceive two female players repeatedly drowning and dying in their dreams.
• Ke Meng invaded the dreams and used Dream Distortion to create a city, farmland, forest, and animals inside a giant whale.
• Ke Meng commanded the whale to find people stranded at sea and swallow them, then withdrew from the dreams.
• The whale carried the two girls through the ocean in their dreams, and both woke after being swept into its mouth.
• White Milk and Sweetness Fills the Air logged out of the game, while Great Cthulhu’s nightmares remained able to spread.

Ke Meng discovered that Big Fur had grown into a giant, round, golden-furred creature and learned it could control its fur to eat. He planned to test its skills in the hills and brought it along disguised as a plush toy.

• Ke Meng saw that Big Fur had grown to 1.2 meters tall and watched it use its controllable fur to pull a dried fish into its hidden mouth.
• Ke Meng decided to test Big Fur’s Gigantification and Pear Blossom Needle Storm skills in the deserted hills outside town.
• Chen Momo asked about Ke Meng’s new video and wanted to pet his puppy, so Ke Meng claimed he had given it away.
• Ke Meng warned Big Fur to stay still around strangers, took a photo, and asked his Bilibili followers to suggest a name.
• Ke Meng carried Big Fur downstairs and squeezed it into his car before bringing down his recording equipment.

Ke Meng tested Big Fur's abilities in the woods, discovering that it could clean its coat, grow to giant size, and fire its fur as penetrating needles. Big Fur recovered the shed needles by rolling over them, and Ke Meng decided the unusual ability would make a highlight for his review.

• Ke Meng told Big Fur to clean itself, and Big Fur shook the dirt from its fur in an orderly wave.
• Ke Meng used a drone to check the woods, then had Big Fur grow to five meters tall and smash a tree with its paw.
• Big Fur performed Pear Blossom Needle Storm, firing golden hairs through the surrounding trees and grass.
• Ke Meng noticed Big Fur had lost nearly a tenth of its coat, and Big Fur whimpered at the cost of the attack.
• Ke Meng asked Big Fur to absorb the scattered needles, and Big Fur rolled over the area until they disappeared.

Ke Meng tested the dog’s long-range fur needles and rewarded it with chicken cutlets while checking the growing popularity of his videos and asking it to choose a name. At the convenience store, a shadow entered Mrs. Chen’s body after Chen Momo found her unconscious, and mother and daughter closed the shop early.

• Ke Meng had the dog fire exactly one hundred fur needles, then found them embedded in objects a thousand meters away with much of their penetrating power intact.
• Ke Meng fed the dog nine portions of chicken cutlet meat and checked the rising views on his videos, bringing him closer to unlocking Shadow-Grasping Hand.
• Ke Meng read fan-suggested names to the dog, which reacted to “Head & Shoulders” and “Tangyuan” but seemed most interested in food.
• Chen Momo heard what sounded like her mother’s voice, then found Mrs. Chen unconscious on the convenience store restroom floor.
• A shadow slipped into the restroom and merged with Mrs. Chen’s shadow; she woke, and she and Chen Momo decided to close the store early.
• After locking up and leaving on their electric scooter, Chen Momo looked back at the dark store and saw the cold light from Ke Meng’s room upstairs.

White Milk and Miss Sweet reported their shared, terrifying reincarnation dream to researchers at the institute in Mech City, hoping for an investigation and compensation. The researcher accepted their complaint and planned to investigate whether the experience could be recreated in World.

• White Milk and Miss Sweet compared their dreams of drowning repeatedly in the sea and realized they had experienced the same nightmare.
• Miss Sweet proposed filing a complaint, and the two women decided to contact the institute's researchers directly.
• At the institute, the virtual gaming researcher listened to their accounts and reviewed their sleep pod assessments, remaining skeptical but considering whether a mutated artificial intelligence was responsible.
• The researcher accepted their complaint, recorded their descriptions, and said the institute would investigate the dream and reassess possible compensation.

White Milk warned others about her nightmare in “World,” while researcher Li Shen tested whether sleeping in the game caused the same dream. Unable to log out after waking in the ocean, he was attacked by a shark as an enormous whale approached.

• White Milk posted about her nightmare, described repeatedly dying in a blue ocean, and warned people not to play “World.”
• Players and people she knew reacted with sympathy, disbelief, or curiosity, while the post had little effect on the game.
• Researcher Li Shen watched players battle unusually powerful Kobolds and heard that the game company could not weaken them through the backend.
• Li Shen entered deep sleep in the beginner village and woke in an ocean, recognizing it as the Reincarnation Dream White Milk had described.
• Li Shen could not summon the system or log out, and a shark swallowed him as an enormous whale rose toward the surface.

Ke Meng awakened in R'lyeh, heard the Black Ghost’s report about adventurers returning after a game shutdown, and ordered it to infiltrate their town despite the unknown deity it feared. After the Black Ghost left, Ke Meng sensed a Reincarnation Dream shared by many people in distant places.

• Ke Meng awakened in R'lyeh, and his presence drove visiting sea creatures into madness.
• The Black Ghost reported that adventurers had returned after game maintenance and warned that entering their town might draw the attention of an unknown deity.
• Ke Meng used Control Fear to command the Black Ghost to infiltrate the adventurer town and claim its followers.
• The Black Ghost left R'lyeh, while Ke Meng watched the sea creatures fight and turned his attention to a distant Reincarnation Dream.
• Ke Meng used Synesthesia to perceive several dreamers in buildings, forests, farmland, and mountains, realizing that a group of people shared the dream.

Ke Meng watched the Orange Star People explore Great Whale’s inner world and connected their dreams, while Li Shen’s tests convinced the Intelligent Machinery Institute that the virtual game “World” posed a safety risk. The Institute ordered the game taken offline for maintenance, and Ke Meng woke just as the dreamers’ worlds linked together.

• Ke Meng observed the Orange Star People’s dreams and decided to connect the dreamers’ worlds using their mental energy.
• Everything Is Tough tested Fireball in “World,” and Li Shen concluded the game’s realism exceeded the limits of consumer gaming pods.
• Li Shen reported his findings, and researchers at the Intelligent Machinery Institute tested the game and experienced the shark nightmare if they had read its documentation.
• Li Shen urged the Institute to take “World” offline, and the director ordered a shutdown to prioritize public safety while they searched for the mutated AI.
• Ke Meng heard the maintenance broadcast as the dreamers’ dreams connected, then woke up.

Ke Meng named Big Fur Ball Tangyuan and discovered his Strange Cat review had earned him the Shadow-Grasping Hand skill. Chen Momo described hearing her absent mother speak, and the story left Ke Meng waiting to hear what her mother had said afterward.

• Ke Meng named Big Fur Ball Tangyuan and invited Chen Momo over to share tangyuan.
• Chen Momo leaned against Tangyuan, whose senses detected her shadow briefly moving on its own.
• Ke Meng saw that his Strange Cat review had reached 760,000 views and claimed the Shadow-Grasping Hand skill as a quest reward.
• Ke Meng considered testing the skill on animal or object shadows rather than risking harm to a person.
• Chen Momo told Ke Meng that she had heard her mother speak while her mother was unconscious, then began to explain what her mother said when asked about it.

Chen Momo told Ke Meng that her mother had somehow known what she was doing while unconscious, and that she had seen a shadow enter her mother. Ke Meng demonstrated his new Shadow-Grasping Hand and concluded that an abnormal shadow might be involved, leaving Chen Momo stunned.

• Chen Momo recounted how her mother had described the messages she sent while her mother was unconscious in the bathroom.
• Chen Momo said her mother had only thought, not spoken, that there was no room at home, and recalled seeing a dark shadow enter her mother.
• Ke Meng believed Chen Momo and suggested that the shadow might have entered her mother or her shadow.
• Ke Meng used Shadow-Grasping Hand to remove the bowl’s shadow, showed it to Chen Momo, and restored it.
• Ke Meng grabbed the shadows of objects around the room and moved the refrigerator’s shadow beneath a chair, convincing Chen Momo that shadows could be grasped.

Ke Meng tested his Shadow-Grasping Hand on insects and learned that animals stopped moving when their shadows were removed. He swapped the shadows of an ant and a ladybug, leaving the consequences unknown.

• Ke Meng told Chen Momo to act normally and call him if anything happened to her mother, then took Tangyuan outside to collect bugs.
• Ke Meng grabbed an ant’s shadow and saw that the ant stopped moving until he returned it.
• Ke Meng tested the ability’s range and reasoned that Mrs. Chen might have fainted when her shadow left her body.
• Ke Meng removed a ladybug’s shadow, then swapped it with the ant’s shadow and watched to see what would happen.

Ke Meng tested the Shadow-Grasping Hand by swapping insect shadows and learned that a shadow could carry a creature’s consciousness. After discovering the ladybug’s shadow had merged with the ant’s, he successfully separated them by grabbing both at once.

• Ke Meng swapped the seven-spotted ladybug’s and giant ant’s shadows, observed their altered behavior, and learned from the Strange Knowledge Cat that the shadows controlled the insects’ bodies.
• Ke Meng placed the ladybug’s shadow in the giant ant and learned that the two insects’ consciousnesses had merged into one shadow, leaving the ladybug alive but shadowless.
• Ke Meng decided not to try grabbing his own shadow, while Tangyuan washed the pot after Ke Meng promised it more rice balls.
• Ke Meng repeatedly practiced grabbing the giant ant’s shadow and found that the ladybug’s shadow came with it because the two had merged.
• Ke Meng grabbed the giant ant with his right hand and the seven-spotted ladybug with his left, successfully separating their shadows.

Ke Meng captured the shadow that had taken Mrs. Chen’s shadow and removed another shadow from Chen Momo. He put both shadow creatures onto ants and tried to find a way to question them.

• Chen Momo noticed that her sleeping mother had no shadow, and Ke Meng arrived as Mrs. Chen’s shadow reappeared.
• Ke Meng pulled the strange shadow from Mrs. Chen and trapped it in his fist, restoring her shadow.
• Ke Meng told Chen Momo that her shadow had also been invaded, then removed the creature from her and restored her awareness.
• Ke Meng placed both shadow creatures onto ants, but found they gave him no new knowledge.
• Chen Momo suggested making the ants write, and Ke Meng asked the shadow creatures to identify themselves by walking in patterns.

Ke Meng interrogated the two shadows after trapping them inside ants, learning their names and how they had entered Chen Momo and her mother. The shadows confirmed that crushing their ant bodies could not kill them, but Ke Meng pressed them on whether they could survive outside a host.

• Ke Meng gave the two ants five minutes to adjust to their bodies before ordering them to write their names.
• The ants wrote that they were Wen Yushan and Mi Jingyun, both female, and said they had entered the mother and daughter ten days earlier.
• Chen Momo recalled that she and her mother had fallen asleep during a trip to Octopus City ten days earlier.
• The ants admitted that they had caused the mother and daughter to fall asleep, but said they did not know why they could leave human bodies.
• Ke Meng asked whether crushing their ant bodies would let them transfer elsewhere, and the ants answered yes.
• Ke Meng asked whether they would die if they stayed outside a body too long, and the chapter ended before they answered.

Ke Meng learned that the shadow creatures belonged to an organization called Shadow Stream, then detected a strange golden sunlight phenomenon in Whale City that increased his resistance. He searched the city for signs of trouble and discovered police were hunting a dangerous fugitive from Octopus City near a museum.

• Ke Meng questioned the two shadow creatures, who revealed that their organization was called Shadow Stream and that they knew little about it.
• Ke Meng recorded what he had learned about shadow creatures and noticed that unusual golden sunlight had swept across Whale City, triggering a resistance increase.
• Ke Meng asked Chen Momo about the sunlight, then uploaded Tangyuan's review video to meet the system's new viewer requirement.
• Ke Meng drove through the streets touched by the golden light but found nothing unusual near the shopping mall.
• Ke Meng spotted police checkpoints near a museum and learned that officers were searching for a highly intelligent, dangerous fugitive from Octopus City.

Ke Meng found a fugitive whose shadow could move independently and captured him with Tangyuan and his Shadow-Grasping Hand. After deciding not to interrogate the man himself, Ke Meng called the police.

• Ke Meng returned home after finding no way to investigate the museum incident and noticed Tangyuan pointing toward a man seeking a rental.
• Ke Meng recognized the square-faced man as a wanted fugitive and brought him upstairs to view the third-floor apartment.
• The man's shadow stretched toward Ke Meng, so Ke Meng released Tangyuan, who knocked the man down and pinned him.
• When the shadow tried to switch hosts, Ke Meng trapped it in his palm and returned it to the man's body.
• Ke Meng ordered Tangyuan to knock the man unconscious, then called 110 instead of interrogating him.

Ke Meng reported and helped the police capture a fugitive from Shadow Stream, drawing Captain Luo’s suspicion because he claimed to have knocked the dangerous man out with a stuffed toy. The police revealed that unusual items existed and asked to inspect Ke Meng’s toy, while Ke Meng remained curious about Captain Luo’s heat-emitting badge.

• A caller reported that the fugitive had passed out near Ke Meng’s building, and Captain Luo led officers there to investigate.
• Ke Meng said he had knocked the fugitive unconscious with a stuffed toy, and a drone confirmed the man was inside the building.
• Police cordoned off the area and surrounded the building while Captain Luo used a heat-emitting badge during the apprehension.
• Officers came downstairs carrying the fugitive in a black transport bag, and Captain Luo questioned Ke Meng about how he had subdued him.
• A plainclothes officer suggested Ke Meng’s stuffed toy was a special item and asked to register it, offering him the option of turning it over to the police.