Chapter Summaries

Ye Chu and the others helped Meng Fan and the slum children seize the Person-Eaters’ armory, sparking an uprising among the Ordinary People. While fleeing pursuit, Ye Chu encountered Qi Yu, who confronted him over the raid and was shot as Ye Chu escaped, leaving behind a photograph of Ye Mo.

• Su Fengzi and the others learned that Meng Fan led a group of slum children, and Pei Yanchuan suggested raiding the Person-Eaters’ armory for weapons.
• Ye Chu and the others attacked the armory in the southwestern outskirts, while Meng Fan shot a Person-Eater and the children claimed the weapons.
• News of the armory’s fall inspired Ordinary People across the city to take up arms against the Person-Eaters.
• Ye Chu evaded a designated Person-Eater, then ran into Qi Yu, who blamed him for broken collectibles and confronted him about the armory raid.
• Qi Yu aimed a gun at Ye Chu, but the gun fell and Qi Yu collapsed; Ye Chu left without noticing a photograph of Ye Mo slip from Qi Yu’s pocket.

Ye Chu watched the Ordinary People’s rebellion turn into a plan to punish and enslave the Person-Eaters, while Pei Yanchuan and Su Fengzi tried to protect women and children from the new rulers. The chapter ended with Meng Fan justifying their persecution because the victims were born Person-Eaters.

• Xiao Chuan asked Ye Chu not to risk his life, and Ye Chu promised he would not die.
• After three days of fighting, Meng Fan told Ye Chu that the Ordinary People would impose new laws making Person-Eaters atone for their past oppression.
• Ye Chu heard the rebels call for enslaving and imprisoning Person-Eaters as they advanced toward the central palace.
• Pei Yanchuan aimed his gun at Ordinary Person guards who approached Wen Yan and the children, while Shou Shou hid in his mother’s arms.
• Meng Fan confronted Pei Yanchuan and Su Fengzi, and declared that the women and children deserved punishment because they were born Person-Eaters.

Ye Chu watched Xiao Chuan die while protecting him, then joined Pei Yanchuan and the others in forcing the Person-Eaters and Ordinary People to confront their shared humanity. The challenge ended with the factions terrified of the group they called demons, but the livestream revealed more footage remained.

• Meng Fan ordered his followers to seize the women and children and later called on them to kill Ye Chu and his allies, while the Person-Eaters' army also targeted the leaders.
• Xiao Chuan took bullets meant for Ye Chu and died, unable to be saved by Ye Chu's antidote.
• Ye Chu's bottle filled with poison as he prepared to destroy the world, and Pei Yanchuan and Wu You transformed into wolves beside him while Su Fengzi and Lu Rui readied their guns.
• The Person-Eaters and Ordinary People stopped fighting each other and begged Ye Chu's group, whom they called demons, to spare them.
• The system announced that the challenge had been completed, and the livestream image changed to reveal that more footage remained.

After finishing the Instance, Pei Yanchuan left Wen Yan a note entrusting her with the conflict between Person-Eaters and Ordinary People. Back at the Rest House, the group relaxed together, bought a street for walks, and shared dinner.

• Ye Chu asked Pei Yanchuan what he had given the red-haired woman, and Pei Yanchuan explained that he had left Wen Yan a note about resolving the conflict between Person-Eaters and Ordinary People.
• The livestream continued after the players finished, showing Wen Yan speaking to both groups as they moved closer together.
• Pei Yanchuan tried to help Lu Rui cook, but she kicked him out of the kitchen, and the others laughed while playing Monopoly.
• Pei Yanchuan proposed buying a street so the group could go outside and walk Wu Lü, and Lu Rui agreed after Ye Chu approved.
• The group ate Lu Rui's braised pork and teased one another, while Pei Yanchuan choked when Ye Chu called Su Fengzi “Brother Fengzi.”

Wu You was shaken when getting splashed brought back memories of being bullied for her muscular build, but Ye Chu and their friends comforted her. She remembered that Ye Chu had once protected her at school, and their reunion in the game carried a meaning she had never told him.

• Ye Chu took Wu Lü for a walk while Pei Yanchuan explored the street and Wu You was accidentally drenched by a child.
• Wu You became withdrawn after the incident and asked Lu Rui whether she was a monster.
• Wu You told everyone about her illness, her intense training, and five years of bullying after classmates mocked her muscles.
• Lu Rui, Pei Yanchuan, Su Fengzi, and Ye Chu reassured Wu You that she was not a monster, and she thanked Ye Chu.
• Wu You recalled how Ye Chu had stopped boys from bullying her in high school and offered to help if she got into trouble again.
• Wu You remembered learning that Ye Chu had entered Peking University and later reuniting with him in the game.

Ye Chu entered the “Murder Mystery” instance as a half-human, half-fish investigator seeking the truth about his father’s death at the Jiangnan Leather Factory. The chapter ended when the system declared that Ye Chu had fallen in love at first sight with Pei Yanchuan’s secretary character.

• Pei Yanchuan asked Ye Chu to cut his hair, and Su Fengzi and the others complimented the new style.
• The system transported the players into the “Murder Mystery” instance and explained its rules for following character scripts, finding evidence, and solving the case.
• Ye Chu discovered that his character was a half-human, half-fish being whose father had been caught by a fisherman and whose remains were buried at the Jiangnan Leather Factory.
• Ye Chu read his character backstory and found a cryptic slip of paper containing five strange clues.
• Ye Chu followed Pei Yanchuan, who was playing the factory boss’s secretary, and the system announced that Ye Chu had fallen in love with him at first sight.

Ye Chu investigated the Jiangnan Leather Factory and discovered its owner was evasive, then was attacked and woke in a dark place after changing back into his half-human, half-fish form. Someone wrapped him in a blanket and carried him back to his room.

• Ye Chu soaked in a saltwater bath, escaped an unseen creature that grabbed his ankle, and found black hair in the tub.
• Ye Chu watched Pei Yanchuan and Su Fengzi secretly swap pill-laced water bottles, then saw Wu You muttering about pursuing Su Fengzi.
• Ye Chu questioned Huang He about the Jiangnan Leather Factory, but Huang He dodged his questions and revealed the factory had cash-flow problems.
• Ye Chu walked through a corridor where the portraits seemed to watch him, slapped himself to break an apparent illusion, and was struck unconscious from behind.
• Ye Chu woke blindfolded in the dark with his merfolk features restored, knocked someone out by accident, and was carried back to his room by an unseen person.

Ye Chu learned that Wu You had accidentally killed his father by releasing a saltwater fish into a river, then discovered Su Fengzi was a white lotus spirit and was compelled to act as though he had fallen in love with him. The murder mystery game began when Huang He was found dead, and the group gathered to compare their roles and relationships with the victim.

• After returning to his room with swollen eyes, Ye Chu found a note revealing that Wu You had released his father into a river, where he died.
• Pei Yanchuan visited Ye Chu, who was then summoned to the living room and learned that Su Fengzi was a spirit called a white lotus.
• The system forced Ye Chu to act as though he had fallen for Su Fengzi, who refused Ye Chu's offer to make a couple account.
• The assistant discovered Huang He dead in his room, and Su Fengzi suspected he had been poisoned.
• Ye Chu led everyone downstairs to discuss the timeline and distribute booklets for the murder mystery game.
• Ye Chu, Pei Yanchuan, Su Fengzi, Lu Rui, and Wu You introduced their roles and each acknowledged having had a disagreement with Huang He.

Ye Chu and the others compared their timelines before searching the house for clues about Huang He's locked-room murder. Ye Chu found suspicious items in Su Fengzi's room, then discovered fishing line at the crime scene as Pei Yanchuan hinted that Ye Chu might know him from before.

• Ye Chu, Pei Yanchuan, Su Fengzi, Lu Rui, and Wu You gave their accounts of the afternoon, then agreed to search for evidence.
• Ye Chu searched Su Fengzi's room and found environmental-damage documents, used laxatives, stained clothes, a phone with an infrared remote app, and intimate or secret photos of himself and Su Fengzi.
• Ye Chu and Pei Yanchuan inspected Huang He's room, where the assistant said the door had been locked until it was opened with a key.
• Pei Yanchuan found fishing line tied near the window, suggesting it had been used to control it.
• Pei Yanchuan caught Ye Chu's wrist and asked whether he remembered him, then explained that they had a romance subplot; Ye Chu dismissed his sense of familiarity as imagination.

Wu You presented clues about Pei Yanchuan’s past relationships and deal with Huang He, while Pei Yanchuan improvised a story about being a catnip plant and a kept lover. The discussion ended with Ye Chu questioning whether Pei blamed him for signing a secret contract with Huang He.

• Wu You revealed clues from Pei Yanchuan’s room, including his lack of schooling and catnip, and Pei Yanchuan claimed he was a hundred-year-old catnip plant.
• Wu You showed records of Ye Chu’s transfers and photos of the two together, and Pei Yanchuan said they had dated while Ye Chu supported him.
• Pei Yanchuan claimed he broke up with Ye Chu after seeing him with another man, and Ye Chu explained that his poor memory and sleeping with his eyes open might have caused the misunderstanding.
• Wu You showed a pair of extravagant pants Pei Yanchuan had bought for Ye Chu using Ye Chu’s money.
• Wu You revealed a secret contract between Pei Yanchuan and Huang He, and Pei Yanchuan said he had signed it after Ye Chu left him and he ran out of money.
• Ye Chu asked whether Pei Yanchuan was blaming him for the contract, and Pei Yanchuan replied sarcastically that Ye Chu could never be wrong.

The group compared clues from their room searches, uncovering Pei Yanchuan and Su Fengzi’s mutual drugging, Ye Chu’s merman nature and past, and evidence that Pei may have used an infrared app to turn on the air conditioner. Ye Chu began sharing what he found in Su Fengzi’s room, starting with a Harvard diploma.

• Wu You explained that Pei Yanchuan had drugged Su Fengzi with Aphrodisiac Powder while Su Fengzi had secretly given Pei a laxative, and she connected the laxative to Pei’s 3:20 p.m. bathroom visit.
• Wu You revealed Pei Yanchuan’s hidden love letter to Ye Chu and an infrared remote-control app on his phone, then summarized Pei’s possible motive for killing Huang He.
• Pei Yanchuan discovered that Ye Chu was a merman, learned that Ye Chu’s father had been killed and buried near the leather factory, and heard that Ye Chu’s tears turned into pearls.
• Ye Chu explained that someone had knocked him out after he visited Huang He, while Pei noted Ye Chu’s koi influencer account, empty jar, and motive involving a lost hundred-million deposit.
• Pei Yanchuan realized that his infrared app could have turned on the air conditioner in the locked room, making himself a suspect.
• Ye Chu began presenting his findings from Su Fengzi’s room and revealed a Harvard diploma in Su Fengzi’s drawer.

Ye Chu questioned Su Fengzi about the clues connecting him to the factory’s crimes, the attempted murder, and Ye Chu’s rescue. Su Fengzi admitted to several motives and revealed that he and Ye Chu were exes, leaving the group in a chaotic romantic argument.

• Ye Chu asked Su Fengzi why he had helped get Huang He's leather factory fined, and Su Fengzi revealed that the wastewater had damaged his river habitat and that Huang He had plucked out his stamens.
• Su Fengzi admitted to slipping laxatives to Pei Yanchuan because he disliked Pei Xiaohu and had seen him eating lotus root; he said he had given him more than twenty pills.
• Su Fengzi explained that Wu You had clung to him in his room and that he knocked her out, while the drugged water and aphrodisiac powder had no effect because Huang He had castrated him by removing his stamens.
• Su Fengzi said the red-butt photo showed pigment from the factory’s wastewater and claimed he had found the picture in Lu Rui’s room; Lu Rui admitted she had photographed him while he was bathing.
• Su Fengzi revealed that he had saved Ye Chu because they were exes, prompting Pei Yanchuan to ask Ye Chu to be with him and Su Fengzi to angrily insist that nothing was wrong with him.

Ye Chu and Su Fengzi discussed clues linking Feng Zi to the murder and examined evidence from Huang He and Lu Rui’s rooms. Lu Rui revealed that she had come to investigate her indebted factory, while Wu You’s anger at Huang He’s mistreatment of her continued to boil over.

• Ye Chu said Feng Zi had the Infrared Remote Control app and handwriting matching the note about his father’s death, making him a murder suspect, and Su Fengzi admitted he was gay.
• Su Fengzi explained that he had disliked Youyou after she released a saltwater fish into a river, where it died, and Ye Chu described fishing line that could have been used to fake a locked room in Huang He’s room.
• Su Fengzi found a photo of Lu Rui with a tabby cat bearing black spots, and Lu Rui said the cat had disappeared after she had him neutered.
• Lu Rui said Huang He had pursued her and that she had entrusted him with the leather factory she built, prompting Wu You to accuse her of being blinded by love.
• Su Fengzi revealed that Huang He had cleared woodland, polluted a river, and left the factory three hundred and fifty million in debt while planning to flee with his mistress.
• Lu Rui said she had come to investigate the debt and protect her factory, not to confront Huang He about his mistress, calming Wu You.

Su Fengzi pieced together the clues behind Huang He's murder, revealing Lu Rui's motive and how she knocked Ye Chu out while searching for evidence. The investigation ended with Su Fengzi revealing he was a lotus flower and Lu Rui realizing Wu You could not have been Huang He's lover because she was a mole.

• Su Fengzi read Lu Rui and Youyou's messages, and Wu You explained that Huang He's lover was Xiao Pei, not her.
• A voice recording revealed Huang He planned to leave Lu Rui with 350 million in debt and confessed he had married her for revenge.
• Lu Rui admitted her motive and said she had found Pei Yanchuan barely conscious, given him water, then knocked Ye Chu out to test whether his tears became pearls.
• Lu Rui explained that she took Su Fengzi's Colored Contact Lens Case, mistaking it for Ye Chu's, and Su Fengzi revealed his white eyes because he was a lotus flower.
• Lu Rui said she had known Wu You was not Huang He's lover because Wu You was a little mole.

The group solved the comedic “Murder mystery” Instance by identifying Su Fengzi as Huang He’s killer and correctly answering the system’s questions. They returned to the Rest House, where they wondered whether the easy Instance had been caused by a system glitch and Su Fengzi avoided explaining his past.

• Lu Rui and Wu You discussed Wu You’s meeting with Huang He and agreed that her motive had arisen too late for her to prepare the murder.
• Ye Chu and the others narrowed the suspects to Pei Yanchuan and Su Fengzi based on who had the infrared app and a possible poison container.
• Su Fengzi admitted he was the murderer, and Ye Chu answered the system’s questions about the characters’ identities and backstories.
• The system announced that the group had completed the Instance, and Ye Chu and the others returned to the Rest House.
• Pei Yanchuan asked Su Fengzi about an earlier incident, but Su Fengzi gave a vague answer until Ye Chu changed the subject by offering to make noodles.

Ye Chu, Pei Yanchuan, and their friends relaxed after dinner and talked about the strange Instance and what they would do after returning home. Su Fengzi urged Ye Chu to consider Pei Yanchuan’s feelings, and Ye Chu left the conversation saying he would think about it longer.

• Ye Chu and Pei Yanchuan discussed the system’s unusual behavior and the variety show mentioned in the livestream comments.
• Wu You joined them, and the group joked about their plans after returning home, including Pei Yanchuan’s goal of attending Ye Chu’s university.
• Lu Rui and Su Fengzi returned with cakes, and Su Fengzi privately asked Ye Chu about Pei Yanchuan’s feelings for him.
• Su Fengzi explained that he and Lu Rui had broken up because they were both stubborn, then encouraged Ye Chu to give Pei Yanchuan a chance.
• Ye Chu said he would think about it longer, flicked water onto Su Fengzi, and returned to watch a movie with Pei Yanchuan and the others.

The group watched a horror movie, discussed whether ghosts existed, and admired shooting stars at the rest house. The next morning, Ye Chu struggled with his unsettled feelings while Wu You and Pei Yanchuan argued over walking Wu Lü.

• Wu You jumped into Lu Rui’s arms during a jumpscare, while Pei Yanchuan startled Ye Chu with a howl.
• After the movie, Wu You asked whether the group believed in ghosts, and Pei Yanchuan and Ye Chu said they trusted science.
• Su Fengzi called the others to the rooftop, where they watched shooting stars and made wishes.
• Ye Chu noticed Pei Yanchuan looking at him after making a wish and later felt confused and irritated by his own emotions.
• The next morning, Wu You and Pei Yanchuan argued over who would walk Wu Lü, so Wu Lü handed each of them a leash.

Ye Chu entered the “Ghost Opera Singer” Instance after the group bargained with the system for protection from skill side effects. In a rainy forest, he tried to stop a beggar from playing rock-paper-scissors for a treasure box, but two losing players turned into skeletons.

• The group persuaded the system to remove skill side effects for the Instance, though the Hunter’s skill was excluded.
• Ye Chu arrived in a forest and met a beggar who agreed to take him home.
• Ye Chu and the beggar encountered three black-robed figures sitting around a box of treasure.
• The black-robed figures offered the treasure as a prize in rock-paper-scissors, and the beggar joined despite Ye Chu’s warning.
• After several rounds, two black-robed figures lost and decayed into skeletons, making the beggar scream.

Ye Chu escaped with Aze from a pair of eerie black-clad figures and followed him to his shack, where he met Aze’s blind mother. Aze explained that famine had left his family desperate and that the town’s mayor had urged people to worship the mysterious Ghost Opera Singer.

• Ye Chu pulled Aze away from an eerie figure, but Aze doubled back to grab its box before they fled.
• Aze told Ye Chu that famine and townsfolk’s suspicion of villagers had left him begging, despite his wish to earn money for his mother’s treatment.
• Ye Chu followed Aze to his shack and met his blind mother, who offered him a steamed bun and saved another for Aze.
• Aze locked the shack and warned Ye Chu to keep quiet about the money he had found so they would not be robbed or go hungry.
• Aze explained that the mayor had blamed the Ghost Opera Singer for the poor harvests and ordered residents to worship his portrait, though Aze did not believe in him.

Ye Chu accompanied Aze to visit Old Zhang, who described a ghostly visitor that paid him to make a coffin. Ye Chu noticed something suspicious about Old Zhang, while Aze kept quiet about his own encounter with a ghost.

• Aze told Ye Chu they would visit Old Zhang, the coffin maker, and Ye Chu calmly went along.
• Old Zhang warned Aze that Ye Chu might be the Ghost Opera Singer, but Aze dismissed the idea.
• Old Zhang recounted how a tall, black-robed figure with a pale face and no eyeballs asked him to make a coffin and gave him stones that seemed like gold.
• Old Zhang said a force had trapped him inside a coffin, but he escaped and later found one stone had become a gold bar.
• Aze believed Old Zhang's account but did not mention his own ghostly encounter, while Ye Chu noticed Old Zhang seemed oddly energetic and inspected the moved coffin lid.