Chapter Summaries

Chu Qingjiu realized Happy Community punished abusers, then questioned Auntie Wang about the source of the community’s unhappiness. Auntie Wang revealed that the community’s existence depended on a watched entity, while her memories of Li Zihao led Chu Qingjiu to wonder whether Chu Zhi was absent from the community.

• Chu Qingjiu connected the residents’ deaths to the victims punishing their abusers and wondered what Yu Nian, Wu Zhong, and Gu Yan had done.
• Qi Wu asked Chu Qingjiu to pay attention to him, and Chu Qingjiu avoided acknowledging Qi Wu’s feelings and their likely separation.
• Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu visited Auntie Wang, who offered to tell Chu Qingjiu why no one in Happy Community was happy if he left immediately.
• Auntie Wang said the community could not be survived for ten days because of an entity that was the key to its existence and the vessel that held it.
• Auntie Wang explained that she favored Chu Qingjiu because he resembled Li Zihao in the past, prompting Chu Qingjiu to question whether Chu Zhi was in Happy Community at all.

Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu learned the story behind Li Zihao’s novel and uncovered a pattern linking the community’s murders to a group of residents. They waited in Happy Community’s central courtyard as midnight brought a blood-red glow and an immense, watchful presence.

• Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu read Li Zihao’s novel, in which loan sharks killed Hao Youqian’s father and Chu Chu, before a ghost helped Hao Youqian take revenge and die.
• Chu Qingjiu suspected a higher-order being, possibly the Eyeball Fleshball, had transformed Happy Community, and he connected the novel’s loan sharks to residents who acted in a murder pattern.
• Zhao Yang told Chu Qingjiu that five members of a crude, close-knit group remained alive; Chu Qingjiu identified Zhang Shan as the likely target that night but chose not to warn him.
• Chu Qingjiu warned Zhao Yang and Lin Ran to watch out for later attacks, then waited with Qi Wu in the community’s central courtyard, which he believed was shaped to nurture something.
• At midnight, Happy Community glowed red, and Chu Qingjiu felt immense pressure and a sensation of being watched as he looked up at a startling sight.

Chu Qingjiu uncovered that people’s cruelty was the source of Happy Community’s misery, but the dungeon’s remaining mysteries kept the group from clearing it. As Zhao Yang’s death left Lin Ran devastated, Chu Qingjiu considered his coming separation from Qi Wu and chose to hide his identity while Qi Wu dreamed aloud about their future together.

• A Fortune Ghost appeared over Happy Community, and Chu Qingjiu explained that it had absorbed the residents’ happiness.
• Chu Qingjiu used the female ghost to turn the Spider Baby against Zhang Shan, who was killed in his apartment.
• Auntie Wang helped Chu Qingjiu realize that people had caused the residents’ misfortunes, but the group still received no dungeon-clear notification.
• Zhao Yang died during the night, leaving Lin Ran grieving as the group remained unsure why the community differed from Li Zihao’s novel.
• Chu Qingjiu decided to keep his identity and purpose secret from Qi Wu, while Qi Wu suggested they travel together after leaving the dungeon.

Chu Qingjiu offered Lin Ran a final dream with Zhao Yang in exchange for Lin Ran’s life, and Lin Ran accepted. After Lin Ran died happily in the dream, Chu Qingjiu took the ninth Soul Puppet Thread from his soul.

• Chu Qingjiu promised Qi Wu a future together, though he knew he would leave once he found the last Soul Puppet Thread and wanted Qi Wu to remember him.
• Chu Qingjiu visited Lin Ran and asked whether he would give up his life for a chance to see Zhao Yang again.
• Lin Ran recalled how Zhao Yang had helped him overcome his insecurities and decided that he would accept the price.
• Chu Qingjiu used a damaged paper figure containing one of Zhao Yang’s souls to let Lin Ran meet Zhao Yang in a dream.
• Lin Ran died smiling in the dream, and Chu Qingjiu drew the ninth Soul Puppet Thread from Lin Ran’s soul before taking it into his body.

Chu Qingjiu left Lin Ran’s body after creating a Soul Puppet Thread from him, while revealing that Qi Wu had hidden another thread inside himself to keep Chu Qingjiu from leaving. Chu Qingjiu tried to explain that the Person in Charge forced them apart, but when his strength failed, Qi Wu found and caught him.

• Chu Qingjiu left Lin Ran’s peaceful body, weakened by creating a Soul Puppet Thread and unable to reclaim the thread Qi Wu had fused into himself.
• Qi Wu confessed that he had discovered Chu Qingjiu was the Puppeteer and hidden a Soul Puppet Thread in his body so Chu Qingjiu could not leave without killing him.
• Chu Qingjiu told Qi Wu he loved him but had to leave because neither of them could defy the Person in Charge, and Qi Wu promised to find him.
• Chu Qingjiu grew dizzy and collapsed in the corridor, and Qi Wu caught him and carried him in his arms.

Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu found the last Soul Puppet Thread, and Chu Qingjiu exposed Happy Community as a dream built from its residents’ hopes and resentment. After the dream collapsed and the mission was completed, Chu Qingjiu said goodbye as the instance prepared to send him away.

• Qi Wu reassured Chu Qingjiu that he could rely on him, then carried him to bed so he could rest.
• Chu Qingjiu woke beside Qi Wu, and they went to Room 408, where he found his final Soul Puppet Thread.
• Chu Qingjiu gathered with Qi Wu and the community’s residents and revealed that Happy Community was a dream formed from their hopes and resentment.
• The beautiful community crumbled into its true, decayed appearance as Chu Qingjiu’s words shattered the residents’ dream.
• The mission was marked complete, and Auntie Wang told Chu Qingjiu it was time to leave; Chu Qingjiu said goodbye.

After Chu Qingjiu returned to the icy Throne, the Person in Charge offered to bring Qi Wu there in exchange for a price, and Chu Qingjiu accepted. Qi Wu learned he had to reach his hundredth instance to settle things, and entered his final instance hoping to reunite with Chu Qingjiu.

• As Happy Community recovered, Auntie Wang sent residents carrying lumps from the growing Fortune Ghost to other areas and instances.
• Back on the icy Throne, Chu Qingjiu asked the Person in Charge about his hidden face and learned he could bring Qi Wu to keep him company for a price.
• Chu Qingjiu accepted the Person in Charge's offer, while Qi Wu woke alone and promised to find him.
• Qi Wu visited Zhang Qunsheng, who said everything would be settled when Qi Wu reached his hundredth instance.
• Qi Wu completed more instances over six months, then received the five-star zombie instance "Corpse Driver" as his final instance.
• Qi Wu and Zhang Qunsheng prepared supplies for the instance, and Qi Wu entered the Safe House to await its start.

Qi Wu and the other players entered Peach Blossom Village for the five-star Corpse Driver instance, where they learned that a zombie had likely escaped from whatever the village’s feng shui was meant to suppress. The village chief began arranging places for them to stay, but his figure inexplicably receded into the distance as he walked away.

• The system introduced the Corpse Driver instance and gave the players a choice between surviving three days and resolving the zombies' resentment.
• At the village entrance, Yi Zhongzhou explained the red cloth covering the old pagoda tree and warned that a dangerous zombie might have escaped.
• The ten players entered Peach Blossom Village, where a woman directed them to the village chief.
• The village chief agreed to find households to host the players, then gradually receded into the distance as he walked away.

Qi Wu ignored Yi Zhongzhou’s warning that a death tribulation awaited him within three days because of his attachment to Chu Qingjiu, and paired up with Han Mo to investigate Peach Blossom Village. Yi Zhongzhou explained the village’s corpse-walking customs before sensing that a zombie had visited a nearby house.

• Qi Wu prepared to enter the village chief’s house, but Yi Zhongzhou stopped him and warned that he faced a death tribulation within three days unless he let go of the ghost he loved.
• Qi Wu said Chu Qingjiu was a man, even as a ghost, and Yi Zhongzhou assigned the players tasks after they accepted his abilities.
• The village chief returned with five local men and arranged for the players to pair up and stay in their homes; Qi Wu teamed up with Han Mo and chose the left-behind host, Li Cha.
• The village chief warned the players to stay away from the mass-burial ground behind the village, and Yi Zhongzhou told Wang Jue that corpse-walking was a taboo term.
• As Yi Zhongzhou explained which corpses could be driven and where the practice was found, he stopped at a nearby courtyard and said a zombie had been there.

Yi Zhongzhou investigated a suspected zombie attack at Wang Gang’s house and confirmed that a zombie had drained blood from the family’s chickens. The village chief warned residents to stay indoors at night, while the players wondered whether the zombie was intelligent and unusually high-ranked.

• Yi Zhongzhou led the players to Wang Gang’s house after suspecting a zombie had visited, and Wang Gang’s wife found many chickens dead with bite marks on their necks.
• The village chief and three corpse drivers arrived, confirmed the zombie’s presence, and told the players to act as if nothing had happened.
• Yi Zhongzhou offered to deal with the zombie, and the village chief said he would warn residents to stay inside at night and scatter glutinous rice outside their doors.
• The village chief suspected someone had disturbed the corpses in the mountain mass grave, while the players questioned why the zombie had attacked chickens instead of people.

Qi Wu and Han Mo learned that a supposedly mad old man was mourning soldiers who wanted to go home, and Yi Zhongzhou suspected their bodies lay in the mountain’s mass grave. That night, they found the old man digging into the grave, where a blood-drawn zombie was approaching.

• Qi Wu and Han Mo questioned the old man near the mountain, who wept and murmured that Tiedan and the others wanted to go home.
• Yi Zhongzhou concluded that the old man was likely a former soldier and that the task was to drive the fallen Eighteenth Army soldiers’ bodies back to their hometowns.
• Yi Zhongzhou and the three Corpse Drivers went to inspect the mass grave at night.
• They found the old man digging a person-deep pit with bloodied hands as a yellow zombie came hopping toward them, drawn by the blood.

Yi Zhongzhou and the players uncovered signs of multiple zombies in the mountain mass grave, including a drought demon linked to the fallen soldiers. The drought demon took one of the soldiers’ corpses and flew away, leaving Yi Zhongzhou convinced it might have been one of them.

• Yi Zhongzhou fought off a Japanese-uniformed zombie with glutinous rice and his Peachwood Sword, and it vanished into the mountain fog.
• Yi Zhongzhou learned that two villagers and two players had died, while Qi Wu reported a nearby cemetery for soldiers from the Western Hunan Campaign.
• Wang Jue suggested there might be different kinds of zombies, and Yi Zhongzhou led the players to excavate the mountain mass grave.
• The group found two dead Japanese zombies bearing wounds that Yi Zhongzhou identified as the work of a drought demon, then dug up seven shade corpses.
• A hairy drought demon flew in, took the last corpse from two fleeing players, and left Yi Zhongzhou suspecting it had ties to the fallen soldiers of the 18th Army.

Qi Wu learned why Crazy Old Man had stayed behind: he had spent years searching for and burying his fallen comrades. An intelligent drought demon asked Qi Wu to take their bodies to the Martyrs' Cemetery, leaving the players to prepare for an urgent corpse-driving journey as zombies threatened the village.

• Qi Wu visited Crazy Old Man, who told him how his squad had saved him and how he had buried their remains in an unmarked grave.
• A talking drought demon appeared at Crazy Old Man's window and asked Qi Wu to take the fallen soldiers to the Martyrs' Cemetery.
• Qi Wu stopped Crazy Old Man from opening the door and promised to deliver the bodies; after the drought demon left, Qi Wu found a shade corpse outside.
• Qi Wu carried the corpse to Yi Zhongzhou, who agreed that the players needed to drive the bodies to the Martyrs' Cemetery before they turned into zombies.
• The three local corpse drivers refused to leave the village, so Yi Zhongzhou gathered six sets of corpse-driving clothes for the surviving players.
• Seeing the full moon and hearing screams from the village, Yi Zhongzhou began teaching the players how to prepare the corpses.

Yi Zhongzhou led Qi Wu, Wang Jue, and another player in driving seven corpses toward the Martyrs' Cemetery before midnight, while two players stayed behind. Qi Wu left a Soul-Summoning Talisman for the holdouts, and after a ghost entered their room, their screams stopped and the talisman burned to ash.

• Yi Zhongzhou sealed the corpses' souls with Chen Sand, Divine Talismans, and five-colored cloth, then commanded them to rise.
• Two players refused to join the corpse procession, while Wang Jue and Qi Wu joined Yi Zhongzhou and another player.
• Qi Wu took the rear position and left a Soul-Summoning Talisman in the room to punish the players who stayed behind.
• As the two holdouts waited in the lit room, a cold wind extinguished their lamps and an unseen presence grabbed one player's hand.
• The two players screamed, then fell silent as Qi Wu's talisman burned to ash.

Yi Zhongzhou led the corpses toward a Corpse Inn as heavy rain threatened to ruin their talismans, while the group sheltered and learned that heavenly punishment had struck the drought demon near Peach Blossom Village. Qi Wu began explaining why it had been discovered before they could reach the Martyrs' Cemetery.

• Yi Zhongzhou hurried the corpse procession through a sudden downpour and spotted a nearby Corpse Inn before the soaked talismans failed.
• Yi Zhongzhou brought the corpses into the inn, where he and the other players took shelter and he replaced the damaged talismans.
• Yi Zhongzhou saw purple lightning near Peach Blossom Village and identified it as heavenly punishment aimed at the drought demon.
• Yi Zhongzhou explained that the drought demon had gained intelligence without killing anyone, and Qi Wu said it had promised to end its life after the corpses reached the Martyrs' Cemetery.
• Han Mo asked why the drought demon had been discovered, and Qi Wu began to explain that it was because of something else.

Qi Wu and the others drove the seven corpses to the Martyrs' Cemetery, where their transformations were suppressed and the quest was completed. As the players prepared to leave the instance, a corpse rose from its coffin and killed Qi Wu, while Puppet Threads slipped from its body.

• The Heavenly Dao destroyed the Drought Demon with lightning after Crazy Old Man died, and Yi Zhongzhou led the group back onto the road with the corpses.
• A corpse lost its talisman and broke free, and Qi Wu restrained it while Yi Zhongzhou reattached the talisman; Qi Wu was scratched, and one corpse escaped.
• Yi Zhongzhou went after the missing corpse, while Qi Wu took over leading the procession and heard a voice trying to lure him away.
• Yi Zhongzhou returned with the missing corpse, and he led all seven corpses into the Martyrs' Cemetery, where their transformations stopped and the quest was completed.
• A corpse rose from its coffin and stabbed Qi Wu in the back, killing him as the surviving players left the instance.
• Puppet Threads slipped out of the corpse that had killed Qi Wu.

Qi Wu chose to remain beside the Puppeteer after learning that Chu Qingjiu had killed him, winning their wager with the Person in Charge. He reunited with Chu Qingjiu in the darkness and returned to his side.

• The Person in Charge offered Qi Wu a chance to start over if he surrendered his memories of the dungeon, but Qi Wu refused and said he wanted to stay with the Puppeteer.
• Six months earlier, Chu Qingjiu had wagered with the Person in Charge that Qi Wu would stay beside him even after learning he had killed him.
• The Person in Charge revealed that Chu Qingjiu had killed Qi Wu, and Chu Qingjiu confirmed the truth from his Throne.
• Qi Wu said he still wanted to stay with Chu Qingjiu, and the Person in Charge declared the Puppeteer the winner of their wager.
• Qi Wu climbed to the Throne, removed Chu Qingjiu's mask, and reunited with him as Chu Qingjiu welcomed him back to his side.

Chu Qingjiu and Qi Wu reunited on the Throne, sharing their relief and longing before giving in to their desire. Afterward, Chu Qingjiu woke from an exhausted sleep, and the two reaffirmed their love.

• Qi Wu kissed Chu Qingjiu on the Throne and cried with relief at their reunion.
• Chu Qingjiu comforted Qi Wu and told him he had missed him too.
• Qi Wu worried that someone might enter, but Chu Qingjiu assured him no one was working through a dungeon that led there.
• Qi Wu loosened Chu Qingjiu's formal attire, and they spent time together before falling asleep.
• Chu Qingjiu woke after everything had been cleaned and told Qi Wu he would indulge him.

At eleven, Qi Wu remembered meeting a beautiful long-haired boy with purple eyes at his grandfather's funeral, where the boy placed a wooden puppet on the coffin. Years later, while tying his sister Qi Yue's hair into a crooked high ponytail, Qi Wu recalled the boy but could barely remember him.

• Qi Wu remembered that his grandfather had died when he was in fifth grade, and the family had gathered at the funeral.
• A scruffy old man brought a long-haired boy to the Qi family home, and Qi Yue mistook him for a fairy.
• The boy explained that his master liked tying his hair, while Qi Yue questioned why he wore it long.
• Qi Wu's eldest uncle took the old man and boy to the mourning hall, where the boy placed a wooden puppet on the coffin.
• Qi Wu waited outside the mourning hall and saw the boy leave, telling his uncle that the matter had been handled and his grandfather was inside the puppet.
• Years later, Qi Wu tied Qi Yue's hair into a high ponytail and remembered the boy who had worn one.

Chu Qingjiu remembered growing up with the old man who found him, taught him to be a Puppet Master, and raised him like a son. The old man died soon after Chu Qingjiu left school to be with him, and Chu Qingjiu hoped they could meet again in another life.

• The old man found Chu Qingjiu as a baby, raised him while wandering from place to place, and settled with him in the capital so he could attend school.
• The old man taught Chu Qingjiu to carve wooden puppets and seal ghosts inside them, and the two gradually gained work among the upper classes.
• The old man went to help a boy by the river and arrived late to pick Chu Qingjiu up from school, prompting Chu Qingjiu to scold him before forgiving him.
• The old man grew ill and stopped asking Chu Qingjiu to come home, but Chu Qingjiu sensed something was wrong and returned to find him bedridden.
• Chu Qingjiu refused to return to school and stayed beside the old man, who died a few days later.
• Chu Qingjiu wondered whether he could have kept the old man's ghost in a puppet, then decided to let him reincarnate and hoped to be his son in the next life.