Chapter Summaries

Xie De and the other newcomers arrived at the Monastery’s orphan quarters, where a dead supervisor ordered Xie De to teach the first lesson without preparation. He faced a classroom of Draugr children and survived their threat by making a dark joke, then learned 455 had meant he could escape through a door on the left.

• Xie De followed two monks to the orphan quarters while discussing the Monastery’s possible poverty and exploitation of children with 455.
• A corpse-like supervisor told the newcomers their assignments and sent Xie De directly to teach the first lesson.
• Xie De entered the classroom and saw that most of the children were rotting Draugr.
• Xie De addressed the most decomposed child, mistook 455’s warning about a door for advice to appease the child, and called himself 39.
• The children laughed at Xie De’s Draugr joke and identified themselves as Draugr, then called him a Haman.
• 455 clarified that it had been telling Xie De there was a door on the left through which he could escape.

Xie De faced the ghost children’s challenge as their new teacher and accidentally established a deadly classroom rule by shooting a child who attacked him. The children submitted, and 39 left them to study their Bibles while he smoked by the window.

• The ghost children asked whether Xie De would whip them for misbehaving, and he threatened to shoot anyone who broke classroom discipline.
• Xie De shot a child who lunged at him, and the children sat down as his classroom rule took effect.
• Xie De found a note on the lectern confirming that the children were bound by the rule.
• Xie De told the children to study their Bibles on their own and stood smoking by the window.

Beiwei, Ying Lin, Wang Peng, and Mo Jingchun discussed the fourteen-day loop and the danger of the orphanage instance while waiting for the first lesson to end. 39 emerged from the classroom alive, leaving Wang Peng questioning whether winning over the ghost children was possible.

• Beiwei headed to the kitchen with Ying Lin, Wang Peng, and Mo Jingchun, where they discussed whether the group might already be in a loop and how the instance could be cleared.
• Wang Peng worried that the loop required someone to die each day and that the players could remain trapped if they failed to discover the rules.
• Ying Lin returned to the classroom with Wang Peng and Mo Jingchun, and Wang Peng explained that he planned to win the orphans over during his lesson.
• The church bell rang, and 39 emerged from the classroom unharmed as blood and flesh flew behind him and the ghost children glared resentfully.
• Ying Lin congratulated 39 and asked whether the ghost children had been easy to handle, and 39 told her to try for herself.

Ying Lin discussed the Illuminati and its interest in studying supernatural powers and Instances with Xie De and 39, while the Red-Haired Man brutally punished Mo Jingchun. Ying Lin began to suspect that 39 was connected to the demon Marbas and that the Instance might be a demon's prank.

• Ying Lin recited a Bible passage and asked 39 about the historical Illuminati, prompting Xie De to recall its origins.
• The Red-Haired Man attacked Mo Jingchun for failing to patrol, tearing him apart in front of Xie De and Ying Lin.
• Ying Lin explained that the Illuminati had survived underground and sought to study supernatural powers, while 39 questioned whether she had seen a demon.
• Ying Lin described seeing a demon's tail in the Illuminati's Elders' Council, and 39 reacted with interest.
• Ying Lin noticed a crow following them and recalled that Marbas was the thirty-ninth of Solomon's seventy-two demons, so she wondered whether 39 and the Instance were connected to a demon.

Ying Lin suspected that 39 was a demon after seeing the crow follow him, then entered a deadly classroom where the children ordered her to steal a money pouch and frame him. Outside the Monastery, Wei Yanchi and the other players followed strict rules while feeding paupers, leaving Ying Lin trapped in a dangerous scheme against 39.

• Xie De asked Ying Lin about the plot and went to find Beiwei, while Ying Lin watched the crow follow him and suspected he was a demon.
• Wang Peng emerged from the classroom in terror, saw Mo Jingchun's corpse, and broke down before Ying Lin took his place as the teacher.
• The children demanded that Ying Lin steal Red-faced Art's money pouch and plant it on 39, threatening to kill her if she refused.
• Wei Yanchi and the other players distributed gruel and black bread to paupers outside the Monastery, following rules that forbade keeping food and required them to smile.

Wei Yanchi remembered the previous loop’s bloody ending and told his teammates he had memories of it, while warning that someone else might remember the second loop. After the Orphanage classes ended, Ying Lin asked Wang Peng whether he dared carry out the orphans’ task, then turned toward the red-haired man.

• Wei Yanchi recalled how Mr. 39 had killed the other survivors and himself so Wei Yanchi would restart the loop.
• Wei Yanchi told Zhuoerte, Gui Ji, Zeng Huan, and Zhao Junhao that he remembered the first loop and could not rule out someone remembering the second.
• Gui Ji urged Wei Yanchi to act quickly, but Wei Yanchi said he only knew what he had personally seen.
• When the bell rang, Ying Lin approached Wang Peng, who admitted he feared both the orphans and the consequences of refusing their task.
• Ying Lin confirmed she had accepted the task too, then looked toward the red-haired man drinking by the classroom door.

Beiwei endured the orphanage cooks’ abuse, fought off an attack, and told Xie De that the loops had already begun and Wei Yanchi was the looper. Ying Lin and Wang Peng revealed that children had forced them to frame Xie De with the Red-Haired Man’s money pouch, and Xie De entered the classroom with it as a gunshot and children’s cries followed.

• Beiwei dodged a cook’s knife attack and used blades hidden in her shoes to wound both cooks before finishing the bracken soup.
• Beiwei told Xie De that the food came from nearby farms, guessed the setting was around the Industrial Revolution, and learned from him that the loops had begun and Wei Yanchi was the looper.
• Beiwei gave Xie De half a bottle of stolen salt, saying Wei Yanchi had claimed salt could ward off evil.
• Ying Lin and Wang Peng told Xie De that children had threatened them into planting the Red-Haired Man’s money pouch in his quarters, and Ying Lin asked him to protect them.
• Xie De took the pouch and kicked open a classroom door; Ying Lin could not move it, then heard a gunshot and children crying from inside.

Xie De used the children’s accusations and a hidden hole to turn the red-haired overseer against them, then reinforced his alliance with the man by threatening and shooting the children. He left with the overseer, who introduced himself as Nixon.

• 39 shot a child after rejecting the children’s claims that Mr. Wang Peng and the others had framed them.
• When Nixon stormed in over his stolen money, the children blamed 39, and Nixon attacked him.
• 455 directed 39 toward a door that opened onto a cramped room with a dug-up hole, and 39 persuaded Nixon that the children had been secretly planning to escape.
• Nixon whipped the children, and 39 threatened to kill one each minute until they named who had planned the scheme.
• After several children claimed responsibility, 39 shot the first girl to step forward, told Nixon this was how children learned, and left with him as Nixon introduced himself.

Ying Lin concluded that 39 was a powerful native of the Instance with an unknown purpose, while Xie De learned that the raven was called the Black Death and considered the danger posed by the Plague Doctors. After the players were taken to their lodgings, Xie De found only six of the eight surviving male players in the hall.

• Ying Lin convinced Wang Peng that 39 was not a player and warned that he seemed to have a purpose beyond sightseeing.
• Nixon paid Xie De two gold coins and explained that the raven was called the Black Death and was associated with the Plague Doctors.
• Beiwei and the other monks and nuns arrived to escort the players to their lodgings, and Xie De gave Beiwei one of his gold coins before following the monks.
• Xie De reached the male players' lodging and found only six players in the hall, although eight should have remained after Mo Jingchun's death.

Wei Yanchi revealed that he was a Regressor and shared clues about the monastery’s food relief, orphanage, and hospital with the gathered players. As Zhao Junhao worried over the Zinc Sheet Zeng Huan had given him, Zeng Huan separately announced to the women that she was also a Regressor.

• Wei Yanchi told the players that he remembered the first loop and described how the abbot embezzled relief funds and profited from the exploitation of orphans.
• Wei Yanchi recounted Yue Xiamo’s death from plague, Lü Yating’s survival, and the group’s lack of clues about the hospital’s dangers.
• Wang Peng said the orphanage overseer had killed Mo Jingchun and obeyed 39, but Xie De refused to have him investigate for the group.
• Zhao Junhao recalled Zeng Huan giving him a Zinc Sheet and urging him to get 39’s protection on the first night.
• Zeng Huan told the women gathered in the dormitory that she was a Regressor.

Zeng Huan revealed that she had returned to the second loop after bargaining with Wei Yanchi to save the women who had died in the first loop. Meanwhile, Xie De tried to charge 455 with a homemade battery, but TC730 stopped him and became his guidance system.

• Beiwei accused Zeng Huan of lying, and Zeng Huan claimed she remembered the first loop and had made a deal with Wei Yanchi.
• Zeng Huan proved her knowledge by revealing Lü Yating's six-month pregnancy, prompting the women to question Lü Yating about keeping the baby.
• Zeng Huan said everyone else had died in the first loop and that Wei Yanchi had sent her back to save them in exchange for saving her boyfriend, Zhao Junhao.
• Zhao Junhao gave Xie De an envelope of zinc sheets, and Xie De tried to use them with copper and saltwater to build a battery for 455.
• TC730 stopped Xie De, told him the battery would not provide useful charge, and said it would guide him while his partnership with 455 remained in effect.

Xie De discussed 455’s desires with 730 before Wei Yanchi appeared to ask for help, apparently at both the door and the window. Xie De identified the real Wei Yanchi by a shared memory and let him inside, while the other figure kept knocking.

• Xie De teased 730 about 455’s feelings and persuaded 730 to repeat 455’s dismissive response to his food request.
• Xie De remembered that Zhao Junhao had somehow known he needed a Zinc Sheet and prepared to ask him about it.
• Wei Yanchi called to Xie De from both the door and the third-floor window, and 730 said it could not tell which one was real.
• Xie De asked about the moon, and the figure at the window gave the answer that matched their real-world meeting.
• Xie De opened the window and let Wei Yanchi inside, then turned his attention back to the figure still knocking at the door.

Xie De killed the flayed corpse that had been knocking, while Wei Yanchi investigated the corpse and questioned Zhao Junhao about the envelope. Wei Yanchi learned the name Zeng Huan, leaving the mystery of Zhao Junhao and the envelope unresolved.

• Wei Yanchi explained that the knocking ghost might have been a former scholar who occupied the room, then opened the door and saw a flayed man disappear.
• When the knocking came from the bathroom, Wei Yanchi guessed that a crucifix might repel the ghost, but Xie De shot through the door and killed the corpse.
• 39 made Wei Yanchi help by moving rooms, leaving Xie De to settle into Wei Yanchi's clean room.
• Wei Yanchi examined the corpse, concluded it had died from smoke inhalation and fire before being flayed, then threw it out the window.
• Wei Yanchi picked the lock on Zhao Junhao's room and questioned him about the envelope, learning the name Zeng Huan.

As 39, Xie De learned that both Zeng Huan and Wei Yanchi were Regressors, while the Players still lacked a way to investigate the hospital. He devised a pretext to leave the Orphanage and successfully set off for the hospital with the crow belonging to the Plague Doctors.

• Beiwei told 39 that Zeng Huan was a Regressor who had made a deal with Wei Yanchi, and 39 revealed that Wei Yanchi was also a Regressor.
• Beiwei explained that the Players had found little about the hospital, where female staff were restricted and two male Players had died after breaking an unknown rule.
• Xie De asked the Main System for ways to investigate, then went to the kitchen and told Ying Lin to watch the food deliveries.
• Xie De decided to use the Plague Doctors' crow as a reason to visit the hospital, knocked it unconscious, and told Nixon it had flown into a wall.
• Nixon gave Xie De directions, and Xie De left the Orphanage carrying the crow.

Xie De entered the Monastery hospital to find Doctor Dunplee and encountered a dangerous S-rank Plague Doctor instead. He kept the Plague Doctor interested with a conversation about religion and philosophy, and the two introduced themselves as friends.

• Xie De arrived at the hospital, where the nuns mistook him for a demon until an older nun led him toward Doctor Dunplee's room.
• Xie De lingered in the corridor to consider searching for clues, but the Plague Doctor appeared and ordered him into a room.
• Xie De told the Plague Doctor he had returned his crow, and the Plague Doctor accused him of knocking it unconscious.
• Xie De calmed himself with tea and discussed Thomas Aquinas, religion, and the Black Death with the Plague Doctor.
• The Plague Doctor said his name was Anbers, while Xie De introduced himself as 39.

39 accompanied Anbers through a hospital ward, where the Plague Doctor’s violent punishments killed several staff and patients. 39 intervened to stop Anbers from targeting Yue Xiamo, and she watched him leave, wondering why Anbers had called him an old friend.

• 39 discussed theology and science with Anbers before agreeing to see his research and putting on a beaked mask.
• Anbers led 39 to a ward, where 39 saw Yue Xiamo treating patients and met Dunpli, who reunited with his crow.
• Anbers inspected a patient and then killed Huang Sixin for changing a blanket, followed by a nurse, a doctor, and two patients for other perceived mistakes.
• 39 persuaded Anbers to stop before he punished the patient who had taken medicine from Yue Xiamo.
• Yue Xiamo watched 39 leave with Anbers and wondered why Anbers had called him an old friend.

Wei Yanchi and Zhuoerte infiltrated the hospital to investigate its connection to the Monastery’s head and the patients’ histories. After encountering a horrifying figure, Wei Yanchi recognized Mr. 39 as a special NPC and concluded that this was the fourth loop.

• Wei Yanchi and Zhuoerte disguised themselves as Plague Doctors and entered the hospital to search for clues.
• Wei Yanchi recalled Zeng Huan’s account of the previous loop, including that only she and he had survived and that Mr. 39 had disappeared.
• Zhuoerte questioned a patient who blamed his illness on helping move a burned heretic’s corpse.
• Wei Yanchi found the name Anbers on an anatomical diagram before a terrifying being approached through the corridor.
• Wei Yanchi glimpsed the being and realized it was Mr. 39, then pieced together that he had regressed more than once and that this was the fourth loop.

Wei Yanchi and Zhuoerte questioned Lü Yating at the hospital and learned more about the dangerous Anbers and the hospital's experiments. Wei Yanchi connected 39 to the Instance Faction and its real-world assassination missions, then left eager to see him.

• Zhuoerte learned from a little girl that Anbers was feared throughout the hospital and was called the Devil incarnate.
• Wei Yanchi pulled Zhuoerte aside to question Lü Yating, who shared clues about the hospital, Anbers, and his deadly power.
• Lü Yating told Wei Yanchi she had not seen 39 and returned to blending in among the nurses.
• Wei Yanchi reasoned that 39 was a special NPC hiding among players and had been tasked by the Instance Faction with targeting people in the real world.
• Wei Yanchi and Zhuoerte left the hospital, and Wei Yanchi hurried back, eager to see Mr. 39.

Wei Yanchi questioned Wang Peng about the Orphanage after Mr. 39 failed to return, then decided to continue investigating the next day. Meanwhile, Xie De learned that Anbers had taken Wei Yunmo as a student and planned to introduce them the following day.

• Wei Yanchi asked Wang Peng about the Orphanage's layout and routine, learning about its supervisor, cooks, food deliveries, and the students' classroom and living spaces.
• Wei Yanchi ended the discussion and returned to his room, wondering whether he would see Mr. 39 again before the Instance ended.
• Anbers kept Xie De debating for five hours, then insisted he stay the night and introduced Dunpli as his 176th student.
• Anbers told Xie De that his newest student was a talented thirteen-year-old named Wei Yunmo.
• Xie De realized Wei Yunmo was Little Villain and wondered whether studying under Anbers might change his future.

Wei Yunmo arrived at the Monastery and reunited with 39 in Anbers's office, where he learned that his regenerative ability would be used in medical training. After Wei Yunmo left for the Orphanage, Xie De reflected on the harshness of the organization and worried about the protagonist and the other Regressors.

• Wei Yunmo arrived late at the Monastery and learned from Dunpli that Anbers was in his office with an old friend.
• Anbers introduced Wei Yunmo to 39, and Wei Yunmo recognized him as Mr. 39.
• Anbers cut Wei Yunmo's wrist to demonstrate how his regenerative ability could help him study medicine, then sent him to speak with a patient in Room 304.
• Dunpli told Wei Yunmo that people at the Orphanage were sick, so Wei Yunmo went there.
• After Wei Yunmo left, Anbers regretted that he could not experience bodily regeneration himself, while Xie De told 730 that he felt compassion for suffering children and worried about the protagonist and the other Regressors.