Chapter Summaries

Xie De realized that the past Instance left him trapped between choices that could all lead to death, so he planned to provoke a rebellion and use the resulting chaos to survive and leave clues for Players in the future. 455 obtained the requested information from 730 while keeping its danger-detection ability, though Xie De still did not know how he would contact the future again.

• Xie De asked 455 to exchange their reward for information about the land, its army, and the Castle, and explained that the past Players had to shape events while leaving clues for the future.
• Xie De concluded that both following history and changing it could get him killed, so he proposed starting a rebellion, exploiting the factions and the Demon, and visiting the Church.
• Xie De and 455 discussed the risks of remaining with the army and the difficulty of meeting future Players during full moons, but Xie De decided to sleep and regain his strength.
• 455 asked 730 to exchange the reward, and 730 provided the information while leaving 455's danger-detection ability intact.
• 455 told 730 that it liked it, privately thinking that 730 could not truly understand affection.

Wei Yanchi and the other players discovered that the supposed village commemoration did not exist and concluded they had been trapped inside a grave. Meanwhile, Emma asked Xie De to let her join him, leaving her future with his group uncertain.

• Wei Yanchi and the others discussed the demon Belial, the hero they had to bring home, and the dangers of wish power.
• Zhang Ninde and Lin Darong asked a villager about the commemoration, but he denied that the village held one.
• Wei Yanchi realized the village was a heap of corpses and that they had been inside a grave, so the players fled while carrying the injured Li Yang.
• Emma asked Xie De to let her serve with him, saying she could infiltrate kitchens and kill, and refused Xilai's suggestion that she stay behind.

Xie De survived his first battle, stopped his soldiers from attacking civilians, and confronted Bearded Man over the army’s conduct. In the city church, he listened as Emma reported her intelligence and admitted she had been afraid during the fighting.

• Bearded Man sent Xie De to the front lines, where Xie De fought through the battle and killed the enemy commander.
• Xie De stopped soldiers from slaughtering civilians and killed several who had gone berserk.
• Bearded Man criticized Xie De for preventing the soldiers from looting, but Xie De insisted that anyone who lost control under his command would die.
• Xie De left the general’s residence as Orion arrived, and Bearded Man laughed at Xie De’s determination to save the country.
• Xie De went to a church sheltering civilians, where Emma reported discrimination against Squad Eleven and the hidden grain supplies.
• Emma told Xie De she had been scared during the fighting but was no longer afraid, as civilians sang softly in the church.

Xie De gathered exorcism supplies but learned that Belial could threaten him even while appearing as a projection. Meanwhile, Orion questioned his assassination mission and discovered that one of the condemned men was a player.

• Xie De obtained holy water and other religious items from a church after threatening the priest, then beat up a group of soldiers outside.
• Orion saw people condemned to hang at the square and recognized one of them as a player, but left without helping him because the soldiers were watching.
• Orion sensed a powerful aura near the Viscount's room and wondered why the instance wanted the Viscount dead, without noticing the struggle inside.
• Xie De opened a Bible to test the exorcism supplies, but Belial appeared, mocked the holy items, and threatened to gouge out his eyes.
• After Belial vanished, Xie De recovered from being choked and told 455 that he was going to kill the demon.

Xie De struggled to resist the demon’s influence while planning how to deal with it. Meanwhile, Orion rescued Zuo Shenghang, and the two sought out a witch who might know how to stop the demon.

• Xie De rejected 455’s suggestion to use Wei Yanchi against the demon and asked how the demon could be sealed away.
• 455 revealed it could now speak directly into Xie De’s mind and tried to cheer him up by singing children’s songs.
• When prisoners escaped from the general’s residence, Orion used the chaos to rescue the badly injured Zuo Shenghang.
• Zuo Shenghang told Orion that his mission was to stop the demon’s army and said he was looking for a player called the witch.
• Orion drove Zuo Shenghang to a village, where they found the witch waiting among candles, lamps, and dreamcatchers.

Juelu, Orion, and Zuo Shenghang compared their objectives and suspected the instance had placed players on different timelines. They used Juelu’s glowing Crystal Ball to search for other players and found a strange cottage, where Zhang Ninde mistook them for ghosts while Wei Yanchi was outside.

• Juelu, Orion, and Zuo Shenghang discussed their shared objective to kill a Viscount and considered how their identities connected to it.
• Juelu guessed that the players were on different timelines and raised her Crystal Ball to search for them.
• Juelu, Orion, and Zuo Shenghang found an out-of-place thatched cottage and knocked on its door.
• Inside, Zhang Ninde warned the others not to open the door because he believed Door-Knocking Ghosts were outside, while Wei Yanchi was still missing.
• Orion failed to kick the door open and reached for his gun before Wei Yanchi appeared behind the group and called to Zuo Shenghang.

Wei Yanchi and the other players investigated the curse and traveled toward the city during a battle, where Emma saw their moonlight. After the fighting, the Viscount urged Emma to leave, but she refused and chose to remain with him despite the danger.

• Wei Yanchi asked the players to help uncover the origin of the curse, and Juelu wondered if the Instance System wanted her to cast it.
• Wei Yanchi, Zhang Ninde, Lin Darong, Juelu, and Orion rode toward the city while the other players stayed behind.
• Orion stopped the carriage when they heard a battle, and the players followed the monsters toward the city gates as Juelu held the moon aloft.
• Emma spotted the moon while tending to wounded soldiers, then thanked the Viscount for helping repel the surprise attack.
• Xie De offered Emma ten thousand thalers to leave, but Emma refused to abandon the path she had chosen.

Xie De studied Bearded Man’s army and considered how to use its strength while surviving the growing crisis. Bearded Man interrupted him with a speech for the nobles, and Wei Yanchi arrived to call it garbage.

• Xie De learned from 455 that Bearded Man commanded about twenty thousand troops, with Xie De serving as the army’s second-in-command.
• Xie De and 455 discussed using their superior intelligence to win battles, but recognized that their main goals were confronting the demon and alerting future players that they were in the past.
• Bearded Man entered Xie De’s quarters, then dragged him to the main hall to hear a speech he had written for the nobles.
• Xie De dismissed the speech’s importance, prompting Bearded Man to demand honest feedback.
• Wei Yanchi appeared at the door and told Bearded Man that his speech was garbage.

Wei Yanchi confronted Bearded Man at the General’s Residence, then met Xie De on the gate tower to ask about the Instance and its clues. Xie De said it was history repeating itself, and Wei Yanchi vanished when Juelu’s exhausted connection ended.

• Wei Yanchi criticized Bearded Man’s writing and was nearly dragged away until Xie De claimed him as his soldier and led him out.
• Orion and Zhang Ninde returned to the General’s Residence, where Bearded Man resumed reciting his speech and spoke obsessively about the Colonel and the army.
• Zhang Ninde sensed that a Demon’s aura had consumed Bearded Man and compared his despair with 39’s.
• Xie De brought Wei Yanchi to the gate tower, where Wei Yanchi asked why Xie De helped him and what the Instance was.
• Xie De answered that the Instance was history repeating itself, and Juelu dropped the Crystal Ball as Wei Yanchi disappeared.

After the Witch’s moon and the city vanished, Wei Yanchi, Zhang Ninde, and Lin Darong left the ruins while piecing together clues about Mr. 39 and the rebels. The story then returned to the historical instance, where Orion watched the Bearded Man address a crowd and Xie De ignored him.

• The city disappeared, and Lin Darong told Wei Yanchi and Zhang Ninde about the tortured Regular Army soldiers and the rebels’ plans to recruit more troops.
• Zhang Ninde urged Wei Yanchi to stop sympathizing with Mr. 39, while Wei Yanchi reasoned that the Bearded Man may have died fighting enemies and Mr. 39 may have been killed by his own people.
• Wei Yanchi asked Lin Darong about the torture instruments, then hurried ahead after hearing a sparrow chirp in the woods.
• Orion watched the Bearded Man’s speech and remembered that the Witch had said the broken Crystal Ball prevented communication with the future, so clues had to be carved into stone.
• Orion met Xie De’s eyes, but Xie De looked away without acknowledging him.

Xie De prepared to lead another battle to capture a major port city while questioning Bearded Man’s motives for giving him so much command authority. After Bailien asked him to give Bearded Man time to return to his former ideals, Bearded Man interrupted their conversation.

• Xie De recorded the army’s route and his thoughts on the changing political situation, where rival forces all claimed to be saviors.
• Bearded Man ordered Xie De to capture a major port city while he went to negotiate with a count, and Xie De angrily challenged him.
• Xie De reflected on his battlefield advantages and the obedience he needed from the troops as he left the command tent.
• Major Bailien introduced himself to Xie De and asked him to give Bearded Man time, saying the General had once been different.
• Bearded Man approached and slapped Bailien on the back, demanding to know what they were discussing.

Orion used the witch’s cauldron to glimpse a future scene showing the old butler’s death at the Castle, then rode there to try to save him. Orion failed to stop the butler from hanging himself and escaped the burning Castle, spotting the Viscount alone on high ground.

• Orion visited the witch and learned that her cauldron could show events in another timeline, though it required gold coins and revealed unpredictable moments.
• The cauldron showed the players fighting ghosts and later revealed the old butler hanging near the Castle two hours in the future.
• Orion rushed to the Castle and tried to persuade the old butler to leave, but the butler refused to abandon the Scheid Family.
• As the Castle grounds burned and attackers targeted him, Orion fled through the dead trees and heard the old butler hang himself.
• Orion stole a horse and saw the Viscount watching the slaughter alone from high ground.

Xie De escaped the battle and learned that a Monk and a powerful Gypsy Witch might help him deal with the Demon. He left behind an engraved stone that reached the future Players, who found a clue about the butler’s death and Sea City’s fall.

• Xie De fled the disastrous battle, and Orion urged him to desert before he was imprisoned and killed.
• Xie De refused to run and learned from 455 that a respected Monk and a powerful Gypsy Witch could seal the Demon.
• Xie De rode toward the wilderness and left behind a stone engraved with a message.
• A young cowherd kept the stone as a family heirloom, and Lin Darong and Li Yang persuaded him to show it to them.
• Wei Yanchi and Zhang Ninde examined the stone and read its clue: “April 4. The butler dies. Sea City falls.”

Wei Yanchi identified an expensive stone inscription as a clue pointing to Sea City and set off with Zhang Ninde, while the others followed. In the city, the Witch and Zuo Shenghang were captured and brought before Colonel Xie De, whose meeting was interrupted by news that the General’s force had been overrun.

• Wei Yanchi deduced that the stone had likely been carved by the Viscount and said the story would unfold in Sea City.
• Wei Yanchi rode off with Zhang Ninde, and Li Yang, Lin Darong, and Lin Zhenyue rented a car to follow them through a road haunted by ghosts.
• The Witch and Zuo Shenghang were captured by Xie De’s soldiers and brought to the Colonel’s tent.
• Xie De offered the Witch and Zuo Shenghang barley beer and asked them to wait while he recovered from battle.
• A young soldier reported that Glenson’s Rebel Army had overrun the General’s force in Aosidai territory and that the General’s fate was unknown.

After learning that Freeman Luo had been surrounded by Glenson’s troops and his fate was unknown, Xie De weighed the risks of a rescue and called for volunteers. Bailien volunteered to lead a regiment to save Freeman Luo, setting out prepared to die.

• Emma reported that Freeman Luo and the officer in the Right Territory had gone missing after Glenson’s troops surrounded them.
• 455 estimated that Xie De could spare only one regiment to rescue Bearded Man and warned him to remain behind to hold Seaside City together.
• Xie De told the assembled officers to choose who would lead the rescue, but none initially stepped forward.
• Bailien volunteered to take his former regiment and rescue Freeman Luo, and Xie De approved.
• Bailien set out toward the encirclement and remembered his oath to follow Freeman Luo forever.

Bailien discovered that the Bearded Man had pledged himself to the demon Belial and swore to serve it as well. After learning how a demon could be forced back to hell, Bailien stabbed the Bearded Man through the heart, leaving the demon raging.

• Bailien fought through Glenson's army and rejoined the Bearded Man, who urged him to swear allegiance to Belial.
• Bailien agreed to serve Belial, despite seeing the demon's shadow intertwined with the Bearded Man's.
• The Bearded Man returned to camp and argued with Xie De, who revealed that Glenson had not sold his soul.
• Bailien followed Zuo Shenghang, was knocked unconscious by the Witch, and asked her how to deal with a demon.
• The Witch explained that a dagger driven into the demon's human host could force it back to hell, though the attempt might be fatal.
• Bailien embraced the Bearded Man and stabbed him through the heart with the Witch's dagger.

After Bearded Man and Bailien died in a supernatural fire, Xie De took command of the camp and chose to stay and lead its soldiers rather than flee. The Witch warned him the demon could return, while Orion brought back a new player and a New Moon; the chapter ended with Xie De delivering Bearded Man’s speech and the crowd accepting him as their leader.

• A hellish fire killed Bearded Man and Bailien, and Xie De restored order by telling the soldiers to extinguish it and contain rumors.
• Xie De rejected 455’s advice to flee, deciding that as the highest-ranking commander he had to protect the troops and give Bearded Man’s planned speech.
• The Witch warned Xie De that the demon could return and gave him a Springflow Stone to clear his mind.
• Orion found a struggling new player with many clues and obtained an expensive glass orb as a New Moon for the Witch.
• Xie De delivered the speech in Bearded Man’s place, promising to carry on the General’s work, and Xilai called on him to lead them forward.

Xie De planned supply routes with 455 and assigned Emma to counter rumors about his army. When Belial returned and tried to provoke him, Xie De shut out the demon’s taunts and stood beneath the moon overlooking the battlefield.

• Xie De and 455 discussed military logistics and the risk of changing history.
• Emma told Xie De that rumors accused him of causing Bailien’s betrayal and branded his army demonic, and he put her in charge of countering them.
• Belial appeared in Xie De’s tent and taunted him about his failures and the deaths of his household and guards.
• Xie De tried to calm himself with the Witch’s stone, while 455 drowned out Belial’s voice by singing.
• Xie De went outside and silently watched the battlefield beneath the moon as Belial called him cold-blooded.

Wei Yanchi explored the abandoned church and uncovered a glimpse of Xie De’s past, while Xie De planned to disappear to escape the demon’s meddling and the warlords’ suspicions. The chapter ended with Wei Yanchi arriving at the country’s largest prison, following a lead from the cemetery.

• Wei Yanchi saw Mr. 39 pass through a phantom and continued through the ghost-filled old city with Zhang Ninde.
• Wei Yanchi found an abandoned church, where a memory showed the priest questioning Viscount Scheid, also called Xie De, about the King’s death and the fighting.
• The demon stoked fear among rival leaders, prompting them to isolate Xie De and triggering more wars.
• Xie De decided to hand his army to a rising talent and hide nearby, and 455 suggested Bearded Man’s unused underground prison.
• Wei Yanchi left the church and told Zhang Ninde they were heading to the country’s largest prison.

The Witch, Orion, and Zuo Shenghang helped Xie De prepare to send the demon Belial back to hell. Xie De lured Belial into a trap, but collapsed from his injuries after the demon was forced toward the Gate of Hell, and he seemed to glimpse Wei Yanchi.

• The Leader told the Witch he planned to kill the demon’s representative, and she agreed to help seal the demon away.
• Zuo Shenghang and Liu Wenshu warned that the past was overlapping with the future and that their deaths might follow when the overlap was complete.
• Belial confronted Xie De in the prison, but Xie De feigned surrender and stabbed him in the chest with a silver candlestick.
• The Witch, Orion, and Zuo Shenghang lit torches around the prison as 455 used electricity to force Belial toward the open Gate of Hell.
• Xie De tried to escape while badly injured, and 455 urged him to use a Medical Card with Card Break before his vision went black.