Chapter Summaries

Xie De woke in Anbers’s care with a mechanical right hand after defeating the demon, but 455 warned that Wei Yanchi had gone berserk and was tearing apart the SS-class Instance. Xie De rushed back and found Wei Yanchi taking the form of an enormous dragon to force his way out.

• Xie De woke in Anbers’s hospital and realized that 730’s Medical Card had brought him to the doctor.
• Anbers revealed that he had replaced Xie De’s crushed right hand with a powerful mechanical prosthetic.
• 455 came online and warned Xie De that Wei Yanchi had nearly beaten the demon to death and was attacking players while destroying the Instance.
• Xie De returned to the battlefield and saw Wei Yanchi, transformed into an enormous dragon, tearing the Instance apart.

Wei Yanchi lost control of the True Dragon, and the storm and spatial turbulence threatened everyone in the Instance. Xie De sedated Wei Yanchi as he clung to him, while the dragon watched them.

• The Instance System canceled the mission and ordered the players to reach the Viscount's Territory as the Instance began to collapse.
• Zhang Ninde begged the True Dragon to spare Wei Yanchi, then appealed to 39 for help and pledged the Martial Arts Hall's support.
• Xie De took a modified sniper rifle loaded with anesthetic and prepared to shoot Wei Yanchi, but the dragon noticed him.
• Wei Yanchi tackled Xie De, clung to him in pain, and drew the dragon's attention.
• Xie De plunged the sedative into Wei Yanchi, and Wei Yanchi's grip loosened.

The Players pieced together the history of General Freeman Luo, Viscount Scheid, and the curse, while Xu Gong revealed that Emma—not the Viscount—had cursed the territory. The Instance ended with Emma’s despairing suicide and the Players’ successful clearance.

• Juelu explained that General Freeman Luo’s pact with a Demon corrupted him, while Zuo Shenghang described how the General and Viscount Scheid had joined forces during the uprising.
• Lin Darong questioned why the Viscount’s reputation was ruined and why he had not been protected by the Demon, and Juelu revealed that he died sealing it away.
• The Players debated the Viscount’s alleged betrayal and curse until Xu Gong argued that they had mistaken the Instance’s central figure.
• Xu Gong identified the mummified corpse in the Viscount’s Castle as Emma and explained that her task was to help the hero return home.
• Emma read news accusing the Viscount of treason, tore up the newspaper, and cursed anyone who disturbed the Viscount’s Territory before dying.
• The Players cleared the SS Rank Instance-The history book.

Wei Yanchi woke in 39’s safe house and learned that the system had classified him as an SSS Rank player and placed him under supervision by 39. Xie De received a frozen estate from 730, learned it was tied to his fabricated past as Viscount Scheid, and returned to reality, where Wei Yanchi and Coal Ball greeted him.

• Yue Xiamo visited Xiao Jiejun’s shop and learned that the boss was booked through October 12 of the following year.
• Wei Yanchi woke in 39’s safe house and reasoned that his uncontrolled power had destroyed much of the instance domain.
• 455 told Wei Yanchi that he was an SSS Rank player under supervision, and Wei Yanchi agreed to sit down when he learned 39 was his supervisor.
• 730 gave Xie De Viscount Scheid’s frozen estate and explained that Xie De had been placed in the past to fill the role of a fabricated heir.
• Xie De found Emma, comforted her, and returned to reality with his restored right hand.
• Xie De opened his door and saw Wei Yanchi and Coal Ball waiting outside.

Xie De supervised Wei Yanchi in a small city, where Wei Yanchi asked to stay with him and went out to collect packages with 455. After returning, Wei Yanchi discussed Batman and DC with Xie De and realized their conversation might contain a clue to an Instance.

• Xie De allowed Wei Yanchi to leave only if he reported his itinerary and refrained from using the dragon's power, and Wei Yanchi asked to spend time with him.
• 455 took Wei Yanchi to collect thirty-six heavy packages of research materials from parcel pickup stations.
• An older man told Wei Yanchi about bloody water from his faucet and strange incidents in apartment 1601, which made Wei Yanchi wonder if they were connected to Xie De's apartment 1602.
• Wei Yanchi returned with 455 and found Xie De watching an old Batman film with a cat in his arms.
• Xie De discussed Batman and DC's history with Wei Yanchi, who realized their conversation could be a clue to an Instance.

Xie De shared a Sichuan meal with Wei Yanchi, and they discussed Joker, Batman, and the Dark Multiverse before Xie De headed to the hospital. There, he found Anbers waiting with Wei Yunmo, who had grown taller and politely offered him tea.

• Wei Yanchi cooked four Sichuan dishes and soup, and Xie De enjoyed the meal despite 455 criticizing it.
• Xie De and Wei Yanchi discussed Joker's connection to Batman and the Dark Multiverse, which reminded Xie De of the Instances.
• Xie De acknowledged to 455 that Wei Yanchi had confessed his feelings, but said he would let things take their course.
• Xie De used Card Break to go to the hospital, where he found Anbers waiting with Wei Yunmo.
• Wei Yunmo poured Xie De a cup of tea and politely invited him to enjoy it.

Xie De reunited with Anbers and learned about Wei Yunmo’s medical research, while Orion returned to the Death Desert and tried to withdraw after three expedition members died. Su Fangmu and Su Qian discovered that Orion’s team knew they were being followed and decided to greet them with bombs.

• Anbers praised Wei Yunmo’s surgical and gynecological skills, and Wei Yunmo explained his artificial-uterus experiment involving a lamb in a biobag.
• Xie De tested Anbers with a genetics question, and Anbers correctly answered that the probability of their offspring having myopia was 12.5%.
• Wei Yanchi opened the door to room 1601, allowing Orion to board the train and arrive in the Death Desert without receiving Instance rewards.
• Orion asked the Laboratory to withdraw his expedition after three team members died, but the Laboratory refused and ordered him to collect samples.
• Su Fangmu and Su Qian learned that Orion’s team knew they were being watched, and Su Qian ordered them to throw bombs as a greeting.

Wei Yanchi uncovered a sinister skull fragment in apartment 1601 and headed for the northwestern desert, where a mysterious Death City was rumored to appear. Xie De and his companions set out by train to follow him and recover an Instance key, while Wei Yanchi’s team gathered for the journey.

• Wei Yanchi searched apartment 1601, found a weathered skull fragment, and concluded that its sinister influence had caused the residents’ eerie experiences.
• Wei Yanchi wrapped the skull fragment in Talisman Paper and told Mr. 39 he planned to investigate the northwestern desert.
• 455 explained that the Death City was a major plot event and that its treasure was an Instance key, so Xie De agreed to travel there with Coal Ball.
• Xie De learned that the Witch Juelu and Zuo Shenghang would join the expedition, then arranged a train journey to the northwest.
• Wei Yanchi boarded the special train with Xiao Jiejun and Yue Xiamo, while Beiwei, Huang Zhuowang, and Juelu arrived afterward.

Xie De rode the train toward the northwest while the other factions gathered in the dining car and waited for him to appear. He emerged carrying Coal Ball and met Xi Yijiu, a senior captain of the Illuminati.

• Xie De stayed in the last carriage, ate instant noodles, and learned that Coal Ball had run into the dining car.
• Beiwei, Juelu, Huang Zhuowang, and Zuo Shenghang shared a meal with Coal Ball, and Juelu asked for fish to be brought for the kitten.
• Wei Yanchi arrived with Xiao Jiejun and Yue Xiamo, joined the group, and asked whether Xie De was aboard.
• Ying Lin and six others from the Illuminati entered the dining car, and Juelu began singing 'Yelia Girl' while the groups sized each other up.
• Coal Ball left the dining car, and Xie De emerged from the darkness carrying the cat as the assembled groups watched him.
• Xi Yijiu introduced himself as a senior captain of the Illuminati and asked to make Xie De's acquaintance.

Xie De joined the other powerful figures aboard the carriage and suggested playing HG Soup to pass the time. Wei Yanchi hosted a dark riddle about four young people trapped in a haunted library, then revealed its grim solution, which reminded Xie De of the first Factory Instance.

• Xie De ignored Wei Yanchi and Beiwei’s offers of a seat and settled in a distant corner with Coal Ball.
• Wei Yanchi brought liquor to Xie De, and the Witch and others gathered nearby as Xie De suggested playing HG Soup.
• Wei Yanchi proposed a drinking penalty and presented a riddle about four young people, a ghost, and a corpse carried out of an abandoned library.
• The group asked questions and pieced together that Yellow loved Blue, Green loved Yellow, and Red had been murdered before Green and Blue died.
• Wei Yanchi explained that Yellow manipulated Red into suicide, Green killed Blue, and Yellow killed Green before escaping with Blue’s corpse.
• Xie De suspected Wei Yanchi had borrowed the riddle’s solution from the first Factory Instance.

Xie De hosted a lateral-thinking puzzle about a couple who took their unfamiliar child to the desert and vanished. After the group failed to solve it, he revealed that the parents were researchers trying to save their child from radiation caused by a Skull Fragment, and the family disappeared into a mirage.

• Xie De asked 455 for a puzzle and presented the group with the story of a family of three who became unmarked coordinates in the desert.
• Beiwei, Witch, Ying Lin, and others questioned Xie De, while Wei Yanchi asked whether the parents had searched the desert before and wanted to find something there.
• Huang Zhuowang proposed that the couple had returned to the desert for a treasure, but Xie De said most of the group's reconstruction was wrong.
• After the group conceded, Xie De explained that the couple were desert researchers whose child's body had been deformed by radiation from a Skull Fragment they brought home.
• Xie De revealed that the parents took the child into a desert mirage to seek a cure, and all three disappeared into it; Wei Yanchi turned the word mirage over in his mind.

Xie De and Wei Yanchi led their group by off-road vehicles across the desert toward their destination, talking about Xie De’s past and his name. After eight hours of driving, the group camped beneath a starry sky, where Juelu spotted the outline of a city through her glowing Moonstone.

• The Illuminati members left the station by helicopter, while Xie De’s group and Wei Yanchi’s group set out in off-road vehicles.
• Wei Yanchi drove Xie De and asked about his travels before getting permission to call him Mr. Xie De.
• After eight hours, the groups stopped behind a rock face to cook, rest, and watch camels feeding on cacti.
• Beiwei photographed Xie De beneath the stars, while Juelu climbed a cliff to pose for pictures.
• Juelu’s Moonstone glowed, and she saw the outline of a city in the distance.

Juelu spotted Mirage City, and Xie De’s group unknowingly entered its illusion after 730 warned them of its danger. Xie De awoke in Gotham with no memory of his past and decided to take a temporary security job at Arkham Asylum.

• Juelu spotted a city in the desert, and Xie De agreed to lead the group there.
• Wei Yanchi described theories about Mirage, and 730 warned Xie De that Mirage City had chaotic rules and was more dangerous than the Cinema’s lost domain.
• The vehicle entered Mirage City’s illusion, and Xie De awoke in Gotham with a mechanical hand and no memory of his past.
• Xie De wandered Gotham looking for work and found that Arkham Asylum was hiring security guards for a high salary.
• A young woman warned Xie De that Joker and Two-Face had killed the asylum’s previous staff, but Xie De decided to work there for a month while Joker was bedridden.

Xie De was hired as a psychologist's assistant at Arkham and met the dangerous patient Wei Yanchi. Wei Yanchi insisted that the world was fake and that he was not ill, while continuing to stare at Xie De.

• Xie De accepted a higher-paying psychologist's assistant position after a recruiter reviewed his résumé.
• Xie De met psychologist Su Qian, who explained that their patient was dangerous, difficult to treat, and prone to hallucinations and delusions.
• Su Qian brought Xie De to Arkham's padded ward to meet Wei Yanchi, who refused to speak to her, take medicine, or eat.
• Wei Yanchi stared at Xie De and declared that he was not ill and that the world was fake.

Xie De tried to give Wei Yanchi his medication, but Wei Yanchi attacked him and took the orderly hostage before guards subdued him. After work, Xie De pondered Wei Yanchi’s claim that their world was fake, then heard an unexplained voice announce a successful connection.

• Su Qian asked Xie De to monitor Wei Yanchi, give him medication, and talk with him while she arranged a physical examination.
• Xie De questioned Wei Yanchi about his belief that the world was fake, and Wei Yanchi described it as a repeating superhero comic.
• Wei Yanchi attacked Xie De, seized the sedative syringe, and injected the orderly before guards subdued him with a Tranquilizer Gun.
• After his shift, Xie De stood by the river and wondered whether the world was real or fake.
• As Xie De was about to enter his cab, he heard a voice announce, "Attempt 532. Connection to 455 successful."

Xie De learned that Gotham was a false mental world built from his memories and set out to find Su Qian so she could realize the truth. On the way, he encountered Joker, who climbed into his car and asked for a ride to the harbor.

• 455 told Xie De that Mirage had created Gotham from his memories and that he, Wei Yanchi, and Su Qian had to recognize the world was fake to escape.
• Xie De saw the Bat-Signal and learned Arkham had been blown up, then set out to find Su Qian despite the danger.
• Xie De hot-wired an old car and drove past the chaos and flames surrounding Arkham.
• Xie De braked when Joker appeared in the road, and Joker got into the car and asked to be driven to the harbor.

After Joker challenged Xie De’s motives and sanity, Xie De drove away and stopped near Arkham, where Batman asked him about Joker. Xie De pointed Batman toward the harbor, then continued on to find Su Qian.

• Joker questioned Xie De about his name and accused him of wanting to become an important character in a story.
• Xie De ordered Joker out of the car, and Joker vanished into the night.
• Xie De drove back to Arkham’s grounds and stopped across from the asylum to think about Joker’s words.
• Batman appeared and asked whether Xie De had seen Joker, and Xie De told him Joker was at the harbor.
• Xie De set off to find Su Qian as a black figure watched his car leave.

Xie De tried to convince Su Qian that their world was an illusion, and Wei Yanchi staged a hostage crisis to destroy it. After Xie De stopped him with a slap, he noticed Coal Ball and remembered the cat had watched the superhero movie with him.

• Xie De took Su Qian to the police station to find Wei Yanchi’s records, then revealed the files were blank and that their world was a fantasy.
• An explosion erupted outside, and Su Qian ran into a firefight, where Wei Yanchi captured her and more than a dozen other hostages.
• Wei Yanchi claimed he had planted six dirty bombs and threatened to destroy the world, while Su Qian admitted she now believed it was fake.
• Xie De slapped Wei Yanchi, who dropped the detonator and argued that they had to break the illusion themselves.
• Xie De noticed Coal Ball and remembered holding the cat while they watched a superhero movie.

Coal Ball recalled its long life and how it had first met Xie De before eventually finding a home with him. After entering the illusion, it recognized Xie De and remembered that it was a cat with an owner.

• Coal Ball reflected on its decades of wandering, caring for orphaned kittens, and observing human lives.
• Coal Ball recalled meeting Xie De at a temple, where he offered to take it home and left a protective charm for it.
• Coal Ball remembered seeing Xie De again by a garbage pile and refusing the food he bought for it.
• Coal Ball recalled Xie De's illness, his recovery, and how he named it and gave it a steady home.
• Inside the illusion, Coal Ball heard Xie De call its name, ran to him, and remembered that it had an owner.

Xie De and 455 found themselves in the haunted hotel from The Shining, while Wei Yanchi arrived there burdened by embarrassment over his behavior in the previous impression world. The chapter left Xie De setting out to explore the hotel with Wei Yanchi.

• Xie De woke in the hotel and learned from 455 that they had entered The Shining.
• Xie De dismissed his gloomy thoughts, got dressed, and decided to find food before recognizing the setting.
• Wei Yanchi sat outside with an axe, remembering and regretting what he had said to Mr. Scheid in the previous impression world.
• Yue Xiamo offered Wei Yanchi food and help, while Danny Torrance asked whether he had the shining.
• Mr. Scheid appeared on the stairs, asked Wei Yanchi if he was back to normal, and invited him to explore the hotel.