Recaps

Xie De learned that the unusual Romance instance represented a madman’s nihilistic inner world, then heard the grand elder’s plea for him to enter Hell and investigate its connection to the Laboratory. Convinced that 730 was weakening and the instances’ disappearance could doom them, Xie De prepared to enter Hell by bringing himself to the brink of death.

• Xie De entered F Country with his team, and 455 explained that the Romance instance devoured reality faster as more people entered it.
• Juelu asked the Illuminati grand elder about the Laboratory and how to avert the destruction she had foreseen, but he answered that salvation came through faith.
• The grand elder asked Xie De to go to Hell, gave him monk’s robes, and said the disguise might help him there; Xie De declined at first, noting that he had already sent an S-rank NPC.
• Xie De stayed behind in the Catacombs, changed into the robes, and told 455 that he needed to learn how the Laboratory and Hell were working together because 730 was growing weaker.
• Xie De returned to his room, injected himself with Anbers’s Painkiller, and slashed his wrist so that his near-death soul would enter Hell.

Xie De searched Hell for 730 and 455, but after finding that the city’s technology did not work, he took a car from a little boy named Beelzebub. Beelzebub asked Xie De to be his date for Leviathan’s party, and the chapter ended with Beelzebub’s attendant Baal claiming to have gotten rid of Xie De’s existing dance partner, Belial.

• 455 told Xie De that 730 and 730's shared location placed them in another city, while the city’s electronic devices and transportation were useless.
• Xie De openly took a parked car and found Beelzebub, a little boy who said he was over thirty thousand years old and asked Xie De to be his date for Leviathan’s party.
• Xie De noticed Belial outside the café and told Beelzebub that Belial was already his dance partner to test Beelzebub’s identity.
• Beelzebub asked his attendant to get rid of Belial, then told Xie De he was happy that Xie De no longer had a partner.
• The attendant introduced himself as Baal, Beelzebub’s trusted subordinate.

Xie De questioned Beelzebub about demons, the Laboratory, and Asmodeus while driving to the red wilderness, then found Wei Jianye, the Ghost Bride, and the Rich Landowner. Wei Yanchi arrived pursued by Asmodeus, and Xie De drove everyone away with Beelzebub aboard, leaving Asmodeus behind.

• Beelzebub insisted that Xie De explain his sins, and Xie De tested what the demon knew about systems, the Laboratory, instances, and Asmodeus.
• Xie De invented a story about being a corrupt priest who had killed himself, and Beelzebub accepted the bribery confession as convincing.
• Xie De followed the map to the red wilderness, where he found Wei Jianye, the Ghost Bride, and the Rich Landowner but could not see Wei Yanchi at first.
• Wei Yanchi arrived covered in soot and blood, pursued by Asmodeus, and Xie De let him and Wei Jianye climb into the car.
• Xie De drove away with Beelzebub, Wei Yanchi, and Wei Jianye, while Beelzebub called out to Asmodeus and reminded him about Leviathan's party.

Xie De and Wei Yanchi investigated Hell after leaving Asmodeus’s lair, and Wei Yanchi shared his theory that factions in the Real World were acting out of fear of alien systems. They arranged clothes for Wei Yanchi and discovered that the shopkeeper Sidi had a connection to Asmodeus.

• Baal carried the sleeping Beelzebub back to the café while Xie De decided to investigate Hell instead of immediately using the angel eyeballs to leave.
• Xie De and Wei Yanchi entered a clothing shop, where Xie De ordered clothes for Wei Yanchi and asked what he had learned in Asmodeus’s lair.
• Wei Yanchi explained that the Laboratory and other organizations contained a faction colluding with Hell, and he suspected their actions stemmed from fear of alien civilizations and the Main God System.
• Xie De revealed that 455 was connected to the Main God System, surprising Wei Yanchi and making 455 protest.
• Xie De arranged for the shopkeeper to deliver Wei Yanchi’s clothes to another city by the next day, mentioning that Asmodeus would be going there.
• After they left, Xie De identified the shopkeeper as Sidi and explained that the shop’s name linked her to Asmodeus.

Xie De shared a drink with Wei Yanchi in a hotel room in Hell, where Wei Yanchi told tragic myths and confessed his love. The chapter ended with Xie De acknowledging that he knew how Wei Yanchi felt.

• Xie De opened his hotel-room door to Wei Yanchi, who had cleaned up and brought liquor and mixers from the café.
• Wei Yanchi mixed drinks for them, and Xie De tried his drink while teasing him about being unable to handle the liquor.
• Wei Yanchi told Xie De the story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, then said he would not let his own story end in tragedy.
• Wei Yanchi held Xie De’s hand and compared him to Achilles’ heel, but Xie De laughed at the tragic myths he kept choosing.
• Wei Yanchi embraced Xie De on the sofa and confessed that he loved him, and Xie De said he knew.

Wei Jianye sought answers about Xie De and Wei Yanchi’s private discussion, but Xie De instead shared 730’s findings about Hell. Beelzebub arrived to take Xie De to a party, and the group set off together, with Wei Yanchi teasing him along the way.

• Wei Jianye found Wei Yanchi leaving Xie De’s room and asked what the two had discussed, but Xie De stayed silent and asked 730 about Hell.
• 730 reported that it had gathered information about Hell and deduced that Heaven must exist if Hell did.
• Wei Jianye observed the many corpses scattered through the city and remarked that monsters emerged at night.
• Beelzebub arrived in a red sports car with roses and invited Xie De to a party, but Wei Yanchi took the flowers and teased him.
• Xie De drove the group toward the party while Beelzebub rode in the back and insisted he only looked like a child.

455 discovered Ant’s traces in Hell, and 730 and 455 confronted Ant to learn why the Laboratory had sent it there. Ant revealed that the Laboratory had allied with the Main God System and Hell to break physical limits and destroy the Instances, though it questioned whether 730 and 455 could make the world better.

• 455 found traces of Ant in a radio and told 730 that the Main God System might have sent a system to Hell.
• 730 concluded that Ant’s traces could mean the Laboratory, system data, or the Main God System had found a way into Hell.
• 730 and 455 cornered Ant in a television and demanded to know the Laboratory’s plans.
• 455 threatened Ant and promised that they would create a better world, persuading Ant to explain the Laboratory’s actions.
• Ant said the Laboratory wanted to break the speed-of-light limit, conservation of energy, and time dilation, and had allied with the Main God System and Hell to destroy the Instances.
• Ant questioned whether stopping the Laboratory would truly lead to a better world, and 455 and 730 had no certain answer.

At the Pacific Laboratory, Xu Gong attacked the Club’s bee system while Hu Songlin brought Wei Yunmo to see the hidden biological-computing facility. Hu Songlin’s countdown ended with the bee system’s red warning light turning yellow, as the Laboratory evacuated after an explosion threatened Ant’s enclosure.

• Lucian fed sugar to Ant’s colony while Dr. Xu tasked Xu Gong with finding a flaw in the Club’s bee system.
• Xu Gong pressed the attack button as Ant told Dr. Xu that it did not hate bees.
• Hu Songlin appeared to Wei Yunmo outside the hospital and used his strange ability to lead him past military surveillance.
• Hu Songlin took Wei Yunmo to a basement facility where the Club’s bee biological computer was housed and explained its status lights.
• Hu Songlin promised the red light would turn yellow in ten seconds, while the Laboratory’s staff evacuated the ants after an explosion struck their enclosure.
• The countdown reached zero, and Hu Songlin lifted his finger as the computer’s red light turned yellow.

Ant revealed the radicals’ plan to infiltrate the Laboratory and Club, open the Instances with Hell’s demons, and reshape the world before its data connection failed. Xie De explained that Ant could be rebuilt, but the replacement would not be the same person.

• Ant explained that radicals had infiltrated the Laboratory and were suppressing its peace faction.
• Ant described the radicals’ plans to crush the peace faction, join the Real World with the Instances, and establish new rules for a transformed world.
• 455 asked what role the Main God System played, but Ant said it had never seen the system and had come to Hell because programmers had entered a code they called a gift.
• Ant’s data crashed, and 730 said it could be repaired but was already dead.
• As Xie De drove, he explained that rebuilding Ant with another ant colony would create a different brain and therefore a different person.
• 455 accepted that the kind, gentle Ant they had known was truly dead.

Xie De and his companions reached Leviathan’s underwater city for a gathering of demons, where Beelzebub revealed that Asmontis had started the current crisis. Xie De suspected the gathering was a meeting about Hell’s involvement with the Real World and realized Hell was divided rather than united.

• 455 told Xie De about the Laboratory’s conspiracy and its radical and moderate factions, and Xie De wondered where Orion stood.
• Xie De drove Wei Jianye, Wei Yanchi, and Beelzebub off a cliff and through a passage into a city beneath the sea.
• Beelzebub explained that Leviathan had been asleep for a long time and said Asmontis would attend the gathering because he had started the current events.
• Beelzebub told Xie De that he had killed Belial, then ran off to greet Leviathan.
• Xie De concluded that the gathering might concern Asmodeus’s connection to the Real World and that Hell’s demons were divided into factions.

Beelzebub brought Xie De to Leviathan’s banquet, where Leviathan challenged the priest to justify his sins. Xie De defended his bribery as human instinct, and Leviathan judged him guilty of greed and pride, condemning his soul to remain in Hell.

• Leviathan summoned Beelzebub, who transformed into his monstrous form and arrived at the banquet with Xie De.
• Xie De faced Leviathan’s immense presence and tried to call on 455, but 455 went dormant.
• Leviathan questioned Xie De about his sins, and Xie De claimed he had merely followed human instinct.
• Xie De argued that accepting bribes was a willing transaction, comparing human greed to animals hunting for survival.
• Leviathan condemned Xie De’s argument as greed and plunder, then declared him guilty of pride as well and sentenced his soul to remain in Hell.
• Beelzebub laughed and praised Xie De for arguing with Leviathan.

Xie De and Wei Yanchi explored the sunken city while 455 sensed traces of the Main God System nearby, and Wei Jianye found a stele bearing several names. In the Real World, statues of Silas and Juelu appeared outside the Church, and they destroyed the statues of each other.

• Xie De learned from 455 that it detected the Main God System's data traces inside the city and suspected Leviathan was connected to the Laboratory.
• Wei Yanchi confronted Xie De about his injury, held his wounded hand, and kissed it before following him toward the data traces.
• Wei Jianye entered the city by following the stars, found a temple and a stele inscribed with names including Pygmalion, and left to find Xie De.
• The Witch, Silas, Beiwei, Li Yang, Juelu, and Lin Darong saw lifelike statues of Silas and Juelu outside the Church.
• Juelu explained that the instance targeted single people, and Silas and Juelu smashed the statues of each other.

Xie De recognized the temple’s love stories as a possible clue to the Mad Romance instance and sent 455 to contact 730 and the Upper Realm. As devils and souls gathered in the undersea city, Asmodeus provoked Xie De’s group and left Wei Jianye a card for the Romance Grand Hotel.

• Xie De identified the temple inscriptions as possible evidence linking the city to the Mad Romance instance and sent 455 to find 730 and contact Juelu and the others.
• 455 warned Xie De that it had detected many data streams related to the Main God System in the city, then slipped away to find 730.
• Xie De told Wei Jianye that the temple’s love stories might be a clue, but Wei Jianye rejected any discussion of Hell’s version of love.
• Devils and condemned souls arrived in the undersea city, bringing it to life, and Wei Yanchi spotted Asmodeus among them.
• Asmodeus approached Xie De’s group, hinted that they had joined forces with Beelzebub, and flirted with Wei Jianye before leaving a business card.
• Xie De picked up Asmodeus’s card, which listed the Romance Grand Hotel, while Wei Jianye said he wanted to kill him.

Xie De and his companions watched the demons’ meeting from a clock tower and learned that their city might be the model for the Mad Romance instance. After 455 reported deadly crises in three instances, Xie De decided they had to accept Asmodeus’s invitation, while the demons’ meeting continued around a glowing ball of energy.

• Xie De, Wei Yanchi, and Wei Jianye watched the silent demons gather, including Mammon and Belphegor, while Lucifer and Samael remained absent.
• Wei Yanchi advised waiting for Beelzebub to provide clues, and Wei Jianye suggested the city had sunk from the Real World into Hell.
• Xie De suspected the city was the model for the Mad Romance instance, and he and Wei Jianye argued over Asmodeus’s invitation.
• 455 returned and reported sculptures in Mad Romance, deadly mirror ghosts in the Mirror instance, and severe blood loss among 204 people in the Vampire instance.
• Xie De decided they had to accept Asmodeus’s invitation as the demons continued watching a glowing ball of energy at their meeting.

Xie De and Wei Yanchi questioned Beelzebub about Hell’s meeting and learned that a corpse was being kept on the thirteenth floor of the Romance Grand Hotel. As they entered the hotel to investigate, 455 warned that the Main God System had arrived and they needed to run.

• The demons turned the Undersea City into a chaotic party, and Xie De and Wei Yanchi joined the revelry while Wei Jianye stayed in the Clock Tower.
• Beelzebub told Xie De and Wei Yanchi that the meeting concerned the human world and Heaven, and that the demons had discussed self-defense around a corpse.
• Beelzebub explained that Leviathan ruled the sea rather than the city, and pointed out that the Romance Grand Hotel was Asmodeus’s territory.
• Beelzebub revealed that the corpse had been kept at the hotel, probably on the thirteenth floor, so Xie De and Wei Yanchi followed him inside.
• As Xie De and Wei Yanchi prepared to head upstairs, 455 revived and warned them that the Main God System had arrived.

Xie De realized the Main God System had appeared at the Hell banquet, but suspected the hotel might hold clues and chose to investigate rather than flee. As Asmodeus’s illusion warped the scene and trapped both him and 455, Joker appeared and shoved Xie De into the elevator, which was set for the thirteenth floor.

• Xie De noticed that the Main God System had appeared, and he and Wei Yanchi quietly examined the unchanged banquet while Beelzebub disappeared into the crowd.
• Xie De questioned whether Beelzebub had lured them into a trap, then explained to 455 that he had come to the hotel because it might contain clues about Hell.
• Xie De discovered that Wei Yanchi had vanished and the banquet had become distorted, while Joker appeared and mocked him.
• Xie De told 455 that Asmodeus had trapped them in an illusion, but 455 admitted it could see Joker and could no longer find Wei Yanchi.
• Xie De headed for the elevator and selected the thirteenth floor, but Joker pushed him inside and requested the eighteenth floor before correcting himself.

Xie De endured an illusion that cast Joker as his id and challenged him with reflections of his past and present selves. After destroying the apparitions and asserting his identity as Xie De, codename 39, he escaped the darkness and found Beelzebub waiting in the corridor.

• Joker told Xie De that his old admiration for the character revealed a desire for chaos, while Xie De identified Joker as a representation of his id.
• Joker shoved Xie De from the elevator into an illusion of a chemical pool, and 455's system connection failed as Xie De struggled to survive.
• A black hand rescued Xie De, who then found himself between mirrors showing his past and present selves.
• Xie De shattered both mirrors, rejected the past self's accusations, and slashed the apparition's throat with a glass shard.
• Xie De recognized that he had shaped and affirmed his own identity, causing the darkness to disperse and revealing Beelzebub in the corridor.

Xie De learned that the Laboratory had captured and dismembered the Main God System, whose remains were being used by the demons. Mammon asked him to infiltrate the Laboratory and steal the light’s tissue, leaving Xie De to consider the scientists’ dangerous work.

• Xie De emerged from Asmodeus’s Illusion and learned that 455 had fled while he chose to see what was on the 13th Floor.
• Asmodeus led Xie De and Beelzebub to a radiant ball of light and revealed that the Laboratory had sent it to Hell.
• Mammon arrived and asked Xie De to steal every piece of the light’s tissue from the Laboratory, promising to absolve his sins and let him return to life.
• 455 appeared and revealed that the light was data from the Main God System, which the Laboratory had captured and dismembered.
• Mammon warned that the Laboratory’s research could destroy the world, while Xie De looked at the remains and reflected on the scientists’ determination.

Xu Gong told the scientists at the Pacific Base that they had to evacuate to the Antarctic Base after the Arctic Base fell. Dr. Xu reassured them, while Xu Gong remembered how his rejection of her as a child had driven her away from the Laboratory.

• Xu Gong learned that the higher-ups suspected the Club caused the Pacific Base accident and planned to relocate everyone to the Antarctic Base.
• Xu Gong told the gathered scientists that the Arctic Base had fallen and that Dr. Ling Bei and the other professors there had died.
• Professor Zhou and the other scientists questioned the evacuation, but Dr. Xu assured them that science would ultimately guide humanity toward a better future.
• Xu Gong recalled how Dr. Xu dismissed her from his project when she failed to show talent, telling her he did not care where she went.
• Xu Gong remembered leaving the Laboratory and realized she still resented Dr. Xu for not loving her.

Dr. Xu stayed behind at the Pacific Ocean base while Mena described the fractured Voyage Movement and the deadly chaos around the world. Elsewhere, Wei Yunmo learned about Hu Songlin’s power and urged him to go to F Country to help Mr. 39.

• Dr. Xu refused to evacuate with the scientists, and Xu Gong stayed with him at the Pacific Ocean base.
• Mena explained that the Voyage Movement had split into factions, and she told Xu Gong that a rocket and related spaceflight data had gone missing from the locked-down Arctic Base.
• Xu Gong guessed that someone wanted to escape Earth, and Mena agreed that the world’s chaos could make that seem appealing.
• Wei Yunmo and Hu Songlin discussed their powers and how Guan Chenghai had raised Hu Songlin through a Memory Capsule.
• Wei Yunmo told Hu Songlin that Mr. 39 was on a mission in F Country and asked him to help with an Instance leak there.

Wei Yanchi resurfaced from a rose-filled vision, and Xie De revealed himself as TC730, the Instance System, during a meeting with Hell's demon gods. The demons discussed cooperating over concerns about humanity's destructive power, while Asmodeus remained hostile to Xie De.

• Wei Yanchi imagined confessing his romantic obsession with Mr. 39, then drowned in a sea of roses until Xie De pulled him back to the hotel.
• Asmodeus mocked Wei Yanchi, and Leviathan arrived as the demons gathered to discuss their plans.
• Asmodeus tried to attack Wei Yanchi and accused Xie De of deceiving the demon gods as the head of the Instance Faction.
• Xie De revealed himself as TC730, the Instance System, and said he was suited to Hell's current plans.
• Leviathan said Sloth supported their decision, and the demon gods discussed humanity's destructive power.
• Beelzebub accepted Xie De's claim that he had not lied, while Wei Yanchi quietly pointed out that it was a lie.

Xie De and 730 negotiated a cooperation contract with Mammon and Asmodeus, securing Hell’s assistance while restricting demons from interfering in the Real World. After signing the deal, Xie De left with Wei Yanchi.

• Mammon demanded territory, money, and souls, while 455 challenged his motives and refused to accept Hell’s demands without a bargain.
• 730 promised Mammon twenty million dollars and five hundred thousand souls who had died in poverty, and Mammon signed the contract.
• The contract required Hell to avoid interfering in the Real World, provide information to the Instance domains, and keep demons from entering the Real World to cause harm or harvest souls during the war.
• Asmodeus and Xie De signed the contract, which burned to ashes after Xie De finished reading it.
• Wei Yanchi startled Asmodeus with a burst of black smoke, and Xie De left with Wei Yanchi after wishing everyone a successful partnership.

Xie De recovered from his trip to Hell and learned that Pygmalion’s statues were attacking people across the city. Wei Yanchi returned with the angel’s eyes, leaving Wei Jianye stranded in Hell, while Xie De set out with Beiwei to find Juelu and the others.

• Xie De woke in the Viscount's Castle, where the Butler treated his wound and told him the situation outside remained bad.
• The Elder from the Illuminati hinted at his beliefs, and Beiwei told Xie De that Pygmalion’s statues had appeared and Juelu knew how to make them vanish with a lover’s blood.
• Wei Yanchi returned from Hell, and Xie De learned he had taken the angel’s eyes from Wei Jianye, who was still stranded there.
• Xie De told Wei Jianye to remain in Hell and gather information about Deep-Sea City, promising to retrieve him later.
• After a scream sounded inside the Church, Xie De gave Wei Yanchi the Walkie-Talkie and left with Beiwei to find Juelu and the others.

Lin Darong, Li Yang, and Lin Zhenyue struggled to stop the statues rampaging through the city until Yue Xiamo arrived looking for Wei Yanchi. Hell provided Wei Yanchi with the instance’s solution, while Xie De learned that fictional wars were being used to conceal growing Otherworld disasters.

• Li Yang calculated that 223 statues had appeared and said the couples needed to be dealt with at the source, while Lin Darong wondered if they should flee.
• Yue Xiamo arrived and asked where Wei Yanchi was, then joined the group as they returned to the Church and said she was also searching for Lü Yating.
• Wei Jianye scolded Wei Yanchi over the Angel's Eyeball, but praised him as extraordinary after Wei Yanchi insisted the artifact could help against demons.
• Beelzebub relayed Leviathan’s clue that a couple had to pass the Pygmalion, Deirdre, Isis, and Orpheus stages and reach a happy ending to clear the instance.
• Wei Yanchi glanced at Xie De after hearing that clue, while Xie De learned from 730 that extensive fictional wars would conceal deaths caused by the Otherworld, including in countries trying to avoid being drawn in.

As unnatural snow heralded Deirdre’s stage, Xie De led the group to help the Witch and Silas clear every stage of the instance. Yue Xiamo also brought news that Lü Yating’s father had died, while the couple faced an unclear happily-ever-after requirement.

• Li Yang reported that the instance domain was expanding and breaking away from reality, and 455 relayed the requirement for a couple to clear every stage and achieve a happily ever after.
• Beiwei identified the sudden snowfall as the beginning of Deirdre’s stage, and Xie De decided the group should join the Witch and Silas.
• Yue Xiamo told Wei Yanchi that his senior brothers were handling the Mirror and Love Triangle instances, and that Lü Yating’s father had died during her family’s relocation.
• Xie De led the group through the snow to meet the Witch and Silas in a café, where 455 explained the mission requirement.
• Silas wondered whether they needed to hold a wedding, and Juelu called the cursed romance her karmic retribution.