Recaps

Xie De discovered that killing the factory owner would require a covert plan because the target belonged to the Surface, then the Laboratory attacked him at home and forced him to flee with Wei Yunmo. They escaped a pursuing convoy, but Xie De ended the chapter wounded by a gunshot to the shoulder.

• Xie De and 455 discussed ways to kill the factory owner without attracting attention, noting his bodyguards and ghost-repelling protections.
• Xie De sensed something was wrong on the way home, and 455 discovered that the Laboratory had broken into his house.
• Xie De fled with Wei Yunmo when the Laboratory's pursuers began shooting at their car.
• Xie De assembled a Shotgun and fired at the pursuing vehicle, accidentally hitting its driver.
• 455 drove them to safety after the pursuing cars crashed, and Xie De realized he had been shot in the shoulder.

After Orion attacked their escape, Xie De and Wei Yunmo reached a safe house, where Xie De treated his gunshot wound and decided to send Wei Yunmo to TC730. Orion examined a photograph of Xie De and became eager to confront the mysterious organization behind him.

• 39 brought Wei Yunmo to Huang Zhuowang’s courtyard house, where Huang introduced himself and offered to look after the boy.
• Xie De removed the bullet from his wound while 455 urged him to send Wei Yunmo to TC730 so the Laboratory could not find him.
• Xie De agreed that hiding from the Laboratory was now their only option and said they would fight back if necessary.
• Orion studied a photograph of Xie De, suspected he belonged to a secret organization, and looked forward to clashing with it.
• A black cat watched from the rooftops before leaping away.

39 delivered Wei Yunmo to the organization’s laboratory in the Instance Main System’s auxiliary space, despite Wei Yunmo asking whether they would meet again. As 39 left, Wei Yunmo was taken inside by Pearl and grew angry and distressed at being abandoned among the researchers.

• Xie De, Huang Zhuowang, and Wei Yunmo drove in a repaired vehicle toward a remote canyon while Xie De tended his wounds and Huang Zhuowang complained and screamed at the house centipede.
• 39 and Wei Yunmo entered a cave filled with bats, passing through the illusion into the Instance Main System’s auxiliary space.
• Xie De used a scanner to open the laboratory doors and delivered Wei Yunmo to Pearl and the lab-coated NPCs.
• Wei Yunmo asked 39 whether they would meet again, and 39 replied that it depended on how Wei Yunmo behaved before leaving.
• Pearl took Wei Yunmo into the laboratory, where he saw the researchers’ intent to study him and blamed 39 for abandoning him.

Xie De completed his Instance mission by poisoning a businessman at a high-society banquet, then encountered Hu Songlin, who had witnessed the murder. Hu Songlin said he had come looking for Xie De, leaving their next move uncertain.

• Xie De headed to the airport with Huang Zhuowang, who urged him to rest and apologized after Xie De said not everyone was as lucky as him.
• Huang Zhuowang told Xie De he wanted to help, but Xie De entered the airport without replying.
• At a banquet in H City, Xie De used a poison-coated insect to kill Mr. Li and escaped into a secluded spot.
• Xie De praised the little house centipede for helping carry out the murder, then worried that anyone could trace the plan back to him.
• Hu Songlin confronted Xie De and said he had seen the killing and had come to find him.

Xie De learned that the man he poisoned had survived and decided he would have to kill him again. Meanwhile, Hu Songlin stayed close to Xie De, and the police began investigating the attempted murder.

• Hu Songlin tracked down Xie De and insisted on staying by his side, then correctly deduced that Xie De had been shot.
• Xie De threw Hu Songlin out of his hotel room after Hu lectured him about smoking while injured.
• Mei Manshan and Wang Yi investigated the poisoning and learned the victim had a history of killing factory workers through negligence.
• A young officer told Mei Manshan that the victim had survived, astonishing both her and Xie De.
• The victim left the hospital and locked himself inside his home, refusing to speak with the police.
• Xie De suspected Hu Songlin's luck had kept the victim alive and resolved to kill him again.

Xie De planned to assassinate Mr. Li with a sniper rifle after learning the house was heavily guarded. Before Wei Yanchi could investigate Mr. Li’s condition, a sniper killed him, scattering his soul.

• Xie De learned Mr. Li had hired bodyguards and sealed himself inside his villa, so he planned to shoot him from a nearby shopping center.
• Xie De retrieved his sniper rifle after Hu Songlin left on a Club mission.
• Zhang Ninde told Wei Yanchi that Mr. Li had died but was trapped in his body as a living corpse after a sacrifice performed with Wuta.
• Wei Yanchi entered the villa and found Mr. Li with Wuta, discussing whether Mr. Li could be restored.
• A bullet shattered the glass and destroyed Mr. Li’s flesh, scattering his soul.

After Xie De killed Boss Li with a long-range shot, he chose a home and a sniper rifle as his mission rewards, then went to a violin performance. Wei Yanchi tracked him there and offered him roses, leaving Xie De wary of his intentions.

• Xie De shot Boss Li from the Shopping Center rooftop, and Zhang Ninde found the corpse and called the police while Wei Yanchi left.
• Xie De returned to the hotel, where he and 455 argued over their mission reward before settling on a riverside apartment and an M200 sniper rifle.
• Xie De spotted a poster for a solo violin performance and booked a ticket to attend that evening.
• Wei Yanchi found Xie De at the Opera House, revealed he had guessed Xie De killed Boss Li, and invited him to a private box.
• Wei Yanchi offered Xie De a bouquet of red roses, and Xie De shoved him away and asked what he wanted.

At a performance of La Traviata, Wei Yanchi confessed his feelings to 39, who rejected him and left. Xie De later asked 455 why the protagonist had suddenly fallen for him, but refused to exploit Wei Yanchi’s affection.

• Wei Yanchi offered 39 a rose and confessed that he had fallen for him, but 39 threw the rose away and called him disgusting.
• Wei Yanchi calmly accepted the rejection and explained that he intended to keep courting 39, prompting Xie De to leave the opera.
• Wei Yanchi sent Xie De an apologetic message, while Xie De sat by the river and tried to make sense of the confession.
• 455 returned, and Xie De told it that Wei Yanchi had confessed to him; 455 found no explanation for the change in the plot.
• 455 suggested that Xie De use Wei Yanchi’s affection for protection and help clearing Instances, but Xie De refused to deceive him.

Xie De settled into his new home and reunited with the black cat, while Qiu Qiong became infatuated with him at first sight. As Xie De and 455 investigated the strange silence surrounding their neighbors in unit 1601, 730 revealed that the next instance was called the Monastery.

• The black cat rode a bus to Lingqian Road, followed Qiu Qiong into his building, and led him to Xie De's door on the sixteenth floor.
• Qiu Qiong met Xie De, blushed at his appearance, and hurried home, where his mother told him unit 1602 had recently been sold.
• Qiu Qiong checked the homeowners' group chat and saw residents complaining about the silent owner of unit 1601 and the family living there.
• Xie De brushed the black cat while 455 explained that it was a little cat spirit drawn to Xie De's yang energy and that the Laboratory could not find their concealed home.
• After hearing a distant church choir, 455 followed 730, which revealed that the next instance was called the Monastery.

Xie De and fourteen other players entered the Monastery instance, where the system explained that they could restart every fourteen days and only the last survivor could return with their memories. The players were assigned tasks in three groups, and Xie De’s group set out to supervise the orphans.

• Xie De woke at a table with fourteen other players, including Beiwei, Yue Xiamo, Wei Yanchi, and Ying Lin.
• Veteran player Zhuoerte warned the newcomers that the instance was real and that people would die.
• The instance system announced the fourteen-day restart rule and said that the sole survivor could return with their memories intact.
• An old man assigned the fifteen players to groups responsible for orphans, the sick, and the poor.
• Xie De, Beiwei, Ying Lin, and two newcomers formed the group supervising orphans, while Wei Yanchi and Yue Xiamo joined the other groups.
• Xie De’s group followed the monks and nuns through the dilapidated Monastery as Beiwei urged Ying Lin to focus on finding clues.

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.