Recaps

After the fog separated the players and several teammates vanished, Li Xian and the others exchanged accounts and concluded that the ship’s short journey concealed a serious danger. As Ke Yi proposed searching the ship together, Ji Xie warned that waiting three hours would be too late.

• Zhang Yuyao told Li Xian that Yang Ping had disappeared when fog appeared, and the group searched the bow and below deck without finding him.
• Hoodie Woman and the bearded man emerged from below deck and explained that their teammates had vanished and later reappeared.
• Li Xian, Ke Yi, Zhang Yuyao, Hoodie Woman, and the bearded man shared their experiences in the fog, while Ji Xie said he had searched the ship after Li Xian disappeared.
• Ke Yi proposed that the players work together, noting that the S-Rank instance’s one-day duration was unusual, and Li Xian agreed that a hidden danger was approaching.
• Ke Yi suggested splitting up to search the ship and meeting again in three hours, but Ji Xie said that would be too late.

Li Xian and the others realized that time had passed rapidly while the fog was up, then checked the ship’s navigation console and split up to search it. As Li Xian and Ji Xie searched the kitchen, the cleaver embedded in a cutting board suddenly moved.

• Li Xian noticed the sun had shifted and found that the wall clock showed three thirty in the afternoon, revealing that time had passed rapidly during the fog.
• Li Xian led the group to the Driver's Cab, where Ji Xie operated the console and found an estimated sixteen hours of sailing time remaining.
• Li Xian divided the six players into three pairs to search the ship, with him and Ji Xie taking the stern.
• Li Xian and Ji Xie searched the kitchen and found no food, only bottled water, before the cleaver in the cutting board suddenly moved.

Li Xian and Ji Xie defeated a flying cleaver by discovering and cutting the transparent thread controlling it, then salvaged six bottles of water. The players regrouped without finding useful clues or food, and Li Xian suspected the missing food was intentional.

• The cleaver attacked Li Xian and Ji Xie, but Ji Xie caught it and broke its handle before it resumed slashing through the room.
• Li Xian noticed the blade’s movements pointed to transparent thread wound around the door handle, then told Ji Xie what he had discovered.
• Li Xian used a chopping board to trap the cleaver, and Ji Xie cut the thread with a fruit knife, stopping the blade.
• Li Xian salvaged six bottles of water, searched the ship’s rear rooms, and returned to the meeting point with a weak flashlight.
• The other players reported finding no useful clues, working communications equipment, or food, while Li Xian questioned why the ship had water but no food.

Li Xian and Ji Xie fished up several ordinary fish while a shadow followed the ship beneath the water. When Bearded Man fell overboard, Li Xian and the others tried to pull him to safety, but the shadow seized him and dragged him back into the sea.

• Zhang Yuyao spotted a shadow following the ship, and Li Xian asked Bearded Man to fetch a fishing rod.
• Ji Xie took the rod from Li Xian and caught several fish, while Hoodie Woman refused to eat them.
• Li Xian threw a quilt into the water near the shadow and heard a crunching sound.
• Bearded Man toppled overboard in a dazed state, then surfaced and shouted for help.
• Li Xian and the others hauled Bearded Man toward the deck, but the shadow seized him and pulled him back into the water.

Bearded Man was pulled underwater by a hidden force, but the group rescued him after he threw an item into the sea. While Li Xian helped carry him to his room, he discovered a festering wound on Bearded Man’s neck and Hoodie Woman found a matching patch of skin peeling from her own arm.

• Ke Yi secretly stopped pulling as a mysterious force dragged Bearded Man underwater, but Bearded Man threw an item beneath the surface and the rope suddenly went slack.
• Hoodie Woman and the others hauled Bearded Man onto the deck, where they found his calf torn open; he said human hands with fishhooks had grabbed him before losing consciousness.
• Li Xian helped Hoodie Woman carry Bearded Man to his room and noticed she and Bearded Man had hoarded cans of food.
• Li Xian found a festering wound on the back of Bearded Man’s neck, and Hoodie Woman discovered a jigsaw-shaped patch of skin peeling from her arm.

Li Xian tried to make sense of the sparse clues in the puzzle-solving instance and questioned Ji Xie about their relationship, becoming more convinced when Ji Xie revealed a private secret. As night fell, Li Xian found himself trapped in a room transformed into a grotesque fish’s interior, where a Fish-Headed Humanoid approached him.

• Hoodie Woman secretly gave Li Xian two cans of food, and he carried them back to his room without hiding them.
• Li Xian wondered why the instance had so few clues and asked Ji Xie for more proof that they were lovers.
• Ji Xie revealed that Li Xian was extremely ticklish, convincing Li Xian that their relationship was likely real.
• A fish’s eye appeared in the door, Ji Xie vanished, and the room transformed into a space lined with organs, fish eggs, and scales.
• Li Xian discovered a sharp knife beside his pillow as the Fish-Headed Humanoid began moving toward him.

Li Xian recognized Ji Xie beneath the fish-headed illusion, and the two found a way to communicate despite their altered senses. Ji Xie restored his own appearance, but the room remained horrific, and Li Xian asked whether he looked normal to Ji Xie too.

• Li Xian faced a fish-headed monster and recognized Ji Xie's familiar clothes before he attacked.
• Li Xian confirmed the monster was Ji Xie, who recognized him through touch despite their inability to understand each other's speech.
• Ji Xie told Li Xian to close his eyes and guided his hand over his face until the illusion faded and Ji Xie returned to normal.
• Li Xian saw that the room was still bloody and asked whether Ji Xie saw him as himself; Ji Xie nodded.

Li Xian and Ji Xie escaped the grotesque illusion by kissing, which restored their room to normal. Just as Li Xian struggled to recover from the kiss, a scream sounded from Hoodie Woman and Bearded Man’s room next door.

• Li Xian tried to turn the organ-covered walls back into ordinary walls by touching them with his eyes closed, but his disgust made the attempt fail.
• Ji Xie kissed Li Xian and covered his eyes, distracting him from the surroundings until the room returned to normal.
• Li Xian sat on his bed, flustered by the kiss, while Ji Xie quietly enjoyed his reaction.
• Li Xian and Ji Xie heard a scream from Hoodie Woman and Bearded Man’s room next door, followed by silence.

Hoodie Woman mistook her injured teammate for a fog-born monster and killed him, then tried to cope with what she had done. Meanwhile, Li Xian and Ji Xie discussed how they recognized each other during the transformation, before Li Xian gave up on the conversation and pretended to sleep.

• Hoodie Woman recalled how the fog transformed her room and made her teammate appear to be a Fish-Headed Humanoid.
• Hoodie Woman stabbed the approaching figure repeatedly, then realized the corpse was her teammate, Bearded Man.
• Hoodie Woman dragged Bearded Man's body into the bathroom and washed the blood from her hands, while a piece of skin fell into the sink.
• Li Xian heard the running water next door and thought about how the instance had tricked players into killing one another.
• Li Xian asked Ji Xie how he had recognized him, and Ji Xie said Li Xian had reacted like a startled cat.
• Li Xian said he had recognized Ji Xie by his sleazy aura, and Ji Xie proudly called them like-minded before Li Xian pretended to sleep.

After waking before dawn, Li Xian discovered that the ship was rocking more violently and found a bubbling shadow beneath the sea that appeared to be causing it. As the ship tipped toward sinking, the Anchor’s rope snapped and Li Xian glimpsed a human-like hand reaching from the water.

• Li Xian woke around four in the morning, noticed the ship rocking harder, and left his room with Ji Xie to investigate.
• Li Xian checked the Driver's Cab and found the ship's course normal before searching the deck for the cause.
• Ke Yi woke Zhang Yuyao and Hoodie Woman, then joined Li Xian and Ji Xie as the ship's rocking intensified.
• Li Xian spotted bubbles rising above a familiar shadow beneath the waves and recognized it as the likely cause of the rocking.
• Ke Yi threw an Anchor at the shadow, but its rope snapped after briefly going taut.
• Li Xian glimpsed a human-like hand in the water as the ship lurched violently and began to sink.

After the ship sank, Li Xian discovered shadowy figures knocking on its submerged hull, and one pursued him across the water. Enormous tentacles dragged him underwater as a whirlpool swallowed the other players, leaving everyone unconscious.

• Li Xian ordered the players to jump from the capsizing ship, and they gathered in the sea after it sank.
• Hoodie Woman recoiled from Bearded Man's corpse as it floated past, while Li Xian noticed muffled knocking beneath the water.
• Li Xian submerged and saw shadowy figures pounding on the ship's hull before one noticed him and followed him to the surface.
• Ke Yi warned Li Xian that a shadow was pursuing him, and Li Xian realized Ji Xie was missing.
• Tentacles seized Li Xian and drove off the shadows, while a whirlpool pulled the other players underwater and left them unconscious.

After surviving the whirlpool, Li Xian and the other players awoke aboard the ship, which appeared to have returned to its original state. They defeated the giant fish again and discovered that the date had advanced by a day, leaving the reason they were back aboard unexplained.

• Li Xian woke in his room with a red mark on his ankle and found the other players recovering on the wet deck.
• Ke Yi recalled that the whirlpool had swept them away after the ship capsized, and Ji Xie appeared alive from a room.
• A giant fish burst onto the deck, and Li Xian, Ji Xie, and the others drove it back into the sea.
• Li Xian led the players to the Driver's Cab, where the display showed the ship would reach port in twenty-four hours.
• Li Xian checked the date and found it was one day later than before, while Ji Xie said they should not dwell on why they had returned.

Li Xian found a threatening message in the ship’s log and was nearly driven into the sea by the dark shape before Ji Xie saved him. The group realized the attack resembled what had happened to Hoodie Woman’s teammate, and Ke Yi questioned how the injured man had died before the ship capsized.

• Li Xian found a new red message in the ship’s log warning that starting over came at a cost.
• While waiting for the others, Li Xian saw a dark shape in the sea and was compelled to climb over the railing and jump.
• Ji Xie pulled Li Xian back from the edge, then asked him to owe a payment; Li Xian agreed to a pinky promise.
• Li Xian told Ke Yi, Hoodie Woman, and Zhang Yuyao what had happened, and Zhang Yuyao connected the attack to Hoodie Woman’s teammate.
• Ke Yi asked Hoodie Woman how her injured teammate had become a corpse by the time the ship capsized.

The survivors discussed how hallucinations had made it impossible to identify allies safely, and Ke Yi argued that suspicion and striking first were the only reliable ways to survive. Their conversation ended when a piece of human skin fell from the Hoodie Woman’s sleeve, revealing a larger patch missing from her arm.

• The Hoodie Woman recounted how she had killed her teammate during the hallucination, and Ke Yi argued that recognizing one another would not have prevented them from attacking out of fear.
• Ke Yi warned Zhang Yuyao that future hallucinations could worsen or mix with real monsters, making any agreed code unreliable.
• Li Xian realized that discarding his weapon as a signal had left his life in Ji Xie's hands, then asked why Ji Xie had trusted him.
• Ji Xie said he had trusted Li Xian because he could overpower him, leaving Li Xian privately aggrieved.
• A piece of human skin fell from the Hoodie Woman's cuff, and she revealed a larger patch of missing skin on her arm.

Li Xian and the others discovered their skin was beginning to peel as the fog returned, and he warned them to search for clues during it. Separated from the group, he overheard the crew arguing that five people had gone missing, while the Captain dismissed their claims and tightened control over food and water.

• Li Xian, Zhang Yuyao, Ke Yi, and Hoodie Woman compared the red marks on their skin, and Ji Xie said his condition was similar.
• Li Xian noticed the fog arriving and urged everyone to search for clues, then Ji Xie told him to be careful as they were separated.
• Li Xian hid near the Driver's Cab, followed the Captain and another crewman, and listened outside a lounge.
• A crewman told the Captain that Xiao Zhang, Old Zhao, Quan Zi, and two others had disappeared, but the Captain suspected they were hiding.
• The Captain ordered the cook to guard the food and water, restricted meals to the lounge, and gave him a spare cargo-hold key.
• An angry crewman accused the Captain of throwing Xiao Zhang into the sea after Xiao Zhang offended him and became too sick to work.

Li Xian hid from the fighting crewmen and found a diary belonging to Zhang Rui, who had challenged the Captain over a fraudulent contract. The diary showed Zhang Rui becoming inexplicably frantic within a day or two, leaving Li Xian to wonder what had happened to him.

• The crewmen accused the Captain of killing the missing men and threatened to stop fishing, while the Cook brandished a knife and the Captain seized it.
• The argument erupted into a fight, and Li Xian hid in a neighboring room as the crewmen scattered after someone screamed.
• Li Xian found a bloodstained piece of human skin on a bed, resembling the skin shed by Hoodie Woman.
• Li Xian retrieved a diary and pen from beneath the bed and learned the diary belonged to Zhang Rui.
• The diary described Zhang Rui discovering the Captain's wage deception and being threatened after demanding an explanation.
• Li Xian found that Zhang Rui's writing had abruptly changed into frantic claims that everyone had gone crazy.

Li Xian investigated Zhang Rui’s diary and the Captain’s cabin, looking for clues about the madness and disappearances. He found a hidden fishing-line trap and an IOU showing that the Captain owed two million.

• Li Xian read Zhang Rui’s final diary entries, which described his skin falling off and ended with his unfinished attempt to leave.
• Li Xian decided to investigate the Captain and entered the unlocked Captain’s cabin.
• Li Xian found sleeping pills and crew employment contracts in the Captain’s desk.
• Li Xian noticed a fishing line attached to the contracts and used a jacket to trigger the hidden hook without being caught.
• Li Xian found an IOU naming the Captain as debtor for two million.

Li Xian searched the Captain’s cabin for evidence and hid in the bathroom when someone entered. After the Captain and Cook left, Li Xian found himself trapped as water flooded the bathroom.

• Li Xian suspected the Captain of being behind the missing crew members but noticed the theory still left questions unanswered.
• Li Xian hid papers beneath a cabinet and slipped into the bathroom when footsteps approached.
• A crewman searched the Captain’s room, and Li Xian used the toilet flush to make him rush toward the door.
• The Captain caught the crewman and demanded to know where the missing papers were, but the Cook interrupted before the crewman could reveal Li Xian.
• The crewman left without exposing Li Xian, but Li Xian found fishing line trapping the bathroom door handle.
• The shower and faucet turned on while the drains clogged, and water rapidly filled the bathroom.

Li Xian escaped a deadly bathroom flooding illusion by realizing the water and surfaces were sensations from the sink, then collapsed after inhaling water. Ji Xie found him and gave him rescue breaths, and Li Xian weakly insisted he was fine.

• Li Xian found the bathroom controls, drains, door, and ceiling vent impossible to use as water rapidly filled the room.
• As the water reached his face, Li Xian noticed the sound of splashing stayed beside him and recognized that the surfaces felt like the sink.
• Li Xian plunged his face into the sink and inhaled water, breaking free of the illusion as the bathroom flooding vanished.
• Li Xian collapsed beside the running faucet, realizing he had been suffocating with his face in the sink.
• Ji Xie entered, gave Li Xian rescue breaths, and asked whether he was okay.
• Li Xian feebly told Ji Xie that he was perfectly fine.

After the fog cleared, Li Xian compared the players’ experiences across different timelines and connected the ship’s past to the dark mass haunting it. The group headed to the storeroom to test an idea, where they found everything restored to its original state.

• Li Xian noticed several new red circles on his skin after changing clothes, then joined Ji Xie, Ke Yi, Zhang Yuyao, and Hoodie Woman on deck.
• The players shared what they had witnessed in different timelines, including Zhang Rui’s contract dispute, the crew’s peeling skin, and a damaged fishing net.
• Li Xian proposed that the missing crew members and perhaps others had died at sea and become the dark mass, and that the players needed to uncover their fate or resolve their lingering obsessions.
• Li Xian urged everyone to protect themselves and one another so they would not lose clues from a timeline when a player died.
• Li Xian led the group to the storeroom, where Hoodie Woman found that its contents and emptied cans had returned to their original state.

Li Xian and the others searched the ship’s restored storeroom for items to offer the dark figures, hoping to test whether giving them useful things could change their behavior. They left with a box of possible offerings and considered trying fish next.

• Li Xian refused Ke Yi’s suggestion to break through the cargo hold door and led the group to the storeroom.
• Hoodie Woman recognized that the storeroom had been restored, and the players ate the returned canned food before searching it.
• Ke Yi gathered possible offerings in a box while Li Xian and the others picked through the storeroom’s junk.
• Li Xian explained that they needed to test whether throwing useful items into the sea could work, even if they were unlikely to clear the Instance that day.
• Ji Xie put the Fishing Rod in the box, and Hoodie Woman suggested offering fish to the fishermen.
• Ji Xie agreed that they could try it, and Li Xian also approved the idea.

Li Xian discovered that the dark shadow following the boat could be lured away with banknotes, but each note held its attention for only about half a minute. He sent Zhang Yuyao and Hoodie Woman to find four more fish, while Ke Yi offered to search with him and Li Xian declined.

• Li Xian found the fish Ji Xie had caught the previous day and realized it had reappeared aboard the boat.
• Li Xian tested a blanket and a banknote on the dark shadow, discovering that the shadow ignored the blanket but rushed to seize the money.
• Li Xian concluded that the objects in the box could not distract the shadow long enough to get the group safely to shore.
• Li Xian asked Zhang Yuyao and Hoodie Woman to find the other four fish, saying they would be useful.
• Ke Yi invited Li Xian to search together, but Li Xian told him he would be more efficient alone.

Li Xian searched the ship for fish, believing they would be useful, with Ji Xie helping him. They found a weak silver-gray fish and returned to find three more fish left by Ke Yi, though Li Xian did not know who had caught them.

• Li Xian put the fish he had received from Ke Yi in a basin and set out with Ji Xie to search the ship for more.
• Ji Xie entered the kitchen quickly, cut the fishing line with a paring knife, and stopped the door and cleaver from becoming dangerous.
• Li Xian found a fish scale and blood trail, then discovered a weak silver-gray fish in a bathroom and carried it back.
• Li Xian and Ji Xie returned to the crew quarters before sunset, where Li Xian found three more fish beside the first, with a note saying Ke Yi had left them.
• Ji Xie tore up Ke Yi's note, and Li Xian gathered the fish into a net before hurrying back to his room.

Li Xian lay awake worrying that the ship might sink and that he would die, but Ji Xie comforted him and stayed beside him until he fell asleep. When Li Xian woke, he found himself wondering whether he might truly like Ji Xie, whom he believed was his boyfriend.

• Li Xian worried that the promised chance to start over might fail and that he would drown or be killed.
• Ji Xie noticed Li Xian could not sleep, reassured him, and asked if he wanted company.
• Li Xian silently held Ji Xie's fingers, and Ji Xie joined him in bed and pulled him into his arms.
• Li Xie accepted Ji Xie's claim that they used to sleep that way and settled down in his embrace.
• Li Xian woke before Ji Xie, studied his face, and wondered if Ji Xie was the type he liked.
• Ji Xie opened his eyes after hearing Li Xian mutter that he had better not be lying, and asked what he meant.

Li Xian tried to distract the dark shapes attacking the boat, but using a fish as bait enraged them and brought on a violent collision. As the whirlpool appeared and the others jumped overboard, Li Xian searched for Ji Xie and then plunged underwater.

• Li Xian used banknotes and then other objects to distract the dark shapes, but they soon resumed attacking the boat.
• Li Xian baited the Fishing Rod with a fish, provoking the dark shapes to roar and ram the boat; afterward, he realized Ji Xie was missing.
• A second collision struck, and Hoodie Woman and Zhang Yuyao jumped into the sea and swam toward the whirlpool.
• Hoodie Woman resurfaced after nearly disappearing beside the dark shapes, while Ke Yi pushed Li Xian overboard and swam toward the whirlpool.
• Ke Yi turned back when Li Xian did not follow and saw that Li Xian had plunged underwater.