Recaps

Li Xian questioned Fan Zhe about the Dreamcatcher hierarchy and received a Candy he was told to eat before starting work. At the Livestock Farm, Li Xian probed Lu Ye about his past and family, provoking a fearful reaction before stopping him from eating a piece of Candy.

• Li Xian asked Fan Zhe whether a position ranked above Dreamcatcher existed, and Fan Zhe said he was only a recruiter and gave Li Xian a Candy to eat before work.
• Li Xian pocketed the Candy and went to his Livestock Keeper shift because he needed money for dinner.
• Li Xian struggled with the physical labor at the Livestock Farm, and Lu Ye gave him a straw hat to shield him from the sun.
• Li Xian asked Lu Ye about his arrival, his former life, and his family, and Lu Ye warned him that asking such questions could bring trouble.
• Lu Ye took out a bag of Candy and began unwrapping a piece, but Li Xian snatched it away before he could eat it.

Li Xian discovered that Candy erased negative emotions and tested its side effects on a rooster, which transformed into a translucent candy sculpture. After warning Lu Ye and telling him to dissolve the rooster in a bucket, Li Xian and Lu Ye were confronted by the Supervisor.

• Li Xian deduced that the Security Gate detected negative emotions and that Candy's effects were broader than simply removing fear.
• Li Xian inferred from Lu Ye's saved Candy and lingering vitality that he had not been there long, then tossed a piece of Candy into the chicken pen.
• After Li Xian gave it another piece of Candy, the rooster crowed, collapsed, and gradually turned into a translucent candy sculpture.
• Li Xian told Lu Ye the Candy had turned the rooster into candy and instructed him to dissolve it in a bucket of water.
• The Supervisor arrived after hearing the rooster, and Li Xian quietly reminded the tense Lu Ye to smile.

Li Xian and Lu Ye narrowly avoided the Supervisor discovering the Candy when Lin Shiming’s chicken purchase gave them a chance to disguise the bloody water. Lin Shiming invited Li Xian to dinner, and after Ji Xie appeared, he invited him too.

• The Supervisor tried to enter the fenced area, but Lin Shiming arrived asking to buy a chicken, and Li Xian and Lu Ye used the slaughtering to conceal the Candy in the bucket.
• Lin Shiming paid fifty yuan for the chicken and invited Li Xian to dinner, while Lu Ye sent Li Xian off early and gave him his wages.
• Li Xian carried groceries back with Lin Shiming and wondered how Lin Shiming had earned so much money.
• Ji Xie returned from an interview and joined Li Xian and Lin Shiming, who invited him to dinner as well.

Li Xian tested how Candy affected players and realized emotional shocks could break its influence, while Lin Shiming warned that it might also be addictive. Back at the apartment, Ji Xie’s jealous attempt to help cook ended with Lin Shiming asking Li Xian if Ji Xie was the one he liked.

• Li Xian stopped the center-parted player and reminded him that he was in an Instance and that his teammate had been taken away, restoring the player’s emotions.
• Li Xian concluded that emotional turmoil could shorten Candy’s effects and considered using Candy during the Dreamcatcher work that night if necessary.
• Lin Shiming pointed out Candy’s possible addictiveness as the three returned to the apartment.
• Ji Xie took the kitchen knife from Li Xian and stabbed the eggplant, so Li Xian kicked him out of the kitchen.
• Lin Shiming asked Li Xian whether Ji Xie was the person he liked.

Li Xian helped Lin Shiming cook dinner and asked about his separation from Cheng Xin. Lin Shiming explained that he expected to die eventually, leaving Li Xian stunned by the short survival prospects in the Advanced Zone.

• Li Xian and Lin Shiming prepared four dishes together, and Li Xian praised Lin Shiming's cooking.
• Li Xian asked Lin Shiming how things were between him and Cheng Xin, and Lin Shiming said they only met during handovers.
• Li Xian questioned why Lin Shiming had split with Cheng Xin, and Lin Shiming said Cheng Xin needed to get used to entering instances with other people.
• Lin Shiming told Li Xian that players in the Advanced Zone cleared an average of twelve instances and usually survived only about four months, leaving Li Xian shocked.

Li Xian discussed the dangers of increasingly difficult Instances with Lin Shiming, then went to begin his new Dreamcatcher job. After a Security Gate alarm exposed that he had not eaten the required Candy, a Dreamcatcher made him eat it and gave him work clothes and equipment before the Bus set off.

• Lin Shiming explained that people were dying in Instances and that even the highest reported number of cleared Advanced Zone Instances was only twenty-one.
• Li Xian asked Lin Shiming whether he should eat the Candy required for his Dreamcatcher job, and Lin Shiming advised him to do so.
• Li Xian took Ji Xie along and boarded the familiar Bus, but the Security Gate alarm sounded as he entered.
• A Dreamcatcher took the Candy from Li Xian's pocket and told him to eat it before handing over his clothes.
• Li Xian ate the Candy, received clothes, a black bag, and a net with a telescoping handle, and sat down as the Bus departed.

Li Xian searched the Residential Community for aggressive, living Honey Shadow after learning that the clumps lying around were not the target. As Ji Xie sensed something wrong, Li Xian accidentally stepped into a clump that stuck to his shoe.

• Li Xian watched the Dreamcatchers on the bus and realized they were searching for active Honey Shadow rather than the clumps scattered around the community.
• A Dreamcatcher spotted a fast-moving black object, got off the bus, and chased it.
• The Driver told Li Xian to wave down the bus after catching Honey Shadow and said the active kind moved more and looked slightly different.
• Li Xian spotted a shadow, got off the bus, and searched the nearby buildings and flower beds without finding it.
• Ji Xie crawled out of Li Xian's pocket and sensed that something was wrong, though neither of them found the source.
• Li Xian stepped on a clump of Honey Shadow, which stretched and clung to his shoe when he tried to pull away.

Li Xian faced a swarm of Honey Shadows and resisted eating Fan Zhe’s candy while Ji Xie drew the creatures away from him. Li Xian found a blue-tinged Honey Shadow emerging from a sleeping resident and tried to stop it from escaping.

• Li Xian realized the Honey Shadows were gathering around him as the consequence of refusing Fan Zhe’s candy, and they began climbing up his legs.
• Ji Xie entered Li Xian’s net and asked him to throw him beyond the swarm, drawing the Honey Shadows away once he landed.
• Li Xian searched the residential complex for a Honey Shadow and spotted one seeping out of a sleeping resident, whose troubled expression grew peaceful as it emerged.
• Li Xian recognized the creature’s blue sheen as the difference he had been seeking, then pounded on the window and shouted for the resident to open it as the Honey Shadow fled toward the door.

Li Xian pursued a fleeing blue Honey Shadow and realized it was luring him into a coordinated ambush. After a red Honey Shadow burned away his protective coat and took his net, the blue one immobilized him, leaving him trapped as the red one approached.

• Li Xian chased the blue Honey Shadow out of an apartment building, noticing that it kept just beyond his reach.
• Li Xian used the Multifunctional Videotape and saw images of his coat gone and a bus approaching, then suspected the Honey Shadow had turned transparent.
• The blue Honey Shadow wrapped around Li Xian like a current, repelling his net and eventually pinning his feet in place.
• A red Honey Shadow appeared, burned away Li Xian's Dreamcatcher coat, and carried off his net.
• Li Xian recognized the two Honey Shadows had coordinated their attack and waited as the red one reached toward the ground beneath him.

Li Xian realized the Honey Shadow was hiding inside the transparent water restraining him and slowly heating it to burn him. He used its attempt to lure him toward the net to create an opening, but ended the chapter pinned on the road as a speeding bus approached.

• Li Xian discovered the dark red Honey Shadow had slipped into the transparent water around his body and was heating it.
• The Honey Shadow repeatedly moved the net away whenever Li Xian approached, while the water gradually heated enough to burn him.
• Li Xian spotted the Honey Shadow's faintly blue tail and dark red lump, but it shifted out of sight again.
• After Li Xian stopped struggling, the Honey Shadow loosened its hold and drew the net closer to entice him.
• Li Xian suddenly rolled toward the net, but the water pinned his hands to the ground as his health points dropped.
• A speeding bus came around the corner and headed straight toward Li Xian.

Li Xian captured one Honey Shadow after the bus ran over it, while the other escaped. After helping the driver replace the damaged tire, Li Xian learned that the bus was making its last run and had to decide whether to board before nine.

• Li Xian saw the bus run over the red Honey Shadow, then caught it in his net as it began to reassemble.
• The driver ate a candy, and Li Xian secured the captured Honey Shadow in his bag while the water-form Honey Shadow escaped.
• The bus tire deflated after the Honey Shadow burned through it, and Li Xian put the Misfortune Toe Bone away, suspecting it had caused the bad luck.
• The driver made Li Xian help replace the tire, and the repair took about twenty minutes.
• The driver told Li Xian that this was the last run and warned him to board or be left behind.

Li Xian returned from the Honey Shadow hunt and suspected the creatures were born from residents’ negative emotions. He secretly followed the shift captain to the Research Lab, where the chapter ended as someone opened the door.

• Li Xian boarded the returning bus with Ji Xie and reflected on how Honey Shadow might form from residents’ distress and feed on their pain.
• The shift captain collected the Dreamcatchers’ bags and equipment, explaining that researchers would sample the Honey Shadows before the crew received payment.
• Li Xian used the Bow Hairpin to follow the captain off the bus and through the security gate, which sounded an alarm but did not expose him.
• Li Xian followed the captain to the Third Floor and watched him knock on the Research Lab door, which opened in response.

Li Xian secretly watched Lin Shiming test the Honey Shadows and explain their connection to Candy and negative emotions. Lin Shiming began processing a mass of Honey Shadow into transparent crystals, revealing a method the supreme administrator had discovered.

• Li Xian recognized Lin Shiming as he accepted four bags containing five Honey Shadows from a Dreamcatcher.
• Lin Shiming tested samples in a machine, which identified Li Xian's dark red Honey Shadow as a new variant associated with anger.
• Lin Shiming explained that Honey Shadows were physical forms of negative emotions produced during Candy's early development, and that they fed on human negativity.
• Lin Shiming poured a large mass of Honey Shadow into another machine, where it lost its vitality and transformed into transparent crystals.

Li Xian learned that Candy was made from inactivated Honey Shadows and that residents’ emotional neurotransmitters were recycled into more Candy. After following the muscular man to the complex’s perimeter, Li Xian discovered that Honey Shadows were disposed of by throwing them over the wall and realized he might be able to get over it too.

• Lin Shiming explained to Li Xian and the muscular man how inactivated Honey Shadows were made into Candy and how the cycle recycled residents’ emotional neurotransmitters.
• The muscular man left with the tested bag, while Li Xian stole a white mask and secretly returned to the bus ahead of him.
• The muscular man rejoined the bus and gave Li Xian two hundred yuan without realizing Li Xian had followed him.
• The bus stopped beside a wide gap in the buildings, and Li Xian watched the muscular man throw the black cloth bag over the electrified perimeter fence.
• Li Xian realized there was no hidden door to the dump and considered throwing himself over the wall.

Li Xian and Ji Xie crossed the apartment wall to investigate the Honey Shadow dump and found an endless, motionless swamp of Honey Shadow beyond it. After testing its surface, Li Xian decided to enter, and the two began cautiously walking through it.

• Li Xian and Ji Xie went to the wall early in the morning so they could investigate the Honey Shadow discarded outside the complex.
• The Postman came across them, and Li Xian explained that he was taking a walk with his boyfriend before the Postman hurried away.
• Ji Xie carried Li Xian over the electrified fence with his tentacles, and Li Xian spotted a vast black swamp beyond the wall.
• Li Xian prodded the Honey Shadow with his Fishing Rod and foot, finding that it was still and resisted movement like a swamp.
• Li Xian asked Ji Xie to lower him into the Honey Shadow, and after reaching the ground, they cautiously walked through it together.

Li Xian and Ji Xie discovered a corpse in the Honey Shadow swamp and learned that the nightly curtain returned corpses to the sky. Realizing that the Honey Shadow was altering his emotions, Li Xian asked Ji Xie to carry him, then anxiously called his name when Ji Xie stayed silent.

• Li Xian struggled through the Honey Shadow swamp and found a corpse buried beneath it.
• Ji Xie identified the corpse as dead, and Li Xian recognized its clothes as belonging to a resident who had died outside on the first day.
• Ji Xie explained that Honey Shadow strands carried corpses back into the sky before dawn.
• Li Xian realized the swamp was the Honey Shadow that covered the residential complex at night and that it held dozens or perhaps hundreds of corpses.
• Li Xian noticed the Honey Shadow was changing his emotions and asked Ji Xie to carry him.
• When Ji Xie did not answer, Li Xian grew anxious and softly called his name.

Li Xian and Ji Xie explored the Honey Shadow swamp and discovered a clear glass container beside the residential complex wall. They found a ring of corpses around it, but Li Xian recognized none of the dead as people he had seen before.

• Li Xian told Ji Xie that the Honey Shadow affected his mood, while Ji Xie said it had no effect on him.
• Li Xie and Ji Xie continued along the wall until Li Xian spotted a nearly invisible glass container.
• Li Xian examined the empty container and noticed a faint seam in the wall beside it.
• Ji Xie stopped when he felt bodies submerged in a ring around the container.
• Ji Xie pulled out several corpses, and Li Xian found that they varied in age and sex but all had pain-twisted expressions.

Li Xian found that the corpses had slightly negative contribution points and tested what happened when he tried to remove one of their Wristwatches. The corpse turned into a candy-like body, and Li Xian discovered a needle on the underside of its watch.

• Li Xian checked several corpses’ bands and found that most showed contribution points of minus one or minus two.
• Li Xian tried to open the glass container but found its panel locked from the inside.
• Li Xian tested a corpse’s band with his Utility Knife and then pulled at it until it clicked.
• The corpse’s skin turned transparent and sweet-smelling, transforming it into a candy man.
• Li Xian broke off the candy man’s wrist, removed the Wristwatch, and found a one-centimeter needle behind its screen.

Li Xian discovered that the bracelet contained a sweet-smelling liquid and fled with Ji Xie when a concealed door opened and exposed them. After Honey Shadow overwhelmed his emotions beneath the swamp, Ji Xie brought him home, where Li Xian broke down crying and found himself craving candy.

• Li Xian examined the bracelet, found sticky residue and a sweet scent inside it, and pocketed it after returning the severed hand to the swamp.
• A concealed door opened, revealing the center-parted man and another figure, so Li Xian took Ji Xie's hand and sank into the swamp to hide.
• Honey Shadow flooded Li Xian with intense emotions, and he clung to Ji Xie to stop him from pulling them out.
• The center-parted man sank into the swamp and died while Li Xie and Ji Xie remained hidden beneath it.
• Ji Xie carried Li Xian out of the swamp, evaded notice, and hurried him back to their apartment.
• At home, Li Xian cried in Ji Xie's arms and thought that eating candy might make him happy.

Ji Xie soothed Li Xian through an emotional episode by taking away his candy and kissing him. As Li Xian’s emotions settled, he recognized his fear of losing Ji Xie, and Ji Xie promised he would stay with him for decades.

• Li Xian reached for the candy in his pocket, but Ji Xie confiscated it and held him as he cried and begged for it.
• Ji Xie kissed Li Xian until he stopped struggling and began responding, then carried him to the sofa when Li Xian asked him to keep holding him.
• Li Xian realized that beneath his confused emotions lay a fear of losing Ji Xie and wondered whether they might be separated.
• When Li Xian tried to pull away, Ji Xie said he still wanted to hold him, and Li Xian clung to him and whispered, “Don't go.”
• Ji Xie promised he would stay with Li Xian even decades later, giving him a sense of security and soothing him.

Li Xian discovered a strange, gentle Honey Shadow emerging from his shadow and suspected it had formed through emotions that had been processed normally. He realized the banquet may have secretly introduced residents to candy, then heard an announcement that the complex had stopped selling ordinary candy and was testing New-Type Candy.

• A translucent, milk-tea-colored Honey Shadow emerged from Li Xian’s shadow, explored the living room, and calmly touched his hand.
• Li Xian and Ji Xie observed that the creature resembled a Honey Shadow but neither feared sunlight nor acted aggressively.
• Li Xian theorized that the creature had formed from emotions soothed through normal means rather than forcibly expelled by candy.
• Li Xian recalled the sweet-tasting banquet and suspected it had introduced residents to candy, then worried that Lu Ye might be vulnerable to cravings.
• The residential complex announced that ordinary candy was no longer for sale and that residents would test New-Type Candy.

After the broadcast announced a new Candy trial, Li Xian learned from Ji Xie that Fan Zhe had used mutant Honey Shadow to force a player to swallow it. The player’s abdomen swelled as the Honey Shadow seemed to enter his lungs, and he died after a bout of violent, bubbling breaths.

• Li Xian asked Ji Xie what had happened in the garbage dump and learned that Fan Zhe had entered the glass container.
• Li Xian told Ji Xie that Fan Zhe had interviewed him after claiming to be an ordinary recruiter.
• Ji Xie explained that Fan Zhe trapped a player in the container, spread Honey Shadow across the floor, and mixed in a reddish mutant strain.
• Fan Zhe dimmed the container and the Honey Shadow crawled into the player’s mouth while he struggled and screamed.
• The player’s abdomen swelled as the Honey Shadow entered his lungs, then he stopped breathing after half a minute of violent gasping.

Li Xian realized that the New-Type Candy developed in the Glass Container was a gas created when Honey Shadow transformed inside a person, and that Fan Zhe’s mask could protect against it. With the announced test approaching, Li Xian decided to find Lu Ye, while Honey Shadow clung to his foot.

• Li Xian concluded that Fan Zhe’s experiment had likely been connected to the New-Type Candy and questioned Ji Xie about what happened to Honey Shadow.
• Ji Xie touched Li Xian’s head, and the sound of liquid inside his wristband gave Li Xian an idea about the candy’s form.
• Li Xian deduced that the New-Type Candy was gas produced when Honey Shadow boiled inside a person and was breathed out.
• Ji Xie warned that gaseous candy would be difficult to avoid, and Li Xian recognized Fan Zhe’s mask as the same type as the one he had stolen from Lin Shiming.
• Li Xian decided to find Lu Ye, but Honey Shadow clung to his foot as he tried to leave.

Li Xian and Ji Xie took Honey Shadow to the farm, where it helped Lu Ye overcome a powerful urge to eat his saved candy. Lu Ye asked Li Xian to keep or destroy the candy, while Honey Shadow returned to its jar as Little Brown.

• Li Xian struggled to move Honey Shadow into a jar until Ji Xie explained that it wanted a name, and it entered after Li Xian called it Little Brown.
• Li Xian and Ji Xie hurried to the farm and found Lu Ye trembling in a chair, demanding that they take away his candy.
• Ji Xie restrained Lu Ye as Li Xian hid the candy, but Little Brown climbed onto Lu Ye’s wrist and calmed him.
• Lu Ye explained that the urge to eat candy had intensified after he heard the broadcast, then asked Li Xian to keep or destroy the bag.

Lu Ye chose to experience the full range of emotions, giving Li Xian the answer he needed to pursue freeing the residents from the candy's control. Before Li Xian could act, Fan Zhe confronted him over visiting the dump and revealed Lin Shiming as a witness.

• Li Xian hid the New-Type Candy, calmed Lu Ye, and asked whether he would choose constant happiness or the full range of emotions.
• Lu Ye observed the residents' unchanging smiles and recognized how his friendship with a regular customer had dwindled into routine.
• Lu Ye told Li Xian he wanted to experience the full range of emotions, confirming Li Xian's preferred way to liberate the residents from the candy's control.
• Fan Zhe arrived and confronted Li Xian about visiting the dump.
• Li Xian agreed to go with Fan Zhe alone, but Fan Zhe revealed Lin Shiming and asked how many people he had seen.