Recaps

Li Xian and Ji Xie entered the Brilliant New World instance, where the Residential Community’s cheerful rules concealed lethal Honey Shadows and Candy that suppressed fear. After surviving attacks and earning enough Contribution Points, Li Xian passed Fan Zhe’s interview and became a Dreamcatcher.

• Li Xian confessed his feelings to Ji Xie, and Ji Xie explained how he had reverted the Fishing Boat without rewinding time.
• Li Xian and Ji Xie entered the S-Rank instance Brilliant New World with Lin Shiming and other players, then arrived at the Residential Community.
• The Guide assigned the players jobs, money, Wristbands, and apartments, while Li Xian became a Livestock Keeper and learned that Contribution Points governed their standing.
• Li Xian saw a Supervisor punish a player and discovered that the community demanded cheerfulness, then he and Ji Xie settled into rooms near Lin Shiming.
• Honey Shadow covered the community after dark, and Li Xian survived an attack at home with help from a Dreamcatcher and Ji Xie.
• At the Convenience Store, Li Xian discovered that Honey Shadow’s eyes caused dangerous heart rates and that Candy calmed people, then Ji Xie helped capture a New-Type Mutant.
• Li Xian and Ji Xie reached twenty Contribution Points and entered the Chief Administrator’s building, where Li Xian passed Fan Zhe’s interview and registered as a Dreamcatcher.

Li Xian uncovered how Candy and Honey Shadow were connected, then discovered that New-Type Candy was being developed from the residents’ emotions. After helping Lu Ye resist its pull, Li Xian faced Fan Zhe and Lin Shiming, who questioned him about what he had seen at the dump.

• Li Xian joined the Dreamcatchers’ night shift, captured a red Honey Shadow with the bus’s help, and followed the shift captain to the Research Lab.
• Li Xian watched Lin Shiming identify the red Honey Shadow as a new anger variant and explain how inactive Honey Shadow became Candy.
• Li Xian and Ji Xie crossed the electrified fence and investigated the Honey Shadow swamp, finding corpses and a candy man with a needle hidden in its wristwatch.
• Li Xian and Ji Xie hid beneath the swamp as the center-parted man entered and died, then returned home, where Ji Xie comforted Li Xian through the Honey Shadow’s emotional effects.
• A milk-tea-colored Honey Shadow emerged from Li Xian’s shadow, and he suspected it had formed from emotions soothed without Candy.
• Ji Xie told Li Xian that Fan Zhe had tested Honey Shadow on a trapped player, and Li Xian deduced that New-Type Candy was gas produced inside a person and breathed out.
• Li Xian and Ji Xie found Lu Ye desperate to get rid of his Candy, and Little Brown calmed him as he chose to experience the full range of emotions.
• Fan Zhe confronted Li Xian about visiting the dump, then revealed Lin Shiming and asked how many people Li Xian had seen.

Li Xian and Lin Shiming disrupted Fan Zhe’s Candy experiment, awakened the residents, and cleared Brilliant New World. After the Instance closed, Li Xian was chosen for the final wager’s solo Instance, Lifeline, where he and Ji Xie faced a shifting mirror maze.

• Fan Zhe chose Li Xian as the test subject, but Li Xian escaped and reached the Attic, where Lin Shiming altered the Candy Maker’s program and released gaseous Honey Shadow.
• As the residents descended into violence, Lin Shiming rescued Li Xian and revealed that he had left him and Ji Xie instruction manuals while secretly pursuing his own clearance objective.
• Li Xian and Lin Shiming searched for Fan Zhe, found him at the main gate, and fought over his crossbow before Lin Shiming shot Li Xian, waking the villagers from the dream.
• Li Xian helped residents surrender their Candy and completed the true ending and Liberation objective, then reunited with Ji Xie and Lin Shiming after Brilliant New World closed.
• The Player Center’s Instance entrances closed, a player died and vanished, and Li Xian introduced Ji Xie as his boyfriend before taking the Happy Honey Shadow from his inventory.
• The system selected Li Xian for the solo Instance Lifeline, where he and Ji Xie entered a mirror maze and faced attacking arms and a sinking swamp.
• Ji Xie shouted “Source Instance” before disappearing, and Li Xian continued alone as the maze erased his markings and made him suffocate and walk against his will.
• Li Xian used Little Brown to cover his reflection and regain control, but the maze changed its paths, and the system announced that betting would close in five minutes as the odds favored his loss.