Chapter Summaries

After attempting suicide, Li Xian woke inside the Stone River Village game instance, assigned to play a bride whose role required him to hide that he was a man. He reached the bridal chamber but, with his health low, froze as someone approached him.

• Li Xian regained consciousness in a bridal sedan and learned that he had entered the Stone River Village roleplay instance as Li Xiaojuan, a bride whose task was to drink wedding wine in the bridal chamber.
• Observers watching the instance said that the bride always died and that her role could never be assigned to a player.
• Li Xian inspected his bridal robes and wig before the bearers carried him into a room and shut the door behind him.
• The system showed Li Xian’s character panel, including health of 25, and he realized his body was weak from how he had entered the instance.
• As Li Xian tried to remove his veil, footsteps approached, and an inexplicable force left him unable to move.

Li Xian completed his wedding-wine task in the bridal chamber, gained the skill Marry on the Spot, and discovered that the villagers expected his bride character to die. As he searched for a way out, a hostile woman appeared beside him.

• A mysterious man entered the bridal chamber and lifted Li Xian's veil, triggering Li Xian's Marry on the Spot skill.
• Li Xian drank the wedding wine, completed his first task, and received a new task to meet six other players at the village chief's home before nightfall.
• Li Xian found the door locked and overheard villagers say the bride would die in a few days.
• Li Xian searched the bridal chamber for clues and found an embroidered shoe beneath the quilt.
• A pale, disheveled woman in red appeared clinging to Li Xian's shoulder and glared at him with hatred.

Li Xian escaped the red-clad woman through a hidden passage, but villagers spotted him and chased him through the village. Rain began falling, terrifying the villagers as it transformed one bearer into a grotesque, blood-filled corpse.

• Li Xian distracted the red-clad woman with the embroidered shoe, then found a hatch beneath the bed and escaped through a passage in the wall.
• Li Xian received his first livestream tip and hid nearby, but the bearers discovered the room was empty and raised the alarm.
• Li Xian fled through the village, covered his face with the bridal veil, and fought his way past villagers blocking the road.
• Rain began falling just as a bearer reached for Li Xian, and the villagers panicked and fled, crying that the River God was angry.
• Rain spread across the bearer's face and body, turning red as he swelled, collapsed, and died.

Li Xian escaped the villagers and took shelter from Stone River Village’s deadly rain, but a strange man saved him when the rain touched his skin. After the man rejected his offer to steal the bride, Li Xian revealed he was a man, and the man examined the makeup the game had put on him.

• Li Xian ran through the village as the rain began, while villagers called from their homes for him to come inside.
• Li Xian found an abandoned house, but rain touched his wrist and began spreading across his skin as his sanity fell.
• Li Xian pressed his rain-soaked hand against the strange man, whose body made the rain evaporate and saved him.
• Li Xian asked whether the man was his intended groom and then proposed that they steal the bride together, but the man said he did not like women.
• Li Xian revealed that he was a man by removing his wig, and the man touched his chin and revealed the deep red makeup on his lips.

Li Xian used his skill to make Ji Xie appear on a Marriage Certificate, revealing that Ji Xie was neither a villager nor an instance character. The certificate changed both men’s HP to unknown values, and as Ji Xie vanished into the shadows, someone approached Li Xian’s house.

• Ji Xie washed the makeup from Li Xian’s face, exposing that the bride was a man.
• Li Xian used a Marriage Certificate on Ji Xie, and their photographs and fingerprints appeared inside it.
• Li Xian saw that the certificate listed Ji Xie’s age as unknown and included rules about shared HP and being unable to harm each other.
• Li Xian and Lin Shiming saw Li Xian’s HP change to unknown, while Ji Xie warned Li Xian to survive what was coming.
• Ji Xie disappeared into the shadows, and Li Xian saw a figure approaching his house.

Li Xian escaped suspicion by removing the wedding dress and passing himself off as an outsider rather than the bride. The village chief accepted his story for now and led him away, but Li Xian’s name had stirred the old man’s suspicions.

• As someone approached, Li Xian removed his wedding dress and wig, deciding the villagers would not suspect him of behaving out of character if they did not think he was the bride.
• The village chief entered with an axe, saw Li Xian dressed as a man, and asked where he had come from.
• Li Xian claimed he was from the town outside the village and introduced himself as Li Xian.
• The village chief connected Li Xian’s surname to Li Xiaojuan and watched his reaction, but Li Xian acted as though the coincidence meant nothing.
• The village chief said the rain had washed away the bridge and led Li Xian to look for a spare room.

Li Xian reached the village chief’s house and met the other six players, where the chief gave them a new clearance task: put the bride’s corpse in a coffin. Outside the instance, Lin Shiming suspected Stone River Village had become a TOD instance and noticed that its changes seemed to target Li Xian in particular.

• Li Xian followed the village chief to his house and completed his personal task by meeting the other six players.
• The chief told the players they had to find the runaway bride, or everyone would die.
• The system issued the clearance task to place the bride’s corpse in a coffin, and Li Xian wondered whether it meant the character he was playing.
• Lin Shiming explained to Cheng Xin and a passerby that TOD instances changed their conditions and required a true ending.
• Lin Shiming suspected Stone River Village was a TOD instance and remarked that it seemed to be targeting Li Xian unusually much.

At the village chief’s house, Li Xian learned the village’s rules by questioning the chief, then drew room 1 while the players divided the keys. Li Hongqiang demanded that Li Xian trade rooms with him.

• Zhao Fengyi explained that the players were trapped in a deadly game instance and asked everyone to introduce themselves.
• The village chief returned with a bloodstained axe and handed the players a ring of room keys.
• Li Xian asked the village chief about local rules, and the chief warned them not to go out in the rain, to be in bed by nine, and to drink only well water.
• The players chose rooms, and Li Xian took room 1 while Li Hongqiang ended up in room 7 beside the village chief’s quarters.
• Li Hongqiang learned that Li Xian had room 1 and ordered him to swap keys.

Li Xian deterred Li Hongqiang from taking his room key by threatening to report him to the village chief. That night, the village chief returned to Li Xian’s window with an axe and questioned why he had come to the village, leaving Li Xian trying to persuade him that he could help find the bride.

• Li Xian warned Li Hongqiang that he would tell the village chief about his behavior, so Li Hongqiang gave up trying to take the key.
• Li Xian returned to his room and noticed that the enamel mug was empty, then lay down without having had any water since entering the instance.
• Li Xian heard the village chief leave, then realized someone had opened his window and saw the village chief standing outside with an axe.
• Li Xian rolled off the bed as the village chief raised the axe, and the village chief lowered it after seeing that Li Xian was awake.
• Li Xian told the village chief he had come to help and offered to find the bride and bring her to him, while the village chief silently weighed whether to pass judgment on him.

Li Xian followed the village chief to the river after the chief killed Wang Ping and dumped his body there. When Li Xian threw the hidden wedding dress and wig into the river, he triggered an unknown contamination that made him lose sanity and stagger toward the water.

• The village chief questioned Li Xian, then went to Wang Ping’s room and killed him while the other villagers listened in fear.
• Li Xian followed the village chief to the river and watched him throw Wang Ping’s corpse into the water, where it sank and was rapidly eaten.
• The village chief searched near the riverside house but failed to find Li Xian, who had hidden inside.
• Li Xian retrieved the wedding dress and wig he had hidden, cut up the wig, bundled it with the dress, and threw them into the river.
• The wedding dress sank, infant-like cries rang in Li Xian’s head, and warnings reported contamination and repeated losses of sanity as he staggered toward the river.

Li Xian survived a nighttime encounter with the village chief and the eerie river, then returned to his room through an open window. In the morning, the group found Wang Ping’s room covered in blood with no body, and Li Xian told them the chief had approached his window with an axe.

• Li Xian collapsed after hearing something by the river, then left before falling into the water.
• Li Xian found the village chief’s house locked, returned to his room through an open window, and went back to sleep.
• Li Xian and the others found Wang Ping’s room smeared with blood and scattered flesh, but no corpse.
• The village chief led the group to breakfast, where villagers complained about food shortages and warned them to draw fresh water each day.
• As the group headed to the well, Li Xian revealed that the village chief had come to his window with an axe and asked him a question.
• Zhao Fengyi suggested the chief attacked outsiders and that offering to help him might be a way to survive.

The group encountered a dangerous well whose water turned bloody only when Song Qingzhang drew it, and discovered a red paper figure secretly placed in his pocket by a villager. After learning that Song Qingzhang had seen the tall, strong bride, they set out to search for Li Xiaojuan’s home, but could not identify it among the similar houses.

• Li Xian stopped the well’s handle from spinning and helped the others pull Song Qingzhang out after the rope dragged him toward the well.
• The water Song Qingzhang drew turned bloody twice, while Li Xian’s water remained clear; the group found a red paper figure in Song Qingzhang’s pocket and discarded it.
• Song Qingzhang described the bride as tall and strong, and Li Xian realized he had been the person she ran past.
• Zhao Fengyi led the group to search for Li Xiaojuan’s home, but the wary villagers offered little help and the similar houses confused them.

Li Xian investigated a torn note about Xiao Mei and followed clues from the river to question a grieving villager. The woman’s reaction suggested Xiao Mei was her daughter, but she had not yet confirmed it.

• Li Xian and the others pieced together a note describing Xiao Mei’s disappearance and the village’s fear of the River God.
• Li Hongqiang urged the group to search for the bride, while Zhao Fengyi and Qian Xin argued that investigating Xiao Mei could reveal more clues and earn a higher completion percentage.
• Li Xian and Song Qingzhang went to the river, where they found the Village Chief taking away the missing bride’s wedding dress and muttering that she was still alive and needed to be killed.
• Li Xian noticed a grieving woman among the villagers and learned from her that the Village Chief had a son, but that there were no other young people in the village.
• At the woman’s home, Li Xian asked whether she had a daughter named Xiao Mei, and she covered her face and began to sob.

Li Xian learned from Aunt Wang that her daughter Shen Xiaomei had resisted an arranged marriage, married Zhou Shan, and vanished the same night amid rumors of the River God. After Song Qingzhang found the wedding invitation dated June 12, Aunt Wang noticed Li Xian examining it and stared at him.

• Li Xian asked Aunt Wang about Shen Xiaomei, and she explained that her daughter had been close to Li Xiaojuan.
• Aunt Wang said she arranged Shen Xiaomei's marriage to the village chief's son, but Xiaomei had refused to marry.
• Aunt Wang recounted that Xiaomei disappeared on her wedding night, leaving only her wedding dress and shoes, and that the village chief blamed the River God.
• Aunt Wang described a later rain that killed villagers caught outside and made the village well seem dangerous.
• Song Qingzhang slipped Li Xian a wedding invitation he had found under a cabinet, naming Shen Xiaomei and Zhou Shan and giving their wedding date as June 12.
• Aunt Wang saw Li Xian looking at the invitation and asked what he was examining.

Li Xian and Song Qingzhang were forced to spend the night at Aunt Wang’s house as a sudden downpour trapped them there. While the others slept, Li Xian questioned what the villagers’ talk of peacefully coexisting with the River God meant, then heard the wooden door open.

• Aunt Wang told Li Xian that the villagers chose Li Xiaojuan as a sacrifice after Shen Xiaomei disappeared, and desperately asked whether she had done wrong.
• A sudden downpour interrupted Aunt Wang’s distress, and Li Xian and Song Qingzhang reassured her before waiting for the rain to stop.
• When the rain continued toward evening, Aunt Wang prepared Shen Xiaomei’s old room for Li Xian and Song Qingzhang to stay in.
• Song Qingzhang wondered which missing bride the task required, while Li Xian considered Aunt Wang’s account of the village and its River God.
• Li Xian wondered who the villagers had peacefully coexisted with, then heard the wooden door creak open.

Li Xian and Song Qingzhang survived Aunt Wang’s attempt to attack them by summoning Shen Xiaomei with the rain-soaked wedding invitation. Shen Xiaomei nearly killed Li Xian before Aunt Wang calmed her, and Aunt Wang ended the night admitting she should not have involved them.

• Aunt Wang entered Li Xian and Song Qingzhang’s room with a kitchen knife, but Li Xian opened the window and warned her off with the rain.
• Aunt Wang attacked Li Xian, and he used the rain-soaked Wedding Invitation to summon the Red-Clothed Woman, whom he recognized as Shen Xiaomei.
• Shen Xiaomei seized Aunt Wang by the throat, and Li Xian stopped her by telling her that Aunt Wang was her mother.
• Shen Xiaomei then attacked Li Xian, but Song Qingzhang threw the wedding invitation out the window and Aunt Wang urged her daughter to spare him.
• The rain stopped and Shen Xiaomei vanished, leaving Li Xian with marks on his neck as Aunt Wang admitted she should not have dragged them into her sins.

Li Xian and Song Qingzhang learned from Aunt Wang that Shen Xiaomei’s death had been erased from village memory, then discovered Li Hongqiang dead after rain entered his room. After meeting Zhou Shan and suspecting he may have killed Shen Xiaomei with the Village Chief’s help, Li Xian decided to investigate the iron door in the Village Chief’s room.

• Aunt Wang explained that the Village Chief had forbidden the villagers from mentioning Shen Xiaomei and warned Li Xian and Song Qingzhang to leave once they could.
• A blackish-purple tentacle crept onto the bed and tapped Li Xian’s palm while he rested.
• At the Village Chief’s house, Li Xian, Song Qingzhang, and Xu Yao found Li Hongqiang dead, apparently after rain blew through his open window.
• Li Xian and Song Qingzhang told the others about Shen Xiaomei, and Zhao Fengyi explained the difference between normal and true endings.
• The group met Zhou Shan at the well, where he acted unusually friendly toward Li Xian and focused his attention on him.
• Li Xian suspected Zhou Shan might have killed Shen Xiaomei and that the Village Chief had helped conceal the crime, so he resolved to look behind the iron door in the Village Chief’s room.

Li Xian helped the Village Chief dump Li Hongqiang's corpse into the river, narrowly avoided being pushed in himself, and stole the Village Chief's silver key. Back at the house, Song Qingzhang found wig hair in the bride's wedding dress and suggested the bride might be a man, while the others dismissed his theory as a guess.

• Li Xian and the Village Chief carried Li Hongqiang's corpse to the river, where the corpse sank straight to the bottom.
• The Village Chief tried to shove Li Xian into the river, but a villager's call interrupted him and Li Xian regained his balance.
• Li Xian returned to the Village Chief's house with the silver key he had taken from the Village Chief.
• Song Qingzhang found a strand of wig hair in the bride's wedding dress, and Xu Yao identified it as likely wig hair.
• Song Qingzhang suggested the bride might be a man, but Qian Xin, Zhao Fengyi, and Xu Yao dismissed his idea as an awkward guess.
• Li Xian arrived as the group was about to drop the subject and asked what they were talking about.

Li Xian searched the Village Chief’s locked room and discovered evidence that he was being used as a living substitute to harm Shen Xiaomei. He found Shen Xiaomei’s name in the Village Chief’s register, but the Village Chief returned before Li Xian could hide.

• Li Xian used the stolen key to enter the iron-door room while Zhao Fengyi and the others kept watch.
• Li Xian found a broken wooden figure with a red mark on its ankle and read the Village Chief’s note about replacing it with a person close to Shen Xiaomei.
• Li Xian smelled baijiu and blood on the figure, found an identical red mark on his own ankle, and realized he might be a living voodoo doll.
• Li Xian examined the Village Chief’s register and found Shen Xiaomei’s name uniquely circled and crossed out.
• Song Qingzhang warned that the Village Chief was coming, and Li Xian hid the notebooks before the Village Chief entered and approached his room.

Li Xian was caught with the Village Chief’s liquor scent after sneaking into his room, but Zhou Shan intervened and brought him inside instead of letting his father kill him. As Zhou Shan cornered Li Xian, Li Xian shouted out the window to expose him to the Village Chief.

• The Village Chief found no key on Li Xian but smelled liquor on him and tried to kill him with an axe.
• Li Xian escaped the Village Chief by slipping out of his shirt and running to Zhou Shan’s house.
• Zhou Shan persuaded the Village Chief to leave Li Xian to him, then admitted Shen Xiaomei had wanted to run away and hinted that the Village Chief was involved in her death.
• Zhou Shan said there was nothing in the Square Well at Riverside, then cornered Li Xian and pressed his desire on him.
• Li Xian asked to close the curtains, opened the window instead, and shouted that Zhou Shan was gay.