Chapter Summaries

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.

Li Xian was dragged by the tentacle to see twenty mutilated people trapped in a fishing net before the ship capsized and the whirlpool carried him away. The next morning, feeling cold and unwell, he confronted Ji Xie about keeping secrets, but Ji Xie deflected by mentioning their romance.

• Li Xian followed the dark figures underwater, but a tentacle seized him and then pushed him toward them.
• Li Xian saw more than a dozen pale, injured people trapped in a fishing net and counted twenty before the ship capsized.
• The tentacle carried Li Xian through the whirlpool as several of the figures swam after him.
• Li Xian woke the next morning feeling cold, stiff, and dizzy, and noticed that Ji Xie was still absent.
• Ji Xie caught Li Xian when he fell from the ladder, and Li Xian asked whether he was hiding something.
• Ji Xie admitted he was, then joked about the history of their romance, prompting Li Xian to walk away.

Li Xian discovered that the skin decay had spread rapidly across his body, while the players also developed worsening symptoms and intense cold. Hoodie Woman’s condition had deteriorated most severely, and Li Xian took her back to her room to rest.

• Ji Xie warned Li Xian that decay had appeared on the back of his neck, and Li Xian found it spreading across nearly his entire body.
• Li Xian noticed an internal chill and checked Ji Xie's skin, which had also worsened since the previous day.
• Zhang Yuyao emerged with decay on her torso and asked whether Li Xian had the same symptoms.
• Ke Yi asked whether the others felt cold, and Hoodie Woman appeared with severe facial decay, fish scales under her skin, and uncontrollable shivering.
• Li Xian steadied Hoodie Woman and suggested taking her back to her room to rest.

Li Xian moved the deteriorating Hoodie Woman to an empty room so she would have a chance to survive when the fog came, then chose to rest while the group waited for it. Ji Xie insisted the fog would arrive and bundled Li Xian in quilts, calling him a “Little Snowman.”

• Li Xian and Zhang Yuyao brought Hoodie Woman to an empty room to keep her from being found by the crew when the fog rolled in.
• Ji Xie and Ke Yi returned with food and water, and the group left Hoodie Woman a portion before departing.
• Li Xian said he would conserve his strength while they waited for the fog, and Ji Xie confidently claimed the Instance would not leave them with no way to clear it.
• Li Xian wrapped himself in a quilt to ease his chill, and Ji Xie added another quilt before pinching his nose and calling him “Little Snowman.”

Li Xian waited with Ji Xie for the fog to arrive, then took the Cook’s key and entered the cargo hold to investigate the frozen fish. He found crates of gutted fish resembling those connected to the large fish and Ji Xie’s catch, but the extreme cold forced him to hurry.

• Li Xian and Ji Xie shared a blanket while waiting for the fog, and Ji Xie held him close.
• When the fog appeared, Ji Xie and the blanket vanished, and Li Xian felt a strange touch at the back of his neck.
• Li Xian found the Cook asleep and quietly took the wallet containing the cargo hold key.
• Li Xian unlocked the cargo hold and found crates filled with frozen, gutted fish resembling the small fish and Ji Xie’s catch.
• After about a minute in the freezing hold, Li Xian’s hands and feet began to stiffen.

Li Xian discovered a mutilated corpse hidden among the frozen fish in the boat’s hold, and it came to life and chased him. He trapped it beneath a wooden hatch, but its ribs began piercing through the floor beside him.

• Li Xian found a frozen corpse buried among the fish and uncovered its hollowed-out torso.
• Li Xian searched the corpse but found nothing, then tried to return it to the fish pile.
• The corpse turned its head, triggering a mental-value loss, and crawled after Li Xian on its exposed ribs.
• Li Xian escaped the hold and shut the wooden hatch over the corpse.
• The corpse struck the hatch from below and pierced it with its ribs, forcing Li Xian to choose between staying and fleeing.