Chapter Summaries

After replacing their marriage certificate, Li Xian admitted that he liked Ji Xie, and the two kissed before Li Xian realized he was hungry. While eating, Li Xian recalled clues from the previous instance and asked Ji Xie how badly he had been hurt.

• Li Xian showed Ji Xie their replacement marriage certificate, then admitted that Ji Xie was the person he liked.
• Ji Xie asked Li Xian to say his feelings aloud, and Li Xian kissed him before Ji Xie guided them into a passionate kiss.
• Li Xian stopped Ji Xie and discovered he was dizzy from hunger, so he bought food and ate while Ji Xie watched.
• Li Xian noticed the shop sold furniture like the guild lounge furnishings and laughed at President Lin's habit of buying the cheapest options.
• Li Xian recalled that the fog's timelines advanced in sequence and that Ji Xie had helped the players reappear aboard the sunken ship.
• Li Xian took Ji Xie's hand and asked how badly he had been hurt in the previous instance, and Ji Xie said he was fine and offered to let Li Xian check.

After clearing the Fishing Boat instance, Ji Xie explained how he avoided the cost of rewinding time, and Li Xian learned more about Ji Xie's feud with the system. While adjusting to their new relationship, Li Xian spoke with a guild member who hinted at wanting to escape his life before Lin Shiming joined him.

• Ji Xie told Li Xian he had reverted the Fishing Boat to its state from a day earlier instead of rewinding time, avoiding a heavy toll.
• Li Xian checked his newly unlocked item slots, examined the Sea Fishing Rod, and put away the Veil of Eternal Night without using it.
• Ji Xie said he had sought the Source Instance because he disliked the rules and had become the system's enemy after leaving traces behind.
• Over the next few days, Li Xian enjoyed being in a relationship with Ji Xie but found Ji Xie's physical affection overwhelming.
• A guild member told Li Xian that the Player Center felt oppressive and clarified that he wanted to be free of his situation, not merely see the instances end.
• Lin Shiming appeared behind Li Xian and sat in the chair the guild member had left.

Li Xian entered the S-Rank instance “Brilliant New World,” where eight players rode a bus that had strayed from its route. He reunited with Lin Shiming and Ji Xie aboard, and the chapter ended when something huge slammed into the windshield.

• Lin Shiming told Li Xian that people in this world had to find their own goals and hope, then wished him luck in his next instance.
• Li Xian entered the S-Rank instance “Brilliant New World” and found himself on a bus with seven other players, including Ji Xie.
• The players heard that the bus was heading into an unknown area, and the driver warned them not to touch the windows if they wanted to live.
• Li Xian recognized Lin Shiming among the passengers, and Ji Xie joined them while pretending their meeting was a coincidence.
• A curly-haired player asked the driver where they were going, and the driver replied that they would find out soon.
• Something huge struck the bus’s front windshield.

The bus drove through a spreading black shadow, and Li Xian severed Workwear Man’s finger to close a window before the substance could enter farther. The bus reached Brilliant New World, where its passengers saw two people waiting outside.

• The driver accelerated and steered the bus through darkness despite the players’ demands to stop.
• Workwear Man opened a window, and the black substance caught his finger and began pulling him outside.
• Li Xian cut off Workwear Man’s ring finger and shut the window, but a piece of the shadow flew into Workwear Man’s mouth.
• The bus announcement declared that they were arriving at Brilliant New World, and the bus stopped.
• The shadow withdrew from the windows, revealing a residential community and two people outside as the bus doors opened.

The Guide brought Li Xian, Ji Xie, Lin Shiming, and the other players into the Brilliant Residential Community, where a security gate alarmed for most of them but not for Lin Shiming, Li Xian, or Ji Xie. The residents welcomed the newcomers with a party and a feast, while Li Xian remained wary and wondered what the gate had been detecting.

• The Guide introduced herself and led the players off the bus to the security gate.
• The woman with earrings and several other players triggered the gate's alarm as they passed through.
• Lin Shiming crossed without setting off the alarm, and Li Xian and Ji Xie passed through together without an alarm either.
• The Guide led the players past the greenery toward the community buildings.
• The residents of the Brilliant Residential Community greeted the players with party poppers and guided them to a table laden with food.

Li Xian and the other newcomers attended a banquet where residents eagerly served them food. Li Xian noticed the residents wore the Guide’s wristbands and detected a faint sweetness in the savory dishes, while the banquet ended with the Guide asking whether everyone had finished eating.

• Residents urged Li Xian to try their dishes, and he noticed a wristband beneath one woman’s cuff.
• Li Xian declined beef and another dish, then cautiously tasted a braised meatball and found it delicious.
• The curly-haired man ate eagerly while Li Xian noticed a subtle sweetness in the meatball and another savory dish.
• The residents gradually left the table, and the Guide asked whether everyone had finished eating.

Li Xian and the other players toured the Residential Community, learned its rent and job rules, and received Wristbands that tracked contribution points. Li Xian, Lin Shiming, and Ji Xie started with one point while the other players had none, and the group asked how to earn more.

• The Guide showed the players the Residential Community’s residential, planting, breeding, and shopping areas.
• The Guide gave each player fifty yuan, explained the daily rent and warned them to be alone at night.
• Li Xian asked about the numbers on the job list, and the Guide explained that they were contribution-point requirements for each position.
• The Guide gave the players Wristbands and had them register their fingerprints to activate the devices.
• Li Xian, Lin Shiming, and Ji Xie found that they had one contribution point each, while the other players had zero.
• The players asked the Guide how to increase their contribution points.

Li Xian chose to apply for the Livestock Keeper position and met Lu Ye at the Livestock Farm, where he learned the job’s duties. Lu Ye offered him a chance to try the tiring work and lent him a straw hat.

• The Guide told the players to contribute to the settlement to gain contribution points and explained that jobs were first come, first served.
• Li Xian chose Livestock Keeper, Lin Shiming chose Grower, and Ji Xie picked a different job because the Instance required them to work separately.
• Li Xian reached the Livestock Farm and met Lu Ye, who showed him how to prepare feed and fill the animals’ troughs.
• Lu Ye explained that the work began around one in the afternoon and paid sixty yuan, then offered Li Xian a trial and a spare straw hat.

Li Xian secured a Livestock Keeper job from Lu Ye and obtained a key to apartment 301 from the Guide. After asking about the Wristband, he explored the Residential Community and spotted a player approaching a resident.

• Lu Ye hired Li Xian as a Livestock Keeper and said he could come whenever convenient, but warned that he could not help if his Contribution Points fell below one.
• Li Xian showed his job status to the Guide, learned that Lin Shiming was the first to claim a key, and chose apartment 301.
• The Guide told Li Xian that his Wristband could not be removed and that forcibly removing it would make him no longer a member of the community.
• Li Xian left the Guide and explored the Residential Community while checking whether Ji Xie's interview had ended, but the interview building's windows were shut.
• Li Xian spotted a player trying to start a conversation with a resident.

Li Xian watched a player’s attempt to question a child end with the player being punished by a seemingly ordinary resident who acted as a Supervisor. As Li Xian followed the old man dragging the unconscious player away, the old man turned his attention to Li Xian and activated his Wristband.

• A male player asked a boy about his parents, and the boy began crying when the player pressed him for details.
• A middle-aged man soothed the boy with candy while an old man used his Wristband to reduce the player’s Contribution Points to -10 and trigger an alarm.
• The old man tried to restrain the player, then shocked him unconscious through their Wristbands and dragged him away.
• Li Xian recognized the old man’s conduct as that of a Supervisor and noticed the residents ignored the player’s punishment after reacting to the boy’s crying.
• The old man stopped dragging the player, stared at Li Xian, and activated his Wristband, causing Li Xian’s Wristband to chime.

Li Xian lost his last contribution point after watching a Supervisor take away an unconscious player, and he suspected the Residential Community’s rules had begun to apply to the new residents. Seeking information about the white building where Supervisors and Dreamcatchers applied, he charmed its Security Guard and learned the Founder and Chief Administrator lived there, while Ji Xie watched from the steps.

• Li Xian saw his contribution points drop to zero and avoided further punishment by stepping forward when the old man sighed and prepared to tap his Wristband.
• Li Xian kept smiling after the Supervisor carried the unconscious player into a building, suspecting that residents had to stay happy and that their beginner protection period had ended.
• Li Xian recognized the white building as the place where applicants for Supervisor and Dreamcatcher were supposed to go, then approached its Security Gate despite having zero contribution points.
• The Security Guard said entry required twenty contribution points, but Li Xian’s flattery won his attention, and Ji Xie watched from the bottom of the steps.
• The Security Guard explained that the Founder of the Residential Community, who was also its Chief Administrator, lived in the building.

Li Xian and Ji Xie compared what they had learned about the Residential Community and set out to buy dinner before nightfall. At the convenience store, Li Xian recognized the limited-sale candy as the kind the driver and the man comforting the child had eaten.

• Li Xie joined Li Xian after securing the room next to his, and Li Xian explained the Instance’s forced-smile requirement and the Contribution Points he had seen awarded or deducted.
• A broadcast warned residents that shops would close in an hour, urged them to stay cheerful and shut their doors and windows after dark, and wished them luck seeing the next sunrise.
• Li Xian and Ji Xie went to a convenience store for dinner, where Li Xian greeted Lin Shiming, who lived in room 301.
• Li Xian noticed the store’s one-per-person candy and recognized its wrapper from the candy given to the child and eaten by the Bus driver.

Li Xian, Ji Xie, and Lin Shiming returned to the Residential Community as a growing black mass spread across the sky and plunged the area into darkness. Li Xian reached his apartment and turned on the lights, then realized the blackout had begun five minutes before the broadcast’s stated deadline.

• Li Xian warned Lin Shiming to keep smiling, and Lin Shiming said he was smiling while Ji Xie suggested he buy a mirror.
• As the community’s music called residents home, Li Xian spotted a black speck in the sky that began growing and splitting.
• Ji Xie led Li Xian and Lin Shiming back to the Residential Community, where Li Xian entered his apartment and watched the dark mass spread.
• The black mass covered the sun and sealed the Residential Community in darkness, while someone screamed and something pounded on Li Xian’s window.
• Li Xian turned on the lights, then checked the clock and saw that the darkness had arrived five minutes before five thirty.

Li Xian watched as Honey Shadow attacked residents during an emergency in the Residential Community. A player rescued from a spreading shadow was caught beneath falling Honey Shadow, which enveloped his upper body.

• Li Xian heard the emergency broadcast warning residents that Honey Shadow had arrived and saw residents collapsed on the illuminated streets.
• A player fleeing toward the residential building was dragged backward by his unmoving shadow, while his companion ran inside without helping.
• The trapped player clung to a streetlight as the shadow spread up his legs, and his companion threw him a flashlight.
• The player shone the flashlight on his shadow, freed himself, and started toward safety.
• Honey Shadow began falling from the dark sky, and one drop struck the exhausted player and enveloped his upper body.

Li Xian watched Honey Shadow torment a player to death while sparing him from the fate of the residents. After examining a mysterious candy without eating it, he went to bed and reminded himself that nighttime and darkness were dangerous.

• Honey Shadow enveloped the residents in black amber, while a trapped player crawled toward the apartment entrance as it alternately covered his head and legs.
• Honey Shadow finally suffocated the player one step from the gate, then enveloped his body, and the other residents vanished.
• Li Xian reflected on Honey Shadow's strange behavior, inspected the pink candy, and decided to wait until tomorrow before trying it.
• Li Xian entered the bedroom and stopped himself from turning off the light, recalling that nighttime and darkness were dangerous.

Li Xian stayed in a brightly lit house, but a Honey Shadow lured him with Ji Xie’s appearance and entered after the lights went out. He used the Jadeite Rough’s green glow to reveal the creature, then fled the bedroom as it pursued him, leaving him facing it with only its apparent fear of light to rely on.

• Li Xian explored the house, left its lights on, and fell asleep in the bedroom.
• Ji Xie appeared outside the window and knocked, but Li Xian watched as the figure turned into a Honey Shadow clinging to the glass.
• The lights went out, and the Honey Shadow squeezed through the window while Li Xian tried and failed to turn the lights back on.
• Li Xian used the Jadeite Rough, whose green glow exposed the Honey Shadow moving toward him.
• Li Xian shut the bedroom door behind him, but the Honey Shadow began squeezing through the gap as he prepared to face it with his Utility Knife.

Li Xian fought a Honey Shadow that had entered his apartment, using a Fishing Rod to pull a resident with a net up from the street to help him. Ji Xie arrived after dealing with another creature, and the Honey Shadow began forming a human shape.

• Li Xian used the Jadeite Rough to hold the Honey Shadow at his bedroom door, but the item’s durability soon ran out.
• Li Xian spotted a bundled-up resident with a net beneath a streetlight and called out for help.
• Li Xian used his Fishing Rod to hook the resident’s net and haul him up to the third-floor apartment as the Honey Shadow charged.
• The resident briefly knocked the Honey Shadow off course with his net and told Li Xian that bright light slowed it down.
• Ji Xie arrived after dealing with a creature in his own room, and the Honey Shadow shifted into an upright human outline.

Li Xian and Ji Xie captured the Honey Shadows after Li Xian used the net to uncover the room’s lights and immobilize them. A Dreamcatcher praised Li Xian’s potential as a future colleague, and Li Xian then sent Ji Xie to lure the Dreamcatcher into another home.

• Honey Shadow copied Li Xian and his Fishing Rod, then dodged the resident’s net and prepared to attack.
• Ji Xie snatched the net for Li Xian, who caught a Honey Shadow covering a ceiling light and exposed the room to light.
• Li Xian and the resident trapped the escaping Honey Shadow, cleared the shadows from the lights, and shut the window.
• Li Xian asked whether the resident was a Dreamcatcher, and the resident confirmed it before saying Li Xian had potential as a colleague.
• Li Xian sent Ji Xie to tell the Dreamcatcher that Honey Shadow had appeared in Ji Xie’s home, and the Dreamcatcher went inside.

Li Xian and Ji Xie received ten Contribution Points for helping the Dreamcatcher capture Honey Shadow, and they noticed a similar black shadow on the Supervisor’s neck. Li Xian went to the Convenience Store for food and found the Supervisor and two worried players in line.

• Li Xian and Ji Xie received ten Contribution Points, and the Supervisor congratulated them for helping capture Honey Shadow.
• Li Xian noticed a patch of black shadow on the Supervisor’s neck, which Ji Xie said resembled the creature from the previous night.
• Ji Xie gave Li Xian his nineteen yuan before they parted for work, and Li Xian headed to the Convenience Store with their combined money.
• Li Xian learned from the new cashier that the previous employee had died, then picked up bread and a disposable mask.
• Li Xian recognized two players who had been worrying about Contribution Points and spotted the Supervisor among the customers waiting in line.

Li Xian witnessed two players distract a convenience-store clerk so one could steal money, but Honey Shadow entered the store and sealed the door. As the shadow covered the windows, the clerk continued serving customers and the store grew darker.

• Li Xian noticed the black object was gone from the Supervisor’s neck and returned to the checkout line.
• A player with a center part lured the clerk away while his companion in a hat stole about a hundred yuan from the register.
• Li Xian quietly warned the thief, but the man ignored him and continued stealing before heading for the exit.
• The convenience-store door slammed shut and would not open, surprising both the clerk and the residents.
• Honey Shadow appeared on the window after attaching itself to the Supervisor, spread across the glass, and the clerk continued checking out customers as the store darkened.