Chapter Summaries

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.

Lin Shiming identified Li Xian and Ji Xie to Fan Zhe, who led them to the hidden chamber used to produce gaseous Candy. Fan Zhe prepared to choose one of them to die in the process, and Lin Shiming pointed to Ji Xie.

• Lin Shiming admitted that he had seen Li Xian and Ji Xie enter the dump, and Fan Zhe ordered them to come with him.
• Li Xian followed Fan Zhe with Ji Xie to the white-roofed building, where he realized the hidden glass chamber was directly behind it.
• Fan Zhe opened a concealed passage beneath the stairs and brought Li Xian, Ji Xie, and Lin Shiming into the glass chamber.
• Li Xian noticed the gas pipe and attic window that had allowed their movements in the dump to be observed.
• Fan Zhe asked whether he should choose Li Xian or Ji Xie to supply the lungs needed to produce gaseous Candy.
• Lin Shiming patted Ji Xie's back and said Ji Xie would do, but Ji Xie swatted his hand away and warned him not to touch him.

Fan Zhe defended his plan to create a world free of emotional pain and chose Li Xian for the trial, then locked him in an empty room. Li Xian searched the room for a clue from Lin Shiming but found nothing, leaving him unsure whether he had misunderstood.

• Fan Zhe accepted Lin Shiming's suggestion to use Li Xian in the trial, while Ji Xie was kept as a spare.
• Li Xian challenged Fan Zhe's vision of happiness, but Fan Zhe insisted that suppressing people's perception of pain would create a happy world.
• Fan Zhe brought up Lu Ye's past as he tried to persuade Li Xian, but Lin Shiming interrupted to say the program was ready for confirmation.
• Fan Zhe locked Li Xian in a dark room and left with Lin Shiming.
• Li Xian switched on the light and searched the sparse room, examining its hollow iron bed frame but finding no sign that Lin Shiming had left anything behind.

After finding the hidden instruction manual for Fan Zhe’s Bracelet, Li Xian realized Lin Shiming wanted him to use it to approve the Gaseous Candy Producer’s program. He escaped the locked room and headed to the attic to locate the machine, preparing to seize the bracelet.

• Li Xian moved the bed and retrieved a concealed instruction manual from a damaged opening in its iron frame.
• The manual revealed that Fan Zhe’s Bracelet controlled residents’ bracelets, authorized the candy machine, tracked residents, and had safeguards against being separated from Fan Zhe or harming him.
• Li Xian concluded he needed to cause a disturbance and use the bracelet to confirm the machine’s program, but he found stealing, deception, and coercion too risky.
• As the New-Type Candy test began, Li Xian left the locked room open and climbed to the fourth-floor attic to find the machine.

Fan Zhe prepared to release purified gaseous Candy while keeping Lin Shiming under surveillance, but discovered that Li Xian had escaped and ordered the building sealed. The chapter ended with Fan Zhe using his wristband to track movement throughout the residential complex.

• Fan Zhe checked the gas purification readings, told Lin Shiming to watch the machinery, and left to have the entrance secured.
• Fan Zhe reflected that Lin Shiming had helped advance the research and earned much of his trust, though he continued monitoring him for possible betrayal.
• Fan Zhe told the woman with the low ponytail to have the Security Guard lock the doors and close the building for the day.
• The woman reported that the unused staff room was open, and Fan Zhe discovered that Li Xian had escaped.
• Fan Zhe ordered the woman to make sure nobody left, then activated his wristband and viewed a map showing moving red dots across the complex.

Li Xian ambushed Fan Zhe in the Security Guard's quarters and tried to remove his bracelet, but Fan Zhe realized Li Xian was still wearing his own. When Fan Zhe's bracelet came off during their struggle, it injected Li Xian with liquid Honey Shadow, leaving his wrist numb and stiff.

• Fan Zhe used his map to locate a red dot in the Security Guard's quarters, shocked it, and found Li Xian's bracelet inside an empty wardrobe.
• Li Xian dropped from atop the wardrobe, pinned Fan Zhe with the River God Doll, and tried to pull off Fan Zhe's bracelet before the restraint expired.
• Fan Zhe caught Li Xian's wrist as the five-second restraint ended, and the two men grappled into a stalemate.
• Fan Zhe realized the bracelet in the wardrobe had come from a corpse and concluded Li Xian was still wearing his own bracelet.
• Fan Zhe's bracelet slipped off during their struggle and injected Li Xian with liquid Honey Shadow, making his left wrist grow numb and stiff.

Li Xian raced to deliver Fan Zhe’s wristband to Lin Shiming while liquid Honey Shadow turned his body into candy. Lin Shiming used the wristband to modify the experiment, but Li Xian lost his senses as his existence faded.

• After being injected with liquid Honey Shadow, Li Xian grabbed Fan Zhe’s wristband and ran toward the Attic while Fan Zhe pursued him.
• Fan Zhe ordered the Security Guard to stop Li Xian, but Li Xian used the watch to shock the guard and continued up the stairs as the candy transformation spread.
• At the Attic door, Li Xian shouted Lin Shiming’s name and sent the wristband sliding beside him before collapsing on the threshold.
• Lin Shiming modified the machine’s program with the wristband, turning the gas in the containers black, while Little Brown knocked Fan Zhe away from the machine.
• Lin Shiming played the prerecorded announcement and hurried to Li Xian, who lost his hearing and felt his existence gradually fade.

Li Xian woke in the staff lounge as black mist spread outside and residents fell into a violent frenzy. After Fan Zhe blamed him for the chaos, Li Xian headed to the dump to find Ji Xie.

• Li Xian woke in the staff lounge and discovered that Little Brown and his glass jar were missing.
• Li Xian saw residents outside attacking one another as black mist obscured the area.
• Fan Zhe accused Li Xian of causing the violence and tried to break him with his words.
• Someone smashed through the building’s front door, and Fan Zhe hurried downstairs.
• Li Xian wondered why Ji Xie and President Lin had not come to find him, then went to the dump to look for Ji Xie.

Li Xian escaped the building through an Attic window and climbed onto an iron pipe leading to the Glass Container, while a resident tried to stop him. He reached the pipe’s bend and braced himself there, but his next move remained uncertain.

• Li Xian avoided the approaching resident and went upstairs as black mist seeped into the building through the shattered front door.
• Li Xian found the Attic machines smashed and climbed out the window onto the iron pipe after the resident entered the room.
• Li Xian crossed the horizontal pipe while hanging from it, aiming for the iron ring at the bend.
• The resident leaned out the window, threw a wooden stick at Li Xian’s hands, then shook the pipe when the stick missed.
• Li Xian wrapped himself around the vertical pipe, slid down to the joint, and steadied his feet on the iron ring.

Li Xian escaped the Attic by climbing down a pipe, but the man pursued him by leaping from the building and nearly crushed him before Lin Shiming pulled him aside. Lin Shiming explained that the black fog was gaseous Honey Shadow that affected emotions, and revealed he had given Li Xian an instruction manual using his skill.

• Li Xian climbed down the pipe and reached the ground, believing he had escaped the man in the Attic.
• The man jumped from the building toward Li Xian, but Lin Shiming pulled Li Xian aside, and the man struck the ground and died.
• Lin Shiming gave Li Xian a clean mask and explained that the black fog was Honey Shadow in gaseous form and could drive people into a frenzy.
• Li Xian asked whether Lin Shiming had left him the instruction manual, and Lin Shiming confirmed it was created with his skill.
• Lin Shiming revealed that he had also given Ji Xie an instruction manual for the Candy Maker when Fan Zhe chose between the two test subjects.

Lin Shiming explained how the gaseous Honey Shadow spread through the Attic after Li Xian fell, restoring Li Xian’s body while coinciding with Ji Xie’s disappearance and the wristbands failing. They remained unsure what caused the complex’s sudden changes or what would truly fulfill the condition for “liberation.”

• Lin Shiming told Li Xian that Honey Shadow could become a gas inside a human body, and he believed spreading it could return suppressed emotions to the residents.
• Lin Shiming said his experiments with an animal had failed, so he suspected Ji Xie was the “nonhuman” medium mentioned in the manual; he had identified Ji Xie partly through the Novice Zone livestream and Song Qingzhang’s lies.
• Lin Shiming recounted that the machine erupted after a brown object pounced on Fan Zhe, filling the Attic with dense gaseous Honey Shadow.
• Lin Shiming carried the unconscious Li Xian to the lounge, where Li Xian’s body had already lost its candy-like hardness.
• Lin Shiming said Ji Xie and the liquid Honey Shadow vanished as the fog thinned, while the wristbands stopped working and residents grew frenzied.
• Li Xian and Lin Shiming wondered why the bodies piled up had disappeared, and Lin Shiming admitted that spreading gaseous Honey Shadow had not achieved liberation.