Chapter Summaries

Li Xian survived Zhou Shan’s stab wound and used his feigned death to kill him, then struggled back to the riverside house and bandaged himself before losing consciousness. Ji Xie came to visit him as his health continued to fall, and Li Xian woke to find a face close in front of him.

• Li Xian provoked Zhou Shan into stabbing him while the Village Chief watched, then pretended to be dead as Zhou Shan carried him to the river.
• Li Xian grabbed Zhou Shan’s ankle, knocked him off balance, and caused him to fall into the river and die.
• Cheng Xin and Lin Shiming realized Li Xian had planned to provoke Zhou Shan and fake his death, while Li Xian returned to the riverside house in severe pain.
• Li Xian cut up a sheet to bandage his chest wound, then lost consciousness as his health kept dropping.
• Ji Xie decided to visit Li Xian, who jolted awake and found a face right in front of him.

Ji Xie visited the badly wounded Li Xian and offered him a way to deactivate his skill and die quickly, but Li Xian refused because he still wanted to live. Ji Xie eased Li Xian’s wound, and Li Xian left the encounter recovered enough to stand and demand a jacket.

• Ji Xie found Li Xian barely conscious and removed the bandages to inspect his deep chest wound.
• Ji Xie offered Li Xian a paper that would deactivate his skill, but Li Xian refused to sign it and insisted he wanted to live.
• Ji Xie touched Li Xian’s wound and stopped its bleeding, easing the pain despite Li Xian’s HP alert continuing.
• Li Xian stood, asked Ji Xie for another jacket, and put it on after Ji Xie threw it at him.

Song Qingzhang revealed that Li Xian had left him a notebook listing several villagers, while Li Xian survived his encounter with Zhou Shan and reunited with the other players. Li Xian told them they had to clear the instance before the Village Chief discovered Zhou Shan’s death, and Song Qingzhang revealed that Li Xian was the Bride, Li Xiaojuan.

• The Village Chief summoned Song Qingzhang, Qian Xin, Zhao Fengyi, and the fourth player to the Ancestral Hall, where he showed them four coffins and said each was for one of them.
• Song Qingzhang showed the others a notebook Li Xian had asked him to retrieve, with Shen Xiaomei, Li Xiaojuan, and Zhou Shan’s names circled and Shen Xiaomei’s crossed out.
• Li Xian waited in a tiled-roof house by the Riverside, planning to find Shen Xiaomei’s body after dark and end the instance that night.
• Qian Xin, Song Qingzhang, Zhao Fengyi, and the fourth player found Li Xian alive, and he told them Zhou Shan was dead and they had to clear the instance before the Village Chief found out.
• Song Qingzhang revealed that Li Xian was the Bride, Li Xiaojuan.

Song Qingzhang revealed that the Bride was likely Li Xian, and Li Xian uncovered evidence that many village children had been trafficked and selected for different fates. The group opened the Riverside well to investigate the River God, triggering an unknown contamination that reduced their sanity and left Li Xian hearing cries and someone calling Zhou Shan.

• Song Qingzhang explained how the Bride's height, strength, eyes, and the Wedding Dress pointed to Li Xian, and Li Xian agreed to pursue the true ending.
• Li Xian examined the Notebook and concluded that Shen Xiaomei, Li Xiaojuan, Zhou Shan, and many other villagers had been trafficked as children, with circled names marking those raised to adulthood.
• Li Xian connected the dead children to the River God and led the group to investigate the Square Well at the Riverside.
• Song Qingzhang, Zhao Fengyi, and Qian Xin moved the stone, and Li Xian lifted the well's cover to reveal an apparently empty, shallow well.
• The group heard babies crying, lost sanity, and collapsed; after Li Xian replaced the cover, he heard cries lingering and a voice calling Zhou Shan.

Li Xian and the others pulled a severed arm from the Square Well, drawing the Village Chief’s furious attention. Li Xian sent the arm flying into the Village Chief’s face and urged everyone to flee, but his chest wound made him collapse as the Village Chief approached.

• The Village Chief found the stone cover off the Square Well and bloodstained cloth in the abandoned house.
• Li Xian and the others tied the Wedding Dress to a rope and pulled it from the well despite the force dragging back.
• A severed arm crawled out of the Wedding Dress, and Li Xian struggled to his feet while Song Qingzhang noticed blood beneath his hand.
• The Village Chief arrived and focused on Li Xian, who kicked the arm into the Village Chief’s face and shouted for the others to run to Riverside.
• The Village Chief tore the arm off his face and advanced on Li Xian, who collapsed from the pain in his chest.

Li Xian raced to the river while the Village Chief pursued him, then dove underwater to find Shen Xiaomei’s body. He found her surrounded by children’s skeletons, which clung to her and asked him to stay with them.

• Ji Xie carried the wounded Li Xian toward the river as the Village Chief passed Xu Yao and the other players to pursue Li Xian.
• Xu Yao realized Li Xian had drawn the Village Chief away from her and the others so they could survive.
• Li Xian reached the river, told Ji Xie to put him down, and jumped into the water while Song Qingzhang ran back toward the village.
• The players who tried to flee collapsed when the children’s cries made their Mental Value plummet.
• Li Xian followed the crying underwater, found Shen Xiaomei’s body surrounded by children’s skeletons, and tried to pull her free.
• The skeletons resisted Li Xian, then gathered around him after one asked him to stay.

Li Xian escaped the river with Shen Xiaomei's corpse, and she confronted the Village Chief about how he had severed her arm. As villagers arrived and the Village Chief gained the advantage, Li Xian suspected the children’s wooden figures were hidden beneath the Square Well and climbed inside to investigate.

• Li Xian calmed the children’s skeletons with a pinky promise, and they helped free him from Zhou Shan’s corpse so he could carry Shen Xiaomei to the surface.
• The Village Chief pushed Li Xian underwater, but Aunt Wang restrained him long enough for Li Xian to escape; Shen Xiaomei then rose from the river.
• Shen Xiaomei accused the Village Chief of hacking off her arm, and she attacked him when villagers approached.
• The Village Chief stabbed Aunt Wang with a knife, leaving Shen Xiaomei and the others facing the armed villagers.
• Li Xian recalled the wood beneath the Village Chief’s bed, suspected the children had been carved into figures, and jumped into the Square Well to find a hollow space beneath its bottom.

Li Xian uncovered named wooden figures beneath the well and threw them into the river, bringing the abused children back and unleashing Shen Xiaomei's revenge on the villagers. After the rain and slaughter ended, Shen Xiaomei asked the group to see her off.

• Li Xian pulled a loose brick from the well wall, found wooden figures bearing names from the Village Chief's papers, and threw them into the river.
• The named children crawled from the river in living bodies, and Li Xian collapsed as they began to cry.
• Shen Xiaomei controlled the rainwater to kill the Village Chief and the villagers while Li Xian and the others sheltered in the Tile-Roof House.
• After the rain stopped, the group found corpses piled at the door and went to Riverside, where Shen Xiaomei rested beside the well among the sleeping children.
• Shen Xiaomei told the group she was tired and asked them to see her off.

Li Xian and the others completed the true ending of Stone River Village by leaving the village, earning rewards as the instance closed permanently. Back in the white hall, Li Xian heard the closure announcement and approached a newcomer sign, but someone stepped in front of him.

• Song Qingzhang placed Shen Xiaomei in a coffin in the Ancestral Hall, completing the main objective and unlocking the additional objective to leave the village.
• The boy led the group to a bridge made of Wooden Figurines, and Li Xian was pushed into Ji Xie's arms, extending their marriage bond through the next instance.
• Li Xian and the others followed a forest path out of the village and gave the Village Chief's list to a uniformed man who met them.
• Li Xian, Song Qingzhang, Zhao Fengyi, Xu Yao, and Qian Xin completed the true ending, and the system permanently closed Stone River Village after awarding their rewards.
• Li Xian returned to the white hall, where the instance's 100% completion announcement shocked the crowd, then headed toward a sign before someone stopped him.

Li Xian questioned Backpack Man about instance intel, the Novice Lobby, and how players used points. He learned about the costly “Wish Come True” item and left with a warning about overly friendly experienced players.

• Backpack Man tried to sell Li Xian instance intel, but Li Xian refused after learning how few instances he had information about.
• Li Xian paid Backpack Man 90 points to answer questions about the Advanced Zone and point donations from its players.
• Backpack Man showed Li Xian the shop’s “Wish Come True” item, priced at 99.99 million points, and Li Xian privately doubted anyone could afford it.
• Li Xian suggested Backpack Man earn money by answering newcomers’ questions, then Backpack Man warned him to avoid especially friendly experienced players in instances.

After recovering in the Player Hub, Li Xian learned that players had heard of his success in Stone River Village and received an S-rank River God Doll. He teamed up with Song Qingzhang for their next instance, where they arrived at a mansion and encountered several other players.

• Li Xian slept for nearly thirteen hours, accepted Song Qingzhang’s friend request, and agreed to team up with him for the next instance.
• Song Qingzhang explained that players had learned of Li Xian’s role in clearing Stone River Village, and Li Xian found an S-rank River God Doll in his inventory.
• Li Xian used curry rice to recover from his chest wound, then went with Song Qingzhang to the instance entrance.
• Li Xian and Song Qingzhang entered a forest and reached a lit Western-style mansion, where five other players were already gathered.
• Li Xian studied the mansion’s eerie portrait and the silent tall man in the corner before another person arrived.

Li Xian and the other players entered the C-rank instance Miss Dolly's Portrait Gallery, where their hostess postponed the exhibition for five days. As Yi Jing handed out room keys on the eerie third floor, the overweight newcomer became transfixed by a portrait.

• The players learned they were trapped in a C-rank puzzle instance, and Yi Jing reassured the newcomers while gathering the group around him.
• Miss Dolly welcomed the players, postponed her art exhibition for five days, and gave Yi Jing the keys to their rooms.
• Yi Jing led the group to the third-floor corridor, where lifelike portraits lined the dimly lit walls.
• Yi Jing quietly set aside a key for himself before distributing the others, while Li Xian noticed but said nothing.
• The overweight newcomer fell behind and stared blankly into the eyes of a portrait.

At Miss Dolly’s Portrait Gallery, Li Xian and the other players witnessed a portrait seize and crush a man, while Cheng Xin and Lin Shiming recognized the instance’s history of total wipes. The survivors retreated to their rooms, where Yi Jing advised his frightened teammates to hide the portraits under their beds, leaving Li Xian to decide what to do about the painting in his room.

• A woman’s portrait reached out, dragged a man into the canvas, and crushed him to death in front of the players.
• Cheng Xin checked Lin Shiming’s notebook and found records showing that previous runs of the gallery instance had ended in total wipes.
• Yi Jing told Liang Pei and the other players to return to their rooms and avoid the blood blocking the stairs.
• Li Xian found a portrait hanging opposite his bed and heard Zhang Guangding, Feng Tao, and another teammate discover paintings in their rooms.
• Yi Jing advised his three teammates to take down their portraits and put them under their beds, while Li Xian closed his door and considered what to do.

Li Xian investigated the portrait’s dangerous behavior while the group discovered that their paintings changed overnight. After breakfast, he grew wary of Yi Jing’s unhelpful leadership and warned Song Qingzhang to keep his distance.

• Li Xian covered his portrait and went to bed, but Dolly’s nighttime visit coincided with the covering falling away and the painted figure raising one finger.
• Feng Tao repeatedly moved his portrait, then saw it raise two fingers and, by morning, three.
• At breakfast, the group compared their portraits and learned that everyone’s painting had raised at least one finger.
• Li Xian questioned the others and found they had all removed or relocated their portraits, while his own painting had changed despite remaining untouched.
• Li Xian told Song Qingzhang that Yi Jing had avoided helping the group identify the portrait rules and advised him to be cautious.

Li Xian and Song Qingzhang explored the mansion’s exhibition hall and discovered clues linking the portrait of Dolly to someone named Du Sha and a September ninth date. After Dolly interrupted their inspection, Li Xian appeased her, and the players gathered for dinner with one person missing.

• Li Xian and Song Qingzhang explored the second floor, where they found five empty frames and a sign announcing the exhibition’s opening on September 9, 2002.
• They found the staircase to the upper floor blocked by a rusted iron door and returned to the first floor, where Li Xian tasted the bitter coffee.
• Li Xian met the unsociable man, who called himself Zhang San, and joked that his own name was Li Si.
• Li Xian examined Dolly’s portrait and deciphered a note saying it had been painted when Miss Du Sha was eighteen, along with a blurred date beginning with 98 and ending in 9.
• Dolly caught Li Xian looking closely at the portrait, but he praised its details, and she pinched his ear before sending him to eat.
• The players gathered at the dining table, where Yi Jing arrived with his followers and the newcomer, but one person was missing.

Yi Jing led a search for Feng Tao, whose mutilated corpse was found in a room beside a slashed portrait. A sheet of human skin emerged from behind the painting, killed the girl in the short skirt, and left the survivors barricading the room before they fled downstairs.

• Yi Jing persuaded most of the group to search for Feng Tao, while Li Xian, Song Qingzhang, and Zhang San initially held back.
• The group found Feng Tao dead in his room, with deep cuts across his body and face and matching damage to the portrait.
• Li Xian noticed the portrait’s figure had disappeared, and a sheet of human skin sprang from behind it.
• The skin attached itself to the girl in the short skirt and drained her until she became a thin sheet of skin.
• Yi Jing wedged a chair against the room’s door, and the group escaped downstairs; Li Xian told Song Qingzhang that someone had pushed him toward the portrait.

Li Xian suspected Yi Jing had manipulated Feng Tao into damaging his portrait and pushed Li Xian, but kept his suspicions quiet while holding on to the knife linked to Yi Jing. The next morning, every portrait had gained another finger, and Chen Cheng and Zhang Guangding were missing from their rooms.

• Li Xian secretly told Song Qingzhang that someone had pushed him and suspected Yi Jing, while Yi Jing blamed Feng Tao's death on his own actions.
• Li Xian showed Liang Pei the knife he had taken from Feng Tao's room, and Liang Pei said he had seen Yi Jing carrying it and recalled Yi Jing and Feng Tao had both gone missing early that morning.
• Li Xian and Liang Pei concluded Yi Jing might have persuaded Feng Tao to damage his portrait, and Li Xian asked Liang Pei to keep their conversation secret.
• The group found no useful clues, went to sleep, and woke to discover that every portrait had gained another finger.
• A woman with neatly cropped hair found that Chen Cheng did not answer his door, and Liang Pei reported that Zhang Guangding was also missing.

Li Xian concluded that the missing players had become human-skin monsters, leaving four monsters to threaten the survivors. He used the discovery to bargain with the group, asking to inspect everyone’s rooms.

• Li Xian found Chen Cheng’s and Zhang Guangding’s rooms empty and reasoned that a human skin released from a damaged portrait had killed them.
• Li Xian explained that the dead players had turned into human-skin monsters, meaning four such monsters now existed.
• Liang Pei realized the group faced rapid deaths and decided everyone needed to know the danger.
• Li Xian suggested using the discovery to negotiate with Yi Jing, then told the group he would share the clue if they let him inspect their rooms.

Li Xian exposed Yi Jing for hiding a way to stop the portraits from changing and for secretly meeting the lady of the house. Yi Jing admitted she had altered his portrait, but denied making any deal, and Song Qingzhang pointed to the room where Feng Tao had died as a place to lock him up.

• Li Xian inspected everyone’s rooms after Yi Jing reluctantly agreed, and the group found that Yi Jing’s portrait had no raised fingers.
• Li Xian found a note in Yi Jing’s room and read its instruction to meet in the hallway at midnight, while Liang Pei and Song Qingzhang restrained Yi Jing.
• Li Xian deduced that the lady of the house had passed Yi Jing the note with the keys and met him that night.
• Yi Jing admitted that the lady of the house had entered his room and made his portrait safe, but he claimed he did not know what she wanted in return.
• Song Qingzhang suggested tying Yi Jing up and putting him in the room where Feng Tao had died.

Yi Jing confessed that Dolly had ordered him to damage a painting and kill Li Xian, then learned from Li Xian that the human skins would eventually kill him too. Dolly revealed that framing a human skin would trap it, but with six survivors and only five frames, the group drew lots to decide who would share a room; Li Xian and Mr. Zhang drew the marked slips.

• Yi Jing admitted that Dolly had ordered him to damage a painting and kill Li Xian, and Li Xian warned him that the human skins would eventually turn on him.
• Li Xian persuaded Yi Jing to confront Dolly, who told him that framing a human skin would trap it.
• The group collected five empty frames, then realized there were six survivors and four human skins.
• Li Xian proposed drawing lots to decide who would share a room, and he and Mr. Zhang drew the marked slips.