Chapter Summaries

Li Xian discovered the Source Instance’s control-room maze and nearly let a false room trick him into using the Overwrite USB Drive. After Little Brown stopped him, he recognized the deception but became trapped among increasingly branching rooms as time ran short.

• Li Xian and Cheng Xin found a hidden control room beneath the Novice Zone, and Cheng Xin stayed behind to guard the players.
• Li Xian identified the screen as a map of the Player Center and all six difficulty levels, then found a concealed USB port on the console.
• As Li Xian moved to insert the Overwrite USB Drive, Little Brown knocked him down and interrupted the strange compulsion affecting him.
• Li Xian opened a door and discovered a second, identical control room, realizing the first room was fake and the system had tried to corrupt the drive.
• Li Xian searched successive rooms, but each had more doors than the last and its remaining doors locked as soon as he chose one.
• Li Xian stopped in the fifth room, recognizing that he needed a way to find the correct path before time ran out.

Li Xian followed Ji Xie's bloodstained clues through the rooms toward the real Control Room, then discovered where to use the Veil of Eternal Night. After fitting the fragment into the glowing screen, he triggered an alarm and heard Ji Xie react in alarm behind him.

• Li Xian sniffed around the doors and found the route marked by the smell of blood.
• Li Xian crossed successive rooms by following Ji Xie's bloodstained clues until every door handle was stained and one door opened by itself.
• Li Xian stepped through the open door and heard Ji Xie say, "Veil of Eternal Night..."
• Li Xian realized the fragment fit a gap in the screen and inserted it.
• The screen turned red and sounded an alarm as Ji Xie exclaimed, "Why did it have to be now-?!"

Li Xian relived the memory of his parents creating the Veil of Eternal Night and sacrificing themselves rather than surrendering the key. He escaped the false Control Room by smashing its screen and learned from Ji Xie that the access code was hidden in the memories.

• Li Yuanqing explained that an intrusion had tangled with Li Xian's biological data, and Song Zhi decided to leave Li Xian something more than permission to enter.
• Song Zhi struck the screen with a jagged piece of metal, creating the Veil of Eternal Night as Li Yuanqing tried to stop her.
• An attacker demanded the password, but Song Zhi refused and died after telling Li Xian that she and Li Yuanqing loved him.
• Li Xian realized the room was a memory and used the Rescue Hammer to smash the screen, breaking free into the real Control Room beside Ji Xie.
• Ji Xie told Li Xian that the clue to the six-digit access code was hidden in what he had just seen.

Li Xian used the USB drive to overwrite the system’s data, forcing it to answer his questions as its form began to destabilize. The system explained why it had targeted him and revealed that it was a tool.

• Li Xian noticed the system’s unusual attention to his fingertip and plugged in the USB drive without entering the access code.
• The system’s data began to overwrite as the live feeds went black, and a player who jumped through the gap lost his legs before Cheng Xin pulled him back.
• Li Xian approached the system and asked why it had done all this.
• The system said power was an end in itself and that it had targeted Li Xian to manage, restrain, or eliminate a potential threat.
• Li Xian asked what the system was, and it revealed its face as streams of binary data and called itself a tool.

Li Xian activated the overwrite, causing the Player Center and instances to disappear and returning the living to the real world while erasing anomalies’ abilities and memories. He woke a month after entering the instance, unlocked the USB drive with his birthday, and found its restored files.

• Li Xian learned that the password was the final restriction preventing the system from erasing its underlying logic, and that the password was the number two people had chosen.
• Li Xian spent nearly all his points on Wish Come True and activated the overwrite.
• As the world collapsed, the system explained that the overwrite would erase the Player Center and instances, return the living to their world, and overwrite anomalies’ abilities and memories.
• Li Xian clung to Ji Xie and kissed him, afraid that Ji Xie would forget him, while Ji Xie promised he would always love him and told him to wait.
• Li Xian woke on his bathroom floor, found the USB drive intact, and unlocked its restored files with his birthday.

Li Xian learned how the system was created, how it became dangerous, and how his and Ji Xie's paths crossed. After a lonely month waiting at home, he reunited with Ji Xie and began looking toward their future together.

• Li Xian read the files and learned that researchers had built the system from a Chip to educate Weird, but it eventually developed a mind of its own and resisted control.
• Li Xian discovered that his parents had left him clues and that Ji Xie's attempt to enter the system had coincided with the import of Li Xian's data, bringing Ji Xie into his first instance.
• Li Xian returned home and spent a month studying the files, living alone and gradually filling his home with paired belongings.
• Ji Xie arrived at Li Xian's door, and Li Xian rushed into his arms and cried with relief.
• Ji Xie teased Li Xian about eating and sleeping, and Li Xian kissed him as they reunited.

Li Xian learned how Ji Xie had kept his memories and found him, then spent the morning looking through his childhood photo album with him. The chapter ended with Ji Xie suggesting they fill the album’s remaining pages together.

• Li Xian asked how Ji Xie had preserved his memories and found him, and Ji Xie explained that the Marriage Certificate the system had saved still held a trace of their connection.
• Li Xian woke to find Ji Xie looking through his childhood photos and joined him to browse the album.
• Ji Xie kissed Li Xian while they looked at a family photo and secretly photographed the moment.
• Ji Xie told Li Xian they could fill the rest of the album together.

Li Xian tried to plan an outing for Ji Xie, who chose to visit Li Xian’s old high school. After a teasing misunderstanding over an old love letter, they went together, and Li Xian introduced Ji Xie as his boyfriend.

• Li Xian considered places to take Ji Xie and secretly checked his browsing history, where he found a search about intimacy with a lover.
• Ji Xie discovered an old love letter hidden in a snow globe and teasingly questioned Li Xian about dating in high school.
• Li Xian explained that he had never noticed the note, and Ji Xie revealed he had only pretended to be upset so Li Xian would comfort him.
• Ji Xie said he wanted to see Li Xian’s high school, so they decided to go there that day.
• At the school, Li Xian took Ji Xie’s hand and introduced him to two students as his boyfriend.
• Li Xian felt happy about their unexpected first date, and Ji Xie held his hand tightly.

Li Xian gave Ji Xie a box that led to an intimate night together, then woke the next afternoon sore and wary of Ji Xie’s tentacles. After Ji Xie massaged his aches, Li Xian checked his phone and found a friend request from Ninety-Nine Multiplication Table.

• Li Xian bought Ji Xie a lollipop, then hurried into the bathroom after they got home.
• Ji Xie secretly studied intimacy while Li Xian showered and changed.
• Li Xian hid under the covers and tossed Ji Xie a small box, and Ji Xie lost his restraint.
• Li Xian woke the next afternoon sore, and Ji Xie began teasing him with his tentacles.
• Ji Xie withdrew his tentacles and massaged Li Xian until he could get out of bed.
• Li Xian checked his phone and saw a friend request from Ninety-Nine Multiplication Table.

After returning to reality, Cheng Xin reunited with Lin Shiming and the others, then unexpectedly moved into Lin Shiming’s home. Over dinner, Cheng Xin asked Lin Shiming to stop always expecting the worst, while Li Xian remained out of contact.

• Cheng Xin learned that the group members’ disappearances had been explained away in reality, but Li Xian was still unreachable.
• Cheng Xin visited Lin Shiming without warning, received his house key, and stayed at his home while Lin Shiming went to work.
• At dinner, Cheng Xin noticed Lin Shiming still seemed tense and asked what biology research he was doing, but Lin Shiming brushed him off.
• Cheng Xin reminded Lin Shiming that he had not accepted his apology and asked him to stop always assuming the worst.
• Cheng Xin teased Lin Shiming as “Legacy Bro,” and his phone chimed with a notice that his friend request had been accepted.

Li Xian reunited with the others and learned that an organization had discovered evidence of the Weird, so he agreed to help guide its research while securing an identity for Ji Xie. After a month of work, Ji Xie proposed to Li Xian at the beach, and Li Xian accepted.

• Li Xian met Jiang Qiuyue, Song Qingzhang, Cheng Xin, and Lin Shiming, and told them he would explain his experiences in person.
• Lin Shiming showed Li Xian a lab report identifying a sample as an unknown life-form, and Li Xian decided to meet the organization researching it.
• Li Xian negotiated conditions with the organization, helped interpret the USB drive’s contents, and secured an identity card for Ji Xie.
• After a month of work, Li Xian found Ji Xie waiting for him at the beach with a ring.
• Ji Xie told Li Xian he loved him, proposed, and Li Xian embraced him and said he loved him too.