Chapter Summaries

Li Xian and Cheng Xin searched for a way to steal the Director’s card, but their nighttime escape attempt forced them to hide in the changing room and left Li Xian wondering whether his roommate had taken the stolen Vitamin Gummies. The next morning, nearly half the patients were missing, and an orderly reported that they had all killed themselves.

• Li Xian and Cheng Xin decided they still needed to investigate the Director’s office and went downstairs to look for an exit.
• When an orderly entered the changing room, Li Xian and Cheng Xin hid in orderly uniforms, then escaped by claiming the Head Nurse had urgently called them.
• Unable to enter an empty Patient Room, Cheng Xin and Li Xian hid their uniforms separately, and Li Xian discovered his Vitamin Gummies were missing.
• At morning medication roll call, the Head Nurse noticed nearly half the patients were absent and sent an orderly to investigate.
• The orderly returned and told the Head Nurse that the missing patients had all killed themselves.

After a mass suicide attempt at the hospital, Li Xian discovered that identical notes had been distributed among the patients, prompting the Head Nurse to search the rooms. The search reached Li Xian’s room, where an orderly found stolen Vitamin Gummies beneath 303B’s bed, and the Head Nurse accused Li Xian.

• The Head Nurse found a patient hanging in room 204 and ordered the staff to check the other rooms, where orderlies were resuscitating patients who had attempted suicide.
• Li Xian found a note beside a patient that matched the one he had found under a bed earlier, and realized the notes had been distributed to the patients.
• The Head Nurse seized Li Xian’s notes and ordered the orderlies to search the rooms and destroy any copies they found.
• The Head Nurse singled out Li Xian’s room for a search, while Li Xian noticed that 303B had returned to their room unusually early.
• An orderly found a jar of Vitamin Gummies beneath 303B’s bed, but the Head Nurse accused Li Xian of stealing them.

Li Xian passed the search of his room with help from 303B and Jiang Qiuyue, then learned that 303B wanted 309A to leave. Li Xian pieced together 309A’s history and realized the escaped patient might be the key to clearing the Instance, but wondered whether he was still alive.

• 303B tried to take the blame for the hidden candy, but Li Xian claimed it and said Doctor Ji had given it to him.
• Doctor Ji confirmed he had given Li Xian the candy, so the Head Nurse ordered the orderly to keep searching.
• The orderly found nothing in Li Xian’s quilt cover because 303B had secretly swapped their quilts; Jiang Qiuyue later gave Li Xian an orderly’s uniform to hide at Cheng Xin’s room.
• Li Xian thanked 303B and asked whether he wanted to leave; 303B refused, then named 309A as the person he wanted to see leave.
• Li Xian reconstructed how 309A had stolen gummies for a child, attempted to escape, and been taken away to be discharged, then wondered if he had survived the past four days.

Li Xian went to the Operating Room with Cheng Xin and discovered that the unfamiliar doctor was the Director. After passing the Director’s test, Li Xian was invited to observe the surgery and told to hold the patient’s eyelids open.

• Li Xian realized that the orderlies’ conversation about a patient near death had referred to 309A and decided he could not delay clearing the Instance.
• After the emergency subsided, Li Xian and Cheng Xin crossed the Skybridge and found the fourth floor deserted.
• Li Xian stayed by the Operating Room while Cheng Xin went ahead, then encountered an unfamiliar doctor who asked him to fetch alcohol-soaked cotton balls.
• Li Xian suspected the doctor was the Director and returned with the supplies, hoping to keep him occupied while Cheng Xin acted.
• The Director tested Li Xian by holding an awl near his eye, then invited him to watch the surgery and ordered him to hold the patient’s eyelids open.

Cheng Xin searched the director's office for an access card and learned from Qian Chen that it was hidden in a book on the bookshelf. Meanwhile, Li Xian witnessed the director use an awl to operate on a patient, then was invited to perform the procedure himself.

• Cheng Xin searched the director's desk and rest room but found no access card.
• Cheng Xin found Qian Chen bound in the head nurse's rest room and learned the card was tucked inside a book near the far end of the director's bookshelf.
• Cheng Xin returned to search the bookshelf while wondering why Li Xian had not arrived.
• Li Xian held a patient's eyelid open as the director drove an awl into the patient's brain and stirred it around.
• The patient screamed and struggled during the operation, then fell still and smiled blankly after the director removed the awl.
• The director handed Li Xian the awl and asked if he wanted to operate on the remaining patients.

Li Xian and his companions identified 309A as the patient they needed to take out and prepared to escape through the Fifth Floor. When the building alarm exposed their plan, Cheng Xin distracted the Head Nurse while Li Xian and Jiang Qiuyue went upstairs, leaving the Head Nurse racing back to protect 303B.

• Li Xian found the Director’s Access Card hidden in a book about frontal lobotomy and explained that 309A on the Fifth Floor was the patient whose prefrontal lobes had been removed.
• Li Xian planned to use the Director’s card to open the Fifth Floor gate and the exit, and the group waited until after the Head Nurse’s rounds to make their escape.
• Before leaving, Li Xian told 303B he would not come back but offered to take him along.
• Li Xian opened the Fifth Floor gate with the Director’s card, triggering the building-wide alarm, and Cheng Xin took the Access Card and headed to the Skybridge to buy time.
• Li Xian gave Cheng Xin the River God Doll and told him what to say; Cheng Xin told the Head Nurse that the sleeping pills had been switched, prompting her to rush downstairs to protect 303B.

Cheng Xin held off the Director while Li Xian and Jiang Qiuyue searched the Fifth Floor for patient 309A. They discovered that all the patients had needle marks, leaving six possible targets and little time to identify the right one.

• The Director attacked Cheng Xin, but the River God Doll turned into a stream of water and struck the Director when he threw it back.
• Cheng Xin distracted the Director and Doctor Ding's arriving staff, then shouted upstairs that Li Xian had two minutes.
• Li Xian and Jiang Qiuyue searched the Fifth Floor's patients for 309A, but found needle marks on every patient's arm.
• Li Xian found cabinets full of blood bags and realized the patients had been used as blood donors, which concealed 309A among them.
• After eliminating everyone except six patients, Jiang Qiuyue proposed taking them all, but Li Xian refused because their fragile condition made that dangerous.

Li Xian discovered that 309A’s severe electrical scars identified him as the patient discharged last, then found a rescue hammer hidden inside his abdomen and used it to break the Fifth Floor window. As the Director arrived, Li Xian carried 309A toward the opening, where only darkness lay beyond.

• Li Xian realized 309A had the most severe electrical burns among the six remaining patients because he had been discharged last.
• Li Xian and Jiang Qiuyue found a concealed floor-to-ceiling window, but Li Xian’s knife could not cut its glass.
• After 309A pushed Li Xian away and touched his abdomen, Li Xian felt a hard lump, cut into him, and pulled out a rescue hammer.
• Li Xian smashed the window with the rescue hammer while Jiang Qiuyue tried to bandage 309A’s wound and then carried him over.
• The window shattered outward, revealing darkness below, as the Director arrived; Li Xian took 309A onto his back.

Li Xian escaped the asylum with 309A, and the rising sun killed the Director and the other eerie beings inside. The surviving patients made it outside, 309A died beside 303B, and Li Xian and his companions cleared No. 48 Asylum with its true ending.

• Li Xian jumped from the hospital with 309A, and Ji Xie caught them before they hit the ground.
• The Director chased Li Xian and attacked 309A, but the rising sunlight weakened him and the River God Doll pinned him to the wall until he fell to his death.
• Sunlight shattered the building’s windows and killed the orderlies, doctors, and other eerie beings inside.
• Cheng Xin opened the main entrance, and 303B reached 309A just before 309A died.
• Li Xian laid a small flower over 309A’s wound as Jiang Qiuyue led the surviving patients, including Qian Chen, outside to see the sunrise.
• The system announced that Li Xian, Cheng Xin, Jiang Qiuyue, and Qian Chen had cleared No. 48 Asylum with the true ending.

After clearing the No. 48 Asylum, Li Xian received three million points and several special items, then followed Cheng Xin to the White Night Guild. Lin Shiming introduced survival hunt Instances and asked Li Xian to guess why they were lucrative.

• Li Xian received triple and fivefold rewards for the abnormal S-rank Instance, along with four special items.
• The No. 48 Asylum Instance closed, and Li Xian arrived alone in the Advanced Zone’s transportation hall.
• Cheng Xin found Li Xian and brought him to the White Night Guild, where they met its president, Lin Shiming.
• Lin Shiming explained that guilds primarily banded players together and described survival hunt Instances as having no true ending, only escape.
• Li Xian inferred from Lin Shiming’s mention of base completion rewards that survival hunt Instances offered additional completion rewards.

Lin Shiming explained the White Night Guild’s Peace Agreements and invited Li Xian to join, and Li Xian accepted. After completing the membership formalities, Li Xian inspected the S-grade Veil of Eternal Night, a shard of black glass from the sanatorium, but could not determine how to use it.

• Lin Shiming explained that escape-and-survival instances allowed player attacks and that guild Peace Agreements protected members from one another.
• Li Xian learned that the White Night Guild had 72 Peace Agreements and accepted Lin Shiming’s invitation to join.
• Lin Shiming left for his next instance, and Cheng Xin helped Li Xian complete the membership formalities and explained guild accommodations and commissions.
• Li Xian checked that he had 119 hours before his next instance and examined the S-grade Veil of Eternal Night.
• Li Xian recognized the Veil as a shard from the sanatorium’s glass but found no clue to its function.

After clearing the sanatorium instance, Li Xian inspected his rewards, discovered that players were discussing his move into the Advanced Zone, and agreed to enter another instance with Jiang Qiuyue. They boarded the Death Train, where they had to escape the train to clear the instance.

• Li Xian examined his Vitamin Gummies, Potent Tranquilizer, and emergency hammer, This Road Is Mine, and was pleased with his rewards.
• Li Xian messaged Cheng Xin and noticed the public channel celebrating his entry into the Advanced Zone and discussing his looks and commissions.
• Jiang Qiuyue invited Li Xian to team up for their next instance, and he agreed to a time.
• Li Xian checked Song Qingzhang's livestream, saw that it was awaiting broadcast, and went to rest.
• Li Xian and Jiang Qiuyue entered the Death Train instance, an A-difficulty survival challenge with thirteen players and an objective to leave the train.

Li Xian and Jiang Qiuyue entered a deathmatch Instance aboard a train, where the attendant announced that tickets would be checked. As players scrambled to find tickets, the blond player and his companion resorted to stealing them, while Li Xian and Jiang Qiuyue concealed their own tickets and waited to see what would happen.

• The players recognized that they were in a deathmatch Instance, formed groups, and heard Guo Yuanmiao claim that cooperation could make it manageable.
• Guo Yuanmiao revealed Li Xian’s identity as the player who broke the Novice Zone’s tipping record, prompting Jiang Qiuyue to confront him.
• A train attendant announced a three-hour journey from J City to C City and said tickets would be checked in two minutes.
• Li Xian and Jiang Qiuyue found two tickets, but Li Xian told Jiang Qiuyue to hide hers and keep searching.
• The blond player threatened another player into surrendering a ticket, while his companion stole a ticket from a frightened female passenger.
• The attendant continued smiling as the players searched, and slightly more than half had found tickets when the two minutes ran out.

The attendant exposed the thug who had stolen a woman’s ticket and killed him, then finished checking tickets in the carriage. Li Xian noticed a discrepancy in the travel times and tried to leave with Ji Xie, who instead restrained him and demanded that he beg to be released.

• The attendant checked the thug’s ticket, but the woman produced her ID and proved the ticket belonged to her.
• The attendant took the ticket from the thug, returned it to the woman, and snapped the thug’s neck before placing a ticket in his pocket.
• The woman returned to her bloodstained seat, and the attendant continued checking tickets while the other players stayed silent.
• After the checks ended, Li Xian saw that the ticket’s times conflicted with the attendant’s estimate and decided to inspect the other carriages.
• Ji Xie grabbed Li Xian as he tried to step over him, pinned him on his lap, and demanded that Li Xian beg to be let up.

Li Xian tested the attendant’s rules and led the players from carriage seven into carriage six. As the fog swallowed the carriage behind them, he questioned whether the train would ever reach a station.

• Li Xian reassured Ji Xie that he would warn him before attempting another dangerous Instance strategy, then avoided explaining their exchange to Jiang Qiuyue.
• Li Xian asked the attendant for hot water and permission to inspect carriage six, and she opened both connecting doors for him.
• The blond thug rushed ahead and tried to force open the train’s exterior doors, but failed.
• After the players entered carriage six, the doors shut and fog filled carriage seven, making it clear they could not go back.
• Li Xian reasoned that they might need to stop the train to escape, then realized the attendant had only mentioned its running time, not arrival at a station.

Li Xian realized the train would likely suffer an accident after three hours, leaving the players with little time to clear the Instance. The players searched the carriage for clues, while a buzz-cut man tried questioning passengers and became distracted by a card game.

• Li Xian compared the ticket’s journey time with the attendant’s warning and concluded the train might crash after three hours.
• Jiang Qiuyue agreed that the players had a deadline, and Li Xian said they had to find a way forward.
• Guo Yuanmiao urged the players to set aside their suspicions and search for clues.
• When the glass door remained locked, the players spread out to question the passengers in the carriage.
• A buzz-cut man tried speaking to an earphone-wearing passenger, then joined an older couple in a card game and failed to get information about the carriage door.
• After the older man won the round, the buzz-cut man gathered the cards without noticing the earphone-wearing passenger approach behind him.

An earphone-wearing passenger killed the buzz-cut man and the yellow-haired thug after they complained about the elderly pair’s card game. As the players in the carriage grew more frightened, Ji Xie watched Li Xian, who finally approached the card players.

• The passenger strangled the buzz-cut man with his earphone cord after telling him to be quiet.
• The elderly pair ignored the corpse and continued playing Fight the Landlord, including an imaginary player.
• The yellow-haired thug insulted the elderly man, who shoved him beside the passenger.
• The passenger killed the yellow-haired thug with his earphone cord and returned to his seat.
• A gaunt player tried to open the carriage door, but his companion stopped him from striking it.
• Ji Xie watched Li Xian as Li Xian walked toward the elderly pair playing cards.

Li Xian used a card game and Jiang Qiuyue used conversation to calm the man with headphones, who had killed two passengers. After the elderly couple stopped playing and the carriage fell silent, the man removed his headphones and let Li Xian and Jiang Qiuyue enter Carriage Five.

• Li Xian joined the elderly couple's card game while chatting quietly with them, and Jiang Qiuyue watched the man with headphones for signs of danger.
• When the elderly man's voice and card slaps grew louder, Jiang Qiuyue sat beside the man with headphones and distracted him by striking up a conversation.
• Li Xian repeatedly won as landlord, and the elderly couple grew silent before the elderly man gathered the cards and stopped playing.
• The man with headphones took off his headphones and made no further violent moves as the carriage remained quiet.
• Li Xian pointed Jiang Qiuyue toward the door to Carriage Five, and the man opened it after she asked to enter.

In Car Five, Li Xian explained to Jiang Qiuyue how he had won the card game and worked out that a particular passenger’s permission was needed to open each car’s door. The tour guide then asked the passengers to describe the scenery and singled out a player to answer.

• The players entered Car Five, where a yellow-capped tour guide welcomed them and told them to take their seats.
• The guide described farmland outside the windows, and the players and passengers stared into the fog as if they could see the scenery.
• Jiang Qiuyue asked Li Xian how he had won the card game and figured out how to open the doors; he explained that blood on the cards revealed their marks and that he had tested his theory about needing a particular passenger’s permission.
• Guo Yuanmiao decided to rely on Li Xian to clear the instance and follow him through the train.
• The guide asked everyone to share their impressions of the scenery, then singled out a player who had seemed absorbed in the view.

After the man in the cap gave the wrong description of the scenery, the guide gouged out his eye, and the man escaped into the fog through a broken window. The guide then called on Li Xian, who remained silent as the guide reached for his eye, before finally speaking.

• Guo Yuanmiao silently prompted the man in the cap to say the scenery was a forest.
• The man in the cap described the scenery as green, contradicting the guide's golden fields, and the guide gouged out his eye.
• The man in the cap smashed the window and jumped into the fog while the guide let him go.
• The guide called on Li Xian, and Ji Xie wondered how he might solve the problem without power.
• As the guide reached toward Li Xian's eye, Li Xian finally spoke.