Chapter Summaries

After the Death Train instance, Li Xian received a plastic bullet and discovered Ji Xie had taken the form of a tentacle to hide from detection. Ji Xie explained his precautions at the Player Center, and Li Xian began asking him about something else.

• Li Xian received 1,830,582 points and found a plastic bullet in his reward, which he put in his inventory.
• Ji Xie emerged from Li Xian's pocket as a translucent purple tentacle, then changed back into human form after Li Xian called the tentacle ugly.
• Ji Xie held Li Xian down on the bed, and Li Xian tried to smooth things over before asking why he had changed forms.
• Ji Xie said he had taken the tentacle form to conceal his power and evade detection while teleporting, because he was not supposed to be at the Player Center.
• After Ji Xie said changing back into human form would not be detected, Li Xian began to ask him a question.

Ji Xie explained that he was searching for the mysterious Source Instance and wanted to renew his contract because Li Xian was special. Their conversation ended when someone knocked on Li Xian’s door, prompting him to hide Ji Xie under the covers.

• Ji Xie told Li Xian he was searching for an unknown instance he called the Source Instance.
• Ji Xie said Li Xian was special, and Li Xian guessed his skill might give them authorization to enter the Source Instance.
• Ji Xie explained that Li Xian’s skill could affect supernatural entities, including Ji Xie, despite the limits imposed by their ranks.
• Ji Xie questioned Li Xian’s reason for calling him over, and Li Xian noticed a disappointed look on his face.
• Someone knocked on Li Xian’s door, and Li Xian hid Ji Xie beneath the covers.

Li Xian and Jiang Qiuyue recounted their recent instances to Lin Shiming, who investigated how Cheng Xin survived so long in the asylum. Jiang Qiuyue revealed that Ji Xie had accidentally sabotaged the asylum staff, explaining the discrepancy.

• Lin Shiming asked Li Xian and Jiang Qiuyue to describe their recent instances, and Jiang Qiuyue recounted the asylum incident in detail.
• Li Xian explained how he had helped Cheng Xin and showed Lin Shiming the River God Doll, which Lin Shiming warned him not to lend out casually.
• Jiang Qiuyue said Cheng Xin had mentioned a doctor on Skybridge who kept accidentally attacking orderlies and tripping nurses.
• Li Xian realized Ji Xie's friendly fire had helped Cheng Xin hold out, and secretly rubbed Ji Xie's tentacle in amusement.

After hearing about Li Xian’s recent instances, Lin Shiming explained that the system was targeting him and gave him an A-quality Jadeite Rough that reacted to danger. Li Xian confirmed the stone’s warning ability, learned how unusual his instance difficulties were by watching other players’ streams, and accepted a guild commission before his next instance.

• Jiang Qiuyue recounted the Death Train instance, and Lin Shiming concluded that the system was targeting Li Xian with unusually lethal instances.
• Lin Shiming explained that ordinary players faced difficulty appropriate to an instance’s rank and suggested the system felt threatened by Li Xian.
• Lin Shiming gave Li Xian an A-quality Jadeite Rough that turned green and heated up when danger was nearby.
• Li Xian tested the stone near Ji Xie and confirmed that its color grew deeper as he brought it closer to him.
• Li Xian watched Novice Zone livestreams and realized that even ordinary F-Rank instances were far easier than the ones he had faced.
• Li Xian watched Song Qingzhang’s livestream and accepted a commission through the White Night Guild before entering his next instance.

Li Xian, Jiang Qiuyue, and Qian Chen entered the S-rank Mingyan University Instance with six other players and discovered they were students in the same class. As they headed to their first class, they found that campus students ignored their questions but panicked when Li Xian touched one, leaving the players unsure how they would navigate the university.

• Li Xian entered the Mingyan University Instance with Jiang Qiuyue and Qian Chen, and the system set their objective as atonement.
• Li Xian checked his phone, learned the campus was under lockdown, and found that class began in twenty minutes.
• Li Xian and Qian Chen confirmed they were in the same year and class, then met Jiang Qiuyue in the mixed-gender dormitory building.
• All nine players gathered and left the dormitory to find their classroom.
• A student ignored the players' requests for directions, then screamed and ran away when Li Xian caught his arm.

Li Xian warned the other players away from the front row after the Jadeite Rough heated up, but one player sat beside the girl in green and became frozen. During class, Li Xian discovered that the school’s students and teacher were avoiding the players, and the chapter ended with the players still in the classroom and Zheng Xiang motionless in the front row.

• Li Xian felt the Jadeite Rough grow hot near the front row and warned two players not to sit there, but their companion remained beside the girl in green and froze rigidly.
• Li Xian, Qian Chen, and Jiang Qiuyue took seats near the back while class began, and the girl in green kept her head down.
• Li Xian noticed that students ignored him and concluded that the school’s students were ostracizing the players.
• Li Xian raised his hand to ask the teacher a question, but the teacher avoided him, dismissed the class, and hurried out.
• The students and the girl in green left, leaving the nine players in the classroom as a tall, thin female player called to Zheng Xiang, who remained frozen in his seat.

After Zheng Xiang died for sitting in the wrong seat, Li Xian’s group searched for food and information in the university instance. Their investigation led them to a blood-soaked dorm room containing a mutilated corpse, whose injuries suggested a fall from a great height.

• Wei Dong introduced himself and Zhai Shu, and the other players exchanged names after Zheng Xiang’s death.
• Li Xian led the group to the cafeteria, where the staff ignored them, so they bought food at the supermarket instead.
• Li Xian entered the dorm supervisor’s room and photographed the building’s registration sheet, which listed thirty-four students in Class 32.
• The players split into groups to visit their classmates, and Li Xian and Qian Chen went to Room 216.
• Li Xian and Qian Chen found a mutilated corpse amid blood covering the room’s walls and ceiling, and Li Xian suspected it had fallen from a great height.

Li Xian and Qian Chen discovered a corpse in Room 216, then questioned the apparent classmates living next door to learn about the incident and the dormitory keys. The classmates grew suspicious when Li Xian asked about Room 103, but Qian Chen helped ease their doubts.

• Li Xian and Qian Chen found a corpse in Room 216, and a pajama-clad young man from Room 218 invited them into his dorm.
• Li Xian asked the young man about “that incident,” but a roommate warned him not to curse the woman involved, and the young man refused to discuss it further.
• Qian Chen knocked a book off the desk, revealing its covers had been torn away because blood had stained them.
• Li Xian inferred that the three roommates had moved from Room 216 after their roommate died and learned that Room 103 kept the dormitory keys.
• The young man and his roommates became suspicious of Li Xian’s question about Room 103, but Qian Chen’s explanation eased their doubts.

Li Xian and the others found bodies in several dorm rooms and learned they had to move out of rooms with broken locks. After choosing new rooms with their teammates, Li Xian warned Qian Chen away from Bed Four, but that night a ghostly woman appeared over Zhao Minghua.

• Li Xian and Qian Chen found another dorm room containing a mangled corpse, and Li Xian learned that every player's room had a broken lock.
• The players agreed to collect new keys from Room 103 and chose to room with their original teammates.
• Li Xian moved into a former women's dorm room and suspected the bodies might be linked to a shared rule or bed assignment.
• Li Xian told Qian Chen to take Bed Three instead of Bed Four, though the jade showed no reaction during his inspection.
• After lights-out, Zhao Minghua woke to a crying woman hovering over him as He Tongtong and Jia Ruiyao lay frozen with fear.

Zhao Minghua was killed when the crying woman shoved him from his bed, leaving Jia Ruiyao and He Tongtong trapped above a blood-covered floor. The next morning, Li Xian and the others helped them escape the room, while the strange buzzing outside the door had revealed itself as flies.

• The woman shoved Zhao Minghua from his bed, and he hit the floor and died.
• After the woman left the room, Jia Ruiyao spotted the open door and asked He Tongtong to close it.
• He Tongtong left the door partly open, then warned Jia Ruiyao that someone was outside as footsteps and buzzing approached.
• Flies entered the room when the door was pushed open.
• The next morning, Li Xian and the others laid blankets across the blood-covered floor to help He Tongtong and Jia Ruiyao leave.
• Li Xian reminded Jia Ruiyao that dried blood was still on his face.

He Tongtong described the strange figures who gathered around Zhao Minghua’s body, and Li Xian suspected the deaths were linked to bed four. In class, the warning “Don’t look” proved relevant when a girl in a green dress appeared and Wei Dong met her gaze.

• He Tongtong told Li Xian and the others that a crying woman had appeared before Zhao Minghua died, then several figures had gathered around the body and made buzzing sounds.
• Li Xian suggested the deaths might have been caused by sleeping in bed four, and Qian Chen realized Li Xian had kept him from taking that bed.
• The players entered the classroom and saw red-chalk eyes above the words “Don’t look” on the blackboard.
• Li Xian questioned the short-sleeved young man, who warned him that anyone who heard crying had to pretend not to hear it.
• A pale green-dressed girl appeared at the classroom door during the video lesson, and the students lowered their heads as Li Xian warned Qian Chen to do the same.
• Wei Dong looked toward the girl and met her eyes, realizing what the warning on the blackboard meant.

Wei Dong survived looking into the green-dressed girl's eyes, while Li Xian and the other players continued through the school Instance. Li Xian recognized Ji Xie as their teacher, and Ji Xie secretly wrote a reply on Li Xian's note.

• Wei Dong looked into the green-dressed girl's red eyes, then waited in fear until she vanished without harming him.
• Li Xian photographed the attendance list and led the players toward the next classroom, where Zhai Shu claimed someone had pushed her and heard her name called.
• Li Xian recognized Ji Xie at the lectern, though the two passed without speaking.
• Ji Xie began class by asking everyone to submit notes with their class and names, and Li Xian added a greeting for him.
• Ji Xie told Li Xian not to leave, wrote a few words on his note, and handed it back.

Li Xian avoided acknowledging the girl in green when she tried to lure him into taking a supposedly dropped note, then met Ji Xie in office 1425. Ji Xie revealed the school considered Class 32 cursed and gave Li Xian a slice of strawberry cake.

• Li Xian told Jiang Qiuyue and Qian Chen to return to the dorm without him, then ignored the girl in green when she insisted he had dropped a note.
• Ji Xie dismissed class two minutes early, allowing Li Xian to leave before the girl in green could bring the note closer to his eye.
• Li Xian found the note still in his pocket and went to office 1425, where Ji Xie said the office belonged only to him.
• Li Xian asked why the school avoided Class 32, and Ji Xie explained that other teachers called it cursed because people who spoke to its students supposedly died.
• Ji Xie ruffled Li Xian's hair, told him to keep himself safe, and offered him a slice of strawberry cake.

Li Xian helped the players decide to seek clues through the school forum and private messages instead of questioning people face-to-face. As the others prepared to leave, he noticed that Zhai Shu’s teammate, Wei Dong, was missing, and Zhai Shu realized she had not noticed his absence.

• Li Xian thanked Ji Xie for the cake, then stopped him from leaning closer by giving him a gummy bear and hurried out when Ji Xie pointed out cream on his mouth.
• Li Xian returned to the dorm and found Jiang Qiuyue, Qian Chen, He Tongtong, Jia Ruiyao, and Zhai Shu discussing how to find clues.
• Li Xian suggested posting anonymously online, and the group confirmed that the players’ phones could access the school’s chat app and forum.
• Li Xian told the group to make only one forum post that day while the others privately contacted students, and Jiang Qiuyue volunteered to post.
• Li Xian asked where Zhai Shu’s teammate, Wei Dong, was, and Zhai Shu realized she had not noticed he was missing.

Li Xian pieced together that Wei Dong had vanished after likely making eye contact with the girl in the green dress, whose presence they believed was governed by a warning on the blackboard. The group left the matter unresolved and began gathering information from other students, while Li Xian used a fake female account to contact a senior.

• Zhai Shu recalled that Wei Dong’s presence had gradually faded from her awareness during the first class.
• Li Xian concluded that Wei Dong had pushed Zhai Shu on the stairs after the first class and had then vanished.
• Zhai Shu suggested Wei Dong might have failed to lower his head when the girl in the green dress entered.
• Li Xian proposed that the blackboard warned them not to look into the girl’s eyes and advised the group to ignore her.
• Jiang Qiuyue prepared a post while Qian Chen and Li Xian searched the year group chat for people to contact.
• Li Xian created a fake female account and messaged a senior who accepted his friend request.

Li Xian and Jiang Qiuyue tried to learn why Class 32 was isolated, but the online students avoided the subject and Jiang Qiuyue’s post was deleted. Comparing class records, Li Xian found Deng Hanyu missing from the dormitory register and contacted him; after Jiang Qiuyue drew him into conversation, Deng Hanyu offered to meet the next day.

• Li Xian questioned several students online, but they flirted or stopped responding whenever he brought up Class 32.
• Jiang Qiuyue’s post received views but no replies and was deleted, while Li Xian learned the university planned to deal with Class 32 by Saturday.
• Li Xian compared the class roster with the dormitory register and found that Xie Zhi and Deng Hanyu were missing from the register.
• Li Xian found Deng Hanyu’s contact information and sent him a friend request, then asked Jiang Qiuyue to draw information out of him.
• Jiang Qiuyue chatted with Deng Hanyu under the name Lin Yaoyao and asked about the strange campus atmosphere.
• Deng Hanyu suggested meeting Jiang Qiuyue the next day to talk.

Jiang Qiuyue and Li Xian planned to disguise Li Xian as a woman so he could meet Deng Hanyu without being recognized. As Li Xian tried on a dress in an empty dorm room, the Green-Dressed Girl emerged from the wardrobe.

• Jiang Qiuyue arranged to meet Deng Hanyu on the sports field after fourth period the next day.
• Li Xian told Jiang Qiuyue he planned to dress as a woman, as he had in the Stone River Village instance.
• Jiang Qiuyue explained the plan to Qian Chen and proposed finding Li Xian a complete outfit.
• Jiang Qiuyue found a dress that fit Li Xian, and he changed into it while she and Qian Chen waited outside.
• Li Xian prepared to remove the revealing dress when the wardrobe creaked open and the Green-Dressed Girl crawled out.

Li Xian escaped the girl in the green dress, then let Jiang Qiuyue dress him up to meet Deng Hanyu the next day. In the morning, he pretended to sleep while the girl sat beside him, until He Tongtong’s urgent knocking shattered the silence.

• Li Xian shut the girl in the green dress inside the dorm room and hurried back to his room with Jiang Qiuyue and Qian Chen.
• Jiang Qiuyue dressed Li Xian in makeup and a wig, then arranged for him to meet Deng Hanyu after fourth period the next day.
• Li Xian realized Ji Xie would teach fourth period and worried that Ji Xie would mock his disguise.
• The next morning, Jiang Qiuyue and Qian Chen found the girl in the green dress sitting beside Li Xian’s bed.
• Li Xian woke when the Jadeite grew hot but kept his eyes closed and pretended to sleep as the girl remained beside him.
• He Tongtong knocked loudly and called out that something had happened, forcing Li Xian to consider acting awake.

Li Xian and the others discovered that Jia Ruiyao had died after a group of people surrounded his bed and made buzzing sounds. A bloodstain on Li Xian’s hand led him to suspect that blood might be connected to Jia Ruiyao’s death.

• Jiang Qiuyue kept He Tongtong from disturbing Li Xian while the woman in the green dress was in their room.
• Li Xian and Qian Chen went with Jiang Qiuyue to find He Tongtong and learned that Jia Ruiyao was dead.
• Li Xian found Jia Ruiyao’s body on the upper bunk, with no visible wounds despite his agonized expression.
• He Tongtong said that intruders broke the dorm-room lock, surrounded Jia Ruiyao, and made buzzing sounds until his screams stopped.
• Qian Chen noticed dried blood on the back of Li Xian’s hand, and Li Xian suspected the blood might have caused Jia Ruiyao’s death.

Li Xian suspected that the blood on his hand might put him in danger, then prepared to attend Ji Xie's class in disguise. A pearl necklace changed his voice, and after drawing attention from many students on the way, he arrived at the classroom just as Ji Xie was waiting inside.

• He Tongtong suggested that Jia Ruiyao might have died because blood had gotten on him, and Li Xian washed his hand while wondering when the blood had touched him.
• Li Xian went to morning class with the others, and nothing unusual happened.
• Jiang Qiuyue dressed Li Xian as a girl and gave him a pearl necklace that changed his voice.
• Li Xian practiced speaking with the necklace and left early with Jiang Qiuyue and Qian Chen, while He Tongtong and Zhai Shu stayed behind.
• Many students approached Li Xian and asked for his contact information, so he reached Ji Xie's classroom only just in time.