Chapter Summaries

The players watched Orpheus and Eurydice’s wedding banquet, where Eurydice fell dead during Orpheus’s performance and he claimed a venomous snake had killed her. Orpheus opened a black iron door to the Underworld, and the players were swept into a dark cavern.

• The players spent three days wandering the Mediterranean-style city, while Yin Chao reflected on love as he watched Bai Tan and Moon Shadow by the shore.
• Moon Shadow asked Yin Chao whether he had found Eurydice, and he said she had disappeared before they arrived at the wedding banquet.
• During Orpheus’s performance, Eurydice fell dead among the flowers, and the crowd mourned without questioning her death.
• Moon Shadow challenged Orpheus about Eurydice’s death, but he claimed a venomous snake had bitten her ankle.
• Orpheus vowed to retrieve Eurydice’s soul from the Underworld and opened a black iron door, sending the players into a dark cavern.

Moon Shadow and Bai Tan encountered a hallucination-inducing cave where fungal threads killed Ding Ning. Seeing Moon Shadow's distress, Bai Tan revealed how war and his early experiences in instances had left him unable to save the people he loved.

• Orpheus demanded that the players escort him through Hell, but they ignored his offers and followed Moon Shadow into the cave.
• Moon Shadow noticed that the head count was wrong, then discovered the others had become fungal threads and ran until she collided with Bai Tan.
• Bai Tan explained that glowing minerals caused hallucinations, and the group covered their mouths and noses before continuing.
• Moon Shadow and Bai Tan found Ding Ning dead inside a fungal cocoon, and Bai Tan stopped cutting the threads after confirming she had no pulse or breath.
• Bai Tan told Moon Shadow how he had watched his parents die in the war and later failed to protect his loved ones from powerful monsters in the instances.

Moon Shadow, Bai Tan, Yin Chao, Luo Lingyue, and the others reached the underground River Styx and summoned its boatman with Orpheus's lyre. Faceless agreed to ferry them across as long as the music continued playing.

• Moon Shadow and Bai Tan found Yin Chao waiting by the underground river, and Luo Lingyue arrived with Orpheus after surviving the fungal threads.
• Orpheus accused Luo Lingyue of sparing a monster that looked like Yin Chao, but the group focused on the river crossing instead.
• Bai Tan explained that Orpheus had to play his lyre to summon the boatman, and Luo Lingyue forced Orpheus to perform.
• A faceless creature named Faceless arrived by boat and confirmed that he ferried travelers across the River Styx.
• Faceless agreed to take the group across if Orpheus kept playing until they reached the other shore.

On the River Styx, Faceless demanded a passenger as payment after Li Hua broke the rule that Orpheus keep playing. The group voted Li Hua as the sacrifice, and Bai Tan pointed out that the slime covering him contained eggs.

• Li Hua grew nervous on Faceless's boat and resented Yin Chao, while Orpheus played music to keep them safe.
• A monstrous fish leaped from the water, and its burst pustule splashed green slime over Li Hua alone.
• Faceless accused the group of breaking their promise and demanded that they choose one passenger to feed him.
• Li Hua nominated Yin Chao, but Luo Lingyue threatened anyone who voted for him, and Bai Tan voted for Li Hua.
• Faceless stopped Li Hua from attacking Yin Chao, and Bai Tan revealed that tiny creatures were wriggling inside the slime on Li Hua.

The group reached a massive door and met Cerberus, an S-Rank Hell Hunter who demanded they play a deadly game to pass. Cerberus began the game, leaving Zhong Mingnan afraid that his agreement had put everyone in danger.

• Bai Tan showed the black worms beneath his skin and explained that he had cut infected flesh from his hand.
• Li Hua's worms spread through his body, and Faceless killed him, ate part of his brain, and threw his corpse into the River Styx.
• Faceless ferried the group to shore, and Moon Shadow led them through a cave to a towering door.
• A Dog-Headed Man emerged from the door, and Yin Chao appraised him as a level-50 S-Rank Hell Hunter named Three-Headed Hound.
• Cerberus said his master was a god and challenged the group to play “You've Done It, I Haven't” until one side died.
• Zhong Mingnan agreed to the game, then panicked when Cerberus said it would end only when someone died and told the group to go first.

Cerberus forced Zhong Mingnan to play a lethal game of matching statements, killing him before challenging the others. Yin Chao took his place and claimed he had removed his mask; when Cerberus said “Me too,” Yin Chao exposed the lie, and the stitches on Cerberus’s face began to snap.

• Cerberus broke Zhong Mingnan’s legs and right hand through the game, then killed him by snapping his own neck.
• Cerberus challenged the group, and Yin Chao agreed to play despite Moon Shadow’s warning.
• Yin Chao claimed he had once taken off his own mask, and Cerberus said he had too.
• Yin Chao declared that Cerberus had never removed his mask, causing the stitches on Cerberus’s face to snap.

Yin Chao and his companions reached the King of the Underworld and asked to take Eurydice’s soul. The King agreed only if they showed him a love that moved him, and Bai Tan confessed his love to Moon Shadow.

• Yin Chao killed Cerberus, who called him a kindred spirit before dying.
• Yin Chao and the others passed through the dark doors and entered the palace of the King of the Underworld.
• The King killed Faceless for worshipping another god and agreed to hear what the visitors sought.
• Yin Chao asked to take Eurydice’s soul, and the King demanded to see a love that moved him.
• Orpheus tried to persuade the King with a tale of his love for Eurydice but could not explain what love was.
• Bai Tan confessed that he loved Moon Shadow and said he loved her more than his own life.

Yin Chao confronted the King of the Underworld after the king exposed Eurydice and provoked him about love and his identity as Number 001. Yin Chao burned the king's avatar, but the king survived, leaving Yin Chao with an overwhelming desire to kill him.

• The King of the Underworld made Eurydice dance alone, then had Orpheus confront her with accusations of betrayal; Eurydice blamed Orpheus for killing and abandoning her.
• The King of the Underworld revealed that Bai Tan, Moon Shadow, and Eurydice danced because they had love, then told Yin Chao that he and the king were alike and called him Number 001.
• Yin Chao recalled a gentle voice saying it loved him, grew furious, and ordered Luo Lingyue to kill the musicians while summoning Anna and Feng Fangfeng.
• As the musicians died and the hall fell into darkness, Bai Tan and Moon Shadow collapsed, and Yin Chao set the King of the Underworld's robes on fire.
• Yin Chao told Anna and Feng Fangfeng that the king was only an avatar and had not died, while admitting nothing about why the king had not fought back.

Moon Shadow learned that Bai Tan sacrificed his soul to lead her out of the cave, while Yin Chao exposed Orpheus’s betrayal and rescued Eurydice. After Yin Chao completed the trial, he attended Bai Tan’s funeral, where a robin landed on the headstone.

• Bai Tan guided the blind Moon Shadow through the cave, knowing that doing so would destroy his soul, and vanished as she reached the sunlight.
• Yin Chao revealed that Eurydice had survived because Orpheus’s agreement no longer applied after she stopped being his wife, and Eurydice accused Orpheus of murder.
• Yin Chao and Eurydice returned to the City-State, where evidence cleared up the rumors about Eurydice, but Orpheus remained adored and unpunished.
• Yin Chao completed the trial, reached level 30, and received the Music Box of Love.
• Yin Chao attended Bai Tan’s funeral, where Moon Shadow mourned beside the grave and a robin briefly landed on Bai Tan’s headstone.

Moon Shadow warned Yin Chao that Midnight would die in an unusual repeating S-rank instance, and Yin Chao reunited with Midnight before they entered it together. Yin Chao awoke as a child in a laboratory as Experiment Subject No. 001, while researchers discussed whether he should be destroyed.

• Moon Shadow told Yin Chao that her prophecy said Midnight would willingly accept being killed in an S-rank instance scheduled to appear the next day.
• Yin Chao spent the night with Midnight, and they arrived hand in hand at the instance hall the following morning.
• The screen displayed the S-rank instance “Experiment Subject No. 001,” and Yin Chao was transported into it.
• Yin Chao awoke in a white room with a child’s body and missing memories, repeating the same hand movement beneath a surveillance camera.
• A female researcher suggested No. 001’s repetitive behavior came from confinement, but the professor dismissed her and said he would destroy the subject after extracting its remaining value.

Researchers Xia Yu and Wang Ke monitored the laboratory’s test subjects as No. 002 was fed a discarded subject and No. 001 was sent into the Black Room. Days later, Xia Yu heard a child’s voice asking for food from inside No. 028’s room.

• Xia Yu and Wang Ke discussed the cruelty of the laboratory while they delivered a meal to No. 001, who was actually Yin Chao and considered using Xia Yu’s kindness to his advantage.
• Xia Yu watched staff tranquilize No. 002, feed him a frail test subject, and later saw him clean his room while wearing restraints.
• Xia Yu learned that the professor had ordered No. 001 sent to the Black Room, and she watched staff drag him inside.
• After several days, Xia Yu heard a child inside No. 028’s dark room ask her for food.

Xia Yu and Wang Ke discovered that No. 001 had survived in No. 028’s room, but the professor’s retrieval operation ended in a violent attack by No. 028. Xia Yu watched No. 001 undergo a brutal experiment, then fled when he looked at her.

• Xia Yu and Wang Ke found No. 001 alive in No. 028’s pitch-black room and alerted the professor.
• The professor’s squad used flashbangs and tranquilizers before retrieving No. 001, while the professor ordered them to leave No. 028 behind.
• No. 028 attacked the squad, killing Xu Jun, and his gaze caused Xia Yu to experience suffocating fear until the professor shocked him with a remote.
• Xia Yu accompanied No. 001 to the laboratory, where researchers cut into him and removed organs without anesthesia.
• No. 001 looked at Xia Yu during the experiment, and she fled the laboratory in fear.

After researchers declared 001 a failure and sent him to be eaten by 002, Yin Chao discovered that 002 would care for him rather than kill him. Their growing closeness began as increasingly strange incidents spread through the laboratory, affecting researchers as well as test subjects.

• Xia Yu learned from Wang Ke that 028 had been created from 001’s genes and was the only successful survivor among millions of attempts.
• Yin Chao was tranquilized and sent to 002’s room, where 002 said he would eat him only when he became hungry.
• Yin Chao asked 002 for help using the toilet, and 002 lifted him onto the toilet and sink so he could relieve himself and wash his hands.
• Xia Yu and Wang Ke watched 002 care for Yin Chao, while the researchers dismissed it as a passing whim.
• 002 gradually allowed Yin Chao to sleep beside him, and incidents began affecting laboratory test subjects and researchers alike.

Xia Yu and Wang Ke discovered that the laboratory samples were changing as test subjects escaped and attacked one another. They watched No. 002 carry No. 001 through the chaos, where the other subjects bowed before them, and saw No. 002 kick open a reinforced door.

• Xia Yu found a month-old blood sample that looked fresh, while nearby organ samples writhed, and she and Wang Ke prepared to alert the professor.
• A laboratory alarm sounded, and Xia Yu and Wang Ke saw escaped test subjects slaughtering one another in the corridor before they hid in the surveillance room.
• Wang Ke called the professor, who said he had arranged for the police to be called, then noticed Little Li hiding in the room and attacking them; he knocked her unconscious.
• No. 001 warned Wang Ke through a surveillance camera, and Wang Ke and Xia Yu saw No. 002 carrying No. 001 through the corridor as the test subjects knelt before them.
• Wang Ke watched No. 002 take No. 001 to Room 028 and kick open its reinforced iron door.

Yin Chao directed No. 002 to kill No. 028 while Xia Yu and Wang Ke realized the researchers might have released the test subjects to make them fight for survival. After No. 002 and No. 001 disappeared into the laboratories, the professor led his team to find them, where they discovered No. 001 seated on an operating table beside No. 002.

• Yin Chao secretly told No. 002 to kill No. 028, and No. 002 beat No. 028 to death with his left hand.
• Xia Yu and Wang Ke suspected someone had deliberately released the test subjects to make them fight like a gu king.
• Wang Ke hallucinated Xiao Li attacking him and nearly struck her with a chair before a knock interrupted him.
• No. 001 and No. 002 knocked on the surveillance room door, then went to the laboratories where samples were stored.
• The professor arrived with researchers and a tranquilizer squad, asked where No. 002 had gone, and rushed to the laboratories.
• Wang Ke followed the group and found No. 001 on an operating table with No. 002 beside him.

No. 001 killed No. 002 to claim the title of the most perfect test subject, but the professor had him tranquilized and locked away. Later, Wang Ke and Xia Yu began dating and started a family, while Wang Ke remained determined to uncover the professor’s true goal.

• No. 001 demanded the antidote, then told No. 002 to give him a scalpel and killed him in front of the professor and Wang Ke.
• No. 001 declared himself the most perfect test subject, but the professor denied that any rules existed and ordered the team to tranquilize him and return him to his room.
• The professor gave Wang Ke, Xia Yu, and the others an extended leave, during which Wang Ke and Xia Yu began dating.
• Wang Ke theorized that No. 002’s attachment to No. 001 explained why he submitted to being killed, while No. 001’s lack of emotion made him monstrous.
• After Xia Yu became pregnant, Wang Ke urged her to stay away from the laboratory but refused to quit until he discovered the professor’s goal and who the most perfect test subject was.
• Wang Ke and Xia Yu joked about names for their baby, and Xia Yu said a daughter could take her mother’s surname, Luo.

Wang Ke learned that No. 002 returned as a clone after dying, while Feng Ye revealed that No. 028 had also come back after researchers tried to burn his body. The revelations left Wang Ke shaken and his confidence in what he understood as science badly damaged.

• Wang Ke saw No. 002 alive on the surveillance feed, and Feng Ye explained that the professor could create a perfect copy of him only after he died.
• Wang Ke watched No. 001 meet his gaze through the camera and privately wondered whether the test subject could see through him.
• Feng Ye told Wang Ke that he and Xiao Li had handed out food during the riot, and Wang Ke reacted in terror when he heard Xiao Li's name.
• Wang Ke and Feng Ye delivered food to No. 001, who greeted Wang Ke with a smile, but Wang Ke reported that everything was normal.
• A crash came from No. 028's dark room, and Feng Ye explained that No. 028 had returned to life after his burned remains were placed back inside.

Wang Ke learned that the laboratory’s failed No. 002 clones came to life when the original died, while Feng Ye revealed that the staff were losing control of their minds. Feng Ye claimed No. 002’s blood could restore that control and injected it into himself, leaving Wang Ke alarmed.

• Feng Ye laughed at Wang Ke’s doubts about whether the test subjects were still human and led him away from No. 028’s room.
• Wang Ke noticed disturbing behavior among his coworkers, but refused Feng Ye’s warning to leave the laboratory with Xia Yu because he wanted to find the truth.
• Feng Ye showed Wang Ke a room full of failed No. 002 clones and explained that one came to life whenever the living No. 002 died.
• Feng Ye pointed out that Wang Ke and the other staff were acting abnormally and said No. 002’s blood could help them control their minds.
• Feng Ye injected the blood into himself despite Wang Ke’s warning about blood-type compatibility, then reassured him that nothing would happen.

Wang Ke learned that the professor had engineered the test subjects’ riot and watched No. 002 protect No. 001 while killing No. 028 and Feng Ye. No. 002 reached the professor’s hiding place, where the professor tried to turn him against No. 001.

• Feng Ye gave Wang Ke No. 002’s blood, and Wang Ke experienced a vivid memory of his grandparents.
• The professor ordered Wang Ke and Feng Ye to distribute food mixed with powder, triggering another violent riot among the test subjects.
• No. 002 visited No. 001, then brought No. 028 before him and killed him at No. 001’s prompting.
• Feng Ye told Wang Ke that the professor was hiding in the room of failed clones, then tried to block No. 002 and was killed.
• No. 001 told Wang Ke, “You’re not human,” as No. 002 carried him to the professor’s hiding place.
• The professor recognized that No. 002 remembered being a clone and insisted that No. 001 had killed him and showed him no genuine kindness.

Yin Chao and No. 002 fought off the professor’s team, but No. 002 collapsed after being hit by tranquilizer darts. The professor blamed No. 001 for ruining his work, and the story revealed how he first met Yin Rui, whom he believed was a god.

• No. 002 protected Yin Chao from the team’s tranquilizer fire, caught a dart, and fought back with the needles, killing or incapacitating most of the team.
• No. 002 lost consciousness, and Yin Chao cradled his head as the professor accused No. 001 of destroying everything he had built.
• Twenty years earlier, Xiao Ming stayed late in the laboratory and saw a bright light after a sudden pain disrupted his experiment.
• Xiao Ming opened the window and found the injured Yin Rui, who said a monster from hell had chased her and that she would leave once she recovered.
• Xiao Ming told Yin Rui that meeting her had overturned his disbelief in gods, and he privately concluded she was one.