Chapter Summaries

Yin Chao witnessed Xin Ya being lured into a fake dance competition and abducted after the bidders purchased her, then woke from the illusion in a cage. An Huai had escaped first and shot the cage lock open.

• Yin Chao watched Xin Ya enter the hotel and follow a staff member to a hidden basement competition.
• Xin Ya waited backstage as contestants were called away one by one and failed to return, then performed as contestant number 15.
• The audience bid for Xin Ya, and she realized the event was a trap before hotel staff seized her as she tried to escape.
• Yin Chao woke inside a cage after hearing a gunshot and saw An Huai shoot its lock open.

An Huai and Yin Chao escaped their cages in the warehouse, where they found Da Mei unconscious and the Ghost Baby hiding in a corner it seemed to call home. A woman-like creature smashed through the iron door, leaving them to face the grotesque intruder.

• An Huai shot open her cage while Yin Chao freed himself with a key and carried the unconscious Da Mei to a clean corner.
• Yin Chao identified the room as the warehouse and mindscape, then stopped himself from killing the Ghost Baby when he realized it might be protecting its home.
• An Huai heard a woman running on all fours in the dark corridor and shut the iron door to keep it out.
• Yin Chao lit the Candelabrum, and the woman scratched at the door before smashing through it.
• An Huai and Yin Chao saw a disheveled, thick-limbed woman with festering sores and a bloody empty eye socket enter the room.

An Huai and Yin Chao left the warehouse after witnessing the Female Ghost reunite with the Ghost Baby, then found Bai Xu gravely wounded in the corridor. Yin Chao’s healing item failed because Bai Xu seemed to have no will to live, and Bai Xu began recounting the childhood war trauma that made him blame himself for his parents’ deaths.

• The Female Ghost found the Ghost Baby, swallowed it while cradling it, and left the warehouse satisfied.
• An Huai and Yin Chao placed the injured Da Mei in a cage, then walked through a corridor lined with identical warehouse doors.
• An Huai reflected on her resolve to investigate human trafficking and protect victims such as Xin Ya.
• Yin Chao and An Huai found Bai Xu near death with a severe abdominal wound, but Yin Chao’s healing cloth did not heal him because he had no will to live.
• Bai Xu told Yin Chao that he blamed himself for being a coward when soldiers killed his parents during the war, and recalled discovering that they had competed to cut equally sized pieces of flesh.

Yin Chao entered Bai Xu’s false memories to find a way to bring him back, first witnessing a playful childhood scene and then the devastation of war. The chapter left Yin Chao watching Bai Tan flee with Bai Xu and Bai Yu after their parents were killed.

• Yin Chao asked An Huai to hold the Candelabrum so he could enter Bai Xu’s memories.
• Yin Chao met young Bai Xu, Bai Yu, and Bai Tan in a wheat field and teased Bai Xu after he confessed he wanted to marry him.
• Bai Tan accused Yin Chao of coveting his brother, then broke down crying when Yin Chao snapped his pretend Ruyi Jingu Bang.
• Yin Chao’s vision shifted to the siblings after their parents were tortured to death and their country fell.
• Bai Tan took Bai Xu and Bai Yu away from their destroyed home, while Bai Xu covered Bai Yu’s eyes and held her close.

Yin Chao comforted Bai Xu through memories of his parents’ deaths, and Bai Xu’s wound healed. Bai Xu revealed that Xin Ya had become the Pig-Headed Man’s heart, then the group found her devouring a player in the Warehouse.

• Yin Chao helped Bai Xu face his grief by covering his eyes and assuring him that his parents’ deaths were not his fault.
• An Huai watched as Bai Xu’s wound healed, and Bai Xu woke feeling well.
• Bai Xu revealed that Xin Ya had devoured the Pig-Headed Man’s heart and become it, making her the key to killing him.
• Bai Xu heard screams from the Warehouse and led Yin Chao and An Huai there.
• The group found Xin Ya eating a player as the other survivors’ items failed to hurt her.
• Xin Ya noticed Yin Chao, Bai Xu, and An Huai, then approached them with apparent happiness.

An Huai reunited with Xin Ya after the Pig-Headed Man killed her monstrous form, and the two embraced after Xin Ya was restored. The Pig-Headed Man then revealed that Xin Ya had replaced his heart, leaving An Huai caught between protecting her and the apparent way to kill him.

• The Pig-Headed Man entered the Warehouse, killed the female ghost, and crushed the Ghost Baby inside her.
• An Huai cradled the female ghost's head, and her tears made the pustules vanish as Xin Ya returned to human form.
• An Huai and Xin Ya reunited and wept together, but the Pig-Headed Man soon found them again.
• Yin Chao insulted the Pig-Headed Man's appearance, and the monster explained that killing his heart would kill him.
• The Pig-Headed Man identified Xin Ya as his heart, while An Huai shielded her from the others.

Yin Chao used the Supreme God's rule to restrain the Pig-Headed Man and revealed his likely history, while An Huai killed Xin Ya and then herself, destroying the Pig-Headed Man's Mindscape. Afterward, Yin Chao concluded that An Huai was the Pig-Headed Man's true heart and discovered the Ghost Baby hiding in the ruined hotel.

• Yin Chao revealed that he was the Supreme God and used a rule forbidding harm to players in the Mindscape to stop the Pig-Headed Man.
• Yin Chao guessed that the Pig-Headed Man had died from drug use and become a Hell Hunter after the King of the Underworld transformed him.
• An Huai shot Xin Ya and then took her own life, causing the Pig-Headed Man and his Mindscape to vanish.
• Yin Chao explained that An Huai might have been dead and that the Pig-Headed Man had sought to reclaim the heart she possessed.
• Yin Chao found the Ghost Baby hiding in a corner and softly singing.

Yin Chao soothed the Ghost Baby with a song, and it became a black cat before the instance ended. He then witnessed the memories of Xin Ya’s death and An Huai’s failed rescue, learning how the Ghost Baby had been abandoned with its mother’s body.

• Yin Chao sang to the Ghost Baby, which turned into a black cat and rubbed against his leg.
• The instance ended, and Yin Chao saw Xin Ya pregnant and unconscious in the hotel corridor.
• Boss Wu ordered the bunny girl taken as the next seed after she offered Xin Ya in her place.
• Boss Wu cut open Xin Ya’s belly and removed her premature baby, then had both left in a corner.
• An Huai entered the hotel with two police officers, but after her partners were killed and she was badly wounded, she died by suicide as the criminals broke into her hiding place.

Yin Chao remembered the events that led to Bai Xu's death and confronted No. 028, now the King of the Underworld, before returning to the real world. He reunited with Midnight, who fell asleep on top of him, and they were discovered together by Bai Yu and Luo Lingyue.

• Yin Chao recalled how the players had agreed to sacrifice Xin Ya, enraging An Huai and leading to Bai Xu's death in the original instance.
• No. 028 appeared and accused Yin Chao of killing another Hunter, but Yin Chao recognized him as the King of the Underworld and mocked his past weakness.
• Yin Chao returned to the real world and asked Bai Xu to call him Little Yin as before.
• Yin Chao invited Midnight inside, and Midnight carried him to bed, kissed him, then fell asleep on top of him.
• Bai Yu and Luo Lingyue entered and found Yin Chao pinned beneath Midnight; Yin Chao said they had been sleeping, and Bai Yu took Luo Lingyue away.

Yin Chao joined the Miracle Squad in An Nian’s S-rank instance, Peach Blossom on a Human Face, where he took the role of a young master caught visiting a brothel. He escaped across the rooftops with Xiao Xiao and the boy in blue, joined by a man fleeing his angry wife.

• Yin Chao met Midnight and the Miracle Squad at the instance plaza, where he temporarily served as captain in Moon Shadow’s place.
• The squad entered An Nian’s S-rank instance and received a mission to identify the culprit in the Peach Blossom on a Human Face case without defying the monsters’ will.
• Yin Chao woke in a brothel as a young master and learned that Lord Yin had arrived to catch him.
• Xiao Xiao showed Yin Chao and the boy in blue a secret escape route across the tiled roofs.
• A middle-aged man joined them on the rooftop as his wife shouted for Wang Dong to return home.

Yin Chao, Xu Yuan, and Wang Dong escaped the brothel through a hidden passage that Xiao Xiao had found. When the peach blossom scent grew unusually strong near the exit, Yin Chao stopped Xu Yuan, but Wang Dong climbed out and screamed in agony, leaving Yin Chao to investigate.

• Yin Chao rebuked Wang Dong for visiting a brothel despite having a wife and children.
• Xiao Xiao led Yin Chao, Xu Yuan, and Wang Dong to a hidden passage beneath a water vat in a firewood storeroom.
• Xiao Xiao gave them her handkerchief to mark their way, and the three men followed the passage toward an exit.
• Yin Chao and Xu Yuan noticed the peach blossom scent growing stronger near the exit and paused to question it.
• Wang Dong climbed out ahead of them and screamed in agony, so Yin Chao told Xu Yuan to stay behind while he went to look.

Yin Chao and Xu Yuan crossed a grotesque peach grove filled with corpses bearing blossoms from their mouths and found a girl suspended in an enormous tree. After a gust made the tree and girl vanish, Yin Chao recognized the remaining corpses as a killer’s feeble imitation of the scene.

• Yin Chao climbed out of the pit and found Wang Dong and other corpses hanging from twisted peach trees, with blossoms growing from their mouths.
• Yin Chao pulled Xu Yuan out of the pit and told him that the trees had killed Wang Dong.
• Yin Chao led Xu Yuan deeper into the grove, where the trees grew larger and more corpses hung from their branches.
• Yin Chao pointed out a girl suspended in an enormous tree and wondered how long she had been dead based on the huge blossom growing from her mouth.
• A gust of wind made the enormous tree and the girl disappear, leaving a bare grove and a few shriveled corpses behind.
• Yin Chao told Xu Yuan that the corpses were a killer’s superficial imitation of the spectacle they had seen.

Yin Chao returned home after visiting the peach grove, avoided punishment by claiming he had gone to buy Peach Blossom Wine, and learned about the Grand Princess’s banquet. At the banquet, he entered the pavilion to meet the Grand Princess and discovered a broad-shouldered figure whose voice sounded male, while Liang Chen appeared in a lotus-pink skirt.

• Zhao Shi stopped Lord Yin from punishing Yin Chao and confirmed that he had not gone to a brothel.
• Yin Chao told his parents he had gone to Peach Blossom Town to buy Peach Blossom Wine, and Zhao Shi announced the Grand Princess’s banquet.
• Xu Yuan asked whether they should report the corpse in the peach grove, but Yin Chao decided to wait for the case’s clues to draw the players together.
• Yin Chao dressed for the banquet and traveled with Xu Yuan to the palace, where guests admired his appearance and he received a numbered token to meet the Grand Princess.
• Yin Chao entered the pavilion and heard a resonant male voice call for Liang Chen, whom he saw wearing a lotus-pink skirt and little braids.

Yin Chao met Midnight in the palace, learned more about the Peach Blossom on a Human Face murders, and was swept into Midnight’s public declaration that he would marry no one else. At the banquet, guests gossiped about Yin Chao’s reputation as he quietly passed a pastry to Liang Chen.

• Midnight hurried to Yin Chao and greeted him tenderly, while palace attendants spread word that the Eldest Princess had fallen for a handsome young gentleman.
• Liang Chen explained that he had been posing as a palace maid, and Midnight led Yin Chao into the pavilion for tea.
• Yin Chao described the strange peach grove and the hanging corpses connected to Peach Blossom on a Human Face.
• Midnight told the eunuch he would marry no one but Yin Chao, then led him toward the banquet by the hand.
• Banquet guests stared at the pair and whispered about Yin Chao’s reputation, while Yin Chao passed a pastry to Liang Chen.

At the banquet, Yin Chao and Midnight investigated a guest killed by Peach Blossom on a Human Face, while An Nian reunited with Long Zang. The next morning, Yin Chao’s family prepared him to meet Midnight after the city began gossiping that he had caught the Princess Royal’s eye.

• A young eunuch reported that a guest had died in the tearoom, and Yin Chao and Midnight recognized the scent of Peach Blossom on a Human Face.
• Midnight brought Yin Chao and An Nian to the tearoom, where they found the victim hanging from a peach tree that had grown through his body.
• Midnight examined the corpse, and Eunuch Wang fainted before Long Zang arrived to investigate for the Court of Judicial Review.
• Long Zang ordered the corpse taken away for an autopsy, causing the peach tree and its blossom to wither, and the banquet ended early.
• Xu Yuan told Yin Chao that the city believed he had caught the Princess Royal’s eye, while Lord Yin and Zhao Shi celebrated at home.
• The next morning, Zhao Shi dressed Yin Chao in an ivory robe for his meeting with Midnight at a busy restaurant.

Yin Chao connected the Yao Cai House and a woman marked with a peach blossom to the strange deaths, then joined Midnight and the others to discuss the autopsy findings. He agreed to lead the investigation at the brothel, and Midnight went with him.

• On the way to the Gathering Immortals Tower, Yin Chao spotted a woman with a peach blossom painted on her neck heading toward the Yao Cai House.
• Yin Chao reconsidered Xiao Xiao’s account of a secret passage and suspected that the Yao Cai House, Xiao Xiao, and the peach-blossom woman were connected.
• At the Gathering Immortals Tower, Long Zang reported that a peach blossom had grown from Zhang San’s stomach and that bodies at the Peach Garden had been drained and desiccated.
• Long Zang explained that “yao cai” was another name for peach blossoms and asked Yin Chao to lead an investigation at the Yao Cai House.
• Yin Chao agreed to go immediately, kissed Midnight, and Midnight joined him as Xu Yuan fainted.

Yin Chao and Midnight entered Yao Cai House to investigate Xiao Xiao’s disappearance, while An Nian insisted on joining their group. Yin Chao learned that the madam had imprisoned Xiao Xiao after accusing her of planning to escape, and that people heard unexplained crying from the woodshed.

• An Nian used Gender-Swapping Items to join the visit to Yao Cai House, and the group left Xu Yuan unconscious in the carriage.
• Yin Chao requested Xiao Xiao, but the madam claimed she was too ill to receive guests, so Yin Chao went to a room with Midnight instead.
• Yin Chao asked Midnight whether he was jealous, but Qing He entered before Midnight could respond.
• Yin Chao offered Qing He gold ingots for information, and she said the madam had beaten and locked up Xiao Xiao for supposedly plotting to escape with a secret lover.
• Qing He said she did not know where Xiao Xiao was being held, but girls heard crying from the woodshed and feared Xiao Xiao had died.

Yin Chao questioned Xiao Xiao about her unfamiliar peach-blossom scent and tested her knowledge of the Peach Blossom on a Human Face case. When Lord Yin arrived looking for his son, Yin Chao hid with Midnight by pretending to be a brothel patron and guest.

• Yin Chao had Qing He let Xiao Xiao into the room and noticed her new peach-blossom scent.
• Xiao Xiao said she had changed her rouge, then listened closely as Yin Chao recounted the Peach Blossom on a Human Face case.
• Yin Chao realized Xiao Xiao seemed not to have heard of the case, while Qing He showed no surprise.
• When Lord Yin arrived, Yin Chao borrowed robes from Xiao Xiao and Qing He and told them to claim another guest was using the room.
• Yin Chao staged an intimate scene with Midnight beneath the quilt, and Midnight asked what role Yin Chao was playing.

Midnight and Yin Chao spent the night together after Lord Yin interrupted them at Yao Cai House. The next morning, Yin Chao learned that several guests had died there and, when the group resumed its investigation, Long Zang revealed the victims had all visited Peach Blossom Town.

• Lord Yin burst into Yin Chao’s room at Yao Cai House, saw Midnight holding him, and quickly left after Midnight ordered him out.
• Midnight and Yin Chao stayed together through the night, and Yin Chao woke the next morning at his residence with marks on his neck.
• Xu Yuan told Yin Chao that several guests at Yao Cai House had been found dead with Peach Blossom on a Human Face, prompting rumors about a protective Peach Blossom Immortal.
• Yin Chao met Zhao Shi, Lord Yin, and the others at Gathering Immortals Tower, where Liang Chen teased him about his neck and An Nian blushed.
• Long Zang said the victims had died like Zhang San and that their investigation linked every victim to a visit to Peach Blossom Town.

Yin Chao and Long Zang went to Yao Cai House to question Broken Jade, whose peach blossom birthmark linked her to Yin Chao’s suspicions. They followed her trail to Peach Blossom Town, where the once-bustling town stood deserted and unsettling.

• Long Zang told Yin Chao that investigators had found no captive, secret passage, or water vat at Yao Cai House, but confirmed that Broken Jade had a peach blossom birthmark.
• Yin Chao, Long Zang, and their companions went to Yao Cai House, where Qing He said Broken Jade had returned to Peach Blossom Town.
• Yin Chao gave Qing He silver, and the group rode toward Peach Blossom Town.
• The group reached Peach Blossom Town near sunset and found its streets empty, its buildings shut, and its entrance weathered, unlike the lively town Yin Chao had seen days earlier.