Chapter Summaries

Su Bai discovered that Xiao An wanted more of his blood, then left Room 203 when the Hide-and-Seek Game’s bell rang. He chose Room 413 as his hiding place, only to find another Player already inside.

• Xiao An attacked Su Bai with a blood-formed Ice Spike and swallowed the drop of blood it produced, briefly warming before growing colder again.
• Xiao An declared that it would find Su Bai and make him grant its wish.
• Su Bai left a tiny wisp of Blue Flame in Room 203 and went upstairs to hide before the game began.
• Su Bai entered the unlocked Room 413 and found the Player who had been holding the Ghost Infant.

Su Bai entered Room 413 and found Chi Yan, then joined him and Liu Yongzhi as the three players prepared to wait out the first game together. Liu Yongzhi sealed the room with his ability, and Chi Yan revealed his surprise that anyone could still leave Qingliu City.

• Su Bai opened the door to Room 413 and found Chi Yan sitting motionless by the window.
• Liu Yongzhi entered the room and urged Su Bai to stay, saying the three could protect themselves together.
• Liu Yongzhi used his ability to cover the room with a membrane that blocked sound from passing in or out.
• Liu Yongzhi asked Chi Yan whether he came from Qingliu City, and Chi Yan said he was surprised anyone could still get out of it.

Chi Yan exposed Liu Yongzhi’s lie about leaving Qingliu City and learned that the city had been sealed off, while Su Bai grew suspicious of Liu Yongzhi’s motives. Liu Yongzhi then implied he belonged to the Nameless Society and invited Su Bai and Chi Yan to join his organization.

• Chi Yan explained that Qingliu City had been sealed off and confronted Liu Yongzhi over his claim that he had left with his family.
• Liu Yongzhi admitted he had not returned to the Real World in a long time and claimed his family thought he was dead.
• Su Bai noticed Liu Yongzhi was steering the conversation toward his powerful organization and doubted his concern for his family.
• Liu Yongzhi hinted that his organization was the Nameless Society and described its leader as a powerful woman who controlled flames.
• Liu Yongzhi said he was recruiting kindhearted peripheral players and asked Su Bai and Chi Yan to join.

Liu Yongzhi offered Su Bai and Chi Yan provisional membership in his organization and presented Contract Books, but Su Bai suspected he intended to bind them unfairly. Su Bai redirected the conversation to the ongoing hide-and-seek game and learned that Qingliu City’s worsening crisis remained unresolved.

• Liu Yongzhi invited Su Bai and Chi Yan to join his organization as provisional members and promised training to help them grow stronger.
• Liu Yongzhi produced several Contract Books and offered them to Su Bai and Chi Yan, while Su Bai suspected the contracts would place them under Liu Yongzhi’s control.
• Su Bai delayed deciding about the offer by pointing out that the hide-and-seek game was underway, and Liu Yongzhi agreed to discuss it after the game.
• Su Bai asked Chi Yan about Qingliu City, and Chi Yan said its crisis had worsened despite the Relevant Authorities sending people there over half a month earlier.
• Chi Yan said none of the players currently in Qingliu City could resolve its problem.

Chi Yan explained that ordinary people in Qingliu City had developed spreading bodily abnormalities after local authorities mishandled the investigation, leading to the city’s quarantine. Su Bai recalled a past incident near Qingliu University and wondered whether it was connected, while the fish-scale symptoms stirred another thought.

• Su Bai asked Chi Yan whether the Relevant Authorities’ player team had reached Qingliu City, and Chi Yan described how officials had let the abnormalities worsen before asking Honghuai City for help.
• Su Bai recalled being turned away from two sealed blocks near Qingliu University in his previous life and later seeing reports of shackled, sack-covered people and dead enforcement officers.
• Chi Yan warned that the abnormalities could spread beyond Qingliu City and compared them to a zombie apocalypse to help Su Bai understand their danger.
• Chi Yan explained that affected people first grew fish scales, then suffered unbearable itching, and finally rotted after tearing the scales off.

Su Bai and Chi Yan discussed the Qingliu City outbreak and suspected links between it and the Nightmare World. As a Ghost Infant approached their hiding place in the Happy Hotel, Su Bai listened through his Vengeful Ghost Puzzle Pieces.

• Su Bai asked Chi Yan about the affected people in Qingliu City, and Chi Yan explained their hunger for fresh flesh, their resistance to pain, and how contact with their blood or bodily tissue could spread the condition.
• Chi Yan described how the outbreak had worsened after a second wave of Players arrived, with affected people appearing beyond the sealed area and reports of masked strangers injecting them with something.
• Chi Yan suggested that events in the Real World might be connected to the Nightmare World, and Liu Yongzhi tried to use Chi Yan's official-team connection to persuade Su Bai to join his team.
• Chi Yan rebuked Liu Yongzhi for neglecting his wife and child in Qingliu City, and the room fell silent.
• Su Bai learned from Little Fire that a Ghost Infant was approaching, then used his Vengeful Ghost Puzzle Pieces to hear its eerie cries and other nearby sounds.

As the Hide-and-Seek Game neared its end, Chi Yan explained that his late wife and unborn child had died in the Nightmare World, leaving him emotionally attached to the Ghost Infant. Su Bai used Little Fire to drive the Ghost Infant away, but the remaining Ghost Creatures began losing control before the hour was over.

• Little Fire relayed the Ghost Creatures’ eerie voices from the corridor while Liu Yongzhi’s ability kept them from reaching the players in their rooms.
• Su Bai asked Chi Yan why he treated the Ghost Infant differently, and Chi Yan revealed that his pregnant wife had died in the Nightmare World.
• Chi Yan said he feared his unborn child might have become a Ghost Infant and admitted he might do anything the creature asked of him.
• Su Bai sent Little Fire to block the Ghost Infant, which fled from the blue flame when its Daddy did not appear.
• Liu Yongzhi sensed his ability was close to failing as the hour neared its end, and Little Fire reported that the remaining Ghost Creatures had not chosen rooms and were starting to lose control.

As Liu Yongzhi’s barrier weakened, the ghost searching for its little brother approached Room 413 while Su Bai and Chi Yan stayed silent. A bell rang just before it could reach them, ending the Hide-and-Seek Game and leaving the players to wonder how many had been caught.

• As Liu Yongzhi’s isolation barrier began to fail, the voices outside grew increasingly threatening and disturbed him.
• Chi Yan immobilized Liu Yongzhi, calming him as Su Bai and Chi Yan waited quietly in the room.
• Su Bai and Chi Yan heard a ghost approach Room 413, murmuring about its little brother.
• The ghost stopped outside the door, but a bell rang and ended the game before it entered.

After the Hide-and-Seek Activity ended, Su Bai, Chi Yan, and Liu Yongzhi left the Inn room and reunited with the surviving players. Su Bai noticed that Wu Heng was missing, and the group headed for the Lobby to find him and await dinner.

• The game ended, the Ghost Creature outside stopped attacking, and Chi Yan released Liu Yongzhi from his restraints.
• Chi Yan, Su Bai, and Liu Yongzhi left their room and learned that dinner would begin after players whose games ended early completed punishment tasks.
• The group met Tan Ying, Ai Qing, and Li Feiwen, who hinted that they would keep in touch after leaving the game.
• On the second floor, Su Bai found Zhi Yuan and Wen Wen but could not find Wu Heng, so he asked the other players where he was.
• Tan Ying suggested Wu Heng might already be in the Lobby, and Su Bai led the others there.

Su Bai and the other players returned to the lobby, where their Ghost Creature family members gathered around them. Xiao An demanded blood as punishment for Liang Yuyan, leaving her injured and facing the little ghost’s hunger.

• Su Bai and the players entered the lobby, where their Ghost Creature family members reclaimed them and crowded around them.
• Liang Yuyan complained that Xiao An had found her instead of Su Bai’s family member, and blamed Su Bai for her predicament.
• Xiao An defended Su Bai, threatened to drink Liang Yuyan’s blood, and prompted the Zombie Waiter to bring over a fruit knife.
• Liang Yuyan cut her finger to offer blood, but Xiao An lunged at her and bit her wrist.

Xiao An bit Liang Yuyan during the punishment, leaving her badly wounded, while Wu Heng completed his punishment simply by lifting his ghost girl. The ghost waitress began dinner and told the players to prepare meals their Family Members enjoyed, leaving them to head toward the kitchen worried that they might be the ingredients.

• Xiao An bit Liang Yuyan's wrist, then rejected her blood and screamed until she passed out from pain and blood loss.
• Tan Ying used special bandages to stop Liang Yuyan's bleeding and help her recover.
• Wu Heng lifted his ghost girl when she asked, and told Tan Ying he had been caught because he never left his room.
• The ghost waitress told the players to prepare food for themselves and their Family Members in the kitchen, warning them to observe their Family Members' growing appetites.
• Wen Wen wondered whether the hotel's most delicious ingredients were the players, and Liang Yuyan stiffened as Tan Ying supported her toward the kitchen.

Su Bai and Wu Heng prepared vegetables for their young ghost “Family Members,” baffling the other Players at the Happy Hotel. Xiao An angrily ate his greens after Su Bai gently warned him, while Wu Heng’s little girl ghost devoured hers after he tapped her plate.

• The Players entered the kitchen and prepared plates of food for their “Family Members,” mostly choosing raw meat.
• Su Bai selected vegetables for Xiao An, saying he needed them to grow tall, and Wu Heng also chose vegetables for his child.
• Back in the Lobby, Xiao An angrily slapped the table when he saw the vegetables on his plate.
• Su Bai gently urged Xiao An to eat his greens, and Xiao An began shoveling them down while threatening to use Su Bai’s blood for dressing.
• Wu Heng tapped the little girl ghost’s plate, prompting her to bury her head in it and devour the vegetables.
• The other Players watched in shock, then turned back to their own “Family Members” to see whether they preferred vegetables to raw meat.

Su Bai confronted Wu Heng in his room to test his suspicion that Wu Heng was the mysterious Betrothed, and Wu Heng reacted when Su Bai mentioned Yao. Their tense exchange ended when Tan Ying walked in on Wu Heng holding Su Bai’s wrist.

• The Players watched their Ghost Creature Family Members eat dinner, then some went to the Kitchen while Su Bai and Wu Heng left the Lobby together.
• Su Bai followed Wu Heng into his room and asked whether they had met before, explaining that Wu Heng seemed strangely familiar.
• When Su Bai mentioned asking his friend Yao for help remembering, Wu Heng grabbed his wrist and told him to wait.
• Tan Ying arrived to gather the Players and found Wu Heng holding Su Bai’s wrist, then awkwardly asked if she was interrupting.

Su Bai, Wu Heng, and the other players gathered in the Lobby to discuss how to survive the Happy Hotel’s escalating demands and whether they should test its rules. They reached no agreement and left the meeting without a plan for the next day’s activities.

• Tan Ying invited Su Bai and Wu Heng to a player meeting after finding the hotel’s Ghost Creatures asleep in their rooms.
• The players gathered in the Lobby, where Liu Yongzhi used his ability to create a soundproof space around their tables.
• Li Feiwen warned that the Ghost Creatures’ demands for food might escalate until they wanted to eat people, and Chi Yan suggested eliminating the players’ “family members.”
• Zhi Yuan proposed causing a minor injury to a “family member” to test the rules and their punishment, while Su Bai privately considered how his treatment of Xiao An had gone unpunished.
• Li Feiwen challenged Zhi Yuan to test his own proposal, but Zhi Yuan refused, and the players ended the meeting without agreeing on a plan.

After the players failed to agree on how to handle the Happy Hotel, Su Bai meditated on ways to end the game before its deadly later days. On the second day, Xiao An’s condition worsened, and its cryptic words suggested it expected to receive something soon.

• The players returned to their rooms without reaching an agreement, while Wu Heng left before Su Bai could speak with him.
• Su Bai reviewed the first day’s clues and resolved to find a way to end the game before the sixth day.
• After hearing the corridor bell, Su Bai used the Mist Shop to wash, change, and eat before returning to the hotel.
• Su Bai saw that Xiao An’s frostbite and eerie veins had worsened on the second day.
• Xiao An said it was cold and hungry, then stopped before reaching for Su Bai and muttered that it only had to wait a little longer.

Su Bai and the other players prepared breakfast for their Ghost Creature Family Members, whose reactions to the food had changed. The Zombie Waiter announced that the next games would be Treasure Hiding in the morning and Treasure Hunting in the afternoon.

• Su Bai joined the exhausted players as they gathered and went to the Lobby for breakfast instructions.
• The Zombie Waiter told the players to prepare breakfast themselves and remember their Family Members' preferred foods.
• Su Bai and Wu Heng supervised Xiao An and the Little Female Ghost as they ate vegetables, while most other players served raw meat.
• Most Ghost Creatures rejected the meat, and Ai Qing's Ghost Creature demanded something fresh; the creatures then faced the front desk alongside the players.
• The Zombie Waiter placed ten game rule cards on the counter and announced Treasure Hiding for the morning and Treasure Hunting for the afternoon.

The players received the rules for the second day's Treasure Hunt Game, in which ghost family members would hide their treasures and players would search for them. Su Bai realized the treasures might be fresh flesh and blood taken from the players and began considering how to protect Wen Wen.

• The Zombie Waiter left the Treasure Hunt Game rules at the front desk and disappeared into the stairwell.
• Li Feiwen handed out the ten rule cards and drew hostile attention from Wu Heng when he approached Su Bai.
• Su Bai read that ghost family members would hide treasures in the morning and players would search for them in the afternoon, with no punishment for failing.
• Su Bai suspected the treasures would be the players' fresh flesh and blood, making the game dangerous despite its lack of punishment.
• Su Bai assessed the other players and decided to take precautions in secret for Wen Wen.

Tan Ying and Li Feiwen pulled the players away from their Ghost Creature Family Members before the treasure hunt began, using her shadow ability and his Holy Fire. Su Bai crossed the flames and joined them, and Tan Ying began explaining what might happen next.

• Tan Ying used her shadow ability to pull most of the players toward the stairs, but she could not connect her shadow to Su Bai's.
• Li Feiwen spread liquid from a porcelain bottle around the group and lit it, creating golden Holy Fire that drove the Ghost Creatures back.
• Liu Yongzhi, Liang Yuyan, and Ai Qing questioned the sudden move, while Tan Ying and Li Feiwen explained that they had acted to separate the players from the creatures before the bell rang.
• Su Bai left the Lobby and crossed the Holy Fire, which did not harm him or his clothes.
• After everyone else reached the far side of the flames, Tan Ying prepared to explain what might happen next.

Tan Ying and the players discussed how to survive the morning’s Treasure Hiding and Treasure Hunting rounds without letting the Ghost Creatures take parts of their bodies. Liang Yuyan revealed how her Straw Man could serve as a decoy, while Su Bai noticed how much the Player Forum had changed from the one he remembered.

• Tan Ying explained that the Ghost Creatures might try to take body parts as treasures, and the players considered how the rules limited what they could steal.
• Li Feiwen said his remaining Holy Water and Holy Fire could help them hold off the Ghost Creatures, and Tan Ying planned to move the group upstairs before each fire went out.
• Tan Ying asked the players to share abilities that could help, and Liang Yuyan demonstrated how she used blood to animate a Straw Doll.
• Liang Yuyan explained that her Straw Man could lure Ghost Creatures away, and that advice from veteran players on the Player Forum had helped her develop her ability.
• Su Bai reflected that the Player Forum and its official team differed greatly from what he remembered from his previous life.

The players discussed their abilities and how those abilities might develop, while Su Bai encouraged Liang Yuyan and learned what the others could do. The conversation ended with everyone waiting for Su Bai to describe his own ability.

• Su Bai praised Liang Yuyan's Straw Man ability and suggested that she could develop stronger puppet guardians in the future.
• Ai Qing explained that her scream could damage Strange Creatures but had little effect on Ghost Creatures, and Tan Ying reassured her.
• Wen Wen said she would seek advice from the Player Forum about developing her ability, and Tan Ying encouraged her.
• Zhi Yuan said he had been using his ability and preparing for the game's end, but refused to explain further.
• Chi Yan and Wu Heng briefly described their abilities, while Su Bai wondered whether Wu Heng's unusual body explained why Tan Ying's shadow could not touch him.
• The other players turned to Su Bai, who considered the abilities of his puzzle pieces but had not yet chosen what to reveal.