Chapter Summaries

Su Bai examined Lin Wei’s mutations and found that his power resembled Lorimas’s, though it was chaotic and eerie. After suppressing some of it, Su Bai called the person who had contacted Lin Wei and arranged to meet them at the Mist Shop.

• Su Bai used Meditation to sense the chaotic power mutating Lin Wei and recognized similarities to Lorimas’s power.
• Su Bai erased some of the power, calming Lin Wei and confirming that the transformation could be suppressed.
• Su Bai borrowed Lin Wei’s phone and called the number that had most recently contacted him.
• Su Bai claimed Lin Wei was with him at the Mist Shop, and the caller gave him an address before hanging up.

Su Bai questioned Lin Wei about whether his indebted friend was connected to what had happened to him, then put Lin Wei into suspended sleep to halt his fear and mutation. Su Bai went to the agreed meeting place and revealed that Lin Wei’s bloodied, monstrous friend had been waiting to ambush him.

• Su Bai challenged Lin Wei’s belief that his friend had called to repay his debt, and Lin Wei began to suspect the friend was involved in his ordeal.
• Su Bai used the Puzzle Piece’s power to suspend Lin Wei’s bodily functions, mutation, and fear, then left him sleeping in the Mist Shop.
• Su Bai followed his old phone’s navigation toward the remote abandoned warehouse where he had agreed to meet someone.
• Su Bai sensed a stronger, chaotic red moon power following him and stopped to draw out the hidden attacker.
• Su Bai dodged the ambush and saw Lin Wei’s bloodied, wounded friend had become a monster.

Su Bai subdued a mutated man and brought him to the Mist Shop as a research subject. He used his Puzzle Piece to clear much of the chaos inside the man’s body, leaving him alive and in a more stable condition.

• Su Bai recognized the monster as a human still fighting to retain his reason and used Hypnosis to make him collapse.
• Su Bai brought the unconscious man into the Mist Shop, where Kai Xin retreated from the smell of blood.
• Su Bai examined the man and sensed rampant mutations and organisms spreading through his body.
• Su Bai wove his power through the man’s body, uprooting the mutations and subduing the organisms.
• Su Bai withdrew his hand, exhausted but relieved that the first proper test had succeeded.

Su Bai treated a mutant in Qingliu City, but the man’s body began to fail when the remaining powers destabilized him. Su Bai drew the powers into himself and was interrupted by the arrival of a familiar, aged man.

• Su Bai observed the mutant’s wounds healing after he removed most of the chaotic power from his body.
• The mutant’s pain returned as new cracks and bleeding appeared, and Su Bai realized the remaining powers were overwhelming his weakened body.
• Su Bai drew the familiar power and chaotic energy out of the mutant and into himself, then regulated and purified them through meditation.
• As Su Bai finished handling the power, a weary, aged man he had not seen in months appeared at the shop entrance.

Su Bai reunited with Qin Ge, now a scarred and weary leader of the Relevant Authorities' Player squad, at the Mist Shop in Qingliu City. Qin Ge admitted that the city's Mutation had cost him many squad members and left him despairing, and Su Bai's arrival gave him renewed hope.

• Su Bai recognized Qin Ge as the Player and squad leader he had met during the Route 444 Bus Nightmare Game.
• Qin Ge entered the Mist Shop, and Su Bai saw his white-streaked hair, numerous scars, and signs of hardship.
• Su Bai teased Qin Ge about being afraid of Qingliu City's Mutation, but Qin Ge explained that his concern was for the squad members who had gone missing.
• Qin Ge said he had been nearing despair before finding Su Bai in Qingliu City.
• Qin Ge expressed confidence in Su Bai's exceptional strength and hope that he could help with the crisis.

Su Bai agreed to work with Qin Ge and revealed that he had a way to treat people infected by Qingliu City's mutation. Qin Ge eagerly took him to the Relevant Authorities' base, hoping Su Bai could help someone close to him.

• Qin Ge worried Su Bai would vanish like the investigators he had sent out, but Su Bai assured him he had theories about the mutation and ways to protect himself.
• Su Bai declined to explain why he had come to Qingliu City and instead focused on whether they could work together.
• Qin Ge saw the two hypnotized mutants in the Mist Shop and learned that Su Bai was trying to treat them; he asked whether infected people could be cured.
• Su Bai promised he could treat the infected and offered to go to Qin Ge's base immediately, prompting Qin Ge to rush out with him.
• Qin Ge drove Su Bai to the Relevant Authorities' base, explaining that the team had chosen a conspicuous location so others would know they had tried to protect Qingliu City.

Qin Ge brought Su Bai to a concealed base in Qingliu City and explained how players investigating the mutation had vanished or been badly injured. He asked Su Bai to save Sha Linghai, a former acquaintance who had been wounded protecting civilians.

• Qin Ge led Su Bai through a hidden elevator to the base's top floor and described how his missing teammates had disappeared from both the Real World and the Nightmare World.
• Qin Ge recounted how a teammate had followed a monster holding civilians hostage and later returned with a bite wound that worsened despite treatment.
• Su Bai noticed Sha Linghai bound and unconscious on a sofa, and recognized him from the Ghost Bride's game.
• Qin Ge explained that Sha Linghai had been injured protecting citizens and pleaded with Su Bai to save him, promising to offer whatever he could.

Su Bai removed most of the mutating power from Sha Linghai and restored his failing bodily functions. Sha Linghai began breathing steadily and his wounds started to heal, leaving Qin Ge stunned by the apparent recovery.

• Su Bai examined Sha Linghai and sensed that the mutating power was consuming his body despite another Player's Hypnosis ability.
• Su Bai explained to Qin Ge that he could remove most of the mutating power but could not guarantee a full recovery or rule out lasting effects.
• Qin Ge agreed to let Su Bai try, since Sha Linghai was unlikely to survive another two days.
• Su Bai shut down Sha Linghai's bodily functions, extracted the foul power, and quickly restored his signs of life.
• Sha Linghai began breathing steadily as his color returned and his wounds started closing, astonishing Qin Ge.

Su Bai stabilized Sha Linghai and exchanged information with Qin Ge about Qingliu City's spreading monster crisis. Su Bai suspected that a player from Honghuai City had orchestrated the disaster, and he proposed that the arrival of the first team of players marked the crisis's turning point.

• Su Bai confirmed that Sha Linghai was alive and stable, though still asleep and covered in scales and dark scabs.
• Qin Ge thanked Su Bai and explained that Qingliu City's Relevant Authorities had discovered the monsters before players became involved.
• Qin Ge recounted that four players from Honghuai City defeated the first monster but burned it without investigating, after which more contagious monsters appeared and Qingliu City was locked down.
• Qin Ge said he had later led a team to Qingliu City, where they remained stationed.
• Su Bai suggested that a player, possibly one of the Honghuai City team, had engineered the crisis and caused official players to disappear.
• Su Bai theorized that the initial mutation may have resulted from accidental exposure to a poisonous substance, while the four players' intervention had triggered the wider disaster.

Su Bai argued that a Player or Players from Honghuai City's team had discovered Poison Grass and triggered Qingliu City's Mutation to conduct experiments. Qin Ge began to reconsider the team’s role, and Su Bai prepared to explain why Poison Grass might also benefit humans, starting with the hotel Lorimas.

• Su Bai reasoned that Poison Grass was rare and that the Mutation escalated after four Players from Honghuai City returned to Qingliu City.
• Su Bai proposed that a Player found Poison Grass while hunting mutants and sought more samples and test subjects to study its effects.
• Qin Ge questioned why the first mutant had been killed, and Su Bai suggested the mutant might instead have been captured and hidden.
• Qin Ge revealed that three of the four Players had witnessed a fire-ability user burn the mutant’s corpse, prompting Su Bai to suspect all four Players had planned the Mutation together.
• Qin Ge challenged Su Bai to explain how Poison Grass could benefit humans, and Su Bai began his account with the hotel Lorimas.

Su Bai told Qin Ge why he suspected players were continuing the Elixir of Immortality experiment behind Qingliu City's mutations. Qin Ge contacted his team and learned Kong Rui had leads on other mutated people, leaving Qin Ge worried that his team members might be involved.

• Su Bai recounted how players at the Lorimas Grand Hotel used Lorimas's flesh and blood to make an unfinished elixir that transformed other players into half-human, half-fish creatures.
• Su Bai explained that the surviving creatures could share what happened at the hotel, and argued that a player was likely using Poison Grass in Qingliu City to continue the immortality experiment.
• Qin Ge tried to reach his team members, but only Kong Rui answered.
• Qin Ge told Kong Rui that Su Bai had treated Sha Linghai, whose wounds had healed and whose heartbeat and breathing had returned to normal.
• Kong Rui said he had leads on other mutated people and hurried toward the base to meet Su Bai.
• Su Bai remarked that Kong Rui sounded as if his experiment had reached a bottleneck, and Qin Ge admitted that his team members might be involved.

Su Bai and Qin Ge discussed the abilities and teamwork of the four Players who hunted the earliest mutants, including how they managed the dangerous side effects of Qi Yan’s fire ability. Two team members arrived at the Rest Room, eager to meet the man who had treated Sha Linghai, and were stunned by his recovery.

• Qin Ge told Su Bai that Kong Rui, Jiang Hong, Lin Xiao'an, and Qi Yan had worked together to hunt the earliest mutants.
• Qin Ge explained that Jiang Hong could help regulate Qi Yan’s body, while Lin Xiao'an’s Hypnosis could stop him from using his destructive fire ability.
• Su Bai inferred that the team had formed to compensate for Qi Yan’s severe ability side effects, and Qin Ge grew uneasy about how quickly Qi Yan’s vitality was being depleted.
• A man and a woman hurried into the Rest Room and asked Qin Ge whether Su Bai was the man who had treated Sha Linghai.
• The newcomers saw Sha Linghai sleeping on the sofa and were astonished by how much he had recovered.

Su Bai and Qin Ge presented him to Lin Xiao'an and Kong Rui as Su Heng, a powerful healer connected to the Nameless Society, hoping to infiltrate the group investigating Qingliu City's mutation while protecting his real-world connections. Lin Xiao'an and Kong Rui tried to keep him at their base, and another arrival interrupted their conversation.

• Su Bai met Lin Xiao'an and Kong Rui, whom Qin Ge introduced as his team's famous model couple.
• Qin Ge and Su Bai claimed Su Bai was Su Heng, a hard-to-contact healer from the Nightmare World who had cured Sha Linghai.
• Su Bai said he had returned to Qingliu City to help and directed the couple to find him at the Grocery Store beside University Street.
• Lin Xiao'an revealed that Jiang Hong was bringing back another mutant, while she and Kong Rui watched Su Bai to prevent him from leaving.
• Lin Xiao'an and Kong Rui kept making conversation with Su Bai for nearly an hour until someone arrived by private elevator.

Su Bai met Jiang Hong and examined the supposedly dangerous mutant his team had captured. He suspected the woman was a conscious victim of prolonged experimentation rather than the vicious hunter Jiang Hong described.

• Jiang Hong arrived with a woman bound inside a supermarket cart, and Lin Xiao'an and Kong Rui introduced him to Su Bai.
• Kong Rui and Jiang Hong explained that the team had captured the mutant while tracking her and that Qi Yan had been injured or incapacitated during the pursuit.
• Jiang Hong described the woman as a powerful hunter who had killed many people for blood, while Su Bai noticed her burns seemed older than the recent capture.
• Su Bai saw that the bound woman repeatedly mouthed “Help me” and had wounds on her lips, suggesting she was still aware and trying to restrain herself.
• Su Bai noticed needle marks across her hands and arms and suspected she had been tortured and experimented on in a laboratory.

Su Bai treated Jiang Hong’s heavily mutated female experimental subject, using Hypnosis and his power to stabilize and cleanse the vortex of tainted energy inside her. She survived the treatment and began healing, while Jiang Hong and Lin Xiao'an watched in shock.

• Jiang Hong warned Su Bai that the female mutant was stronger and more corrupted than any mutant they had encountered, and Su Bai noticed her hidden needle marks and signs of forced blood feeding.
• Su Bai began treating the restrained mutant, using Hypnosis to slow her body and pouring his power into the vortex of chaotic energy inside her.
• Su Bai overwhelmed the vortex, drew out most of the tainted energy, and concealed the powerful energy returning to his own body from the others.
• Su Bai restored the mutant’s bodily functions, and she fell asleep as her wounds healed and her scales took on a cold sheen.
• Jiang Hong and Lin Xiao'an watched in shock as the treatment transformed the female mutant.

Su Bai treated a female mutant whose physical condition astonished Jiang Hong and the others, then arranged to leave the Base while promising to return the next day. After Su Bai departed, Jiang Hong and Qin Ge exchanged pointed remarks about the danger of Players vanishing into game worlds.

• Jiang Hong assessed the female mutant and declared that her strength surpassed even Qi Yan's recovered condition.
• Jiang Hong proposed keeping Su Bai at the Base, but Qin Ge argued that there might not be enough mutants in Qingliu City to justify it.
• Jiang Hong asked Su Bai to share where he was staying, and Su Bai directed them to the shop called Mist on Commercial Street in University Town.
• Su Bai said he was exhausted, asked Qin Ge to care for the mutants, and promised to return the next day to continue treating the female mutant.
• After Su Bai left, Qin Ge questioned Jiang Hong's change of heart and warned that Players could disappear into game worlds; Jiang Hong replied with a pointed remark about vanishing after two weeks.

Su Bai let Jiang Hong's people follow him to the Mist Shop so they would believe he was vulnerable and make their planned move. After a night of meditation and unexpected rest, his tainted energy was fully assimilated, and he waited for them to appear.

• Su Bai noticed he was being followed and took a bus back to the Mist Shop instead of using his ability to return directly.
• Su Bai sent Qin Ge a message asking him to take Lin Wei and Specimen Number One back to the Base, then asked Little Black Cat to watch the shop.
• Su Bai meditated in the Rest Room to contain and assimilate the tainted power, but fell asleep after feeling a cool hand soothe his forehead.
• Su Bai woke at dawn refreshed and found the tainted energy fully assimilated into his power.
• Su Bai waited at the Mist Shop, hoping Jiang Hong and the others would make their move.

Su Bai took Lin Wei and the Number One specimen to the Base, checked on Sha Linghai and the Female Mutant, and warned Qin Ge that the Female Mutant might know who caused Qingliu City's Mutation. After leaving the Base with Jiang Hong and Kong Rui, Su Bai realized they were not driving him back to the Mist Shop.

• Su Bai had Jiang Hong and Kong Rui move the bloodstained sofas out of the Mist Shop, where the atmosphere grew peaceful after the blood was removed.
• Su Bai rode with Jiang Hong and Kong Rui to the Base, carrying unconscious Lin Wei and the Number One specimen in the trunk.
• Su Bai checked Sha Linghai and the Female Mutant, then resumed the bodily functions of Lin Wei and the Number One specimen; Lin Wei showed signs of recovery while Number One remained unconscious and began healing.
• Su Bai told Qin Ge that the Female Mutant might know secrets about Qingliu City's Mutation and that those responsible might try to prevent her from waking.
• Qin Ge refused Su Bai's offer to hide the Female Mutant, saying he wanted to see who made the first mistake.
• Jiang Hong and Kong Rui offered to drive Su Bai back to the shop, but within five minutes he realized they had no intention of taking him there.

Su Bai allowed Jiang Hong and Lin Xiao'an to believe they had subdued him as they drove him to the Laboratory. He remained alert while they carried him into a hidden underground facility, where the chapter left him descending in an elevator.

• Su Bai questioned the route, but Jiang Hong touched him with his power and Lin Xiao'an tried to hypnotize him.
• Su Bai secretly neutralized Jiang Hong's ability and resisted Lin Xiao'an's hypnosis, then pretended to fall asleep.
• Jiang Hong and Kong Rui believed Su Bai was unconscious, and Kong Rui planned to search him at the Laboratory.
• Su Bai sensed the car approaching the streets near University Town and the abandoned park and factory he had visited before.
• Jiang Hong and Kong Rui carried Su Bai through a heavy iron gate into a metal building and descended in an elevator toward the hidden Laboratory.

Su Bai woke in a hidden underground facility, where Jiang Hong offered him a supposed confidentiality agreement in exchange for answering his questions and letting him leave. After Yao assured him the low-grade enslavement contract posed no threat, Su Bai signed it under the name Su Heng to gain the facility’s trust and information.

• Kong Rui carried Su Bai to a sealed underground room, where Jiang Hong used his ability to rouse him.
• Su Bai pretended to wake confused and asked where he was and whether he could leave.
• Jiang Hong offered Su Bai a document called a confidentiality agreement and promised to answer his questions after he signed.
• Su Bai recognized the document as a low-grade contract used to enslave Players, but Yao told him it would not threaten him.
• Su Bai acted reluctant, then signed the agreement as Su Heng.