Chapter Summaries

Su Bai and the others considered the psychological danger behind the Newborn Ward’s rule against accepting hugs and gathered at the stairwell to assess the blocked fifteenth floor. Su Bai suspected they would have to go there in the final stage, so he advised waiting rather than rushing in.

• Su Bai wondered whether the ward’s corridors and glaring lights could wear down the players until they accepted a comforting hug from someone they longed to see.
• The group reached the Emergency Stairwell, where a thin wire mesh blocked the stairs to the fifteenth floor.
• Tian Yue questioned the flimsy barrier, while Chi Yan warned it might be bait and Le Shiya suggested the floor could instead be safe.
• Tian Yue remained angry with Feng Xuelan for hiding the truth, and Su Bai considered why Tian Yue had been hostile toward him.
• When Chi Yan asked his opinion, Su Bai said they would probably visit the fifteenth floor during the final stage and did not need to rush.

The group descended toward the thirteenth floor after deciding not to investigate the fifteenth, and Xiang Feiyu nearly fell in a way that could have triggered a rule. As they reached the thirteenth floor, the stairwell lights suddenly went out.

• Su Bai learned from Le Shiya that Xie Ying kept looking back toward the fifteenth floor.
• Xiang Feiyu missed the final stair, but Chi Yan and Tian Yue caught him before he fell and broke a rule.
• Xu Rui apologized for the near accident, while Tian Yue reflected on his dependence on Xiang Feiyu and on her unresolved conflict with Feng Xuelan.
• Tian Yue studied Su Bai and Le Shiya and grew uneasy about the siblings' relationship.
• The group reached the thirteenth floor, and the lights went out as Chi Yan was about to lead them out of the stairwell.

The players waited in the dark between the thirteenth and fourteenth floors as an unseen creature scraped toward the stairwell. When the lights returned, the scraping stopped, and Chi Yan saw only nurses in the corridor.

• Su Bai realized the lights could fail unpredictably and warned himself that the creature might appear at any moment.
• Xie Ying told the players to stay quiet, watch both stairwell doors, and prepare to attack anything that approached.
• Su Bai thought about the growing Player Forum trade in items and touched his beads, hoping to capture powerful creatures to restock his shop.
• Su Bai and the others heard scraping approach from both floors, and Le Shiya gripped his hand as it reached the thirteenth-floor stairwell.
• The lights suddenly blazed on and the scraping vanished; Chi Yan checked the corridor and said only nurses were outside.

Chi Yan and the other players explored the thirteenth floor of the Newborn Ward and found a lounge-like lobby instead of patient rooms. They reached a Buffet Restaurant full of appealing food and drinks, but Tian Yue warned that the ward’s rules forbade consuming liquids.

• Chi Yan led the players out of the stairwell and found a quiet corridor lined with motionless nurses.
• Le Shiya described the thirteenth floor’s open lobby, white furniture, and floor-to-ceiling windows to Su Bai.
• Chi Yan urged the group to keep moving because the lobby offered nowhere to hide.
• Le Shiya spotted a dining room, and Tian Yue recalled the rule against consuming liquids in the Newborn Ward.
• The players entered the Buffet Restaurant and found it stocked with colorful food and tempting drinks, most of which were forbidden liquids.

The Players resisted the tempting drinks in the Dining Room while following the Strange Creature’s Rules, then gathered dry food to take back to the fourteenth floor. Le Shiya told Su Bai that she had once genuinely struggled to use her ability, rather than pretending to tire herself out.

• Chi Yan reminded the Players of the four Rules and said he would eat fruit despite his unquenchable thirst.
• The Players found that the Dining Room’s food was dry and salty, so they avoided the drinks and packed food to take upstairs.
• Su Bai and Le Shiya had a chance to speak privately while the Players split into small groups.
• Le Shiya asked why Su Bai had not questioned her apparent effort when using her ability.
• Le Shiya told Su Bai that she had truly gasped for breath when she first mastered her ability.

Le Shiya told Su Bai how her talkative elementary school student talent helped her communicate with her grandmother, and described her struggles to support them. The group left the eerie Newborn Ward, while Su Bai sensed that the hospital’s unnatural calm might soon give way to danger.

• Le Shiya explained how she first reached her grandmother through her ability and gradually learned to speak to her more effectively.
• Le Shiya told Su Bai that the Special Action Group in Lanshan City undervalued her, leaving her unable to earn enough to pay her debts or improve her grandmother’s care.
• Su Bai comforted Le Shiya and learned that her uncle had brought her and her grandmother from Lanshan City to stay with him in Qingliu City.
• Tian Yue urged everyone to return upstairs because the Newborn Ward was too quiet, and the group agreed to leave.
• Su Bai compared the ward’s eerie stillness to the calm before a storm after recalling the surges of power at the Nurses’ Station.

The Players returned to the fourteenth floor with food, knowing that exhaustion and mental erosion could make them vulnerable to the Reverse Birth Corridor. As their hospital room came into view, the lights flickered and the nurses began to move.

• Veteran Players understood that staying in their rooms would not protect them from danger or mental contamination during the 72-hour survival game.
• The Players went to the Dining Room on the thirteenth floor to get food and preserve their strength and clarity.
• On the way back, Le Shiya watched the ceiling lights and planned how to get her older brother to cover if the lights went out.
• The Players returned to the fourteenth floor and walked past the motionless nurses toward their hospital room.
• The corridor lights began to flicker, and the nurses started moving.

As the lights flickered, the nurses began moving and one lunged at Xiang Feiyu, who fell after tripping over a branch. Le Shiya’s description led Su Bai to suspect that a huge tree was hidden within the Reverse Birth Corridor and controlled the nurses, whose branches made the scraping sound.

• The nurses moved whenever the lights went out, and the nearest one lunged toward Xiang Feiyu and Xu Rui.
• Xiang Feiyu dodged the nurse but tripped and fell, prompting Xu Rui to warn him to keep his hands off the floor.
• Le Shiya described thick, dead branches attached to the nurses’ backs and protruding through the corridor walls.
• Su Bai suspected an enormous tree lay at the corridor’s center and controlled the nurses through its branches.
• Su Bai recognized the scraping sound as the nurses dragging their branches along the floor.

After the corridor’s branches and nurses returned to their positions, Xiang Feiyu discovered that breaking the rules had made him several years younger. Su Bai feared the punishment would keep reducing their ages until they became unable to resist, leaving Le Shiya especially vulnerable.

• The corridor lights came back on, and the branches withdrew as the nurses returned to their motionless positions.
• Xu Rui hurried to Xiang Feiyu, who apologized for failing to react in time and said he thought he had broken the rules.
• Le Shiya, Tian Yue, and Xu Rui noticed Xiang Feiyu had grown younger, thinner, and developed a buzz cut and pimples.
• Xie Ying suggested Xiang Feiyu’s transformation was punishment for breaking the rules.
• Su Bai warned that repeated age loss could turn them into helpless children or infants, and worried that Le Shiya had little room for error.

The Players suspected that the Newborn Ward’s rules caused them to regress in age, and Chi Yan warned that four violations could turn them into newborns. Le Shiya noticed Xie Ying had shown no surprise when Xiang Feiyu changed, then grew dizzy beside Su Bai.

• The Players retreated to Room 1406, where Le Shiya described its peaceful pasture-themed decor.
• Feng Xuelan and Tian Yue feared the rules would gradually turn the Players into babies, while Xiang Feiyu questioned the fairness of age-based punishment.
• Chi Yan reminded the group that the Administrator had warned them not to violate the rules more than four times and suspected a fourth violation would turn anyone into a newborn.
• Le Shiya told Su Bai that Xie Ying had not reacted with surprise when Xiang Feiyu changed, as though she had expected it.
• Le Shiya called to Su Bai aloud and said she felt dizzy.

As the lights went out in Hospital No. 666, Le Shiya's somnolence took effect and she fell into a deep sleep. Su Bai and the others remained quiet while the nurses searched outside, but the darkness lingered and the room grew increasingly cold.

• Su Bai caught Le Shiya as her legs gave way, and Chi Yan recognized that her assigned illness, somnolence, had begun.
• Su Bai and Chi Yan put the unconscious Le Shiya in a hospital bed and covered her with a blanket.
• When the lights went out, Xu Rui heard the nurses scraping through the corridor, and the group fell silent.
• Su Bai meditated beside Le Shiya as the blackout lasted longer than before and the nurses paused outside the room.
• Su Bai noticed the temperature steadily dropping, and Le Shiya curled up beneath her blanket.

As the ward grew unbearably cold, Su Bai and the others escaped into the corridor when the lights returned. With no safe place left to hide, Su Bai proposed that they fight the nurses and clear a safe zone themselves.

• The ward's temperature fell rapidly while the players stayed silent as scraping sounds moved outside.
• When the corridor lights returned and the scraping receded, Chi Yan checked the hallway and found it warmer, with the nurses back to their usual behavior.
• Su Bai carried the sleeping Le Shiya out of the ward with the others.
• Su Bai suggested clearing a safe zone by fighting the nurses, and Tian Yue and Xie Ying agreed that the creatures might be defeatable.

Su Bai and the others considered whether their assigned rooms could serve as temporary shelters, while Xie Ying proposed investigating the forbidden fifteenth floor. A nurse then spoke with the power of “It,” luring the players to surrender as the corridor plunged into darkness.

• Su Bai theorized that the rooms grew colder the longer the players stayed inside and might recover after they left.
• Su Bai warned that if the rooms never warmed again, the group could eventually lose every safe shelter.
• Xie Ying asked the group to visit the fifteenth floor, but Chi Yan advised against entering the forbidden area without a desperate reason.
• A nurse spoke in a gentle voice, urging the players to surrender and become children, and Su Bai sensed that “It” had arrived.
• The corridor lights went out as “It” continued speaking like a sorrowful mother, trying to erode the players’ resolve.

Su Bai realized that the other players had been bewitched by the voice and were unaware of the approaching nurses. The Blood Epiphyllum Queen offered her power to help, and her blood-colored butterflies drifted toward the players.

• The voice faded, and Su Bai sensed the nurses drawing near through their scraping sounds.
• Su Bai noticed that the other players’ breathing and power fluctuations were unnaturally calm and realized they had been bewitched.
• Su Bai searched for a discreet way to wake the players while holding the sleeping Le Shiya.
• The Blood Epiphyllum Queen offered her power and sent blood-colored butterflies toward the bewitched players.

Su Bai recalled meeting the withering Blood Epiphyllum in the ruins and giving her a reason to live by taking her into his Puzzle Piece. He used her power through Blood Butterflies to restore the entranced players’ energy and emotions, and they began breathing again.

• Su Bai found Blood Epiphyllum withering in the ruins and asked to take her poisonous blood and vines.
• Blood Epiphyllum agreed to become a Puzzle Piece within Su Bai in exchange for him taking something else with him.
• Su Bai later realized that his words had given Blood Epiphyllum a reason to keep existing.
• Su Bai controlled Blood Butterflies empowered by Blood Epiphyllum and sent them to the other players.
• Su Bai used the butterflies to influence the players’ energy and stir their emotions, and they gasped as their breathing and heartbeats quickened.

Feng Xuelan was lured by a Strange Creature disguised as Tian Yue, but Tian Yue snapped her out of the hallucination and destroyed it. The group survived the encounter, and Chi Yan noticed Red Markings had appeared on Su Bai's face.

• Feng Xuelan approached the false Tian Yue, believing her angry exchange and marriage plans had only been a nightmare.
• Tian Yue shouted at Feng Xuelan and stabbed the disguised nurse through the temple with an electrified dagger.
• Tian Yue slapped Feng Xuelan, pulled her away from the Strange Creature, and helped her understand that she had been deceived.
• Feng Xuelan apologized and broke down, but Tian Yue told her they could argue and make up as friends and sisters.
• Chi Yan observed that Tian Yue's attack had worked on the nurses, then noticed Red Markings on Su Bai's face.

Su Bai explained that his new mark came from summoning Blood Butterflies, which helped the group resist a Strange Creature’s mental beguilement. The group realized the voice had trapped them in illusions, and Tian Yue revealed she had pinned one of the creatures.

• Su Bai told Chi Yan that the blood-red mark appeared after he summoned helpful creatures, and he kept the Blood Butterflies’ abilities vague.
• Xu Rui and Xiang Feiyu recalled being dazed after hearing the Strange Creature’s voice, while Chi Yan identified its influence as mental beguilement.
• Chi Yan noticed that Feng Xuelan had regressed several years in age, and Tian Yue observed that everyone had been caught in illusions regardless of their illnesses.
• Su Bai said the illnesses and Rules were meant to wear down their minds and warned that the voice might have been only the first attack.
• Tian Yue said they were not helpless and revealed that she had pinned one of the creatures.

Su Bai and the others discovered that the nurse and its Withered Branch could be harmed, though the branch resisted their first attacks. The group prepared to combine their abilities and strike again, leaving them with a chance to defeat the Strange Creature.

• Tian Yue's electrical power kept the nurse motionless, and Su Bai questioned whether the Withered Branch was the Strange Creature's main body or an avatar.
• Xie Ying struck the Withered Branch with her cleaver, but it bounced off without damaging it.
• Tian Yue imbued Xie Ying's cleaver with electricity, and Xie Ying's next blow cracked the branch and drew blackish liquid from it.
• Xu Rui, Xiang Feiyu, Feng Xuelan, and Tian Yue offered to combine their abilities to strengthen the next attack.

The group combined their abilities to help Xiang Feiyu sever a withered branch controlling a nurse, but the branch and nurse vanished and the wall repaired itself. Xie Ying warned that fighting the branches would leave them unprepared for more dangerous battles.

• Xu Rui enhanced Xiang Feiyu while Feng Xuelan hardened his cleaver and weakened the branch, and Tian Yue charged the blade with electricity.
• Chi Yan used his ability to slow the nurse as she retreated toward the wall.
• Xiang Feiyu struck the withered branch three times and cut it through.
• The nurse dissolved into dust, the severed branches withdrew, and the hole in the wall repaired itself.
• Xiang Feiyu dropped the cleaver after hurting his hand on the hard floor, and Xie Ying warned that the branches remained a serious threat.

Xie Ying explained how her team, Deep Dive, studied the power behind Players’ abilities and taught her a method for improving control over it. Su Bai recognized the power as Meditation and asked about Xie Ying’s teammates, learning that they were still alive.

• Xie Ying picked up the meat cleaver and warned the group that their abilities could not be used at full strength many more times.
• Xie Ying introduced Deep Dive, the small team she belonged to, and described how its members researched the power that enabled abilities.
• Xie Ying offered to teach the group methods for sensing and controlling that power to make the coming challenges easier.
• Su Bai recognized the power Xie Ying described as Meditation and wondered why Deep Dive had never appeared in his memories.
• Su Bai asked Xie Ying how her friends were, and she answered that they were all still alive.