Chapter Summaries

Xie Ying explained why she had shared Deep Dive’s discovery and demonstrated her enhanced strength to the players. She asked them to begin trying to escape Hospital No. 666, though Su Bai still suspected she was hiding something.

• Chi Yan and Tian Yue warned Xie Ying that her information was important enough to report to the Relevant Authorities.
• Xie Ying said Deep Dive sought the truth but worried that sharing it with every player could be dangerous.
• Xie Ying said she trusted the players to handle the discovery if they survived and left the hospital.
• Xie Ying used the Meat Cleaver to crack the corridor floor and revealed that she was a body-enhancement player.
• Xie Ying asked the players to start trying, while Su Bai sensed she was concealing something else.

The Players followed Xie Ying’s method to strengthen themselves, and most of them quickly entered a meditative state. Their practice was interrupted when the corridor began heating up, leaving them to fear the Strange Creature was about to attack again.

• The Players agreed to follow Xie Ying’s lead and practiced her method in the corridor.
• Xu Rui was the first to enter the meditative state, followed by Chi Yan, Le Shiya, Feng Xuelan, Tian Yue, Su Bai, and Xiang Feiyu.
• Xiang Feiyu noticed that his body felt unusually hot, and Tian Yue wondered whether it was a side effect of the method.
• Su Bai realized the corridor itself was heating up, so the Players stopped practicing and felt the warmth in the walls and floor.
• Chi Yan feared the Strange Creature might be trying to cook them alive after nearly freezing them in Room 1406.

As the hospital corridors grew dangerously hot, Chi Yan led the group toward the thirteenth floor, but they discovered that the floors were burning too and the stairwell offered little refuge. The group was left trapped between sealed fire doors when Xie Ying heard a baby crying.

• Chi Yan, Xu Rui, and Xiang Feiyu agreed to investigate the thirteenth floor before the rising heat became unbearable, and the group ate before setting out.
• Su Bai accepted dried fruit from Le Shiya and carried her as they hurried toward the stairwell, using the Blood Butterflies’ sight to keep up.
• The group found that the stairwell was cooler than the corridor, but Chi Yan burned his hand on the fourteenth-floor fire door and shut it.
• Xiang Feiyu reported that the thirteenth floor was extremely hot and that he had closed its fire door, leaving the group trapped in the stairwell.
• Xie Ying heard a baby crying and drew the group’s attention to the sound.

As the heat spread through the stairwell, Chi Yan led Su Bai and several others up to scout the fifteenth floor while Tian Yue, Xu Rui, and the others stayed behind. The chapter ended with the group below waiting, unaware that Su Bai and his companions would never return.

• Xiang Feiyu saw thick fog below the thirteenth floor, while Chi Yan noted that the heat was warping the emergency exit door and might soon reach the stairwell.
• Chi Yan decided to check the fifteenth floor and asked Su Bai to accompany him; Su Bai agreed, and Le Shiya insisted on going with him.
• Chi Yan, Su Bai, Le Shiya, and Xie Ying headed upstairs after Chi Yan tore through the wire mesh blocking the stairs.
• Xu Rui, Xiang Feiyu, Tian Yue, and Feng Xuelan chose to remain behind, citing Xu Rui's injury and their preference for caution.
• Tian Yue urged Feng Xuelan to meditate and wondered why Chi Yan had invited Su Bai upstairs, not knowing that the group would never return.

Chi Yan, Su Bai, and Le Shiya climbed toward the fifteenth floor to investigate, but Dense Fog cut off their retreat and severed all contact with the people below. The group found the fifteenth-floor doors ajar and faced the choice of going inside with no clear way back.

• Chi Yan and Su Bai went up the stairs to check the fifteenth floor, with Le Shiya and Xie Ying alongside them.
• Dense Fog surged up the staircase and blocked their way back down.
• Chi Yan called to Feiyu and Xu Rui, but no one below answered.
• Su Bai asked Le Shiya to contact the others, but her ability could not reach them.
• Su Bai used the Blood Butterflies to see that the fifteenth-floor safety doors stood slightly open, leaving the group to decide whether to enter.

With the mist closing in behind them, Su Bai and the others weighed whether to enter the fifteenth floor and learned how Deep Dive preserved its discoveries and final letters. The chapter ended with Su Bai sending Blood Butterflies into the mist to test what kind they faced.

• Chi Yan asked Su Bai whether the group should continue toward the fifteenth floor, and Su Bai warned that the mist was advancing and the Strange Creature controlled the Newborn Ward building.
• Su Bai explained that a Strange Creature with absolute control over a nightmare game could govern its territory, while Xie Ying described several kinds of mist and their dangers.
• Xie Ying revealed that Deep Dive had used two linked books to share reports and final letters, leaving her with the volume that became the team's legacy.
• Su Bai recalled that the Mist Shop's cards could lead people and nonhumans to the shop in the Nightmare World.
• Su Bai sent Blood Butterflies into the mist to test what kind they faced.

Su Bai summoned Cry to learn about the powerful Strange Creature in the Newborn Ward after his Blood Butterflies were devoured by the mist. Cry revealed that the being predated Hospital No. 666 and pursued an unknown goal, then vanished, leaving the group facing the dangerous choice of going to the fifteenth floor.

• Su Bai sent Blood Butterflies into the mist, but it corroded and devoured them, convincing him the team could not approach it.
• Chi Yan asked whether they had any option besides going to the fifteenth floor, and Su Bai said he might know someone with information about Hospital No. 666.
• Su Bai summoned Cry, whose presence startled Chi Yan and Xie Ying, then explained that she was his companion in the Vengeful Ghost Puzzle.
• Cry said the Strange Creature in the Newborn Ward had existed longer than Hospital No. 666, which had been built around her, and that her goal differed from those of other Strange Creatures.
• Cry admitted she did not know what the creature sought, told Su Bai to protect himself, and disappeared.
• Xie Ying asked whether Cry was one of Su Bai's summons, while Chi Yan demanded to know what they were facing.

Su Bai explained that the Players could survive the game without confronting the Strange Creature in the Newborn Ward, then questioned whether Xie Ying was Deep Dive's last surviving member. Xie Ying insisted that the other three members were still alive.

• Su Bai told Chi Yan that the game required them to survive for seventy-two hours, not confront the Strange Creature, and warned everyone to avoid Hospital No. 666.
• Xie Ying observed Su Bai and Le Shiya's abilities and wondered whether Su Bai belonged to Deep Dive.
• Su Bai said he suspected Xie Ying was the only Deep Dive member left and that her booklet held the last messages of the other three, who had gone to the Newborn Ward.
• Xie Ying denied being alone and firmly repeated that the other three Deep Dive members were still alive.

Su Bai learned that Xie Ying’s companions had left a message saying they were alive and staying in the safest place for Players, not asking for help. With the mist closing in, the group headed for the fifteenth floor, where Xie Ying hoped to find them.

• Su Bai questioned Xie Ying about her companions and suspected they had been trapped in the Reverse Birth Corridor.
• Xie Ying read her companions’ final message and insisted they were still alive somewhere she had not searched.
• Xie Ying explained that she had found almost nothing on the ruined fourth floor before being taken to the fourteenth floor and drawn into the game.
• Su Bai warned that the mist had caught up with them and pointed the group toward the fifteenth-floor emergency exit.
• Chi Yan decided to lead the group through the emergency exit, and everyone rushed toward the fifteenth floor.

Chi Yan, Su Bai, Xie Ying, and the others entered the eerily empty Fifteenth Floor as the safety door shut behind them, sealing them off from the mist. When the corridor suddenly shook and walls burst apart with withered branches, Su Bai summoned blood-red vines to protect the group.

• Chi Yan and the others stepped onto the brightly lit, lifeless Fifteenth Floor while the mist closed in behind them.
• The safety door swung shut, leaving the group in unnatural silence with no clear way back or other exit in sight.
• Xie Ying noted that the mist had not followed them inside, while Su Bai struggled to see through Blood Butterfly's vision.
• The corridor shook violently as cracks spread through the walls and countless withered branches burst through.
• Chi Yan retreated as Su Bai unleashed blood-red vines that shielded everyone from the attacking branches.

After Blood Epiphyllum’s vines protected the group from the Withered Branch, Xie Ying reflected on her search for her missing Deep Dive companions and her growing doubts about Su Bai. She confronted him, asking who he really was.

• Blood Epiphyllum’s blood-red vines shielded Su Bai and the others from the Withered Branch’s attack.
• Xie Ying recalled how she had wandered the Newborn Ward alone, lost her hearing, and entered the game while searching for her three missing companions.
• Xie Ying observed that Chi Yan repeatedly looked to Su Bai, so she began studying Su Bai herself.
• Xie Ying grew increasingly wary as Su Bai summoned creatures and plants despite claiming he could summon only small animals.
• Xie Ying looked at Su Bai amid the vines and asked, “Mr. Su, just who are you?”

Su Bai and Xie Ying were attacked by withered branches on the fifteenth floor while Blood Epiphyllum sensed that the creature behind them rejected her. As Su Bai questioned the voice claiming the place was safe, Blood Epiphyllum’s mention of the Human-Faced Forest stirred memories of the Rift.

• Withered branches burst through the wall and attacked Su Bai and Xie Ying, while Blood Epiphyllum’s vines shielded them.
• Blood Epiphyllum told Su Bai the branches avoided her vines and seemed disgusted by her, then began to mention the Human-Faced Forest before stopping herself.
• Su Bai connected the Human-Faced Forest to a disturbing vision he had seen when he fell into the Rift.
• The voice from the Nurses' Station demanded that the group keep the “filthy thing” out and urged them to become its children in a supposedly safe place.
• Su Bai challenged the voice to prove that its place was truly safe.

Su Bai and the others learned from the Strange Creature that the Nightmare World had once held thriving civilizations but was now a dying world giving way to the Eerie. The creature insisted they had to remain there and began telling them about a village and its Mother Tree of Life.

• The Strange Creature described how civilizations repeatedly rose and fell until the world's vitality was exhausted and death led into the Eerie's world.
• Su Bai realized the creature may have lured three people from Deep Dive by exploiting their desire to uncover the truth.
• Su Bai argued that the group should be allowed to leave, but the Strange Creature insisted they had to stay to survive.
• The Strange Creature began recounting a village whose infertile inhabitants prayed to a great tree that bore fruit containing new life, which they called the Mother Tree of Life.

After the corridor collapsed, Su Bai and the others discovered that the building was made from the Mother Tree of Life’s power. The hidden Fifteenth Floor was revealed as the Newborn Corridor, where thousands of babies floated inside flesh-colored sacs among the tree’s withered branches.

• The corridor walls and ceiling collapsed after the Mother Tree of Life was mentioned, but the debris dissolved before reaching Su Bai and the others.
• Su Bai explained that the building’s walls and ceiling were formed from the Mother Tree of Life’s power, while Blood Epiphyllum said Red Moon Power had corrupted it.
• The white light concealing the Fifteenth Floor dimmed, revealing dense withered branches woven into a corridor.
• Su Bai sent Blood Butterflies to inspect the flesh-colored sacs and discovered unconscious babies floating inside them.
• A voice welcomed Su Bai and the others to the Newborn Corridor.

Su Bai confronted the Mother Tree in Hospital No. 666’s Newborn Ward and learned how its grief over repeated civilizational collapses had driven it to imprison people as infant-like “children.” When he condemned the tree and its victims’ condition, the Mother Tree lost control and attacked his group.

• Su Bai saw sleeping babies clustered among the Mother Tree’s branches and demanded to know what it had done.
• The Mother Tree recounted how its children had repeatedly died in world-ending disasters and explained that grief had given it the power to isolate the ward from the outside world.
• Su Bai realized that the ward’s isolation might block the Red Moon Society from monitoring Players, and Blood Epiphyllum and the other Puzzle Pieces confirmed it.
• Su Bai accused the Mother Tree of regressing people into helpless infants and called the ward a hell that consumed people rather than protected them.
• The Mother Tree’s branches battered the Blood Vine as it declared that disobedient children deserved to die and nourish its other children.

Su Bai’s companions struggled against the enraged Mother Tree of Life as its power worsened everyone’s symptoms. He unleashed Little Fire’s flames and summoned his puzzle pieces, then ordered them to tear the fused tree and hospital apart.

• The Mother Tree of Life attacked the Blood Vine protecting Su Bai and the other players, while its growing power made Le Shiya, Chi Yan, Xie Ying, and the others suffer worsening symptoms.
• Su Bai used Blood Butterflies to carry Little Fire’s blue flames onto the tree’s withered branches, setting its body alight.
• The Mother Tree of Life cried out in pain and demanded to know what Su Bai had done.
• Su Bai summoned the Black Umbrella, Little Fire, the Giant Hound, the Ghost Bride, a female ghost, and the puzzle piece called Yao.
• Su Bai told his puzzle pieces to tear down the Mother Tree of Life, which had fused with the building.

Su Bai and his companions battled the entity by combining lightning, fire, blood barriers, poison, and Black Umbrella’s blade. As Su Bai agreed to absorb the entity’s power despite the pain, Xie Ying spotted the “fruit” and said that they were right there.

• Little Black unleashed lightning and blue flames while A Xi used blood to shield the group from the attacking branches.
• A Yao poisoned Blood Epiphyllum’s vines, which spread venom through the branches as Black Umbrella cut them apart.
• The entity roared in pain and fury as its branches were destroyed and Blood Vine burrowed deeper into them.
• Wu Heng warned Su Bai that absorbing the entity’s power would hurt more than before, and Su Bai agreed, saying he wanted to become less helpless and alone.
• Xie Ying watched the “fruit” where the trunks joined and murmured that they were right there.

Xie Ying and Su Bai destroyed the Mother Tree of Life’s fruit, freeing the infants trapped inside and absorbing some of the power that sustained them. The Mother Tree broke down and collapsed the ground beneath them, sending Su Bai and Wu Heng falling as they committed to devouring it.

• Xie Ying cut open several fruit, and the infants inside crumbled into ash amid blue flames and lightning.
• Wu Heng explained that the Mother Tree had been spending its power to keep the infants alive, while Su Bai noticed his beads had absorbed some of the power released.
• Xie Ying asked Su Bai to let all the infants return to dust, and Su Bai assured her he knew what to do.
• Wu Heng gave Su Bai his White Rope, which Su Bai wrapped around a branch transformed into a sword, and Su Bai, Ghost Umbrella, Little Fire, and the others began cutting open the fruit.
• The Mother Tree screamed over the loss of its children, then smashed the ground beneath the group and sent them falling.
• Su Bai caught Wu Heng as they fell and decided they would devour the Mother Tree of Life.

Trapped on the Fourteenth Floor, Xu Rui, Tian Yue, Feng Xuelan, and Xiang Feiyu used an explosion to escape the overheated stairwell, then fought their way through nurses to Room 1408. Exhausted and worsening under the game’s rules, they faced the possibility that the ward would soon become unsafe too.

• Feng Xuelan turned a folding umbrella into a heat-resistant shield, and Tian Yue shot the warped metal door to trigger an explosion that cleared a path through the corridor.
• Xu Rui, Tian Yue, Feng Xuelan, and Xiang Feiyu crossed the blast-scorched corridor, but nurses controlled by Withered Branches attacked them near the wards.
• Tian Yue recognized the gentle Feng Xuelan beside her as an illusion while the real Feng Xuelan fought the nurses with a hardened coat.
• Xiang Feiyu briefly broke through his confusion, charged the nurses with the deformed umbrella, and urged the others to run.
• Tian Yue and Feng Xuelan dragged Xu Rui and Xiang Feiyu into Room 1408, where they waited in exhaustion, unsure how long the ward would remain safe.

As the hospital floor collapses, Tian Yue and the others fall with Xiang Feiyu, believing they have no strength left to escape. Chi Yan appears above them and throws down Blood Vine, ordering them to grab on.

• Xu Rui gave up hope, but Tian Yue insisted she would keep fighting and wanted to bring survival-game methods back to the Special Action Group.
• A violent shaking split the hospital room and floor apart, and Xu Rui carried the injured Xiang Feiyu as the group fell.
• The walls around them shattered into weightless dust, leaving the group unable to stop their descent.
• Chi Yan appeared overhead and shouted for Tian Yue and the others to grab Blood Vine.