Chapter Summaries

Feng Ling recovered her memories while helping Su Bai fight through the ghosts at Building 1, and Su Bai used her flames to kill ghosts for the Blood-Colored Bead Necklace. At the rear, Fang Xiujie finished treating the wounded, and Ning Yan suddenly recognized the name Lan Xingchen.

• Feng Ling told Su Bai about the Nameless Society's item for entering the same game and described how she had lost her memories and abilities.
• Feng Ling thanked Su Bai for saving her twice as they fought toward the shattered entrance of Building 1.
• Su Bai recalled that his earlier actions had altered events and may have led to Feng Ling being attacked while she had no memories.
• Feng Ling spread flames to blind the ghosts, letting Su Bai pierce one through the fire and turn another bead on his necklace blackish red.
• Fang Xiujie finished healing the injured, and Ning Yan exclaimed that she recognized the name Lan Xingchen.

Ning Yan recognized Lan Xingchen as the rookie she and Fang Xiujie had tried to save three years earlier, and confronted him about his self-destructive existence in the Nightmare World. After slapping him, she challenged his belief that they had saved him so they could torment him.

• Ning Yan fell behind Su Bai and Feng Ling as exhaustion and memories of the past overwhelmed her.
• Ning Yan recognized Lan Xingchen and recalled how he had entered the Nightmare World in a suit, while Fang Xiujie confirmed he remembered him too.
• Lan Xingchen dropped his Butcher's Knife and closed his eyes, prompting Ning Yan to slap him.
• Su Bai and Feng Ling finished burning the immobilized ghosts, and Su Bai noticed the clock displayed "23:80."
• Ning Yan told Lan Xingchen that she and Fang Xiujie had wanted him to live and challenged him for underestimating them.

As the ghost faction’s score fell to zero, Happiness Residential Complex vanished and revealed a graveyard, restoring Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie’s memories. They explained that Lan Xingchen’s obsession with atoning had bound their dead souls to him and robbed them of rest, leaving him stunned.

• Ning Yan told Lan Xingchen that she and Fang Xiujie had sacrificed themselves because they had no chance of surviving, then she and Fang Xiujie began to suffer and turn translucent.
• As the ghost faction’s score dwindled, the lobby went dark, and Feng Ling’s flame revealed that the apartment building had become crumbling ruins.
• The ruins vanished into sand, revealing a graveyard where Su Bai recognized the coughing ghost as its gravekeeper.
• Ning Yan remembered that she and Fang Xiujie had never left because Lan Xingchen’s guilt and constant attempts to atone had bound them to him.
• Fang Xiujie and Ning Yan told Lan Xingchen that his obsession had disturbed them in death and denied them peace, leaving him shocked.

Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie explained how they had been trapped near Lan Xingchen and urged him to stop atoning for them and set them free. After they faded from sight, Sister Yao pressed Lan Xingchen to help their families, while Su Bai sensed that the game was nearing its end and recalled the coming upheaval in the Nightmare World.

• Fang Xiujie explained that he and Ning Yan had been bound near Lan Xingchen for three years until a force pulled them into the game and let them help him.
• Fang Xiujie and Ning Yan told Lan Xingchen to stop treating his guilt as atonement and to set them free by returning to the real world and living his life.
• Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie faded from sight after Ning Yan said goodbye to Sister Yao, who could not embrace her.
• Sister Yao told Lan Xingchen to stop running away and urged him to visit their families after escaping the Nightmare World.
• Su Bai concluded that the game might end once the supernatural faction's score reached zero and warned himself to prepare for the coming upheaval.

After the human players won the Happiness Residential Complex game, Su Bai questioned the Administrator, who revealed that dead players became weak supernatural beings and arranged for Su Bai’s next game to begin under unusual conditions. Su Bai returned to the real world with a cryptic message to deliver to the Ghost Shaman.

• Su Bai and Feng Ling watched Sister Yao scold Lan Xingchen, while Feng Ling told Su Bai she preferred him as a recruit and he refused her invitation.
• The nonhuman residents’ score reached zero, and Su Bai chose to return to the real world.
• The Administrator explained that supernatural beings formed from players who died in games were initially too weak to be seen or heard.
• The Administrator told Su Bai that his next game would require him not to enter as a human and asked him to complete a favor, though Su Bai could not refuse the arrangement.
• Before Su Bai was sent back to the real world, the Administrator told him to send regards to the Ghost Shaman.

Su Bai returned to the real world and sat beside his sleeping mother, Lin Wan, finding comfort in her peaceful condition and the sunlight. A letter from his homeroom teacher offered him a month of medical leave instead of processing his withdrawal, and the chapter ended with someone knocking at the hospital room door.

• Su Bai returned to Lin Wan's hospital room and used Black Umbrella to remove his disguise.
• Su Bai held Lin Wan's hand, saw that she was resting peacefully, and felt at home beside her.
• Su Bai opened the blackout curtains and window to enjoy the real world's sunlight while Happy chased the sunbeams.
• Su Bai found a letter from his homeroom teacher saying she had arranged a month of medical leave and hoped he would return to school.
• Someone knocked on Lin Wan's hospital room door as Su Bai read the letter.

Su Bai reunited with Aunt Zhang and Zhang Yibu at his mother’s hospital ward and considered returning to school now that her condition was stable. Zhang Yibu privately signaled that he wanted to discuss the Nightmare World and Qin Ge with Su Bai.

• Aunt Zhang and Zhang Yibu visited Su Bai’s mother, and Aunt Zhang was surprised by how much Su Bai had changed for the better.
• Su Bai greeted Zhang Yibu as if they had never met and thanked Aunt Zhang for offering to help with his mother’s medical bills.
• Su Bai reflected that his mother’s stabilized condition and the Mist Shop’s prospects might let him continue school and take the college entrance exam.
• Zhang Yibu asked to walk with Su Bai and secretly mouthed Qin Ge’s name to indicate that he wanted to discuss the investigator and the Nightmare World.

Su Bai learned about the Relevant Authorities’ new forum and its planned Trading Market, then saw a chance to sell Nightmare World goods online alongside the Mist Shop. After visiting his mother and reviewing the shop’s inventory, he found Xiao Wu confronting the Little Black Cat at the counter.

• Su Bai walked with Zhang Yibu, who explained that players could spend their cooldown in the real world or remain in the Nightmare World, and said Wan Shasha might have stayed behind.
• Zhang Yibu told Su Bai about the Relevant Authorities’ new forum, gave him an account, and described its planned Trading Market; Su Bai considered opening an online store for Nightmare World items.
• Aunt Zhang took Zhang Yibu home, and Su Bai sat with his mother before returning to the Mist Shop with Kai Xin.
• Su Bai reviewed the shop’s crafted goods and placed the ceramic ornament containing the cat spirits and the aunt on the counter as the shop’s first item not for sale.
• Xiao Wu appeared before the counter and, with the Little Black Cat, stared at it in an eerie silence.

Su Bai welcomed Little Black Cat into the Mist Shop, while Xiao Wu warned that the Administrator's commission might be dangerous and refused to reveal more about the Nightmare World. Su Bai vowed to uncover Xiao Wu's secrets after becoming stronger, then organized the remaining ghost powers into books for the shop.

• Su Bai brought Little Black Cat into the shop, and Xiao Wu reacted with hostility before the kitten transformed into a cord around Su Bai's wrist.
• Su Bai told Xiao Wu about the Administrator's commission and the message to the Ghost Shaman, but Xiao Wu withheld the Administrator's identity and other dangerous information.
• Su Bai teased Xiao Wu by comparing him with the kitten, then promised to complete the commission, grow stronger, and learn Xiao Wu's secrets.
• Su Bai placed the powers of three unidentified evil ghosts into three books and arranged them on the shop's shelves.

After filling the Mist Shop’s books with ghost power, Su Bai gained new products and felt his body grow stronger, but exhaustion drove him to sleep while holding Xiao Wu. As Su Bai slept, a mysterious black-and-red thread joined the cord around his wrist, and an unfamiliar voice vowed to accompany him next time.

• Su Bai learned that readers who endured the books’ psychological trials would gain a ghost’s ability for forty-eight hours, and he felt the Mist Shop’s power strengthening him.
• Su Bai urged the restless puzzle pieces to wait until he understood the Administrator’s commission in the next game.
• Overwhelmed by exhaustion, Su Bai went to the lounge and clung to Xiao Wu as he fell asleep.
• Xiao Wu stayed beside Su Bai and quietly called the Mist Shop a place created for him.
• As Su Bai neared waking, Xiao Wu became a cursed doll, and a black-and-red thread entwined itself around Kai Xin’s cord on Su Bai’s wrist.
• An unfamiliar voice said it would go with Su Bai next time.

After returning to school in the real world, Su Bai was abruptly summoned to the Lorimas Grand Hotel by the Administrator, who instructed him to accept a prepared identity and lay Lorimas to rest. Su Bai accepted the hotel attendant identity and watched the uniformed attendants leave, but the last uniform hanging in the changing room was a maid dress.

• Su Bai recalled how his teachers had helped him return to school and secure support for his studies and his mother's care.
• The Administrator transported Su Bai to a cramped changing room at the Lorimas Grand Hotel and told him to accept a prepared identity and lay Lorimas to rest.
• Su Bai decided to take the identity, hoping it would help him move through the hotel unnoticed by the players who had already arrived.
• The uniforms swelled into expressionless human-shaped attendants, who dressed themselves and filed out of the changing room.
• Su Bai considered blending in as an attendant, then saw that the only uniform left was a long maid dress.

Su Bai disguised himself as a maid attendant to avoid being seen leaving the changing room and entered the Lorimas Grand Hotel lobby with the other attendants. When Peng Zhen claimed to be the deputy leader of the Nameless Society and offered to lead the players, Su Bai recognized that he was lying.

• Su Bai decided to wear the remaining maid's dress and asked Black Umbrella to make his disguise inconspicuous.
• Black Umbrella disguised Su Bai as a strikingly beautiful attendant, and Su Bai joined the line of humanoid attendants entering the lobby.
• Thirty human players gathered in the lobby and watched the attendants arrive, with many drawn to Su Bai's appearance.
• Peng Zhen climbed onto the front desk, introduced himself as a seven-game veteran and deputy leader of the Nameless Society, and asked the players to follow his instructions.
• Su Bai recognized Peng Zhen's claim as a lie because Feng Ling's organization never admitted to having a name.

Su Bai observed the players in the Lorimas Grand Hotel as Peng Zhen claimed to be a deputy leader of the Nameless Society and took charge. Peng Zhen outlined the seven-day survival mission and its unusual hidden objective, while the players still lacked any rules or backstory about the hotel.

• Peng Zhen introduced himself as a deputy leader of the Nameless Society, and the players quieted to hear him.
• Lian Xiangyu supported having a temporary leader, introduced himself, and declared he would surpass Feng Ling.
• Peng Zhen described the hotel’s old-fashioned decor and brass room keys, noting the lack of elevators and modern equipment.
• Peng Zhen explained that the players had to survive seven days or complete the hidden mission to kill Lorimaris and leave early.
• Peng Zhen pointed out that the Administrator had provided no hotel backstory or rules, telling the players only to explore and seek useful information.

The human players repeated the Administrator’s instructions and discussed the unusual game start before Shen Dong'er connected Lorimas to white double roses and their symbolism. The hotel’s eight staff members then approached the players, with Su Bai still disguised as the beautiful waitress among them.

• Peng Zhen asked whether any player could reproduce the Administrator’s words, and Cheng Xun repeated the instructions from memory.
• Cheng Xun pointed out that the Administrator had spoken only after the players arrived at the hotel, but Peng Zhen and others dismissed his concern.
• Shen Dong'er identified Lorimas as a variety of white double rose and explained that it symbolized remembrance of the dead, despair, numbness, and lasting wounds.
• The eight hotel staff members approached the players, and the front waiter formally welcomed them to the Lorimas Grand Hotel.

Su Bai, disguised as attendant Number Eight, joined the other attendants as Number One introduced the Lorimas Grand Hotel and assigned their duties. The players learned the hotel’s layout and were warned to avoid anyone wearing a hotel uniform who was not one of the eight attendants.

• The eight attendants approached the players, and Number One welcomed them to the Lorimas Grand Hotel.
• Number One described the lobby, garden, bar, buffet, guest rooms, and infirmary, assigning each attendant a work area and identifying Su Bai as Number Eight.
• Su Bai wondered why the Administrator had placed him among the attendants when his mission to bury Lorimas seemed compatible with the players’ mission to kill Lorimas.
• Number One explained that the sixth-floor office area was off-limits to guests, while the seventh-floor pool and leisure area was accessible.
• Number One warned the players to keep their distance from anyone in a hotel uniform who was not one of the eight attendants.

Su Bai followed the hotel staff’s assigned routes while secretly listening to the players discuss how to search the hotel. Shen Dong'er discovered a notice listing three rules, including a warning to stay away from the sixth floor, leaving Su Bai wondering what they meant.

• Su Bai followed Waiters No. 6 and No. 7 toward the stairs, then stopped to listen to the players in the lobby.
• Peng Zhen proposed that players search in pairs and register their names so the group could track who had died.
• Peng Zhen showed the players a sheet that would erase the names of anyone who died in the hotel.
• Shen Dong'er found a notice behind a statue and read rules requiring guests to return to their rooms after six, avoid the sixth floor, and eat three meals and drink ten glasses of water daily.
• Su Bai heard the rules and focused on the warning that the dead Lorimas was weeping.

Lian Xiangyu reflected on his Beastification ability and his confidence that he was heaven's chosen, even as the Lorimas Grand Hotel's strange murder puzzle baffled him. He left the chapter captivated by the hotel's attendant Number Eight, despite knowing she might be only an empty shell.

• Lian Xiangyu struggled to understand how the supposedly dead Lorimas could cry or be killed.
• Lian Xiangyu recalled how the Nightmare World forced him to rely on his own abilities after money and privilege failed to protect him.
• Lian Xiangyu explained that his Beastification Trait let him transform parts of his body and share the power with up to three teammates.
• Lian Xiangyu admitted that he chose attractive young women as teammates and concealed his preference while recruiting them.
• Lian Xiangyu became captivated by attendant Number Eight, although he knew she might lack awareness beyond repeating set lines.

Lian Xiangyu became infatuated with attendant number eight, mistaking his uncontrollable attraction and fear for love, and lingered outside the infirmary wondering how to approach her. Shen Dong'er and Zhu Nian interrupted his thoughts, while Su Bai listened from inside the infirmary as Shen Dong'er asked whether Lian Xiangyu planned to search the sixth floor for Lorimas.

• Lian Xiangyu saw attendant number eight and felt an overpowering urge to approach her, followed by fear that warned him away.
• Lian Xiangyu convinced himself that his conflicting feelings were love, and wondered whether he could take attendant number eight out of the Lorimaris Hotel or the Nightmare World.
• Shen Dong'er and Zhu Nian found Lian Xiangyu pacing outside the fifth-floor infirmary.
• Shen Dong'er told Lian Xiangyu that dinner was approaching and asked whether he planned to search the sixth floor for Lorimas.
• Su Bai listened from inside the infirmary, curious about Lian Xiangyu's behavior.

Su Bai investigated the fifth-floor Infirmary while the players prepared to check into the Lorimas Grand Hotel, and he noticed that the hotel's attendants used different language from the supposed Administrator. He began to suspect that someone else controlled the hotel and its game, while Kai Xin showed a fierce protective streak toward him.

• Su Bai remembered the three rules Shen Dong'er found behind a lobby sculpture and considered what might happen if players could not obey all of them.
• Su Bai waited in the Infirmary as Lian Xiangyu, Shen Dong'er, and Zhu Nian came to inspect him, believing he was a puppet attendant.
• Kai Xin glared at Shen Dong'er when she insulted Su Bai, then jumped into his arms and fell asleep.
• Su Bai connected attendant Number One's phrase "our honored guests" with the Administrator's usual language and the lecturer Cheng Xun's use of the word "players."
• Su Bai questioned whether the voice that gave the players their mission was truly the Administrator and wondered who controlled the Lorimas Grand Hotel.

Su Bai suspected that the voice guiding the players into the Lorimas Grand Hotel was not the real Administrator's and that Zhu Nian had concealed what she knew. He looked toward six o’clock as a possible time to uncover who controlled the hotel and why, while questioning Zhu Nian’s reason for joining Lian Xiangyu’s team.

• Su Bai recalled that the Administrator’s voice had appeared only after the players entered the hotel, rather than before they entered the Nightmare World.
• Su Bai identified Zhu Nian as the player who had dismissed concerns by claiming her friend had once completed a game without hearing the Administrator’s voice.
• Su Bai suspected Zhu Nian had invented the story to lower the other players’ guard and wondered whether she was connected to whoever controlled the hotel.
• Su Bai considered that the hotel might have slipped beyond the Administrator’s control and suspected six o’clock could bring him answers.
• Su Bai dismissed Shen Dong’er’s comments to Lian Xiangyu as unimportant and wondered whether Zhu Nian had an ulterior motive for joining Lian Xiangyu’s team.