Chapter Summaries

After escaping the collapsing school nightmare, Su Bai reflected on the strange influence he had felt at Rainbow Locust No. 1 High School as he walked toward the hospital. The Nightmare Game then began again, sending him to Fog City, where he and the other outsiders had to light ten Eternal Lamps to dispel the surrounding fog and escape.

• At sunrise, Su Bai and the others escaped the collapsing school, and Zhang Pan, Ai Xiaojia, and Zhou Qingshou lost their memories of the night.
• Su Bai left the students with a security guard and walked through the waking city, wondering what had influenced him at Rainbow Locust No. 1 High School.
• As the hospital came into view, the Administrator announced that a new game was beginning, and the real-world street gave way to darkness.
• Su Bai suspected the darkness was connected to the Rift and the Void Sea before the Administrator sent him to Fog City.
• The Administrator explained that Fog City was surrounded by impassable fog and that the outsiders had to light ten Eternal Lamps to disperse it and leave.

Su Bai entered Fog City for his third Nightmare World game and learned that outsiders had to earn assets legally to become candidates for a chance to learn how to light the Eternal Lamps. He arrived in the bustling, fog-shrouded city and wondered whether its apparently happy residents were real.

• Su Bai listened as the Administrator explained that ten Eternal Lamps had to be lit to disperse Fog City's thick fog and clear the game.
• The Administrator said outsiders who legally earned more than one hundred thousand in assets could become hero candidates, with the ten wealthiest candidates selected on Celebration Day.
• The Administrator warned that illegal gains would be confiscated and explained that lighting the lamps would gradually restore the flow of time in Fog City.
• Su Bai heard an unclear warning and a notice that the White Faction was at a disadvantage before light transported him into Fog City.
• Su Bai looked around the busy pedestrian street and recalled the Administrator's claim that Fog City's native inhabitants were fake but real while living there.

Su Bai recognized that Fog City's residents lacked convenient access to everyday goods and opened the Mist general store on Fifth Street, where his branded products quickly attracted regular customers. He left the shop in his wheelchair to paint at the Central Plaza, while his injuries remained part of the price of using the Vengeful Ghost Puzzle.

• Su Bai listened to Fog City's residents and noticed that they repeatedly traveled to the Central Mall to buy everyday items.
• Su Bai opened the Mist Shop beside Fifth Street, stocking neatly arranged goods under his own Misty brand.
• Fog City residents began frequenting the shop for its quality goods, and some also came hoping to see Boss Bai.
• Su Bai reminded his employee to watch the shop, then set off toward the Central Plaza with his drawing board and paints.
• Su Bai's wheelchair and injuries reflected the pain he endured when using pieces of the Vengeful Ghost Puzzle.

Su Bai painted Fog City's angel fountain as a blood-soaked scene of defeated, beheaded angels, drawing a crowd that questioned his unsettling vision. As he listened, he wondered whether the fountain and the people who called his painting false were real at all.

• Su Bai set up his wheelchair in Central Plaza and began painting the angel fountain.
• Blood patterns spread across Su Bai's arm and disappeared beneath his skin as he painted.
• Su Bai depicted the angels holding their severed heads amid blood, broken swords, and a darkened city.
• Bystanders praised the painting's impact but preferred the real fountain and speculated about Su Bai's state of mind.
• Su Bai wondered whether the residents and the sacred fountain were false, and whether his painting showed the truth.

Su Bai used Qing Lan’s eyes to see Fog City’s hidden Nightmare World and painted the horrific truth beneath its peaceful facade. On his way back to the Mist Shop, he encountered Mayor Bai, whose history Su Bai already knew from his previous life.

• Su Bai borrowed Qing Lan’s ability to see through Fog City’s disguises without spending his own power, though it left his legs immobile.
• While painting the Angel Fountain, Su Bai saw mutilated angels and a bloodied head staring at him beneath the fountain’s illusion.
• As Fog City residents gathered and argued over his painting, Su Bai packed up and wheeled away, refusing their offers of help.
• Su Bai reflected on the residents’ distrust of outsiders and how they struggled to build assets in Fog City.
• Mayor Bai appeared before Su Bai in a white suit, and Su Bai recognized him while recalling what he had learned about the mayor in his previous life.

Su Bai encountered Mayor Bai, whom he recognized as the powerful Fog City Lord, and tried to keep their meeting unremarkable. After returning to the Mist Shop, he learned his new assistant wanted a 100,000-wage advance.

• Su Bai recalled that the Fog City Lord created Fog Cities for amusement and let players decide how they ended.
• Mayor Bai spoke with Su Bai near Central Plaza, mentioned his painting, and warned him that Fog City had been unsettled.
• Su Bai returned to the Mist Shop and found his new assistant looking worried behind the counter.
• The assistant asked Su Bai for an advance of 100,000.

Su Bai turned the Mist Shop into a visible general store in Fog City and gave himself a comfortable place to live while Xiao Wu remained asleep. When clerk Meng Wei asked him for a hundred thousand yuan, he warned that both of them would die if Su Bai refused.

• Su Bai learned that the Mist Shop could operate as an ordinary store in Fog City and set up a place to stay in its expanded break room.
• Su Bai recalled that Xiao Wu had been asleep as a thread-wrapped doll for more than two months, after seeming about to explain something before suddenly collapsing.
• Meng Wei, a player whom Su Bai had hired as a clerk, asked to borrow a hundred thousand yuan on his third day at work.
• Meng Wei promised to stay in the shop for the rest of his time in Fog City if Su Bai lent him the money.
• Meng Wei whispered that he and Su Bai would both die if Su Bai refused to hand over a hundred thousand in assets.

Su Bai realized that a group of players was using Meng Wei to pressure him into handing over a hundred thousand in assets. He refused to cooperate, and as Meng Wei’s threats escalated, Su Bai calmly challenged the group to attack him in the Mist Shop.

• Su Bai sensed five players with Red Moon power watching the Mist Shop and recognized them as the people Meng Wei feared.
• Meng Wei begged Su Bai for a hundred thousand, claiming powerful outsiders had forced him to ask for the money.
• Su Bai concluded that the players were using Meng Wei as a pawn to lure him to the bank, where they hoped to take his assets without exposing themselves to arrest.
• Su Bai refused to hand over the money and offered to help Meng Wei contact patrol officers or the mayor’s office.
• Meng Wei grew angry, insulted Su Bai, and threatened that the outsiders might attack him; Su Bai chuckled and asked whether they would attack him in the shop.

Su Bai dismissed Meng Wei from the Mist Shop after Meng Wei threatened him, then met a wealthy couple who commissioned a wedding portrait in Qing Lan’s grotesque style. Su Bai agreed to paint the woman as a monster disguised as a human and sensed that the man was an outsider with Red Moon power.

• Su Bai dismissed Meng Wei for his poor probationary performance and paid him his full month’s salary.
• Meng Wei took the money, called Su Bai a murderer, and left the Mist Shop.
• A well-dressed couple asked Su Bai to paint a portrait for their wedding, praising Qing Lan’s grotesque paintings.
• The woman requested to be portrayed as a monster disguised as a human, and Su Bai accepted the commission.
• Su Bai sensed Red Moon power from the man but none from the woman, realizing that the man was an outsider and the woman was a Fog City resident.

Su Bai accepted a wedding portrait commission from Fog City resident Lan Yin and player Feng Zhe, who wanted Qing Lan to paint Lan Yin as a monster disguised as a human. After the couple left, Su Bai heard a familiar voice speaking to Kai Xin outside the Mist Shop.

• Su Bai sensed that Lan Yin was an ordinary Fog City resident and Feng Zhe was a player, but their affection for each other seemed genuine.
• Lan Yin and Feng Zhe asked Su Bai to paint a wedding portrait showing her as a monster disguised as a human, and he agreed.
• Qing Lan sketched the couple while Su Bai learned about Feng Zhe’s rapid promotions and Lan Yin’s family accepting their relationship.
• Su Bai saw Lan Yin and Feng Zhe off and told them to return for the finished painting in a week.
• Su Bai heard Kai Xin meow outside and saw a vaguely familiar figure crouching beside the kitten and asking if it had lost its owner.

Su Bai recognized Qiu Lei, a fellow student he had met in the Nightmare World, and invited the hungry, impoverished girl into the Mist Shop. After hearing that she had lost her job and could not afford rent, he offered her work as the shop clerk, leaving Qiu Lei to consider the offer.

• Su Bai called Kai Xin back from Qiu Lei, who had been playing with the kitten outside the shop.
• When Qiu Lei's stomach growled, Su Bai invited her inside and gave her food and water.
• Qiu Lei told Su Bai that her former employer had underpaid her and then dismissed her, leaving her unable to afford rent.
• Su Bai offered Qiu Lei a clerk position at the Mist Shop and help finding affordable housing nearby.

Su Bai hired Qiu Lei to work at the Mist Shop and secluded himself to paint and meditate while monitoring the area with a projector. After a boy who knew Qiu Lei visited for several days, he rushed into the shop with alarming news, and Qiu Lei left alone before the boy knocked on Su Bai’s break room door.

• Su Bai hired Qiu Lei to replace Meng Wei, deciding their arrangement served both their needs.
• Su Bai shut himself in the break room to paint with Qing Lan and sort through damaged memories while using a Mini Projector to watch the shop’s surroundings.
• The projector detected players with Red Moon power spying on the Mist Shop, but they eventually stopped appearing nearby.
• A boy Qiu Lei seemed to know visited the shop over several days, and he and Qiu Lei grew increasingly troubled.
• The boy rushed into the shop with urgent news, and Qiu Lei left alone after telling him to stay behind.
• The boy read Qiu Lei’s note, went to the break room, and knocked hard on the door.

Yang Yu explained to the Mist Shop owner that Qiu Lei had gone to help an injured teammate at the Abandoned Warehouse, and asked for help watching the shop. The owner instead prepared to go after Qiu Lei, leaving Yang Yu to mind the shop while an important customer came to collect a painting.

• Su Bai noticed Qiu Lei hurry out of the Mist Shop, while Yang Yu stayed behind.
• Yang Yu recalled how he and Qiu Lei had supported each other and their small team of struggling players in Fog City.
• Yang Yu told Qiu Lei that a teammate who had once helped them was badly injured at the Abandoned Warehouse and needed her healing abilities.
• Qiu Lei asked Yang Yu to watch the shop and rushed to the warehouse, but Yang Yu soon grew restless and knocked on the lounge door.
• The Mist Shop owner asked Yang Yu to stay and watch the shop for an important customer, then offered to go look for Qiu Lei because Little Black Cat had followed her.

Su Bai left the Mist Shop to catch up with Qiu Lei and Kai Xin, but he ran into Meng Wei, who revealed that the new employee had been kidnapped and delivered a ransom demand. Su Bai agreed to consider paying if he could first confirm the employee was unharmed, and asked Meng Wei to push his wheelchair there.

• Su Bai used his power to persuade Yang Yu to stay at the Mist Shop and wait for a distinguished guest.
• Su Bai left the shop to retrieve Kai Xin and found Meng Wei waiting nearby, battered and carrying a letter addressed to Boss Bai.
• Meng Wei told Su Bai that the new employee had been kidnapped and that her captors demanded Su Bai transfer his assets at a bank near Central Plaza.
• Su Bai read the ransom letter and told Meng Wei he would consider transferring the money if the employee was unharmed.
• Su Bai pointed to his wheelchair handles and asked Meng Wei to take him to the kidnappers.

Su Bai agreed to go with Meng Wei to the abandoned warehouse, where Qiu Lei might be held, before considering whether to transfer money. The players inside prepared to receive him, and Meng Wei pushed him through the doors.

• Su Bai told Meng Wei he would consider transferring the money only after seeing Qiu Lei was safe, and Meng Wei agreed to take him to her location.
• Meng Wei pushed Su Bai through Fourth Street toward a warehouse where players with Red Moon power had gathered.
• Su Bai suspected the warehouse was the base Yang Yu had mentioned and wondered who had misdirected Qiu Lei and the others.
• A female player recognized Su Bai as the painter whose assets the group wanted and went inside to alert the boss.
• After waiting outside, Su Bai and Meng Wei were invited into the warehouse.

Su Bai entered the Abandoned Warehouse and found Qiu Lei held there by Bull Slayer and his players, while her teammates stood by guiltily. Ding revealed that they intended to use any means necessary to light all the Eternal Lamps and escape Fog City, leaving Qiu Lei horrified by what they planned to do.

• Su Bai was wheeled into the crowded warehouse and noticed that the players there seemed divided into different groups.
• Su Bai found Qiu Lei and her coal-black cat Kai Xin held among Bull Slayer's players, while four of her teammates stood aside.
• Bull Slayer introduced himself to Su Bai, praised his clock tower painting, and warned that Qiu Lei and Kai Xin would be safe only if others cooperated.
• Qiu Lei questioned Ding and her other teammates about their presence and the claim that Ding had been gravely injured.
• Ding said his team and other players wanted to light all the Eternal Lamps as quickly as possible, whatever it took, and Qiu Lei realized they were planning something terrible.

Su Bai confronted Bull Slayer and the Outsiders over their plan to force him to hand over his fortune in exchange for Qiu Lei’s safety. The standoff ended with Su Bai learning that the First Settlement was scheduled for the next day.

• Bull Slayer dismissed Qiu Lei’s attempt to expose the Outsiders’ scheme and demanded that Su Bai choose between dying in the warehouse or transferring his money at the bank.
• Su Bai questioned what he would receive in exchange for his assets and pointed out that Qiu Lei’s teammates treated him as an outsider.
• Bull Slayer threatened to have Qiu Lei and her teammates sent to Prison if Su Bai sought help from the Patrollers at the bank.
• Qiu Lei urged Su Bai to go to the bank and contact the Patrollers, but Brother Ding warned that Bull Slayer had influence inside Prison too.
• Qiu Lei’s teammate argued that the Outsiders needed to escape Fog City before the First Settlement, and Su Bai recalled hearing that it would happen the next day.

Su Bai reasoned that all ten Eternal Lamps needed to be lit together to avoid unpredictable consequences, so he refused to give Tu Niu the assets that could make him a Hero. After Su Bai questioned Tu Niu about the kidnapping scheme, Tu Niu revealed that a Prophet had warned his team their direct assault would bring great calamity.

• Su Bai considered how lighting only some Eternal Lamps could restart time in Fog City and cause unknown changes, and concluded that all ten needed to be lit in the same period.
• Su Bai decided to keep his assets and Hero status rather than let Tu Niu become a wildcard who might light an Eternal Lamp alone.
• Su Bai asked Tu Niu why he had abducted Qiu Lei through her friends instead of directly threatening them at the shop.
• Tu Niu said a new teammate with prophetic powers had stopped them from storming the shop because he predicted that plan would bring great calamity.

Su Bai questioned the prophet Jin about Bull Slayer’s plan to ransom Qiu Lei, and Jin predicted terrible ill fortune for Bull Slayer. Bull Slayer then aimed his gun at Su Bai and asked Jin whether killing him would affect the group’s next day’s settlement.

• Su Bai assessed the prophet Jin and asked whether he could predict if Bull Slayer would get his money that day.
• Jin made a prediction and warned Bull Slayer that his plan would bring terrible ill fortune and likely fail.
• Bull Slayer threatened Su Bai and had his men draw weapons while Qiu Lei remained surrounded.
• Su Bai calmly explained that coming to the warehouse showed how much Qiu Lei mattered to him.
• Bull Slayer questioned Ding’s loyalty, then aimed his gun at Su Bai and asked Jin whether killing him would jeopardize the next day’s settlement.

Bull Slayer questioned whether killing Su Bai would affect tomorrow’s settlement, but Mr. Jin’s prophecy failed because the question depended on an impossible condition. Bull Slayer reconsidered his plan while Qing Lan appeared behind Su Bai.

• Bull Slayer asked Mr. Jin to predict what would happen if he killed Su Bai before the settlement.
• Mr. Jin suffered a violent fit and said he could not see an answer because the question itself should not exist.
• Su Bai understood that his death in the Abandoned Warehouse was impossible, making Bull Slayer’s question meaningless.
• Bull Slayer thought over how his gang had targeted Su Bai after Mr. Jin’s earlier prediction had approved their plan.
• Bull Slayer ignored an underling’s suggestion to take the hostage to the bank and watched Su Bai as he reconsidered.
• Qing Lan appeared behind Su Bai, unseen by the others.