Chapter Summaries

Zhao Xun discovered that the toys in the Ghost House indicated a large number of child victims, then entered a blood-soaked painting studio and burned twenty-eight ghosts hiding in its paintings. The surviving players gathered afterward, learned about the killings and their rewards, and realized Zhao Xun’s fire could kill ghosts while ordinary fire could not.

• Afro found a child’s diary, and Zhao Xun learned that the marked toys might correspond to the children who had become ghosts.
• Zhao Xun and Afro searched a painting studio filled with bloody artwork, and Zhao Xun realized the paintings had been made with human blood.
• When the paintings began to move, Zhao Xun escaped the room and used his fire to destroy the paintings and kill twenty-eight ghosts.
• The players gathered outside the ruined studio, and Zhao Xun counted nine survivors, confirming that three players had died.
• Afro told the players what had happened in the studio, and they learned Zhao Xun had earned points by killing ghosts.
• Little Green explained that her Fire Control ability could not harm ghosts, while Zhao Xun’s fire could kill them.

Zhao Xun and the other players pieced together the Ghost House’s history and confirmed that its mural listed all 55 ghosts. After tallying their kills and weapons, they learned that eleven ghosts remained, and the monk revealed his special ability worked against ghosts.

• Afro clarified that Zhao Xun had found no weapon and that his fire was a special ability, while the group rejected burning down the Ghost House because it would violate the rules or kill them too.
• The monk shared a client list and financial records showing that more than two hundred people paid to view the bloody paintings, while some paid to abuse kidnapped children; he also found keepsakes from seventeen clients the killer had murdered.
• The Taoist led everyone to a mural in the Study, and Zhao Xun identified it as a record of the killer’s victims; the players counted thirty-eight children and seventeen adults.
• Zhao Xun reported killing thirty-four child ghosts and one adult ghost, while the Taoist, monk, gray-haired man, and Little Lotus reported their kills, leaving four child ghosts and seven adult ghosts.
• The Father tried to get the players to disclose their weapons, but most declined or said they had found none; the monk revealed that his special ability worked against ghosts.

Zhao Xun killed Little Green after she accused him of hiding a ghost-killing weapon, then discovered that dead players could turn into ghosts. He and the others destroyed the ghosts in several corpses, leaving Father rebuked for accusing them of abandoning the group.

• The Monk said his ability worked against ghosts, and the players agreed to search rooms together.
• The Taoist and gray-haired man killed ghosts in the gym, and the Taoist killed more on the terrace before Little Blue found a ghost-killing bar of sulfur soap in the sunroom.
• Zhao Xun killed Little Green after she kept accusing him of hiding a weapon, then warned the other players not to provoke him.
• Zhao Xun noticed Little Green's corpse had moved and set it on fire, confirming that dead players could become ghosts; he hurried downstairs to find the other corpses.
• Zhao Xun, the Taoist, and the Monk burned the remaining player ghosts, while Father accused them of leaving the others behind and the Taoist explained why they had rushed.

Zhao Xun and the others searched the Ghost House for the remaining ghosts, finding the last weapon but leaving two child ghosts undiscovered. While keeping watch overnight, Zhao Xun noticed a painting in a magazine that might be connected to the missing ghosts.

• Taoist and Zhao Xun rebuked Father, and the group rested before searching the remaining rooms.
• Gray-Haired Man and Little Blue killed an adult ghost each in the second-floor bedrooms.
• Zhao Xun used his High-Powered Flashlight to guide the search of the yard, where Taoist and Gray-Haired Man killed the last two adult ghosts inside a drained pool.
• Father found the Tennis Racket, the fifth weapon, but the group could not locate the two remaining child ghosts and went to sleep in the Master Bedroom.
• While keeping watch, Zhao Xun found a magazine painting that had not appeared in the Painting Studio and wondered whether the child ghosts were hiding inside it.

Zhao Xun killed the Child Ghost that ambushed him and later found hidden memorial tablets and a photograph linked to the triplet brothers. He concluded that the Ghost House still held one ghost—the murderer—and proposed splitting up to find the missing painting or draw the murderer out.

• The Child Ghost attacked Zhao Xun, but he trapped it in a wall of fire and killed it; Afro and the Taoist took over the night watch.
• While searching the master bedroom, Zhao Xun discovered a hidden compartment behind the bathroom mirror and burned its two memorial tablets and photograph, triggering a ghostly scream.
• Zhao Xun argued that the game had not been cleared because no completion notice appeared, and revealed that he was a Veteran Player who knew the game had never been played before.
• Zhao Xun deduced that the remaining ghost was the murderer and might be inside a painting missing from the Painting Studio.
• Zhao Xun proposed that the players search for the painting while splitting up to lure the murderer into attacking.

Zhao Xun killed the Father after he challenged Zhao Xun’s claim to be a veteran player, then split the remaining players into groups to search for the Murderer Ghost. He found and killed the ghost on the Rooftop, cleared the Ghost House, returned to the Endless Train, and prepared to enter a dream game the next day.

• Zhao Xun killed the Father for continuing to provoke him and burned the corpse, earning points and survival time.
• The seven remaining players divided into four groups to search for the Murderer Ghost, while Zhao Xun searched the exterior alone.
• Zhao Xun flew to the Rooftop as a sparrow, found the adult ghost emerging from a metal box, and killed it with a fiery trap.
• Zhao Xun received rewards for killing the last ghost and clearing the Ghost House, then returned to the Endless Train with the other players.
• Zhao Xun checked his total of 891 points, returned to Compartment 2, and found Su Tiantian and two other players protected by Safety Barriers in their dream games.
• After sleeping until the morning of the fourth, Zhao Xun bought provisions and prepared to enter a dream game.

Zhao Xun entered a zombie-infested city dream game, escaped the hospital, and accepted all three side quests. He reached the laboratory, found a surviving woman near the hard drive, and offered to help her leave.

• Zhao Xun bought a three-day Safety Barrier, entered the dream game alone, and received a quest to escape the zombie-surrounded hospital.
• Zhao Xun used the Goddess's Wings to fly out of the hospital and completed the main quest.
• Zhao Xun accepted quests to retrieve experimental data, rescue at least three survivors, and kill the Zombie King, then flew to the laboratory marked on his map.
• Zhao Xun burned the zombies at the laboratory entrance, bypassed its security, and followed the map to the lower-level laboratory.
• Zhao Xun found a woman alive behind a locked door near the hard drive and told her he could help her escape.

Zhao Xun persuaded Zhou Xiaoxiao to leave the Experimental Base with him and collected the research hard drive for Professor Bai. After clearing the zombies outside, he transformed into a golden dragon and prepared to fly with Zhou Xiaoxiao.

• Zhao Xun convinced the wary Zhou Xiaoxiao to come with him and took the hard drive containing the Experimental Base's research data.
• Zhou Xiaoxiao introduced herself and explained that she had been trapped on the second basement level for half a month after using a lab mouse to lure the zombies into a locked room.
• Zhao Xun and Zhou Xiaoxiao rode the elevator upstairs, where Zhao Xun killed two zombies and warned her not to touch him without asking first.
• Zhao Xun burned the zombies near the Experimental Base's entrance, impressing Zhou Xiaoxiao with his fire ability.
• Zhao Xun transformed into a golden dragon and told Zhou Xiaoxiao to climb onto him so he could try flying with her.

Zhao Xun flew Zhou Xiaoxiao to Professor Bai Qi’s villa and delivered the Experimental Base’s hard drive, then agreed to stay there. He left the story inside Bai Qi’s fortified home with Bai Qi heading to his laboratory and Xiao Jiang leading Zhao Xun and Zhou Xiaoxiao to their rooms.

• Zhao Xun transformed into a golden dragon and flew Zhou Xiaoxiao to Villa 15, where he reassured her that his transformation was an ability rather than proof that he was a dragon god.
• Zhao Xun made noise in the attic to alert the villa’s occupants, and Bai Qi and his bodyguard Xiao Jiang came to investigate.
• Zhao Xun presented Bai Qi with the hard drive, and Zhou Xiaoxiao confirmed that she had worked with Bai Qi at the Experimental Base.
• Xiao Jiang retrieved the hard drive after triggering the attic’s mechanisms, and Bai Qi invited Zhao Xun and Zhou Xiaoxiao to stay in the villa.
• Bai Qi took the hard drive to his laboratory while Xiao Jiang led Zhao Xun and Zhou Xiaoxiao to choose bedrooms, and Zhao Xun asked whether Bai Qi could stop the Zombie virus.

Zhao Xun stayed at Bai Qi’s villa while Zhou Xiaoxiao searched the Hard Drive and learned that all the test subjects had died. After arranging for Zhou Xiaoxiao to stall Bai Qi, Zhao Xun left at night to search for the Zombie King among the zombies.

• Xiao Jiang warned Zhao Xun not to let Bai Qi draw his blood or give him anything to drink, and Zhao Xun chose to stay at the villa to keep Zhou Xiaoxiao safe.
• Zhao Xun asked Zhou Xiaoxiao to use her position as Bai Qi’s assistant to look through the Hard Drive for surviving test subjects.
• Bai Qi asked Zhou Xiaoxiao to assist with his experiments, and she went with him to the Laboratory after dinner.
• Zhou Xiaoxiao told Zhao Xun that Bai Qi had asked her to drug him and that all the test subjects had died.
• Zhao Xun told Zhou Xiaoxiao to stall Bai Qi, transformed into a bat, and flew out to hunt zombies and search for the Zombie King.

Zhao Xun found the still-evolving Zombie King buried in a cemetery and learned he needed another forty-eight hours to complete his transformation, so Zhao Xun arranged to keep him alive until then. After returning to the villa, Zhao Xun prepared for Bai Qi’s next move and ambushed him when he sneaked into his room with a syringe.

• Zhao Xun tracked a silent crowd of zombies to a cemetery and set them ablaze until tremors revealed something beneath a lavish gravestone.
• Zhao Xun blew open the grave and found a young man who could control zombies and heal but had not yet become a full Zombie King.
• The man blinked to confirm that he needed another forty-eight hours, and Zhao Xun had the zombies bury him again before planning to return on the night of November 6.
• Zhou Xiaoxiao warned Zhao Xun that Bai Qi was preparing to act, so Zhao Xun sent a Pygmy Marmoset to watch Bai Qi and waited in his room.
• At 3:30 in the morning, Bai Qi entered Zhao Xun’s room and stabbed a pillow with a syringe, but Zhao Xun surprised him and cut off one of his arms.

Zhao Xun hypnotized Bai Qi after discovering that Bai Qi had injected himself with zombie virus and was likely to become a Zombie King. He left to find another living person for his quest and rescued a newborn from a dying mother, carrying the baby back to the villa district.

• Zhao Xun hypnotized Bai Qi into abandoning his plans to use Zhao Xun as a test subject, focusing on becoming a Zombie King within two days, and never harming Zhao Xun.
• Bai Qi left Zhao Xun’s room and began working obsessively on his experiments, while Zhou Xiaoxiao kept her distance from him.
• Zhao Xun searched the city in snake form and found a woman giving birth in a supermarket, where three zombies had gathered.
• The dying woman asked Zhao Xun to save her newborn, and he agreed to take the baby to the villa district before killing her at her request.
• Zhao Xun collected supplies for the baby and carried him back to the villa district in phoenix form.

Zhao Xun brought an orphaned baby to the villa, rested after exhausting his mental energy, and arranged for Xiao Jiang and Zhou Xiaoxiao to care for him. He secured a pistol and two magazines from Bai Qi, who required him to retrieve a list of Potions from the Experimental Base in return.

• Zhao Xun brought a baby whose mother had died to Zhou Xiaoxiao, gave her supplies, and rested after using his abilities to search for survivors.
• Zhou Xiaoxiao and Xiao Jiang struggled to care for the baby, named him Ping'an, and discussed the villa's weapons with Zhao Xun.
• Zhao Xun learned that Bai Qi was injecting himself with strange liquids and asked Xiao Jiang to seek permission for firearms.
• The pygmy marmoset reported that Bai Qi had regrown his severed arm and was smashing things, while Xiao Jiang visited him and obtained permission for Zhao Xun to receive a pistol and two magazines.
• Zhao Xun went to Bai Qi's Laboratory and received the weapons, then accepted a list of Potions he had to retrieve from the Experimental Base as payment.

Zhao Xun secured weapons from Bai Qi and retrieved the reagents Bai Qi needed from the Experimental Base, then gathered parenting books for Xiao Jiang. After Bai Qi injected himself with the reagents and underwent a violent transformation, Zhao Xun stopped Xiao Jiang and Zhou Xiaoxiao from intervening; Bai Qi emerged looking younger and fixed his red-eyed gaze on Zhao Xun.

• Zhao Xun negotiated ten grenades, five magazines, and a suppressor from Bai Qi in exchange for retrieving reagents from the Experimental Base.
• Zhao Xun collected kitchen knives and a whetstone from Xiao Jiang, then flew to the Experimental Base as a sparrow and retrieved Bai Qi's listed reagents.
• Zhao Xun stopped at a bookstore to collect parenting books for Xiao Jiang before returning to the villa district with the reagents.
• Zhao Xun gave Xiao Jiang and Zhou Xiaoxiao the parenting books and delivered the reagents to Bai Qi, who immediately began mixing them.
• After the Pygmy Marmoset reported that Bai Qi was changing violently in the Laboratory, Zhao Xun used his power to keep Xiao Jiang and Zhou Xiaoxiao from interfering.
• Bai Qi's transformation subsided, leaving him looking younger; he then met Zhao Xun's gaze through the Laboratory door, and a sharp pain shot through Zhao Xun's head.

Zhao Xun killed Bai Qi after he became a Zombie King, gained his enhanced psychic and water abilities, and prepared the villa for possible zombie attacks. He then flew to the cemetery, where most of the zombies had gathered around the Provisional Zombie King.

• Bai Qi tried to hypnotize Zhao Xun into killing himself, but Zhao Xun used lightning and metal control to kill him and complete Side quest 3.
• Zhao Xun devoured Bai Qi's hair, acquired his Psychic Ability and Water Ability, and found the hidden basement and weapons stockpile.
• Zhao Xun warned Zhou Xiaoxiao and Xiao Jiang about possible attacks, erased Bai Qi from their memories, and gave them weapons to defend the villa.
• Zombies approached the villa after the baby's cries drew them in, but Xiao Jiang's rows of Animal Traps held them in the courtyard.
• Zhao Xun left the villa at night in bat form and flew to the cemetery, where zombies surrounded the Provisional Zombie King's grave mound.

Zhao Xun killed the newly emerged Zombie King at the Cemetery, gained enhanced instant movement and lightning abilities, and returned to the villa exhausted. After resting, he tested [Devour] on Bai Qi’s corpse and confirmed he could only take abilities from living targets or bodies dead for less than an hour.

• Zhao Xun burned the ordinary zombies around the burial mound while waiting for the Provisional Zombie King to emerge.
• The Zombie King attacked Zhao Xun with psychic powers, teleportation, and lightning, but Zhao Xun drained the water from his body and burned him to death, completing [Side quest 3].
• Zhao Xun used [Devour] to gain [Instant Movement] and [Lightning Ability], replacing [Lightning Control], then flew back to the villa.
• Zhao Xun found that animal traps had stopped the zombies from breaking into the villa, then rested while Zhou Xiaoxiao and Xiao Jiang watched over the baby.
• After waking on the seventh, Zhao Xun tested [Devour] on Bai Qi’s hair and learned that he could not take abilities from someone who had been dead for more than an hour.

Zhao Xun left the zombie-infested villa after rescuing survivors, returned to the Endless Train, and learned that he had missed the latest platform game. Whistle later reported that Zhao Xun’s adoptive father had died protecting his mother in a Dream Game, while the circumstances of his adoptive mother’s death remained under investigation.

• Zhao Xun replenished his poison and obtained a crate of grenades and a crate of pistol magazines after Xiao Jiang and Zhou Xiaoxiao handed them to him.
• Zhao Xun left the dream game after rescuing survivors and earned 100 points and 100 hours of survival time.
• Zhao Xun learned that the platform game had started before his return, agreed to tell Wu Wei when he planned to join future games, and suspected Su Tiantian had entered the current one with Qianqian.
• Whistle told Zhao Xun that his adoptive father had died in a Dream Game while probably protecting his adoptive mother, and said he was still gathering confirmed information about her death.

Zhao Xun secretly acquired Whistle’s [Wi-Fi Signal Tower] ability but discovered he could not use it because he lacked the required gossip-loving curiosity. After the rankings updated and Wu Wei revealed Qianqian had died, Zhao Xun prepared to enter the [Labyrinth of the Minotaur] platform game with Su Tiantian.

• Zhao Xun took one of Whistle’s hairs and used [Devour] to acquire [Wi-Fi Signal Tower], replacing [Hypnosis], but learned that its usage requirement prevented him from using it.
• On November 10, Zhao Xun’s rank stayed at 128 while Su Tiantian ranked higher and moved to Compartment One.
• Zhao Xun recognized Zhaozhao, a fellow player from the [Fairy-Tale Forest] platform game, among his new compartment mates.
• Wu Wei arrived to register Zhao Xun for the next platform game, and Zhao Xun guessed that Qianqian had died; he told Wu Wei to accept that companions could die too.
• Zhao Xun prepared for the [Labyrinth of the Minotaur] platform game, and Su Tiantian announced that she would join him and teased him about losing to her.

Zhao Xun entered the Labyrinth of the Minotaur and began cautiously scouting its trap-filled passages with Orangutan. After marking a junction with two possible routes, he continued deeper into the maze in search of a weapon to kill the Minotaur.

• The game rules revealed that 100 players were offerings in a labyrinth, where two weapons could kill the roaming Minotaur and reaching the center alone would earn only half the clearance points.
• Zhao Xun summoned Orangutan to scout, and Orangutan injured a leg when an Animal Trap sprang from the floor.
• Zhao Xun explained that he would recall Orangutan before it died so it could heal, and Orangutan agreed to keep scouting in exchange for ten bananas.
• Zhao Xun used hammers to trigger more than a dozen Animal Traps and two spike pits before Orangutan cautiously crossed the passage.
• At a junction with two passages, Zhao Xun burned a black mark with two wavy lines into the wall so he could find his way back.

Zhao Xun used the orangutan to scout increasingly dangerous maze paths while conserving his mental energy, then hypnotized a young player to learn that a nearby route was a dead end. He led the orangutan onward, leaving the young man behind and continuing to search the maze.

• Zhao Xun sent the orangutan through traps, protecting it from needle darts, a hidden fire magic circle, and a freezing magic circle while learning that the maze grew more dangerous deeper inside.
• Zhao Xun explained that he used the orangutan to expose traps that could injure him and avoided flying through the maze so he could conserve his abilities and search for a weapon.
• Zhao Xun and the orangutan reached a fork where a young man emerged from the middle path.
• Zhao Xun hypnotized the young man and learned that he had explored the other branch at an earlier fork, which had been a dead end.
• Zhao Xun left the hypnotized young man at the fork and took the orangutan down the left path, explaining that keeping the young man under hypnosis would cost too much mental energy.