Chapter Summaries

Zhao Xun rescued the orangutan from a blood-feeding vine trap with poison, then vanished after crossing the passage. A cloaked man followed, triggered a crocodile-mouth trap, and begged Zhao Xun to save him.

• Zhao Xun burned away the vines and encountered a cloaked man whose [Fire Control] could not burn them.
• The orangutan triggered a magic array on the final tile, and blood-fed vines wrapped around it and blocked Zhao Xun’s attempts to reach it.
• Zhao Xun used poison to paralyze the vines, freed the orangutan, and returned it to the Small Millstone before burning the vines and crossing the passage.
• The cloaked man followed Zhao Xun’s tested path, but the final tile near the corner turned into a crocodile’s mouth and clamped onto his legs.
• Zhao Xun suddenly reappeared as the crocodile mouth began devouring the cloaked man, who pleaded for help.

Zhao Xun stole the Cloaked Man’s special cloak and left him to be eaten by the Stone Crocodile, then cleared the dangers in a flooded passage and found a weapon in a treasure chest. He returned to the fork carrying the Love-Filled Red Ball of Yarn, which granted him the ability to kill the Minotaur.

• Zhao Xun tore the Cloaked Man’s cloak away, extinguished his flames, and shoved him into the Stone Crocodile, which swallowed him.
• Zhao Xun chose the left passage at the fork and used his hammer, axe, and Pygmy Marmoset to draw out and kill the creatures in the river.
• Zhao Xun flew over the river to a dead end, where he triggered traps and discovered a treasure chest containing a red ball of yarn.
• Zhao Xun used a Nine-Clawed Hook to retrieve the yarn and learned that it was the Love-Filled Red Ball of Yarn, which granted the ability to kill the Minotaur.
• Zhao Xun returned to the fork and tucked the yarn against his chest because it would not fit in his pocket or Storage Slot.

Zhao Xun explored the maze, killed a lion for food, and encountered a bull-headed clone before surviving a passage filled with venomous locusts. He reached another junction and found what appeared to be the real Minotaur, whose severed hand regenerated and whose body revived after Zhao Xun burned it.

• Zhao Xun tested a path with a sleeping lion, discovered it could not cross the path boundary, and burned it after using it to check for traps.
• Zhao Xun cooked and ate the lion, then let a man and a woman share the remaining meat when they arrived.
• Zhao Xun burned a wary bull-headed monster, which vanished and left behind a tuft of bull hair, revealing it was a clone.
• Zhao Xun sent Gibbon into a passage, where a Magic Array released venomous locusts that injured and poisoned it.
• Zhao Xun cut away the locust's head and recalled Gibbon into the Little Stone Mill before crossing the passage himself.
• Zhao Xun met an aggressive bull-headed monster at the next junction, severed its hand with a machete, and burned it, but it regenerated and revived.

Zhao Xun discovered that the supposed Minotaur was Theseus, who had been turned into the monster’s double by a mask, and lost the yarn weapon when Theseus died. After the real Minotaur ambushed him with two clones, Zhao Xun revealed he had prepared a decoy and used Samadhi True Fire to leave the Minotaur temporarily dead.

• Zhao Xun bound the bull-headed monster with the yarn and discovered that the monster was Theseus wearing a mask.
• Theseus explained that he had lost his memory after being attacked and having the mask pulled over his head, then died; the mask vanished and the yarn weapon respawned elsewhere.
• Zhao Xun deduced that the real Minotaur had used Theseus as a double to destroy the weapon and came to confront him.
• Zhao Xun taunted the Minotaur into hesitating, but the Minotaur ambushed him with two clones, had his hands broken, and bit his shoulder.
• Zhao Xun revealed that he had prepared a doll decoy, escaped the fireball that consumed it, and attacked the Minotaur with repeated fireballs.
• Zhao Xun’s Samadhi True Fire charred the Minotaur and forced him into temporary death.

Zhao Xun used a Mimicry Doll and Chameleon's Cloak to ambush the Minotaur, then explored the labyrinth while it was temporarily dead. He obtained the Sword from the Monk and set out to hide it and lure the Minotaur into another encounter.

• Zhao Xun revealed that he had used a Mimicry Doll as bait and the Chameleon's Cloak to hide before striking the Minotaur, whose body soon vanished into ash.
• Zhao Xun sent the Mandrill to scout trap-free roads and explored the labyrinth for hours while the Minotaur remained dead, but found no weapon.
• After the traps reactivated, Zhao Xun spotted the Monk holding a Sword that matched the weapon from the Minotaur myth, and the Monk handed it over to save himself.
• The Monk declined Zhao Xun's invitation to travel together and headed toward the exit, while Zhao Xun gave up trying to learn his ability.
• Zhao Xun took a different route, planning to hide the Sword and lure the Minotaur into attacking him again.

Zhao Xun used the Crimson Seal to take control of the Labyrinth of the Minotaur, tracked down the Minotaur, and killed it with the hidden sword before returning to the Endless Train. The next morning, Su Tiantian confronted him and asked whether he had killed the Minotaur.

• After waiting for the Minotaur to appear, Zhao Xun stamped the labyrinth’s walls, floor, and ceiling with the Crimson Seal and gained control of them for three hours.
• Zhao Xun used the labyrinth map to locate the Minotaur and raced there in lion form, passing the other players without trouble.
• Zhao Xun lured the Minotaur beneath the sword and killed it, earning 200 points and 200 hours of survival time.
• Zhao Xun returned to the Endless Train, spoke briefly with Zhaozhao, and slept until the morning of the 15th.
• Su Tiantian approached Zhao Xun in the corridor and asked whether he had killed the Minotaur.

Zhao Xun learned how the maze game ended after he killed the Minotaur, then entered a new dream game in which he had to repair a house and survive three days while violating every village rule. After completing the repairs, he received the rules and prepared to test their dangers.

• Su Tiantian told Zhao Xun that Minotaur duplicates hunted the remaining maze players after the original Minotaur died, and she planned to stagger her game entries to avoid becoming his enemy.
• Zhao Xun entered a dream game at 11:32 and found himself in a dilapidated house with a quest to repair it before nightfall.
• Zhao Xun used his Three Primates, tape, and spare roof tiles to fix the house, completing the main quest and earning 50 points and 50 hours of survival time.
• A side quest required Zhao Xun to survive three days while violating all ten village rules, including rules about work, water, nighttime behavior, meat, and speaking with women.
• Zhao Xun considered how to break the rules and realized he would need to stay alert for the next three days.

Zhao Xun smashed the village water vat and fought off villagers who came to punish him, then questioned them about Zhou Family Village. He learned about a madman who had been living on his own for a year and began investigating the family next door after recognizing Zhou Dafu as the person who had peeked at him.

• Zhao Xun smashed the water vat, drawing a brief look from a short-haired person in a nearby house.
• A boy threw stones into Zhao Xun's house and taunted him, so Zhao Xun knocked the boy unconscious; he also kicked the boy's grandmother when she began wailing.
• Zhou Dagui returned with two men carrying farming tools, but Zhao Xun wounded Zhou Dagui and Zhou Dafu with a blade and made them answer his questions.
• Grandpa Zhou told Zhao Xun that Zhou Family Village had only about thirty residents and that a madman had killed his father and wandered alone for about a year.
• Zhao Xun learned that Zhou Dafu lived next door with his wife and child, then asked whether the person peeking at him had been bothered by the smashed vat.

Zhao Xun used hypnosis to uncover Zhou Family Village’s history of buying women and the reason villagers kept water jars outside, then questioned the Zhou family about the village’s mysteries. He spoke privately with Zhang Qin and urged her to tell him something about the village, leaving her to decide whether to reveal a secret.

• Zhao Xun hypnotized Grandpa Zhou, who revealed that the water-jar custom began after women in the village tried to escape and set a fire, and that the surviving women were captured and tortured.
• Zhao Xun learned that one of the women had been chained in his house, that Zhou Dafu’s wife had been bought, and that Zhou Dagui’s wife had been exchanged from a neighboring village.
• Zhao Xun hypnotized Zhou Dafu and Zhou Dagui into fetching their wives, then learned that the Madman lived in the abandoned houses and that his mother had died during the escape attempt.
• Zhou Dafu brought Zhang Qin to Zhao Xun, who sent the Zhou men away and asked to speak with her alone.
• Zhang Qin admitted she had been trafficked, and Zhao Xun told her that, as an outsider, he could listen if she had anything she wanted to reveal.

Zhao Xun spoke privately with Zhang Qin, who revealed that she had been trafficked and wanted to escape Zhou Family Village, triggering half of a hidden mission. He promised to get her out safely within two days, then found that Liu Cuihua had no useful secrets and wondered who could trigger the mission’s other half.

• Zhao Xun used Hypnosis to send Zhou Dagui away and keep Liu Cuihua from interrupting his conversation with Zhang Qin.
• Zhang Qin told Zhao Xun she had been trafficked as a teenager, had endured years of abuse, and still longed to return to her parents.
• Zhang Qin revealed she had once reached town but was caught after a stranger reported her escape, and Zhao Xun promised to help her leave Zhou Family Village safely.
• Zhang Qin said no other women in the village wanted to escape, then returned home without letting Liu Cuihua see her tears.
• Liu Cuihua confronted Zhao Xun about her injured family, but Hypnosis revealed she had no useful secrets, leaving Zhao Xun to seek the hidden mission’s other half elsewhere.

Zhao Xun investigated the Madman and learned he had killed his father out of hatred, then returned home and confronted a female ghost released when he smashed the water jar. The ghost explained how she died and apologized after Zhao Xun drove her back with Samadhi True Fire.

• Zhao Xun searched the abandoned village depths and found the Madman, whose Hypnosis-induced answers revealed he had killed his father because he hated him.
• Zhao Xun learned the Madman survived by scavenging food and that no one had fed him, then returned to his house after dark.
• Zhao Xun heard dripping outside his door, suspected it was a consequence of breaking the water-jar rule, and used his flashlight to reveal a female ghost in his room.
• The female ghost attacked Zhao Xun, but he summoned Samadhi True Fire and forced her to retreat.
• The female ghost said a group of men had tortured her to death in the house and that smashing the water jar had freed her from its limits.
• Zhao Xun criticized the ghost for attacking him instead of seeking revenge on her killers, and she apologized.

Zhao Xun questioned the female ghost about the failed escape and the village’s history, then deliberately broke more rules to summon and defeat another ghost. A second female ghost revealed that Madman killed his father because of Madman’s trafficked mother.

• Zhao Xun learned that four women had been captured, others were believed to have died in the mountains, and two villagers had died during the pursuit; he suspected an escaped woman might still be hiding in the village.
• The female ghost explained that many villagers had skipped the wedding feast, and confirmed that none of the fire’s survivors remained alive in the village.
• Zhao Xun asked the female ghost to withdraw her environmental magnetic field, prompting a burned male ghost to appear at the door after Zhao Xun broke rules six and seven.
• The male ghost warned Zhao Xun not to speak alone with the village’s women, and Zhao Xun burned him to ash, linking the encounter to rule nine.
• A short-haired female ghost appeared and identified rule six as the reason she had been summoned, then told Zhao Xun that Madman killed his father because of Madman’s mother.

Zhao Xun learned that Madman’s mother had led the trafficked women’s escape and had taught her son to hate the villagers and avenge her. A ghost then discovered that Madman’s mother was still alive, explaining the long-term influence behind his attack on his father and possibly revealing one of the people needed to trigger Zhao Xun’s hidden mission.

• The short-haired ghost explained that Madman’s mother organized the women’s escape and secretly taught her young son to avenge her if she disappeared.
• Zhao Xun doubted that the mother’s brief childhood brainwashing alone could explain Madman killing his father decades later.
• Zhao Xun agreed to free the short-haired ghost at dawn if she and the long-haired ghost avoided attacking living villagers and helped watch Madman.
• Before dawn, the long-haired ghost returned and reported that Madman’s mother was alive and living with him in a frail, neglected state.
• Zhao Xun concluded that Madman’s mother had continued influencing him for over twenty years and might be the other person required to trigger his hidden mission.

Zhao Xun learned how Xia Mei survived her escape attempt and found her in Zhou Family Village, where a hidden mission instructed him to take her ashes out. Xia Mei accepted that she could not leave alive and asked him to help her son Madman as well.

• Long-Haired Female Ghost explained that Xia Mei had hidden in a cave after her escape attempt, then returned to the deserted village when her injured leg became infected.
• Zhao Xun freed Short-Haired Female Ghost by collapsing the house, refused to rescue the other ghosts, and rejected the village chief’s order to report for work.
• Zhao Xun confronted the village chief’s possessing ghost with a flame and continued on to Madman’s house.
• Zhao Xun met Xia Mei and received the hidden mission to take her ashes out of Zhou Family Village.
• Zhao Xun told Xia Mei she was too ill to survive the journey, and she agreed to leave as ashes and asked him to help Madman escape too.

Zhao Xun arranged for Xia Mei’s ashes and son to leave the village after her death, then clashed with the Zhou brothers over a celebration. He killed Zhou Dagui and was invited by Liu Cuihua to attend his funeral, setting up another chance to break the village rules.

• Xia Mei asked Madman whether he wanted to leave the village, and he agreed to follow Zhao Xun after she died.
• Xia Mei chose a liquor bottle for her ashes, and Zhao Xun promised to return morning and evening until she died.
• Zhou Dafu and Zhou Dagui invited Zhao Xun to their celebration, but he refused because attending would violate a village rule.
• When the brothers’ possessing ghosts emerged, Zhao Xun burned their shadows and left both men weakened.
• Zhao Xun killed Zhou Dagui and told Zhou Dafu to arrange a funeral, then Zhou Dagui’s wife Liu Cuihua came to invite him to it.
• Zhao Xun accepted Liu Cuihua’s invitation and asked what time the funeral would be.

Zhao Xun attended Zhou Dagui’s funeral to trigger the villagers’ meat-giving rule, then used the opportunity to help Zhang Qin and her daughter escape Zhou Family Village with Madman and Xia Mei’s ashes. After burning away the gray mist that trapped Zhang Qin at the village boundary, he completed a hidden mission and received points, survival time, and a special item.

• Zhao Xun found Xia Mei dead, burned her body, and gave Madman her ashes in a sealed liquor bottle.
• Zhao Xun attended Zhou Dagui’s funeral, refused to pay his respects, and later refused the raw meat Grandpa Zhou offered him.
• Zhao Xun led Zhang Qin away from the funeral and agreed to help her take her daughter out of the village.
• Zhao Xun gathered Zhang Qin, her daughter, and Madman with Xia Mei’s ashes, then guided them to the village entrance.
• Madman and Zhang Qin’s daughter crossed the boundary safely, while Zhao Xun burned away the gray mist restraining Zhang Qin so she could escape.
• Zhao Xun completed the hidden mission and received 200 points, 200 hours of survival time, and the special item Unyielding Bone.

Zhao Xun waited until eight o’clock, then killed the possessed villagers and their ghosts in one attack. After learning Zhou Dagui’s daughter had been sold, he used the Short-Haired Female Ghost and the Long-Haired Female Ghost as bait to draw out and destroy the village ghosts, leaving the two female ghosts alive.

• Zhao Xun waited until eight o’clock, then used Fire Needles and Fireballs to burn the villagers and their possessing ghosts to ash.
• Zhao Xun killed two wandering ghosts from a distance as he headed to Zhou Dagui’s house, where he found Grandma Zhou and Zhou Facai dead beside the Short-Haired Female Ghost and the Long-Haired Female Ghost.
• The Long-Haired Female Ghost told Zhao Xun that Zhou Dagui’s daughter had been sold to pay for her brother’s treatment, and Zhao Xun found cash that supported her account.
• Zhao Xun ordered the two female ghosts to try leaving the village, using their escape attempt to lure the villager ghosts into an ambush.
• Zhao Xun, concealed as a sparrow with the [Chameleon's Cloak], destroyed the surrounding villager ghosts with flames while the two female ghosts watched.

Zhao Xun helped the female ghosts kill the remaining Villager Ghosts, but they still could not leave Zhou Family Village. He killed the ungrateful Ponytailed Female Ghost, then rested while the two survivors waited to see whether they could escape after he left.

• Zhao Xun burned the gathered Villager Ghosts, and the female ghosts discovered they weakened whenever they crossed the village boundary.
• The four female ghosts hunted the remaining Villager Ghosts while Zhao Xun drove them from their hiding places with fire, and only one Villager Ghost remained before the final confrontation.
• After the last Villager Ghost died, the three surviving female ghosts still could not leave the village, and Zhao Xun revealed he had watched from behind the Boundary Stele.
• Zhao Xun killed the Ponytailed Female Ghost when she complained, then the Long-Haired Female Ghost and Short-Haired Female Ghost hid beneath trees as dawn approached.
• Zhao Xun slept until evening, and the two surviving female ghosts told him they hoped to leave once no living people or Villager Ghosts remained in the village.

After completing a difficult Dream Game, Zhao Xun devoured Zhaozhao’s Absolute Good Luck ability and discovered that its requirements made it unusable for him. His rank rose to 123, and he entered the compartment for the upcoming Fifth Stop, where he reunited with Su Tiantian and Zhaozhao.

• Zhao Xun completed the side quest for surviving three days while violating every village rule, earning 500 points and 500 hours of survival time, and received the Unyielding Bone.
• Zhao Xun learned from Zhaozhao that the latest Platform Game had begun on November 17, then discreetly devoured a strand of her hair to obtain Absolute Good Luck.
• Zhao Xun discovered that Absolute Good Luck required optimism, love, and kindness, qualities he lacked, and decided it would be better to keep Zhaozhao as a potential ally than to provoke her.
• Zhao Xun learned that Xiao Hong had gone to a Platform Game, rested for two days, and saw his updated rank rise to 123 with 2,076 points.
• Zhao Xun moved into Compartment 1 after the train announced its arrival at the Fifth Stop on November 22, where he met Su Tiantian and Zhaozhao.

Zhao Xun entered the Werewolf Game, where players were assigned roles and given rules for a deadly version of Werewolf. He became a Werewolf and Cupid’s lover, creating a third faction that complicated his victory conditions as the players gathered in the hotel.

• Zhao Xun found Xiao Hong protected inside a Dream Game and postponed his plan to Devour her special ability.
• Zhao Xun disembarked at the Werewolf Game platform with fourteen other players and studied the game’s roles, factions, and rules.
• The system assigned Zhao Xun the Werewolf role and revealed that Cupid had chosen him as a lover, forming a true love faction with Cupid.
• Zhao Xun realized he had to help the Werewolves win while keeping himself and Cupid alive until the end.
• Zhao Xun met the other players in the hotel corridor, where a young man in a baseball cap suggested they go downstairs to the lobby.