Chapter Summaries

Zhao Xun killed the Prince, then repeatedly killed the Princess as the group fled through the bramble thicket. He and his companions escaped beyond the thicket, where an invisible barrier stopped the Princess and her vines from following.

• Zhao Xun tested the distance between the Princess and the Prince, then killed the Prince and bound the Princess with the [Lively Long Rope].
• Zhao Xun ordered the Cloaked Man to track the Princess's revival time and stabbed her each time she woke.
• Zhao Xun killed the Princess three more times, then threw her into the brambles and ran for the exit with the Cloaked Man and the Slightly Plump Woman.
• The Slightly Plump Woman and the Cloaked Man crossed out of the bramble thicket as the enraged Princess appeared behind them.
• The Princess and her vines could not cross the thicket's boundary, leaving Zhao Xun and his companions safely beyond it.

After clearing the Princess Thorn game, Zhao Xun, A Mu, and Xiao Hong received the Princess's Prince Pendant, which let its owner summon other pendant holders to a future game. Back beside the train, they discussed how the item and game rewards worked, and Xiao Hong asked to join Zhao Xun in his next game.

• Zhao Xun received 70 points and the Princess's Prince Pendant for completing a hidden mission, plus points for killing the Princess seven times and unlocking all storylines.
• Zhao Xun, A Mu, and Xiao Hong returned to the train and read the pendant's details, learning that it could summon other holders to help in a future game.
• A Mu told Zhao Xun and Xiao Hong that players could bring NPC-gifted items onto the train, but not food or water.
• Zhao Xun gave his name as A Shui, A Mu introduced himself, and Xiao Hong revealed her childhood nickname.
• Xiao Hong asked whether she had fulfilled her agreement with Zhao Xun, and he said she had not.
• Xiao Hong tentatively asked whether she should join Zhao Xun for the next game.

Xiao Hong chose to join Zhao Xun in future Platform Games, while Zhao Xun upgraded Devour to level 3 and considered the points he would need for further upgrades. A Mu then asked Zhao Xun whether he possessed several special items, suspecting he had collected an unusual number for a new player.

• Xiao Hong told Zhao Xun she wanted to join him in two more Platform Games, and he agreed while warning that he would not go easy on her if they landed in opposing factions.
• Zhao Xun put away the Princess's Prince Pendant and spent 200 points to upgrade Devour to level 3.
• Zhao Xun learned that Devour now doubled the strength of acquired abilities and let him hold three abilities, then checked that level 4 would cost 500 points.
• Zhao Xun considered how he would need to earn points and collect special items while preparing to face veteran players.
• A Mu asked Zhao Xun whether he had several special items, reasoning that Zhao Xun's abilities and equipment suggested he possessed at least four.

Zhao Xun concealed the secret of his [Devour] ability by telling A Mu he had taken special items from veteran players, while Xiao Hong earned points and upgraded her ability. After resting until night, Zhao Xun and Xiao Hong boarded the Endless Train, where No. 019 asked Xiao Hong where No. 018 was.

• Zhao Xun admitted to A Mu that he had obtained special items from veteran players, then spent twenty points to buy a third Storage Slot.
• Xiao Hong discovered she had earned 144 points and spent a hundred to upgrade her special ability.
• Zhao Xun set an alarm, crawled into a sleeping bag, and went to sleep; A Mu joined him, while Xiao Hong waited nearby and eventually dozed off.
• After Zhao Xun's phone alarm rang, he and A Mu prepared to board, and Zhao Xun and Xiao Hong boarded the Endless Train together.
• Zhao Xun checked his panel and saw that his rank had fallen to 451, while Xiao Hong confirmed she was not last.
• No. 019 asked Xiao Hong where No. 018 was, since he had joined her in the Platform Game.

After learning that the Third Station game would last five days, Zhao Xun and Xiao Hong decided to enter it despite the short rest. Zhao Xun also received a personal mission to destroy one of his weapons and began damaging a Folding Fruit Knife to fulfill it.

• The train announced that the Third Station game would begin on September 10 and last five days, prompting passengers to worry about how many games would remain that month.
• Zhao Xun received a personal mission to destroy one of his weapons and decided to sacrifice a Folding Fruit Knife rather than a more powerful weapon.
• Xiao Hong confirmed to No. 019 and No. 020 that No. 018 had died in the previous game.
• Xiao Hong asked Zhao Xun whether they would enter the next game, and he told her she could stay behind, though he would go.
• Xiao Hong chose to join Zhao Xun, who then retrieved his Folding Fruit Knife and began cutting notches into its blade.

After completing his personal mission, Zhao Xun visited the Volunteers and fulfilled his deal with the deceased Cowboy by recounting the previous game. He then went to the dining car to eat and discovered that charging his phone cost points.

• Zhao Xun earned five points for completing his September 10 personal mission, then left the restroom after disposing of the damaged fruit knife.
• Zhao Xun told Wu Wei and the other Volunteers that the Cowboy had died and offered to explain their last game as part of a deal.
• Zhao Xun recounted the game but withheld the surviving players’ special abilities and items, then left after Wu Wei thanked him.
• A Jie questioned Zhao Xun’s motives and suspected he had received the Cowboy’s hiking backpack, while Wu Wei warned A Jie not to make enemies.
• Zhao Xun ordered pork chop rice in the dining car and selected the option to charge his phone for one point per minute.

Zhao Xun entered the City of Light Platform Game, where 416 players were paired to complete ten chained quests in three days. After receiving a map showing his distant teammate’s location, he used the Goddess's Wings to fly toward them.

• Zhao Xun ate, charged his phone, and slept while Xiao Hong returned from her Personal Mission and found him still asleep.
• Zhao Xun, Xiao Hong, No. 019, and No. 020 waited for the train to stop at the City of Light platform.
• The system announced that 416 players would be randomly paired and required to finish ten chained quests in three days, with both partners failing if either died.
• Zhao Xun appeared on a busy city street, received a map marking his teammate, and entered an alley to test the Goddess's Wings.
• Zhao Xun flew toward his teammate across the city and noted that the teammate was moving much more slowly on foot.

Zhao Xun met his teammate Wang Biao, and their three-day chain quest began when Zhao Xun touched his shoulder. They headed to the Maoye Building to find a lost girl, arriving together after running and stealing bicycles.

• Zhao Xun caught up with Wang Biao and triggered the chain quest by patting his shoulder.
• The quest instructed Zhao Xun and Wang Biao to find a little girl separated from her parents at the Maoye Building.
• Zhao Xun found the building on the map and urged Wang Biao to run, but Wang Biao quickly grew exhausted.
• Zhao Xun cut the locks on two bicycles, and he and Wang Biao rode to the Maoye Building.
• Zhao Xun and Wang Biao abandoned the bicycles and hurried into the building.

Zhao Xun and Wang Biao searched the Maoye Building for a missing girl, starting with the karaoke lounge on the seventh floor. They found a crying boy in the women’s restroom instead, and Wang Biao urged Zhao Xun not to get involved as they still had their task to complete.

• Zhao Xun and Wang Biao entered the closed Maoye Building and rode the elevator to the seventh floor, checking the lower floors as they went.
• Wang Biao led Zhao Xun into the karaoke lounge after persuading the receptionist that they were meeting friends.
• Zhao Xun and Wang Biao heard a child crying and followed the sound to the women’s restroom.
• Zhao Xun and Wang Biao found a crying boy who did not match the missing girl’s description.
• Wang Biao urged Zhao Xun to leave the boy and keep searching for the girl.

Zhao Xun recognized that the crying boy in the restroom was the missing girl from the system’s picture, despite her short hair and boys’ clothes. After learning she had been separated from her parents at a movie theater, he agreed to take her to find them and had Wang Biao hold her hand.

• Zhao Xun noticed the child was holding the same pink star hair clip as the girl in the system’s picture and coaxed the child to look up.
• Wang Biao realized the child’s face and mole matched the girl’s picture exactly, and the child lowered her head again after he exclaimed.
• Zhao Xun learned that the girl had been separated from her parents at a crowded movie theater after they fought and left her behind.
• The girl said she had come to the restroom because she thought her parents were there, and Zhao Xun agreed to help her find them.
• Zhao Xun asked whether she was an only child, then told Wang Biao to hold her hand as they set out.

Wang Biao and Zhao Xun found Yaya and reunited her with her parents, completing the first two stages of their quest chain. After learning the couple argued because a classmate cut Yaya’s hair, Zhao Xun proposed checking her kindergarten before offering a solution.

• Wang Biao and Zhao Xun followed Yaya to the cinema and found her mother crying in the restroom.
• Yaya reunited with her mother, and her father arrived soon afterward; the parents admitted they had each assumed Yaya was with the other.
• Wang Biao accepted the father’s offer to treat them to dinner, completing the quest’s second stage.
• A new quest required Zhao Xun and Wang Biao to learn why the parents had argued and offer a solution they both accepted.
• The parents explained that a boy at Yaya’s kindergarten had cut her hair and that they disagreed about confronting his family or changing schools.
• Zhao Xun asked for the kindergarten’s name and said he would visit it the next day to investigate.

Zhao Xun agreed to help Yaya’s parents get the boy transferred from Star-Moon Fairy Tale Kindergarten, then threatened Wang Biao for speaking out of turn. After gaining Water Control through Devour, Zhao Xun headed to the kindergarten to spend the night and continue the quest.

• Zhao Xun promised Yaya’s parents he would ask for the boy to be transferred without revealing what happened to Yaya’s hair.
• Zhao Xun cornered Wang Biao in an alley and ordered him to stay quiet when new quest stages appeared.
• Zhao Xun acquired Water Control by eating Wang Biao’s cigarette and learned that Devour doubled the ability’s effects.
• Zhao Xun found Star-Moon Fairy Tale Kindergarten on the map and climbed over its wall, leaving Wang Biao outside asking what about him.

Zhao Xun waited outside a kindergarten with Wang Biao, then entered by posing as a parent so he could observe the children and find Yaya’s bully. The chapter left Zhao Xun watching the misbehaving boy and considering how to deal with him.

• Zhao Xun slept inside the kindergarten while Wang Biao was supposed to keep watch, but Wang Biao fell asleep outside.
• Zhao Xun woke at five, found Wang Biao asleep, scolded him, and warned him that he had one chance left.
• Wang Biao asked why Zhao Xun avoided physical contact, and Zhao Xun said Wang Biao would find out someday.
• Zhao Xun and Wang Biao waited until the kindergarten opened, then Zhao Xun posed as a parent and asked to observe classes.
• Zhao Xun spotted Yaya and identified the boy who bullied her as he hit another child and disrupted the playground.
• Wang Biao asked Zhao Xun how he planned to deal with the boy.

Zhao Xun used [Water Control] to make Xiao Dong suffer repeated bouts of suffocation until the boy begged to leave the kindergarten. After Xiao Dong’s mother withdrew him, Zhao Xun received the next stage of the Chain Quest: kidnap Yaya.

• Zhao Xun sent Wang Biao to sleep while he used [Water Control] to choke Xiao Dong with droplets of water.
• Xiao Dong repeatedly struggled to breathe, and Zhao Xun suggested that the teachers call his parents and take him to the hospital.
• Xiao Dong’s mother arrived, cursed the staff, and listened as her son begged to change schools.
• The principal refunded Xiao Dong’s tuition, and his departure relieved the kindergarten staff.
• Zhao Xun received the fourth Chain Quest stage: kidnap Yaya.

Zhao Xun and Wang Biao completed the fourth stage of their mission by coaxing Yaya out of the Kindergarten and taking her away. The fifth stage required them to call her parents and demand a ransom of 500,000, and Zhao Xun told Yaya he would borrow a phone.

• Wang Biao woke to learn that the fourth stage required them to kidnap Yaya, and Zhao Xun decided to try a gentle approach.
• Zhao Xun gathered a hood, gloves, a knife, and a concealed pistol before returning to the Kindergarten with Wang Biao.
• Zhao Xun persuaded Yaya that her parents would approve of an outing, then guided her through the playground railings while Wang Biao picked her up.
• Zhao Xun and Wang Biao openly carried Yaya away from the Kindergarten, completing the fourth stage of the mission chain.
• The fifth-stage notification ordered Zhao Xun and Wang Biao to call Yaya's parents and demand a ransom of 500,000, and Zhao Xun told Yaya he would borrow a phone.

Zhao Xun took Yaya to a park and used a frightened stranger to make a ransom call to her mother. After the quest advanced, he kept the stranger with him and asked whether he would call the police.

• Zhao Xun and Wang Biao rode with Yaya to a distant park, where Wang Biao stayed with her while Zhao Xun searched for someone to use.
• Zhao Xun threatened a lone man with a gun, took his cash and phone, and instructed him to read a ransom demand.
• The man called Yaya’s mother and demanded five hundred thousand in used bills within two hours, then hung up without answering her questions.
• Zhao Xun received confirmation that stage five was complete and learned that stage six required him to leave Yaya where she was after obtaining the ransom.
• Zhao Xun refused to let the man go and asked whether he would call the police, but the man misunderstood the question.

Zhao Xun completed the ransom exchange for Yaya, killed the man who had helped him, and moved on to the next stages of his Chain Quest. After buying a gold necklace, he faced a new objective as masked robbers stormed the jewelry store.

• Zhao Xun had the man demand five hundred thousand yuan from Yaya's parents and relay instructions for leaving the money at Riverside Park.
• After the woman left the suitcase in the restroom, Zhao Xun drowned the man with [Water Control] and retrieved the money.
• Zhao Xun left Yaya at the park with a message for her mother and told her to keep their involvement secret.
• Zhao Xun and Wang Biao ate lunch, then bought the cheapest gold necklace for two thousand yuan to complete stage seven of the Chain Quest.
• Two masked people rushed into the jewelry store and announced a robbery as Zhao Xun received the stage-eight objective to stop them.

Zhao Xun and Wang Biao defeated two player robbers, completing the eighth chain quest and receiving a new task to deliver a gold necklace at the City Hospital at midnight. There, Zhao Xun encountered Yaya’s mother, who revealed that Yaya had been kidnapped and was undergoing resuscitation.

• Zhao Xun and Wang Biao attacked the masked robbers in the Gold Shop; Zhao Xun killed the Gorilla Mask man, then shot the Demon Mask man after Wang Biao restrained him with the [Lively Long Rope].
• Zhao Xun completed the eighth chain quest and received the ninth quest: give a gold necklace to the first person who appeared at the City Hospital entrance at midnight on the 12th.
• Zhao Xun and Wang Biao rode to the City Hospital, ate dinner, and waited there overnight; Zhao Xun kept watch while Wang Biao slept in the security booth.
• At midnight, Zhao Xun saw Yaya’s mother walk out of the hospital and gave her the gold necklace as the first person to arrive at the entrance.
• Yaya’s mother told Zhao Xun that kidnappers had abducted Yaya for ransom and that Yaya was now in the resuscitation room after being found gravely wounded.

Zhao Xun and Wang Biao learned that other players had attacked Yaya and joined forces with Wu Wei and Xiao Hong to protect her. After Yaya survived surgery, a strange disinfectant smell knocked everyone unconscious, leaving her vulnerable.

• Zhao Xun gave Yaya's mother a blessed necklace, learned Yaya had been attacked, and deduced that two players he saw near the park were likely responsible.
• Zhao Xun brought Wang Biao to the hospital, where they found Xiao Hong and Wu Wei guarding Yaya and learned Xiao Hong had saved her.
• Zhao Xun revealed his quest to find Yaya's killer, and the groups agreed to work together while the attackers might still return.
• The doctor said Yaya had survived surgery but needed forty-eight hours of intensive care observation, so her parents and the players followed her to the ICU.
• A faint disinfectant smell made everyone dizzy, and Zhao Xun, Wang Biao, Wu Wei, Xiao Hong, and Yaya's parents all lost consciousness.

Wu Wei and Zhao Xun stopped two men from killing Yaya, and Zhao Xun killed the diamondized attacker after discovering his eye remained vulnerable. The tenth Chain Quest was completed, leaving them to wait until midnight on September 13.

• Wu Wei attacked the middle-aged man and Zhao Xun shot him before he could use his ability, while the younger man rushed toward Yaya.
• Wu Wei dragged the younger man away from Yaya, and Zhao Xun used the [Lively Long Rope] to bind him.
• Wu Wei revealed that the middle-aged man's ability had knocked out everyone on the floor, while Zhao Xun found that the younger man's eye had not diamondized.
• After Wu Wei left, Zhao Xun pierced the younger man's eye with a poisoned needle, killing him.
• The system announced that the tenth Chain Quest and all ten quests in the first stage were complete, and told the players to wait until midnight on September 13.