Recaps

Lin En launched the main quest to send players toward Fog Town after they rescued Kyle, then chose to build a toll-charging Ash Altar to speed their journey. He began preparing a quest that would make the players defend the fragile teleportation anchor.

• The players rescued the dying knight Kyle, and Kuang Shao carried him back toward Newbie Village as Lu Ziye organized the escort.
• Lin En used the rescue to unlock Fog Town’s map coordinates and issued the major regional quest to escort Kyle and break through the Cultists’ blockades.
• Lin En worried that the long trip from the Ash Church would waste the players’ time, so he asked the system about establishing a frontline respawn point.
• The system offered a costly permanent Divine Statue or a 1,000-Faith-Point Ash Altar that let players teleport one way for 2 Ash Coins per use.
• Lin En decided to build the Ash Altar and began creating a base-defense quest to persuade the players to protect it.

Lu Ziye and the players brought the badly wounded Knight Kyle to the Ash Church, where Sivir treated him and Lin En learned that Fog Town was under siege. Lin En launched a regional quest to escort Kyle and establish an Ash Altar near Fog Town, unlocking paid fast travel to the front line.

• Immortal Star Crazy Young Master carried Knight Kyle into the Ash Church with Lu Ziye and the other players, while Kyle endured their talk of stripping and looting him.
• Sivir treated Kyle's wounds as he explained that Cultists had surrounded Fog Town and its barrier was close to collapsing.
• Lin En instructed Sivir to announce that the Lord of Ashes would protect the believers and guide a rescue, and Kyle praised the Lord, earning Lin En 100 Faith Points.
• Lin En issued a regional quest to escort Kyle to Sighing Heights and build an Ash Altar there.
• The quest announcement unlocked teleportation from the Church to the Fog Town front line for two Ash Coins, but warned that destroying the Ash Altar would permanently close the route.

Lu Ziye prepared to escort Knight Kyle and establish a new base, but Ji Luo and his team returned after being wiped out by a Second Tier Mutant. The players learned that the Wailing Brain Tree could kill them instantly with a mass mental attack, leaving the danger of the Black Forest unresolved.

• Lu Ziye rallied the players to escort Knight Kyle and build a teleportation array, treating its safety as their top priority.
• The Resurrection Array flashed, and Ji Luo, Kindergarten Boss, I'm Not Jiahao, and thirty newbies materialized after being killed in the Black Forest.
• Ji Luo explained that his group had encountered a Second Tier Mutant called the Wailing Brain Tree in a mangrove grove.
• Ji Luo said the Wailing Brain Tree's mouths unleashed a widespread mental attack that dropped all thirty-three players' Sanity to zero and caused their bodies to burst into blood mist.

[Ji Luo] stopped the players from attacking a Second Tier monster and led them toward Sighing Heights to complete their Main Quest. After fighting through the Black Forest, they reached the heights and saw Fog Town burning beneath a fading barrier from the [Weeping Madonna].

• [Ji Luo] warned the players that the Second Tier monster’s mental corruption would kill them and told them to prioritize escorting Knight Kyle to Sighing Heights.
• Lu Ziye organized the players into a formation, while [Immortal Star Crazy Young Master] carried the wounded Kyle on his back.
• All fifty-five players accepted the Main Quest [Lament of Fog Town] and set out for Sighing Heights.
• The players killed Corrupted Villagers and other monsters along the way, reaching the heights after more than three hours without serious danger.
• [Ji Luo] confirmed their destination, and the players saw that Cultists and monsters had overrun much of Fog Town while the [Weeping Madonna]’s barrier still shone above the ancient temple.

Lin En used the players to conjure an Ash Altar at Sighing Heights, opening a teleportation route to the front line. With night approaching and the players short on Ash Coins, Ji Luo called off an immediate assault on Fog Town and planned an attack for the next day.

• Lin En spent 1,000 Faith Points to use the players as conduits and create an Ash Altar at Sighing Heights.
• The Ash Altar activated, and a regional announcement let players teleport there from the Ash Church for 2 Ash Coins.
• Knight Kyle witnessed the altar's creation and knelt in awe before it, while Lu Ziye urged the players to attack Fog Town.
• Ji Luo warned that nightfall would bring Dark Moon Mist and leave their small, underfunded force at a disadvantage.
• The players agreed to withdraw for the night, discuss tactics in a Green Bubble Group, and launch an all-out assault after daybreak.

The players arranged a paid night watch to protect the Ash Altar’s teleportation array before logging off, while Lin En praised their initiative and prepared for the assault on Fog Town. On Blue Star, the Second Beta Test players launched a forum reckoning against Cloud Gamers who had accused them of being paid shills.

• [Ji Luo] offered Ash Coins to recruit five newbies to guard the Ash Altar overnight and instructed them to alert players through the forum if enemies appeared.
• The fifty players logged off, leaving the five guards beside the altar, and Knight Kyle watched in disbelief as the God-Touched vanished in white light.
• Lin En watched the players’ preparations through the system and felt relieved that they had protected the teleportation array without costing him anything.
• The Second Beta Test players logged into the Ninth Art forum and challenged Cloud Gamers to apologize for calling them paid shills.
• [Immortal Star Crazy Young Master] praised the game in a pinned thread, described rescuing Kyle, and called on all fifty Second Beta Test players to clear the first beta players’ names.

As the Second Beta Test players’ reports convinced the public that Awakening of the Old Gods was real, forum users clamored for access and argued with skeptics. Ji Luo organized all fifty newcomers alongside the five First Closed Beta veterans, then began preparing them for a dangerous assault on Fog Town.

• Fifty Second Beta Test players shared their experiences, prompting a frenzy of requests and bids for access codes on the forum.
• Director Li of the Third Psychiatric Hospital called the game a scam, and Ji Luo and other players mocked his claims and challenged his laptop bet.
• Ji Luo warned the veteran players that the Fog Town dungeon’s Cultists and Mutants would make their previous squads dangerously ineffective.
• Ji Luo asked Ma Lou to create a group for all fifty new players so they could plan the next day’s tactics.
• Ma Lou established the Awakening of the Old Gods Expeditionary Command Headquarters group, where the fifty-five players traded memes.
• Ji Luo muted the group and announced that the players needed to regroup according to their combat strengths before attacking Fog Town.

Ji Luo organized the players into four tactical groups for the assault on Fog Town, using a plan devised with his sister Ji Li. At seven the next morning, players began logging into the Wasteland World at Sighing Heights.

• Ji Luo assigned players to a Main Combat Group, a Vanguard Scout Group, a Teleportation Array Home Guard Group, and an Unorthodox Tactics Group led by Even Monkeys Have Dignity.
• Players eagerly signed up for the combat, scout, and unorthodox groups, but only one player volunteered for the Home Guard, so Ji Luo announced he would draw lots the next day.
• Ji Luo told everyone to rest and log in at seven for the assault on Fog Town, then thanked Ji Li for helping devise the group strategy.
• Ji Li explained that the players' limited classes made it more useful to organize them by personality and play style, then sent Ji Luo to bed.
• At seven the next morning, five guards at the Ash Altar watched white pillars of light appear as players logged in at Sighing Heights.

Ji Luo led the players into Fog Town to scout and probe the Cultists’ defenses while the Cultists prepared a full-scale assault on the town’s Divine Hall. The High Priest revealed that the barrier could last only two more days and that no reinforcements were coming.

• Kuang Shao paid three newcomers to guard the Ash Altar, then returned to the main combat team as Ji Luo organized the players’ advance into Fog Town.
• A red-robed priest ordered the Cultists and Mutants to gather for a full-scale assault using Flesh Magic.
• The Cultists bombarded the Divine Hall’s barrier while hundreds of frightened townspeople crowded inside.
• The High Priest told the wounded guard captain that the Madonna’s power was nearly exhausted and the barrier would last at most two days.
• The High Priest said Winterhold would not send help and urged the townspeople to pray and face their fate.

Sister Ilyena comforted Fog Town's wounded while privately considering poisoning the town before the barrier fell. Outside the barrier, [I'm Not Jiahao] led ten Second Beta Test newbies in an ambush on two Cultists and three Mutant Hounds, and the operation began as one Cultist heard a faint noise overhead.

• Ilyena reassured a wounded town guard, then secretly considered poisoning the well and rigging the dead with alchemical bombs.
• Two First Tier Fallen Cultists patrolled the outskirts of Fog Town with three Mutant Hounds, confident the town would soon fall.
• [I'm Not Jiahao] and ten Second Beta Test newbies watched the patrol from above and planned a silent attack.
• [I'm Not Jiahao] assigned two newbies to attack the Cultists and the others to subdue the Mutant Hounds.
• The ambush began, and the Cultist on the left heard a faint rustling overhead.

[I'm Not Jiahao] and the other newbies ambushed cultists and their Mutant Hounds in Fog Town, then discovered the cultists dropped usable gear. Jiahao and [God Never Laughs] disguised themselves in the cultists' robes and headed toward the fighting near the square.

• [God Never Cries] and [God Never Laughs] attacked two cultists from above while the other newbies killed three Mutant Hounds, eliminating all five enemies before they could raise an alarm.
• [I'm Not Jiahao] inspected Fog Town and decided to scout the cultist defenses while the combat team waited for a signal.
• [God Never Laughs] noticed that the cultists' corpses and equipment had not vanished, and the newbies found that the staff was restricted to a special class while the iron chain had no such restriction.
• [I'm Not Jiahao] and [God Never Laughs] put on the cultists' robes, took their staffs, and set off toward the square while the remaining newbies spread out to gather intel.

[I'm Not Jiahao] and [God Never Laughs] infiltrated Fog Town in cultist disguises to scout the enemy forces and record their positions. As they tried to escape with the information, a priest exposed them and two Corrupted-Feather Crowmen closed in, leaving Jiahao to decide how to respond.

• [I'm Not Jiahao] and [God Never Laughs] disguised themselves as cultists and slipped past a patrol in Fog Town.
• They reached the central square and saw hundreds of cultists, monsters, and townspeople protected by a failing white barrier.
• [I'm Not Jiahao] used his gaming pod to photograph the enemy deployment while they noticed Corrupted Villagers carrying body parts into a guarded courtyard.
• The pair decided to retreat, but a priest stopped them and sensed no trace of the Abyss on them.
• Two Corrupted-Feather Crowmen emerged and surrounded them as [God Never Laughs] warned that their disguise had been exposed.

Jiahao and God Never Laughs infiltrated the Church in Fog Town to gather intelligence, then respawned at the Ash Altar after dying to the cultists. Their screenshots revealed that the town’s forces were far beyond the players’ strength, leaving the group unsure how to attack.

• Jiahao tried to fool the cult priest with talk of isolating their Abyssal contamination, but the priest ordered the Corrupted-Feather Crowmen to attack.
• God Never Laughs struck a crowman with his chain while Jiahao blasted the priest’s staff, but both players were killed and respawned at the Ash Altar.
• Jiahao revealed that he had taken screenshots of Fog Town’s defenses and a level-sixteen Crowman before dying, then shared them in the players’ real-world group chat.
• More than fifty players logged out to view Jiahao’s images and returned alarmed by the hundreds of cultists and the Crowman’s level and poisonous area attack.
• Immortal Star Crazy Young Master, Kindergarten Boss, and Passing Pure-Love Warrior concluded that their group could not fight the enemies yet.

Ji Luo's group devised a plan to poison the Cultists' wells and soup, then attack amid the resulting confusion. Lu Ziye, Jiahao, and Ma Lou infiltrated the supply point in disguise and reached the wells, ready to carry out the poisoning.

• Ma Lou proposed using Human-Faced Poison Spider glands to poison the Cultists' wells and broth, and the players enthusiastically approved.
• Ji Luo warned that the supply point was too heavily guarded for inexperienced players, so Lu Ziye, Jiahao, and Ma Lou volunteered for the dangerous mission.
• Ji Luo ordered the trio to disguise themselves in Cultist robes, poison the supply point, and signal the Main Combat Group to attack.
• Lu Ziye, Jiahao, and Ma Lou killed three lone Cultists, put on their robes, and slipped through the patrols to reach the plaza's supply point.
• The trio crawled around the wells and hid in the hay behind them, where Lu Ziye whispered for Ma Lou to get the poison.

Lu Ziye, Jiahao, and Ma Lou ran into Ilyena while secretly poisoning the Cultists’ water supply and discovered she was sabotaging the attackers too. After learning they had come to help Fog Town and that Kyle was safe, Ilyena joined forces with them and warned them to leave before the Cultists found them.

• Ma Lou was about to poison a well when Ilyena arrived, poisoned it herself, and planted Alchemical Bombs in nearby corpses.
• Ilyena caught Lu Ziye, Jiahao, and Ma Lou hiding in a haystack and drew a poisoned dagger, but Lu Ziye revealed himself and said they were allies sent by the Lord of Ashes.
• Lu Ziye told Ilyena they had rescued Kyle, and she lowered her dagger after hearing he was safe and guarding the Sighing Heights entrance.
• Ilyena agreed to work with the players, told them to poison the other well and leave quickly, and warned them not to touch the bomb-rigged corpses.
• Ma Lou poured venom into the second well, while Lu Ziye poisoned the pot of simmering meat soup.

Jiahao asked Ilyena for her remaining Alchemical Bombs, claiming they would help his assembled force of fifty God-Touched storm Fog Town and rescue its people. Ilyena was moved by the three men’s confidence and began to hope for a counterattack.

• Ma Lou added the Human-Faced Poison Spider's venom to the Mutant broth while Ilyena prepared to retreat.
• Jiahao stopped Ilyena and asked for the three Alchemical Bombs she still had.
• Ilyena questioned Jiahao's intentions, and he said the bombs would help his force storm the town.
• Lu Ziye claimed fifty God-Touched had gathered outside Fog Town and would attack after the Cultists were poisoned.
• Jiahao explained that the bombs would break through the Cultists' defensive line, and Ilyena felt hope replace her despair.

Ilyena gave Jiahao, Lu Ziye, and Ma Lou Alchemical Bombs and blessed them with a powerful temporary buff before returning to the divine barrier. Her wink left Lu Ziye and Ma Lou arguing over whom she had meant, while Jiahao revealed he had spent the moment taking photos of her.

• Ilyena entrusted three Alchemical Bombs to Jiahao, Lu Ziye, and Ma Lou and wished them the Weeping Madonna's blessing.
• Ilyena's blessing increased the three players' strength and recovery rates for fifteen minutes.
• Ilyena returned toward the divine barrier, then winked at the three players before disappearing inside.
• Lu Ziye and Ma Lou argued over whether Ilyena had winked at him, while Cultists threatened to go berserk nearby.
• Jiahao interrupted them and boasted that he had taken an uncensored photo collection of Ilyena.

Jiahao persuaded Lu Ziye and Ma Lou to abandon their plan to return to the main force and use their Alchemical Bombs in a suicide attack on the tightly packed Cultists and Mutants outside Fog Town. The trio prepared to disguise themselves in red robes and rush into the crowd for maximum damage.

• Jiahao revealed that he planned to sell screenshots of Wasteland White Moonlight, angering Lu Ziye and Ma Lou.
• Lu Ziye and Ma Lou prepared to return to the high ground after poisoning the Cultists, but Jiahao stopped them.
• Jiahao admitted that he had lied to the sister Nun and had never intended to bring the three Alchemical Bombs back for the siege.
• Jiahao explained that the bombs would be more effective against the hundreds of Cultists and Mutants packed outside the Deity Barrier.
• Ma Lou and Lu Ziye embraced Jiahao's plan to disguise themselves as Cultists and charge into the crowd with the bombs.

Jiahao joined Lu Ziye and Ma Lou in a charge toward Weeping Madonna Plaza, where Cultists were close to breaking the Deity Barrier. As the three approached, guards at the edge of the plaza noticed them through the fog.

• Lu Ziye and Ma Lou marveled at Jiahao’s unusual behavior, then watched in horror as he dribbled an Alchemical Bomb and pretended to shoot it like a basketball.
• Jiahao explained that he used to play basketball in America, and Lu Ziye and Ma Lou realized his usual showboating had returned.
• Lu Ziye rallied the group to play savior for the town’s residents, while Ma Lou vowed to make a mark with a biological attack and suicide gift package.
• At Weeping Madonna Plaza, hundreds of Cultists battered the nearly broken Deity Barrier while townspeople huddled inside.
• Several Cultists guarding the plaza’s rear noticed three robed figures swaggering through the fog toward them.

Lu Ziye, Jiahao, and [Even Monkeys Have Dignity] tried to bluff their way into the Cultists’ central spellcasting zone by claiming a spy had exposed an approaching army. The squad leader rejected their story and raised his bone blade to strike Ma Lou.

• Lu Ziye and Jiahao continued toward the central spellcasting zone with Ma Lou, drawing the attention of a Cultist squad leader.
• The squad leader ordered the three to stop and demanded to know which squad they belonged to.
• Ma Lou claimed they had urgent intelligence about a spy and a large army waiting in the ruins beyond the fog.
• The squad leader dismissed the report, mocked the idea of reinforcements, and accused them of hallucinating.
• Ma Lou insisted the priest needed to hear the warning and suggested the squad leader himself might be the spy.
• The furious squad leader raised his bone blade to slash at Ma Lou.

Ma Lou persuaded the squad leader that he and his companions were loyal followers, and the leader agreed to escort them to the priest. Meanwhile, Ilyena returned to Fog Town’s sanctuary with new hope of a coming counterattack.

• Ma Lou convinced the squad leader that three low-ranking followers would not volunteer to enter the cultists’ guarded inner circle if they were spies.
• The squad leader mistook the trio’s fervor for pure faith, reflected on his lost devotion, and offered to take them to the priest.
• Lu Ziye and Jiahao praised the Holy Lord while Ma Lou maintained his devoted-cultist act, and the three followed the squad leader.
• Ilyena slipped back into Fog Town’s Deity Barrier after poisoning the well and recalled the Ash Apostles’ claims that an army was assembling for a counterattack.
• Ilyena hurried to share the news with the high priest, hoping it would restore the townspeople’s will to live.

Ilyena returned to the Divine Hall and told the high priest that reinforcements from the Sighing Heights had arrived, but then saw the three men she had given Alchemical Bombs being escorted through the Cultists’ ranks. After confirming Madonna’s Compassion had not harmed them, she realized they were not Cultist spies and suspected they planned to detonate the bombs inside the enemy ranks.

• Ilyena found the high priest exhausting himself to maintain the Divine Hall’s barrier, and he reprimanded her for going outside.
• Ilyena told the high priest that divine envoys from the Sighing Heights had saved Knight Kyle and that their army had gathered near Fog Town.
• Ilyena saw the three men she had given her last Alchemical Bombs walking unharmed through the Cultists’ ranks under a squad leader’s escort.
• Ilyena feared the men had deceived her, but recognized Madonna’s Compassion still enveloped them and concluded they were free of Abyss corruption.
• Ilyena realized the three men might be entering the enemy ranks to detonate the Alchemical Bombs.

Lu Ziye, Ma Lou, and Jiahao infiltrated the cultists’ spellcasting formation, but their antics exposed them. Ma Lou declared himself Venom and detonated an Alchemical Bomb in the packed crowd.

• Lu Ziye, Ma Lou, and Jiahao reached the center of the enemy formation, surrounded by elite cultists and mutants.
• Ma Lou acted erratically, Jiahao took screenshots of him, and Lu Ziye joined in laughing.
• The squad leader noticed the trio’s behavior, drew his Bone Blade, and demanded to know who they were and what they wanted.
• Ma Lou removed his hood, shouted that he was Venom, and danced as the cultists stared in confusion.
• Ma Lou shouted for the glory of the Lord of Ashes, charged into the cultists with an Alchemical Bomb, and triggered a massive explosion.

Ma Lou, Lu Ziye, and Jiahao detonated Alchemical Bombs among the cultists outside the Deity Barrier, devastating the packed army and breaking its morale. The surviving cultists fled or lay wounded amid the ruins.

• Ma Lou blew himself up among the cultists, killing many and shaking the Deity Barrier with the blast.
• Lu Ziye introduced himself as the Jade-Faced Grenade King and detonated a second Alchemical Bomb in the enemy formation.
• The second explosion scattered cultists and caused the Corrupted-Feather Crowmen overhead to fall into the flames.
• Jiahao delivered a theatrical speech and detonated the final Alchemical Bomb at the center of the crowd.
• The three blasts killed nearly a hundred cultists and more than a dozen mutants, leaving a huge gap in the cultist ranks and survivors screaming or fleeing.

Ma Lou, Lu Ziye, and Jiahao detonated Alchemical Bombs among the Cultists, devastating their forces and weakening the threat to Fog Town. The three respawned at Sighing Heights, where the other players crowded around them, while Ilyena mourned their supposed martyrdom in awe and confusion.

• The cultist priest discovered that three low-ranking cultists had detonated Alchemical Bombs, devastating his elite formation.
• The survivors in Fog Town saw the explosions, and the old priest praised an unknown god while Ilyena realized the three Ash Apostles had sacrificed themselves.
• At Sighing Heights, [Ji Luo] and the other players wondered how the supposed poisoning mission had caused three massive explosions.
• Ma Lou, Lu Ziye, and Jiahao teleported back to the Ash Altar, joked about the pain of their deaths, and claimed the plan had gone perfectly.
• The fifty players swarmed the three returning players.