Recaps

Ji Luo’s sister Ji Li declined to join the closed beta players’ command group but agreed to advise him as his chief of staff. Meanwhile, the undercover agents Give Me Your Phone and You’ve Cried Already joined the group, where Give Me Your Phone began reporting on the Cultists’ branch.

• Ji Li showed Ji Luo her annotated map of the Wasteland World and explained why she would not join his closed beta group.
• Ji Luo made Ji Li his designated chief of staff, and she told him to check his phone.
• Ji Luo found that Give Me Your Phone and You’ve Cried Already had joined the expedition command group, where players welcomed them with jokes and memes.
• Ji Luo asked the agents about the Cultists’ Black Forest branch, the knight’s body, and the priest’s response.
• Give Me Your Phone assured Ji Luo that the agents had fooled the Cultists and began recounting what happened at the branch.

[Give Me Your Phone] led the newly initiated cultists back to the Black Forest Branch with a dead Winterhold knight, shocking the priest who had assumed they had abandoned their mission. He claimed the squad had killed the knight in a desperate group fight, leaving the priest stunned by their achievement.

• The tall priest reprimanded Lin Shen for returning from the Fog Town mission so quickly, then noticed the corpse the squad carried.
• [Give Me Your Phone] reported that the squad had killed an enemy and brought back his body as a trophy.
• The priest praised Lin Shen until he learned the corpse belonged to a Winterhold knight and recognized its sacred emblem.
• [Give Me Your Phone] fabricated a battle report, claiming the squad had encountered the knight near the Black Forest and defeated him through a desperate group assault.

After [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] used a fabricated battle report to persuade the cultists that Winterhold had killed the army at Blood-Weeping Ridge, the Black Forest Branch prepared for war with Winterhold. The players celebrated the breathing room, but Ji Li warned [Ji Luo] that the fragile deception would eventually unravel and leave them facing two powerful enemies.

• [Give Me Your Phone] and the newly recruited cultists convinced the priest that they had killed a Winterhold knight, prompting him to summon an emergency meeting and take the corpse to the High Priest.
• At the meeting, the cultist leaders blamed Winterhold for the army's disappearance at Blood-Weeping Ridge and ordered the Black Forest Branch to withdraw its defensive lines while intensifying patrols along the forest's edges.
• [Give Me Your Phone] reported the cultists' plans in the players' group chat and warned everyone to avoid being caught alone by patrols.
• The players celebrated the reprieve and urged one another to help newcomers level up, believing the cultists' focus on Winterhold would protect Newbie Village for now.
• [Ji Luo] asked Ji Li what she thought, and Ji Li warned that Winterhold would investigate its six lost knights and the cultists would eventually discover the truth as their patrols and the players' activity expanded.

Ji Li advised Ji Luo to provoke a war between Winterhold and the Black Forest Cultists, then told him to ask the closed-beta players for ways to carry out the plan. The players began brainstorming, with I'm Not Jiahao proposing an economic scheme to push Winterhold into attacking the Cultists.

• Ji Li told Ji Luo to exploit the Cultists' suspicion of Winterhold and intensify their conflict until Winterhold destroyed the Black Forest branch.
• Ji Luo asked how to provoke the factions without being exposed, and Ji Li admitted she had no specific plan and directed him to consult the player group.
• Ji Luo posted Ji Li's analysis and strategy in the main player group, where the players praised him and joked about guild recruitment before he redirected them to brainstorm.
• I'm Not Jiahao proposed sending a disguised merchant to undermine Winterhold's economy and trigger a crisis that would drive it to attack the Black Forest Cultists.

Ji Luo and the players rejected Phone Bro’s plan to provoke Winterhold directly, and Ma Lou proposed luring Winterhold into the conflict by reporting the deaths of its knights near Fog Town. The chapter ended as Ma Lou began explaining how the report would lead Winterhold to investigate.

• Phone Bro proposed leading Cultists to attack Winterhold and provoke an all-out war.
• Ji Li argued that the attack would seem suspicious and put the moles and Fog Town at risk, and Ji Luo agreed.
• Ji Luo called on Ma Lou to devise a more plausible scheme.
• Ma Lou said the players should report to Winterhold that its knights had died defending Fog Town and that a defector had betrayed the knight sent for reinforcements.
• Ma Lou explained that Winterhold would send people to investigate, setting up the next stage of his plan.

Ma Lou persuaded the players to frame the Cultists for an attack on Winterhold, and Ji Luo approved the plan. The chat then turned to the unsettling town the Cat Alliance had explored, where the residents had welcomed them with suspicious warmth.

• Ma Lou explained how to make Winterhold believe the Cultists had murdered its knights and declared war, prompting players to praise his scheme.
• Ji Luo approved Ma Lou's plan and arranged for two messengers from Fog Town to report the deaths to Winterhold after they coordinated their story with the High Priest and Ilyena.
• Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge revealed that the new map's town was mostly intact despite a recent Cultist attack.
• Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge said the townspeople had been unusually polite and welcoming, even bringing food for the visiting players.

The players discussed Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge’s unsettling visit to a town where residents ate raw white worms and a church’s Divine Statue glowed without a Deity Barrier. The next morning, they gathered in Fog Town to choose messengers for Winterhold, but Ji Luo rejected Lu Ziye’s eager bid for the role.

• Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge described the town’s raw-worm food, intact glowing Divine Statue, missing Deity Barrier, and unsettlingly welcoming residents.
• Other players mocked Cat’s fears, while Professional Leveling Service 01 suggested the town was unfinished scenery and Ji Luo proposed exploring it for a hidden quest.
• The following morning, players gathered in Fog Town’s Central Plaza to choose two messengers to take their complaint to Winterhold.
• Lu Ziye volunteered, boasting of his acting experience and second-tier strength, and several newcomers supported him.
• Ji Luo told Lu Ziye he could not join the mission, prompting Lu to protest that he looked like an upstanding messenger.

The players sent Ma Lou and Jiahao to Winterhold with three newcomers to present Fog Town’s fabricated account of the knights’ deaths, while the High Priest agreed to keep the residents’ story consistent. Ji Luo then asked about a nearby town whose Deity Barrier had broken, and the High Priest identified it as Feather Town.

• Ji Luo warned Lu Ziye that his Abyss-type Hidden Class made him a hostile target in Winterhold, so Lu withdrew from the messenger party.
• The players chose Ma Lou and Jiahao to lead three newcomers to Winterhold, and Ji Luo cautioned them to hide their strength and avoid drawing attention.
• Ji Luo told the High Priest and Ilyena to have Fog Town’s residents claim that Winterhold’s knights had died protecting them from Black Forest cultists.
• The High Priest agreed to make the residents serve as witnesses to the knights’ supposed heroism, easing the players’ worries about their cover story.
• Ji Luo asked the High Priest about the town with the shattered Deity Barrier, and the High Priest explained that it was impoverished Feather Town, home to worshippers of the White Feather Watcher.

Players left Fog Town to investigate Feather Town after the High Priest confirmed its Deity Barrier had shattered. In Winterhold, the Archbishop learned that six traces of divine power near Fog Town had vanished and questioned whether Knight Kairils had returned.

• The High Priest told the players that Feather Town's deity had likely met with disaster, and they became eager to explore it for a hidden storyline and new classes.
• Immortal Star Crazy Young Master led most of the players southeast toward Feather Town, leaving a few dozen behind to level up near Fog Town.
• A High Priest of the Church of Winter reported to the Archbishop that the six traces of divine power from a Novice Knight squad had disappeared near Fog Town.
• The Archbishop and the High Priest concluded that Fog Town's residents could not have defeated the knights and suspected Abyss forces or another Righteous God's agents.
• The Archbishop asked whether Knight Kairils had returned.

The Archbishop ordered the High Priest to send Knight Kairils to handle a problem, saying the Supreme God thought highly of him. Meanwhile, the Fourth Catastrophe reached ruined Feather Town and sent an elite squad to investigate its barrierless settlement, where two unsettlingly calm residents welcomed them.

• The Archbishop learned that Knight Kairils would return to Winterhold in two days and ordered him to come for an audience.
• The Fourth Catastrophe army arrived at Feather Town and saw residents moving among the ruins despite the town having no Deity Barrier.
• The players formed an elite investigation squad led by [Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge], [Ji Luo], and other guild members.
• [Ji Luo] instructed the squad not to provoke the townspeople and led them toward Feather Town's broken entrance marker.
• Two townspeople approached the squad and welcomed the visitors, while [Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge] cautiously greeted them.

Cat Alliance Leader and the Fourth Catastrophe entered Feather Town, where the townspeople behaved like eerie, repetitive NPCs. The players pressed deeper into town to investigate, wary of the residents and the food they offered.

• Cat Alliance Leader introduced his companions and explained that they had come to help Feather Town, but the two townspeople only repeated their welcome and gestured for the group to follow.
• When the players hesitated, the townspeople returned and performed the same welcome routine again, unnerving the group.
• Immortal Star Crazy Young Master urged the players to follow the guides, and Ji Luo led the investigation team into town.
• The players saw ruined buildings and refugees repairing houses, while the townspeople ignored them or approached with scripted greetings.
• An old woman offered murky water and a young man offered a jar of white bugs; the players refused, and both townspeople abruptly returned to their vacant, wooden behavior.
• The players continued following the two guides to investigate Feather Town.

Ji Luo and the players entered Feather Town’s church, where its doors sealed behind them and a strange encounter left Ji Luo wary of Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge. Back in the real world, Jiang Shubai discovered that his game account had been hacked and he could no longer control his character.

• The townspeople led Ji Luo and the players to Feather Town’s unusually intact church and urged them to enter.
• Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge grabbed Ji Luo and dragged him into the church, prompting the other players to follow.
• The church doors slammed shut behind the players, and a dense cloud of white dust filled the hall around the statue of the White Feather Watcher.
• God Never Laughs examined the statue and joked about its bumpy surface while Ji Luo shook off Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge and watched him warily.
• Jiang Shubai pulled off his VR helmet, then read a group chat message from Handsome and Fast saying his account had been hacked and his character was out of his control.

Jiang Shubai realized that the players who had visited Feather Town were being controlled, and he warned others to stay away. In the church, Ji Luo exposed the controlled Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge and attacked him, leaving the other players unsure whom to trust.

• Jiang Shubai connected the loss of control among the four Feather Town visitors to a game mechanic and warned the group chat that Feather Town was dangerous.
• Jiang Shubai urged Can’t Play Without Taking Risks to log back in and tell the players outside the valley not to enter town.
• In the Feather Town church, Ji Luo questioned Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge and used their coded phrase to test him.
• When Cat insisted they were safer in the church, Ji Luo recognized that something was wrong and struck him with an Ashen Missile.
• The other players accused Ji Luo of attacking his own party, while Kindergarten Boss moved in front of him to shield him.

Ji Luo exposed Cat Alliance Leader and several Free Players Alliance members as hosts for swarms of white insects, and the players destroyed their bodies. The insects gathered on the White Feather Watcher statue, which began spreading more strange white particles through Feather Town, leaving the players to realize the townsfolk might all be infested.

• Ji Luo told Bossy Guy that the fake Cat had failed to answer the Imperial Jade Wine code phrase, and Cat Alliance Leader's body burst into a swarm of white insects.
• Ji Luo identified the Free Players Alliance members as suspicious, and the players attacked Handsome and Fast, Die If I Don't Stay Up, and Fragile College Student.
• The three alliance members let themselves be killed, and each corpse erupted into white insects.
• The insects swarmed onto the White Feather Watcher statue, changed to match its color, and caused it to shed dust that spread through the church and toward Feather Town.
• Immortal Star Crazy Young Master suspected that the townsfolk were insect-filled husks, and the players realized the statue was not what it seemed.

Ji Luo led the players in attacking the eerie insect-filled statue after it regenerated from his Ashen Missile. The group found it surprisingly clumsy, but Ji Luo noticed its information panel had never appeared.

• Kindergarten Boss and the other players froze in terror as their teammate burst into insects and the statue loomed over them.
• Ji Luo crossed the church and blasted the statue’s face with an Ashen Missile, but white insects quickly repaired the damage.
• The statue stepped down from its pedestal, spread its wings, and formed a huge sword from swarming insects.
• Ji Luo ordered everyone to spread out, and the players coordinated attacks while Kuang Shao and Kindergarten Boss blocked the statue’s blows.
• The players found the statue slow and clumsy, and Ji Luo noticed that its information panel had not appeared during the fight.

After [Ji Luo] and the others destroyed the White Feather Watcher, they discovered that the statue, church, buildings, and townspeople in Feather Town were all formed from pale mites. The swarm gathered above the town as the system identified Pale Mite as a level 41 calamity, leaving the players facing a deadly infestation.

• [Ji Luo] drove the Ash Spear through the White Feather Watcher, and the statue collapsed without triggering a kill announcement or rewards.
• The church broke apart into swarms of white insects, revealing that its structure had been made from bugs.
• The houses and townspeople in Feather Town also burst apart into pale mites, which gathered into a vast cloud above the town.
• Players waiting outside the valley mistook the swarm for a raid event and prepared to charge into Feather Town.
• A blood-red system warning identified Pale Mite as an early third-tier calamity projection that could infest and control hosts.

Players discovered that Feather Town’s third-tier calamity was a parasitic mite cloud, and learned that some players had been infected and used to lure Ji Luo’s group into a trap. The support force descended into panic and suspicion while Ji Luo, Kuang Shao, and the others remained surrounded beneath the Boss.

• Players on the ridge saw the third-tier Boss panel and recoiled from the mite cloud’s parasitism ability.
• [Can't Play Without Taking Risks] arrived and relayed [Cat Woken Up by a Midnight Urge]’s warning that parasitized explorers had lured Ji Luo’s group into Feather Town’s Church.
• A player pointed out that more than a dozen Free Players Alliance members had explored Feather Town, prompting the crowd to suspect traitors among them.
• The ridge force broke into chaos as players backed away from one another, threatened the Alliance members, and some logged out.
• At Feather Town’s Church ruins, Ji Luo, Kuang Shao, Bossy Guy, and the other trapped players faced the Boss panel and hesitated over whether to fight.

[Ji Luo] led the investigation team’s retreat from Feather Town after they encountered the third-tier Pale Mite, but its swarming tentacles overwhelmed them as they fled. [Ji Luo] reached the town’s exit alone, only for a tentacle to strike at him at point-blank range.

• [Ji Luo] ordered the players to cover their mouths and noses and follow Kuang Shao out of Feather Town.
• The Pale Mite attacked with enormous insect tentacles, killing two unaffiliated players and then [Kindergarten Boss] and [Undying Stars Fortune].
• [Ji Luo], [Tianxia Jing], and [God Never Laughs] blasted a tentacle with Ashen Missiles, but the mites quickly regenerated it.
• [Immortal Star Crazy Young Master] charged the Pale Mite to buy time, while its tentacles killed Kuang Shao, [Tianxia Jing], and [God Never Laughs].
• [Ji Luo] reached the Feather Town exit as a massive tentacle hurtled toward him at point-blank range.

Lu Ziye rescued Ji Luo from the Pale Mite in Feather Town, and the two escaped beyond the town’s boundary. Just as Ji Luo reunited with the others, the Pale took control of him, revealing that its infection had already spread through the players.

• Lu Ziye used his Self-Healing Blood skill to tear apart the insect tentacle and save Ji Luo from being crushed.
• Ji Luo and Lu Ziye fled Feather Town, and the Pale Mite did not pursue them beyond its boundary.
• Lu Ziye reassured Ji Luo that the town’s Boss was too powerful for their current level, and Ji Luo vowed to return after growing stronger.
• The players above the valley welcomed Ji Luo and Lu Ziye back while Lu Ziye talked about meeting up with the others.
• Ji Luo stopped responding, his eyes went vacant, and his mouth twisted into a mocking smile as the Pale’s infection took hold.

Lu Ziye and the players destroyed Ji Luo after recognizing that he had become a Pale Mite Propagator, while Lin En uncovered the Cultists’ plan to create three Calamity Projections. The chapter left Lin En suspecting that the Cultists intended to lure Winterhold’s strongest fighters into battle.

• Lu Ziye recognized Ji Luo’s parasitized state and warned the players to keep him away from the group.
• The players bombarded Ji Luo with Ashen Missiles, burning him and the Pale Mites inside him to ash.
• Lin En reviewed the Cultists’ attacks and deduced that they planned to sacrifice the region’s residents to hatch three third-tier Calamity Projections.
• Lin En realized the Cultists might have staged their plan to draw Winterhold’s high-tier fighters out into the open.

Lin En discovered that the Weeping Madonna’s compassion authority could destroy Pale Mites and sent Ilyena to cleanse the players. Meanwhile, the infected players’ fear and isolation drove a group from the Free Players Alliance to head into the Black Forest to fight monsters before the parasites took over.

• Lin En realized that the Weeping Madonna’s compassion authority purified Pale Mites and decided to send Ilyena to decontaminate the players.
• More than a hundred players marched toward Fog Town in scattered groups, keeping their distance and suspecting one another of infection.
• [Immortal Star Crazy Young Master] warned his guild subordinate to stay away, while other players demanded that teammates prove they were not controlled by Pale Mites.
• Several Free Players Alliance members at the rear lamented that they could not safely return to Fog Town and did not want to spend ten Ash Coins to resurrect.
• A Free Players Alliance player proposed that they head to the Black Forest to grind monsters and Ash Coins before the Pale Mites took over, and the others agreed.

Ilyena used Madonna’s Compassion to heal the players and purge the pale mites infecting them. The Free Players Alliance members survived and thanked her for saving their lives.

• The player army reached the plains outside Fog Town as Ilyena approached despite their warnings that they carried contagious parasites.
• Ilyena invoked Madonna’s Compassion and bathed the players in healing light.
• The infected Free Players Alliance members felt intense burning as the light burned the pale mites inside them to ash.
• The mites vanished, leaving the players unharmed and relieved, and one survivor thanked Ilyena for saving his life.

Ilyena rescued the players from Pale Mite infestation and explained that Weeping Priests could cleanse abyssal corruption, leading the players to conclude they were essential for the Feather Town Dungeon. Since the available Weeping Priests were too low-level to clear it, [Immortal Star Crazy Young Master] urged everyone to train high-level Weeping Priests quickly.

• A rescued player flirted with Ilyena, and the players jokingly argued over calling her their wifey.
• Ilyena explained that the Madonna’s power of compassion could purge abyssal corruption and that Weeping Priests could help infested allies.
• A player complained that the Weeping Priest teammate had not revealed the class’s cleansing ability, while the newbie protested that they had not known either.
• [Tianxia Jing] concluded that Weeping Priests were the intended counter for the Feather Town Dungeon’s Pale Mites, and the players praised the supposed dungeon design.
• The players recognized that their low-level Weeping Priests lacked enough mental power to clear the dungeon, so [Immortal Star Crazy Young Master] called for quickly training high-level ones.

After learning that Weeping Priests could help clear Feather Town, the major guilds raced to power-level their healers for the dungeon and its hidden-class advancement token. Lu Ziye discovered that Ji Luo had logged out after the Pale Mites overwhelmed him, so he and Bossy Guy logged out to bring him back.

• Kuang Shao ordered Undying Stars to prioritize its Weeping Priests and head to the Black Forest to level them for Feather Town.
• Lu Ziye realized Embers Kindling had no Weeping Priests and hurried back to Fog Town to find Ji Luo.
• The Cat Alliance Leader sent the Free Players Alliance's Weeping Priests to the Black Forest for priority leveling.
• Lu Ziye found Bossy Guy alone in the Central Plaza and learned that Ji Luo had logged out to clear his head after respawning.
• Lu Ziye and Bossy Guy logged out to call Ji Luo and persuade him to return to the game.

Ji Luo complained to Ji Li about being deceived and humiliated by the Pale Mite in Awakening of the Old Gods. Ji Li showed him a viral forum post from Give Me Your Phone, whose undercover account revealed that the Cultists had rewarded him and Cried Already Brother with enough experience to reach levels 15 and 14.

• Ji Luo lay dejected on the sofa after logging out of the game early.
• Ji Li teased Ji Luo until he admitted that the Pale Mite had controlled his body and used him to fool his teammates.
• Ji Li showed Ji Luo a trending Ninth Art forum post by Give Me Your Phone about infiltrating the Cultists' Branch.
• Give Me Your Phone wrote that the Cultists had honored his squad for killing the Winterhold Knights and given them an abyss baptism that granted experience.
• Ji Luo reacted with envy when the post said Give Me Your Phone had reached level 15 and Cried Already Brother level 14.