Chapter Summaries

Players hunted down a fleeing Novice Knight in Fog Town after he escaped the main force. Kuang Shao and the Undying Stars arrived just as an ambush stopped him, and the players rushed to claim the kill.

• Cat Alliance Leader ordered the players to split up and chase the fleeing enemies.
• A wounded Novice Knight rode toward Fog Town's exit, hoping to escape into the Wilderness.
• Players hiding in the ruins used ash chains to trip the Novice Knight's horse and surround him.
• Kuang Shao and the Undying Stars arrived from the exit and claimed the intersection and the kill.
• The ambushers protested, then both groups charged the trapped Novice Knight and overwhelmed him.

Lu Ziye ambushed the Knight Captain at Fog Town’s northern exit, survived a brutal collision, and fought back using his Abyssal powers. The Knight Captain accused Fog Town of siding with the Abyss, and their battle continued as both unleashed their attacks.

• The Knight Captain blasted through an ambush at Fog Town’s northern exit, but two clouds of Ash Mist blocked the gate.
• Lu Ziye charged out of the mist and smashed into the Knight Captain’s warhorse, throwing them both into the ruins.
• Lu Ziye drained blood and life essence from the warhorse’s remains to heal his injuries, then attacked the dazed Knight Captain with his Crimson Great Axe.
• The Knight Captain used Winter Frost Armor to withstand Lu Ziye’s axe, then accused him and Fog Town of conspiring with the Abyss.
• Lu Ziye dismissed the Knight Captain’s accusations and fired Blood Spikes at him as the Knight Captain charged through them with his Ice Crystal Lance.

Lu Ziye, Jiahao, and Ma Lou overwhelmed the Winterhold Knight Captain at Fog Town’s exit, while Ji Luo and Bossy Guy supported them from a watchtower. The captain was left badly wounded, but the fight had not yet ended.

• Lu Ziye fought the Knight Captain to a stalemate until Jiahao and Ma Lou emerged from the Ash Mist and joined the battle.
• Ji Luo and Bossy Guy watched from a ruined watchtower, deciding not to join the fight because they had not yet reached the second tier.
• Ji Luo and Bossy Guy used Ashen Shaping to form a new Ash Great Axe for Lu Ziye.
• Jiahao, Ma Lou, and Lu Ziye coordinated their attacks, breaking the captain’s armor and leaving him bleeding.

Ji Luo realized one of the three Winterhold knights had escaped the players’ pursuit and rushed to intercept him. The knight used a decoy horse to evade the ambush and escaped Fog Town through the Deity Barrier, vowing to return with Winterhold’s elite Knight Order.

• Lu Ziye and two other fighters drove the Knight Captain toward the mass of pursuing players.
• Ji Luo spotted a Winterhold warhorse heading for Fog Town’s western exit and hurried off with Bossy Guy.
• Players brought down the warhorse with Ash Chains but discovered its rider was missing.
• The Novice Knight revealed he had abandoned the horse as a decoy and crept toward the town’s barrier.
• The Novice Knight passed through the Deity Barrier and vowed to return with an elite Knight Order to destroy Fog Town.
• Ji Luo and Bossy Guy raced through the alleys in pursuit as Ji Luo replayed what he had seen from the watchtower.

Ji Luo deduced that the last Winterhold Knight had escaped Fog Town on foot through a southwestern side path and organized a pursuit. He split the players into two teams to search south and north before converging northeast toward Winterhold.

• Ji Luo reasoned that the Knight had used his galloping warhorse as a decoy and escaped southwest, then convinced Bossy Guy to follow him.
• Ji Luo recruited nearby players by promising them a share of the reward, and the pursuit party grew to more than thirty members.
• The players found footprints and fresh blood outside Fog Town's southwestern barrier, confirming that the Knight had escaped that way.
• Ji Luo deduced that the Knight could either circle south before heading northeast or travel north toward the Black Forest and then east.
• Ji Luo sent Bossy Guy and a dozen players south while he led the rest north, planning for both teams to meet in the northeastern wilderness.

A wounded Novice Knight fled toward the Black Forest, but Ji Luo and the players spotted him and resumed their pursuit. Meanwhile, [Give Me Your Phone] raced toward Fog Town to join the battle, pushing his exhausted cultist recruits to keep up.

• The wounded Novice Knight reached the Black Forest’s edge, saw Ji Luo and the players behind him, and sprinted north into the forest.
• Ji Luo ordered the players to chase the Novice Knight and kill him, even if they had to pursue him to Winterhold.
• [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] raced from the Black Forest Branch toward Fog Town, passing Mutant Hounds that sensed their abyssal aura.
• The newly recruited cultists fell behind and begged [Give Me Your Phone] to slow down.
• [Give Me Your Phone] berated the cultists for their weakness and reminded them of their training and sacred mission, shaming them into silence.

[Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] led their cultist recruits through the Black Forest and intercepted a wounded Novice Knight fleeing from pursuers. They attacked him just enough to claim a thirty-Ash-Coin reward, leaving the knight bewildered.

• [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] rallied their exhausted cultist underlings and hurried toward the sound of running footsteps.
• The wounded Novice Knight from Winterhold fled into the Black Forest to escape the pursuers chasing him.
• [Give Me Your Phone] emerged from the bushes and recognized the knight as a valuable target, then slapped him to qualify for a combat reward.
• [You've Cried Already] kicked the knight and celebrated earning his own thirty coins, while the knight stared at them in confusion.

Players chasing the Novice Knight ran into [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] with a group of newly inducted Cultists, bringing both sides to the brink of fighting. [Give Me Your Phone] framed the knight as an enemy raider, and [Ji Luo] helped the players stage a panicked retreat, leaving the Cultists confused.

• [Ji Luo] arrived with over a dozen players as the newly inducted Cultists caught up with [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already], surrounding the battered Novice Knight in a clearing.
• The players recognized [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] as famous undercover agents, while the Cultists mistook the players for heretics and prepared to attack.
• [Give Me Your Phone] accused the Novice Knight of leading refugees to raid the Cultists' Black Forest Branch.
• [Ji Luo] interrupted the Novice Knight and pretended that the knight had promised to lead the refugees to defeat the Cultists.
• The players performed a frightened retreat toward Fog Town, leaving the Cultists bewildered in the clearing.

Lin Shen stopped his cultist squad from pursuing the fleeing players, winning their fanatical loyalty by claiming he wanted to protect them. The injured Winterhold Novice Knight tried to defect and reveal information about Fog Town, but [You've Cried Already] kicked and silenced him.

• [Give Me Your Phone], revealed as Lin Shen, refused to pursue the players and told his squad that capturing the Winterhold knight was their real prize.
• Lin Shen promised to bring every cultist back safely, and his underlings responded with gratitude and fanatical devotion.
• The Winterhold Novice Knight, believing Lin Shen might spare him, crawled forward and offered to defect in exchange for his intelligence about Fog Town and the players.
• [You've Cried Already] kicked the knight in the face before he could finish, then accused him of betraying teammates who had risked themselves to save him.

[Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] killed the last Winterhold Novice Knight, completing the main quest and resolving the server-wide faction crisis. Lin Shen promised the Cultist underlings a share of the credit and persuaded them to support the captains’ version of events.

• [Give Me Your Phone] and [You've Cried Already] convinced the Cultist underlings that the Novice Knight was lying about Winterhold.
• [You've Cried Already] stomped on the wounded Novice Knight until he died, unable to reveal the truth.
• The system announced that the main quest "Threat of Winterhold" was complete and the faction crisis had been resolved.
• [You've Cried Already] claimed the Novice Knight had killed himself, while Lin Shen told the underlings they could report the death as a group effort.
• Lin Shen promised to share the credit with the underlings, who agreed to back up the captains’ account.

Lu Ziye and the Fog Town players celebrated completing the Winterhold quest and receiving their rewards, while Ji Luo returned with news that Phone Bro and Crybaby had killed the last Novice Knight. The High Priest feared Winterhold would retaliate, and the players marveled at the undercover pair’s success.

• Lin Shen ordered the Cultist underlings to bring the Novice Knight’s body back to their Branch as proof of the battle.
• Lu Ziye, Ma Lou, and Jiahao waited anxiously for Ji Luo and Bossy Guy to return from chasing the wounded knight.
• A server-wide announcement confirmed the Main Quest was complete, and the players received their rewards.
• The High Priest saw the players celebrating and worried that Winterhold would retaliate against Fog Town for killing its Knights.
• Ji Luo returned with the other players and explained that Phone Bro and Crybaby had killed the final Novice Knight.

After Bossy Guy discovered a ruined town southeast of Fog Town where people still moved despite its shattered Deity Barrier, Ji Luo and the players debated the danger and planned to investigate. As the players logged off to contact their undercover agents and prepare for threats from Winterhold and the Cultists, Lin En considered the mysterious town.

• Bossy Guy reported that he had found a ruined town six or seven kilometers southeast of Fog Town, with its Deity Barrier shattered and people still moving inside.
• Ji Luo and the players questioned how the apparent townspeople could have survived without a Barrier and considered whether they were Cultists or Mutants setting a trap.
• Bossy Guy explained that he had prioritized pursuing the fleeing Novice Knight instead of approaching the town.
• Ji Luo told the players to ask the Ninth Art forum about the town and to contact their undercover agents to plan for Winterhold and the Black Forest Cultists.
• The First Closed Beta Five-Person Group logged off, and Lin En wondered about the people still moving in the unprotected town.

Lin En investigated reports of strange figures in the ruins of Feather Town and decided to explore through the players rather than spend divine power. Back at the Ash Church, he saw how much the players’ gathering quests benefited Sivir and decided to build her a proper residence.

• Lin En identified the ruined settlement southeast of Fog Town as Feather Town, whose deity and barrier had fallen, and suspected the townsfolk still moving there were unnatural.
• Lin En chose to investigate Feather Town through the Fourth Catastrophe players when they explored the next day.
• Lin En watched Sivir sort the players’ gathered ingredients, carefully keeping poisonous plants that they had brought as tokens of kindness.
• Lin En selected a plot beside the Ash Church and asked the system to build Sivir a luxurious courtyard residence.

Lin En spent 2,000 Faith Points to build Sivir a deluxe courtyard residence and made her wooden cabin a supply warehouse. Meanwhile, players celebrated the game’s tactical NPCs and turned Ma Lou’s dance into a viral meme, while another post highlighted a young Knight crying after finding her home still standing.

• Lin En confirmed construction of a 2,000-Faith-Point courtyard residence beside the Church.
• Lin En bestowed the new residence on Sivir and assigned her wooden cabin as a warehouse for supplies.
• I'm a Proud Noob posted about the players’ ambush of Winterhold’s Knights and praised the NPCs’ tactical intelligence.
• I'm Not Jiahao shared a GIF of Ma Lou dancing, prompting players to flood the forum with memes of Even Monkeys Have Dignity.
• Even Monkeys Have Dignity threatened to send the meme posters lawyer’s letters, but they replied with more dance GIFs.
• A separate trending post featured a young Knight crying after seeing that her home in Fog Town was still standing.

Players discussed Feias's emotional reunion with Fog Town, Knight Kyle's apparent act of behaving like a bot, and a newly discovered settlement southeast of town. Offline, Ji Luo failed to reach his Cultist contacts and interrupted Ji Li while she was drawing.

• Players praised Feias for breaking down in tears after finding his neighbors alive in Fog Town.
• A player posted evidence that Knight Kyle sighed, wiped his sweat, and chuckled after players left, prompting speculation that he was hiding a quest.
• Players discussed a ruined settlement southeast of Fog Town where survivors were still moving, and the Free Players Alliance planned to explore it.
• Ji Luo checked his unread messages to Give Me Your Phone and You've Cried Already, then guessed they were busy at the Cultists' headquarters.
• Ji Luo leaned over Ji Li's tablet to see what she was drawing, blocking the screen and irritating her.

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.