Chapter Summaries

After his failed bid to force Prince Huai’s abdication, Liu Ji Shan remained imprisoned and was trapped in the Star Gate, where he confessed his regrets and past as Li Biao. Ren Ye returned to Shanghai and fell asleep, prompting the long-legged beauty to alert Huang Wei that the Seven-Gun War God was back.

• Liu Ji Shan, a player who had led the abdication attempt for rewards, lay paralyzed in the dungeon and wondered why Prince Huai had not come to recruit him.
• The Star Gate announced that Liu Ji Shan’s first-act storyline had ended but that he could not leave while imprisoned, and it gave him six hours to escape the coming death mission.
• The Star Gate summoned a tree hollow that drew out Liu Ji Shan’s confession: he was Li Biao, a former criminal whose online-loan debts had helped lead him away from his family and into crime.
• Li Biao regretted missing his parents’ deaths and said he hoped to become a god and see them again, before vowing to kill Prince Huai if he escaped.
• Ren Ye returned through a Star Gate to his Shanghai room at 88 Lotus Lake Road and immediately fell asleep.
• The long-legged beauty sensed Ren Ye’s return and called the Red-Eyed Berserker; fifteen minutes later, she and Huang Wei found Ren Ye snoring on the bed.

Ren Ye returned from the Star Gate and told Huang Wei that he had cleared only its first act and would need to enter again in seven days. After Huang Wei secured support from Yan Duoduo, Ren Ye went home to reunite with his father, whose story about a dead character made Ren Ye suddenly pay attention.

• Ren Ye called his sister and calmed her down after Huang Wei explained that she was threatening to livestream and sue the prison and authorities over Ren Ye's disappearance.
• Ren Ye told Huang Wei that he had no class yet and would have to return to the Star Gate in seven days; Huang Wei promised to find a powerful player without an inherited class to accompany him.
• Ren Ye warned Huang Wei that the Bell Society had threatened his family, and Huang Wei vowed that the department would protect them.
• Huang Wei reported Ren Ye's situation and requests to Yan Duoduo, who approved family support, made Huang Wei the permanent head of Qingfu District, and ordered Ren Ye's records erased.
• Ren Ye returned home, ate while his father Ren Daguo failed to notice him, and then listened as Ren Daguo described a plot problem involving an important character who had been killed.
• Ren Ye suddenly opened his eyes and interrupted Ren Daguo's explanation.

Ren Ye recognized that his father’s unfinished story closely matched the Qingliang Prefecture Star Gate plot, leaving him horrified by the coincidence. Meanwhile, a man who had risen from a morgue drawer escaped the hospital and began arranging a new identity as “Little War Wolf.”

• Ren Ye urged his father to show him the draft after learning its plot involved a Taoist priest and a failed vassal prince.
• Ren Ye read the outline and realized its main events and stopping point closely matched the Star Gate plot he had experienced.
• A corpse revived in Morgue No. 2, dressed in a white coat, and slipped out of the hospital.
• The revived man took a taxi home, changed clothes, and charged an old phone at a café.
• The man called an acquaintance to buy unregistered SIM cards and said his friends called him Little War Wolf.

Ren Ye returned home and learned that his father had to revise a story about an ancient Star Gate within six days, a deadline that alarmed him. Meanwhile, Little War Wolf offered detailed information about the Eldest Princess's Tomb in a player chat, and Huang Wei noticed his sales post.

• Ren Ye asked his father about the story's plot and learned that the editor's client insisted the old Daoist's clone had to die.
• Ren Ye borrowed two thousand yuan from Ren Qingning, who said she would not come home that night because of an urgent matter.
• Little War Wolf joined the Big Brain Gathering Place chat and offered information about the Eldest Princess's Tomb for sale.
• Ren Ye drank his father's soup and learned that the editor wanted his father to work at his place and revise the manuscript within six days.
• Huang Wei opened the Big Brain Gathering Place chat and reacted with surprise to Little War Wolf's pinned sales post.

Ren Ye followed his father to meet Old Xu, suspecting the editor and his father’s manuscript were connected to the Qingliang Prefecture Star Gate. After summoning the Spring Breeze Wish-Fulfilling Painting in reality, Ren Ye transformed into a classical beauty and tried to lure Old Xu away, while Huang Wei’s team waited nearby.

• Huang Wei learned that players were advertising information about the princess's tomb and Qingliang Prefecture, then assigned Xu Peng to investigate and train Ren Ye.
• Ren Ye followed his father’s taxi to an urban village and watched him meet Old Xu, who was reviewing the revised manuscript.
• Ren Ye summoned the Spring Breeze Wish-Fulfilling Painting, called Huang Wei for backup, and asked him to wait for a signal.
• When Old Xu left to buy supplies, Ren Ye used his songstress identity to approach him, but Old Xu ignored her at first and then accepted her offer.

Ren Ye used his Charm Skill to question Xu Ye about the manuscript Dad was revising, but Xu Ye was not a player and gave no evidence linking it to the Qingliang Town scenario. After surviving Xu Ye’s uncontrollable advances and returning to Huang Wei’s group, Ren Ye concluded he had likely been overthinking the connection, while a man identified as Mr. He learned that Wang Hong was dead and her daughter and a boy had arrived.

• Ren Ye charmed Xu Ye in an old-district grove and learned that Xu Ye had devised the historical-transmigration story’s concept with a short-drama company, while Ren Daguo only revised it.
• Ren Ye discovered Xu Ye was not a player and tried to make him forget their conversation, but Xu Ye’s desire overcame the charm and the two fought.
• Ren Ye returned to Huang Wei, Gu Nian, Xu Peng, and the others battered and exhausted, then reminded Huang Wei that his dad was nearby.
• Dad found Xu Ye bruised and disheveled; Xu Ye blamed a streetwalker for beating him and said he had left his purchases by the Insole Factory.
• Ren Ye reconsidered the evidence in the car and decided the manuscript and Qingliang Town scenario were probably coincidental, while Huang Wei stopped Xu Peng from offering him medicine.
• At a theater in Xiangjiang City, a young man told Mr. He that Wang Hong was dead and her daughter and a boy had arrived, and Mr. He told him to let them in.

Mr. He planned to capture Prince Huai, whom he suspected was a New Year's Watcher, while Ren Ye learned about Star Gate inheritances and the Bell Society from Xu Peng. The chapter ended with Mr. He traveling to Shanghai to investigate Prince Huai and arrange an information deal.

• Mr. He told Guo Caier and Xing Tao that they should focus on clearing Qingliang Prefecture, then planned to capture Prince Huai and bring him back for Guo Caier to kill.
• Guo Caier linked Prince Huai's Imperial Brush to a New Year's Watcher, and Mr. He arranged to take eight Copper Bells to Shanghai to find him.
• Ren Ye met Xu Peng, who explained class systems, stage titles, inheritances, and how players developed their abilities through Star Gates.
• Xu Peng told Ren Ye that New Year's Watchers opposed evil players such as the Bell Society, which they called the Chaos Faction.
• On the way to Shanghai, Mr. He ordered his companions to arrange an information deal and ask local comrades about Prince Huai.

Ren Ye learned why the New Year's Watchers tolerated powerful Chaos Faction groups, while Xu Peng suffered a disturbing reaction to his medicine. Little War Wolf sold information about the Former Dynasty Princess's Tomb to Mr. He, but the Bell Society ambushed him, killed witnesses, and drew the New Year's Watchers to the scene.

• Xu Peng explained the Star Gate factions and the fragile balance between Order, Free, and Chaos players, then vomited two worms and ate them in front of Ren Ye.
• Mr. He paid Little War Wolf ten white crystals for information about the Former Dynasty Princess's Tomb, which Guo Caier confirmed could be crucial to the mission.
• Mr. He's companions attacked Little War Wolf in an alley, but discovered he was already a corpse and had no items or star source to recover.
• A Bell Society member found a young couple who had witnessed the killing, and Mr. He ordered his group to deal with them.
• Little War Wolf's ghost headed toward a crematorium or morgue, while Huang Wei received word that a player had killed ordinary people on Fuyuan Street.

Ren Ye witnessed the aftermath of a brutal murder committed by players and saw the New Year's Watchers begin investigating. Meanwhile, Mr. He paid Old Yin for information about four dead Watchers and the mysterious person Huang Wei had taken out of prison, then stayed with Old Yin after making an unusual request.

• Huang Wei brought Ren Ye to an apartment where players had brutally killed a couple and their dog, and Xu Peng failed to revive either victim long enough to question them.
• Huang Wei ordered the Watchers to examine the crime scene and search for the perpetrators and possible wanted fugitives.
• At a Tongren Road mahjong parlor, Mr. He paid Old Yin for details about four Watchers who had died on a Star Gate mission and Huang Wei’s prison extraction.
• Old Yin said the extracted person had no records and agreed to find information about him by noon the next day for ten crystals.
• Mr. He offered Old Yin two more crystals and asked him to provide a personal service, leaving Old Yin flustered as the lights went out.

Ren Ye learned about the Star Gate advancement system while Mr. He used information from Old Yin to target Ren Qingning. Ren Qingning recognized the threat and reached a police station, where Fat Dragon and Skinny Monkey attacked her before a New Year's Watcher intervened.

• Ren Ye asked Xu Peng about the investigation into the murdered couple, and Xu Peng began teaching him about the Star Gate's seven-stage advancement system.
• Old Yin gave Mr. He a file on three people and agreed to keep searching for identities tied to two prerequisite-task Star Gates.
• Mr. He identified Ren Qingning as the easiest target and sent Fat Dragon and Skinny Monkey to capture her.
• Ren Qingning noticed Fat Dragon following her and led her friends toward a nearby police station.
• Skinny Monkey ensnared Ren Qingning with chains as Fat Dragon rushed the station, but a New Year's Watcher cut the chain and wounded Fat Dragon with playing cards.

Gu Nian and the New Year's Watchers thwarted an attempt to abduct Ren Qingning, while a mysterious shadow woman killed Fat Dragon and Skinny Monkey. Ren Ye learned that his sister had been attacked and called her, ending the chapter as she answered.

• Gu Nian used the Wordless Stele and her magic to trap Fat Dragon, but rats distracted her and he escaped with Skinny Monkey; she prioritized protecting Ren Qingning over pursuing them.
• At the police station, Ren Qingning discovered wounds on her waist, and Gu Nian arranged for backup and police coordination.
• Huang Wei told Ren Ye that an attack on his family had occurred, and Ren Ye demanded to know what had happened to Ren Qingning.
• A shadow woman killed Fat Dragon and Skinny Monkey, leaving Skinny Monkey's body hanging with a blood-written warning for the Bell Society.
• Ren Ye called Ren Qingning at the police station, and she answered as a New Year's Watcher stood nearby.

Ren Ye learned that his sister had been targeted by Chaos Faction players, then investigated the ritualistic deaths of her kidnappers and arranged for his father to be moved to headquarters for safety. When New Year's Watchers entered his father's apartment, they found something that left them frozen.

• Ren Ye reunited with Ren Qingning at the Police Station, learned she had been wounded during an attempted kidnapping, and told her he was working on an unresolved border case.
• Old Yin heard that a player had snatched someone under the New Year's Watchers' noses, while Ren Daguo noticed a message on his phone and led Old Xu downstairs.
• Ren Ye, Huang Wei, and Gu Nian examined the bodies of Skinny Monkey and Fat Dragon, and reasoned that their killer had deliberately left a warning for other players and the New Year's Watchers.
• Gu Nian said the dead men were likely Bell Society members who had murdered a couple, and Ren Ye decided to have his father brought to headquarters for protection.
• Two New Year's Watchers broke into Ren Daguo's apartment after he failed to answer the door, then froze when they saw what was inside.

Ren Ye learned that his father and an editor had vanished from a locked apartment despite six New Year's Watchers guarding the scene, and he demanded that the Bell Society be found before anyone tried to use his father to pressure him. Huang Wei mobilized help and took Ren Ye to seek information from the Fraud Merchants' Association.

• Ren Ye confronted the New Year's Watchers after they reported that Ren Daguo and the editor had disappeared from apartment 601 without signs of a break-in or supernatural activity.
• Huang Wei reasoned that the Bell Society's forceful abduction elsewhere made it uncertain whether they had taken Ren Daguo, but Ren Ye warned that he would prioritize rescuing his father over the Star Gate mission if necessary.
• Huang Wei called Yan Duoduo, who ordered elite personnel sent to reinforce Qingfu District and arranged citywide cooperation while postponing his briefing.
• Huang Wei told Ren Ye they would gather information from Shanghai colleagues and the Fraud Merchants' Association, an organization known for operating in the gray area between legal and illegal.

Huang Wei and Ren Ye pressured Dandan into helping them investigate the Bell Society players involved in the University Town case. Ren Ye protected his worried sister while awaiting the lead, and the chapter ended with Huang Wei announcing that Dandan’s information had arrived.

• Huang Wei and Ren Ye met Dandan in a sauna and asked him for information about Fat Dragon, Skinny Monkey, and the University Town incident.
• Dandan refused to help until Huang Wei threatened to detain him, then agreed to provide information for twelve thousand essence.
• Dandan secretly contacted his boss, who told him to investigate the criminal players and report any findings first.
• Ren Ye returned to headquarters and reassured Ren Qingning that their father was safe, though he concealed that their father had disappeared.
• Gu Nian arranged a secure room for Ren Qingning as extra New Year's Watchers arrived to strengthen security.
• The next evening, Huang Wei told Ren Ye that Dandan had sent someone with information.

Ren Ye and the New Year's Watchers moved to arrest Yin Hai, but a masked woman from the Shanghai Fraud Merchants' Association reached his mahjong parlor first. After killing Yin Hai, she learned that Mr. He and the cripple were targeting Ren Ye and called Mr. He to begin a deadly game.

• Huang Wei briefed the New Year's Watchers on Yin Hai's suspected role in hiding the University Town criminals, and the team set off to arrest him.
• At the Fight to the End parlor, Yin Hai attacked a black-robed woman who asked about the companions of two bloodstained bells, but she escaped his bite as a shadow.
• Yin Hai and the other Chaos Faction players plunged the parlor into darkness and fought the woman and her ally, who killed them in less than a minute.
• A young woman in a red dress questioned Yin Hai and learned that Mr. He and the cripple had taken seven surviving players into hiding and planned to target Ren Ye's sister.
• The woman in red left with her shadow and called Mr. He, challenging him to a game in which the loser would die.

Ren Ye's search for the Bell Society criminals led the New Year's Watchers to a parlor where Old Yin and three others had been murdered. After Ren Ye attacked Bull Terrier and was driven back by a refined man, he slipped away from the group, leaving his next move unknown.

• Huang Wei and the New Year's Watchers arrived at the parlor and found Old Yin and three other Chaos Faction players dead.
• Bull Terrier taunted Huang Wei and denied knowing about Old Yin's dealings with the Bell Society.
• Ren Ye seized Bull Terrier, cut off his ear, and demanded to know where the Bell Society members were.
• A refined man entered, knocked Ren Ye back, and made the New Year's Watchers leave; he then ordered Bull Terrier to stay out of trouble and take a Star Gate mission.
• Ren Ye slipped away while the group stopped on the road, and Gu Nian persuaded Huang Wei to give him time before pursuing him.
• An hour later, Bull Terrier sought a Light System player to heal his ear, then stopped beside a construction site and looked behind him.

Ren Ye used the Spring Breeze Wish-Fulfilling Painting to distract Bull Terrier with a Divine Gate illusion, then killed him and learned that Mr. He's lackeys were following webnovel author Li Feng to find Ren Daguo. After leaving with Bull Terrier's items and hiding the body, Ren Ye continued toward his father, while Mr. He began to suspect their pursuit of Ren Ye had angered the Hunter from the Fraud Merchants' Association.

• Ren Ye's Charm Skill briefly controlled Bull Terrier, but Bull Terrier recognized him and trapped him in a sandstorm that tore his body apart.
• A giant Startrace Gate appeared, and Ren Ye used the Spring Breeze Wish-Fulfilling Painting to make Bull Terrier believe God had summoned him and promised him the Sword of God.
• Bull Terrier revealed that two of Mr. He's lackeys were following webnovel author Li Feng because they believed Li Feng could find Ren Daguo.
• Ren Ye struck Bull Terrier's head off as Bull Terrier knelt, then found fifteen star source stones, a Nine-Story Buddhist Pagoda pendant, and cash on the body.
• Ren Ye hid Bull Terrier's corpse in an abandoned well and limped onward, while in Shanghai Mr. He realized the Hunter might be targeting them because they had pursued Ren Ye.

Mr. He mourned Old Yin while the Copper Bell Society pursued Li Feng, and Ren Ye watched Li Feng while recovering from his fight with Bull Terrier. Yan Duoduo learned Ren Ye had gone missing, while a corpse escaped from a Shanghai morgue and left the night watchman convinced he had solved its disappearance.

• Mr. He explained that other players might be targeting Ren Ye through Li Feng and decided the Copper Bell Society had to take a gamble before Guo Caier and Xing Tao entered the gate.
• Mr. He burned Hell Money for Old Yin, then argued with a police officer who fined him for burning it in public.
• Ren Ye watched Li Feng's supermarket from a stairwell and inspected Bull Terrier's pagoda, discovering its sealed demon spirit had one use remaining.
• Yan Duoduo's flight was delayed, and he learned that Ren Ye was missing.
• An old man walked out of the Shanghai hospital morgue, prompting the night watchman to report that he had identified the corpse thief.

Little War Wolf returned to the real world in an elderly corpse while Ren Ye followed Li Feng through a storm to the apartment building where Ren Daguo had disappeared. Li Feng arrived to meet Ren Daguo, while Mr. He set out separately with a clue about the Tomb of the Eldest Princess of Jing.

• Little War Wolf stole clothes from a balcony and dressed the elderly corpse in trendy clothes before following a faint voice east.
• Ren Ye spotted Li Feng waiting for a ride, bought a delivery rider’s motorcycle and raincoat, and followed Li Feng through the rain.
• Mr. He learned that the shut-in writer was on the move, left the Bell Society hideout with four Copper Bell members, and headed separately toward a theater with the Tomb of the Eldest Princess of Jing clue.
• Ren Ye recognized the neighborhood where his father had disappeared and watched Li Feng enter the same apartment building.
• Ren Daguo worked on his manuscript while Old Xu asked why he had invited Li Feng, and Ren Daguo reminded them not to exchange contact details.

Li Feng, Ren Daguo, and Editor Xu were caught in a Bell Society attack while Ren Ye and Huang Wei raced to intervene. The New Year's Watchers sealed off the surrounding area, and Huang Wei unleashed his scarlet power as Ren Ye went to find Gu Nian.

• Li Feng visited Ren Daguo and met Editor Xu while Bell Society members gathered outside the apartment building.
• Ren Ye watched the building from Heartsource, called Huang Wei for help, and learned that Huang Wei had been secretly following him.
• The Bell Society used the dwarf's silkworms to put Li Feng, Ren Daguo, and Editor Xu to sleep, then advanced on apartment 501.
• Huang Wei and Ren Ye left Heartsource as New Year's Watchers sealed the area with four Wordless Steles.
• A white pigeon exploded in the corridor and struck the Bell Society members approaching apartment 501.
• Huang Wei ordered Ren Ye to find Gu Nian, then erupted with scarlet baleful energy and declared that Red Dog was invincible.