Chapter Summaries

Ren Ye entered a Star Gate set in a brutal county town and searched his confinement room for the clue that would let him leave before six. After solving it, he stepped into the central hall and saw a figure that did not look human.

• Ren Ye learned that he was a Justice Organization member called Sandbag and had eight days to find Song Yi, codename Scabbard, while earning gold coins and surviving the nightly dangers.
• Ren Ye disguised himself and searched the confinement chamber, finding restraints, signs of struggle, a locked clock, old books, and a takeout container but no obvious clue.
• With only minutes left before six, Ren Ye realized the clue involved the takeout container and the trash bag, stated his answer, and opened the iron door.
• Ren Ye entered the circular hall, saw eight rooms around it, and noticed a nameplate reading Li on his room.
• Ren Ye spotted a figure seated beside the central table and realized it was not a person.

Ren Ye met the other squad captains in a brightly lit hall, including the imposing Yin Tiger and the gift-giving Tan Pang. The group gathered as Xiao Yuan searched the communal area, and his shout from inside a cabinet drew everyone’s attention.

• Ren Ye found Yin Tiger smoking beside a buzzing device, helped switch it off, and learned the tiger had found a clue.
• Tan Pang introduced himself, gave the others small bags of pills and ointments, and greeted the newcomers as they arrived.
• Xiao Yuan entered from the Dui door, reacted fearfully to Yin Tiger, and began searching the hall alone.
• The remaining captains arrived, including Brother Hong, who said he had lived in the Migration Land since its Establishing of a Prefecture.
• When Xiao Yuan opened a cabinet, he shouted, and everyone turned to look inside.

Ren Ye and the other entrants discussed how to cooperate in the SSS+ Star Gate, and Tan Pang was chosen to organize the group. After comparing clues with Yin Tiger and inspecting the wardrobe, Ren Ye left the hall, where someone hurried after him and asked to go together.

• Xiao Yuan revealed that he had created a one-person team and entered the Star Gate alone for its substantial rewards.
• Tan Pang proposed sharing clues and exploring Fulai County Town in pairs, then was unanimously chosen as captain.
• The entrants split into pairs, with Tan Pang and Xiao Shuai leaving together after inspecting the cabinet.
• Ren Ye asked Yin Tiger about the food waste in his room and confirmed that it matched Ren Ye's clue.
• Ren Ye searched the wardrobe, found something on its upper inner surface, and left the building; another person called out to join him.

Ren Ye and Xiao Yuan explored Fulai County Town, where the Great Might Heavenly Dragon enforcement team had imposed bizarre, oppressive rules. Xiao Yuan tried to trade Ren Ye a supposed customs-uniform clue, but Ren Ye exposed him as a con artist and beat him.

• Ren Ye refused Xiao Yuan’s offer to travel together, but they left the villa side by side and saw a stray dog and a chimpanzee in its overgrown grounds.
• Ren Ye and Xiao Yuan entered Fulai County Town and observed residents walking within marked lines under strict rules enforced by the Great Might Heavenly Dragon team.
• Xiao Yuan showed Ren Ye an employee-number label he claimed to have taken from the customs uniform and offered to trade it for a clue and 80,000 Star Source.
• Ren Ye explained that dust, blood, and creases on the uniforms showed they had been planted recently, and accused Xiao Yuan of staging a clue scam.
• Ren Ye punched Xiao Yuan twice and warned him to stay away and behave.

Ren Ye searched Xiaoyu Fast Food for a customer who ordered eight boxed meals each day and met its owner, Wang Laogou. Wang Laogou offered information in exchange for delivering twenty-two barrels of illicit cooking oil to Law Enforcement Education Primary School, triggering an SSS-Rank quest that Ren Ye had to complete before returning to the safe villa by six o’clock.

• Ren Ye beat Xiao Yuan, drove him away, and then took a different route to make sure he was not followed.
• Ren Ye found Xiaoyu Fast Food and asked its owner, Wang Laogou, about a customer who bought eight or nine boxed meals each day.
• Wang Laogou agreed to tell Ren Ye about the customer if Ren Ye completed a task for him.
• Wang Laogou showed Ren Ye a factory where workers rendered kitchen waste and animal parts into illicit oil.
• Wang Laogou told Ren Ye to deliver twenty-two barrels of the oil to Law Enforcement Education Primary School and return with Director Hong’s signature, an invoice, and the full payment.
• The Star Gate triggered the SSS-Rank Oil Peddler quest, and Ren Ye realized Wang Laogou intended the oil for schoolchildren.

Ren Ye delivered gutter oil to Law Enforcement Team Elementary School, where he learned that the school was dangerous and operated under strict rules. After hiding outside a yellow line to observe, he recognized Brother Hong entering the grounds.

• Ren Ye drove the blue truck carrying gutter oil from Wang Laogou’s restaurant toward Law Enforcement Team Elementary School.
• At the school gate, Ren Ye learned that Director Hong was unavailable until recess and heard from a watermelon vendor that normal and abnormal children attended the school, where strangers could die.
• Ren Ye returned to the truck, gathered his Destiny, and entered the school grounds when the recess bell rang.
• The school’s rules announced that everyone had to stay silent during class, accept invitations to games and finish them, and that strangers entering during recess could not leave until the class bell rang.
• Ren Ye stopped before a yellow line, concealed himself with an Invisibility Talisman and False-Death Pills, and watched Brother Hong cross the line toward the classroom building.

Brother Hong entered the campus to investigate a clue and was forced into a supernatural game of hide-and-seek with a little girl. He failed to hide until the class bell and was killed, leaving Ren Ye inside the truck, shaken by the girl’s power.

• Brother Hong agreed to play hide-and-seek with a little girl, who transformed the campus into a dark, haunted place and set the class bell as the game's deadline.
• Ren Ye stayed inside the blue truck while the girl searched the campus, and he refused to answer when she appeared outside his windshield.
• Brother Hong used soul flames in porcelain bottles to distract the girl, then hid on a basketball backboard after she found and destroyed one of the ghosts.
• With only seconds left before the bell, the girl found Brother Hong and killed him by making his body explode.
• The class bell rang as Ren Ye watched Brother Hong die and realized that even a Third Tier captain could not survive the game.

Ren Ye realized how to exploit the little girl’s blind spot in the school’s deadly hide-and-seek game and persuaded Brother Hong to follow his plan. The two entered the game together, and Ren Ye began testing his strategy as the girl searched for them.

• Ren Ye escaped the campus after watching the little girl kill Brother Hong’s decoy body, then discovered the real Brother Hong was alive and learned about his clue to find Song An’s student file.
• Ren Ye and Brother Hong agreed to work together, but neither could devise a way past the girl until Ren Ye recognized that people had a blind spot behind them and offered to lead Brother Hong through the game.
• At 10:30, Ren Ye and Brother Hong crossed the yellow line together, triggering the girl’s hide-and-seek game.
• Ren Ye carried Brother Hong onto the playground and approached the girl from behind while she counted, warning Brother Hong not to panic or use his Mystical Ability.
• Ren Ye used Holy Eyes to track the girl in slowed time and stepped left as she turned her head, staying within her blind spot.

Ren Ye and Brother Hong survived the hide-and-seek game by keeping out of the little girl’s sight until the class bell ended the round, earning Errand Permits and ten Gold Coins each. Ren Ye then went to Director Hong’s office, where he found a balding man berating a female teacher over a missing Skeleton Specimen.

• Ren Ye used Holy Eyes to track the little girl and dodge her gaze while Brother Hong waited for the game’s countdown to expire.
• When the little girl flew through a classroom wall and trapped them, Ren Ye used a Ground-Shrinking Talisman to escape to the campus toilets.
• The class bell rang, the little girl accepted her loss and dissipated, and Ren Ye and Brother Hong received Errand Permits and ten Gold Coins each.
• Brother Hong decided to work with Ren Ye, and the two presented their permits at the gatehouse before heading into the classroom building.
• Ren Ye knocked at the Director’s Office and saw a balding man accusing a female teacher of losing a Skeleton Specimen.

Ren Ye delivered supplies to Director Hong, then joined Brother Hong in the Old Archives to investigate Song Yi and his family. Brother Hong found Song An’s files and earned an autobiography fragment, while the pair left with new leads on the family.

• Ren Ye delivered food supplies to Director Hong, who ordered him not to wander around the campus.
• Ren Ye met Brother Hong in the Old Archives, where Brother Hong found files about Song Yi’s family.
• Brother Hong shared details about Song An, Song Yi, their parents, and the family’s possible investigation leads.
• Ren Ye connected Song Mingzhe to the man who bought meals at the fast-food shop, giving the pair complementary clues.
• Brother Hong received Song An Autobiography Fragment Code-3 as they left the archives, and Ren Ye’s right eyelid twitched.

Ren Ye learned that Song Mingzhe had ordered boxed meals from Wang Laogou for years, but Wang Laogou used Ren Ye’s inquiries to blackmail him and threaten to report him to the Enforcement Team. Ren Ye attacked Wang Laogou with the Human Emperor Sword, leaving him pinned to a table.

• Ren Ye returned to Xiaoyu Fast Food with Brother Hong and warned him not to interfere with the bald Enforcement Team members nearby.
• Ren Ye completed the Oil Peddler’s task and asked Wang Laogou about a man who regularly ordered eight boxed meals.
• Wang Laogou identified the customer as Song Mingzhe, who had stopped coming more than three years earlier.
• Wang Laogou played a recording of their conversation and threatened to report Ren Ye for investigating Song Mingzhe unless he paid two hundred thousand Star Source.
• Wang Laogou demanded that Ren Ye work for him as a slave, so Ren Ye stabbed him through the chest with the Human Emperor Sword and pinned him to the table.

Ren Ye killed Wang Laogou and used Ai Fei’s Soul-Questioning Talisman to learn that Wang had surveillance footage of Song Mingzhe. As Brother Hong fought off the Enforcement Team, Ren Ye escaped an inkstone treasure and destroyed it, but the two were placed under a permanent territory-wide manhunt.

• Ren Ye killed Wang Laogou, summoned Ai Fei’s phantom, and questioned Wang’s soul while Brother Hong killed the people in the refinery and shop.
• Wang Laogou revealed that Song Mingzhe had been burned alive three and a half years earlier and that he had kept surveillance footage of him; Ren Ye asked where the backup was.
• The Human-Soul Snake detected activity, and the Enforcement Team entered the shop, where Brother Hong and Ren Ye fought the bald enforcers.
• The Team Leader trapped Ren Ye inside an inkstone, but Ren Ye broke the treasure with one strike and killed him.
• The Star Gate placed Ren Ye and Brother Hong on a permanent territory-wide wanted list, while Ren Ye said he had completed his mission and obtained a fragment of Song Mingzhe’s Autobiography-number 6.

Ren Ye killed Wang Laogou and searched the fast-food restaurant’s surveillance recordings while Enforcers rushed to the scene. As Fulai County descended into chaos and Yin Tiger fought his way out of an inspection, Ren Ye found a faint character on a wounded green snake.

• Ren Ye explained why he had killed Wang Laogou, then searched the surveillance recordings for clues about Song Mingzhe.
• Brother Hong shut the shop, covered the windows, and waited as Enforcers approached.
• Yin Tiger attacked and killed a group of Enforcers who ordered him to remove his hood, then fled into an alley.
• A woman and a veteran cadre abandoned their mission, while Xiao Shuai and Tan Pang speculated about the Heavenly Dao’s response.
• Ren Ye returned from the duty room and noticed a faint character on the green snake’s belly.

Ren Ye and Brother Hong escaped the enforcement team by disguising themselves and blowing up the illicit refinery, which lowered their wanted scent rating. Ren Ye then took Wang Laogou’s corpse to Liu Yidao for precise deboning, where the butcher revealed he had a personal grudge against the dead man.

• Ren Ye and Brother Hong disguised themselves as bald men, planted Fire Talismans in the refinery, and triggered an explosion that covered them in filth and lowered their wanted scent rating.
• Ren Ye used a Ground-Shrinking Talisman to escape with Brother Hong and Wang Laogou’s corpse, then drove away in an enforcement vehicle.
• Yin Tiger saw the smoke over Xiaoyu Fast Food, speculated that a powerful treasure had been used, and considered recruiting Ren Ye as a teammate.
• Ren Ye told Brother Hong he suspected Wang Laogou’s corpse could serve a hidden quest, then sought out the butcher Liu Yidao for expert deboning.
• Liu Yidao agreed to make Wang Laogou’s body into a perfect skeleton for three thousand Star Source, then offered a discount because he held a personal grudge against him.

Ren Ye and Brother Hong delivered Wang Laogou’s skeleton to Director Hong at Law Enforcement Team Elementary School and completed the easter egg quest, earning rewards while learning the Enforcement Team had discovered the murder. After they returned to the villa, the group compared notes, but everyone denied making progress despite Tan Pang pointing out the commotion on Jianyuan Road.

• Ren Ye and Brother Hong brought Wang Laogou’s skeleton to Director Hong, who accepted it as a specimen for the principal.
• Director Hong received a report that Xiaoyu Fast Food had been wiped out and Wang Laogou was dead, but he covered for Ren Ye and Brother Hong and made the crime their shared secret.
• Ren Ye completed Director Hong’s Worries, receiving a Lucky Token and fifteen Gold Coins, while Brother Hong received ten Gold Coins.
• Ren Ye and Brother Hong discussed the Star Gate and Brother Hong’s team, then agreed to return to the villa separately and act as if they had not met.
• Tan Pang gathered the villa residents to compare notes, but everyone claimed to have made no progress.
• Tan Pang challenged the group’s denials by mentioning the large number of bald men heading to Jianyuan Road, then admitted he had found nothing himself.

The Players gathered for dinner after Tan Pang’s attempt to organize them, but the Star Gate’s ranking announcement exposed the leaders and sharpened suspicions. As the group left Xiao Yuan isolated, Yin Tiger told Ren Ye he had uncovered a secret about the moving stick and proposed comparing notes.

• Tan Pang invited the Players to dinner and tasted the food to reassure them it was safe.
• At 18:00, the Star Gate announced that Woman, Sandbag, and Stationmaster held the top three Gold Coin totals, prompting the Players to eye the leaders suspiciously.
• Ren Ye guessed that Woman and Stationmaster had completed hidden Easter egg missions and redirected suspicion toward their possible involvement in the Jianyuan Road incident.
• The veteran cadre urged cooperation, and Tan Pang declared dinner open, easing the tension over the rankings.
• The other Players socially excluded Xiao Yuan, while Tan Pang asked him to clean up after dinner.
• Yin Tiger privately told Ren Ye that the moving stick held a major secret, and Ren Ye agreed to compare notes with him.

Ren Ye and Yin Tiger exchanged clues linking Song Mingzhe to a black market and suspected killings, while keeping some information back and agreeing to cooperate. Xiao Yuan ended his isolation by sharing details about Song Yi’s family, then approached a woman for a private conversation as lights-out neared.

• Ren Ye and Yin Tiger compared their clues, connecting Song Mingzhe to the Two-Surname Shop’s illicit magic-treasure trade and suspected killings.
• Ren Ye offered Yin Tiger a clear image of Song Mingzhe after another investigation and warned that the Enforcement Team might consider the name sensitive.
• Xiao Yuan volunteered information about Song Yi’s parents, Pan Lianrong and Song Mingzhe, and their children, Song An and Song Yi, drawing the group’s interest.
• Tan Pang and the Veteran Cadre Stationmaster asked Xiao Yuan for more details about Pan Lianrong and the brothers.
• As people dispersed before lights-out, Xiao Yuan patted a woman on the shoulder and asked to talk; she agreed.

Ren Ye organized clues about Song Mingzhe, then endured a night of eerie disturbances in his locked room before calming himself with scripture. At dawn, the group discovered that Xiao Yuan had apparently died in the Kan room, where a grisly offering and his memorial portrait had appeared.

• Ren Ye wrote up his clues about the Song family and concluded that investigating Song Mingzhe's workplace was his main lead.
• At half past eight, the Star Gate announced a scratch-card game, and Xiao Shuai spent eight Gold Coins to win a disguise set he could not store in Consciousness Space.
• Ren Ye stayed in his room overnight, saw a ghostly woman in the firelight, and used the Human Emperor Sword and an ancient scripture to settle himself and fall asleep.
• At six in the morning, Ren Ye joined the others, who said they had also witnessed frightening events during the night.
• When Xiao Yuan and the woman failed to answer, Ren Ye, Yin Tiger, and Tan Pang entered the Kan room and found bloodied bedding, a severed rooster's head, an offering, and a memorial portrait of Xiao Yuan.

Ren Ye concluded that Xiao Yuan had died in the Star Gate’s Death Mechanism after encountering an Anomaly in the Kan Room, rather than being killed by a player. The group realized the mechanism would likely claim someone every night.

• Ren Ye, Tan Pang, and Yin Tiger found Gold Coins and an Autobiography Fragment beside Xiao Yuan’s memorial portrait in the Kan Room, but no body.
• Old Cadre and the others found Fang Ying unconscious in the Dui Room; Yin Tiger gave her Star-Sea Detoxification Pills, and she later woke up.
• Fang Ying said Xiao Yuan had approached her the previous night to discuss joining her and the stationmaster, but she could not remember what happened after they talked.
• The group questioned Fang Ying because Xiao Yuan had died in her room, but Ren Ye argued that the mourning ritual, locked doors, and missing body pointed to a Star Gate mechanism rather than a player’s attack.
• Ren Ye reasoned that Xiao Yuan encountered an Anomaly after returning to the Kan Room and triggered the Death Mechanism at eight thirty, then warned that the mechanism would strike once every night.

With one Player destined to die each night, the group argued over whether to share clues and agreed to investigate Song Mingzhe’s trail together. As they prepared to leave, Xiao Shuai asked how they would divide Xiao Yuan’s remaining account fragments and Gold Coins.

• Xiao Shuai and the others discussed the nightly deaths and agreed they needed to uncover the anomalous killing mechanism.
• Tan Pang asked who was investigating Song Mingzhe, and Ren Ye admitted that he believed Song Mingzhe owned the Secret Chamber.
• Ren Ye and Yin Tiger refused to disclose their private clues, while Brother Hong defended their right to keep them private.
• Tan Pang proposed joining Ren Ye and Yin Tiger to investigate Song Mingzhe’s clues, and the group agreed to work in teams.
• Xiao Shuai asked how the group would divide Xiao Yuan’s account fragments and Gold Coins, drawing Yin Tiger’s rebuke.