Chapter Summaries

Bell Society players attacked the fifth floor to capture Ren Daguo, but Huang Wei killed the Qigong Master and the battle drew in more New Year's Watchers. Mr. He then transformed the fifth floor into a theater stage and entered as Zhao Zilong, leaving the assembled fighters facing his performance.

• Dwarf ordered Qigong Master to block the stairwell and Prisoner Woman to seize the target while he fought Gu Nian.
• Little War Wolf left his elderly body at Xinyuan Spa and sent his soul toward the apartment, while Mr. He sensed the fighters and waited in the shadows.
• Huang Wei endured Qigong Master's Qi Explosion and killed him with Blood Sacrifice-Annihilation, while the other attacker fled upstairs and Ren Ye was injured.
• Prisoner Woman used Spatial Penetration-Thievery to pull Ren Daguo into the sealed space and carried him toward the window as Mr. He redirected the Bell Society to target Ren Ye.
• Little War Wolf reached Room 501, recoiled from the people inside, and fled, while Prisoner Woman prepared to leave with Ren Daguo.
• Mr. He expanded his Theater Stage Model across the fifth floor, summoned the New Year's Watchers onto the stage, and entered as Zhao Zilong.

Ren Ye and the New Year's Watchers fought Mr. He on a supernatural opera stage while Prisoner Woman tried to escape with Ren Daguo. Little War Wolf killed Prisoner Woman and returned Ren Daguo to the stage, where the battle continued and Mr. He's fallen envelope mysteriously changed.

• Xu Peng healed Ren Ye, then withdrew from the fight as Mr. He charged the New Year's Watchers and Huang Wei collided with him.
• Prisoner Woman escaped onto the rooftop with Ren Daguo while two Chaos Faction players held off the remaining New Year's Watchers.
• Little War Wolf sent his ghost to drain Prisoner Woman, killed her with an archaic hammer, and kicked Ren Daguo over the rooftop wall; Ren Daguo then appeared on the stage.
• Little War Wolf returned to Xinyuan Spa, where the old man woke after the attendants thought he had died.
• The New Year's Watchers' attacks battered Mr. He but failed to stop him, and he charged into another fight alongside Dwarf and the Predator Type player.
• The fallen envelope twitched and glowed, and its recorded contents were replaced.

Gu Nian, Ren Ye, and the New Year's Watchers struggled against Mr. He and his allies as their strongest attacks left them exhausted. Just as Mr. He nearly killed Ren Ye, a mysterious girl sent a powerful shadow fighter to confront him, forcing Mr. He to retreat through a supernatural door.

• Gu Nian realized their first-tier players could not defeat Mr. He directly, while Red Dog’s reckless attacks left him vulnerable.
• Red Dog’s Blood Sacrifice-Annihilation shattered the opera stage, and Gu Nian used Levitation to suspend the enemies so Ren Ye could have the Nine-Story Buddhist Pagoda devour the plunder-class player.
• The New Year's Watchers badly injured the suspended dwarf, but Gu Nian and Ren Ye exhausted their abilities and items.
• Mr. He trapped Ren Ye with his spear, but a shadow resembling Mr. He emerged and challenged him, speaking as Zhao Zilong of Shanghai through a mysterious girl.
• The shadow transformed into Sun Wukong and multiplied into a host of fighters, prompting Mr. He to seize the injured dwarf and open a Performers' Entrance door with Curtain call-Enter the Role.

After the shadow pursued Mr. He across the stage, she remotely detonated the marks she had left in his body, gravely wounding him, while the little dwarf carried him away to seek help. The shadow challenged Ren Ye to grow stronger and disappeared; Ren Daguo woke as Huang Wei told him he might be a player.

• Mr. He escaped the stage with the little dwarf through the Actor's Passage, but the shadow tracked the marks she had left in him and detonated them at the Minhuang Grand Theater.
• The little dwarf carried the badly wounded Mr. He away and called for someone to save him, while Mr. He urged him to keep searching for two missing players from the Qingliang Prefecture Star Gate.
• The shadow told Ren Ye to grow stronger so they could fight, then vanished; Red Dog and Gu Nian believed she had been helping Ren Ye.
• Huang Wei and the New Year's Watchers cleared the corridor, and Ren Ye took his unconscious father away as Little War Wolf left Xinyuan Spa.
• Ren Daguo woke in the car, and Huang Wei told him he suspected Ren Daguo was a player.

Ren Ye and Huang Wei investigated why Ren Daguo and Editor Xu had vanished from the New Year's Watchers' perception, while the captured Bell Society members were interrogated. The Liar confirmed Ren Daguo had told the truth, and the group suspected two mysterious allies had concealed the pair to draw out the Bell Society; meanwhile, Yan Duoduo arrived in Shanghai to confront the fallout.

• Huang Wei ordered Gu Nian to interrogate the two captured Bell Society members and learned that Old Yan had been seriously injured by venomous insects.
• Ren Ye agreed with Huang Wei to question Ren Daguo, and the Liar found that Ren Daguo's account of working with Editor Xu and moving apartments was truthful.
• Ren Ye told Huang Wei that his Enchantment ability had confirmed Ren Daguo and Editor Xu were not players.
• The Liar suggested that the Hunter from the Fraud Merchants' Association and an unidentified Soul Body had concealed Ren Daguo and Editor Xu's scents and blocked the Watchers' perception.
• Ren Ye and Huang Wei reasoned that the two mysterious figures may have hidden Ren Daguo to lure the Bell Society into attacking, while Ren Ye wondered whether they were friends or enemies.
• Shanghai headquarters ordered Huang Wei to go to Pet Paradise because Yan Duoduo had arrived, while a woman in a Green Vine Dress and an old man in the Capital discussed the trouble awaiting Shanghai.

Yan Duoduo returned to Shanghai and heard how Huang Wei had let Ren Ye act alone during the apartment-building operation, while the captured Bell Society members revealed information about the Qingliang Prefecture Star Gate. As Lame Boss prepared to flee Tongren Road and Yan Duoduo headed to confront the Mystical Tribunal, Huang Wei gathered Ren Ye and his team for a move against their enemies.

• Lame Boss learned that the Bell Society operation had failed and decided to stay on Tongren Road until his allies came to collect him, while Mastermind agreed to help him stir up trouble before dawn.
• Yan Duoduo returned to Shanghai, learned that one New Year's Watcher was critically injured, and told Chen Hannian to keep watch on Tongren Road while they waited for news from Qingfu.
• Huang Wei explained to Yan Duoduo that he had allowed Ren Ye to draw out the local organization, reported the casualties and arrests, and revealed that an envelope contained information about the Former Dynasty Princess's Tomb.
• Yan Duoduo ordered Huang Wei to obtain statements from the two captured Bell Society members before midnight, and Huang Wei left confident that Yan Duoduo would not punish him.
• Chen Hannian warned Yan Duoduo that Zhou from the Mystical Tribunal was waiting by the roadside, but Yan Duoduo decided to meet him and notified the units.
• Gu Nian told Huang Wei that Xu Peng's pills had made the captured Bell Society members answer questions, and Huang Wei summoned Ren Ye to join a move for revenge.

Yan Duoduo rejected Zhou’s request to spare Limp and led a major operation to arrest him on Tongren Road. He ordered the New Year’s Watchers across Shanghai to assemble, with Ren Ye summoned to join him.

• Zhou asked Yan Duoduo to leave Limp, the Roadside Dogs’ leader, alone in exchange for having Mr. He returned to Shanghai to stand trial.
• Huang Wei told Ren Ye that the New Year’s Watchers were launching a revenge operation and ordered the Huangjiang team to assemble.
• Yan Duoduo let Zhou believe he accepted the proposal, then revealed that he had come to arrest Limp.
• Yan Duoduo said he would pursue any players who used supernatural powers to resist the law, regardless of the risks to stability.
• Yan Duoduo ordered New Year’s Watchers across the city to assemble at both ends of Tongren Road and called for Ren Ye.

Yan Duoduo assembled more than a hundred New Year's Watchers around Tongren Road and sent Ren Ye to arrest Limp and Mastermind at the Roadside Dogs bar. As rival groups prepared to intervene, Ren Ye confronted the bar’s guards while Limp demanded to know whether his allies would act.

• Old Zhou gave up trying to persuade Yan Duoduo and contacted the Mystical Tribunal and Risk Committee as the operation began.
• More than fifty New Year's Watchers gathered behind Yan Duoduo, and Huang Wei arrived with Ren Ye and the teams from Huangjiang and Qingfu Districts.
• Yan Duoduo identified Limp and Mastermind as the culprits behind the attack on Ren Ye's sister and the attempted kidnapping of his father, then ordered Ren Ye to lead the arrest.
• Huang Wei assigned Qingfu District's New Year's Watchers to support Ren Ye, while Chen Hannian confirmed that all sixteen districts had secured the perimeter.
• A Tongren Road faction and the Predator Alliance decided to protect Limp, while a shadow and Dandan watched from a signal tower.
• Ren Ye's team reached the Roadside Dogs bar, where guards blocked the entrance; Ren Ye drew his Heavy Sword and ordered them to move as Limp demanded to know whether his allies would act.

Ren Ye and the New Year's Watchers confronted the Roadside Dogs on Tongren Road, where his deliberate provocations brought the opposing factions to the brink of battle. As hundreds of Chaos Faction players converged, Yan Duoduo isolated the street and revealed his Star Gate, leaving the New Year's Watchers to advance under his command.

• Ren Ye and the New Year's Watchers disarmed the long-haired Roadside Dogs member, cut off his arms, and took him into custody after he blocked their way.
• Ren Ye read aloud the summons for Qian Zheng, then ordered Limp to squat down, provoking him in front of the gathered spectators.
• Limp called on his allies, and hundreds of Chaos Faction players silently converged on the bar as Huang Wei prepared the New Year's Watchers to fight.
• Yan Duoduo ordered the New Year's Watchers to plant more than three hundred Wordless Steles, isolating Tongren Road and summoning his Star Gate.
• Yan Duoduo rose above the street and commanded silence as the yellow-shirted New Year's Watchers advanced and the Chaos Faction players faltered.

Yan Duoduo forced Limp to surrender and ordered the Roadside Dogs Organization detained, asserting control over Tongren Road. As the other powers withdrew, Ren Ye and Shadow were inspired to pursue their own Star Gate ambitions.

• Yan Duoduo opened his Star Gate and challenged Limp to resist arrest, pressuring him to fight one-on-one.
• Limp weighed the risks, surrendered, and squatted with his hands on his head after Ren Ye called out the arrest order.
• The Predator Alliance leader concluded that Yan Duoduo intended to take control of Tongren Road, while other powerful figures and Chaos Faction players dispersed.
• Yan Duoduo declared that Tongren Road would stay quiet, then ordered Chen Hannian to take the Roadside Dogs members in for questioning.
• Yan Duoduo accepted Old Zhou's invitation to drink, while Huang Wei and Ren Ye discussed the night's events and Shadow anticipated his Stage Star Gate.

After recovering from the Tongren Road incident, Ren Ye sold Gu Nian two pieces of Star Source for her Magic Talismans and discussed his next Qingliang Prefecture Star Gate entry with Yan Duoduo and Huang Wei. Yan Duoduo told him to investigate the Princess Consort’s identity and try to win her over; inside the Star Gate, Lian’er learned that the Princess Consort had been away for several days.

• Ren Ye woke after a long sleep, spoke with his father and sister, and agreed to go home for a meal before entering the Star Gate again.
• Gu Nian sold Ren Ye two Magic Talismans for two pieces of Star Source, while Xu Peng urged him to buy his poison instead.
• Ren Ye met with Yan Duoduo and Huang Wei, explained the Princess Consort’s suppressed Soul-Gathering Art, and discussed whether she might be a player.
• Yan Duoduo directed Ren Ye to sound out the Princess Consort’s identity and try to win her over during his next Star Gate entry.
• Lian’er visited the Princess Consort’s chambers, where Xue’er told her the Princess Consort had been away for several days.

Ren Ye discussed the Qingliang Prefecture Star Gate’s rules and possible Gate Eye with Yan Duoduo and Huang Wei, then learned his approved new teammate was the notorious Tang Feng. Tang Feng prepared to leave the Capital for Shanghai, asking his father for 150,000 yuan.

• Ren Ye asked whether using the Songstress Identity Card would revive Liu Ling'er, and Yan Duoduo and Huang Wei said the Star Gate would likely prevent or repair such a flaw.
• Huang Wei explained the history of Star Gates and Gate Eyes, while Yan Duoduo said Qingliang Prefecture likely had a human Gate Eye who maintained the world’s rules.
• Ren Ye and Huang Wei went to the cafeteria, where Yan Duoduo told them headquarters had approved Ren Ye’s new teammate.
• Ren Ye read Tang Feng’s file and learned that the suspended New Year's Watcher had once conspired with a Chaos Faction player to rob the Star Source Repository.
• Ren Ye objected to being paired with Tang Feng, but Huang Wei argued that Tang Feng’s abilities could prove valuable in the Star Gate’s final stage.
• In the Capital, Tang Feng told his family he was going on a business trip and asked his father to lend him 150,000 yuan to spend.

Tang Feng secured 150,000 yuan from his father by embarrassing him at a private club, then used his ability to kill his father’s sudden lust. He called Yan Duoduo to confirm he would meet his new teammate the next morning and promised to carry him.

• Tang Feng’s father refused to lend him money at dinner, while Tang Feng’s mother offered him 30,000 yuan and Tang Feng declined.
• Ren Ye questioned Huang Wei about Tang Feng’s reliability and ability as Huang Wei drove him home; Ren Ye invited Huang Wei, Xu Peng, and Gu Nian to dinner the next day.
• Tang Feng’s father went to a private club to discuss an investment with friends, and Tang Feng surprised him by joining the gathering and greeting the guests.
• Tang Feng demanded 150,000 yuan from his father in the corridor, and his father transferred the money after Tang Feng threatened to return to the room.
• Tang Feng used his ability to drain his father’s desire, then called Yan Duoduo and promised to carry his new teammate.

Ren Ye spent a nostalgic morning with his family before welcoming his colleagues, while his father asked him and Ren Qingning to write about their feelings toward him for his revised novel. Meanwhile, Yan Duoduo gave Tang Feng information about Qingliang Prefecture and revealed that his assigned Identity Card was the female Songstress, which delighted him.

• Ren Ye went grocery shopping with Ren Daguo and Ren Qingning, and learned that Ren Daguo and Editor Xu had rewritten the later plot of his historical novel as a story about a father's love.
• Ren Ye and Ren Qingning played a co-op game, and Ren Qingning argued that success depended on understanding the game's rules and designer's thinking.
• Ren Daguo offered the siblings five hundred for every thousand words they wrote about their feelings toward their father, and Ren Qingning accepted the assignment.
• Old Huang, Gu Nian, and Xu Peng arrived at Ren Ye's home with gifts and medicine, and Ren Ye welcomed them to lunch with his family.
• At Duoduo's Pet Paradise, Yan Duoduo gave Tang Feng documents about Qingliang Prefecture and told him his Identity Card was the female Songstress.
• Tang Feng reacted with excitement when Yan Duoduo asked whether he objected to playing a woman.

Ren Ye’s family hosted Huang Wei and his colleagues, where Dad asked them to keep Ren Ye safe and Yan Duoduo promised he would remain free. Meanwhile, Guo Caier revisited her childhood home to mourn Wang Hong, and Tang Feng prepared with Ren Ye for their return to the Star Gate.

• Dad served a meal to Ren Ye, Huang Wei, Gu Nian, Xu Peng, Yan Duoduo, and Tang Feng, who arrived with extravagant gifts and was introduced as Ren Ye’s new partner.
• Dad asked Ren Ye’s colleagues to bring his son home safely, and Yan Duoduo promised Ren Ye would not return to prison and that the agency would protect him.
• Tang Feng became fixated on Ren Qingning and blurted out an obscene demand to Ren Daguo, then fled to the bathroom in embarrassment.
• Guo Caier returned to the home she had shared with Wang Hong and apologized for the hurtful things she had said before Wang Hong was killed.
• Tang Feng and Ren Ye discussed a code phrase for recognizing each other inside the Star Gate, and Tang Feng suggested one based on Ren Qingning’s appearance.

Ren Ye woke in Prince Huai’s residence to begin the second act, in which the players had to enter the Former Dynasty Princess’s Tomb and survive its trials. As he planned to find allies and locate his Hidden Pawn, he learned he had slept for seven days and discovered that Guo Caier had just learned of a Prince Huai Hidden Pawn in the Court Faction.

• The Startrace Gate assigned the players new factions and quests, requiring all eleven to enter the princess’s tomb at midnight and find the spirit lost from the Nation-Guarding Sword.
• Ren Ye decided to recruit Tang Feng and the Princess Consort, seek out his Hidden Pawn, and investigate the tomb before it opened.
• Lian'er told Ren Ye he had been asleep for seven days, and Er Leng reported that the Princess Consort had helped him recover with medicine.
• Er Leng relayed Tang Poet’s coded message, and Ren Ye answered with a rhyming line to summon her back.
• Er Leng repeated Liu Ji Shan’s insulting dream-rhyme, and Ren Ye learned that Guo Caier had just heard that the Court Faction contained Prince Huai’s Hidden Pawn.

Guo Caier and Xing Tao planned to find their missing teammates before entering the Former Dynasty Princess's Tomb, while Ren Ye and Tang Feng discussed the Star Gate’s character system and prepared to act. The Princess Consort sent Ren Ye medicine and instructions as events converged on the tomb expedition.

• Guo Caier told Xing Tao that Liu Ji Shan might be a trapped player and asked him to use his battalion commander's token to rescue him before the group entered the tomb.
• Li Yan considered how to use the imprisoned Liu Ji Shan and began writing a letter while keeping his identity concealed.
• Ren Ye and Tang Feng discussed how players could inherit replacement characters and how the Star Gate’s Gate Eye might constrain the story.
• Tang Feng tried to enlist Er Leng for his sexual advances, but Ren Ye took him along to discuss an important plan.
• Xu Qingzhao ordered Xue'er to bring Ren Ye Qi-Nourishing Pills and remind him to bathe, change, and avoid pink underpants.

Liu Ji Shan escaped Prince Huai’s dungeon with help from a masked Fence-Sitter, believing the man was a comrade. The rescuer was actually Ren Ye, who planned to use Liu Ji Shan to gather information and potentially recruit him.

• Liu Ji Shan decided his only chance of survival was to seek an audience with Prince Huai, but a masked man arrived and broke him out of the dungeon.
• The masked man gave Liu Ji Shan a restorative pill, freed his restraints, and guided him past unconscious guards and approaching patrols.
• The man revealed that he was a Fence-Sitter player and told Liu Ji Shan that Celestial Master Xu had died after Prince Huai turned the tables at Tranquil Heart Hall.
• Liu Ji Shan and the masked man escaped over the courtyard wall, agreed on a password for meeting at the Princess Tomb, and fled separately.
• Ren Ye revealed his identity as Liu Ji Shan’s rescuer and explained to Tang Feng that he had let Liu Ji Shan escape to gain information and possibly recruit him.

Liu Ji Shan escaped the dungeon and sought refuge with Li Yan, who prepared a strange banquet to gather people from Prince Huai's residence. Ren Ye tested Xu Qingzhao and learned she planned to enter the Princess Tomb, then realized she was a player.

• Liu Ji Shan arrived at Li Yan's residence after escaping the dungeon, berated Li Yan for failing to rescue him, and demanded food and wine.
• Liu Ji Shan hid how he had escaped and weighed the value of working with Li Yan, who could connect him to the Court Faction.
• Li Yan ordered a grand banquet open to Prince Huai's people and used the birth of a sow as its occasion.
• Er Leng slapped Tang Feng when Tang Feng flirted with him in the side hall of Xu Qingzhao's bedchamber.
• Ren Ye teased Xu Qingzhao, then asked whether she would enter the tomb; Xu Qingzhao said yes, and Ren Ye concluded she was a player.

Tang Feng planned to infiltrate Li Yan’s Sow Banquet, and Ren Ye used his Imperial Brush to disguise him as a man. At the Chief Secretary’s Residence, an old man detected a fake Disguise Daoist Talisman and sensed a bug in Qingliang Prefecture.

• Tang Feng gave Ren Ye the Disc Order messages about Li Yan’s Sow Banquet and Liu Ji Shan’s arrival at Li Yan’s residence.
• Ren Ye explained that appearing as a woman would expose Tang Feng, so Tang Feng proposed changing into a man with the Disguise Daoist Talisman.
• Ren Ye replicated the talisman’s mystical effect with his Imperial Brush and transformed Tang Feng into an unremarkable middle-aged man, exhausting the Brush’s power for twelve double-hours.
• Tang Feng decided to attend the Sow Banquet in his new disguise and investigate the Court Faction players.
• An old man at the Chief Secretary’s Residence noticed an extra, fake Disguise Daoist Talisman, sensed across Qingliang Prefecture, and realized there was a bug.