Chapter Summaries

Lü Xiao Dao discovered a boy who had mutilated himself and revealed human heads inside his body, while Xu Ye fought off hidden mutant spiders in the apartment building. Xu Ye warned that the Mother Nest was about to attack the Land of Exiles, and a distant black shadow appeared on the western horizon.

• Lü Xiao Dao spoke with Chen Yu and Zhong Little Hua about New Year’s rumors, the Cat God Church, and the Awakened.
• Lü Xiao Dao found A Ya in the stairwell, where the boy cut open his belly and claimed his parents were inside.
• A Ya attacked Lü Xiao Dao, but Xu Ye struck him down with the Black Blade.
• Mutant Spiders burst through the walls and pierced Xu Ye, who broke apart and used his scattered flesh to kill them.
• Xu Ye warned Lü Xiao Dao that the Mother Nest was about to attack the Land of Exiles, then saw an enormous black shadow churning in the west.

The Mother Nest's projection descended over the Land of Exiles, bringing darkness, frost, and red rain that mutated insects. As Mr. Airo revealed his plan to use the disaster to strengthen humanity, a swarm of giant mosquitoes attacked Xu Ye's apartment building.

• Xu Ye heard on the Radio that over a hundred thousand mutated locusts had wiped out a camp, then the signal failed as shadows swallowed the sky.
• Xu Ye recognized the enormous Mother Nest's projection, which noticed him and Alice as the Bandit Lord panicked.
• At Holy Cross Hospital, Auntie and Sister-in-Law obeyed the Lord's order not to intervene and prepared to sleep and grow stronger.
• Mr. Airo explained that he had arranged the descent to provoke Awakened humans and prepare them to conquer the New World.
• Red rain began mutating insects, and a swarm of palm-sized mosquitoes plunged into a room in Xu Ye's apartment building.

Xu Ye faced the devastation caused by the Mother Nest’s red rain and weighed whether to protect only the Apartment or help destroy the Mother Nest. The King of the Underworld revealed that she planned to detonate the Mirror of Defilement near the Mother Nest’s heart and asked Xu Ye to help her break in.

• Xu Ye found a mortally wounded man whose wife and child had been killed, and ended the man’s suffering at his request.
• Xu Ye killed a swarm of mosquitoes, then fought through streets filled with mutated insects as the red rain spread across the Land of Exiles.
• Xu Ye told the Bandit Lord he had once planned to complete the second ritual, but now questioned whether he should instead blow up the Mother Nest.
• The Bandit Lord explained that the Blasphemer’s rituals forced Xu Ye to choose, and argued that Xu Ye was meant to bring light to the mortal world.
• The King of the Underworld told Xu Ye that the Mirror of Defilement would soon block the red rain and that the real Mother Nest projection was approaching from the Great Fiend Restricted Zone.
• The King of the Underworld said she would detonate the Mirror of Defilement near the Mother Nest’s heart and asked Xu Ye to use his Blasphemer abilities to help her break in.

Xu Ye agreed to join the King of the Underworld in attacking the Mother Nest after learning that its projection could use the Holy Grail to open a passage to Earth. He then confronted Liu Tianlei, who admitted Doctor Chen had arranged for a Holy Grail Shard to be placed inside Li Yunyao.

• The King of the Underworld explained how Blasphemers' choices shaped their sequence paths and said she planned to die fighting the Mother Nest.
• Xu Ye saw that refusing to go would lead to the King of the Underworld's death and the Mother Nest opening a passage to Earth, so he agreed to accompany her.
• The King of the Underworld told Xu Ye to meet her at the East Gate at noon the next day, and the Bandit Lord said her injuries and limited lifespan were real.
• Xu Ye recognized the Vagrant as Liu Tianlei, exposed his connection to Lü Xiao Dao, and demanded to know why a Holy Grail Shard was inside Li Yunyao.
• Liu Tianlei admitted that Doctor Chen had proposed placing the shard in Li Yunyao's mind and said Doctor Chen had directly encountered deities.

Xu Ye confronted Liu Tianlei about the ritual that would restore Lü Xiao Dao to his body, while Lu Xiaoyu accepted that she could not stop the ritual from unfolding. As the insect disaster threatened the Land of Exiles, Alice put the East Grand Harbor workers to sleep and sent their dreams toward the battlefield.

• Liu Tianlei confessed his guilt to Xu Ye and explained that the ritual required Lü Xiao Dao to suffer before returning to his body and completing it.
• Lü Xiao Dao told Chen Yu he was an Awakened and planned to volunteer for the front lines, and Lu Xiaoyu gave him the knife he had once given her.
• Lu Xiaoyu told Xu Ye she suspected the homeless man was the real Liu Tianlei and described how her talent let her sense fate; Xu Ye said they could only leave the ritual to Liu Tianlei and Lü Xiao Dao.
• At East Grand Harbor, workers heard reports of advancing insects and a growing death toll while they waited without work.
• Alice used its growing powers to make the dockworkers fall asleep, telling them their dreams would take them to the battlefield to help the city.

Alice put dockworkers to sleep to gather dreamscape power, while Xu Ye joined the defenders facing the Mother Nest. The Mother Nest emerged in its terrifying Sequence 4 form, and the insects cried out in homage.

• Alice put the dockworkers to sleep, then wondered why it possessed part of the Illusion Overlord's authority before sinking into the shadows.
• Xu Ye met the King of the Underworld at the eastern gate, where he learned that the defenders planned to destroy the Mother Nest's energy-transmitting tentacles with the Mirror of Defilement.
• Alice and Arthur traded insults until Xu Ye and Shen Xinghai separated them, and Alice warned Xu Ye that Arthur had automatically neutralized its divine pressure.
• The Mother Nest appeared as a gigantic black insect more than fifty kilometers long, and Arthur identified it as the Mother Nest's Sequence 4 Ancient Sage rule form.

The King of the Underworld, Xu Ye, Shen Xinghai, and Zhu Dalong set out to reach the Mother Nest’s Projection and detonate the Mirror of Defilement, despite the sacrifice its rules demanded. As they drove toward the Mother Nest, the Mirror Spirit emerged from the mirror.

• The Bandit Lord explained that the insect swarm relied on a chain of signal relays, and the King of the Underworld arranged for attacks to target its blood cocoons and powerful insects.
• The King of the Underworld and her companions chose to leave the defense of the river to the Federation and head for the Mother Nest with the Mirror of Defilement.
• Zhu Dalong used his stolen Instantaneous Teleportation ability to shift the group thirty kilometers closer, where Xu Ye killed a giant centipede and halted the insects linked to it.
• The King of the Underworld told Xu Ye that detonating the Mirror of Defilement required a sacrifice and spoke of Doctor Chen and her resolve to destroy the Mother Nest’s Projection.
• Xu Ye sensed the Heavenly Dao’s distortion and saw the Mirror Spirit emerge from the mirror inside the Jeep.

Lü Xiao Dao joined the defense against the insect swarm and destroyed a blood cocoon, while Lu Xiaoyu and Zhong Little Hua realized someone else had intervened. Elsewhere, Xu Ye captured the Mirror Spirit with a tentacle as his group sought a route to the Mother Nest Projection’s energy-draining tentacles.

• Lü Xiao Dao’s team charged the golden beetles guarding their assigned blood cocoon, and an ordinary volunteer was killed while buying the Awakened time to attack.
• A giant butterfly’s assault on the city wall ended when its body dissolved in midair, and Xia Yuze suspected Zhong Little Hua had cursed it.
• Lü Xiao Dao used [Shadow Sneaking] to reach the blood cocoon, then destroyed it with a lightning strike and blade, causing the nearby golden beetles to crumble into dust.
• Lü Xiao Dao rejoined the fight after spotting Xiaoyu, while Lu Xiaoyu told Zhong Little Hua that someone else had acted before she could use her ability.
• Zhu Dalong warned that heavenly dao distortion was rising as the group approached the Mother Nest Projection, and Xu Ye revealed a tentacle that seized the Mirror Spirit.

Xu Ye reunited with Zhu Dalong and Shen Xinghai, revealed himself as a Blasphemer, and absorbed energy from Uncanny creatures while the group drove toward the Mother Nest. They reached its rear flank, where Councilor Airo appeared before them.

• Xu Ye revealed his identity to Zhu Dalong and Shen Xinghai, and Arthur explained that Xu Ye was a Blasphemer whose powers could affect the Uncanny and Restricted Zones.
• Mirror Spirits and Abyss Women attacked the vehicle as the road twisted into a maze, but Xu Ye’s tentacles trapped and absorbed the Uncanny, providing energy for his advancement toward Sequence 6.
• Zhu Dalong marveled at Xu Ye’s strength and asked to join him, while Xu Ye noticed that the Lord of Darkfall was secretly absorbing some of the energy too.
• Xu Ye used a captured Mirror Spirit to guide the vehicle toward the Mother Nest’s energy belt, and Alice wondered whether the Mother Nest could control the Uncanny.
• The group reached the Mother Nest’s rear flank and saw its underground energy tentacles, where Councilor Airo emerged before them.

Xu Ye used the Lord of Darkfall’s energy and the Radio to break the barrier around the Mother Nest, despite his heart’s warnings that he would die. The barrier shattered, leaving the King of the Underworld’s forces ready to enter.

• Mr. Airo admitted that he planned to sacrifice a million people to turn the Holy Grail into the Fallen Holy Grail and open a passage to the New World.
• Xu Ye sensed the Mother Nest absorbing souls and negative emotions, then ignored his heart’s warnings and approached the barrier with the Radio.
• Mr. Airo attacked Xu Ye, but Xu Ye’s Block-Building Game talent let his dismembered flesh keep moving and carry his heart to Alice.
• Xu Ye used pieces of his flesh to throw the Radio and the Lord of Darkfall’s energy at the barrier, which cracked and exploded.

Xu Ye and his allies fought their way toward the Mother Nest, while Liu Tianlei stayed behind to confront Mr. Airo. When the Mother Nest’s divine might struck the King of the Underworld, Xu Ye caught her, took the Mirror of Defilement, and charged toward the creature.

• Xu Ye used the Lord of Darkfall’s energy to injure Mr. Airo, then prepared to retreat as Mr. Airo’s wounds rapidly healed.
• Zhu Dalong teleported Shen Xinghai and the King of the Underworld near the Mother Nest before driving away to retrieve Xu Ye.
• Liu Tianlei appeared to stop Mr. Airo and told Xu Ye to help the King of the Underworld, while Xu Ye resolved to protect his family and home.
• Shen Xinghai fought through the insects as he and the King of the Underworld approached the Mother Nest, but its divine might blasted them backward.
• Xu Ye caught the King of the Underworld, took the Mirror of Defilement, and charged toward the Mother Nest.

Xu Ye activated the Mirror of Defilement against the Mother Nest Projection after rejecting Trina’s offer and doubting her claims about the world. The mirror froze and shattered Xu Ye and part of the Mother Nest’s body, leaving his survival uncertain.

• The King of the Underworld recognized Xu Ye as a new hero of the era, while Shen Xinghai helped her retreat.
• Xu Ye gathered his forces as the Mother Nest Projection surrounded him with a swarm, and his heart warned that using the Mirror of Defilement would kill him.
• Trina appeared in human form and offered Xu Ye the world’s truth and her protection if he abandoned his plan.
• Xu Ye questioned Trina’s account of the Illusion Overlord and refused to make a pact, suspecting she wanted to open the passage to Earth.
• Xu Ye poured his remaining spiritual qi into the Mirror of Defilement, which engulfed part of the Mother Nest’s body and shattered them both.

Xu Ye destroyed Mother Nest but died in the process, ending the insect invasion and devastating those who knew him. In the darkness after death, he heard dice roll and saw a six before light appeared.

• Liu Tianlei refused Mr. Airo’s plan to sacrifice lives for the New World while Xu Ye destroyed Mother Nest and crumbled into dust.
• Zhu Dalong, Arthur, the King of the Underworld, and Shen Xinghai mourned Xu Ye, with Shen Xinghai promising to honor him at the heroes' memorial.
• Xia Yuze healed wounded people as the Federation’s defenders struggled against the insect swarm, and Lü Xiao Dao forced himself to stand and fight.
• Mother Nest writhed in agony, causing the insects to stop and then retreat, and the defenders celebrated their sudden victory.
• Zhong Little Hua, Lu Xiaoyu, Xia Yuze, and Ivy realized Alice’s mark had vanished and feared Xu Ye was dead.
• Xu Ye retained a trace of consciousness in the darkness, heard dice roll, saw a six, and then saw light.

After the battle, Lü Xiao Dao struggled against the memories of Liu Tianlei while the King of the Underworld drove off Mr. Airo and the Mother Nest retreated into the Restricted Zone. Xu Ye woke again in Doctor Chen’s laboratory as a Sequence 6, reunited with his companions, and began testing his new abilities.

• Lü Xiao Dao remembered his life as Liu Tianlei and fought to hold on to his identity as his sister and Zhong Little Hua called to him.
• The Mother Nest retreated toward the Restricted Zone, and Mr. Airo fled as a swarm of insects after the King of the Underworld struck down the centipedes in his arms.
• The King of the Underworld collapsed coughing blood and told Shen Xinghai she could survive if she completed the ritual within three months.
• Xu Ye woke in Doctor Chen’s laboratory in Night Spirit City and found Alice, the Bandit Lord, and Li Yunyao had been reborn with him.
• Xu Ye inspected his Sequence 6 abilities, including Mayfly, Shadow Play, and Eye of Replication, then replicated extra eyes, arms, and facial features to test the last one.

Xu Ye reunited with He Li, who explained that Doctor Chen had sent her to take him somewhere that could return him to Earth. He Li brought out a compass-like object containing the coordinates to the Land of Errors, and they prepared to go there.

• Xu Ye tested his replication ability before noticing an attacker and dodging her explosive bullet.
• Xu Ye disarmed He Li, recognized her, and learned that she had been resurrected like him and that Duke Han Xi might have returned too.
• He Li saw Li Yunyao's spirit and grieved that she could not touch her, while Xu Ye assured her that Li Yunyao could grow stronger.
• He Li revealed that Doctor Chen had sent her to take Xu Ye to a place that could let him return to Earth.
• He Li placed a compass-like object on the floor and identified their destination as the Land of Errors.

Xu Ye and He Li traveled into the Land of Errors, where Doctor Chen revealed that its bizarre glitches might prove their world was a game. The chapter ended with Xu Ye confronting the possibility that Earth and Planet Earth were not what he had believed, as Doctor Chen called it the Gods' Game.

• He Li brought Xu Ye into the Land of Errors, a lawless region where gravity, space, and ordinary objects behaved unpredictably.
• Xu Ye and He Li reached Doctor Chen's underground laboratory, where Chen demonstrated that empty wineglasses reappeared in the refrigerator.
• Doctor Chen claimed that Xu Ye and He Li had always been people from Earth, not natives of Planet Earth.
• Doctor Chen explained that the Land of Errors was a game-like bug and suggested that their reality was itself a game.
• Xu Ye connected the revelation to his resurrection and other strange events, but Doctor Chen said they were in the Gods' Game.

Doctor Chen revealed that the world was a game created by the Gods as a stepping stone to Earth, and Xu Ye realized he might be able to find his family among the people trapped inside it. Doctor Chen explained his plan to destroy the game and send everyone back to Earth, but the chapter left their return uncertain.

• Xu Ye, the Bandit Lord, Alice, and He Li reacted with shock as Doctor Chen revealed that their world was a game created by the Gods.
• Doctor Chen explained that the Gods used the game to reach Earth and that humanity had arrived in the game world about a hundred years earlier.
• Xu Ye feared he could never return to his family, then wondered whether his parents, sister, and classmates might also be trapped in the game.
• Doctor Chen explained that Yantian had tried to crash the game by killing its inhabitants but had failed.
• Doctor Chen revealed that he had planted explosive Taboo Objects at the world's energy stabilization points and planned to destroy the game with them and nuclear bombs in his Return Plan.

Doctor Chen explained his theory that Earth’s survivors had entered a game built by the Gods, and revealed that Xu Ye could use the Holy Grail Shard to return to Earth. Xu Ye activated the shard and received the option to exit the game.

• Doctor Chen theorized that the Betrayers had lured humanity into the game so the Gods could enter Earth, and that Xu Ye and Yantian had been sent to save those trapped inside.
• Doctor Chen told Xu Ye that the truth about his former body might be found in Seaside City and warned that the game world could collapse within twenty years.
• Doctor Chen explained that Xu Ye could return to Earth using the Holy Grail Shard, while they worked together from inside and outside the game to free humanity.
• Xu Ye infused the shard with spiritual qi and then spilled blood on it, causing it to become a Black Card that vanished into his mind.
• Xu Ye saw a prompt asking whether he wanted to exit the game and selected [Yes].

Xu Ye returned from the game world to Earth in 2250 and discovered that two hundred years had passed since his death. After finding that his memories and abilities were limited and his Human Skins were mostly left behind, he began searching for what had happened during his absence.

• Doctor Chen told He Li that logging out made Xu Ye disappear from the game world, then spoke about his lost childhood and longing for home before jokingly asking her to introduce him to more women.
• Xu Ye woke in an unfamiliar bedroom on Earth and saw that he could log back into New World OL for twelve hours each day.
• Xu Ye recalled a sparse profile of his Earth identity as an eighteen-year-old orphan and wondered who had controlled his body and arranged his return.
• The Bandit Lord explained that Earth’s stable, incomplete Heavenly Dao weakened Xu Ye’s abilities and prevented most Human Skins from crossing over.
• Xu Ye checked his phone and learned the year was 2250, two hundred years after he had died in 2050, then began searching the history of the intervening years.