Recaps

Lu Mi escaped the cabin with Cui Aobai, Shang Anbang, and Wang Kangping after voting Long Xi'er out, then returned to the Public Rest Area. The Human-Ghost Showdown was still underway, and Shen Yiwen had not yet returned.

• Lu Mi hid Wang Kangping behind the Doghouse and led Cui Aobai and Shang Anbang toward the exit while Long Xi'er searched the cabin.
• Long Xi'er attacked them with a kitchen knife, but Lu Mi shoved Cui Aobai aside and told everyone to confirm their votes against Long Xi'er.
• The vote-out notice stopped Long Xi'er from harming the players, and Lu Mi led his teammates through the gate after revealing he could summon fire.
• Cui Aobai and Shang Anbang took Wang Kangping to the Healing Area while Lu Mi messaged his friends and watched the showdown results.
• Cheng Cheng reunited with Lu Mi and said Zhong Zixian was safe, but Shen Yiwen had not answered; when another group emerged, Lu Mi hurried to see whether she was with them.

Lu Mi learned that the humans had lost the Human-Ghost Showdown, then confronted 2044 about a missing instance and Roman’s interference with the game. 2044 hinted that Roman had been punished, leaving Lu Mi to wonder what had happened to him.

• A team escaped after voting out both ghosts, but Little Ma was eaten, bringing the score to four wins for humans and four for ghosts.
• Lu Mi went to the Healing Area, where 2044 watched over him and refused to wake him; after recovering, Lu Mi tested his stronger water spheres and broke the surveillance camera.
• The broadcast announced that four of the ten teams had identified the Ghost Spectators, while the failed teams had become gifts for them.
• Lu Mi noticed 2044 watching him and confronted him, then discovered that the instance where he had become Yu Qingchen had never been released as a show.
• 2044 explained that Roman had disrupted the instance by saving Lu Mi and later interfering in other games, then asked Lu Mi to guess what punishment Roman had received.

Lu Mi met 2044 at the Central Control Building, where 2044 offered him a chance to win a popularity contest and tried to make him sign a fake-couple agreement in exchange for information about Roman. The chapter ended with 2044 ordering staff to send Lu Mi into whichever instance world Roman was in.

• 2044 gave Lu Mi a Central Control Building entry permit and invited him to meet at seven that evening.
• Lu Mi checked his achievements and points, then tried calling Shen Yiwen, but neither she nor his other friends knew where she was.
• Lu Mi went to the Central Control Building and asked 2044 what he had done to Roman.
• 2044 showed Lu Mi a confidential popularity contest document, promising the winner a wish granted with divine power and claiming Lu Mi would win.
• 2044 offered information about Roman if Lu Mi signed a fake-couple agreement, but Lu Mi refused.
• After Lu Mi left, 2044 told a staff member to send him into whichever instance world Roman was in.

Lu Mi agreed to team up with Jin Bi in the upcoming popularity contest after she claimed to know where Shen Yiwen was. When the group gathered to enter the instance, Jin Bi was stunned to see Cheng Cheng there too.

• Jin Bi confronted Lu Mi in the Public Rest Area, and he burned her arm with ordinary fire before guards extinguished it and treated him deferentially.
• Jin Bi stopped Lu Mi from leaving by claiming she knew where Shen Yiwen was and confirmed it by recalling Shen Yiwen's tracksuit from the Human-Ghost Showdown.
• Jin Bi asked to team up with Lu Mi for the popularity contest in exchange for Shen Yiwen's whereabouts, and Lu Mi agreed with conditions.
• Lu Mi told his group chat about the arrangement and said he would not meet the others for the round if they objected to Jin Bi joining.
• On the day they entered the instance, Jin Bi arrived late and was shocked to see Cheng Cheng with Lu Mi's group.

Lu Mi and the other players entered a graveyard instance, where they were assigned Companion Stone Houses and warned about the creatures inside the neighboring tombs. As evening approached, Lu Mi sent Zhong Zixian to find their house while he went to meet their neighbors.

• Jin Bi, Cheng Cheng, Zhong Zixian, and Lu Mi entered the instance and found themselves in a graveyard among numbered stone houses.
• Lu Mi heard hungry voices and scratching from house number 7, where red eyes appeared behind the dark window.
• Zhong Zixian showed Lu Mi the cabin with a golden bell that had rung, while the creatures in the stone houses continued asking for food and company.
• Zeng Deming emerged from the cabin, assigned the players Companion Stone Houses, and warned them not to provoke the occupant of house number one.
• Zeng Deming told the players to return to their assigned houses before seven and refuse late visits; Zhong Zixian identified eighteen bell chimes as the likely signal for six o'clock.
• Lu Mi gave Zhong Zixian their key to house number 9 and set off to meet their neighbors.

Lu Mi discovered that feeding the neighbors raised visible numbers and helped other players interact with them before nightfall. After seven, the neighbors emerged and one began scratching at his door, but Lu Mi sent it away by asking it to return later.

• Lu Mi fed egg tarts to the creature in stone house No. 7, and it raised its number by accepting more food.
• Cheng Cheng fed the creature too, revealing a number of 100 above his head; Lu Mi saw his own number was 80 and Zhong Zixian's was 0.
• Lu Mi concluded that a higher number than a neighbor's stone house might be beneficial, and urged Zhong Zixian and other players to interact with their neighbors.
• At seven, Lu Mi let Zhong Zixian into his stone house after verifying his identity, and Zhong Zixian said Lu Mi's number was visible to him.
• An unfamiliar neighbor with gray eyes knocked and scratched at the door until Lu Mi told it to return later, prompting it to stop and promise another meeting.

Lu Mi and Zhong Zixian survived their first night in the stone houses, but their numbers fell by morning, weakening their protection. Zhuang Ziyi’s number also fluctuated with her emotions, while Cheng Cheng revealed that two corpses hung outside stone house number 18.

• Lu Mi agreed to visit Xiao Kui’s stone house number 4 the next day after Xiao Kui demanded a promise, and he and Zhong Zixian concluded their combined number of 150 had kept it outside.
• Zhuang Ziyi’s number plunged as she panicked, and Gao Shaohua secretly discovered that a Mental Recovery Potion only raised it temporarily before it fell again.
• Gao Shaohua refused entry to a neighbor with a red 90 above its head and vaguely agreed to visit its stone house number 6 the next day.
• Lu Mi stayed awake until the neighbors returned to their houses after the golden bell rang twelve times, then went to sleep.
• Zhong Zixian woke Lu Mi to tell him his number had dropped to 60, while Lu Mi saw that Zhong Zixian’s had fallen to 50.
• Cheng Cheng warned the residents that neighbor numbers might change and said two corpses were hanging outside stone house number 18.

Lu Mi investigated the deaths of two newcomers hanging outside Stone House No. 18 and learned that players were being tempted to kill one another for Ghost Spectator tips. Zeng Deming revealed that the numbers above players’ heads measured mental value, then offered to explain how Cheng Cheng could restore his if Cheng Cheng came to his house during the full moon.

• Lu Mi examined the two newcomers’ corpses and inferred that they had died after failing to connect with their neighbors.
• Lu Mi disclosed a Special Message offering him 1,000 gold coins to kill a player, and the others admitted receiving similar offers.
• Lu Mi warned the players against harming one another for tips, while Zeng Deming challenged him to keep that principle when faced with temptation.
• Zeng Deming explained that the numbers above players’ heads represented mental value and that it naturally declined as their neighbors’ values rose.
• Zeng Deming recognized Cheng Cheng as a Taoist priest and offered to explain how to restore mental value if Cheng Cheng visited his house during the full moon.

Zeng Deming gave the group seeds that could restore mental value, while Lu Mi and Zhong Zixian planted theirs and searched for Xiao Kui. They found dried blood leading to forbidden Stone House No. 1, resisted a strange urge to enter, and finally reached Xiao Kui’s Stone House No. 4.

• Zeng Deming distributed seeds and told everyone to plant them near their Companion Stone Houses to harvest mental value after about twenty-four hours.
• Lu Mi declined to investigate the deaths of the two newcomers and planted seeds with Zhong Zixian, who played his violin for them.
• Gao Shaohua planted Zhuang Ziyi’s seeds while Zhuang Ziyi panicked about whether her mental value had fallen and denied killing the newcomers.
• Lu Mi and Zhong Zixian found dried blood leading to forbidden Stone House No. 1, but Lu Mi resisted an urge to enter after confirming his mental value was unchanged.
• Lu Mi and Zhong Zixian found Xiao Kui inside Stone House No. 4 and felt watched through its narrow window.

Lu Mi entered Xiao Kui’s house alone and was trapped in a coffin, which transported him into a scene from Xiao Kui’s life as Fu Xinhan. He found himself walking with Xiao Kui as she confronted him about their relationship, and the chapter ended when the young lady’s men blocked their path.

• Lu Mi persuaded Xiao Kui to let Zhong Zixian leave, then entered the house alone and cut off Xiao Kui’s long nails.
• Xiao Kui shoved Lu Mi into an upright coffin and sealed him inside, but he stayed calm until he could breathe again.
• Lu Mi awoke as Fu Xinhan in a city alley beside the living Xiao Kui, who accused him of being distracted and asked him to keep his distance from another woman.
• Xiao Kui explained that she would let Fu Xinhan go if he wanted to return to the wealthy woman, while Lu Mi struggled to respond in character.
• Several burly men blocked the alley and warned Fu Xinhan to leave Xiao Kui behind because their young lady wanted to punish her.

Lu Mi survived Xiao Kui’s test by shielding her in Fu Xinhan’s body, then returned to Stone House No. 4 with Cheng Cheng. As the group prepared for another dangerous night, Kang Caijun asked Cheng Cheng to find a way to save everyone.

• Lu Mi shielded Xiao Kui from the bodyguards in Fu Xinhan’s body, and Xiao Kui recognized that he had made a different choice from her boyfriend.
• Cheng Cheng and the others entered Stone House No. 4, and Xiao Kui confirmed she would not visit Lu Mi that night but might come tomorrow.
• Zhong Zixian checked Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng, learned their mental values had fallen, and agreed to keep watch over the Seeds instead of visiting the neighbors.
• Lu Mi went to rest while Cheng Cheng returned toward his own stone house and saw a crowd demanding his help.
• Kang Caijun told Cheng Cheng that visits to the neighbors had increased people’s mental values and urged him to find a way to keep everyone alive through the night.

Cheng Cheng sent Jin Bi to inspect the neighbors’ Mental Values and reassured Lu Mi that none exceeded 120. At dusk, Zeng Deming noted that some people had not arrived because they were trapped in the neighbors’ houses.

• Kang Caijun accused Cheng Cheng of trying to use others to test whether Zeng Deming’s Wooden Cabin was safe, but Cheng Cheng denied owing anyone help and said he would survive the night.
• Xuanxuan told Cheng Cheng she suspected Zhuang Ziyi had caused the newcomers’ deaths, citing Zhuang Ziyi’s fearful remarks, but she had no evidence.
• Gao Shaohua said she was carrying cooked food to try to win over the neighbors, and Cheng Cheng chose not to warn her about Zhuang Ziyi.
• Cheng Cheng forced Jin Bi to accompany him on a door-to-door inspection of the neighbors’ Mental Values.
• Lu Mi woke with his Mental Value restored to 70, and Cheng Cheng told him that he and Jin Bi had found no neighbor with a Mental Value above 120.
• At dusk, Zeng Deming said not everyone had gathered, and Cheng Cheng explained that they were stuck in the neighbors’ houses after the Silver Bell rang three times.

Zeng Deming’s cabin offered shelter but revealed a hanging corpse bearing his name, while the players chose different places to survive the neighbors’ seven o’clock attack. After the Silver Bell announced a death, something wearing a mask and imitating Zhuang Ziyi came to Lu Mi and Zhong Zixian’s door, and Lu Mi questioned why it had put on the mask.

• Zeng Deming let Xuanxuan and Youyou inspect his cramped Wooden Cabin, where they found a corpse hanging from the rafters with a Gravekeeper-Zeng Deming badge.
• Xuanxuan and Youyou decided to spend the night in the cabin’s coffin, while Kang Caijun and Ran Xing hid in a cave and Zhuang Ziyi sheltered in another cave.
• After seven, the neighbors attacked the lodgings, while Zhong Zixian and Lu Mi stayed inside their stone house and discussed forming a band together.
• The Silver Bell tolled to announce a death, and a masked figure using Zhuang Ziyi’s voice demanded that Lu Mi open the door.
• Lu Mi and Zhong Zixian realized the figure might be holding Zhuang Ziyi’s severed head and wondered why it was wearing a mask.

Lu Mi and Zhong Zixian collected Mental Value from their sunflowers while Xuanxuan and Youyou described how Zeng Deming trapped them in coffins and sent Xuanxuan into a dangerous scenario. Xuanxuan ended up in a young man’s body on a mountain trail and confronted a man assaulting a red-haired girl.

• Lu Mi and Zhong Zixian found Zhuang Ziyi’s severed head rigged to their door and collected Mental Value from their forty sunflowers.
• Xuanxuan told Lu Mi that Zeng Deming had returned to his corpse, climbed onto the coffins, and trapped her and Youyou inside.
• After the coffin closed, Xuanxuan entered a dilemma scenario in the body of a young man on a mountain trail.
• Xuanxuan found a bound, half-dressed red-haired girl and tried to carry her away, but a man caught them both.
• The man threatened Xuanxuan and urged her to join him in assaulting the girl, while Xuanxuan condemned him.

Lu Mi and Cheng Cheng connected Xuanxuan’s coffin experience to Zeng Deming’s past and decided to investigate the forbidden No. 1 Stone House. Jin Bi and Kang Caijun returned in terror, and Kang Caijun recounted how a creature found and killed Zhuang Ziyi and Ran Xing during the night.

• Xuanxuan described refusing to help a kidnapper, while Cheng Cheng and Lu Mi suspected the young man in her experience was Zeng Deming and that guilt had led him to hang himself.
• Lu Mi recalled Zeng Deming’s warning about the No. 1 Stone House, and he and Cheng Cheng agreed to investigate it despite the danger.
• Zeng Deming carried Jin Bi and Kang Caijun back to the group and warned them not to break the rules; Lu Mi realized Zhuang Ziyi and Ran Xing had died.
• Jin Bi said she had seen Gao Shaohua’s corpse hanging upside down on a stone-house door, while Kang Caijun begged Xuanxuan for Mental Value.
• Kang Caijun recounted how a creature searched for players after killing Zhuang Ziyi, then returned while he and Ran Xing hid in a cave; Ran Xing fell asleep, and approaching footsteps woke Kang Caijun’s fear.

Kang Caijun revealed how Zeng Deming had killed Ran Xing after forcing Kang to betray him, and the group discussed Zeng’s rules and planned a visit to his house. After Kang died when his neighbor broke into his stone house, Lu Mi sensed another danger and checked the mental value of an approaching figure.

• Zeng Deming found Kang Caijun and Ran Xing hiding in a cave, and Kang shoved Ran Xing out to save himself; Zeng killed Ran Xing and praised Kang for sacrificing his companion.
• Lu Mi and the others concluded that Zeng Deming could kill under certain rules, and Cheng Cheng shared a plan for visiting him the next night.
• Lu Mi, Cheng Cheng, and the others transferred some mental value to Kang Caijun and Jin Bi, while Jin Bi volunteered to join Lu Mi’s group.
• At seven in the evening, the neighbors emerged, and the Silver Bell announced Kang Caijun’s death after his neighbor broke into his stone house and strangled him.
• Lu Mi grew uneasy about the neighbors’ rising mental value and moved to the window when he saw a crooked figure approaching.

Lu Mi and Zhong Zixian endured Red Eyes demanding a cat’s heart, while Cheng Cheng and Zhong Zixian went to the Wooden Cabin to stall Zeng Deming. Lu Mi entered the blood-soaked No. 1 Companion Stone House with Jin Bi and found a masked, apparently injured figure who called his name as he struck.

• Red Eyes smashed the window of the Companion Stone House, rejected Lu Mi’s egg tarts, and demanded the heart of a cat, draining Lu Mi and Zhong Zixian’s Mental Values through the night.
• Cheng Cheng decided the group had to carry out their plan that night, then brought Zhong Zixian to meet Zeng Deming and began stalling him with drinks and conversation.
• Lu Mi opened the No. 1 Companion Stone House and forced Jin Bi to enter with him before the Golden Bell rang and the door shut.
• As a blood-reeking presence approached in the darkness, Lu Mi gathered spiritual energy and struck at it with fire.
• Lu Mi’s flames revealed a masked figure who called his name and asked whether he was going to kill him.

Cheng Cheng confronted Zeng Deming about the red-haired girl's murder, but Zeng sent Cheng's soul forty years into the past and went to stop Lu Mi. In the Number One Stone House, Lu Mi found the injured Roman, who said the red-haired girl sometimes visited him and agreed to call her.

• Cheng Cheng accused Zeng Deming of helping the kidnapper rape and murder the red-haired girl, then attacked him with a peachwood sword.
• Zeng Deming trapped Cheng in a coffin and sent his soul back forty years, where he would believe he was powerless to resist the kidnapper.
• Zeng Deming immobilized Zhong Zixian and headed for the Number One Stone House, suspecting Lu Mi had gone to find the red-haired girl.
• Lu Mi and Jin Bi found Roman gravely wounded in the Number One Stone House, but the red-haired girl was not there.
• Lu Mi asked Roman about the girl, and Roman said she sometimes brought him medicinal herbs and that he would call to her with his soul.

Lu Mi cared for the injured Roman while ignoring Ghost Spectator 13’s demand that he kill Jin Bi. When Zeng Deming trapped Lu Mi and Jin Bi, he forced her into a game where only one of them could survive.

• Lu Mi warmed Roman and treated his many wounds, though the healing medicine barely helped.
• Ghost Spectator 13 offered Lu Mi 1,000 gold coins to kill Jin Bi, but he ignored the message.
• Lu Mi discovered Jin Bi had vanished, then found himself trapped inside a moving iron-fence cage as Zeng Deming appeared.
• Zeng Deming dragged the unconscious Jin Bi before Lu Mi and threatened them with a game in which only one could live.
• Jin Bi, whose Mental Value had fallen to 8, froze when Zeng Deming asked whether she would sacrifice herself for Lu Mi.

Zeng Deming trapped Lu Mi and Jin Bi in a nightmare that forced Jin Bi to choose between her survival and Lu Mi’s life. As Jin Bi confessed to betraying Shen Yiwen, a red-furred creature crept up behind her.

• Zeng Deming summoned a vengeful vision of the Red-Haired Girl and revealed that his guilt over her death had haunted him for forty years.
• The ground beneath Lu Mi and Jin Bi collapsed into a sea of fire, while Zeng Deming urged Jin Bi to choose whom to save.
• Jin Bi kicked Lu Mi toward the edge and began prying his fingers loose so she could keep the last safe patch of ground.
• Lu Mi asked Jin Bi where Shen Yiwen was, and Jin Bi revealed that she had abandoned Shen Yiwen to a man-eating NPC during the Human-Ghost Showdown.
• As Jin Bi noticed something wet on the back of her neck, Lu Mi saw a red-furred creature standing just behind her.

Lu Mi was forced to choose between saving Jin Bi and letting the monster kill her, and Jin Bi died after he stayed silent. Back in the stone-house area, Lu Mi reunited with Zhong Zixian and Cheng Cheng, while the red-haired girl confronted Zeng Deming over the key and the reason she haunted him.

• The monster lifted Jin Bi and forced Lu Mi to choose whether to spare or kill her, while she pleaded with him to save her.
• Lu Mi said nothing as the monster swallowed Jin Bi, then returned to the weed-covered ground and saw Zeng Deming accuse him of making the same choice he had.
• Cheng Cheng attacked Zeng Deming, and Zhong Zixian helped Lu Mi toward the Number One Stone House after his Mental Value fell dangerously low.
• A red-haired girl came out carrying the Bamboo Basket and said Roman had sent her to help Lu Mi, though Roman stayed inside.
• Zeng Deming begged to be released and promised to give them the key, while Lu Mi suggested that the girl might be haunting him because he could not forgive himself.

Zeng Deming apologized to the Red-Haired Girl and found peace when she killed him, while Lu Mi and the others escaped the graveyard with Roman. Back in the Public Rest Area, Lu Mi cared for Roman and realized he no longer cared about uncovering Roman’s secrets, just as an important message arrived on his Wristband.

• Lu Mi encouraged Zeng Deming to face the Red-Haired Girl, and Zeng Deming apologized and handed her the fountain pen he had used to kill her.
• The Red-Haired Girl killed Zeng Deming, whose soul found peace, and then dissipated into a black key.
• Lu Mi called Roman out of the stone house, and Roman collapsed into his arms before they headed for the exit with Cheng Cheng and Zhong Zixian.
• Lu Mi brought Roman to the Healing Area and let him stay in his bedroom while he recovered from his injuries.
• Roman remembered Cheng Cheng telling him to hide something better, while Lu Mi privately accepted that Roman’s secrets and feelings no longer mattered to him.
• Lu Mi closed the bedroom door, and his Wristband vibrated three times with a reminder about an important unread message.

After discovering that Jin Bi’s death had unlocked the Killing Spree achievement, Lu Mi struggled with the realization that the game was changing him. He told Cheng Cheng and Zhong Zixian that he wanted to destroy the game, but the system interrupted them by accusing him of subversive speech.

• Lu Mi learned that he had won the Popularity Contest and received enough popularity points to reach the highest level of Crown of Popularity.
• Messages from Ghost Spectators reminded Lu Mi that Jin Bi had been killed in the instance, and he unlocked the first level of the Killing Spree achievement.
• Lu Mi stayed behind closed doors instead of collecting his reward, and he avoided discussing Jin Bi’s death with Cheng Cheng and Zhong Zixian.
• Lu Mi told Cheng Cheng and Zhong Zixian that he wanted to destroy the game and explained how its rules and rewards treated players’ lives as disposable.
• The system ordered the resident of room 701 to open the door, citing Lu Mi’s subversive speech as a serious violation.

Lu Mi faced arrest for declaring that he would destroy the game, but 2044 spared him and summoned him to collect a reward. Afterward, Zhong Zixian urged Lu Mi not to bear his burdens alone, and Lu Mi confided that Yi Wen was dead and he had indirectly killed Jin Bi.

• Guards surrounded Lu Mi's room and arrested him after he admitted responsibility for his statement, while Zhong Zixian nearly revealed forbidden instance details.
• A message from the Deputy Administrator halted Lu Mi's execution, and 2044 told him to come to the Central Control Building at five to collect his reward.
• After the guards left, Roman and Cheng Cheng returned to Lu Mi's room, and Zhong Zixian comforted Lu Mi.
• Zhong Zixian encouraged Lu Mi not to shoulder everything alone, prompting Lu Mi to confess that Yi Wen had died and that he had indirectly killed Jin Bi.

Lu Mi visited the Central Control Building to claim the Popularity Contest prize, where 2044 revealed he had secretly chosen a wish for him as a gift. That night, Lu Mi discovered he could turn into a cat at will, and Roman woke at the sound of his meow.

• Lu Mi realized Zhong Zixian had accepted Shen Yiwen's death, while their companions silently agreed to set out together on a dangerous path.
• Lu Mi used his gold pass to meet 2044, who told him the god was not angry and that he had already chosen Lu Mi's wish.
• Lu Mi returned to his dormitory and found Roman cooking dinner for him; later, he blow-dried Roman's hair after his bath.
• As midnight approached, Lu Mi remembered his former nightly transformations and wondered whether 2044's gift had restored them.
• Lu Mi wished he could switch between human and cat form freely, then transformed into a cat, waking Roman with a meow.