Chapter Summaries

Lu Mi escaped the instance with Roman, but Ning Zhuangzhuang died after revealing she had knowingly sacrificed herself to save him and her mother. In the Public Rest Area, Lu Mi learned more about the Divine Punishment Game and heard a newly escaped player celebrating nearby.

• “Mom” turned the puzzle into a key and gave it to Lu Mi, while she threw Zhang Mei aside and struck Xu Zhi without killing him.
• Ning Zhuangzhuang told Lu Mi she had taken the knife for the NPC knowing she would die, then dissolved into fiery red petals as she crossed the exit.
• Roman shoved Lu Mi through the door, and Xu Zhi and Zhang Mei also escaped before it closed.
• Lu Mi arrived at the Public Rest Area, where an announcement instructed new players to register for wristbands and dormitories.
• Lu Mi saw the player rankings, noticed Xu Zhi in second place and Cheng Cheng in first, and thanked Roman for pushing him out.
• A uniformed guard told Lu Mi and Roman to clear the instance exit, and a newly escaped player laughed that he had finally left the hellhole.

Lu Mi explored the public rest area after leaving an instance and learned that players would soon be sent into another one. When deputy administrator 2044 took Roman away, Roman told Lu Mi not to worry, while 2044 warned his guards that trouble was still to come.

• A wounded newcomer believed he had returned to the real world, but a blonde woman explained that he was in the public rest area and would enter another instance within twenty-four to seventy-two hours.
• Lu Mi explored the plaza, where guards killed a player who caused a disturbance and cleaners quickly removed the blood and remains.
• Xu Zhi approached Lu Mi and tried to recruit him, but Lu Mi refused and Xu Zhi left after threatening him.
• Roman told Lu Mi he would stay with him until he left the game, and Lu Mi went to the administrative office to handle paperwork.
• Deputy administrator 2044 arrived with two guards and ordered Roman to come with them; Roman went willingly after telling Lu Mi not to worry.
• As Roman walked with 2044, 2044 stopped a guard from provoking him and said the trouble was still to come.

Roman caused chaos in the control center and was sentenced to enter instances as a player with his divine power sealed. Meanwhile, Lu Mi explored his new player wristband and suspected Roman was being held in a mysterious building in the Public Rest Area.

• Roman watched staff edit footage from the “Mother's Memorial Day” instance and stole an access card to alter Ning Zhuangzhuang's program, making her an NPC.
• Roman's black smoke tossed guards and staff around the control center as they tried to stop him.
• 2044 learned Roman had made Ning Zhuangzhuang part of the instance, then sentenced him to play through at least two instances with his divine power sealed.
• Roman eagerly accepted the punishment and asked whether he could keep playing afterward.
• Lu Mi examined his player wristband, learned about its points and achievements, and found an unnamed building marked with a red X on the Public Rest Area map.
• Lu Mi wondered whether Roman had been taken to the building.

Lu Mi waited for Roman outside the Central Control Building, learned more about the game from 2044, and gave him the name Jiang Mu. After reuniting, Lu Mi and Roman explored the Public Rest Area, where Lu Mi discovered his dorm room and Roman asked to live with him.

• Lu Mi waited outside the Central Control Building, and 2044 assured him that Roman was inside and would be out soon.
• 2044 explained that players' instances became shows for nonhuman viewers, that gold coins and points could be exchanged, and that 1,000 points were needed to leave, though no one had ever succeeded.
• Lu Mi suggested that the game's creators were responsible for the violence, and 2044 asked him to choose a name; Lu Mi named him Jiang Mu.
• Roman emerged with a real wristband, and the building's display announced that he was forbidden from entering again.
• Lu Mi and Roman explored the Public Rest Area, where they overheard rumors about a third option and learned that Lu Mi's room was 705 in Building 5.
• When Lu Mi asked where Roman's dorm room was, Roman said he did not know and wanted to live with him.

Lu Mi searched his assigned room for clues about his erased memories and recognized a retired teacher in an old photograph, but the effort caused him severe pain. The next morning, he discovered his first instance had earned him audience tips and went shopping with Roman, who asked for something to make a kitty happy.

• Lu Mi let Roman stay in his room until nine, then searched the elderly resident’s belongings and found textbooks, student gifts, and graduation photographs.
• Lu Mi recognized a gray-haired teacher in a photograph and suffered a severe headache as fragmented memories resurfaced; Roman helped him recover, but Lu Mi refused to let Roman stay overnight.
• Lu Mi found that his popularity had risen above three hundred and his gold coins had increased from audience tips after his instance was shown as a program.
• Roman admitted through his behavior that he had spent the night sitting outside Lu Mi’s door, though he claimed he had not waited there all night.
• Lu Mi and Roman visited the shopping center, where Lu Mi crossed nonessential items off his list because of their cost and Roman asked a staff member for something to make a kitty happy.

Lu Mi and Roman grew closer in the rest area, where Roman bought Lu Mi a smartphone after seeing him admire one. As Lu Mi prepared to enter another instance with Jin Bi and He Shengguang, he learned that his popularity ranking had made him a sought-after teammate.

• Roman returned the catnip and toys, then bought a guide to getting closer to tabby cats.
• Roman saw Lu Mi chatting with Jin Bi and grew jealous when she pinched Lu Mi’s cheek.
• Roman bought Lu Mi a smartphone, and Lu Mi thanked him while Roman asked him to stop letting other people pinch his cheeks.
• Lu Mi learned that he could team up with Jin Bi by holding hands before entering an instance, and Roman accepted that Jin Bi was his new friend.
• Lu Mi met Jin Bi and He Shengguang beneath the plaza screen, where Jin Bi showed him that he topped the Rising Popularity Star ranking.
• The instance countdown began as Lu Mi prepared to enter with Jin Bi and He Shengguang.

Lu Mi and Roman arrived at Bart Manor with a group of players and discovered the region was caught in a war, where soldiers killed people and Mr. Bart was apparently shot dead. The manor’s butler welcomed them and introduced the young mistress, whose eyes were covered by living butterflies.

• Lu Mi and Roman rode toward Bart Manor in a carriage and learned from the driver that they were hired as tutors for Miss Noel.
• Soldiers stopped the carriages, killed a fleeing player, and left Mr. Bart dead after overturning his carriage.
• The players reached Bart Manor, where the butler showed no grief when told that Mr. Bart had been killed.
• Li Fan asked to stay near Lu Mi, who warned her to keep quiet and remain cautious.
• The butler welcomed the group inside the disordered castle and introduced the young mistress, whose eyes were covered by fluttering butterflies.

Lu Mi and the other players began their duties as tutors in the Bart household, where Noel’s strange rules and sudden outbursts hinted at danger. After finding only filthy bedrooms, Lu Mi and Roman slept in a storage room, where Roman pulled Lu Mi into an embrace and told him not to open his eyes.

• The butler introduced Noel, handed out her class schedule, and warned the players to feed her fully and play with her until ten or face severe punishment.
• The players chose Akun and Zhao Xiaoye to stay with Noel that night, then drew lots for the next day’s lessons; Lu Mi was assigned horseback riding.
• When Zhao Xiaoye said it was winter, Noel accused her of lying and insisted that it was spring.
• Lu Mi and Roman found the upstairs bedrooms filthy and settled in a storage room, where Lu Mi shared his thick comforter with Roman.
• Lu Mi woke feeling inexplicably cold, and Roman pulled him close, telling him not to open his eyes.

Lu Mi and Roman discovered that Noel had killed and eaten several players during the night, but she claimed to remember nothing. They left for the stables to practice riding, where Lu Mi focused on the butler’s pale face.

• Roman stopped Lu Mi from speaking when a bloodied little girl appeared outside their window, and Lu Mi turned into a cat at midnight.
• Lu Mi, Roman, and the other players found a middle-aged man dead in his bedroom and the young couple mutilated in the children's room.
• He Shengguang identified the couple's injuries, while Jin Bi recalled that Noel had knocked on her and He Shengguang's door during the night.
• Roman questioned Noel, but she said she remembered nothing and insisted everything was fine before the butler called her to breakfast.
• Lu Mi and Roman bought meat buns and went to the stables to practice riding, where Lu Mi scrutinized the butler's pale face.

Lu Mi and Roman investigated Noel’s behavior at the manor and suspected the butterflies over her eyes affected how she saw the world and controlled her emotions. They ended the chapter questioning whether the manor’s rules needed to be followed at all.

• Lu Mi and Roman discussed the butler’s lies and the war’s damage to the manor while recovering from their horseback-riding lesson.
• Roman pointed out that Lu Mi was comparing Jin Bi with Ning Zhuangzhuang, and Lu Mi realized he had been searching for traces of Ning Zhuangzhuang in Jin Bi.
• Lu Mi and Roman found Noel eating raw flesh after she attacked a maid, and they saw her calm down when the butterflies returned to her eyes.
• During Noel’s riding lesson, Lu Mi noticed that she described the gray, withered field as a bright spring landscape.
• Lu Mi and Roman theorized that the butterflies altered Noel’s perception and behavior, then questioned whether the manor’s rules were truly necessary to follow.

Lu Mi and the other players watched Noel eat, then Lu Mi volunteered for the night watch and took Noel to her bedroom with Roman. After Noel fell asleep, Roman apologized for his words about Ning Zhuangzhuang and revealed what he had done in the Central Control Building; as Lu Mi approached Roman’s sleeping face, he reached for his black mask.

• Lu Mi and He Shengguang stopped the players from fleeing as Noel ate dog meat, and Lu Mi persuaded He Shengguang to stop her before she ate too much.
• Yu Shaoqiang refused to draw a lot for the night watch, arguing that the players who taught Noel deserved rest, so Lu Mi volunteered to take the watch.
• Lu Mi and Roman took Noel to her bedroom, replaced the filthy bedding, and settled her into bed with a lullaby.
• After Noel fell asleep, Roman apologized to Lu Mi for criticizing Ning Zhuangzhuang and explained how he had kept her alive within the instance.
• At ten o’clock, Noel’s butterflies flew away, and Lu Mi approached Roman as he slept and gently reached for his black mask.

Lu Mi and the other players learned from Noel’s dream that the butterflies left her eyes when it was late or she ate too much, and they changed how they cared for her. They believed they had found a way to keep her calm, but Lu Mi warned them not to dismiss the butler.

• Lu Mi entered Noel’s dream and saw her playing happily with her father, then watched Mrs. Bart rehearse singing in the western tower and heard that Noel tended to overeat under pressure.
• Roman told Lu Mi that he had seen a different moment in Noel’s dream, including her grandmother and the butler without his pale makeup.
• Lu Mi shared the players’ dream discoveries and reasoned that Noel became violent when the butterflies left her eyes, either after ten at night or after overeating.
• The players agreed to put Noel to bed before ten, limit her portions, and cook with ingredients from the Panel Mall rather than serve food that might have come from her dog.
• Noel ate the players’ meals without becoming violent, while Yu Shaoqiang neglected his teaching and other players dismissed the butler as unimportant.

The butler killed Yu Shaoqiang and several other players after revealing he knew they had ignored his instructions, then ordered the survivors to keep Noel company. Lu Mi locked Noel in a chest when she began to go berserk, but a chilling scream sounded from the next room around two in the morning.

• Yu Shaoqiang accused the butler of setting them up, and the butler killed him with a dagger while Zhang Zhizhang watched.
• Roman hid Lu Mi in the stables, and the survivors later returned to the castle to find several players dead.
• The butler ordered the surviving players to play with Noel at ten, leaving them to choose between obeying him and provoking her frenzy.
• Lu Mi led Noel upstairs and locked her in a chest as the butterflies flew away and she became violent.
• Lu Mi settled in a room and stayed awake in cat form, then heard a chilling scream from next door around two in the morning.

The butler forced the players to play with Noel in their dogskin coats, then triggered her rage by telling her the coats were made from Feili. The players fled, but Noel and the butterflies overwhelmed He Shengguang, leaving him mutilated in the snow.

• Noel ate two people during the night, and the butler told the players their lessons were canceled but they had to make up for not playing with Noel.
• The butler made everyone wear dogskin coats and wait outside for Noel, whose butterflies shut their wings when she approached.
• The butler pushed Noel against Jin Bi's coat and told her it was made from Feili's skin, while He Shengguang tried to keep Jin Bi calm.
• Lu Mi shouted for everyone to run when Noel's butterflies opened their wings, and Jin Bi shoved He Shengguang toward Noel before fleeing.
• The butler told a story about butterflies devouring a girl's eyes as Noel and a swarm attacked He Shengguang, leaving him bloodied and partly eaten.

Lu Mi and the remaining players kept Noel contained as her episodes grew more dangerous, while Lu Mi struggled with the strain of locking her up. A visit to the ruined west tower led Lu Mi to realize the butterflies might hide reality from Noel, and that seeing the truth could be what drove her berserk.

• He Shengguang survived being pushed toward Noel, while the remaining players continued forcing Noel to eat dog meat and locking her away before she became dangerous.
• Lu Mi observed that the butterflies left Noel's eyes earlier each day and that she broke out of her sealed room faster, increasing the danger for everyone.
• Lu Mi and Roman visited the ruined west tower, where Lu Mi remembered Noel's dream and reflected on how different her life had become.
• Lu Mi realized that Noel might see reality when the butterflies flew away, and suggested that the contrast between her dream world and the ruined present caused her to lose control.
• Roman agreed that the discovery mattered, and Lu Mi recalled Noel's efforts to restrain herself when He Shengguang was harmed before suddenly thinking of something.

Lu Mi realized they could use an afternoon nap to re-enter the dream and recovered the Olive Crown to give Roman. After Zhang Zhizhang attacked him over Yu Shaoqiang’s death, Lu Mi went to sleep beside Noel, while Roman confronted Zhang Zhizhang alone.

• Lu Mi and Roman suspected the castle butler was an impostor and decided to try entering the dream during the afternoon.
• Lu Mi secretly retrieved and cleaned the Olive Crown while Roman went to bring Noel upstairs.
• Zhang Zhizhang confronted Lu Mi with a kitchen knife, blaming him for Yu Shaoqiang’s death, but Lu Mi dodged and escaped to Roman.
• Roman brought Noel to the top-floor room, where Lu Mi tucked her into bed and then fell asleep to enter the dream.
• Zhang Zhizhang hid in the tower, plotting to kill Lu Mi, until Roman approached and quietly said Lu Mi was asleep and Zhang should not scream.

Lu Mi uncovered how the impostor butler had taken the real butler’s place and helped bring ruin to the manor, then woke from Noel’s dream and told Roman what he had learned. He and Roman planned another trip into the dream, while Lu Mi gave Roman the Olive Crown he had found.

• Lu Mi explored Noel’s dream and saw Mr. and Mrs. Bart arguing over love letters from Michel, while Noel hid nearby and cried.
• Lu Mi searched for the butler and followed a man into a secluded room, where he watched him use a disguise mixture to transform into the pale-faced butler.
• The disguised man said he would destroy everything Mrs. Bart loved, and Lu Mi realized the real butler had been replaced before the war reached the manor.
• Lu Mi woke near two o’clock, returned Noel to Jin Bi, and rejected Jin Bi when she asked if they were friends.
• Lu Mi told Roman about the impostor and planned another dream trip with him, then gave him the scratched Olive Crown.

Lu Mi searched the castle for clues and tried to help Noel eat less without alerting the butler. After the butler watched Noel finish her meal and leave, Jiang Chunyan panicked, expecting Noel to attack them.

• Roman accepted the Olive Crown from Lu Mi and secretly rubbed a bloodstained human fingernail hidden in his palm.
• Lu Mi searched the castle and Noel’s dreams for clues, then volunteered for tasks that let him spend more time teaching and caring for Noel.
• Jiang Chunyan worried that Lu Mi was reducing Noel’s food and breaking the butler’s rules, while Mo Yu reassured her that Lu Mi had a plan.
• Lu Mi told Jiang Chunyan that a player had tried to kill him and said the player might have been eaten by Noel.
• Lu Mi served Noel a full bowl of dog meat while Jiang Chunyan watched, and the butler stayed to observe Noel eating.
• The butler left after Noel showed signs of going berserk, and Jiang Chunyan urged Lu Mi to run before Noel attacked them.

Lu Mi uncovered clues in Noel’s dreams while trying to help her control herself and avoid the butler’s suspicion. In the latest dream, he saw soldiers escorting Noel and Mrs. Bart from a ruined manor and recognized the men who had killed Mr. Bart.

• Lu Mi told Jiang Chunyan that Noel’s dreams showed the fake butler taking control of the manor and that war was approaching.
• Lu Mi explained that Noel could restrain herself when the butler did not provoke her, and Jiang Chunyan offered to help with the cooking.
• Roman secretly pulled growing fingernails from his palm and buried them in the snow.
• Lu Mi and Roman put Noel down for a nap, then heard He Shengguang call for the butler outside their hiding place.
• Roman stopped Lu Mi from rushing out, and Lu Mi entered Noel’s dream after she fell asleep.
• Lu Mi saw soldiers escorting Noel, Mrs. Bart, and Noel’s grandmother from the ruined manor, and recognized them as the soldiers who had killed Mr. Bart.

Lu Mi witnessed Michel's murder of Mrs. Bart and Noel, then helped Noel briefly escape the illusion created by the Butterfly Eyes. Back in the hall, he asked Mo Yu about a book describing face-changing powder, seeking a clue about the Butler's disguise.

• In Lu Mi's vision, Michel revealed his identity to Mrs. Bart, blinded Noel, and shot Mrs. Bart after recounting their past.
• Lu Mi woke beside Noel and Roman, comforted Noel, and urged her to abandon the false world created by the Butterfly Eyes.
• He Shengguang called Lu Mi and the others over to show them something, but the Butler summoned him to class before he could explain.
• Mo Yu and Jin Bi argued about their efforts to find clues, while Roman silenced Jin Bi.
• Lu Mi asked Mo Yu about books on white powder that could disguise someone's face, and Mo Yu recalled a book called Dark Arts.